Rise from the sword

Chapter 488 Spread!

Preserved fruit, Chongqing.

at dusk.

No.20 outside the eight arsenal.

There was a lot of people at the gate.

Now is the shift time, the workers of the day shift leave, and the workers of the night shift enter the factory. After all, it is a time of war, and the factory operates 24 hours a day, producing weapons and ammunition for the front line.

In the flow of people, five people walked together.

Judging from their clothes, these people should be basic engineers or technical workers. One of the older people touched his pocket and found a pile of French coins inside. After counting them, he sighed deeply:

"Heh, the wages have increased again..."

When he said this, his tone was mocking.

"After all, it has increased tenfold."

The other tone was also full of sarcasm.

The other three did not speak, but two of them also sighed together.

Obviously, although the wages have been raised, and the increase is not small, it is not a good thing.

Several of them were the first batch of engineers or skilled workers who retreated here. They came with the factory and experienced the golden age of legal currency. At that time, the purchasing power of legal currency was very strong. One hundred French currency could buy two scalpers and hold technical positions in the arsenal. Their wages are also good, and their lives are very comfortable.

However, as the war progressed, the legal currency depreciated sharply, and the speed was so fast that people were caught off guard. Sometimes, the price doubled every few days. Up to now, one hundred French currency can't buy half a chicken.

Even if their wages were five times higher than before the start of the war, these people felt that they couldn't live on. After all, prices had increased by more than a hundred times, especially for those who had families, and their lives were almost stretched.

Four of the five were moaning, and only one of the youngest said calmly:
"Hurry up and buy food, or the price will increase again."

As soon as the words fell, the original sighing expressions of the other four people disappeared instantly, like rabbits with their tails on fire, the five rushed towards the market in unison.

An hour later, several people walked out of the market carrying a small bag of grain. The older engineer who spoke at the beginning had a gloomy face:

"The price of food goes up every three days, and the purchase is still restricted. How the hell are you going to live!"

"Brother Chen, I'll give you mine. Anyway, I don't feel too much pressure on my own. You have a family to support."

Finally, the young man with a calm expression passed over the grain bag in his hand.

"Xiao Chen, this..."

Looking at the grain bag handed over, the engineer called Brother Wang hesitated.

Honestly, he wanted it.

He is 37 years old this year. There are three children in his family and two elderly people to support. Although his wife has a job, the money she earns can barely support him. The family expenses are very high, and his salary is not enough.

But wanting someone else for no reason is really...

"fine."

Xiao Chen stuffed the grain bag in his hand into Brother Chen's hand:
"Our surname is Chen. When I first entered the factory, thanks to your care..."

"Thank you···"

After hesitating for a long time, the person called Brother Chen finally accepted the grain bag.

He really needs these things.

He has not finished his university studies, and he is regarded as a technical backbone in the 28th Arsenal. He is responsible for managing a processing team, is proficient in a series of machine tool operations, and can even make targeted improvements. The wages of workers are not high.

A few people chatted and chatted and had already walked into a small alley.

"Then you..."

As soon as Brother Chen opened his mouth, he saw Xiao Chen take out a stack of exquisite papers, and lowered his tone:

"I can buy some on the black market."

The moment they saw the piece of paper in Xiao Chen's hand, the other four took a breath in unison:

"Why do you have this? There are still so many."

Acid-free paper, with the mountains in Northwest Shanxi painted in the middle, full of wheat grains and rice ears, and numbers written on the two corners of the edge, at this time, the skilled worker named Xiao Chen is holding the food coupons that Zhao Gang entrusted to Boss Chen to make .

"hey-hey."

Xiao Chen chuckled, and distributed the food coupons in his hand to the other four.

Staring at the food stamps in front of them, everyone fell into hesitation.

In the rear, the French currency is depreciating every day, the price of food is rising every day, and the money in hand is getting worse every day, but among them, there is a strange thing, and that is the exquisite food coupons in front of us.

It is said that the food coupons were issued by that group and can be directly exchanged for food.

This thing began to appear in the Chongqing area five months ago, and then it got out of hand. It can be easily exchanged for food or other supplies in the hands of any merchant.

What's more, five months have passed, and the price has not changed at all when using this as a delivery (delivery) proof (currency) certificate. The amount of grain that could be exchanged at the beginning is the same amount of grain that can be exchanged now.

The firmness is comparable to silver or even catch up with gold.

