Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 378 The G Army is just too damn suitable for me
"Is this a rocket launcher? You're developing your own rocket launcher?"

Sergei could hardly believe his eyes.

How can rocket artillery be developed and produced in such a terrible environment?

Wen Ying hadn't expected that this old Russian had such a sharp eye.

The pile in the corner now is just a bunch of semi-finished parts.

The only finished product was a shell casing, which is what we plan to use for today's experiment.

"We are indeed trying, but we haven't succeeded yet," Wen Ying said without denying it.

“You made the right choice,” Ivan said confidently from the side.
"Rocket artillery is the future direction of development."

Soviet Russia had its own rocket artillery, so Ivan and Sergei simply expressed disbelief without thinking too deeply about it.

This shell is only about 100 millimeters in diameter, far inferior to the 132mm rocket launchers they have.

Moreover, given China's current industrial capabilities, even if rocket artillery were invented, there would be no platform to mount it.

After touring the arsenal, Sergei brought up the rocket launcher blueprints again.

"Alright, you two take a rest first. I need to discuss something with the weapons developer."

"Weiguo, please help me receive my last two friends," Chen Chengxing said.

"yes!".
Sergei and Ivan knew that Chen Chengxing couldn't take them, so they didn't struggle.

"I hope for a good outcome," Sergei said.

"Please rest assured, I will do my best," Chen Chengxing said.

"Thanks!".
Watching the two leave, Chen Chengxing immediately took Zhang Wanhe to Wen Ying's office.

Wen Ying is currently in the workshop, instructing the workers to collect the previously discarded parts.

These items were specifically displayed for Sergei and Ivan to see.

True production was already standardized and streamlined back in the Erlangdong era.

"Minister Zhang, what's going on?" Chen Chengxing asked directly.

"Sigh, you know what happened in the Northeast. We got a lot of benefits from the Soviet army, but the leaders can't bring themselves to say anything," Zhang Wanhe said helplessly.

Chiang Kai-shek signed an agreement with Soviet Russia, exchanging Outer Mongolia for Northeast China.

According to the agreement, the Soviet army was supposed to hand over Northeast China to the Kuomintang and then withdraw from Northeast China on December 1st of last year.

However, due to the relationship between China and the Soviet Union, and the fact that the United States ignored warnings and returned to the North China coast,

The Soviet army ultimately acquiesced to the entry of the G army into Northeast China.

As a result, Chiang Kai-shek turned against the Soviet Union and stopped taking over Northeast China, which put the Soviet Union in a passive diplomatic position.

In an effort to save face internationally, the Soviet army demanded that the G army withdraw from major cities.

However, Chiang Kai-shek's insistence on bringing the United States into Northeast China touched upon the fundamental interests of Soviet Russia.

The Soviet army chose to allocate a number of Japanese munitions depots to the G army, containing hundreds of thousands of guns and thousands of artillery pieces.

Although the Soviet Union had its own agenda, it is true that the Chinese army gained a great advantage.

"I've heard about what happened in the Northeast." Chen Chengxing nodded.

"But what do the higher-ups think?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"We will definitely give it, but we can't give it away for nothing," Zhang Wanhe set the tone first.

The more strained the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States in Europe, the better. The more tense their relationship, the less attention they would pay to China.

Chen Chengxing thought for a moment and said, "Since we're going to give it away, I think we can use it to exchange for some seamless steel pipes."

"Seamless steel pipe?" Zhang Wanhe didn't expect Chen Chengxing to say this.

"We are currently mainly light infantry. With seamless steel pipes, we can easily produce mortars and rocket launchers."

"This has significantly boosted our combat effectiveness."

"Moreover, the rocket launcher that Wen Ying is developing also requires seamless steel pipes," Chen Chengxing said.

Seamless steel pipes are an incredibly awesome thing.

China's first seamless steel pipe plant even opened its own chapter in history.

If seamless steel pipes could be obtained, even if it required spending money, it would be a major boon for the G army.

Mortars and rocket launchers can be rapidly deployed to various units.

