UGB #156 - A long journey
#156 - A long journey
Starting from Ansai, it was more than a thousand li to Wuyuan. The calluses on Ren Zhong's thighs, which had been worn out from riding a horse last year, had just disappeared, and it looked like they would have to grow back this time.
In this era without high-speed rail, airplanes, or even many highways, there was no choice. Horses were almost the only means of rapid transportation.
After the first day of the journey, Ren Zhong decisively added the development of transport aircraft to his little notebook!
After returning to the main world and conducting research, he instructed Zhao Lidong to obtain the process drawings and even purchase an antique prototype of the C-47 transport aircraft. This was the best transport aircraft from the 1940s that Ren Zhong could find, and in terms of technical difficulty, it was also the ceiling that he could barely reach in the Bright Sword world!
However, the C-47's engine was an R-1830-90C 14-cylinder radial engine, which was not much different from the Merlin V1650. The R-1830-90C 14-cylinder radial engine had 1200 horsepower, while the Merlin V1650 had 1290 horsepower in normal conditions, 1565 horsepower under first-stage supercharging, and 1580 horsepower under second-stage supercharging. For a fighter jet, such supercharging was necessary, but for a transport aircraft, these acceleration states were almost unnecessary. Therefore, during normal cruising, the Merlin V1650 was not inferior to the R-1830-90C, with a single-engine cruising fuel consumption of 136L/hour.
With the C-47 transport aircraft's 3044L fuel tank, the theoretical cruising range under twin-engine conditions exceeded 2800 kilometers, and the actual range should reach 2600 kilometers without any problems.
If the R-1830-90C was replaced with the Merlin V1650, the difference in power would not be significant, and the structural changes would be minimal. The C-47 could basically maintain most of its original design.
Staff Officer Ye and Jiang Chongjing had no idea that so many new stories had unfolded behind this journey. For them, this kind of marching was commonplace, and it was child's play compared to the years of wandering and fighting.
The three rode their horses side by side.
"Mr. Ren, frankly speaking, why are you so sure that Qilu Ban will trade with us for iron ore and steel plants?" Staff Officer Ye asked casually.
"My reason is very simple. Based on my understanding of Qilu Ban, I believe he is an ambitious hero who is unwilling to lag behind. Don't think that Qilu Ban is close to us now; in fact, unless he is forced into an irreversible desperate situation, Qilu Ban will never give up the idea of seeking independence." Ren Zhong slowly stated his views from the main world.
"His relationship with the Second War Zone is very clear. Since he got the opportunity to become independent in Suiyuan, Qilu Ban has gradually drifted away from the Second War Zone. Of course, there are external reasons for this, but the main reason is that Qilu Ban himself is unwilling to be under Yan Changguan's thumb for a long time. Therefore, with a little instigation from the outside, Qilu Ban took the opportunity to become the King of the Border."
Staff Officer Ye nodded. He naturally knew the history of Qilu Ban's rise. Ren Zhong was right. Qilu Ban's struggles in the first half of his life showed that he would not hesitate to abandon his former master if he had the opportunity.
Even the people from the Border Region who had helped him gain a foothold in the borderlands and made important contributions were cleaned up and sent out of the country.
Not only the Border Region, but also the people from the Great Rear Area were sent away, turning Suiyuan into an iron fortress.
Under normal circumstances, such a person would indeed be difficult to persuade.
However, Ren Zhong knew that the biggest weakness of this King of the Border was that he had to rely on others for military equipment. Because under the current conditions in the borderlands, it would be impossible to build his own military industry without his intervention.
For Qilu Ban, who had rebellious bones, this temptation was simply unparalleled.
"Brother Ren, what kind of conditions do you think we should offer first?" Jiang Chongjing interjected. He didn't have Ren Zhong's hindsight vision and couldn't see these twists and turns clearly, so he felt unsure about this task.
"We can start by offering to build a pig iron production plant with an annual output of 3,000 tons for them, plus a matching production line for bullets and grenades. In a year, Qilu Ban's basic ammunition can be self-sufficient, which is already very attractive to him." Ren Zhong thought for a while, "Qilu Ban has an army of 100,000, and the consumption of bullets is at most 1,000 tons of pig iron a year. Adding in artillery shells and grenades, 3,000 tons of pig iron is basically enough."
"If that's not enough, we can appropriately increase the production capacity. The excess pig iron can be used for civil engineering construction and agricultural tools. We'll give him a production capacity of less than 10,000 tons, which is enough. You know, the annual iron production in the Great Rear Area of the Guofu is only more than 50,000 tons."
Staff Officer Ye raised his eyebrows and said nothing. If the Border Region could have such a large iron production before Ren Zhong opened up the steel industry for the base area and the Border Region, they would have been ecstatic. But now, 20,000 tons was just a drop in the bucket. The Border Region and the base area had local blast furnaces blooming everywhere, and the steel production in the Border Region alone exceeded 50,000 tons!
"We can propose exchanging one ton of iron production capacity per year for three tons of grain. In terms of crude copper replacement, one ton of explosives for five tons of copper. We will handle the copper smelting technology and factory management, while they will provide manpower for mining and transportation and store the grain. We can accept a final split of 30/70 or 40/60. This transaction must be tied to the exchange of iron for grain, and we insist on either doing it all or breaking up!"
"Brother Ren, you said that we have solved the problem of manufacturing bullets with pig iron. Why do we still value copper so much?" Jiang Chongjing didn't understand.
"Because we will need copper everywhere in our future development. We need to get at least 100 tons of copper every year to quickly transform our technological research and development results in electricity, new chemical plants, steel plants, and machine tool plants into products. Copper is an indispensable core raw material for electric motors, and electric motors are the key to our electrification," Ren Zhong explained simply.
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In fact, copper is indispensable in many fields such as electricity, electronics, energy and petrochemicals, machinery and metallurgy, transportation, and light industry.
"Is that so?" Jiang Chongjing seemed to understand. "Then we really can't give up this requirement. For this negotiation, the nominal representatives are Staff Officer Ye and I, but in reality, Brother Ren, you have to offer more suggestions and advice. We strive to bring both grain and copper back to the Border Region smoothly."
Ren Zhong looked ahead and nodded. Yes, no matter how difficult it is, this is a task that must be completed, otherwise it will be troublesome for my next plan to be carried out.
The Border Region does not lack coal or iron ore (at least it does not lack it at this stage), and it also has oil, but there are no decent copper mines. The base area in Jin is separated from the Border Region by the Tongpu Line defense zone of the Japanese devils. Small-scale transportation and infiltration are no problem, but large-scale transportation is very difficult.
Therefore, for Ren Zhong, it is imperative to bring the copper mines in the borderlands back.
Although there are also copper mines in the Ikezhao League, the situation here is still unstable. Before Qilu Ban completes the capture of Jiuyuan, Ren Zhong does not want to open up copper mining and smelting here, because this thing also has a well-known attraction to the Japanese devils. Once the news leaks, the strength of the newly compiled Third Division cannot resist the Japanese devils, unless Ren Zhong's planned five main regiments complete their reorganization and go north!
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