Chapter Thirty-Four New Weapon

  The main force unit expansion will draw elite troops from the second-line units, and the second-line units are 15 infantry companies, 2 logistics companies, each with a machine gun squad.

  The main force still had no artillery, but at this time it was indeed unnecessary to use artillery. However, Xia Jun added a new weapon - a grenade launcher.

  The Japanese grenade launcher is very cheap, an 89-style grenade launcher only costs 6 points, I don't know if it's the platform that looks down on Japan, but Japan's equipment is always the cheapest.

  Of course, the weapons used by the Japanese army were also backward, but the grenade launcher was a fine product. The Japanese used grenade launchers to inflict heavy casualties on American soldiers during the Pacific War.

  The nickname for the grenade launcher is also known as ultra-light howitzer, mainly equipped with German and Japanese troops during World War II. However, the performance of the German grenade launcher was not as good as that of the Japanese Army's grenade launcher.

  The Type 89 grenade launcher has a range of 500 meters, a rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute, and a lethal radius of 5 meters. A well-trained Japanese soldier can reduce the error in throwing the hand grenade to within 2 meters on the second throw after missing the first time.

  The cost of this weapon is very low, only one-quarter that of the Japanese Type 89 grenade launcher, which may also be why it costs only six points to exchange for a launcher, and its price is one-fifth that of the M1 Garand.

  The grenade launcher is indeed one of the few affordable weapons on the exchange platform, except for ammunition, which is also very cheap.

  The downside is that it requires a relatively long period of training, and new recruits wielding this weapon can't exert much combat power. From the later stages of the Pacific War, after the veteran soldiers of the Japanese army were killed in action, the new recruits could no longer utilize this weapon to inflict such massive casualties on the US military as before.

  After throwing the grenade launcher was replaced by a grenade launcher, but the platform's grenade launcher is more expensive, so let's use the grenade launcher! This saves expenses.

  The grenade launchers were so cheap that Xia Jun equipped each platoon of the main force and second-line troops with two, which made up for the lack of heavy firepower such as artillery.

  ……

  Recruiting talents, running education, opening factories, expanding administrative areas, building infrastructure, and cracking down on bandits, Xia Jun began to focus on development.

  Due to the high profit of the paper mill, and with raw materials readily available everywhere, Xia Jun transformed his original paper mill into producing cigarette packaging boxes and rolling paper. He then built a new paper mill, spending 2 million points to construct an annual output of 100,000 tons of paper mill.

  After eliminating the bandits, the points in his hand had increased slightly, but there were only 250,000 left. However, Xia Jun was not worried at all.

  The towns in northern Fujian have successively entered a state of autonomy, and Xia Jun has initially achieved the encirclement of cities in northern Fujian, with territory points arriving continuously.

  At the same time, the population within the territory has reached 1.3 million people, with a popularity index of 4.3. Next month, it will be possible to earn 5.6 million points, which is enough to cover those miscellaneous items. Xia Jun is currently developing at an extreme pace.

  Iron ore mines, coal mines and limestone quarries have entered the exploitation stage. Paper mills, steel plants, coal-headed urea manufacturing plants, phosphate fertilizer manufacturing plants and cement plants have entered operation.

  The construction of the road has been ongoing, with reinforced concrete and gravel, Xu Bowan began to lead students to preside over the construction of the road from Jian'an to Fuzhou.

  Xia Jun had a large number of free laborers at his disposal, and since the dispatch of troops to the outside to suppress bandits, there have been constant captures of bandits, all of whom were sent to Xixiang for reform through labor.

  At this time, the number of captured bandits had reached nearly five thousand people. The late Qing dynasty could be said to have bandits everywhere, and so many captives were enough to explain the problem.

  With this free labor force, Xia Jun only had to pay wages to the skilled workers and those who worked in steel mills, cement plants, sand and gravel quarries, and mines.

  Xia Jun's silver coins have grown to over 5 million after continuous bandit suppression. Previously, Xia Jun spent nearly 150,000 taels recruiting talent and setting up a school, with 100,000 taels going towards university expenses. He also took 300,000 taels to Fuzhou to purchase raw materials, leaving him with 200,000 taels on hand.

  After deducting military expenses and other deductions, Xia Jun had about 150,000 taels of silver that he could use at his disposal.

  For this, Xia Jun's eyes didn't blink once, and he directly decided to start construction on the road. The game was all about extreme expansion, and although the capital chain and point chain were tense at this time, even if there were problems, they could be temporarily supported by other means.

  The county magistrate of Jian'an County and the prefect of Jianning Prefecture have been frightened away one after another, and at this time, the Bao'an Team is like a bomb that can explode at any time.

  Why wait when it's time to run?

  The county magistrates of other counties saw the prefect running away and wondered if they should run too, but most of them were somewhat skeptical or complacent.

  ……

  In mid-May, all factories had entered production status, steel and cement were self-sufficient, and Xu Wenbo began to lead people in road repair.

