Chapter 4 Basic Undertakings

  Money opens the way, everything goes smoothly, all green lights along the way.

  The hydropower station was not large in scale and also had the function of irrigating farmland, so the local villagers at the construction site welcomed this good thing that came to their doorstep. Moreover, workers were paid 0.3 yuan per day, and the hydropower station was completed within half a year. The construction of the cigarette factory was slightly slower, mainly because Duan Guoxue expanded the basic construction project of the site for the related factories in the later stage, which delayed the progress. Personnel training also took some time, mainly for technical workers such as machine tool turners and fitters. For this reason, Duan Guoxue specially set up two new schools to train employees.

  The first to be opened was a specialized technical school, which gave priority to recruiting apprentices with certain foundations in various handicraft industries. Although this offended some craftsmen, on the suggestion of Wang Shuilin, even the masters of these apprentices were recruited together. Although these master craftsmen were not very adaptable, their strong point lay in their already possessing very strong manual skills; however, the trouble also lay in their stubbornness, like that of an old ox.

  The second school attracted a large number of young people from surrounding counties and towns by opening a technical school, all of whom were between 16 and 22 years old, strong in body, quick in hands and feet, and agile in mind. Those who were diligent and hardworking were welcomed everywhere, and those who were young but had strong plasticity were cultivated first. As a result, more than 3,000 people stayed behind, although it was not easy to feed so many mouths. Fortunately, this year's weather was favorable, the grain harvest was good, and the biggest trouble was solved by buying grain at the beginning of the year.

  However, with so many students arriving, the school's teachers became a more serious problem. The old-fashioned Confucian scholars who only understood the eight-legged essay would never be considered. Although the students who had been taught basic literacy and mathematics could barely hold on for a while, it was impossible to recruit professional teachers needed by the technical school. Fortunately, some German technicians were also brought over with the equipment, and after hiring several foreign language translators, they managed to get by for the time being.

  Duan Guoxue also selected more than 110 people with a strong physique and quick thinking from these three thousand people to undergo simple training, running and exercising every day. Although they did not receive military training, they were doing basic training. With a good foundation, the military forces that will be formed in the future will not be much different.

  In this way, after a lot of hustle and bustle, many jokes were made, and Duan Guoxue set up his own initial team with a cigarette factory, an agricultural machinery processing plant, a small steel mill under construction, two schools, and a security team of dozens of people.

  Looking at the 32 people standing upright in front of him, Duan Guoxue was very satisfied with their performance over this period. These 32 people were his carefully selected and nurtured future elites, some of whom were local students he had chosen to cultivate when he arrived last year, while others had emerged from among 3,000 people after layers of screening and testing. It could be said that Duan Guoxue had not spared any effort or hardship in building his own armed forces.

  Although his descendants did not become soldiers, they knew the most critical and excellent traditions of the invincible army in the future. The unity of officers and men is the foundation of a well-disciplined army. Duan Guoxue lived with these people for several months, trained together, built barracks together, did not beat or scold, and set an example in daily life and training. He had already gained their sincere support, and from movies and TV shows, he learned to get up at midnight to check the rooms, cover them with a quilt, and pour water for new recruits, which earned their loyalty. These future military talents are now eating well and sleeping soundly every day, and in their words, they would not be able to train hard if they did not live up to Director Duan's expectations!

  For several months, every day 5 km loaded march with a load of 10 kg, 500 pull-ups, 500 push-ups, 500 sit-ups, 500 weighted squats, 20 100m sprints, and 10 400m sprint training sessions were completed with an excellent completion rate of over 80%, and the shooting level was all above 80 rings. Duan Guoxue didn't spare bullets for everyone's training. Duan Guoxue believes that there are only a few units in the country that can achieve such good basic results now.

  However, Duan Guoxue also clearly knew that the invincible army of later generations was not achieved overnight. It was forged through decades of hard struggle, fighting against all strong enemies, and countless martyrs' lives and blood. No matter how much he imitated, he couldn't replicate it. He could only instill the combat spirit of the invincible army, which dared to fight against all strong enemies no matter how weak they were. With these elements, combined with his own advanced weapons, Duan Guoxue was confident in creating a new invincible army.

  "Today's training is over. Dismissed!" The training for today has ended. Duan Guoxue returned to his own office. The office was located next to the training camp, which allowed him to have a little more time to train himself. As soon as he entered the office, Duan Guoxue saw Director Sun sitting inside.

  "General Manager, you're back. I've come to report this month's production and expense statement." Sun Changlang, full name Sun Lida, 37 years old, is a high-level management talent hired by Duan Guoxue from Nanning with a high salary. Sun Lida's management level is not bad. Basically, he can handle production, logistics, sales, and other matters. Also, because of having such a versatile talent, Duan Guoxue also has enough time to deal with his security team.

  "General Manager, your streamlined production is too brilliant. It not only saves the time of training workers but also greatly improves production efficiency. At the current construction speed, when the steel plant is established in two months, our income can be increased by several levels."

  "Two months later? How did the construction period get postponed? Shouldn't it be put into production next month?"

