Chapter 233 Four-wheel drive

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Pingxiang to Jiujiang all the way to the ship, so it only took two days to arrive in Nanjing, coincidentally when the Chuyu ship docked at the port, four Italian flag ocean liners and an Austrian passenger ship actually arrived at the port of Nanjing at the same time, the leader was actually Liu Qingen () who went to Germany at the end of last year to receive the second batch of purchased equipment ().

He is now the chief technical officer of the Hubei company, responsible for the management of the technical department of the whole factory, research and development and equipment procurement, in addition to bringing back the last 10,000 12 rifles and 24 105 mm howitzers purchased from Germany, the main equipment and machine tools purchased in the second batch, compared with the simple procurement of weapons, under the guidance of Yang Qiu, Hubei and Chongqing have focused on strengthening technical equipment.

As soon as he stepped on the land, he saw Yang Qiu, Liu Qingen was also very happy, and took out the list and his voice turned red: "There are a total of 371 units in Germany, and 110 units have been delivered by Austria-Hungary, all of which are all kinds of machine tools that we urgently need, forging presses and rolling mills, in addition, I also purchased more than 20 second-hand goods from Belgium and Sweden, including a complete set of mild steel processing equipment that they eliminated, which cost me 200,000 yuan!" By the way, when I visited Skoda, they happened to have two 2,000-ton hydraulic presses to be eliminated, so I bought them, the machines were old, but I personally tested and could use them, and I also bought a few scrap guns of different calibers, although they were scrapped, but I think they could be used for research and reference, not to mention that they are not expensive. ”

Liu Qingen chattered like an old woman. It's no wonder he was so excited, after he went out on behalf of Hubei Industrial Company this time, the Krupp who was responsible for the reception had a very high standard, mainly because Yang Qiu came up with a lot of new technologies to attract Krupp's attention, especially the recent new mortar technology and Miss 75 two technologies, even several chief engineers of Krupp thought it was an epoch-making artillery technology, so they deliberately improved the reception specifications, and arranged the translation throughout the process, and opened many core factories for him to visit for the first time.

In the end, he also contacted the Skoda Industrial Complex, one of the three heroes in Europe, to let him visit, so he has not recovered from the excitement yet, plus Yang Qiu promised to buy it if there is anything good that can be remitted, so he almost buys whatever he likes, so Zhang Wenjing had to send him money many times, with a total of 1.5 million US dollars, if it weren't for Yang Qiu's support, he would have cursed, but it made him more impressed by Yang Qiu's determination to support industry, It is more determined to help Yang Qiu and China build a world-class industrial consortium ().

"I can't go up the 10,000-ton ship so I can only unload it here first, I have already contacted Miss Miao to make arrangements, she will send a river ship to transfer it as soon as possible, and these things can be transported back to Hanyang and Chongqing in a month at the latest." After Liu Qingen finished speaking, he suddenly glanced at Xu Xiujun and the others, and after avoiding it, he quietly pointed to the passenger ship, and lowered his voice: "There is a third group of 161 people on board, all of whom were arrested by the Austro-Hungarian police for funding and helping the Czech rebels, most of them are Czechs, and those policemen and guards assured me that sixty percent of them were designers and engineers of the former Skoda company, from heavy artillery to cars!" It's just that the price is more expensive, just buying those police and officials cost 300,000 US dollars, and then it costs another 100,000 yuan to collect their families, which is enough to purchase more than a dozen machine tools. ”

Sixty percent are Skoda designers and engineers?!

Yang Qiu's eyes lit up, compared with several ships of machinery and equipment, this is a really valuable thing, you must know that Skoda is currently one of the three major industrial complexes in Europe, and in some respects it is stronger than Krupp and Rheinmetall! Not to mention hundreds of thousands, millions are worth it. "Well done! Pay attention to protect their safety, don't hoard all in our Hubei, Chongqing is also in the past, no matter what requirements in life can be provided, but we must serve, in addition to the supervision must continue to strengthen! If you don't have enough manpower, you will go to Commander Xiao, and it will be a big loss for these people to escape. ”

Liu Qingen nodded again and again. After this visit, he finally understood what a big industry is, especially Krupp, Rheinmetall and Skoda with nearly 100,000 workers, he was too impressed, but he also knew that it was impossible for China to reach this scale at present, because it was not just a matter of funds, so don't look at what I said lightly, in fact, I don't know how much to value this group of technicians, with their foundation in Hubei and Chongqing can be more solid.

