Chapter 2: The Far East Conqueror

  In just half a year, Jiang Yu submitted a thesis on "Changes in New Equipment and Infantry Tactics" and graduated smoothly from the infantry department, transferring to the artillery science at the Munich Military Academy.

  Jiang Yu has a solid foundation in military theory. It's no surprise that he finished studying infantry at the Munich Army University in just half a year.

  In the paper, Jiang Yu elaborated on the new war tactics composed of machine guns, barbed wire and trenches, proposing that in the near future, the battlefield will become a "slaughterhouse for infantry", with machine gun firepower producing a "killing" effect on infantry. Due to the lack of means to break through trenches, in the clash between spear and shield, the shield will have an upper hand.

  This paper soon attracted the attention of the German Army's high command and lateral firepower experiments were immediately conducted, with surprising results.

  When two machine gun firing points are set up on both sides of the trench, when enemy infantry launches an attack in a dense phalanx formation towards the position, the two machine guns cross-fire and lock down, with almost every bullet hitting and killing one enemy soldier, often one bullet hits two or three enemy soldiers.

  If the machine gun is placed in a trench facing forward, 333 rounds of ammunition can only burst 43 out of 333 balloons, and the efficiency of frontal firepower is not high.

  If you use flanking firepower and add the blockade of the trenches, it is basically impossible to break through with infantry alone.

  Jiang Yu transferred to study artillery science, diligently studying artillery professional knowledge, mainly focusing on theoretical knowledge and actual gun tactics and command.

  The Germans were very constructive in artillery, although the French led the Germans in recoilless guns, with their '75 Miss' reaching a firing rate of 15 rounds per minute, and sometimes even reaching 30 rounds per minute, having an overwhelming advantage in terms of firing speed.

  However, after the Germans fell behind in rapid-fire guns, the French were unwilling to hand over the drawings for the Germans to study. The Germans simply didn't compete with you on firing speed, but competed with you on range and caliber.

  The Germans began to equip themselves with 105mm and 150mm howitzers on a large scale, and the shells also changed from shrapnel to high-explosive shells. As a result, during World War I, French artillery was brutally suppressed. Due to the disadvantage in range, as well as the fact that howitzers could hide behind cover and fire indirectly, the French 75mm quick-firing gun, which was of the cannon type, couldn't even reach the German howitzers. Moreover, the shield of the 75mm quick-firing gun was completely unable to withstand high-explosive shells, and a single hit would cause people to bleed from all seven orifices.

  Although the German howitzer was at a disadvantage in terms of rate of fire, it had an advantage in range, angle and firepower.

  It can be said that although the French 75 was an important innovation in military history, it was a tragedy in French military history. The French were too superstitious about Miss 75.

  Jiang Yu gained a great deal of freedom during his time at military school due to his excellent grades, and he was even able to skip class for several weeks in a row.

  The scale of Jiang Yu's martial arts hall gradually expanded, and during this period, it even surpassed the karate hall opened by Japanese people in Munich, and many German students also joined the martial arts hall.

  This included Hans, the son of the largest private shareholder of the Bayerische Staatsbank, one of Germany's four big banks, which was founded during the Franco-Prussian War and was largely owned by the state government, with Hans' father holding 15 percent.

  After the victory of the Franco-Prussian War, German Iron Chancellor Bismarck reorganized and acquired banks with dizzying complexity to form Germany's four major banks, thus forming the "Junker financial group" centered on the four major banks.

  The world is too small and too crowded for Germany, the living space is too narrow, so German capital began a period of 'mutual slaughter'.

  After mutual slaughter, a large number of syndicates were established, and a terrifying monopoly monster was born.

  Cartel, syndicate, trust, these are three major monopoly patterns.

  Cartel is the lowest level, a pattern of agreement on commodity prices and market share among capitalists, but this pattern will change with the economic strength of members, so it is the most unstable.

  Xin Jia Di is a more advanced form, for example in the steel industry, where a specialized organization is established to control the procurement and sales channels of steel raw materials. Each steel factory joins this organization and produces and sells according to fixed prices and market share. If a member wants to exit, they must establish their own raw material procurement and product sales channels, and will also face obstruction and sabotage from Xin Jia Di.

  Trust is the highest form of monopoly, that is, the familiar joint-stock system, which absorbs all competitors and forms a single company. The production and sales of this mode lose their independence and are decided by the board of directors. The conflict in this model is the most intense, mainly due to the struggle for leadership. And trust is also the most stable form of monopoly.

  After Jiang Yu's investigation in Britain, France and Germany, he found that the majority of enterprises in Britain and France were cartels, while those in Germany were syndicates.

  And America is trusts.

  Monopoly is the royal road to industrial development, because monopoly represents excessive profits, and excessive profits represent the concentration of wealth. After the concentration of wealth, there will be a large amount of financial resources invested in the research and development of new technologies and equipment updates.

  Excessive competition will make everyone in the industry earn nothing, let alone talk about progress in industrial productivity.

  Hans followed Jiang Yu to learn Xingyiquan, and in just half a year, he became a skilled fighter. As the saying goes, "Taiji takes ten years without leaving the door, Xingyi can kill people in one year." Xingyiquan originated from Yue Fei's boxing spectrum, which was derived from the military's battle method, direct and practical.

  The relationship between the two was also very good. Jiang Yu invested in a chemical laboratory in Munich and soon developed a method for manufacturing synthetic ammonia.

  Jiang Yu immediately brought Hans into the company and decided to set up a synthetic ammonia factory for nitric acid production.

