Industry began in 1937

Chapter 62 Assembling Chemical Engineering Talents

Chapter 62 Assembling Chemical Engineering Talents

The mortar shell model that Yang Fuyun brought back, along with the list containing unfamiliar terms such as "smokeless powder," "TNT," and "mercury fulminate," surprised many people.

Now that there are places where artillery shells can be produced, how useful it would be for the troops to operate if they could be supplied continuously.

Needless to say.

At the division headquarters, two completely different emotions were stirred up.

One feeling is the excitement of seeing the actual metal parts; the other is a deeper anxiety when faced with the blank space of "explosive loading".

"The fact that the metal shell is finally in sight is a fantastic thing," a leader in charge of the military industry said bluntly at the meeting.

"But the problem with this medicine is even more of a bottleneck. Unlike bullets, which can be pieced together, the propellant and explosives for these artillery shells are tightly controlled by Chiang Kai-shek's side; they're practically unavailable on the market, and capturing them is a matter of luck. If we can't produce them ourselves, these metal shells are truly just decorations."

The leader presiding over the meeting was silent for a moment, then tapped the table: "We can't wait any longer. In the past, our conditions were poor, and our people were scattered, so it was difficult to concentrate on developing chemical engineering. Now that we have this opportunity, we must prioritize this matter." He turned to the comrade in charge of cadre allocation and organization.

"I remember that during a meeting at headquarters, it was mentioned that many students and teachers came to Beijing and Tianjin before and after their fall. Were there any chemistry students or those who had done experiments? Also, in our own ranks, for example, some veteran Red Army soldiers who had worked in arsenals in the Soviet areas and had experience with making gunpowder and explosives using rudimentary methods, what positions are these people in now? Immediately give me a list, with their specific names, what they studied and did before, where they are now, and what they can do."

"Yes, there are, but they are scattered and of varying quality." The comrade in charge flipped through his notes.

"For example, among the college students who came from Beiping, there was one named Zhang Fang, who studied chemistry at Tsinghua University and is now an official in the preparatory office of the North China United University, mainly engaged in education work."

Among the exiled students from Tianjin, there was one named Wang Chengze, who had studied at Hebei Institute of Technology and knew a little about chemical engineering. He was now working as a cultural instructor in the local area.

There are also some of our own veteran comrades, like Old Wu, who used to work at the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Region Ordnance Repair Shop. He has seen how to mix black powder and make landmines, but he can't do anything more complicated.

In addition, the health department has several doctors and pharmacists from city hospitals who have some knowledge of chemicals, but they are currently busy treating the wounded and preparing basic medicines. These people do not currently have the resources or the task of working together on gunpowder.

"If there are no conditions, create them. If there is no task, now there is one." The leader made up his mind, "Then report to headquarters and issue a notice, no, an investigation letter in the name of headquarters."

Don't make a big fuss about it. Just say that we need comrades with technical expertise, especially in chemistry and mining, to develop production in our base area. Have all departments, districts, and offices conduct thorough investigations and report the basic information of comrades with such backgrounds, regardless of whether they are currently instructors, staff members, or technicians. We urgently need personnel.

The headquarters received the report from Division 129, analyzed it, and strongly agreed with the idea.

The breakthrough made by "Gongyi Blacksmith Shop" in the production of artillery shell metal parts, and the core dilemma of "no medicine available" that it faced as a result, was written into a well-written and focused report and sent to Yanzhou via confidential radio.

Yanzhou's reply was swift and clear: "The progress reported by Taihang is invaluable. Explosives are a critical weakness in our military industry and a key vulnerability to the enemy's tight blockade. We should seize this opportunity to concentrate our limited technical resources on key research and breakthroughs. Reliable personnel with chemical and explosives knowledge or experience can be transferred from neighboring regions such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei to strengthen the Taihang front. The necessary technical data, simple equipment, and special raw materials should be obtained through multiple channels, with particular attention to clandestine procurement and safe transportation. This matter is of great importance and must be pursued prudently and effectively."

Yanzhou's instructions amounted to providing clear policy support.