Xu Xiujun, Cai Gongshi and others next to them were also very happy to hear that they had bought so many machines and equipment, and everyone knew that these were the cornerstones of the country's prosperity and strength.

"By the way, Commander, I brought back what you asked me to find ()." After Liu Qingen put the list away closely, he suddenly slapped his forehead and pulled Yang Qiu to the unloading area. Everyone thought what was going on, but when they arrived at the place, they found that there were more than a dozen large items covered with tarpaulins on the dock, and from the outside, there were some trucks heading towards Europe.

Hearing that he had found it, Yang Qiu's heart was about to jump out, and he hurriedly asked Lei Meng to lead someone to do it. After the tarpaulin was completely lifted, a strange car completely covered with steel plates and rivets, with a semicircular turtle shell on top of it, appeared in front of everyone, and a brand-new Makqin heavy machine gun poked out of the small window of the turtle shell.

"What is this?"

When Xu Xiujun and the others, who saw this kind of car for the first time, looked at Yang Qiu, he was already excited and about to jump!

Daimler! Austrian "Daimler" armored car! (This Daimler is not the well-known Daimler company, just the name of the car.) ）

The armored car, successfully developed in 1903, weighs about 3 tons, has a hemispherical machine gun turret, can rotate 360 degrees, is equipped with 1 machine gun, the power plant is a 4-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine, 50 horsepower, the thickness of the armor plate is 3 mm, the machine gun tower part is 4 mm, and the maximum speed reaches 40 km / h.

To be honest, armored cars are not unusual at all in this era, there are many stronger than it, and any one in the data machine is stronger than it. However, there is no information on this armored vehicle in the data machine, because only one has been produced. What makes Yang Qiu remember him is that this car actually uses four-wheel drive technology!

It's 1913! Not to mention that it was only 1903 when it was made!

There is four-wheel drive technology in the data machine, but most of them are relatively mature and complex, and the process requirements are strict, far less simple and easy to imitate than this most basic level, and it is best to buy it back for experiments and lay the foundation. As long as you can understand it, plus the four-wheel technology and wide tire technology provided by yourself, and then modify the shape, it is not a problem to make a jeep!

Liu Qingen was also very happy, and took a thick stack of drawings from his assistant: "Commander, what you said is not wrong at all, Austria-Hungary can't look down on this car at all, and when I found it, it was rusty and couldn't drive it at all." I heard from the Skoda technicians that the chassis of this car was too complicated to manufacture, so I offered to buy it, and they immediately gave me all the drawings and the car, and it only cost 2,000 dollars in total. When I bought a car, I heard that you had a falling out with Yuan Shikai in Tianjin, and it was estimated that it might rise sharply, so I took it upon myself to let Skoda spend ten days to build 12 cars and bring them back, and I also asked them to install the latest 80 horsepower gasoline engine made in Germany, which can drive up to 70 kilometers per hour when tested on the flat road, and can run 20 miles in the mud, and you are not right at all, this kind of car is very strange, one or two wheels can be stuck in the pit and can come out, but it is too troublesome to get up early, and there are too many processes. ”

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Qiu's eyes suddenly brightened, and he pointed to the armored car of the same model covered with oilcloth next to him, and shouted, "What do you mean, these are all?" ”

Liu Qingen thought that he was blamed for spending unjust money, and it took him a long time to swallow saliva and nodded, but when he saw this action, Yang Qiu slapped him fiercely: "Okay, great!" Ziqing, you've done me a great favor this time! ”

"The Commander doesn't blame me for spending money indiscriminately, I was able to find it thanks to the sketches you made." Hearing the applause, Liu Qingen introduced it again, but at this time, Yang Qiu didn't have the heart to listen.

12 brand new armored vehicles! No, as long as six or seven vehicles are mobilized, there is a chance to tear a big gap! So he hurriedly asked Murong Han to take a pen to himself, wrote down a few words and handed it to Liu Qingen: "Leave eight cars for me, and you can take the rest back to study, go back and find Miao Luo immediately, and ask her to give you the things in the third drawer on the left side of the information cabinet in my study, and I will see my armored car in a year." ”

Liu Qingen had already heard that Yang Qiu would often come up with some very advanced materials and drawings, so his eyes lit up, and he couldn't wait to fly back to see Miao Luo immediately.

