Chapter Twenty-Five: The Exercise

  The director of the steel mill is a German who, like all senior management, has been tested by a lie detector and loyalty is not an issue. Under Chen Shao's high salary treatment, he won't leave even if he wants to, and now his whole family lives in Qinghe Village, and even his children attend Qinghe Village Primary School.

  "Dear boss, I'm so thrilled to see you! You know what? The annual output of steel in the entire industrial zone has reached 80W tons now. It's unbelievable! To think that such a small industrial zone can achieve such high production is simply a miracle within miracles. I think if I told others about this situation, they would think I'm crazy."

  "No, no, that's still not enough, I hope to increase the output of the steel mill 20 times in five years. I hope we can all sit down."

  5 times 20 equals, that data can be compared to Germany in 1913, the steel production of Germany during World War I was around 19 million tons, and another data, Japan's current steel production is 2.5 million tons in 1913, Italy 9.3 million tons, Chen Shao took advantage of the opportunity brought by Hong Jing and surpassed Japan within a year, catching up with Italy. Chen Shao led Cai Yun and Jiang Baili out of the steel plant. The surprises that Chen Shao brought to the two were too many, and now the two are still in a daze. When the three walked to the tank factory, the two came back to their senses.

  The director of the chariot factory is a senior technical worker, and all military equipment is firmly in Chen Shao's hands.

  "Report to the superior officer: Currently, four ordnance factories are operating simultaneously and can produce 60,000 rifles, 500 million rounds of ammunition, 3,000 light machine guns, and 300 heavy machine guns per month. The artillery factory can produce 100 75mm mountain guns, 40 105mm field guns, 300 mortars, and 50,000 rounds of various matching shells per month. A tank factory produces 120 tanks per month, which is also due to the current low technical content of the tanks; if it were higher, production would decrease slightly. An automobile factory produces 360 trucks and 800 motorcycles per month."

  "Boss, now all the oil wells can produce 1 million tons of oil per month, and a total of 5 million tons of oil have been stored."

  ";……";

  "What are your thoughts?" Chen Shao asked Cai Yun and Jiang Baili on the way back to Qinghe Village.

  "The country's sharp tool, we admire."

  "Want to go take a look at our warships and planes?" Now Chen Shao seems to have taken it for granted that they would stay behind, directly saying "ours".

  "Where is it?"; Cai Yun and Jiang Baili seemed to have not stopped the cat's claw, but their attention was all on the warship and airplane, before they both knew that Chen Shao had a submarine, but in their view, submarines and warships were not on the same level at all, at least in their opinion. Moreover, there were airplanes, which were much fresher than warships. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to now, where could you find a real warship in China? There were only old-fashioned gunboats of several dozen tons, and those over 100 tons were extremely rare.

  "It's not far, it won't take an hour by car." After finishing speaking, he stopped the patrolling soldiers and asked them to prepare the vehicles, then rushed straight to Fangchenggang.

  After about 40 minutes, a group of people arrived at Fangcheng Port and were discovered by the soldiers on sentry duty before they even arrived. When they arrived, Feng Ru and Chen Fu were already waiting there.

  Chen Shao made introductions for them one by one and took the two to visit the shipyard first, letting Chen Fu give a detailed introduction.

  "We now have four shipyards in our shipyard, which can build 12 ships of various types at the same time. Currently under construction are three 5,000-ton civilian cargo ships, one city-class destroyer, and two provincial cruisers. The remaining two docks are building submarines for Germany, with nine already completed and expected to complete 20 by the end of the year. We currently have three destroyers in service, but they are all undergoing sea training, and the warships have not yet been put into use. There are over 10,000 domestic and foreign shipbuilding workers here."

  "Please introduce our destroyers and cruisers under construction to these two friends."

