Chapter Twenty-Four: Visiting Qinghe Village

  June 7, 1916

  One fewer Zhang San, but with Cai Qu and Jiang Baili, they returned to Qinghe Village.

  Standing on the top floor of Longteng Building, Cai Kui and Jiang Baili looked out at the industrial cluster in the distance, where trucks were still coming and going, some carrying raw materials in, and more carrying products out. Throughout the Qinghe Village area, one could occasionally see a three-wheeled motorcycle used by the reserve troops for patrols. The two people had been quiet since entering the Huashi Town region, where the locals did not have the same worried look on their faces as elsewhere, nor did they have that numb gaze in their eyes. Instead, there were more rosy cheeks and pairs of eyes filled with hope for life, exuding a sense of satisfaction with life. An industrial cluster of this scale was not commonly seen even in Japan, let alone so many cars, which were not luxurious enough to be used for transporting goods even in Japan, but rather were mostly used by the military. This made the two people more sentimental, thinking that this was something that could not be seen anywhere else in the country, not even in Beiping or Shanghai.

  The equipment of the Chinese People's Army was even more astonishing to them, with a light machine gun mounted on each of the three-wheeled motorcycles, although they couldn't tell what type of light machine gun it was. However, it was clear that there were many such machine guns, and occasionally, one or two heavy machine guns could be seen, which were different from any other heavy machine gun they had ever seen. The barrel of this heavy machine gun was very long, and unlike the M1910 Maxim machine gun, it didn't have a bulky body. A strong soldier could carry it alone.

  The original design of this heavy machine gun was by John Moses Browning, firing 12.7×99mm (.50BMG) large-caliber ammunition. It is commonly used for infantry emplacements and military vehicles such as tanks and armored personnel carriers. Its main purpose is to attack lightly armored targets, gather living targets, and provide low-altitude air defense.

  Since its introduction in 1921, the M2 Browning machine gun has been in service until the 21st century. When firing standard ammunition, the maximum range of the M2 Browning machine gun can reach 7.4 kilometers (4.55 miles), with an effective range of 1.8 kilometers (1.2 miles) when mounted on a tripod.

  The net weight of the M2 Browning machine gun is 38 kilograms (84 pounds), and its tripod weighs 20 kilograms (44 pounds). The V-shaped trigger is located at the rear of the receiver, with two handles attached to it. The shooter can adjust between fully automatic or semi-automatic firing by closing or opening the bolt.

  The M2 has a wide range of applications, and in response to different configurations, it can be quickly converted to right-side feeding without requiring specialized tools. One drawback of this heavy machine gun is its slow rate of fire. To compensate for this, Chen Shao could only equip more troops with it. He had originally wanted to mount the heavy machine gun on motorcycles, but the recoil was too great, and he reluctantly gave up on that idea.

  When the reserve team patrolled, they were only equipped with a small amount of machine guns, but the rifles on the soldiers' bodies made Cai Qu and Jiang Baili think of all the rifles, and none of them matched up. The Mauser 98K rifle was the main rifle used by Germany during World War II, and now the German Mauser company has not even produced it yet. This is a high-performance rifle with an effective range of 800M, also the main equipment of the Chinese People's Army, at least before the emergence of automatic rifles.

  The soldier's uniform was also something they had never seen before - olive green camouflage gear and a helmet, which was unique among the warlords in their country. His shoes were not the usual cloth shoes, but military boots, and his upper body was hung with all sorts of gadgets that many of them had never laid eyes on.

  Cai Wei said to Jiang Baili with some emotion: "Not to mention anything else, this equipment alone is worth a lot of money. Moreover, the weapons here are all things that we have never seen before. Look at that heavy machine gun just now, it's got a caliber of over 10mm, I've never even heard of such a thing before. Although I don't know its specific performance, it looks pretty good."

  Jiang Baili shook his head and said: "I wasn't looking at the weapons, nor did I pay much attention to those patrolling soldiers. What I was looking at were those factories in the distance. Do you still remember what that British teacher said when we were in Japan?"

  "What's up."

  "A country's strength does not lie in its military power, but rather in the strength of its industry. I didn't quite understand this sentence before, but now I understand what that teacher meant."

  "Oh, what does that mean."

