Chapter 52 Military Production

The production of artillery, especially heavy artillery, is definitely the best way to reflect the level of industrial manufacturing in a country!

From the artillery steel to forging and forming, after turning, milling, planing and other processes grinding, hundreds of processes, involving dozens of technologies, without a little industrial heritage, no matter what, it will not be able to produce qualified large-caliber heavy artillery!

Without the skilled workers of the Anqing Ordnance Institute of the Gun Bureau of the Mawei Shipyard as a basis, even with the technical drawings and production processes he provided, large-caliber army guns and more demanding naval guns would not have been produced so quickly.

It's a pity that one year is too short, although he has done his best to train Huo Jiajun's own workers! But now he is only able to put the machinery and equipment he purchased before into good operation! Otherwise, he occupies such a large territory in Nanyang and has abundant resources, how can the five-year industrial development plan be only so little, it is really too lacking of high-level skilled workers, and it takes a lot of time to train himself!

Hearing the young master's words, Huo Long couldn't help but feel bitter, "What the young master said is that on the basis of the existing output of the arsenal, and if the navy must first ensure the amount of use, the army will only be equipped with half of the heavy artillery when the plan is completed in 85! However, if the large-scale equipment development of the Academy of Sciences can be solved in advance, and our own skilled technicians can increase in large quantities, then our artillery output will soon be able to rise!"

Seeing Huo Long, the head of the military department, looking at him expectantly, Xu Jianyin couldn't help but smile and said: "Don't look at me, the young master also knows that the research and development of new technologies requires a gradual process, don't look at the five-year plan that has been formulated now, but even I don't have the confidence to complete it in these five years!"

"Yun Feng, your armament department is now in charge of our military factory, what is its annual output now?" Huo Shan ignored Minister Huo's pitiful eyes and asked with a smile.

"After our one-year expansion, now our Taiping Military Factory is able to produce 100,000 rifles, 20,000 pistols, 1 million grenades, 200 light machine guns, 80 heavy machine guns, 220 60 mortars, 80 82mm mortars, 60 70mm infantry guns, 40 105mm howitzers and cannons, 25 152mm heavy howitzers, 15 203mm heavy guns, 10 254mm heavy guns! Of course, this is mainly army weapons and heavy shore defense artillery, and we did not count the naval guns needed by the navy!"

"In addition, our gunpowder factory is capable of producing 500 tons of new smokeless gunpowder per year, and the ammunition factory is capable of producing 100 million rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 1 million rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition, 500,000 rounds of 12.7mm heavy machine gun ammunition, 100,000 rounds of 37mm naval speed shells, 300,000 rounds of 60mm mortar shells, 100,000 rounds of 70mm infantry shells, 50,000 rounds of 82mm mortar shells, 20,000 rounds of 105mm heavy artillery shells, 20,000 rounds of 130mm naval heavy artillery shells, 12,000 rounds of 152mm heavy artillery shells, 8,000 rounds of 203mm heavy artillery shells, and 2,000 rounds of 254mm heavy artillery shells！”

"We have been able to produce heavy guns of more than 200mm caliber?" asked Huang Sheng differently, just now he remembered that Xu Jianyin's five-year plan had a 203mm naval gun development plan!

Hearing the meaning of his words, Xu Jianyin explained with a smile: "The 203mm naval gun we developed is a new type of naval gun with a double sleeve, 45 times the caliber, an effective range of 15,000m, a muzzle velocity of 705m/s, and a service life of 300 rounds, not a new type of coastal defense gun with only 30 times the diameter!"

Huo Shan nodded clearly, every time the naval gun is increased by a double diameter, then its shè range, the muzzle velocity of the gun, and the shear force of the projectile will be increased by one level, and of course the money will be spent more! After all, the manufacture of each barrel has to go through dozens of processes, and the technologies gathered on it are even more numerous! All of these will take a lot of time and effort, which will also increase its cost!

After Li Yunfeng finished speaking, Huo Shan lowered his head and thought for a while and said: "We should not continue to expand the scale of our Taiping Arsenal in Taipei, but build a new Tainan Arsenal in the Tainan area! In addition, we will separate the naval artillery production of the navy and set up a naval artillery production factory specially subordinate to the navy! Strive to double the current output of weapons and equipment within one to two years! Count all this into how much your army will need in five years!" Let's say here that Huo Jiajun's arsenal is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, but is subordinate to the General Armament Department!

"The training of the troops, the replenishment of ammunition, the installation of new equipment, and the expansion of the arsenal, we need 150 million taels in five years, of course, this is under the conditions of external peace and no war!" After several people got together and counted for a while, Huo Long stood up and said.

Hearing his words, Huo Shan nodded clearly, the average annual army allocation of 30 million is not too big for the Huo family army, which is being vigorously developed!

"What about the Navy?"

