lerbook Chapter 129 Establishment of Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group
Chapter 129 Establishment of Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group
January 18, 1925, early morning.
The new site of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau after its relocation in Lishui, Zhejiang.
Chen Zijun stood at the entrance of the new factory and glanced at the system panel.
[Host: Chen Zijun]
[Unlimited spending system in operation... Current fund acquisition speed: 1.5 pounds/second]
【当前可用资金余额：2，876，400英镑（近期大额支出：重型龙门吊×2、万吨级锻压机×1、精密磨床组×6）】
[Fixed Assets and Unrealized Gains: Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group is under preparation, and Ma'anshan Coal and Steel Complex is operating at full capacity]
Eighteen days.
He accomplished in just eighteen days something that others would have thought would take at least three months to do.
Large-scale industrial integration.
Starting with that phone call late at night on May 31, Chen Jiajun's industrial system entered a state of near-frenzied restructuring.
Bullet factories, gun factories, and gunpowder factories scattered throughout Shanghai all received relocation orders. There was no room for negotiation or bargaining. Within eighteen days, all equipment, raw materials, semi-finished products, and technical drawings were packed up and transported to the former site of the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.
During these eighteen days, the citizens of Shanghai witnessed an unprecedented spectacle.
Hundreds of military trucks and requisitioned civilian vans lined the road, forming a convoy stretching for kilometers. Each vehicle was loaded with machinery covered in tarpaulins, and two heavily armed soldiers escorted each one.
The traffic jam lasted for a full eighteen days.
The foreigners in the concession stood on their balconies, holding binoculars, watching the long steel dragon slowly pass in front of them, all dumbfounded.
A British businessman even sent a telegram to a London newspaper: "The Chinese are undertaking an unprecedented industrial migration in Shanghai. The scale and organization are reminiscent of the British Empire's military mobilization during World War I. I suggest the Foreign Office keep a close eye on this man—Chen Zijun."
But Chen Zijun didn't care what foreigners thought.
All he cared about was the huge factory area in front of him.
……
Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.
This old factory, founded in 1865, was once the largest military industrial enterprise in the Qing Dynasty. It manufactured rifles, cannons, and even warships. But after decades of war and corruption, it has long since become a dilapidated shell.
Until Chen Zijun arrived.
Now, this old factory has been completely transformed.
More than a dozen brand-new steel-structured factory buildings have sprung up. Each building is three stories high, with skylights imported from Germany on the roof, allowing sunlight to shine directly into the workshop.
In the very center of the factory area, two enormous gantry cranes stand on the horizon, like two steel giants overlooking the entire industrial zone. These are heavy lifting machines that Chen Zijun redeemed from the system for £80,000, with a lifting capacity of fifty tons, and you won't find another one like them in the entire Far East.
Further away, a 10,000-ton hydraulic forging press was undergoing its final installation amidst the shouts of the workers. The machine's base alone weighed two hundred tons, requiring a specially made concrete foundation to withstand the enormous impact it would generate during operation.
This guy builds cannons.
Without a 10,000-ton forging press, you can't expect to forge a qualified heavy artillery barrel.
Chen Zijun looked around and took a deep breath.
The air was filled with the smells of engine oil, welding fumes, and fresh concrete.
This smell might be pungent and unpleasant to others.
But to Chen Zijun, it was the best smell in the world.
This smells like heavy industry.
This is the taste of the nation's backbone.
"Young Marshal!"
Liu Zhenliang ran quickly from the direction of the final assembly workshop.
This old engineer, who had spent over a decade learning shipbuilding on the banks of the River Clyde in England, was now covered in oil and his work clothes were splattered with iron filings, but his eyes shone with an alarming brightness.
"Young Marshal! All equipment is in place! The bullet production line is back in operation, and the precision lathes in the gun factory have been recalibrated. Current monthly production capacity is at least 40% higher than before the relocation!"
"Forty percent?" Chen Zijun raised an eyebrow.
"The efficiency advantage of centralized production is so obvious!" Liu Zhenliang said excitedly. "Previously, the various small factories were scattered throughout Shanghai, and parts had to be transported back and forth by truck. The time wasted and losses on the road alone amounted to an astronomical figure. Now, everything is concentrated in one factory area, and semi-finished products from the upstream workshop go directly to the downstream workshop via conveyor belt, with zero waiting time in between!"
Chen Zijun nodded.
This is the power of the modern industrial system.
Assembly line production, centralized management, and standardized quality inspection.
In 1925 China, almost no one understood these concepts. But Chen Zijun did. Not only did he understand them, he also wanted to thoroughly grasp, replicate, and amplify this system.
"Keep an eye on the bullets and rifles. I called you here today to talk to you about something else."
Chen Zijun took out a roll of blueprints from the inner pocket of his military overcoat.
He unfolded the blueprints and laid them out on the workbench of a lathe next to him.
Liu Zhenliang leaned over to take a look.
Then his pupils suddenly contracted.
"This is……"
"A 150mm heavy howitzer," Chen Zijun said calmly.