After having an armored car, Yang Qiu didn't want to delay for a moment, and hurriedly walked towards the Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry of National Defense building is the original Jiangsu Consultative Bureau, a cement and granite structure built in the year of Gengzi, with 32 different offices, three large conference rooms on the ground floor, and a large playground that can accommodate 1,000 people in front. The War Department is in the auxiliary building on the left, and the Admiralty is on the right, and the Army Flying Tiger Flag and the Navy Five-Color Flag complement each other, but it is said that Yang Qiu is not satisfied with the use of the Five-Color Flag as the Navy Flag, so the Admiralty is studying the new military flag plan ().

Although Nanjing has almost gathered the country's naval forces, and has also formed the first and second fleets respectively, this major battle is mainly a land war, and the current basic task of the navy except Guangdong is to escort ships and prevent Britain and France from interfering, so Sa Zhenbing, who could not be idle, simply took the first fleet south to Guangzhou to supervise the battle.

Three tall antennas were erected on the roof of the War Department, and the confidential telegraph room was ticking and ticking, and there were two huge tables in the center of the command hall arranged according to the habits of the Wehrmacht, on the left was a specially made huge domestic map, and on the right was also a huge sand table, in front of the sand table, Jiang Zuobin and Li Shucheng pointed and seemed to be discussing something, and the commander-in-chief, Cai Yique, sat alone in front of the map and bit the tip of his pen, and the tip of his nose was red and faintly sweaty.

"Salute!"

Yang Qiu's sudden arrival alarmed the officers and staff officers outside, and they all stood up and saluted, Yang Qiu returned the salute one by one, and came to the command hall, and saw that Li Yuanhong was also inside, and he was pointing around the map and sand table with Cai Yi and others, and hurriedly stopped the guards from saluting and made a silent finger.

Li Yuanhong has been relatively idle recently, because it is a parliamentary system, most things are decided by the congress, and in terms of people's livelihood, there are Tang Shaoyi and Zhang Wenjing who are in good order, and now it is a war period, Yang Qiu has not come to Nanjing for a long time, so he usually holds cabinet meetings, listens to reports, and his days are a little boring, so he simply runs here every day these days, and has the addiction of commanding the army.

Cai Ye does not look down on this "puppet" like those people outside, Li Huangpi's fame is very big in the late Qing army, especially in the southern army, pointing to the map and asking: "Does the president have any suggestions?" ”

"Don't, Cai Songpo has the final say here, I'm just idle to listen. To be honest, this president is really boring, he has to sign and hold meetings every day, I really don't know why Yuan Xiangcheng is so reluctant, and I would rather go to Guizhou to open a tobacco company. ”

"The President laughed, you are now our backbone." Cai Yi said with a smile: "Before I came, the vice president also took special care of you, and I wanted to listen to your opinions more in the military, so I wanted to ask you just now." ”

"Come on, don't flatter me." Li Yuanhong knows his own affairs, in terms of military skills, he can be a hero in the former new army, but he is different from Yang Qiubi. Not to mention anything else, the full set of Western-style command and operational framework adopted by the Wehrmacht alone is not something that anyone in the late Qing Army can sort out, not to mention a series of huge and complex issues such as the army's organizational regulations, military regulations, and formation, sometimes even he wonders, whether Yang Qiu is self-taught or has a genius secret teacher, otherwise how can he understand so many things, pointing to the sand table and continuing to ask: "How is the situation now?" ”

"Henan is progressing smoothly, news came this morning that the 10th and 11th Brigades of the Fourth Division have completed the penetration of Xi'an, and have surrounded the Beiyang Seventh Division in the area of Xianyang and Xi'an, the 12th Brigade has seized Weinan, and the 18th Brigade is advancing towards Tongguan." Jiang Zuobin continued: "On the Henan side, the 4th Brigade is attacking the Yan Division, the 1st Brigade and the 3rd Brigade have pursued to the periphery of the Luohe River, the 5th Brigade has taken Xincai, and the 6th Brigade has also arrived in Ruyang, but Chen Huan is relatively tightly deployed in Luohe, and General Yue is waiting for heavy artillery and ammunition, and has not yet launched an attack. ”

"What about us?"

