Chapter Ten Half Year Development
November 30, 1914 (dates changed to Gregorian calendar thereafter)
It's been half a year since I last gave a speech in Qinghe Village. The current Qinghe Village is completely different from the one six months ago. There are straight concrete roads, with cars coming and going constantly. Along the village roads, there are streetlights, behind which stand rows of neat brick houses. In the middle of the original Qinghe Village, a 6-story steel-reinforced concrete building stands tall. On top of the building, in big red letters, it reads: "Longteng Group Office Building".
In the distance, under the mountains, a series of factories are neatly situated at the foot of the mountain, stretching directly from the foot of the mountain to Qinghe Village. On both sides of Qinghe Village, there are also several large livestock breeding farms. In the depths of the mountain valley, several fully enclosed strange vehicles come and go, and further out, six huge tank factories are located, with trucks carrying steel coming and going behind them. Because behind the tank factory is a massive steel mill, originally there were six steel mills, but later they were connected together by breaking through walls for convenient production. Further out, there are rows of enclosed rectangular buildings, carefully counting, there are 30 in total, countless electrical wires connecting them to the factories inside and Qinghe Village at the foot of the mountain and surrounding factories. There are too many factories, plus the electricity demands of several surrounding villages, magnetic power plants are being built more and more, until now the valley is full, and future construction can only be done elsewhere.
The power plant is next to a Chinese army barracks, which is specifically used for training security troops. The barracks next to Qinghe Village are the training grounds for reserve forces. Standing outside the barracks, you can still hear the sound of security troops shouting and training inside. In the morning, you can also hear bursts of gunfire and the rumble of cannons. After half a year of training, the soldiers in the security troops have all reached the level of first-class privates. Under the daily feeding of large quantities of bullets, each one's marksmanship has improved rapidly. Although the number of people in the security troops has not increased much over the past six months, remaining at around 800, the number of reserve forces has reached a scale of 1,000. However, in terms of actual combat effectiveness, it is by no means comparable to ordinary units. The equipment currently used by the security troops and reserves includes Mauser 98K rifles, Browning WZ-1928 light machine guns, and M2 Browning heavy machine guns.
The security team's formation is as follows: the formal security team members are temporarily formed into the first battalion of the security team. The first battalion has three combat groups in each class, with one group having three people, including a group leader, and two rifle groups. There are three group leaders, one class leader, and a total of 10 people. Three classes form a company, which has a heavy machine gun fire support class equipped with three heavy machine guns, and a total of 42 people including the company commander and deputy commander. Three companies form a battalion, which is equipped with a communication team of three people, a mountain artillery company of 23 people with six 75mm mountain guns, an automobile class of six cars and 12 people, and a total of 167 people including the battalion commander and deputy commander. Three battalions form a regiment, which has a communication platoon of 10 people, a mountain artillery battalion of 71 people with 18 75mm mountain guns, an automobile company of 18 cars and 36 people, a cooking class of 10 people, a guard platoon of 10 people, and a heavy firepower support company of 32 people. The total number of people in the regiment is 672. Currently, the first battalion's task is training, with no other tasks. Although it has only a few hundred people, its firepower intensity can match that of a domestic division, or even a German regiment. The reserve team is temporarily formed into an ordinary reinforced battalion for training, as the second battalion of the security team, without mountain artillery or automobiles. However, the second battalion is responsible for the security of the entire Qinghe Village industrial area, equipped with military dogs, patrolling day and night in the entire Qinghe industrial area, setting up roadblocks on all roads entering and exiting the Qinghe industrial area to inspect pedestrians and vehicles, and ensuring the safety of road construction.
There was also a unit in Fangchenggang not far away, although this unit had many people, but it was not counted within the security team's organization. Because that was purely for cultivating the navy and existed as a unit. The number of people is around 1,000, led by two senior naval instructors and two junior instructors. Fortunately, there are seas around, and many fishermen, all of whom were attracted by high salaries from Qinghe Village, because there are no warships yet, they have been training in the barracks next to the shipyard, but each person is equipped with a Mauser 98K rifle, also undertaking the guard mission around the shipyard.
Around the shipyard, many residential houses have been built, where the shipbuilding workers recruited from abroad in the past six months live, as well as the first batch of shipbuilding workers trained by Chen Shao's technical school, led by several senior technicians to participate in shipbuilding, and many experienced shipbuilders poached from Jiangnan Shipyard. Not far from the shipyard, several mineral refining plants and a large steel plant composed of six steel mills have been built, as well as a wood processing plant, an oil depot, and several magnetohydrodynamic power generation units to provide electricity for the shipyard.
