Regarding the issue of steel production, Wang Xuexin has considered several options:
One is introduced from Yingjiang or Mao Xiong.
This is not impossible, especially when importing from Mao Xiong. At this time, Wang Xuexin and Mao Xiong still have unfinished transactions, and adding a steel factory means a few "high fire" or x1 problems.
But Wang Xuexin was reluctant to do this.
What Wang Xuexin was thinking about was that Mao Xiong was short of steel... During the war, everyone was in need of this stuff, especially Mao Xiong, which was still a major industrial country. During the war, every car, artillery and tank had a much greater demand for steel than China.
, which itself has to import steel from Yingjiang, so asking Mao Xiong to support the Huaxia Steel Plant seems a bit overwhelming.
This was second, and more importantly, Wang Xuexin knew that the most tragic battle for Mao Xiong would also play a decisive role: the Battle of Stalingrad was about to break out.
In the Battle of Stalingrad, Mao Xiong and Hans could be said to be evenly matched. They tried their best to fight each other very hard.
At this moment, forcefully poaching a steel factory and talents from Mao Xiong... What if it causes a chain reaction and makes Mao Xiong's war situation develop in a different direction?
Wang Xuexin didn't want to take this risk. He thought that even if he had to change, he should wait until Mao Xiong's Battle of Stalingrad was over.
But steel here in China is a problem again.
Improve your own equipment to produce steel?
This cannot be accomplished overnight, as water from afar cannot quench the thirst for nearness.
Taking up rifle steel production capacity?
How many rifle barrels must be sacrificed to produce a car engine? This is probably not a long-term solution.
Just when Wang Xuexin was having trouble with this, his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of the map hanging on the wall...
It was a map of the Daqingshan base area to the north of Luliang Mountain. Since the focus of the Eighth Route Army will shift from Yuncheng to the north in the next stage, it will implement a strategy of defending while attacking to shift the Japs' attention to the north. Therefore, Wang Xuexin was there during this period.
Study the terrain to the north.
In the past, it was nothing to do with me, so I didn't pay attention to it. But now, because I was thinking about the steel plant, I caught a glimpse of the Daqingshan Steel Plant located to the east of Daqingshan by the Japanese.
This was due to the Eighth Route Army's weak control over the north. At this time, the north had only one detachment in the Daqingshan base area.
Not only were Japs rampant in the Daqingshan area, but the stubborn forces also caused a headache for the Eighth Route Army and guerrillas.
This may make it difficult to imagine how there could still be stubborn forces in the Daqingshan area in the north.
In fact, this is not difficult to understand, because after the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the stubborn army also imitated the Eighth Route Army, hoping to establish its own forces behind enemy lines to hold back the Japanese. To put it simply, the stubborn army also had its own guerrillas.
The stubborn army has good intentions.
The Chongqing side simply thought: If a meager force like the Eighth Route Army can launch such a big move behind the Japanese to attack the Japanese's logistics supply lines, then with the strength of the stubborn army, if it can also pull up a force behind the Japanese, even
If necessary, we can also join forces with the Eighth Route Army to hold back the Japanese... Will that reduce the pressure on the stubborn army's frontal defense?
However, this behavior of stubborn troops often backfires.
The reason is that the recalcitrant army did not know that the Eighth Route Army could inflict such a heavy blow to the Japanese under the conditions of "poor and white". The fundamental reason was that the Eighth Route Army fought against the Japanese from the standpoint of the people and China, so it would win the support of the people.
support.
As for the stubborn army, what they think of as "an army built with strength" is nothing more than bandits, gangsters, or militiamen of the landlord class who are bought with money and equipment.
These troops who were bought with money obviously have no principles and beliefs of their own, let alone stand on the side of the common people and truly fight against the Japanese.
On the contrary, after they got the equipment given by the recalcitrant army, they turned their guns towards the people... because it was obvious that fighting the Japanese would cost their lives, but it was much easier to fight the people and snatch wealth from them.
As a result, the stubborn army, the so-called guerrillas behind enemy lines, turned into a scourge for the common people.
For example, in the Daqingshan area, the guerrilla group organized by the stubborn army was called the "People's Anti-Japanese War Self-Defense Force", and the common people nicknamed them "Tuantuanzi". However, under the banner of resistance, what they did was to exploit the common people.
These troops, from the commander-in-chief down to the soldiers, do all kinds of evil, and the people hate them deeply.
To use a jingle made up by ordinary people, it is: "I have a hericium (big pipe) in my arms, a whip in my hand, and a rope tucked in my waist. People eat dumplings and horses eat food, and no girl can't sleep!"
This force of tens of thousands is said to be the "Anti-Japanese War Self-Defense Force", but it is like locusts, robbing everything wherever it goes, and is even more hateful than the Japanese.
Wang Xuexin had once wondered how the so-called "Anti-Japanese War Self-Defense Forces" could grow to tens of thousands in the Daqingshan area.
Wouldn't it be easy for the Japanese to eliminate this ragtag group of so-called "resistance troops"?
Later I realized that this was not a "resistance team" at all. Not only was it not a resistance team, it was even a puppet of the Japanese.
From the very beginning, the stubborn army has had the policy of "reconciling the internal situation before resisting foreign aggression"... Although they did not say it publicly in the name of the war of resistance, they never gave up this idea and practice secretly.
Therefore, the so-called "Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Force" not only did not resist the war, but also encircled and suppressed the Eighth Route Army guerrillas.
This is in the interests of the Japanese. At the same time, the Japanese have never worried about the "Anti-Japanese War Self-Defense Forces" being a ragtag group of people who can gain power, so they acquiesce in its existence. They even use the banner of the so-called "Co-Prosperity Sphere" every time they carry out encirclement and suppression campaigns.
The Self-Defense Forces only fought against the Eighth Route Army.
As time went by, the two sides developed a tacit understanding, and even had many shady connections secretly.
It is ironic that a so-called "anti-war" force united with the Japanese to attack the anti-war armed forces.
Under this situation, the Daqingshan base area was once compressed into the barren mountains and ridges to survive in a very difficult environment. However, the Japanese and the "Self-Defense Forces" controlled Daqingshan and plundered Daqingshan's resources wantonly.
The Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant is a Japanese sweatshop.
This factory is built deep into the hinterland of Daqingshan next to the iron mine... This is a layout made by the Japanese in order to save resources as much as possible:
If a factory is built next to an iron ore, it can immediately smelt the iron ore into steel and then transport the steel out, thus saving a lot of transportation capacity.
Normally, it would be difficult for the Japs to control such a large steel plant deep in the mountains because it would always be harassed by guerrillas.
But with the help of the "Self-Defense Forces", the Japanese no longer had such worries.
but……
This seems to be a good thing, because now Wang Xuexin is given a chance.