Chapter 54: Strike at Nanchang

  Thanks for st201122's generous reward ^_^

  For example, for Hu Weidong, a world-class ammunition expert, tungsten was an extremely familiar metal, and he naturally knew how to extract it from tungsten sand. However, putting it into industrial production was not that easy. Hu Weidong was busy with military affairs, and the troops were preparing to go north to resist Japan, so he had to temporarily give up this work.

  But after acquiring a batch of scientific and technological talents mainly from Zhejiang University and many "advanced" machines and equipment (compared to those in the original Soviet Union), the original difficulties were suddenly solved. Among them, chemical expert Li Shouheng made great contributions. After Hu Weidong pointed out the key steps in the smelting process, his research team produced tungsten concentrate, tungsten powder, and dense tungsten ingot samples in just a few days, and established a complete set of industrial production processes.

  This ended China's embarrassing history of having the world's largest tungsten reserves but only being able to produce low-grade raw materials. They caught up with and surpassed the world's advanced level. When the first batch of trial-produced tungsten powder was produced, Li Shouheng, who was nearly 40 years old, excitedly hugged his assistant and cried.

  From then on, he admired Hu Weidong even more, and due to his high status and academic achievements at Zhejiang University, Li Shouheng's attitude change influenced many people, allowing Hu Weidong to gradually lead these scientific experts without too much effort. However, at this time, Li Shouheng firmly refused to listen to Hu Weidong's advice and insisted on staying in the Soviet Union until the completion of the tungsten smelting plant...

  Hu Weidong knew that Li Shouheng's idea was not entirely unreasonable. If these experts left, it was uncertain whether the Su District could complete the tungsten smelter smoothly and put it into production as planned without technical guidance. However, the research conditions in the Su District were very poor, and after completing several low-requirement R&D projects that Hu Weidong had racked his brains to come up with, there would be nothing for these experts to do. Staying in the Su District would be a waste of resources. But Li Shouheng and others insisted that they could wait until Hu Weidong found a better research base before bringing them over. If not, they could even take a plane, although it was a bit dangerous, but no more so than following Hu Weidong on the road. After all, who knew whether the Red Fifteenth Army would be able to find a new base with better conditions in a short period of time after heading north?

  Hu Weidong had nothing to say about this, although he already had a very suitable target in mind. However, it was absolutely impossible to reveal the secret at that time, so he finally agreed to Li Shouheng's request and let those experts who were working on their projects or could work in the Soviet area (including pilots) and their necessary assistants and technicians stay behind. In order to streamline the troops, some of the poorer workers and students were also left behind in the Soviet area, reducing the number of non-combat personnel to less than 50,000.

  The people who stayed behind went through arduous struggles and built the first thermal power plant, the first hydroelectric station (a small-scale micro-hydroelectric station with a capacity of only a few hundred kilowatts), the first non-ferrous metal smelting factory (copper, zinc, and lead), the first electrolytic refining factory, the first machinery factory, the first steel mill, the first sulfuric acid factory, the first nitric acid factory, the first explosives factory, and later became the economic pillar of the Min-Gan-Zhe-Yue border region - a tungsten smelting factory. Although most of them were small in scale and had an obvious experimental nature, they cultivated a batch of technical talents and greatly improved the economic and financial situation of the Soviet area, especially the ordnance factories benefited a lot from this. After that, even if the blockade outside continued, at least the production of guns and bullets could be barely maintained...

  But in order to protect them and the safety of the factory, Hu Weidong was forced to leave some troops behind, leaving more than 50,000 Red Army soldiers stationed in the Fujian-Jiangxi-Zhejiang-Guangdong-Anhui border area. In addition, more than 20,000 wounded soldiers who should have been able to recover and return to their units were also left behind. Moreover, in order to protect the factory, the mobility of the Soviet Red Army's combat was greatly reduced, and many times they had to engage in fierce battles with the enemy. Fortunately, with the munitions factory replenishing ammunition, the situation was much better than during the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Central Red Army...