"According to the area of the sea area under our current control, if we want to ensure their safety, our navy needs at least 100 destroyers, but our navy has limited personnel and funds, so within five years we will build five batches of general-class destroyers at a rate of eight ships each! Of course, he will gradually improve with the progress of technology! In addition, after the launch of the new cruisers next year, we will build 20 light cruisers in four batches of four ships each! If conditions permit, we will build the first batch of four heavy cruisers with a displacement of more than 8,000 tons and a caliber of more than 200mm guns in 85!" Huo Long said with a red face. It is no wonder that he is like this, in the past, the navy only had sail training ships, and the two warships that finally captured the Dutch were broken and even the navy itself took a fancy to them, but now it is okay, the navy can finally build ships on a large scale! This made Huo Long, who was in charge of the navy not long ago, very excited!

However, Huo Shan didn't look at his excited face, but turned his head to look at Xu Jianyin on the side!

"Our naval design department is capable of building warships of about 5000 tons?"

Looking at his appearance, Xu Jianyin said with a smile: "Not yet, but in the next year and a year to precipitate, it should be fine!" Although he has now become the minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and is still in charge of the Academy of Sciences! However, he has not given up his previous preference for building ships, and he still likes to go around the shipyard twice whenever he has time! Therefore, he still knows very well about the progress of the ship design department!

Looking at the serious expression on his face, Huo Shan couldn't help but touch his smooth chin with some excitement! Knowing that since Xu Jianyin said so, he was sure! In terms of character and reputation, these modern Chinese scientists are absolutely commendable and trustworthy!

As a matter of fact, Huo Shan somewhat underestimated China's shipbuilding industry now, and Mawei Shipbuilding is known as China's No. 1 shipyard! Its strength in both warship design and construction is good, and it is also top-notch in the entire Far East!

In the nearly 20 years since the establishment of the shipyard, the team of workers trained through a large number of shipbuilding and the outstanding ship designers trained in the Mawei Shipbuilding School, coupled with the advanced technology and ideas that Huo Shan usually gives! All these have combined to form the current situation of rapid development of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry!

You must know that after the equipment of Keelung Shipyard and Kaohsiung Shipyard was commissioned, eight 3,000-ton cargo ships have been built for the Huo family's steamship company, on the one hand, it is self-built to save money, and on the other hand, it is also to train the shipyard's own shipbuilders. Now, these ships will all be launched in about half a year, if it weren't for the fact that the two shipyards have not yet had the technology and experience to manufacture 10,000-ton ships, Huoshan would definitely not hand over the order to foreign countries!

"Okay, I see! With all that said, it's time to talk about your navy's funding, right?"

"Young Master, isn't this finished yet?" Huo Long replied confidently.

"Say, what else?" Huo Shan asked angrily.

"Hehe, we will resolutely carry out the young master's order, and our navy will build four marine divisions, one special force, and a total of about 80,000 amphibious combat units! In addition, we will also build 13 naval bases in Penghu, Kuching, Samarinda, Manado, Ambon, Malaochi, Majuro, Quanzhou (Rabaul), Port Vila, Funafuti, Pago Pago, Christmas Island (Pacific), Avarua, and Pitcairn Island bases! Plus the 13 naval bases we have already built in Keelung, Kaohsiung, Saipan, Guam, Truk, There are a total of 21 naval bases in Nauru, Sanya and Taiping Island, and more than 600 coastal defense heavy guns with a caliber of more than 100mm are needed!"

"You wait first! I heard you say that you have occupied all those islands in the Pacific Ocean?" Huo Shan interrupted him and asked with some surprise.

At present, almost all the countries on the Pacific coast are in a state of poverty and backwardness, and even the western part of the United States is still the same desolate! Therefore, there are hardly many passengers and cargo ships in the busy Pacific Ocean in later generations! Therefore, these islands in the Pacific Ocean are not too valued by European countries, otherwise the great powers would not have gradually begun to occupy these small islands until after 1884 because of their greed for colonies! Moreover, the Americans, who were still second-class citizens at that time, would not be allowed to occupy such a sea choke point as Hawaii!

Hearing the young master's words, Huo Long couldn't help frowning, there are few big islands in the Pacific Ocean, except for a few natives, the resources are even more scarce, I don't know why the young master would take a fancy to this!

"Yes! According to the young master's orders, we have drawn troops from Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, our earliest developed provinces, and the 40,000 marines who have completed training, forming a total of four divisions and nearly 80,000 troops, and occupying these islands in three months. ”

"Have you run into the fleets or navies of Britain and France?" Huo Shan then asked.

"The British did not run into them, but on the islands of New Caledonia, the Society Islands, and the Marquesas Islands, some of the old French cruisers!

After listening, Huo Shan nodded, and said secretly in his heart: "It seems that his arrival has not changed this part of history, and the British have not noticed this place!