HCB Chapter 432: Arms Trade with the Yunnan Clique
Chapter 432: Arms Trade with the Yunnan Clique
Zhang Chi was unwilling to express his opinion. General Lu was anxious, but he could only chat with him about this and that.
Finally, when Secretary Liu came in again to refill the tea, General Lu, who had already drunk a bellyful of Pu'er tea, said seriously:
"Brother, have you heard that Shancheng is planning to launch a million-strong army?"
"Oh?" Naturally, the intelligence agencies under Zhang Chi had also infiltrated the mountain city. In fact, the plan of the National Army to reorganize its divisions after the defeat of the Japanese had already been rumored in high-level circles such as the Ministry of National Defense in Shancheng.
But he still pretended to be surprised, "I wonder if my brother has any confidential information?"
"Actually, this matter is related to you, my dear brother." General Lu sighed and slowly explained the whole story.
"My dear brother, your People's Security Army is fully equipped with Eagle-style equipment, Eagle-style training, and Eagle-style large-scale organization. Tanks, heavy artillery, and aircraft are all available. They have won successive victories in the Battle of Myitkyina, the Battle of Mandalay, the Battle of Songshan, the Battle of Rangoon, and the Battle of Lion City. Their combat power is astonishing."
Zhang Chi smiled: "Compared to the thousand-mile rout in Henan Province, is the guy in Shancheng worried?"
General Lu continued, "That's right. Furthermore, the New 1st Army, having returned from Sindhu, performed well in the Battle of Changheng. The New 38th Division alone was capable of confronting an entire Type A Japanese division head-on. Although it was ultimately forced to withdraw due to logistical constraints, its combat effectiveness was significantly stronger than the pre-war adjustment divisions."
Zhang Chi nodded. Apart from anything else, the new 1st Eagle Army trained by the wealthy Eagle Sauce in the Ramgarh Training Camp is much stronger than the 'German Helmet Division' and 'Adjustment Division' that Hans and others helped to set up before the war.
"Now that Eagle reinforcements are arriving continuously via the Stevenson Highway, the Mountain City is preparing to use this opportunity to lay off the old and weak and recruit new soldiers. They will also add Eagle heavy artillery, aircraft, and armored vehicles to form 50 Eagle-type armored divisions, each consisting of 2 brigades and 6 regiments (4 main infantry regiments and 2 supplementary regiments)."
Such a division, although called a division, is actually an army compressed into a reinforced division, which is the same as the current idea of building the army of the People's Army, with a large organization and strong firepower.
"I heard that the guy in Shancheng cursed Generals Hu, Tang, and the others. To strengthen the army, he claimed that the logistics would also be hawk-like, and all the soldiers would be supplied with flour and canned food from the White Eagle."
General Lu's brows were filled with worry. "My dear brother, 50 reinforced divisions and a million-man eagle-equipped army! What are they going to do?"
Scared?
Zhang Chi glanced at General Lu obscurely and laughed in his heart.
What you call a full set of eagle-style logistics, if those high-quality rice, flour, meat and canned food could be distributed to every soldier, the White Party would not be the White Party, and the National Army would not be the National Army.
As for the plan to build a million strong troops, given the nature of the White Party, if it can be completed in full, no, even if it is only completed 80%, Zhang Chi is willing to write his last name backwards.
However, Zhang Chi can use the news that the Central Army will be greatly strengthened to promote advanced arms sales.
"What the hell is going on with the Central Army's military strengthening plan? Brothers Long and Lu can do it too. I have a large supply of weapons here: Japanese bolt-action rifles, machine guns, artillery, Eagle-style light tanks, and aircraft. The prices are fair, and I'm honest..."
"Oh?" General Lu's eyes lit up. Although he hadn't been able to convince Zhang Chi to sign a mutual assistance agreement this time, to jointly fight against the mountain city and compete for the Central Plains after the Japanese surrendered, if he could buy enough arms, he estimated that self-preservation would not be a problem.
"Of course, let me make it clear first, I won't accept special items or anything like that, brother."
Before the start of the Anti-Japanese War, the main source of arms for the Yunnan clique was the Gauls.
The existence of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway allowed the Gauls' Schneider 75mm mountain guns and Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns to be directly unloaded from Haiphong Port and then take the train directly to Chuncheng.
As for the main means of payment, it was the self-minted silver coin "Dianbankai", loans obtained from Gallic banks using salt taxes as collateral, and special goods.
Especially the special goods, as the specialty of Yunnan Province, the Yunnan Army exported them in large quantities to Annan and Pegu before the war in exchange for foreign exchange and arms.
Zhang Chi strictly prohibited such things that were detrimental to the country and the people. For this reason, he had shot countless traffickers. He also sent people to eradicate countless fields and supervised the local people to switch to growing grain and cash crops.
"No problem, no problem." General Lu was well aware of Zhang Chi's stance on drug control. He took the initiative and said, "Breeze, brocade, silk, tin ore, tungsten ore, copper ingots, these are all in short supply. Besides, my brother has a deposit at the Banque de l'Indochine..."
The bristles can be used to make brushes for painting warships, airplanes, and artillery. John, White Eagle, and Big Hair all list them as Class A strategic materials.
Tungsten ore is the core material for making armor-piercing bullets, and tin ore has great uses in military industry (soldering, coating, etc.).
Silk is a high-quality material for making artillery powder bags and parachutes, while tung oil can be used as a waterproof coating for warships and tanks.
In addition, Pu'er tea and various Chinese medicinal materials can be used as supplements.
There are still many physical items that can be used for payment in the Yunnan area.
After some discussion between the two, General Lu quickly decided to purchase.
30,000 captured Japanese bolt-action rifles, including Type 38 and Type 99.
The Myitkyina No. 1 Artillery Factory used 120 60 mortars produced by Schneider and its equipment, 40 captured Japanese mountain and field guns, and several grenade launchers.
淘汰的M22和M5A1轻坦32辆，库存的P-40E战斗机40架，外加配套的备件和弹药、燃料。
All in all, it is enough to expand the army in western Yunnan by 5 divisions (a small division of 8000 people).
General Lu promised to pay mainly with silver dollars, bristles and tin ore.
In addition, the Yunnan faction will make immigration matters much easier.
Both sides were happy. The Yunnan clique obtained cheap arms, and Zhang Chi emptied some warehouses.
However, Zhang Chi knew that with the financial resources of the Yunnan clique, a few more purchases would be enough to push their finances to the limit. Especially with the liberation of Malaya and Singapore by the An Min Army, the local tin deposits were enormous, and the Yunnan clique's tin would soon be unsalable.
As for whether so many arms will cause huge changes in the course of history?
Zhang Chi was not worried about this. After all, the man in Shancheng had the support of the wealthy Uncle Sam, and his personal reputation reached its peak after the Japanese surrendered. No matter how much arms Long and Lu from the Yunnan faction bought, they would eventually have to succumb to the man in Shancheng.
As for Zhang Chi, he only needs to ensure that the immigration channel is not cut off in the short term of a few years, and at the same time, he can obtain enough profits from this transaction to develop industry.
After all, industrialization and industrial revolution have never been simple matters.
To put it bluntly, during the First Industrial Revolution, the average life expectancy of ordinary people was 27 years old, and their working experience was 20 years. The description in "Oliver Twist" was considered implicit.
This is the price and sacrifice that must be paid for industrialization. Although Zhang Chi has realized this long ago, he will also use various methods to find ways to reduce this cost as much as possible through the system, by fleecing White Eagle, John, and Damao, and through foreign trade.