Headquarters immediately had a basis for action and sped up their efforts.

A specific task was assigned: under the direct control of headquarters, to find a sufficiently secluded village or mountain valley far from transportation routes and establish a secret "gunpowder technology research group".

The primary task is not to start production immediately, but to quickly gather the key technical personnel on the list, assign them one or two reliable guards and logistics personnel, allocate a very limited amount of funds, and settle them down.

Their initial work involved sorting through existing, scattered knowledge about gunpowder, trying to collect and purify sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal using the most rudimentary methods, and exploring ways to improve black powder.

They tried every means possible, through underground connections, to purchase or find books and materials about smokeless gunpowder, nitroglycerin, TNT and other high explosives from cities such as Beijing and Tianjin, even if they were just some scattered chemical manuals or old textbooks.

Meanwhile, the headquarters logistics department also began to secretly plan to see if they could obtain some key chemical raw materials, such as concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid, through merchants or special channels, even in very small quantities.

This would allow us to try producing the propellant for mortar shells.

Meanwhile, in the mountain valleys near Jiangshui Town, a plan to build a small, concealed workshop responsible for the assembly and testing of future artillery shells has also been put on the agenda.

This workshop will be managed by experienced veterans such as Yang Fuyun. Their task is to conduct integration experiments as soon as the "gunpowder research point" makes any preliminary progress.

The message was transmitted within a very small scope.

When Zhang Fang received the transfer order, she was teaching her students basic physics; Wang Chengze was called out of the village primary school and was still somewhat bewildered; while Lao Wu was found in the tool room of the clothing factory.

They didn't know the specific mission, only that it was "required by the organization to conduct technical research" and that they needed to prepare to leave immediately for a secret location.

Meanwhile, in Yanzhou and the Jin-Cha-Ji region, a few names were also identified as being prepared for relocation to the Taihang Mountains.

Historically, before the Nationalist government launched an anti-communist campaign in 1940 and completely cut off supplies, the Eighth Route Army, while valuing the reloading and production of bullets, did not prioritize them as a priority.

At that time, a portion could be obtained through the Second War Zone. Although it was often deducted and delayed, some could also be purchased on the black market in enemy-occupied areas. In addition to the spoils of war, although the supply was always tight, the source was not completely cut off, maintaining a fragile balance.

Therefore, when Chen Yuan suggested trying to reload the bullets, headquarters encouraged him, but did not place it in the highest priority or most urgent position.

However, the situation is quite different with artillery, even light artillery like mortars and their ammunition.

The Nationalist government never lost its vigilance towards the Eighth Route Army.

Rifles, grenades, and bullets—these light infantry weapons can be provided with some leniency, but artillery and shells are strictly controlled "heavy weapons," so don't even think about it.

Japanese artillery equipment was also a key protected item, and it was extremely difficult to capture. In battle, if the Japanese saw that the situation was not good, they would often order the artillery to retreat first. If they could not retreat, they would also destroy the artillery.

Moreover, the caliber of Japanese artillery differed from that of domestically produced miscellaneous artillery, and their ammunition was not interchangeable.

Therefore, the Eighth Route Army was extremely short of artillery, especially the matching shells. Every shell fired was one less available, which was one of the biggest shortcomings that restricted the troops' offensive operations and fire support.

This was also the headquarters artillery regiment, which could play a good role in the early stages, but in the later stages, it was limited by the availability of shells and became nothing more than a decoration.

Now, the hope of creating its own "shell" has appeared, but it's stuck on this last "medicine".

In Gouzi Village, Chen Yuan was completely unaware of these high-level, secretive transfers.

All he knew was Yang Fuyun's solemn expression when he left, and the words "wait for news".

He continued hammering the mold in his hands, repeatedly testing and adjusting the amount of civilian ironware used.

With the continuous improvement of electricity reserves, producing higher-quality ironware, saving electricity has become a new option.

Iron ore is currently plentiful, but the Japanese will definitely block the source of iron ore in the future.

He needs to start thinking about conserving resources now.