Whether it was the War of Liberation or the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, it played a huge role.

“I understand, I will report your idea.” Zhang Wanhe nodded.

Although he was the head of the logistics department, he was not as professional as Chen Chengxing and his wife when it came to weapons.

The next day, Zhang Wanhe found Sergei and Ivan.

"Gentlemen, these are the demands made by the other party." Zhang Wanhe handed a piece of paper to Sergei.

Sergei opened it and immediately shook his head repeatedly.

"We absolutely cannot agree to this. There's enough stuff to open a new arsenal!"

Sergei knew, of course, that there were China's ulterior motives involved, but he didn't expect there to be so many.

Although the Soviet Union desperately needed this rocket launcher, it was not one to be taken advantage of.

As he spoke, Sergei took out a pen and began marking the list with crosses.

Two minutes later, Sergei handed the list back to Zhang Wanhe.

"That's my bottom line."

Zhang Wanhe took it and saw that, well, eighty percent of it had been crossed out.

"You're being too ruthless. How am I supposed to explain this to them?"

“Here’s what we’ll do: add two more bullet production lines, since they’re all captured bullets anyway,” Zhang Wanhe said, pointing to the list.

A lot of the items on the list were randomly written down by him, with the aim of marking Sergei off.

However, a production line for 7.92mm bullets is urgently needed now.

The Taiyuan Arsenal had a bullet production line left behind by the Japanese, but it could only produce 6.5mm and 7.7mm bullets.

However, many units have weapons that require 7.92mm bullets.

Since the Soviet Union had invaded Germany, they must have had many 7.92mm bullet production lines.

“A bullet production line? It’s not that simple.” Sergei shook his head.

The agreement signed by Chiang Kai-shek explicitly stated that he could not fund China.

In Northeast China, they were made to move their own belongings, and the Soviet troops could pretend not to know.

However, shipping the production line from Soviet Russia would be a blatant violation of regulations.

"How about two copper plate stamping production lines? And some molds too?" Zhang Wanhe changed his mind and said.

"Is there any difference?" Sergei shook his head and smiled.

"Of course, I'm using this for civilian purposes."

"Our Party invented a pipe instrument that can bring joy to the mind and body." "So we decided to mass-produce it and give one to every citizen." Zhang Wanhe spouted nonsense with a straight face.

"Hehe." Sergei chuckled.

"I will report your request, but whether it can be implemented is not up to me."

“However, these seamless steel pipes should not be a problem,” Sergei said.

Although the diameter of these seamless steel pipes looks unusual, they are not part of the military equipment category.

"We need to buy some more seamless steel pipes. Here is the list. We hope you can offer us a discount."

Zhang Wanhe handed over another piece of paper.

Sergei opened it, glanced at it, and then agreed.

"no problem."

Soviet Russia was in dire need of rebuilding, and any profit it could make was welcome; its superiors would not refuse.

Two months later, Chen Chengxing was somewhat surprised as he looked at the production line being installed at the arsenal.

"Why would the Soviet Union provide a production line for 7.62mm bullets? And for intermediate-power bullets at that?"

What Zhang Wanhe had told him before seemed to be that there were only some high-precision machine tools and two 7.92mm bullet production lines.

Why is there now an additional production line for the M43 intermediate-power round?
"I heard it was Sergei who got it; he must have seen the bullets for our Type 71 semi-automatic rifles," Zhang Wanhe explained.

Zhang Wanhe was unaware that the Soviet Union had a bullet that was the same as the one developed by Wen Ying.

Therefore, I was quite surprised when I saw the production line.

“There were still true believers in Soviet Russia,” Chen Chengxing said.

A single word from "comrade" is enough to inspire someone to offer help.

This is quite different from the Soviet Union.

With this production line, the Type 71 semi-automatic rifle was finally complete.

The M43 cartridge uses a steel core, which is not only cheaper to manufacture, but also lighter than lead core cartridges.

Therefore, the bullet's muzzle velocity, trajectory, and penetration are all better than the bullets currently produced by the G army.

