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Chapter 1453 Side Path 3
It's actually not that complicated. There's no need to steal or hide. Just increase the scrap rate slightly, but not to the limit set by the General Staff, and you can magically produce some extra guns and ammunition that shouldn't exist each month.

The personnel dispatched by the General Staff to the factory were also negligent, focusing only on the warehouse while neglecting the destruction and recycling of waste products, which allowed a treacherous insider to take advantage of the situation.

Of course, not just anyone could exploit this loophole except for Jia Yihui, who was in charge of the actual operation and management. But a loophole is still a loophole, and it lasted for several years, truly feeding a group of fat rats.

That's right, it's a whole group, not just a few! Wang Da Guanren's business not only had supplies from Jin County Arsenal, but several private arsenals were already engaged in this illegal activity before he dragged Jia Yihui into it.

However, these companies are relatively small in scale and their product range is not rich enough. Most of the time, they have to piece together parts to assemble a complete gun, and the quality is much worse.

But the story didn't end there; on the contrary, it was just beginning. Despite being a small landlord from an inland mountain village who hadn't seen much of the world in his early life, Jia Yihui was a strong-willed man, a quick learner, and had an insatiable thirst for money.

After doing smuggling business with Wang Da Guan Ren for more than three years, he gradually became dissatisfied with just being a supplier. By this time, Jia Yi Hui had figured out the ins and outs of the maritime trade and had gotten to know many merchants in the field. After a period of hard work and perseverance, he finally made his move two years ago.

Using his connections in the arms industry, Jia Yihui secretly contacted several private arms factories and two maritime trade associations to start anew, partially breaking away from Wang Daguanren and launching his own smuggling business, expanding his clientele to Southeast Asian countries.

By this time, he had fully consolidated his power, with funds, connections, and supplies all in place. Even if Wang Da Guanren was unwilling, he would find it difficult to resist. Fortunately, Jia Yihui was quite adept at interpersonal relationships and did not completely abandon this guide. He would occasionally provide Wang Da Guanren with some supplies, making him a strategic partner in a sense.

In just two years, Jia Yihui made a fortune by smuggling firearms. This is when his extraordinary talent was revealed. Although his income was several times that of before, he did not show it. He continued to live his life as usual, and no outsider could tell that he had made a fortune.

But instead of burying the silver coins he earned to rust and play with, he used them to continue investing, this time in the arsenal. To make it easier to take advantage of his proximity to the government, he arranged for his grand-nephew to buy property in the capital, and he frequently visited the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and the General Staff.

Upon learning of any private arms factories struggling financially or lacking the resources to upgrade their outdated equipment, we would immediately send someone with a purchase order to visit them. The answer was simple: acquisition! After purchasing, we would replace the equipment as needed and organize training for the skilled workers without delay, ensuring production was quickly restored.

This earned them numerous compliments from the heads of various departments. After that, they wouldn't wait to be asked about similar news; they would proactively provide it to the Jia family, eager for them to acquire everything. Partnering with a capable and efficient employer is so much easier; investors make money, and managers maintain performance—a win-win situation.

But no one expected that the seemingly upright and righteous Master Jia was secretly engaged in petty theft. In order to leave as much raw material as possible for his own goods in the normal production process, he had no shortage of ideas on cutting corners.

After years of practical experience, they have developed several new production processes. As long as you follow their methods, you are guaranteed to produce products on time and in the required quantity, with a pass rate within acceptable limits. Furthermore, these processes save on raw materials compared to the standards set by the General Staff Department, and are difficult to detect.

For example, reducing the propellant charge in standard paper-cased and copper-cased cartridges and then mixing in inferior, self-prepared propellant to increase the weight, creating the illusion that the entire cartridge is of acceptable quality. As long as the reduction isn't too drastic, it will still fire normally during random checks, making it impossible to detect. Another example is remelting finished gun barrels purchased from foundries, adding some commercially available ordinary steel. As long as the proportions are controlled, it's difficult to tell the difference with the naked eye after manufacturing. The durability will certainly be somewhat inferior, but that will only become apparent much later.

In reality, once a firearm is in the hands of a soldier, as long as it is not used particularly harshly and is maintained in a timely manner, a slight difference in quality will not be particularly noticeable, and most people will probably not pay attention to it.

As for what to do with the firearms submitted for inspection and those subject to random checks, that's easy. Once we know when the higher-ups are coming to conduct inspections, we simply won't be handling counterfeit goods for the two days before and after. Let them check as they please; we'll guarantee they're all qualified products. We absolutely cannot tarnish Mr. Jia's reputation!
How did he know when someone would come for a spot check? That's why he sent his grand-nephew and Jia Rong to be stationed in the capital, frequently visiting the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and the General Staff Headquarters. Don't misunderstand, bribery was definitely not feasible; with the Statistics Department, the Military Police, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Emperor's spies watching, doing so would be too risky.

In reality, there's no need for anyone to tip you off. As long as you get to know the staff in these departments well, and can often sit together, drink tea, and chat, you can roughly guess when there will be an inspection based on just a few words and mutual verification.

When you've been in an industry for a long time and have seen this kind of thing a lot, you can even guess who's going down to do the interrogation this time, with pretty much a high degree of accuracy. That's what you call being able to predict the unexpected.

If things continue this way, there's a high probability that nothing will go wrong for a long time. But as the old saying goes, greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Greed is deeply ingrained in human nature; once it's out of control, it will spread like a dam bursting.

Jia Yihui is indeed very smart, but he clearly hasn't reached Hong Tao's level of understanding and self-control in terms of human nature. When success comes one after another, he starts to feel lost and can't figure out his place.

Then, the dozens of guns and thousands of bullets he had each month could no longer satisfy his greed. He kept thinking that having two more guns or a hundred more bullets would be fine, and eventually he drove himself to his doom.

With the approach of the Eurasian War, the Western Regions quickly became an important war zone. Large quantities of military equipment, ammunition, and supplies were transported to the front lines. As the most important transit point in the west, Lanzhou saw mountains of various essential materials pile up, and the Jin County Arsenal also ushered in its golden age.

Based on the principle of being in a favorable position, the firearms and ammunition produced by the company can be sent to the troops without undergoing strict random inspections. They also make exceptions for raw materials, purchasing them only when needed, as long as they match the inventory list.

This made Jia Yihui and his men very happy. They went from secretly and timidly operating on a small scale to developing their business on a large scale and at a rapid pace. In the first half of the year, the Jin County Arsenal produced an extra 3000 guns and more than 2 rounds of ammunition, all of which were sold to Southeast Asia by sea.

On two occasions, in order to sell them at higher prices, he audaciously switched out the reserve weapons that the General Staff was temporarily storing in the warehouse and ready to be shipped to the front lines at any time, and urgently transported them overseas for profit.

(End of this chapter)