On the drawing, a massive cannon leaps off the page. The barrel is over three meters long, and the caliber is large enough to fit a person's head. The gun carriage uses a split-leg design, allowing it to be deployed and ready to fire in three minutes.
"Maximum range is 15 kilometers. Shells weigh 43 kilograms. Two to three rounds per minute."
Chen Zijun read out the data one by one, his tone as calm as if he were reading a menu.
Liu Zhenliang's hands were shaking.
He came from a shipbuilding background, but he wasn't ignorant about artillery. On the contrary, because he had spent more than a decade in England, he knew all too well what heavy artillery of this caliber meant.
150mm caliber!
In today's world, only a few top industrial powers, such as Britain, France, and Germany, can manufacture howitzers of this caliber!
China? China only has a handful of arsenals, like the Shanghai Arsenal, which inherited a large part of the strength of the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, which can produce 75mm mountain guns. As for 105mm or 120mm, don't even think about it!
Now you're telling me you want to build a 150mm heavy howitzer?
"Young Marshal..." Liu Zhenliang swallowed hard, "This...this level of difficulty..."
"I know it's difficult," Chen Zijun interrupted him.
He then took out a second roll of drawings from the inner pocket.
Unfold.
Liu Zhenliang was completely stunned this time.
That was a tank.
To be precise, it is a complete set of design drawings for an early model tracked combat vehicle. The hull is diamond-shaped, with 15 mm thick frontal armor, and it is equipped with a 37 mm short-barreled cannon and two machine guns. The power system uses a gasoline engine, with a maximum speed of 20 km/h.
In retrospect, this was nothing more than an early-generation tank of World War I level.
But in China in 1925, this thing was called Zenith technology.
"Young Marshal, what's wrong with you...?" Liu Zhenliang's voice changed.
"The blueprints are ready," Chen Zijun said calmly. "I've already secured a solution for the engine problem from Germany. As for the special steel, the blast furnaces in Ma'anshan can supply it. All you need to do is turn these two things from blueprints into reality."
He paused, looking into Liu Zhenliang's eyes.
"Timeframe: Six months."
"Six months?!" Liu Zhenliang almost jumped up. "Young Marshal, six months to build a prototype 150mm heavy artillery piece and a tank? This..."
"I'm talking about prototype vehicles and prototype guns," Chen Zijun said firmly. "Not mass production. We need to build them first, fire the first shot, and get things moving. We can solve the problems later."
He patted Liu Zhenliang on the shoulder.
"Money, plenty. Equipment, plenty. Steel, plenty. The German technical advisory team will arrive next month. Your only concern is getting your engineers and technicians organized to work day and night in three shifts."
Liu Zhenliang remained silent for a long while.
Then, he took a deep breath and slapped his chest hard.
"Let's do it!"
A fire ignited in his eyes.
"Young Marshal, in my life I, Liu Zhenliang, have built warships, torpedo boats, and all sorts of firearms. The only things I haven't built are cannons and tanks! Give me the blueprints, the equipment, and the men, and I'll risk my life to build those two things for you!"
Chen Zijun nodded in satisfaction.
"Okay. From today onwards, this factory area will have a new name."
He turned around and looked at the huge plaque at the factory gate, which was still covered with a red cloth.
Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group.
……
10:00 AM.
Merger mobilization rally.
In the open space in the center of the factory area, thousands of workers, technicians and engineers stood in neat rows.
Among them were experienced craftsmen who had moved from various small factories, technical consultants whom Liu Zhenliang had brought in from Germany, metallurgical experts sent by Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Plant, and a group of young apprentices who had just graduated from school and whose faces were still green with youthful inexperience.
Chen Zijun stood on the makeshift wooden platform, with the huge plaque that had just been unveiled behind him—the six gilded characters "Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group" gleaming in the sunlight.
He had no prepared speech or prepared remarks.
He merely glanced at the faces below the stage, some old and some young, before speaking.
"From today onwards, you are no longer workers in small factories. You are people of Jiangnan Heavy Industry Group. Every bullet, every rifle, and every cannon you manufacture is not for fighting a civil war for any warlord."
"What you have built is the backbone of the Chinese people themselves."
The entire room fell silent for two seconds.
Then, thunderous applause erupted.
……
That afternoon, Chen Zijun returned to the Chen Mansion.
As soon as he entered the study, Shen Li came to greet him, his expression somewhat solemn.
"Young Marshal, there's an urgent telegram just sent by Moranzhi."
Chen Zijun took the telegram and glanced at it.
Then his eyes suddenly turned cold.
The telegram contained only one line:
"Suspicious personnel have been spotted infiltrating from the Ma'anshan direction. They are suspected to be remnants of a Japanese special forces unit, carrying a large quantity of explosives. Target: Coal-Steel Complex."
Chen Zijun crumpled the telegram into a ball.
These Japanese are really persistent.
"Notify Uncle He Maofeng." His voice was as cold as a knife.
"Have his Independent Sixth Mixed Brigade reinforce the defense of Ma'anshan. If he can't, tell Uncle He to go to Hangzhou and live with my father in his old age..."