Film and Television World Life Record

Then everyone realized that this place would also be engulfed in war.

No one knew if they could hold out, and no one dared to risk their lives! The government also favored a scorched-earth strategy, so the large-scale westward migration began again.

While most chose to relocate to the southwest region, some opted to move to Nanyang or even the northwest region.

Li Mu then sent a special telegram instructing Nanyang to prepare for the reception, before sighing and boarding the plane to Kunming.

Chapter 446 Imitation Weapons

After leaving Wuhan and arriving in Singapore, Li Mu decided to purchase food first, considering the large influx of people from Nanyang that was about to arrive.

Thirty thousand tons of wheat, ten thousand tons of rice, five thousand tons of soybeans, and three thousand tons of sugar just filled the space.

I didn't stay long and quickly returned to China. As soon as I got off the plane in Wuhan, I was stunned by what I saw.

The crowds on the streets of Hankou have not decreased, but rather increased, with chaotic groups of people everywhere, including families.

Li Mu inquired around and learned the reason. This time, the Little Notebook's route of advance was along both banks of the Yangtze River, and the Guo government also planned to intercept them along both banks of the Yangtze River.

The areas on both sides of the Yangtze River have always been prosperous places, with many port cities. If war breaks out, no one would believe that these cities would not be affected.

As a result, an even larger influx of people, more groups of people, with their families, began migrating westward.

Although most of them went to the southwest, some also migrated to Nanyang and the northwest region.

On his way back to Nanyang by speedboat along the Han River, Li Mu noticed that there were more than ten times as many boats traveling on the Han River as usual. Most of them were transporting people and various supplies, while some were transporting various machinery and equipment, probably factories that had moved west.

Upon returning to Nanyang, the wide, flat roads that had been repaired were now teeming with people, families stretching as far as the eye could see, all of them fleeing westward.

Subsequently, Li Mu consulted with the head of the organization that specifically received these people, and after looking at their statistics, he was also taken aback.

A few days ago it was a bit better, with only 10,000 to 20,000 people entering each day. But in the last few days, the number of people entering each day has reached as high as 70,000 to 80,000.

And this is far from the end; the daily influx of people is increasing. Nanyang is under immense pressure. So many people fleeing westward may have carried some belongings, but they can't possibly carry much food; they still need to eat.

In addition, according to the rules established by Li Mu, those who fled to Nanyang should be provided with simple food and lodging until they can find a job to make a living.

Although some people with extra money couldn't adapt to such simple food and lodging and would spend money to stay in hotels, rent houses, and buy their own food, the remaining large group still put immense pressure on Nanyang.

This is also because Nanyang is too attractive nowadays. A large number of people who originally migrated to the northwest passed through Nanyang and found that the prices were cheap, the public security was good, the administration was excellent, and the treatment of refugees and westward migrants was very good. So they stopped and didn't plan to leave.

Fortunately, Li Mu had launched a number of large-scale projects recently, which could absorb a large number of laborers in a short period of time. Basically, these refugees who came to the Nanyang shelter would be assigned jobs within a few days, and their families would have food to eat.

For some people with some spare money, they can have enough to eat and wear for a short period of time and find a job with ease.

The influx of such a large population has brought another problem: grain prices seem to be rising again. Not only in Nanyang, but also in the southwest and northwest, grain prices are starting to rise.

As the saying goes, "When Hubei and Hunan are prosperous, the whole country is well-fed." As the capital of Hubei, if Wuhan were to fall this time, grain prices might rise further.

In concrete terms, the grain banks that Li Mu specifically established to stabilize grain prices saw even longer queues forming every day at the dozen or so grain stores under them.

Many people, even if they queued for a whole day, still couldn't get a single grain of food, which further fueled the panic and caused food prices to start to rise.

Fortunately, Li Mu purchased a large quantity of grain this time, which should be enough to last for a while.

However, this is not a long-term solution, and some changes must be made. First, we cannot allow those who are truly in need of food to be deprived of it; second, we cannot sell grain indefinitely, since purchasing grain from abroad is not easy.

Ultimately, Li Mu adopted a compromise: on the one hand, he increased the number of grain stores, and on the other hand, he reduced the amount of purchases made by individuals on a single occasion.

In Nanyang City, the number of grain stores increased to seven, while in the surrounding counties, the number increased to two or three depending on the population. This brought the total number of grain stores from a dozen to over thirty, significantly reducing the long queues and ensuring that most people in line could buy grain.

