Chapter 69: Taking Advantage of the Situation
Yan Xishan was shocked by the news and hastily dispatched three divisions to rescue, but they were defeated one after another by the elite of the Red 15th Army, losing more than 15,000 soldiers, while less than 1,000 Red Army soldiers were eliminated. Yan Xishan finally realized the terror of the Red 8th Army Corps. At the same time as executing several generals who had abandoned their troops and fled back to maintain military discipline, he reluctantly dispatched most of his army to southern Shanxi and mobilized local militia to assist in the battle, attempting to rely on the rugged terrain to resist and exhaust the Red 15th Army, which was fighting on the outer lines.
This move indeed caused some trouble for the Red 15th Army, although if they didn't count casualties and ammunition consumption, they could have bitten open the Shanxi-Suiyuan army defense line and ultimately opened up the road to Taiyuan. However, the cost of doing so would be too great, and Hu Weidong wouldn't do something that was so unprofitable. Anyway, he had already completed his task assigned by the Central Committee by attracting the main force of the Shanxi-Suiyuan army to southern Shanxi.
The Shanxi-Suiyuan army saw that the Red Army had stopped attacking, and naturally they wouldn't take the initiative to provoke the Red Army either. So after the initial fierce battle, both sides entered a strange state of "no war on the front line". The commander-in-chief of the Shanxi-South defense line, Yang Aiyuan, didn't dare to be careless, but when there were no reports of enemy movements at various mountain passes for a month, he gradually put down his guard...
It is worth mentioning that before Hu Weidong led the army and the main force of Jin Suijun formed a standoff at Zhongtiao Mountain, Su Yu had already been ordered to lead more than 30,000 people from the independent division to take a detour and move east to attack Jiaozuo City, which was not far away. This can be said to be a lucky coincidence, but it was also Hu Weidong's early plan. Although Jiaozuo is not a big city, its mining industry centered on coal mining is relatively developed, with tens of thousands of industrial workers and a domestic mining university - Jiaozuo Institute of Technology. Although there are no world-class talents in the school, there are many practical geological talents who are good at exploration and mining. If these talents can be obtained, they will undoubtedly be of great help to Hu Weidong's plan to develop mineral resources in western Henan, especially coal and iron resources. However, because there were no particularly important talents in the school, he only explained the basic principles and entrusted Su Yu with full authority to handle it. As a result, almost the entire Jiaozuo Institute of Technology was moved to Luoyang. Hu Weidong knew about it later and felt that it was a bit excessive, but he didn't say much. Anyway, after the outbreak of the war, they would have to move, so moving two or three years earlier was also good...
For the tens of thousands of workers and machinery in Jiaozuo, Hu Weidong was also very envious, but most of them belonged to the large "Sino-foreign joint venture" Zhongfu Group. If not handled properly, it would affect the party's image. In this regard, Hu Weidong, based on his usual principle, directly confiscated the Nanjing government's bureaucratic capital that occupied the largest share of Zhongfu Company's equity, while adopting a "redemption" approach to Chinese shareholders in Henan Province. Considering the preciousness of hard currency, Hu Weidong gave them those bulk products that were abundant in the Soviet area, which were only difficult to sell due to the blockade by the National Army. Those shareholders were all influential figures in Henan, and they had ways to safely sell the materials and make a small profit after receiving them at the Yellow River crossing. Moreover, the situation was stronger than people, even if they lost out, how dare they say half a "no"?
It's worth mentioning that Hu Weidong actually allowed them to retain their shares, wanting to accumulate some experience for the future public-private partnership, but not a single person was willing to take the risk, after all, although the Red Army is no longer weak now, it's still far from seizing national power.
As for the British shares, Hu Weidong originally wanted to simply confiscate them, but just as he was about to give the order, he suddenly had a change of heart and thought of a better idea. Bell, the general representative of the Anglo-French company, was "invited" to the newly established Luoyang Municipal People's Hospital, where he witnessed the miraculous effects of penicillin with his own eyes, and immediately his eyes lit up as he realized the enormous profits hidden within...
In this era, foreigners who dared to come to China were almost all bold and unscrupulous, and Bell was no exception. He disregarded his authority and accepted the proposal from the Red Army to exchange 100,000 doses of penicillin for all the shares of Zhongfu Company held by Yingfu Company without hesitation. However, due to the British people's centuries-old arrogance, the top management of the parent company who looked down on Chinese people did not believe Bell's report and immediately fired him. They were also not interested in the 100,000 doses of penicillin, which were eventually bought by Bell at a price of less than ￡1,000 after he bribed relevant personnel. Then Bell found a friend from a hospital and paid an even greater price (to raise this money, Bell even mortgaged his house to borrow from the bank) to use penicillin on critically ill patients, successfully curing more than half of the dying malignant infectious disease patients, causing a sensation in the UK and throughout Europe. The penicillin in Bell's hands was quickly snapped up at an average price of over ￡10 per dose, and Bell, who was once on the verge of bankruptcy, became rich overnight, making the shortsighted top management of Yingfu Company regretful...
While the Western Henan-Shaanxi Soviet area also benefited, if they didn't rely on foreigners, it would be very difficult for penicillin to cross the Nationalist Army's tight blockade and be sold abroad. After penicillin gained a reputation in the West, there was no need to develop the market further. Hu Weidong could take advantage of the seller's market and use his advantageous position as a supplier to gain the greatest benefits for the Soviet area. Bell also became an important foreign partner of the Western Henan-Shaanxi Soviet area due to this successful speculation...
During the Republic of China era, almost all Sino-foreign joint ventures were dominated by foreigners, but Zhongfu Company was an exception. Although Chiang Kai-shek had no love for heavy industry, he highly valued resource extraction that could generate foreign exchange. After several negotiations, he finally acquired control and operating rights of Zhongfu Company through capital injection. The "rectification commissioner" sent by the National Government to Zhongfu Company became its de facto general manager.
When the Red Army occupied Jiaozuo, this lieutenant general of the National Army, who was also the current rectification commissioner of Zhongfu Company, suddenly became a prisoner and suffered greatly after being caught trying to command factory workers to resist (due to the obstruction of dozens of underground party members). Due to his high military rank, according to the usual practice of the Eighth Route Army, his disposal had to be decided by Hu Weidong personally. However, as soon as Hu Weidong saw this person's name - "Sun Yueqi" - he was stunned and quickly asked about his specific situation. He soon confirmed Sun's identity and immediately rushed to the prisoner-of-war camp to apologize to Commissioner Sun...