"The new 9th Division has arrived in Lu'an and is waiting for the baggage behind, the 103rd Brigade is attacking Fuyang to suppress the Ni Army, the 2nd Brigade has basically stabilized Bengbu, and the two brigades of the 10th Division are being reorganized in Huainan for about five days before returning to Bengbu. Huai'an was recaptured by the 101st Brigade after a day of loss, and the 12th Division has now stabilized with the cooperation of the 12th Division, generally speaking, we have passed the most difficult period, and in another half a month, the 10th, 11th, and 13th divisions will be able to initially complete the reorganization and start to fight northward, as long as the ammunition and grain can keep up, at most a month we can turn the south into an offensive. ”

Jiang Zuobin's tone was full of confidence, and he was able to initially pinch the miscellaneous armies of Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui within a month, which shows that the work ability of these senior officers on the southern front has basically not made progress compared with the northern front, but considering that the northern front is all elite divisions of national defense heavy equipment, it is already very good to be able to do this. But Cai Ye is still not happy, it is about to enter April, it is the busiest spring ploughing season of the year, so if it drags on to Jiangsu, Anhui these two grain-producing regions, if it is delayed until July and August, even the autumn grain is delayed, I am afraid it will cause a food shortage in several provinces.

Li Yuanhong didn't have a good way to do this, after all, Beiyang is not an ordinary army, if there are no two elite brigades of the National Defense Army going south, it is estimated that everyone will set foot in Nanjing, so when I saw him looking at the sand table, he was absent-minded, and asked: "Did Songpo think of something?" ”

Cai Ye nodded: "I do have some eyebrows, and I ask the president to refer to it ()." Although Li Yuanhong knew that he, the president, was a shield, he still hoped to end the domestic turmoil as soon as possible while sitting in his seat, so he hurriedly asked him to come and hear it.

Cai Yi took the putt from Jiang Zuobin's hand and said while pointing: "Don't hide it from the president, according to the commander-in-chief's requirements for the army and soldiers, the troops of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui can compare with the Southwest National Guard, even if they can't compare with Beiyang, and even the Yi Army and Ni Army on the periphery can't compare, so it is impossible to launch an active attack in the south in half a month anyway."

However, the northern front was different, Yue Peng and He Xi led the elite Huben who had fought in Hubei and Xiaocang Mountain, and had been training day and night for more than a year, and the heavy artillery and machine guns of the two divisions together were more and stronger than the total number of our five divisions on the southern front. Therefore, Chen Eun relied on nothing more than a numerical advantage, and Wu Xiucai unexpectedly returned to the division to block Tongguan, so that the four divisions in Shaanxi could not move south quickly, so it was barely a draw.

So my idea is to let Ouyang Wu's 9th Division immediately go north to Fuyang and cooperate with Luo Peijin's 10th Division to clear out the Ni army. Let the 103 Brigade that has been freed up go straight to Kaifeng! The distance between the two places is only 200 kilometers, and the terrain is flat just to give full play to the advantages of the trucks they are equipped with, as long as the speed is fast enough, they will arrive at Kaifeng City in one day and one night, and cooperate with the 4th Brigade that is attacking the Yan Division, complete the interpolation of the Yellow River Bridge on the Jinghan Line, and cut off the road for the First Army to retreat north! ”

Li Yuanhong shook his head and said worriedly: "Songpo's idea is good. The truck is running fast, and this section of the road is still smooth, but Chen Eun has always been careful with his soldiers, I heard that he has long been prepared that after Ni Sichong's death, we will go north from Fuyang, so 2 artillery battalions and a brigade have been deployed in Ningling, and three Yi army battalions have been strengthened recently, and the truck is only afraid that it will have to stop when it reaches Ningling. It will take at least a day or two for the 103rd Brigade to break through Ningling, and if there is that opportunity, I am afraid that the Sixth Division of Beiyang will have already crossed the Yellow River and waited outside Kaifeng. ”

Cai Ye also knew that this was a dangerous move, once he couldn't break through Ningling in time, not only would he not be able to cut off the Jinghan line, but the 103rd Brigade would be surrounded by Beiyang who came back, but before he could continue to think of a way, a voice came from behind him.

"The plan is good, just fight!"

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