Next to the shipyard, a huge dock is under construction. The area is relatively flat and large, but now it's all piled up with steel bars and cement, as well as stone materials. From the shore, 4 long flat bridge-like structures stretch out into the sea, their length still extending. According to the architectural drawings, once this place is completed, it can become a huge military port and cargo dock for ships.
Due to the short time and relatively long distance, there is only a simple dirt road between this shipyard and Qinghe Industrial Zone, and since there are no villages around, this shipyard is still little known.
Sitting in the office of the Longteng Group building, Chen Shao lit a Longteng cigarette and thought about the ups and downs of the past six months, his mouth slowly curling up. The current Longteng Group is not the same as it was six months ago, its scale has expanded tenfold, with thousands of employees, and the entire Huashi County is within its sphere of influence. Every day, trucks loaded with weapons are shipped out one after another, domestic warlords are fighting for territory every day, and although Chen Shao also wants to unify the country immediately, relying on the current weapon production speed, it would only take a few days to arm an army, and if he doesn't care about the lives of his soldiers, he can still unify China. However, without a solid foundation and a stable rear, without countless government officials loyal to him to govern the country, he would be nothing more than a second Yuan Shikai.
Meanwhile, in the United States, James has also been developing rapidly over the past six months, with a large batch of canned beef, milk, pork, chicken, and other miscellaneous goods such as cigarettes, lighters, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cups, towels, and some women's products like stockings. All of these were produced in Qinghe Industrial Zone and then transported to Hong Kong before being shipped to the United States.
The fleet of ships being transported were originally cargo vessels from a fast-failing transoceanic shipping company that James had purchased in the United States, although only a few with a displacement of around 1,000 tons, they are barely sufficient now.
Due to the relatively affordable price, these products are selling well in the US and have a good reputation. Recently, several Longteng supermarkets have appeared in Washington and New York, specializing in the sale of Longteng series products. The name James is also gradually entering the eyes of Americans.
Although the development momentum is very good now, it is still far from its own goal. Since the First World War has just started for 5 months, both the Allied and Axis powers have war potential at present, and each country also thinks that the war will end soon, so they will not rely on external products yet. However, if next year, then it's hard to say. So Chen Shao decided to start hoarding goods from next year to prepare for sales in Europe, with the Allied powers as the first target, because the Allies have the industrial power of the United States on their side, although they want to sell, it is difficult to snatch food from the mouth of the United States.
They are now slowly accumulating German World War I weapons such as rifles: Mauser classic, MP44, MG42, G43, and some German military uniforms, boots, hats, canteens and other personal items. Although the daily output is not much, when they can really be sold to Europe, it's estimated that the quantity will be sufficient by then. The Allies' goods will have a sales channel at that time, and it won't be too late to produce them again.
Two days ago, a scientist was cultivated in the biochemical cultivation nest, and it turned out to be a biopharmaceutical professional. Chen Shaoli immediately took out his previously recorded penicillin cultivation method for him to see. The guy was overjoyed and rushed into the experimental laboratory, and has not come out until now. If mass production of penicillin is possible, think about the 30 million casualties in World War I, how much penicillin would be needed? Just selling penicillin alone could support several Qinghe Village bases. **Gold isn't called gold for nothing.**
Actually, Chen Shao is now lacking scientists like tanks and airplanes, although in the past six months, more than a hundred biochemical people have been produced, including about twenty scientists, but there isn't one related to tanks and airplanes, which really made Chen Shao depressed for a while. In the past six months, dozens of spies have been scattered all over the world, especially in Europe, although many skilled workers have been recruited, not a single scientist has been found, especially among the high-level spies in Berlin and Paris, Einstein and Madame Curie have not been found yet, even James in America hasn't found Tesla.
More than a dozen spies in the country finally found Feng Ru, the father of Chinese aviation, but because Chen Shaoming was unknown, he reluctantly agreed to come and take a look under the repeated requests of the spies, and it is estimated that they will arrive at Qinghe Village in a few days.
In 1903, after learning that the Wright brothers had invented the airplane, Feng Ru decided to rely on his own strength to manufacture an airplane. He received sponsorship from local Chinese Americans and set up an aircraft manufacturing plant in Oakland, east of San Francisco, in 1907. In 1909, he formally established the Guangdong Flying Machine Company, with himself as chief engineer. The company began manufacturing airplanes that year. On September 21, 1909, Feng Ru designed and manufactured China's first airplane and personally flew it into the sky, achieving China's first manned powered flight. The performance of the plane basically reached the level of aircraft manufacturing in other countries at that time. In 1912, he returned to his hometown with his self-made plane to serve his country and led China's first revolutionary air force.