  In late July 1935, the main force of the Red Fifteenth Army and non-combat personnel totaling 150,000 people left Jiangxi's Guixi County to advance westward. After deciphering telegrams, they learned that Chen Cheng's main force was regrouping in Ganzhou, the largest city in southern Jiangxi, while only Zhu Huai-bing's 94th Division was stationed in Nanchang, the provincial capital in northern Jiangxi. Hu Wei-dong decided to attack Nanchang first and then cross the Gan River for two reasons: firstly, to ensure safety during the crossing; secondly, to eliminate Zhu Huai-bing, a historical figure who had no achievements against Japan but was fiercely anti-communist and had brutally killed innocent people using the Baojia system, thereby continuing to "cleanse" for the Nationalist Party.

  Due to Hu Weidong's idea, before the troops left Guixi, Long Feibao led hundreds of special forces to infiltrate Nanchang City. Some special soldiers worked as artillery observers again, allowing the Red Fifteenth Army's field artillery to accurately hit important military targets in the city. The Nationalist army inside the city was unable to effectively counterattack due to lack of training in indirect fire guidance, and morale plummeted. After the Red Army destroyed the defender's artillery positions with long-range field artillery, the shorter-range super-caliber howitzers and "heartless cannons" boldly approached and opened fire, instantly shattering the defenders' confidence with their powerful firepower comparable to large-caliber heavy artillery. Amidst the thunderous cannon fire, the Red Fifteenth Army's soldiers sang military songs as they poured into the city through gaps in the walls like a tidal wave, quickly clearing out the remaining enemy on the east bank of the Gan River. Zhu Huaiying was killed on the spot, and the enemy on the west bank was not numerous, but was frightened by the terrifying momentum and learned that their commander had died. The special forces members who infiltrated them spread rumors and deceived them, causing them to flee instantly. The Red Fifteenth Army took Nanchang City, the provincial capital of Jiangxi, with almost no casualties...

  To avoid a long and tedious dream, the 15th Red Army and its entourage basically didn't stay on the east bank of Ganjiang River for too long, and instead crossed it at the fastest speed. However, even so, the 15th Red Army still reaped a rich harvest after capturing another big city. The wealthy merchants and celebrities inside the city, out of fear, "voluntarily" contributed money and grain to the army, not to mention the direct confiscation of various state-owned enterprises, which yielded hundreds of millions of dollars. Although it couldn't compare with Hangzhou, who would complain about having too much money? Especially since Hu Weidong was planning to go abroad to purchase equipment and introduce talent in the future, even a few billion dollars might not be enough. According to Hu Weidong's estimate, if it were an equal exchange, building a complete industrial system that could support national warfare would require at least $1 billion (note 1) just for machinery and equipment, which is over 3 billion yuan after conversion, and that's assuming the other party was willing to sell. Therefore, Hu Weidong didn't care about his image and frantically collected money wherever he went. In addition, the harvest of weapons and ammunition was not small either. The equipment of an entire division plus the inventory of a provincial capital-level city basically made up for the 15th Red Army's moderate consumption in this battle...

  Note 1: The total value of machinery and equipment provided by the Soviet Union in the early days of the founding of the country was around $4 billion (because the gold standard system was still in place, it can be roughly equivalent to $4 billion in 35 years), but considering that the old Soviets were overpriced, the cost of industrialization in the 1930s was relatively low, and the inland industry did not suffer from severe damage during the war. In addition, the relatively good industrial foundation in Northeast China still existed, so as long as the war can be ended quickly in the future and the Northeast Industrial Base can be taken over relatively intact, purchasing $1 billion worth of machinery and equipment should be enough to enable China to establish a basic industrial system equivalent to that at the end of the first Five-Year Plan. If cheaper goods can be purchased, the cost will be even lower. However, due to the difference in technological levels, there will be some differences in construction speed and output. Moreover, the cost of hiring foreign technical experts is also not a small amount...