After studying Xu Shao'an's secret letter, Zhang Weixin held up another copy of the newspaper and said, "This is the only one of the three telegrams I received just now that we don't need to discuss. ”

Zhang Weixin paused slightly when he said this, and when he saw that all the brothers were looking at him with questioning eyes, he explained: "This telegram was sent by the eldest brother, and it was about the manufacture of weapons. ”

"We only came back from the 'Liangyuan' a few days ago, and the eldest brother didn't say anything new about the recent weapons manufacturing, but it is possible that the situation has changed significantly in just a few days," Wang Kunjun asked puzzled.

"Fifth brother guessed right," Zhang Weixin echoed, "According to what the eldest brother said in the telegram, it was in the days after we left that the mechanical department, the weapons department, and the materials department worked together and made significant progress. ”

"What significant progress?" Wang Kunjun asked.

"Through the unremitting efforts of the brothers, a hydraulic stamping machine has been developed, which solves the problem of processing rifle bullets, so that we have the ability to produce new bullets, and the 'Flying Dragon Pioneer Battalion' no longer has jishu obstacles to equip rifles." Zhang Weixin announced with a little excitement.

"This news is so exciting!" Liang Ziyue swung his fist excitedly.

The others also looked very happy, high-fiveing each other in celebration. However, after a short period of excitement, Wang Kunjun found the problem in Zhang Weixin's sentence just now, and asked: "Old Seven, you just said that the eldest brother said in the telegram that there is no problem with the armament of the rifle, so the implication is that there are other problems?" ”

Zhang Weixin admired Wang Kunjun's carefulness, he nodded and said, "The fifth brother is really careful, and even found this difference." Yes, while the eldest brother announced in the telegram that the jishu obstacle had been resolved, he also raised other problems that needed to be solved urgently. If this problem is not solved, then it will be quite difficult to equip rifles on a large scale. ”

"What's the problem? Could it be that the quantity of new gunpowder provided by Lao Jiu is insufficient, or is the third brother's steel production insufficient? Wang Kunjun asked.

"Neither," Zhang Weixin shook his head, "Whether it is steel or new gunpowder, the output can meet the requirements." According to the eldest brother in the telegram, the raw materials provided by the Chemical and Materials Sections were enough for the Weapons Section to produce 300 rifles and nearly 100,000 rounds of ammunition every month -- and this was still on the basis of the limited scale of existing production and the limited number of workers. Now the bottleneck that limits the mass armament of rifles is on brass, the raw material for the production of cartridge cases. ”

"Brass?" Liang Ziyue interjected, "I have the impression that in the previous life, weren't the bullets used by our army all steel and copper-plated? You shouldn't need too much brass, right? ”

Zhang Weixin waved his hand when he heard this, and said: "I am a layman in this regard, and I don't know much about this, but, according to what the eldest brother said in the telegram, the outer layer of the bullet warhead and the shell case we are producing now are made of copper, and no steel is used. In this way, the problem arises. On the one hand, China itself is a country with few copper resources, and in ancient times, when Jishu conditions were limited, the annual copper production was even lower. On the other hand, the main currency of this era was copper coins, and no matter which country's government, copper was very strict, and the people could obtain even less copper.

At present, the copper raw materials for the manufacture of bullets in the weapons section are obtained from melted copper coins and a small amount of copper objects, but this is not a long-term solution. The main reason is that the raw materials are limited, and to make a bullet, you need to use two copper coins like haode or more than three copper coins like the copper coins in the poor. Combined with other raw materials and processing costs, the cost of each bullet is 5 to 6 yuan. In this way, if you make 100,000 rounds of ammunition a month, you will need 500,000 to 600,000 yuan, that is, 500 to 600 yuan, of which about half will be melted.

Although these expenses are only a drop in the bucket for us, they are actually a big burden. Our most profitable trades, such as glass, salt, pig iron, etc., because the transaction amount is very huge, so business partners or the government generally use gold and silver of higher value to pay the bill, and rarely use copper coins. Although the business of grain and rice stores and restaurants is mainly to collect copper coins, it is necessary to leave a certain amount of copper coins in the store for turnover, and secondly, when these stores purchase various raw materials, because the amount is not particularly large, they are also mainly paid copper coins.

