Industry began in 1937

Chapter 49 Post-War Summary

The smoke of the Battle of Nanshan gradually dissipated, but the atmosphere in the temporary command post in Jiangshui Town was even more somber than during the war.

The dim light of the oil lamp illuminated several tired and sorrowful faces. Battle damage statistics and preliminary summaries lay on the rough wooden table, each number weighing heavily on the table.

"Company Commander Liu Maogong of the First Company, Political Instructor Wang Dechang of the Third Company... 174 comrades sacrificed their lives." Pan Zhankui's voice was hoarse, and his gaze swept across the list, as if he could see those vivid faces.

They were the seeds, the backbone, the first seedlings to take root in this barren mountain area, but now they remain forever on the slopes of Nanshan.

"The Japanese didn't fare well either, leaving behind nearly two hundred corpses before slinking away in disgrace." Gao Yang held the spoils tally, his knuckles turning white.

"But our resources are almost exhausted. The battalion has suffered more than half its casualties and is severely weakened. Most importantly, we are running out of ammunition, especially bullets and grenades. If it weren't for the 'gouzi-made' rifles that Chen Yuan came up with to hold us off for a while, we would have suffered even greater losses in the hand-to-hand combat."

Zhang Xianyue tapped the table with his rough fingers: "'Gouzi-made' equipment is good stuff. It shows that we can find ways to make usable equipment! But that's the problem. What do we have besides Master Chen's blacksmith shop? They've almost run out of iron to support the front lines. Can we expect a blacksmith shop to support the entire base area's troops? No! But right now, if we don't rely on him, who else can we rely on?"

These words revealed the awkwardness in the hearts of the group.

Who wouldn't want their own arms factory? But where are the machines? Where are the skilled workers? These are all castles in the air.

"Right now, we have to hold onto Master Chen's blacksmith shop tightly and support him as our 'only hope'!" Gao Yang said, counting on his fingers.

"First, pig iron! Without iron, everything is just empty talk. Relying solely on collecting scrap isn't enough; we need to find a way to get more pig iron. This requires the government to mobilize all its connections to see if we can secretly buy it from outside, or exchange it with mountain produce or medicinal herbs. Wen Shizhou is in Gouzi Village; have him discuss with Master Chen what kind of iron is needed, and we'll try our best to find a way!"

"Second, gunpowder!" Zhang Xianyue chimed in. "No matter how good the shell of the 'gouzi-made' gunpowder is, without gunpowder it's just a lump of iron. Our small gunpowder factory in Jiangshui must be expanded! Old Zhou, you're in charge of this. Mobilize the masses, scrape saltpeter, boil saltpeter, find sulfur, and burn charcoal! Set targets and quotas! We need to produce at least a hundred jin a month."

This time, the gunpowder supply just didn't keep up with demand; otherwise, we could have had more grenades.

"Third, repairs," Zhou Huan added. "Weapons suffered heavy losses in this battle. Didn't Master Chen repair rifles before? Collect all the rifles that weren't too badly damaged and the broken bayonets from each unit and send them to Gouzi Village for Master Chen to take a look. Repair what can be repaired, modify what can be modified. This is more economical and faster than building new ones."

"And then there are the bullets." Gao Yang frowned. "That's the most critical thing. A gun can be repaired if it's broken, and a bayonet can be re-fired if it breaks, but every bullet fired is one less. Master Chen once mentioned in casual conversation that if conditions allowed, he might consider making a small machine to reload gunpowder and bullets into bullet casings. Of course, that's very difficult, but the fact that he has this idea shows that he has something in his mind."

Zhang Xianyue nodded: "The difficulty with bullets isn't the machinery. Even if Master Chen is capable of building machines, we still need copper for the bullet casings, lead for the bullet heads, the crucial primer, and sufficient propellant. Which of these can we solve right now? That's the bottleneck. But this incident illustrates a future direction for our military industry and also demonstrates Master Chen's importance. Right now, we should concentrate all our efforts on ensuring the operation of the blacksmith shop in Gouzi Village and solving the problems of iron and gunpowder. That's the most practical support we can offer!"

Regarding the procurement of pig iron, expansion of gunpowder production, and the repair of firearms, a resolution has been reached and will be implemented immediately. At the same time, a detailed report should be compiled out of our current difficulties, our reliance on "Gouzi-made" ammunition, and our preliminary thoughts on future issues such as ammunition reloading, and submitted to the brigade and division headquarters as soon as possible. Some difficulties cannot be resolved by Xingtai alone; they require coordination from higher authorities and even support from other units.

That hits the nail on the head. They lack talent here, but they can access more resources from higher-ups.

The meeting lasted until late at night, and finally determined that all work should revolve around the current military industry policy centered on "ensuring and expanding the production of the blacksmith shop in Gouzi Village".

