The War of Resistance: From Overseas Chinese Mechanics to King of Nanyang

"The raw materials are gone again?" Kunming No. 51 Arsenal (Light Machine Gun Arsenal) was originally the Yunnan Army Arsenal (Haikou) founded by Tang Jiyao in 1914. In April 1939, it was jointly established with the Ordnance Department as a preparatory office. In September 1941, it was officially named No. 51 Arsenal. At the same time, it had 35 cave workshops (total area of ​​7200 square meters), which had strong air defense and concealment.

Originally, this arsenal was intended to produce the Danish Madsen light machine gun, but in 1940, the knives and blueprints were destroyed by the Japanese army during transport on the Burma Road, so they switched to producing the Czech ZB26.

The first half of the year saw successful imitation, with 100 machine guns produced. By December, 450 machine guns had been produced, and the company was also responsible for repairing weapons.

The arsenal has long been limited by raw materials, which has prevented them from increasing their production efficiency. As a result, they spend most of their time repairing weapons.

The results of the year's repairs demonstrate this: a total of over 970 artillery pieces, over 8000 light and heavy machine guns, and over 2200 rifles were repaired.

"Yes, with the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army blockaded the entire sea route, and now supplies can't be transported in at all. We're about to have to stop production," a veteran worker said regretfully. They had finally completed the technical breakthroughs, hoping to produce more weapons and equipment, but they didn't expect that production capacity could not be increased due to the limitation of raw materials.

"Don't we cooperate with steel mills and copper smelters? What about the raw materials they produce?" someone raised an objection.

"It's completely substandard. How can we use it? You and I should both know what the consequences would be if such a weapon were produced. It would explode. In the end, the soldiers on the front lines would not die at the hands of the Japanese devils, but at the hands of their own people."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, knowing that they certainly wouldn't dare to take on this responsibility.

"What should I do then? Am I really going to become a repairman from now on?"

"What kind of arsenal is that? We might as well call it a repair shop."

These words silenced everyone present; indeed, it would have been better to just call it a repair shop.

Without raw materials, they can't produce anything and can only do repair work.

"Old Tian, ​​why are you running so fast and your face is all red?" At this moment, they saw their coworker from the same workshop looking flustered and asked him in confusion.

"I just came back from the factory manager. Someone is going to supply us with raw materials," Lao Tian said, catching his breath.

Upon hearing that raw materials were needed, everyone present was surprised. Could someone still provide raw materials at this time?

That's really rare.

"Isn't this great news? Why do you look like something terrible has happened?" someone asked.

"They have a request: they want us to provide some skilled workers to help them manufacture some things," Lao Tian continued to explain.

Upon hearing this, everyone present changed their expressions and immediately understood why Lao Tian had that look; it was possible that someone was about to leave the arsenal.

"The factory manager probably won't agree to this condition, will he?" someone questioned. After all, they were skilled workers, valuable assets, so how could they be allowed to leave?

"What if the other party offers very generous terms?" Old Tian spread his hands.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed instantly, and they suddenly understood why Old Tian was so flustered.

On the other side, in the factory manager's office, Gu Pinzhen was looking at Chen Amao with a furrowed brow, and finally sighed.

"Could we change the terms?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the seamless steel pipe in front of him. Based on his years of experience, he knew that this steel was definitely a special type of steel, even better than the special steel of some major powers. Using such steel to produce artillery would definitely make it very durable.

Thinking about this, he really wanted to buy all of these special steels.

"For example, I can buy it at a higher price?" Gu Pinzhen asked again.

"Sorry, my patron is not short of money, and can you even produce any 'yellow goods'?" Chen Amao shook his head. Although he understood why Huang Zurong specifically requested workers, he still complied. During this time, his black market business had grown bigger and bigger. Relying on scarce goods, he was about to become the new boss in the market. So he was very grateful to Huang Zurong and secretly told himself that he must follow Huang Zurong closely.

"Special steel like this is extremely expensive. With your limited funds, you probably can't buy much, and it's all in legal tender, which is becoming increasingly worthless," Chen Amao said again.

Upon hearing this, Gu Pinzhen couldn't help but sigh. He knew that what the other party said was true, but he really couldn't bring himself to use skilled workers to exchange for raw materials. Moreover, if it were discovered, he would definitely suffer the consequences.

"Director Gu, borrowing a few people won't affect your arsenal's production at all. In fact, with this batch of raw materials, your arsenal's efficiency will likely improve. Your superiors won't say anything then. If they see that you can produce artillery, they'll probably think your decision is very wise." Chen Amao began to analyze the current situation for the other party.

Without raw materials, the workers could only do repair work. The raw materials provided by the steel mills and copper smelters in Kunming could only be used for repairs. There was no chance of producing artillery or anything like that. Even the machine guns produced had extremely short service lives.

Hearing this, Gu Pinzhen became even more conflicted. She only needed to borrow a few dozen people to exchange for a large batch of raw materials, which could produce at least several hundred machine guns, and even mortars.

Seeing the other person's expression, Chen Amao knew that the other person was already tempted, but now the only problem was that the offer wasn't enough, so he said again.

"Director Gu, my client is very sincere. As long as we reach a cooperation agreement, he can provide some high-quality nitrate charcoal, which can help you produce a batch of high-quality shells. At that time, the higher-ups will not care about such a small problem as a few dozen workers."

Gu Pinzhen was well aware of how precious artillery shells were at that time, and the Yunnan Army Arsenal, which was responsible for ammunition production, placed great importance on stable smokeless gunpowder, with the key material being nitrate-sulfur-carbon.

The quality of nitrate-sulfur char determines the quality of ammunition.

Hearing this, Gu Pinzhen knew she had no reason to refuse.

"Okay, I agree to your conditions. Thirty people it is, but the raw materials must be delivered as soon as possible, and the loan period is only one year," Gu Pinzhen replied through gritted teeth.

Little did he know that his decision today would make him deeply regretful; he should have borrowed more money back then.

Upon hearing this, Chen Amao breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally completed Huang Zurong's task successfully. He figured the other party would think highly of him. Thinking of this, a smile appeared on his face, and he even reached out his hand.

"It's a pleasure working with you!"