Even, this thing can be exchanged for refined white sugar.

But the problem is, this thing is strictly prohibited by the government.

But the few people did not hesitate for too long, and immediately accepted it.

Although the official order strictly prohibits the use of this thing, they actually collect a lot of it themselves, and they only said something verbally, and there is no punishment at all.

There was a period of time before that it was forcibly banned, and it was discovered that it was confiscated, but then a series of riots were triggered, and this decision was forced to be abandoned.

"How could you have this?"

The other four hid the food coupons in their hands and continued to ask.

"They gave it."

Xiao Chen said:

"In addition, they also sent me an invitation to go to the Heyuan County Arsenal."

After a pause, he continued:

"I promise."

The remaining four fell silent.

Who they are, a few people are very clear.

Before, the officials jokingly referred to those people as Tubalu, Tuhaha, it’s okay to ask for anything, and the arsenal is also a manual operation, primitive production, indigenous steelmaking, and manual forging.Fighting devils is all about swimming without striking.

But it can be seen from the food stamps that the situation is obviously different from the propaganda.

In Chongqing, prices are skyrocketing, and the legal currency is depreciating every day, while others have not changed for five months.

This shows that the supplies there are very sufficient, even unbelievably sufficient, and the military means are also very strong, which can effectively deal with the devils, otherwise it would be impossible to guarantee that the food coupons will not depreciate during the war.

The fine white sugar that circulates on the black market comes from that group.

There was a message circulating not long ago.

It is said that the group had a large number of tanks and heavy artillery. They wiped out [-] devil soldiers in World War I, forcing the devils to assemble more than [-] troops around the Zhengtai Railway to confront each other.

There are gossip rumors that they can mass-produce rifles, machine guns, mortars, shells, and even make cannons by themselves, and can refine high-quality gun steel by themselves.

Many businessmen can prove that this is true, and some small newspapers and some patriotic journals have also reported this incident, and there are photos to prove it.As for the official.

Never admitting it, or even vehemently denying it, is obviously counterproductive.

Thinking of this, a few people didn't persuade them, and the rumors said that they couldn't enjoy themselves, but it might be better to go there.Xiao Chen is only 22 years old now. He is alone and has the ideal of building for the national industry. It doesn't matter if he goes for a break.

Anyway, as the factories here became more and more corrupt, a steelmaking factory closed down before, and many skilled workers and even engineers went there.

"Are you going?"

Xiao Chen suddenly asked:

"They said, as long as"

The four hesitated for a while, and finally shook their heads.

The four of them are not young, some are married and have children, and they have parents and relatives here, so they can't just leave.

"Before you leave, remember to talk to Director Zhou."

Finally, Brother Chen exhorted.

"Ah."

Xiao Chen nodded.

The factory director is a master of technology, an expert in metallurgy and metal materials, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is very kind to him.

······
at the same time.

Director Dai's office.

bang...

There was a loud noise, the door was slammed, and Director Dai walked in with a gloomy expression, which made the calves of several people waiting in the office tremble.

The director was scolded by the old man?
Several people guessed in their hearts that the director went to see the old man before, it is said that it was because of that group of people.

"Are these facts true?"

Director Dai casually dropped a stack of documents with a gloomy tone.

Recently, the Japanese army has been making big moves in the country, mobilizing a large number of troops, mobilizing supplies, and the air force has also begun to assemble. It seems that Zizi is preparing to launch a large-scale battle. He has been busy investigating devils and spying on Japanese army intelligence, and rarely pays attention to those people.

Unexpectedly, these things happened.

In the Zhengtai Railway area of ​​Shanxi, the Japanese army mobilized more than [-] troops to attack a regiment on Tuba Road in the Zhaojiayu area, which was the site of Li Yunlong, who had weapons and ammunition provided by mysterious forces.

The result of the battle also exceeded everyone's expectations. Instead of winning, more than 8000 Japanese troops suffered heavy losses, with over [-] casualties, and nearly [-] Japanese troops were killed.

and.

After investigation, it turned out to be a fact without any exaggeration.

After this campaign, that group became famous, and they helped the victims on a large scale and attracted the fleeing people. Their reputation was already very good, and it immediately attracted many talents to join them, and they couldn't stop them.

When he realized that something was wrong, he mobilized his energy to investigate carefully. As soon as the result came out, he was invited to drink tea and scolded severely.