This is a path filled with helplessness, yet it is undeniably real.

……

Meanwhile, in Gouzi Village, a funeral was being held.

Zhao Dachui and his guerrilla squad from the Third District lost four men, one of whom was a young man from Gouzi Village.

After the body was brought back, Gouzi Village was plunged into grief.

The funeral began on the very first day, and the sound of weeping echoed throughout the small mountain village.

The tragedy of parents outliving their children brought the cruelty of war to the village.

The village took some grain from the public granary to compensate that family.

Zhao Dachui said to Chen Yuan, "We need more weapons, otherwise it will be too difficult to fight the Japanese."

Chen Yuan knew this, but the capabilities of the current Suihuo platform had not yet been fully utilized, and the base area was still too short of resources.

With only a few metals, it's difficult to unleash its full potential.

For example, they could produce grenade bodies, but the base couldn't even keep up with the demand for gunpowder, let alone TNT.

The base is not just lacking a manufacturing facility, it is lacking everything.

This requires the base to be able to organize and mobilize, firstly to increase the production of gunpowder. If it can reach tens of thousands of kilograms a month, and fully utilize the production of landmines and grenades, that would be enough to give the Japanese a huge blow.

Putting aside the issue of 16 liang per jin, just considering that 500g per jin can produce 5 hand grenades, tens of thousands of jin would produce 5 grenades.

Ten coins for one Japanese soldier, enough to make the Japanese soldier wet himself.

However, this good thing was just something Chen Yuan thought about. The supply of pig iron and the electricity for the flint platform were both major problems.

……

A few days later, on the back mountain of Gouzi Village, there was the "Gongyi Blacksmith Shop".

The sorrow in the village has subsided, but everyone still has to face the future and the still rampaging Japanese invaders.

The furnace fire was still burning, but the sound of hammering had become much less frequent.

The iron ore reserves have been depleted, but the small amount of coal remaining in the cave can still support daily forging.

The government, on the other hand, sent a lot of spoils of war captured on the battlefield.

Chen Yuan, Wen Shizhou, Shuanzhu, Tiedan, and others sat around a corner of the shed filled with broken weapons, the atmosphere heavy with gloom.

There were more than fifty broken or chipped bayonets on the ground. Some were Japanese bayonets, some were original to the army, and some were bayonets made in Gouzi.

And a dozen or so damaged rifles.

Looking at these broken or nicked bayonets, Chen Yuan could imagine how fierce the battle must have been.

He picked up a broken knife made in a ditch; the cut was gruesome, and the bloodstains were black—all of this was evidence.

He could almost see the hand gripping it tightly, and that final roar.

"Gouzizao" proved itself, but also exhausted itself.

The soldiers' blood brought victory and also brought these cold steel pieces back to their original state.

"Secretary Wen," Chen Yuan put down his broken sword, his voice hoarse, "the iron is almost gone. We can't sustain ourselves by just collecting scrap. To expand production and repair these guns, we need iron, lots of iron."

Wen Shizhou's expression was grave: "Representative Zhang and the others just had a meeting and realized the problem. They promised to do everything they could to get pig iron from outside, but that will take time and be very difficult. I have already reported the urgent situation of the iron shortage in detail."

Chen Yuan nodded.

"Try to remelt as many of these broken knives as possible. As for the rifles, try to fix the simpler problems," Wen Shizhou said. "Also, regarding the bullet reloading issue that Representative Zhang mentioned last time..."

Chen Yuan gave a wry smile: "To be honest, Secretary Wen, if it were just about the 'machines' needed to make reloaded bullets, such as presses and molds, as long as I had good iron and enough electricity... I might be able to figure out how to slowly tinker with them. But the real difficulty isn't the machines." He picked up a captured Japanese bullet.

"It's all about the materials. Copper casing, lead core, primer, and homogeneous propellant. Right now, we're even struggling to get a stable supply of black powder for hand grenades, so where are we going to get these? The primer involves even more sensitive chemistry, which I know absolutely nothing about. So, it's something we can think about, but actually doing it is incredibly difficult."

He tried hard to recall the chemistry he had learned in school, but it was too long ago, and he couldn't remember most of it.

But he still knew the basics.

In any case, there must be three acids and two bases, otherwise the primer cannot be produced.

But where can we get a base?

Wen Shizhou sighed: "I understand. Representative Zhang and the others are aware of it too. Let's make a note of this and discuss it again when we have the means. Right now, it's still about iron and gunpowder. By the way, the higher-ups are already aware of our situation and difficulties here, and there may be further instructions or assistance. Let's wait for news."

Chen Yuan said no more.

He knew that one must take things one step at a time.

What we can do right now is to use "Flint" and everything we can mobilize, together with this nascent regime, to search for every piece of scrap metal and fight for every bit of energy for that slim but necessary "future".

Being impatient won't help.