As a result, the amount of copper coins we have in balance each month is actually quite limited. In addition to the necessary liquidity, there is even less that can be used to make bullets. The fifth brother is now in charge of the finance department, and he should know this better than me. ”,

"Lao Qi is right," Wang Kunjun continued, "Although our monthly income is huge, the transaction amount of copper coins is very limited. Take this year as an example, we have an income of 40,000 or 50,000 yuan per month, of which more than 1,000 copper coins. In addition to the necessary reserves, a maximum of 100 to 150 copper coins can be given each month for the weapons section to melt down and use for ammunition. According to the consumption mentioned by Lao Qi just now, these copper coins are melted, which is enough to make 20,000 or 30,000 rounds of ammunition. This figure does not even reach a third of the existing production capacity. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kunjun paused, paused the topic of bullet production, and said to Liang Ziyue: "I think about the matter of the eighth brother requesting someone to review the new suspected traverser, or the twenty-eighth brother, you should do it yourself." If you don't have anything else important on your hands, set off for Kaifeng as soon as possible. ”

"Haode," Liang Ziyue replied, "There is nothing important about the internal affairs department recently, and I will leave in two days." ”

Wang Kunjun nodded, turned to Zhang Weixin again, and said: "It seems that the sentence you started to say is going to be changed-this telegram is not the only one that does not need to be discussed, on the contrary, the content of this telegram is absolutely necessary to be discussed at the committee meeting. I don't think it's too late, let's go to the 'Cool Garden' tomorrow and discuss the bullet matter carefully with my eldest brother." When the time comes, call the old twenty-five too, and let's have a committee meeting to discuss it. ”

Zhang Weixin nodded yes, and then got up and sent a telegram to the "Liangyuan" and "Jingyuan", informing them of Wang Kunjun's proposal to ask the committee to meet to discuss the bullet issue.

The next day, on the ninth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, Wang Kunjun and Zhang Weixin left the "Qingyuan" early in the morning and rushed to the "Liangyuan" around noon to join Li Junwu and Yang Xin, who had arrived in advance.

After lunch, the four of them got together and called the heads of various departments of the Ministry of Science and Technology to discuss the issue of bullet production. As the person in charge of the relevant work, Li Junwu first introduced the achievements made by the various sections of the Ministry of Science and Technology in the production process of bullets, and then reiterated the difficulties raised in the telegram the day before -- because of the lack of sufficient copper, it will be difficult to produce a high number of bullets.

Li Junwu's figure is similar to what Wang Kunjun had speculated, and he said that with the availability of copper materials, he could produce about 30,000 rounds of ammunition per month. This may seem like a large number, but in fact it can only meet the needs of daily training and low-intensity combat -- with a monthly output of 300 rifles, each gun can only be equipped with 100 rounds of ammunition, and if the consumption of peacetime training is removed, I am afraid that in wartime, an average gun can have 100 rounds of ammunition. Although this point of bullet can meet the needs of a large-scale battle of hundreds to thousands of people, the goal of the crossing team is to base itself on the Northern Expedition of the Zhou Army in three years or earlier, when they will face a large-scale war of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

Such a big war, after a battle, is not enough without millions of bullets. Not to mention, the Weapons Section is now full of confidence, not only is it stepping up the research and development of rifled artillery, but even repeated-fire weapons such as machine guns have been put on the agenda. Once such a repeating weapon is developed, the consumption of ammunition will increase exponentially - and it may take a long time to achieve this goal, but it is always necessary to prepare for a rainy day.

After listening to Li Junwu's introduction, Wang Kunjun and Zhang Weixin both felt that the meeting was very necessary and timely. If these problems are not solved now, then when the Zhou army starts the Northern Expedition, its own armed forces may not be able to fully exert their combat effectiveness due to lack of ammunition. In that case, the benefits that the crossing team could get from the Later Zhou court would be much reduced, and some of the committee's ideas might not be realized.

However, because they are laymen, Wang Kunjun and Zhang Weixin did not take the lead in expressing their opinions, but hoped that the other brothers present would give full play to their professional advantages and provide appropriate solutions to the problem.

Yang Xin was the first to speak, but instead of giving a solution, he asked: "Big brother, when I was in the army before, I also had some understanding of ammunition production. As far as I know, in the previous China, due to the lack of copper resources, in the later production of bullets and shells, brass was no longer used, but steel was used to produce shells. I don't know, now the Ministry of Science and Technology has the capacity to produce steel-hulled ammunition? ”,

After hearing this, Li Junwu first nodded, then shook his head and said, "You are right, in the previous life, China did use steel to make bullet shells. However, that was achieved by many scientific and technological workers on the military front after a long period of research, shiyan, and the use of production technology, production tools, and production materials that are far more advanced than ours now. To put it mildly, with our current ability, don't say that before Chai Rong's Northern Expedition, even if it takes another twenty or thirty years, we may not be able to use this kind of jishu. ”

"Big brother is right," Zhou Lei agreed, "In the previous life, with the level of scientific research and production, it took China a long time to master the production of steel-shelled bullets and shells, not to mention our current conditions." ”

"Is there any country around China that has more copper, and we can try to mine there to solve the contradiction of lack of resources. After all, many places are borderlands now, and there are many places that belong to a certain country but are not being developed for reasons such as jishu or exploration. Zhang Weixin put forward his own views in a timely manner.