  The data of city-level destroyers is (in the previous 17 chapters), the first provincial cruiser is called Guangxi and Guangdong, and the specific data of cruisers are:

  Standard displacement 11,200 tons

  Total length 200.6m

  Width: 18.2m

  Draft: 6.9 m

  Propulsion: 8 large and 2 small boilers, 4 sets of vertical triple-expansion steam engines, main engine maximum output power 154,000 horsepower, 4 shafts

  Speed 36 knots, range 8,000 nautical miles at 14 knots;

  Armament: 3 x triple 22cm guns, 8 x Type 89 12.7 cm AA guns, 8 x 25mm AA guns, 4 x 13mm machine guns, 12 x 61cm torpedo tubes Armor: Side armor belt (maximum): 127mm; armored deck: 35mm; main gun turrets: 25mm (front); command tower: 50-100mm; magazine: 40-140mm Aircraft: 3 x seaplanes, 2 x catapults

  However, sir, I hope we can build another dock and start building a battleship right away, I'm getting impatient.

  Chen Shao ignored Chen Fu's request. What's the point of building a battleship now? Not to mention that there aren't enough naval forces, even if it were built, there would be no place to sell it. The Allied navies still have residual power, and Germany wants to buy one, but it can't be brought back even if bought. Moreover, Chen Shao doesn't want his navy to use too many battleships in the future. The era of aircraft carriers is coming, and developing them is the only way forward.

  Cai Yun and Jiang Baili estimated that the surprises and sighs of a lifetime were not as many as today's. However, what they saw in Qinghe Village was not as influential as what they saw in the shipyard. They had never thought that in this small harbor, China's first truly meaningful navy was sprouting and growing. When they were in Japan, they had seen large warships of many countries, even battleships, but those were not their own Chinese ones. Moreover, listening to Chen Fu's tone, they could also build such a battleship here, which made the two think of the warlords at home and feel sad for them. This country was destined not to be theirs in the future.

  Then they took them to visit the training of naval cadets and boarded three destroyers, under the leadership of the crew members, they looked around every corner of the warship. Then returned to the shore to China's first aircraft factory, now the airport is producing China's first generation fighter, Xiaolong 1 type fighter, and Hong-1 bomber, but can only produce this model of aircraft, like Chen Shao expected transport planes and carrier-based aircraft are still on Feng Ru's desk, just started designing.

  The WZ-1 is an advanced single-seat, single-wing, three-engine aircraft with a maximum power of 240 horsepower and a speed of up to 250 km/h. It is equipped with a twin-barreled 12.7mm machine gun and also features the world's first "shooting coordinator".

  Its advent allowed the forward-firing gun to pass through the rotating disc of the airscrew for the first time, allowing the axis of fire to be as close as possible to the aircraft's centerline, greatly increasing accuracy.

  The Hongzhong-1 bomber is a twin-wing four-engine heavy bomber. The aircraft's payload reached 2,800 kilograms, making it the first Chinese bomber produced by Chen Shao based on a post-WWI advanced bomber design. This bomber was originally named Zeppelin-Staaken RIV, but due to the more powerful engines produced at the base, its payload increased by 800 kilograms.

  It may be that at this time period, Cai E and Jiang Baili did not have a deep understanding of airplanes, so they did not have a strong reaction. However, when they saw the planes taking off one by one in the airplane factory, these two men were still very excited, which shows that China already had the ability to establish its own air force.

  Chen Shao actually wanted to produce paratroopers immediately, but there is no suitable transport aircraft at present, so he had to give up. If Cai E and Chiang Kai-shek knew that this young man was not satisfied with the current situation, they would probably have an impulse to strangle him directly.

  Then, a group of people watched the training scene of the naval and air forces, walked on the dock that was still under construction for a while, and then returned to Qinghe Village.

  The next day, at dawn, Chen Shao took the two of them to the training ground in the barracks, where he had called a brief meeting with Kong Wenhong and Wang Yunshan the night before, specifically to conduct a live ammunition exercise that morning, with unlimited supplies of equipment and ammunition.

