Chapter 26: The Chinese Pavel

  Compared to soldiers, taking away several thousand technical workers and more promising young people was a greater gain in Hu Weidong's mind. In order to persuade them to follow him, Hu Weidong's integrity fell to the ground, using all kinds of deception and coercion. For some talented individuals who refused to listen to his persuasion, Hu Weidong even took coercive measures, binding them up if necessary. "A scholar meets a soldier, with reason that cannot be made clear." In order to avoid being beaten by this Red Army division commander who was more like a bandit, the technical backbones of various large enterprises in Pingxiang had no choice but to pack their bags and board this uncertain pirate ship with their families...

  Regarding Hu Weidong's overbearing approach, many old revolutionaries, including He Huzi, could no longer tolerate it. However, Hu Weidong justified himself, saying: "In order to build China's large industries, I have no other choice. If we leave them behind, these people will probably be content with just making a living and raising their families for the rest of their lives. But under my organization, they can become the pioneers of China's industrialization. China, including the three northeastern provinces that were lost, has fewer than one million industrial workers in the heavy industry sector, while the West has hundreds of millions. This means that at a normal pace, their research speed will be several hundred times faster than ours! If we consider the gap in quality, it's even more desperate. Our only way to quickly catch up with the West is to concentrate our limited talent on certain areas like the Soviet Union did, so every bit of talent and every moment cannot be wasted!"

  "That should also be done through persuasive education, how can it be like a bandit...", He Huzi knew that Hu Weidong's words were not unreasonable, but his eyebrows were still tightly furrowed.

  "These technical workers are not low-income, just relying on their eloquence, who would dare to take the risk of losing their heads and follow us?" Hu Weidong retorted.

  He Huzi sighed and remained silent.

  "Don't worry, old He, if the central authorities investigate and hold anyone responsible, I'll take the blame," said Hu Weidong with a smile.

  He Huizi immediately puffed out his beard and glared with wide eyes, saying "How can this be?"

  Although Hu Weidong was stubborn, he still listened to some of He Huzi's words. After all, the independent regiment might be drawn into battle at any time, and ensuring military victory was the top priority. If the independent regiment were defeated, it would be useless to bring along many technicians, and it would only lead to unnecessary deaths. Therefore, Hu Weidong, although reluctant in his heart, reluctantly left behind the old and weak technicians who could not keep up with the team, as well as those whose children were too young or physically unable to travel far. He took away over a thousand technicians, dozens of experts, and thousands of culturally-based and skilled potential youths. Among these youths, Hu Weidong had selected them for future plans, but for now, he didn't have time to personally educate them. However, while browsing the list, Hu Weidong unexpectedly saw a familiar name - "Wu Yundong".

  "Ah, yes! I forgot, it was this year that Old Man Wu was forced to flee with my father to Hubei's Daye due to the layoffs at the An Yuan coal mine. Looks like I'm quite lucky, if I had arrived a bit later, who knows when we would have met again......" Hu Weidong slapped his thigh and said, since the name "Wu Yunzhong" was not common, coupled with his unique facial features, Hu Weidong immediately confirmed that this slightly shy young man was none other than the future world-renowned "Chinese Paul".

  This young miner, who initially only had a primary school education, manufactured a qualified rifle with simple tools just three months after entering the New Fourth Army's arsenal. A year later, he became a backbone of the army's ordnance department. Two or three years later, he became one of the most outstanding figures in the red military industry. Unfortunately, due to poor working conditions, Wu Yun-dong was severely injured multiple times in experimental accidents and could only do guidance work after liberation. Otherwise, with his exceptional talent and rare diligence, he had a good chance of becoming a world-class ordnance expert.

  For Wu Yundong, a genius with great potential in applied technology, Hu Weidong's educational approach was to let him learn and practice simultaneously. Through practice, he would understand what subjects and content he needed to study, and after studying for a while, he would apply what he had learned to test his results. If it still didn't work, he would continue learning until the task was completed. Only when faced with insurmountable difficulties could he come to seek guidance, in order to cultivate his habit of independent thinking. This educational method is based on the successful experiences of great inventors like Watt and Kalashnikov throughout history. For Wu Yundong, who excelled in practice over theory, it was tailor-made, allowing him to grow rapidly into a world-class military expert at an astonishing speed...

  Hu Weidong took away not only people from Pingxiang, but also a large amount of wealth, materials and industrial equipment. Although the mining railway and the ordnance factory were not on the same route, Hu Weidong was still able to find out which machines and equipment or even parts that the ordnance factory could use based on his many years of military industry experience. Moreover, what Hu Weidong wanted to establish was not just an ordnance factory, but a complete industrial system with it as the core, so the machinery for railways and mining was also useful, provided they could be taken away...

  During the process of moving and disassembling equipment, Wu Yundong, who had just learned mechanical drawing, showed off his innate unique talent. He somehow managed to memorize the intricate structures of several crucial pieces of equipment and then disassemble them into individual parts that one person could carry, packing them up and taking them away. Later, after finding a stable place to settle down, he single-handedly reassembled the machines from memory, leaving everyone present in awe. This required an incredibly gifted spatial imagination and memory! It was only then that Hu Weidong realized that the rumors about Wu Yundong being able to build any kind of gun or cannonball just by looking at it were not entirely exaggerated...

  However, relying solely on this talent can only make one a "king of imitation", and due to the extreme backwardness of China's materials industry at that time, simply copying designs was not enough. Many times, we had to use alternative materials with much poorer performance, so the mechanical structure had to be adjusted to adapt to these changes, otherwise, it would be difficult to avoid various safety accidents. Therefore, for Wu Yun-deng, metallurgy, chemistry, mechanics, mathematics, materials science and other related disciplines were all indispensable, and the academic burden was far heavier than what is known as "examination-oriented education" in later generations (in fact, China's academic burden is only slightly heavier than that of Western countries, while Japan, South Korea, and Eastern European countries have even heavier burdens. The problem with China's examination-oriented education lies in the small amount of knowledge required but the difficulty of the questions, forcing students to focus their minds on solving skills and other petty cleverness...), but for the exceptionally studious Wu Yun-deng, it was a pleasure to learn...