"Yes, there is, but if you really want to mine it, I'm afraid that it is not as difficult as developing a steel-shelled bomb," Yu Wende replied, "According to some information in the previous life, in Central Asia, there is a large copper ore belt north of Lake Balkhash, which is rich in reserves. In addition, there is also a large copper mine in the Erdenet region at the northern foot of the Hangai Mountains in Mongolia. However, just because we have copper doesn't mean we can mine it. Although I don't know much about the state of the country in this era, I don't think these two places are borderlands. ”

"It's really not a borderless land" Zhang Weixin shook his head with some disappointment, "Mongolia in the previous life is now under the jurisdiction of Shangjing Dao of Liao State, and the Hangai Mountain that the third brother said should now be called Wushan, which is the territory of the Northern Zhubu tribe." The Zhubu tribe can be regarded as the ancestors of the Mongols, although they are vassals to the Liao State, but in fact they are quite independent. Jishu and natural conditions aside, it is not easy to convince these diviners to agree to open a mine. Not to mention, for a nomadic area that has always been considered to lack mineral deposits, how could the Liao court allow us to mine a huge copper mine and ignore it.

As for the Balkhash Lake region in Central Asia mentioned by the third brother, it is even less to consider. It was now supposed to be Uighur territory, and the conditions were far worse than those on the side of Hangaishan, both in terms of distance and political shili. ”

Zhang Weixin's explanation actually denied his own proposal, and the meeting fell into a dead end for a while.

After a while, Wang Kunjun spoke again: "Since external resources are difficult to use for a while, then we can only base ourselves on the domestic market." As far as the third brother knows, what are the relatively large copper mines in China? ”

Yu Wende thought for a moment and said: "There are four or five super-large copper mines in China, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet. However, as far as the current conditions are concerned, I am afraid that only the Dexing copper mine in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province can be used. ”

"Shangrao, Jiangxi should now belong to the territory of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and if you transport copper as a strategic resource to Youzhou from there, you need to cross the three countries, which is a bit difficult." Zhang Weixin answered.

"No matter how difficult it is, it is easier than opening copper mines in Mongolia and Central Asia," Wang Kunjun waved his hand, "Although there are many countries along the way, at least they are all areas controlled by the Han people, and the Han officials are far more rule-oriented than those barbarians in the north." As long as the dots are in place, you can use real money to smash out a copper transportation channel, without worrying that the other party will take your money and kill your people and rob your goods. ”

"If the copper is brought from the south, it can meet our needs for a certain period of time. However, although I don't know much about the difference in copper prices and freight between the two places, I am afraid that the cost of bullets is much higher than the original one. Yu Wende said with some concern.

"It's okay," Wang Kunjun waved his hand and said, "What we lack now is not money, but copper." As long as the production of bullets can be guaranteed, it doesn't matter if you spend a little more. The solution of bullet production made Wang Kunjun see the hope of realizing the team's next strategic goal, and also made him firm in his determination to achieve this goal. Therefore, at this time, his attitude became extremely resolute, and his decisions were also extremely decisive.

Wang's resoluteness and decisiveness also influenced others, so the committee quickly agreed on a resolution to go south to Jiangxi to purchase copper. However, considering that the distance was too far for direct radio communication, Wang Kunjun and other committee members did not agree to Yu Wende's self-recommendation in the selection of people to go south to Jiangxi, but decided to send a few trusted local treasurers and associates. In the future, the team will set up a communication relay station at a suitable location south of Kaifeng, and then consider sending their own brothers to take up the town there.

However, because the process of buying copper in the south will be very cumbersome and take a long time in between, the committee also made a decision to increase the amount of gold and silver exchanged for copper coins by providing preferential treatment. In order to attract those merchants from afar to exchange their copper coins with the "Qingyuan" brothers for gold and silver, so as to increase the team's copper coin income.

At this point, the discussion on copper resources has basically come to an end. At the meeting, Wang Kunjun, who is also in charge of the finance department, agreed to allocate 45,000 yuan to the weapons department and other relevant departments as soon as possible for the production of 2,000 "55" rifles and 200,000 rounds of ammunition by the end of the year. This money can be said to be the largest of all the payments signed by Wang Kunjun since the crossing.

With the money, the raw materials can temporarily ensure the minimum demand, and the only thing left is production. Thus, from that day until the end of the year, all personnel of the Ministry of Science and Technology involved in the production of weapons, including traversers and local craftsmen, entered a state of full capacity, working at full capacity to complete the production tasks.

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