  "Military strength can be overwhelming for a time, but a country without an industrial foundation is like a mirage - no matter how strong its military is, it cannot produce the weapons and equipment it consumes. If one day others stop selling arms to you, what will you do? On the other hand, a country with a strong industry will inevitably have strong military power - this is beyond doubt. Look at the deal Chen Shao made with foreigners yesterday, what are you still questioning? Want to see how those foreigners who used to be arrogant are now equal to him, at least they have an equal footing because they have a solid foundation. This is something you can't find anywhere else in the country." Jiang Baili spoke slowly, but his words made Cai Yun start thinking carefully.

  "So you're saying we're still going to Yunnan?"

  "Songpo brother, what's the point of going to Yunnan now? I've been thinking about a question Chen Shao asked us that night: will China be at peace after defeating Yuan Shikai? I've thought it over carefully, and it won't be. The situation of warlords fighting each other is becoming more and more apparent. They are all ambitious people, unless someone can unify China with strong power, there are many examples in history."

  "You're right, I was too optimistic. If the whole country had the same spirit as this place, China would truly rise." Cai Guo patted the pocket with a $1 million check inside and said.

  "Alright, let's go down and take a walk together!"; Chen Shao was standing behind the two of them before they even knew it, and he had heard everything they said. This was also the main purpose of bringing these two to Qinghe Village - as long as they recognized themselves, things would be much simpler.

  "My brother Songpo and I were too engrossed in the game, we didn't even notice Brother Chen coming over, it's good to take a walk downstairs." Jiang Baili nodded.

  Here is the translation:

  There were three people walking slowly on the cement road, Chen Shao introduced them one by one: "This is Qinghe Village Primary School, with over 500 students now. They are all children from surrounding villages and towns. Next to it is a middle school, and a high school a bit further away. Although there is no university yet, it will be built soon. Moreover, in our schools, students above junior high school level must participate in two days of military training every week. We offer work-study programs here, as long as you complete the assigned tasks, you can come to school for free. Primary school students usually sweep the floor and have lunch provided by the school.

  "Do you need so many soldiers here? Even students have to be trained, are they all going to become soldiers in the future?" Cai E couldn't help but ask when he heard Chen Shao say that students also had to undergo military training.

  "No, I don't need it, China doesn't need it either, but good discipline is still necessary. Student military training is just to regulate their discipline, because they are all the hope of the motherland's future. I hope everyone can become talented and I also don't want them to slack off, we must keep a hardworking and enterprising heart at all times. Maybe China doesn't need a group of soldiers, maybe it doesn't need a group of scientists, or maybe it doesn't need a group of educators, but China cannot be without a group of Chinese people who are hardworking and enterprising." Chen Shao said with great enthusiasm.

  Chiang Baili: "Brother Chen's words have awakened us."

  Ts'ai O: "My brother Ch'en's vision is far-reaching; I am ashamed of my own lack of foresight."

  "Brother Bai Li and Brother Song Po, what I have done is still far from enough, China has been weak for too long, there are too many things that need to be changed." Chen Shao did not feel complacent, this was also his innermost thoughts.

  Chen Shao took them to the civilian factory area and called over the factory directors to introduce them to the scale and production of the factories.

  The factory director of the garment factory was originally a high-level leader in a British clothing factory in Hong Kong, and due to the superior's various difficulties, he heard that there were garment factories in China recruiting factory directors and directly jumped over.

  "Boss, currently the garment factory has four production workshops and one dyeing workshop. It can produce 50,000 sets of garments per month. Now our own textile mill is also set up, and when it starts production, the output will be further increased. The garment factory now has more than 100 skilled workers, except for a few foreigners, all are Chinese people. And the technical worker provided by the boss is too powerful, can lead dozens of new employees at one time, and the output is increasing every day."

  The director of the canning factory was a returned overseas Chinese who James had invited from America.

  "Boss, the canning factory can now produce 800,000 boxes of various canned goods per month, but they are all tin cans. The glass factory's glass jars are still in trial production. I think it won't be long before we can produce glass jarred canned goods. However, the output of fruit canned goods is not high, and for now, we can only make a small amount of chestnut canned goods and lychee canned goods. Other fruit canned goods are limited due to the high price of fruits."