"The news is true."

The subordinate bowed his head and replied.

"Damn."

Director Dai's face was gloomy.

According to the collected information, there is a machinery factory on Tuba Road in Zhaojiayu, and its technical level is very high. It can produce many weapons, machinery and equipment, and even high-quality gun steel. It can be called the mother of industry.

After occupying Heyuan County, a large-scale industrial base was even established, far exceeding the Taiyuan Arsenal at its peak.

This is really not good news.

Also, they have hundreds of tanks and hundreds of half-tracks.

"Check it out for me."

Director Dai looked gloomy:
"Investigate that Chen Fan, use all your strength to investigate this person for me."

Only at this moment did the subordinates in the room realize that there was a bright slap print on the face of the director. The room was too dark before, and the director kept his head down, so he didn't notice it.

"Yes."

Several people quickly lowered their heads.

"in addition."

Director Dai continued:
"Strictly monitor all technicians and prohibit outflow."

He still remembered that those people were recruiting technicians everywhere, and they even reached out to them.

"Yes."

Several people quickly agreed.

······
the other side.

The 772 regiment is stationed.

Cheng Shifa inspected the troops. He is in a very good mood recently.

Not long ago, the brigade headquarters assembled him and two other regiments that had changed their costumes, and wiped out a brigade full of devils in one fell swoop, killing a total of 1000 or two hundred devils, and the troops they used were only the artillery battalion of the brigade headquarters, and three main force.

The total strength is 7000 people.

One of the regiments served as a reserve, and two battalions did not participate in the battle.

In other words, 6000 of them wiped out a brigade of 1000 to [-] devils, and they eliminated it quickly, ending the battle before the devil's reinforcements could react.

This was unimaginable before.

Although there were not many captured, the devils resisted stubbornly, and two [-]-style mountain artillery were blown up, resulting in very little captured, but now he doesn't care about the captured.

The 772 regiment has a new Mauser rifle, and the Czech modification has been popularized to the squad, and it is supported by dozens of 60 and 82 mortars.There are even two large-caliber heavy machine guns and two Type [-] infantry guns.

I can't look down on those devils anymore.

What can make his heart move now is either the 75 mountain artillery or the 120 large caliber mortar like Li Yunlong.This is the real regimental artillery.

This is no fantasy.

Although these artillery pieces currently belong to the artillery battalion of the brigade headquarters.

But as far as he knows, with Zhao Jiayu's technical support and equipment support, Zhang Wanhe is organizing the manufacture of 75 mountain guns and 120 mortar guns, and the sample guns have reached the testing stage and will be put into production soon.

As for the shells, after the fuze problem was solved, the production lines were all set up, and quite a few had even been produced.

And a week ago, the superior ordered him to organize the artillery crew to receive the new artillery, explaining that after a period of time, his regiment would have an artillery company of an independent regiment equipped with 120 mortars or 75 mountain artillery.

"Captain."

At this time, a correspondent from the regiment headquarters ran over and said to Cheng Shifa:
"The artillery team that went to the headquarters for training has returned, and brought back five artillery pieces. The person in charge of transportation who came with them asked you to receive them."

"Great."

Cheng Shifa's eyes lit up, and he immediately led people to the regiment headquarters.

Five cannons.

Enough to form a real battery of artillery.

Soon, Cheng Shifa walked to the carriageway, and saw the gun crew he sent out in the distance, five artillery pieces pulled by big mules, and the shell transport cart behind them also pulled by big mules.

The moment he saw these cannons, Cheng Shi was stunned.

He knew these guns.

L24 Bofors Mountain Cannon, the artillery of Li Yunlong's army, he has been coveting for a long time.

"Five artillery pieces, [-] rounds of shells, sign for receipt."

The captain of the transport team at the headquarters responsible for the delivery said.

After signing for the receipt, Cheng Shifa couldn't help asking:
"These guns are..."

"There are a total of one hundred, half of which are reserved for the artillery units directly under it, and fifty for each main regiment."

The captain in charge of transportation said.

　Water first, water first, lower grades...

　　A new episode will start next month.

　　The survival of this book is entirely due to the editor.

　　What I will write next is the Battle of Ping'an County and the follow-up offensive, etc. With such a good weapon and such sufficient ammunition, I can't just stay in the mountains all the time.

　　The follow-up plot is large-scale and some violate the rules, and then, it is written slowly and quietly.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)