However, the amount of grain that a single person can buy at one time has also been reduced from fifty jin to thirty jin.

At the same time, the flour produced by the flour mill was reduced from 50 jin per bag to 30 jin per bag, just enough to limit one bag to be purchased at a time.

After settling things here, Li Mu flew to Singapore again, intending to make several trips to Wuhan while its civil aviation was still operating.

This time, Li Mu increased the proportion of rice purchases, including 20,000 tons of wheat, 20,000 tons of rice, 3,000 tons of sugar, and several thousand tons of explosive raw materials and steel.

The majority of those fleeing and migrating westward came from both sides of the Yangtze River, and many of them were rice eaters.

Thus, Li Mu made three round trips to purchase grain. On his fourth trip, just as he landed in Singapore, he heard news that Hankou had been subjected to a large-scale air raid, including on the civil aviation airport, and that civil aviation in Wuhan had been temporarily suspended.

Li Mu didn't know if flights would resume, but it was unlikely. Even if they did, it would only be for special flights or transport planes; it was unlikely to resume for civilian flights.

Fortunately, there was some good news: the batch of weapons he ordered had arrived. Also arriving was the equipment he had ordered some time ago for producing penicillin.

这些武器总共有：毛瑟98k步枪十万杆；捷克产LT-38轻型坦八十辆；射程超过九公里的博福斯M1930型75毫米山炮五十门；捷克式轻机枪三千挺的订单；可以打穿坦克和装甲车的M2重机枪五百挺。

After purchasing a large quantity of military supplies and arranging for personnel from within the country to pick him up in Luoyang, Li Mu finally boarded the plane.

From Singapore to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Hanoi, from Hanoi to Kunming, Wuhan Civil Aviation Airport was bombed, and the routes to Wuhan were temporarily suspended. Li Mu bought a ticket to Chongqing.

He wasn't worried about being recognized. Through Muwu Trading Company and Nanyang authorities, Li Mu had already created dozens of convincing fake identities. He even fabricated several equally convincing foreign identities through Far East Trading Company.

In addition, he has some knowledge of makeup, so making small changes to his appearance is not difficult.

This is why he traveled back and forth between China and other countries so many times without attracting anyone's attention.

This is because he changes his identity every time he buys a plane ticket. For example, he would buy a ticket with one identity when flying from Singapore to Bangkok; after getting off the plane, he would do a quick makeup and then buy a ticket with another identity to fly to Hanoi; after getting off the plane in Hanoi, he would change his identity again to buy a ticket to fly to Kunming; and so on from Kunming, he would change his identity again to buy a ticket.

With so many identities intertwined, no one noticed, and no one believed that he would travel between China and other countries by plane so frequently.

The plane quickly arrived in Chongqing, where it was bustling with a large influx of people. He was lucky; there was a connecting flight to Luoyang the next day. Normally, this type of passenger route only has a maximum of two flights a week.

Li Mu didn't stay long there and boarded a plane to Luoyang the next day. Upon landing, he was greeted by people who had already made arrangements, and without lingering, he returned directly to Nanyang.

With a major battle imminent and air routes partially disrupted, the focus now shifts to dealing with the domestic situation.

First, we will strengthen the training of 100,000 militia reservists. Except for the busy farming season, the training will be changed from one week per month to two weeks per month. The purchase of so many Mauser 98k rifles this time is for this purpose.

For any extra time spent, Li Mu would provide certain subsidies to ensure that a certain level of combat capability could be formed as soon as possible.

In addition, of the eighty light tanks procured this time, Li Mu directly allocated more than thirty to the forward armored battalion, partly to make up for the losses suffered at the front during this period, and partly to strengthen the firepower and combat effectiveness of the armored battalion.

With the remaining forty-odd tanks, Li Mu formed another armored battalion as the garrison force for Nanyang.

In addition, of the fifty mountain guns purchased this time, some were allocated to the front lines to make up for war losses and strengthen the firepower of artillery battalions, while the rest were used by Li Mu to establish another artillery battalion.

After finishing all that, an idea that had been lingering in Li Mu's mind for a long time popped into his head: with Nanyang's current talent pool and industrial strength, could they imitate, or even independently develop and create, some weapons?

Li Mu's first target was the "grenade launcher," also known as the ultralight mortar. It was mainly used by small-caliber troops, with a caliber of less than 50mm, carried by individual soldiers, and not part of the established ranks.