  So when the three of them arrived, a team of soldiers and a hundred tanks from the tank regiment were already ready, with various signs on a large hill in the distance, as well as pillboxes and trenches on the hill. Chen Shao and his two companions walked to the observation deck accompanied by Kong Wenhong and Wang Xiaoshan, each equipped with a high-powered telescope.

  The first to make a sound was Wang Yunshan's artillery battalion, with over a hundred 105mm field guns and a regiment of 75mm mountain guns, all firing in unison and creating a deafening roar. From afar, more than a dozen planes flew in, the only ones Chen Shao could muster at this point, their machine guns strafing downwards as they dived, while bombers above dropped bomb after bomb. Fortunately, it was also time to get up, so no one else was disturbed.

  In the distance, the mountain top had already fallen into a sea of flames. Five minutes later, the tank battalion also began to move out, with a battalion of soldiers following behind the tanks. As the tanks were about to climb up the slope, the artillery fire stopped, but the 60mm tank gun on top of the tank started firing, and the soldiers in the back began to shoot at the marked targets one by one. The heavy machine guns and light machine guns fired bullets that swept across the mountain without restraint. A company of mortar troops also set up their tubes, firing shells one after another into the trenches on the mountain. The entire training ground was filled with smoke and dust.

  On the observation deck, Cai Yun and Jiang Baili had already stood up. In fact, from the moment the artillery camp opened fire, they couldn't sit still. So many cannons firing at once, a unified attack on the open ground, it was something they had never seen before, not just in their own country, but even in Japan. The shock of the tank charge, its rapid advance, and the long-range shooting of the heavy machine gun, all shattered their understanding of weapons. They thought to themselves that even if there were a division stationed on the mountain over there, it would probably be annihilated before long. What's more, facing such an offensive, how many people could still remember to resist? Not wetting their pants was already quite something, unless they were seasoned veterans.

  In the distance, on the mountain, when the tank crossed the trench and climbed to the top, the whole show was already over. Chen Shao let a soldier bring a truck, pulling them up the mountain.

  When they walked to the top of the mountain, there were large craters one after another, next to which were various ruined pillboxes and many collapsed trenches. This made Cai E and Jiang Baili feel that they were indeed frogs in a well, and under such an offensive, modern warfare had already entered an era where equipment was the deciding factor.

  "Alright, you two, if I give you an elite infantry regiment, can you hold your ground?" Chen Shao began his attack.

  "Unbeatable force." Although Cai Yun's four short words did not answer Chen Shao's question, they were also the answer in his heart.

  Jiang Baili said bluntly: "I couldn't hold on, but the fortresses were all destroyed, how can human flesh stop it?"

  "What if the other party also has equipment similar to ours?"

  "Who else has such equipment?" Cai Yun and Jiang Baili exchanged a glance, looking puzzled.

  Seeing their eyes, Chen Shao knew they must have thought of something wrong.

  "What I'm saying is not just about domestic issues, believe me, it won't be long before Japan starts equipping tanks and aircraft. Not to mention the northern Russians, and my development of these industries is not aimed at domestic use either, but also as a defense against our two unscrupulous neighbors. Believe me, we will inevitably go to war with them sooner or later. Don't think that Taiwan and Port Arthur are still in Japanese hands, and there are still 1.5 million square kilometers of land in the Far East under Russian rule, all of which must be taken back. In fact, although I appear strong now, I dare not expand my military too quickly, as the lower-level officers are fundamentally unable to pass the test of large-scale combat, they can manage a few hundred men, but if the scale is any larger, problems will inevitably arise. To protect our country from invasion, that's why I've repeatedly asked you two to stay and help me, helping me is equivalent to helping the entire Chinese nation."

  Upon hearing Chen Shao's words, the two of them recalled all sorts of things they had encountered in Japan and saw such a powerful industrial cluster before their eyes, so they made up their minds at once to believe in this young man, who might be China's hope for the future.