  "There are two main reasons for the delay in the construction period. One is that when building roads, some local landlords hindered us. Another important reason is that we did not have a high-level engineer to command on the spot. Those few Germans, although they were said by the general manager to be technically talented, still lacked a commander who could oversee the entire situation."

  "Damn it. Those landlords. Weren't they already compensated? Why are there still so many troubles."

  "Those landlords just want more money, but fortunately our relationship with the officials is good and it's basically been resolved."

  "It's all right, Uncle Lida. This steel mill and cement plant are very important to us. If there's anything inconvenient, just speak up. Sometimes, when dealing with some people, we have to use unconventional methods." Duan Guoxue roughly knew what kind of people were behind the scenes, and that this kind of person had to be dealt with using unconventional methods.

  "I understand, then I'll go back first." Director Sun was not intimidated by Duan Guoxue's severe methods. It seems that after drifting in the business world for so many years, Director Sun also deeply understands the principle of "evil people will be punished by evil spirits".

  "Alright, Uncle Lida worked hard, slow down."

  After seeing off Director Sun, Duan Guoxue arrived at his own laboratory. The laboratory and office were not far apart, but more hidden and confidential. Pushing open the safety door, Zhao Baodi was doing an experiment inside. Seeing Duan Guoxue come in, he excitedly called out to him:

  "Teacher, look, these molds really killed other bacteria."

  "It seems that the experiment is successful, and our next step is to invite some experts in this field to come back and study and develop this new drug." said Duan Guo after leaving the microscope. Penicillin, a medicine that was only developed during World War II, was so precious at that time, and its preciousness also represented the astonishing profit it brought.

  "Didn't Teacher continue researching it?" In Bao Di's eyes, his teacher Duan Guoxue was an all-powerful god.

  "Each profession has its own specialization. No matter how capable a person is, their energy is limited. My strength as your teacher lies in having some understanding of everything, but my weakness also lies in being superficial. So, it's better to let experts handle expert matters.

  Joking aside, I myself only managed to muddle through a third-rate university with a useless major in financial management. The basic knowledge was still learned from other places."

  "By the way, Bao Di, which area are you planning to delve deeper into for study and research?" Although I myself am a mediocre talent, don't let my students become one too.

  "Hmm... I haven't thought about it yet, but I'm really interested in the airplane you mentioned, teacher. Just thinking about flying up into the sky makes my blood boil with excitement." The young man's desire to soar through the blue skies was stronger than anything else.

  "Right, once conditions are ripe, we'll set up an aircraft laboratory." Joking aside, future air supremacy is so important that it's impossible without having one's own aircraft.

  "Really?!"

  "It's true, but it seems like we can't catch up in these two years. However, the most important thing for a good plane is the engine. You should learn more about engines in the next two years, and you will definitely find it useful."

  The airplane, a new thing that appeared only ten or more years ago, is now still only able to take pictures and drop something, but twenty years later, it will be the decisive factor in winning or losing wars.

  As I walked into the innermost and most core laboratory, a disassembled Maxim-style water-cooled heavy machine gun was scattered on the desktop, while a brand new 98-style sniper rifle lay quietly on another table. This is not an ordinary rifle, it's a sniper rifle made by Duan Guoxue using a synthesizer to synthesize high-quality steel materials, with higher accuracy and longer range, even the bullets are synthesized. Duan Guoxue originally wanted to use the "big bird" from CS, but the synthesizer can synthesize anything except design, if there is a design drawing in its database, it would be fine, but without a design drawing, it can only be an all-purpose material processor. Under duress, Duan Guoxue had no choice but to first synthesize and imitate the 98-style rifle, fortunately, the 98-style rifle is indeed good, otherwise, the Germans wouldn't have used it from World War I to World War II.

  While fiddling with the rifle in his hand, Duan Guoxue thought that the basic training of those thirty-two people had basically ended. He believed they could take on the role of grassroots officers and squad leaders. Among them were several good candidates who could be trained to become higher-level grassroots military officers, but it would still require time and practice to cultivate them. After this month, he could expand the security team by adding a reinforced company, and start building special forces, although the scale couldn't be too large. He would start with a squad of ten people, as he didn't have experience in this area either. With sufficient electricity available now, equipping a modernized armed squad shouldn't be a problem.

  After the steel mill and cement plant are put into production, the products of the machinery factory will increase. High-end lighters and agricultural machinery are new products. With enough steel, more new products can be produced, which can not only exercise the production team but also increase revenue. As for the production of ammunition, it can only be carried out in secret, although the output is small, but it must be done this way, who understands the reason of being guilty of hiding a jade imperial seal. As for the establishment of the intelligence department, there is no clue at present, and it is not too urgent for the time being.

  "Knock knock knock!" The knocking at the door stopped Duan Guoxue's train of thought. It was You Tian outside, and he knew his own habits - nothing absolutely important would disturb him.

  "Teacher, County Magistrate Mo has an urgent matter to see you." The voice of You Tian came from outside the door.

  "Okay, I'll be right there."