The reason why the arsenal used lead cores in the past was because there was no special stamping equipment.

If you insist on using a steel core, you'll only end up damaging the warhead.

“Sergei is a good comrade.” Zhang Wanhe nodded in agreement.

"With this production line, we can finally distribute some semi-automatic rifles to our elite units," Zhang Wanhe exclaimed.

He had witnessed the power of semi-automatic rifles firsthand, and he also knew that the Second Factory had them in stock.

However, due to ammunition shortages, it cannot be distributed further.

Now that we have this production line, as long as we have enough raw materials, we can produce 300,000 to 500,000 rounds per month.

Although it wasn't enough for the entire army, it was sufficient to supply elite troops.

"Let's get this straight, you can't touch the inventory in the Second Branch Factory; that's the old assets of the New Second Regiment."

Before Zhang Wanhe could say anything more, Chen Chengxing blocked his path.

It's important to distinguish between what happened before and after Taiyuan.

"Look at you, I haven't even said anything yet," Zhang Wanhe said awkwardly.

"It's best not to say anything if you can avoid it. You did give the blueprints to the logistics department back then, so who can you blame if you didn't produce it?"

Chen Chengxing doesn't mention at all where the bullet molds in his hands came from.

Without molds, how could Zhang Wanhe produce them?

"I can't tell you anymore, I have to go and talk to my superiors about this bullet production line."

Zhang Wanhe gave up on his plan to extract the items from Chen Chengxing, knowing it was basically impossible.

Instead of wasting this time, it would be better to transfer some experienced workers from the second factory and reorganize a production line.

For the next period of time, all the arsenals were fully wound up.

With seamless steel pipes and a large number of discarded axles obtained from the Pinghan Railway, they were able to acquire these resources.

The production of easily manufactured mortars and rocket launchers continued to rise.

Cast iron mortar shells and gleaming yellow bullets were being fired out with a whooshing sound.

Although the troops in the liberated areas have been reduced in number, their equipment levels have been continuously improved.

Late May, the outskirts of Taiyuan.

Chen Chengxing and his group were watching a combat exercise between different regiments.

The various units of the Second Independent Detachment, except for the engineer regiment and the cavalry regiment.

The remaining units have already completed their staffing, reaching a total of 30,000 personnel.

After several months of training, the results are beginning to show.

Therefore, Chen Chengxing randomly selected a company from each regiment and organized an exercise.

During the exercise, each company had its share of victories and defeats.

Chen Chengxing, observing the performance of the troops drawn from the replenishment regiment, said to Chu Yunfei:

"Old Chu, you've got some skills. Although the individual combat effectiveness of the replenishment battalion is not as good as that of the main force, the gap is not that big anymore."

"If you were given another two months, and then put to a tough battle, you probably wouldn't be much worse than the main force."

Although there is assistance from special training experts in this area.

However, Chu Yunfei played a significant role in enabling them to confront the main force so quickly.

"Now I understand why the Eighth Route Army was able to defeat the Japanese back then," Chu Yunfei said with a sigh.

The same person presented two completely different situations in the Guo Army and the G Army.

Especially the soldiers of the Jin-Sui Army, who were clearly slackers before, are now daring to lead the charge.

"Only when soldiers understand why they are fighting and for whom they are fighting can they unleash their true fighting power," Luo Ping said solemnly.

During this period, in addition to training, the Second Independent Detachment has also been strengthening its political and ideological work.

“Yes, why fight a war? One question can change a soldier’s mindset.” Chu Yunfei nodded.

He had a strong sense of national responsibility and had also studied in Yan'an with Xu Wu for three months.

Now I just feel that the G army is just too damn suitable for him.

One day in June, Luo Ping and Xu Wu walked into the command post from outside with serious expressions.

"Old Chen, we've received the latest intelligence: the troops in the Central Plains Liberated Area have broken through the encirclement," Luo Ping said.

“It seems Chiang Kai-shek has reached his limit,” Chen Chengxing said solemnly.

From this moment on, the civil war broke out in full force.

"Order all troops to prepare for battle."

(End of this chapter)