Chapter 59: Gong County Arsenal
After having its own air force, the greatest benefit is that covert training has a good tester, surrounding aircraft reconnaissance and ground forces' counter-reconnaissance. The covert marching ability of the Red Eighth Army Corps has been greatly improved compared to before. With this, Hu Weidong was able to disperse the current 120,000-strong Red Fifteenth Army in units towards the Henan hinterland for a rapid advance, while the Nationalist high command did not realize it until the Red Army approached Luoyang. However, no one expected that Hu Weidong's first target was not Luoyang, the largest city in western Henan, but rather Gongxian Arsenal, one of the four major military factories of the Republic of China...
Hu Weidong chose it for two reasons: Firstly, among the major armories in China at that time, only this one could be captured and occupied for a long time. The Shenyang Armory was already occupied by Japan, while the Taiyuan Armory, Hanyang Armory (Wuhan), Jinling Armory, Shanghai Armory, Guangzhou Shiying Armory, Liuzhou Ammunition Factory (belonging to the Gui Clique) and even the armory of Liu Xiang's Sichuan Army were either too difficult for Hu Weidong to seize or beyond his reach. Secondly, the Gongxian Armory was uniquely advantageous, and if Hu Weidong didn't seize this treasure land, he would feel that he had let himself down...
In terms of the production capacity of weapons and ammunition, Gongxian Arsenal was the weakest among the four major arsenals in the Republic of China. However, its research and development capabilities were the strongest. The famous "Zhongzheng" rifle (although it was a knockoff product, its performance exceeded that of the original) is proof of this. Another example is the "Hua Ji Guan", which was also developed by Gongxian Arsenal.
The arsenal's product range was relatively comprehensive, and it could manufacture various types of guns and ammunition, including the Maxim heavy machine gun, Zhongzheng rifle, "Hua Ji Guan", and 150mm heavy mortar. The production volume of artillery shells was astonishing, with 26,000 rounds of 75mm steel cannonballs (note 1) and 14,000 rounds of 105mm steel cannonballs produced per month. This exceeded the peak production levels of Taiyuan Arsenal, which was the largest arsenal in inland China by more than double (although Taiyuan Arsenal could produce 75mm mountain guns and 105mm howitzers).
However, Gongxian Arsenal's most impressive aspect lay in its exceptional concealment and defensive capabilities...
In history, during the Anti-Japanese War, Henan was almost completely occupied, including Gongxian County, but this arsenal miraculously did not fall into Japanese hands. The main reason is that the path here is very tortuous, and if you walk on the ground without knowing the road, it's easy to get lost. At that time, the Japanese thought that this arsenal had been bombed by their planes, so they didn't put too much effort into finding it. What the Japanese did not expect was that the large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored in the Gongxian Arsenal, as well as the remaining cadres and workers, were all safe and sound under the Japanese air raids. It turned out that the Gongxian Arsenal had a large-scale underground works complex, with tunnels stretching for 10 kilometers, containing not only warehouses stacked with countless weapons and ammunition, but also production workshops, offices, and testing ranges for firearms, among other important facilities. The internal space was enormous...
This massive underground works network, known as the "air defense cave", was ordered to be built by Yuan Shikai back then, with the aim of keeping technical secrets, but inadvertently made contributions to the war of resistance more than 20 years later. Thinking that the Gongxian Arsenal itself was also ordered to be built by Yuan Shikai, Hu Weidong couldn't help but sigh, "Actually, if only considering the contribution to industrialization, Yuan's head is much bigger than old Chiang's..."
In that year, Hu Weidong had visited the ruins of Gongxian Arsenal and even went down to the tunnels, which left a deep impression on him. Although in terms of scale and construction quality, it was far inferior to the 816 underground nuclear project built later during the Third Front Construction, but based on this foundation, renovation and expansion could make it an underground military industrial base capable of withstanding Japanese air raids and field artillery attacks. If the Japanese army attacked from the ground, they might not be able to find a way in, let alone breach the advanced fortifications that were ahead of its time. Moreover, Gongxian and its surrounding areas had rich coal and iron ore resources, some of which had already been developed. It could be said that on Chinese soil, Hu Weidong would have a hard time finding a better base than this one...
With the current strength of the Red Eighth Army, even if all the National Army in Henan were to gather together, they might not be its match. However, if the Gongxian Arsenal could not be taken over intact, Hu Weidong's plan would fall apart. For this reason, while finding an underground party member to guide them, he ignored his subordinates' advice and personally led the entire Special Warfare Battalion, which had now expanded to over 1,500 people (including reserve members), disguised as National Army soldiers, easily passing through counties along the way where large numbers of National Army troops were stationed. They soon arrived in Gongxian, located in the heart of Henan.
Although the arsenal was extremely important, due to its location in the central Henan region and its proximity to the two medium-sized cities of Luoyang and Zhengzhou, there were not many Nationalist troops stationed in Gongxian at this time. There was only one regiment, which although elite, was no match for the Special Warfare Brigade. In fact, due to the Special Warfare Brigade's mastery of disguise tactics, the regiment was quickly disarmed without firing a shot and all became prisoners of the Red Army. Hu Weidong then used the captured Nationalist regiment commander to deceive his way into the arsenal and disarm the security battalion. The underground party members inside the arsenal also responded en masse, allowing the Special Warfare Brigade to smoothly occupy the Gongxian Arsenal. However, at this time, the underground party members reported to Hu Weidong with a tense expression that the arsenal's director, Mao Yi, had reacted quickly and, seeing that the situation was hopeless, had immediately led several trusted subordinates into the underground ammunition depot built beneath the ground. If he were to impulsively detonate the hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition inside...
Even the usually bold Hu Weidong couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, he shook his head, signaling Xu Chengji to temporarily not take the team down, so as not to provoke the people below. At the same time, he forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his heart and patiently asked Li Zhiyuan, the party secretary of the Ordnance Factory, about Mao Yi's personality likes and dislikes, hoping to find a breakthrough from it.
"Turns out it's an old radical plus a tech nerd, easy to deal with......", Hu Weidong immediately put his mind at ease, had someone bring out a "Border Region-made" submachine gun and send it to the ammunition depot, and brought over a sentence, "This was made under conditions with only simple equipment, how does it compare to your factory's fancy gadgets?"
Before long, the man came back empty-handed and brought two words to Hu Weidong: "good gun". Hu Weidong was overjoyed, knowing that the other party had already taken the bait. He wanted to discuss further, but was afraid that the messenger would not be clear, so he simply asked for paper and pen to write a passage, advising Mao Yi not to forget his righteousness because of personal favors. Old Chiang may not be unpatriotic, but his comprador position made it impossible for him to attach importance to China's industry, especially heavy industry. If not, with the resources in Old Chiang's hands, how could he develop industry better than Yan Xishan, who only had Shanxi province?
Note 1: At that time, the shells of howitzers were all cast iron casings, so "steel cannonballs" actually referred to the general term for shells used by mountain guns, field guns, and cannons.
