Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 63: Can’t produce shells?
After Chen Chengxing arranged the situation properly, he returned to the regiment headquarters.

In this ambush, the New Second Regiment suffered hundreds of casualties, and apart from the weapons of the Japanese transport team, the guerrillas and the supplementary battalion responsible for blocking the enemy in Xiashi Village and Majiapo did not seize any of them.

However, because the Japanese guards and puppet troops were basically infantry, the New Second Regiment seized a lot of rifles this time.

There were 448 rifles of various types, 6 Type 3 light machine guns, 28 Czech light machine guns, pistols, half of which were Mauser pistols and half were Box-type pistols.

However, because the puppet army and the Japanese escort did not carry ammunition according to the standard, the amount of ammunition captured in this battle was not much, and it was not even enough to make up for the amount lost by the New Second Regiment.

However, with so many rifles, the New Second Regiment did not suffer any loss at all. As for the dropped bullets, they could be handed over to the repair shop for reloading.

Even if the reloaded bullets are inferior to the original ones, they are still sufficient. Even if some of them are no longer suitable for use in machine guns, they can be handed over to riflemen.

Those that are really useless can also be made into bullet mines.

Chen Chengxing had already handed over the production method of bullet mines to the engineering company, and the bullet mines were used in this guerrilla attack.

The guerrillas had a high opinion of the bullet mines. Although many bullets would misfire, this thing was simple and easy to bury. A few strikes with a bayonet would make a hole in the ground, which was perfect for placing bullet mines.

"Old Chen, how should the seized weapons be distributed?" Luo Ping followed Chen Chengxing into the regiment headquarters.

"What's there to say? Just divide it as before." Chen Chengxing poured two glasses of water and said casually.

"The rifles of all units have basically been fully equipped," said Luo Ping.

Since entering Dayun Mountain to establish a base, the New Second Regiment has gone through several battles. Although there have been heavy casualties, the weapons have not been severely damaged.

Therefore, although the personnel of each battalion's company and platoon are not fully staffed, the rifles are fully staffed, and the extra rifles that have not yet been issued to the battalions are also in the control of the battalions themselves.

Although the New Second Regiment still lacks light and heavy machine guns, the number of rifles is enough for three main battalions and one supplementary battalion. It is impossible to distribute all the 3 rifles captured this time.

After hearing Luo Ping's words, Chen Chengxing finally realized that the main force of the New Second Regiment was not short of rifles, but light and heavy machine guns and mortars.

"Lao Luo, how about this? All the troops will unify their weapons and ammunition in company units. As for those eliminated and extra rifles, except for the necessary weapons left for the replenishment battalion, the rest will be distributed to the various guerrillas." Chen Chengxing said.

All the soldiers of the supplementary battalion have been assigned to the other three battalions. At this stage, the supplementary battalion is left with only the battalion commander Kong Hanwen, and even the original cooks have been assigned away.

However, the replenishment battalion will definitely have to be rebuilt in the future, so weapons must be reserved in advance.

But even so, there would be at least 400 guns available for distribution to the guerrillas.

"Okay, then let them come and get it themselves another day." Luo Ping nodded.

These 400 guns are not a lot when divided among the nine guerrilla teams, just enough weapons for one platoon for each guerrilla team.

Although the New Second Regiment has formulated a strategy to vigorously develop the guerrilla forces, the New Second Regiment has suffered such heavy casualties that it is definitely unable to launch any battles in the short term.

The guerrillas could only let them develop on their own for the time being, and then provide support to the guerrillas after the New Second Regiment had recovered.

In the following period, the New Second Regiment began to recover slowly. At the same time, various businesses began to enter the guerrilla zone to develop and recruit soldiers.

However, according to Chen Chengxing, the new recruits recruited by each battalion should be transferred to the supplementary battalion as much as possible, and then assigned to each battalion after short-term training in the supplementary battalion.

For this purpose, Chen Chengxing specially recruited military and political cadres from the special forces company and the regiment headquarters to replenish the supplementary battalion.

New soldiers need more guidance and ideological and political education to change from civilians to soldiers. That day, after Chen Chengxing came back from inspecting the first battalion, an orderly ran over.

"Report, Commander, Director Xu from the Arsenal is here."

"Xu Tao? Could it be that the mortar shells have been produced?" Chen Chengxing walked into the regiment headquarters excitedly.

"Captain." Xu Tao stood up immediately after seeing Chen Chengxing.

"Director Xu, have the mortar shells been produced?" Chen Chengxing asked.

If the problem with the shells is solved, the next step is to focus on the cannon.

"Uh, commander, this is why I came to you. We have encountered a problem in producing artillery shells." Xu Tao said embarrassedly.

Xu Tao has already regarded Chen Chengxing as his savior, although Xu Tao doesn't know why he thinks so.

However, they were very impressed by Chen Chengxing's previous insights, so Xu Tao would come to Chen Chengxing to discuss any problems he had.

"What's the problem?" Chen Chengxing motioned Xu Tao to sit down and talk slowly.

"After the shell is cast, it needs to be processed on a lathe to carve out the muzzle, belt and tail. Not only must the size be accurate, but the muzzle and tail must also have threads, so that the fuse and tail can be installed."

"The accuracy problem is easy to solve after a lot of practice, but the material of the projectile is a big problem now."

"Normally, bullet shells should be cast with gray cast iron, but the conditions in our base are not suitable for producing gray cast iron. We can only cast white cast iron."

"White cast iron is hard and brittle and cannot be turned. It is not a big problem when making grenades, but it is not suitable for making artillery shells."

"If we want to make artillery shells now, we can only use rail steel, but the rail steel we brought back may not last long."

After Xu Tao told Chen Chengxing about the current predicament, Chen Chengxing immediately shook his head and said, "Track steel cannot be used."

Not to mention that rail steel still has uses, even if all of the rail steel is used to make artillery shells, not much can be produced. This is not a long-term solution at all.

After Chen Chengxing finished speaking, he began to carefully recall the information he had read before and how the Eighth Route Army solved this problem.

After a few minutes, Chen Chengxing opened his eyes.

"When I was communicating with foreign missionaries before, I heard that there are two technologies abroad that can solve this problem."

For Chen Chengxing, putting the blame on foreign missionaries was a very good choice.

There were indeed foreigners at the beginning of the Long March, but no one knows where they went now, and they are simply dead and there is no evidence to prove anything.

Moreover, foreigners are still synonymous with technology in the eyes of Chinese people, so there is absolutely no problem in putting these things on foreigners.

"Really? Then what should we do?" Xu Tao said excitedly.

He knew that it was absolutely right to go to the team leader when there was a problem. Look, isn't the problem solved now?
PS: It’s the end of the month, I’m begging for a monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)