  There are many roads that need to be repaired. In addition to repairing a highway from Jian'an County to Fuzhou, the roads between various factories and mines also need to be repaired.

  For this, Xia Jun exchanged many excavators, road rollers and other construction machinery. The engineering team widened the road along the provincial highway with explosives, excavators and road rollers.

  It's just a matter of widening it, and paving with cement can be omitted. How far is it from Jian'an to Fuzhou? Paving would cost a lot of money, and Xia Jun doesn't have the funds now.

  First use explosives to blast, then use an excavator to clear, and finally use a road roller to roll back and forth, the road will be widened.

  At this construction speed, 10 kilometers of road can be completed in one day. After all, not every section needs to be widened, and the road from Jian'an to Fuzhou can be widened within a month.

  With this road, there are conditions for developing industry in northern Fujian.

  People who went to Fuzhou just for cotton and tobacco also bought back the first batch of cotton and tobacco, and textile mills, weaving factories, as well as tobacco fields began to operate.

  ……

  Li Shilin was a big official merchant in Fujian, of course this was before, since last year the mountain of power collapsed, and also suffered a great loss, family property shrunk drastically.

  This is also the reason why Li Shilin returned to Jian'an County, otherwise how could a big businessman return to such an underdeveloped commercial area like Jian'an. At the same time, he will recall his daughter who is studying in the United States and prepare to marry her off to a good family, also finding a new backer for the Li family to make a comeback.

  It just so happened that Li Shijin was in a bad mood when she returned home, after all, her studies were not yet complete and she was inexplicably called back home. So she ran out to clear her mind, and Li Shilin saw that she was in a bad mood and did not stop her. As a result, she was kidnapped by bandits. Fortunately, she was rescued, but Li Shilin no longer allowed her to run around outside. Especially when Wang the housekeeper said that his daughter had a good impression of Xia Jun, which made Li Shilin even more vigilant, so he didn't let Li Shijin go out.

  Recently, Jian'an County has undergone a sudden change, with various towns and townships declaring independence one after another. It has become the territory of the Jianzhou Security Regiment. Similarly, in Jianyang, Wuyi Mountain, Shaowu, Zhenghe, Chuan Stone and other places, it is also the case.

  What's most shocking is the strength of the security team, now not only in northern Fujian can you see the traces of the security team, but also in eastern and western Fujian, where the security team is seen everywhere eliminating bandits and fighting very fiercely.

  The security team has a uniform military uniform, uniform weapons, and various vehicles for commuting.

  What made Li Shilin sensitive was that Xixiang had opened a paper mill, producing high-quality paper at a price similar to ordinary paper.

  However, the merchants of Jian'an were apparently one step slower, and all the paper in Xixiang was swallowed up by a small Hui merchant named Liu Jinshan, who reportedly made a fortune from it.

  Liu Jinshan came to stock up twice, and the security team used a tractor to help him transport the goods to Fuzhou, with armed protection all the way. If the authorities wanted to collect taxes, they would be met with gunfire immediately.

  The security team has recently started buying up cotton flowers and tobacco everywhere, and the quantity is huge. It's obvious that they've set up another factory, making Li Shilin eager to take action.

  With his connections, cotton and tobacco are easy to handle. Even if the profit is only a little, but taking all the goods that the security team wants, such a large quantity can also make a lot of money.

  Li Shilin immediately sent Wang Guanjia to Xixiang to see if they could negotiate a deal.

  Wang Guan brought several servants to Xixiang, and when they arrived at Xiaosong, they saw a wide and flat cement road, with tractors driving on the road from time to time. The change was enormous.

  Wang Guanjia and his group stopped a tractor, paid two silver dollars, and several people got on the tractor, heading towards Long Village.

  On the way, they encountered a checkpoint. Wang Guan's group was immediately inspected, and the soldiers at the checkpoint heard that Wang Guan said they were going to Xixiang for business, and since no weapons were found on them, they were allowed to pass through.

  Wang Guan's group arrived at Long Village, which had undergone a great transformation. Not far from the village was a large military camp surrounded by barbed wire, with trucks and three-wheeled motorcycles parked in an orderly manner inside, as well as many tents.

  Behind the barracks is a large circular building that occupies a lot of land. I don't know what's inside, but there's a soldier patrolling outside.

  Not far away is a construction site, which is the temporary campus of Jianzhou University. The signboard of Jianzhou University has been hung up.

  In the distant fields, a group of buildings can be seen, which are paper mills, triacetate fiber factories, and acetate fiber factories. Workers are busy working inside, and tractor after tractor is transporting reeds and wood to arrive here. The workers will unload these reeds and wood and then transport them into the factory for processing.

  Wang Guan's family was shocked, but in just a short span of ten months, this Jianzhou Security Team had actually developed into its current form... how is that possible?

  But the fact is right in front of us.

  Wang Guan took out a name card and handed it over to the soldier, asking him to request an audience with Xia Jun. The soldier hastily called Xia Jun on the phone.

  ——————

  First update is here! Asking for votes and bookmarks!