Its main characteristics are a large firing angle, a curved trajectory, and a short range. It is mainly used to kill enemy troops hiding behind fortifications and concealment, or to kill enemy personnel at long range.

It is easy to operate, can be carried by a single soldier, and can move with front-line infantry to provide support. It also has strong concealment capabilities.

In addition to firing special grenades, the grenade launcher can also fire standard hand grenades. However, hand grenades are not good at sealing gas when used as artillery shells, and their range is about 200 meters.

It's much more convenient than a mortar.

Naturally, this weapon caused considerable trouble for the domestic army during the War of Resistance. Efforts to procure similar weapons from abroad were unsuccessful. This was mainly because this weapon was largely ineffective on the European battlefield, where artillery was engaged in combat from kilometers away, making grenade launchers practically useless.

On the domestic battlefield, however, this weapon proved extremely effective, causing the army considerable hardship.

Of course, the domestic army also captured a lot of grenade launchers at the time and then copied them. However, due to the severe shortage of various supplies, the production was not as high as expected.

These are not problems for Li Mu.

He values ​​two features of this weapon most: first, it is lightweight and easy to carry, and it can provide timely fire support.

Just like the famous Type 89 grenade launcher from Japan, it weighs less than three kilograms, much lighter than a rifle, making it very suitable for individual soldiers to carry.

The Type 91 hand grenade weighs only 0.45 kg, and an ammunition bag containing eight grenades weighs only 3.6 kg. Including the grenade launcher, the entire combat system weighs less than 7 kg, which is lighter than a Czech light machine gun.

Moreover, due to their light weight, grenade launcher teams are not hindered from timely combat alongside frontline infantry due to heavy loads, unlike mortar or heavy machine gun teams. In actual combat, grenade launcher teams can even advance alongside infantry.

The second advantage, which is also the reason why Li Mu was determined to imitate it, is that it has good power, low cost, and does not require advanced technology.

As long as you have the materials, the prototype, and a certain level of technical skill, you can quickly replicate it.

Fortunately, the Battle of Lanfeng resulted in the capture of a large number of grenade launchers, providing ample prototypes for reference.

Soon, a weapons and equipment research institute was established, comprised of engineering professors and students from several universities that had relocated to Nanyang, as well as relevant technical personnel recruited during this period.

A portion of the staff was assigned to replicate and optimize the grenade launcher, aiming for mass production as soon as possible.

Another group of people were tasked with developing another weapon proposed by Li Mu: the Sten submachine gun.

The production technology of this weapon was also simple and crude. However, it was also a famous gun of World War II, making a huge contribution to the Allied forces, with more than three million produced during the war.

In the early stages of World War II, the British Army was not equipped with standard submachine guns, and was clearly at a disadvantage in individual firepower against the German troops, who possessed a large number of automated light weapons. In 1940, the British Expeditionary Force in France successfully evacuated from Dunkirk, but a large number of weapons were left on the beaches.

At that time, Britain was expanding its army, navy, and air force, and it lacked all kinds of weapons. Not only did it lack weapons, it also lacked money.

So, the Sten submachine gun.

It has a simple structure, low cost, and crude manufacturing process. Most components are stamped, and only the bolt and barrel require machine tool operation.

The stock is made of a steel bar and a steel plate welded together, and the gun body is a steel tube. The spring inside can be seen through the bolt slot.

However, although it looks crude and incongruous, its firepower and stability are quite good.

However, every advantage has its disadvantages. While this submachine gun boasts advantages such as low price and rapid production, its overly simple and crude structure and technology also result in inconsistent performance. The entire Sten submachine gun has only 47 parts, 45 of which are directly stamped, leading to a short service life and easy damage.

In addition, to reduce the number of manufacturing steps, the gun has only two rifling grooves in the barrel, which makes the gun very inaccurate, and the bullets will scatter everywhere when fired.

Moreover, due to its overly rudimentary design, this gun was extremely prone to jamming and accidental discharge. Coupled with its crude appearance, although the Allied forces issued over three million of them during World War II, it was universally disliked, earning it the nickname "the stinky gun."

Some soldiers, when passing by the area where Sten submachine guns were being packed and shipped out, would pretend to cover their noses and snort, "It stinks!"

Despite its many shortcomings, this weapon was mass-produced in a short period of time due to its low production cost, simple manufacturing process, and low technical requirements.

It became one of the main close-combat weapons of the Allied forces, especially the British forces.

Such weapons would be rejected by the Allied forces. But if they were used domestically, they would be extremely popular.