  Nitric acid is an important raw material for producing explosives. The high price of ammunition this year has a great relationship with the backward production method and raw materials.

  The appearance of synthetic ammonia means that as long as there is sufficient coal, a large amount of nitric acid can be produced.

  Germany is not lacking in coal, accounting for 6.5% of the world's coal reserves, and ranking fifth in coal reserves. The synthetic ammonia factory jointly established by Jiang Yu and Hans was built at an extremely fast pace. Jiang Yu brought out mature synthetic ammonia manufacturing technology, with an ammonia content of over 8%.

  Simultaneously, they quickly applied for synthetic ammonia manufacturing patents in various countries and announced a process technology with an ammonia content of only 3%.

  The synthetic ammonia plant jointly established by Jiang Yu and Hans was immediately blocked and suppressed by the German nitric acid production syndicate after it went into production. However, Jiang Yu had considerable financial resources, enough for him to hold on in this competition. Their synthetic ammonia was produced at a very low cost as nitric acid, and they engaged in a ruthless price war with the nitric acid syndicate.

  Another round of mutual slaughter has begun.

  However, the good days of Nitrogen Syndicate did not last long. After investigation, the State Bank of Baden believed that the synthetic ammonia plant with new technology had a production foundation to defeat all competitors, and decided to strongly support Jiang Yu and Hans.

  Chongqing's synthetic ammonia plant soon began dumping its products on the market at extremely low prices, and Nitrate Xinjiadi finally could not hold out, ultimately having to compromise with Chongqing.

  Both parties signed a new agreement, Jiang Yu and Hans successfully controlled most of the market share and dominated the nitric acid production syndicate.

  Jiang Yu and Hans both successfully advanced to become the new Syndicate, Jiang Yu became a German industrial Junker with the support of the Bavarian State Bank, becoming an outer member of the German Junker financial group.

  German chemist Haber was about to succeed in his research on synthetic ammonia technology, which he started in 1902, but unexpectedly a young man from the Far East emerged and applied for the patent, causing all his hard work to go down the drain.

  Jiang Yu then began his stormy career in Germany, and soon he produced sulfonamide drugs - Prontosil - using synthetic ammonia as raw material.

  This is an antibacterial anti-inflammatory drug. Sulfonamide is a very strange drug, it has no effect on streptococcus in test tubes, but it can effectively kill streptococcus in the human body, so people only discovered its therapeutic effect in the 1930s.

  The advent of sulfonamide drugs caused a stir in the medical community. Before the discovery of antibacterial drugs, humans had a high mortality rate from trauma and many diseases were difficult to treat.

  Sulfonamide drugs have made the treatment of many diseases extremely simple, and sulfonamide drugs quickly accumulated huge wealth for Jiang Yu.

  But Jiang Yu's investment did not stop, relying on the synthetic ammonia industry, he quickly established a dye factory, launched a new type of dye, and established a fertilizer factory to produce various fertilizers.

  By the end of 1908, Jiang Yu borrowed ￡5 million from banks and added his own ￡3 million to invest ￡8 million in a motor factory, machinery manufacturing plant, machine tool plant, tractor manufacturing plant, aircraft manufacturing plant, and automobile manufacturing plant.

  He also sent people back to China, and recruited nearly three thousand workers to go to Germany. After a period of language training, some Chinese workers were arranged by Jiang Yu to his own factory, while others were arranged to other factories through Hans' relationship.

  These workers were assigned to factories that were all mechanical, machine tools, shipbuilding, and metallurgy, and they were all technical apprentices.

  To develop its own national industry, it must have its own high-level technicians.

  In addition, Jiang Yu also recruited more than 200 students from China, who were sent by Jiang Yu to study science, engineering, agriculture, medicine and military affairs at various universities in Germany.

  As a member of the German Junker consortium, Jiang Yu made it much easier to do business in Germany.

  Chongqing's machinery manufacturing plants, machine tool manufacturing plants, motor manufacturing plants and engine manufacturing plants have invested a lot of money in construction and vigorously developed new technologies. Combined with the R&D direction provided by Chongqing, they quickly produced very advanced products.

  The tractor manufacturing plant has produced a more reliable tracked tractor, which uses a track chassis that has been carefully designed and has made many breakthroughs in technical details.

  The aircraft factory also produced several military reconnaissance planes with Quick Design, and the aircraft factory was headed by the famous aircraft designer Fokker as the chief designer.

  In 1908, whether it was electric motors, engines, tractors, automobiles or tanks, all belonged to emerging industries, and those old capital groups were not involved in these industries on a large scale.

  Although electric motors and internal combustion engines showed superior performance, the technology was not yet mature enough. Countries that had completed industrialization felt no need to replace steam engines, even in the United States, where they continued to be used extensively until after World War I before being replaced.

  Tractors and airplanes were even less common, and in the automotive field, the Ford Motor Company did not produce its first civilian T-type car until 1908.

  These industries made a lot of money in the war, and although Germany was defeated, the interests of capitalists did not suffer much loss. During the war, capitalists still made a fortune from the war.

  Firstly, these emerging industries have no competitors and do not touch the interests of those syndicates. Secondly, Jiang Yu can open external hangouts, which can search for advanced technical knowledge on future networks, plus he has already learned mechanical design and manufacturing technology clearly, so technically it is basically impossible to be led by competitors.

  And also after returning to China, these industries can be quickly replicated in China.

  Jiang Yu invested nearly half of his net worth in it, and borrowed an equivalent of 50 million pounds of German marks. He utilized Germany's advanced industrial foundation to quickly build up these factories, and hired many German technical personnel to participate in product R&D.