Beiyang 1917

[Text] Chapter 190 Five heavy responsibilities and a long way to go

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In January 1918, as Zhonghua Fudao Automobile initially had the ability to assemble and produce automobiles, and also because of the continuous supply of oil from Renqiu Oilfield of Zhongmei Petroleum, Zhonghua Bus Company came into being with a total share capital of 1 million yuan and configuration 100 buses converted from Ford TT multi-purpose vehicles have been installed, and a total of more than a dozen bus routes have been opened around the city of Beijing and the southeast and northwest. From 200:6 a.m. to 15:[-] p.m., each route runs every [-] minutes.download

As an advertisement, passengers can take the bus for free in the first month of the trial operation, and charges start from the second month. There are one-way tickets and round-trip tickets, weekly tickets, ten-day tickets and monthly tickets. Of course, season tickets and annual tickets are discounted. maximum.Generally speaking, it is slightly more expensive than the price of a rickshaw, in order not to squeeze the living space of the rickshaw driver too much.

Students, soldiers, the elderly, and the disabled all ride for free. As a public utility, the China Bus Company does not aim at profit, but only to facilitate people's lives and improve the efficiency of travel. At the same time, the China Charity Foundation also contributes to Bei The large and medium-sized hospitals in Beijing donated 100 ambulances modified from Ford TT multi-purpose vehicles, [-] fire trucks modified from TT to the Beijing City Fire Fighting Association, and donated [-] vehicles to various colleges and universities in Beijing City A tt modified school bus.

In January 1918, after completing the assembly and testing tasks of the second batch of imported British aircraft, the Zhonghua Aircraft Manufacturing Company focused on the imitation and production of the engine of the Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII. At the same time, The imitation production of the V1 heavy bomber with 100 sets of VIII engines assembled and produced is also progressing quite smoothly. Based on the original two prototypes, the first domestically imitated and assembled V1500 aircraft is expected to take a test flight at the end of January.

If the test flight goes well, it is expected that the Nanyuan Aircraft Factory of Zhonghua Aircraft Manufacturing Company will be able to increase the production capacity to 6 V1500s per month from March, and expand the production capacity to more than 20 per month after half a year.

In January 1918, the construction of the Xuanhua Iron and Steel Oil Refining Ordnance Base was still underway in an orderly manner. The smokeless gunpowder workshop and the six light weapons production lines of the Xuanhua Arsenal were basically commissioned and entered a trial production state. As skilled arsenal workers still needed time to For training and training, the initial production capacity of the entire arsenal is still relatively low. It is estimated that starting from February, the monthly output will be 1 field rifles, 3000 m1917bra squad machine guns, 500 m1917a1 Browning water-cooled heavy machine guns, and Browning .200 caliber automatic pistols 45 pieces, and 500 million rounds of 7.62mm 30.06 rifle bullets.

With the expansion of scale, the availability of raw materials and the improvement of workers' proficiency, the production capacity of Xuanhua Arsenal will increase by 3 times in half a year, and by 5 times in a year! The production capacity of 7.62mm30.06 rifle bullets is even higher, and will be able to produce more than 1000 million rounds per month.

With the light weapons production line in Xuanhua Arsenal basically in place, Wang Geng mobilized a team of talents and engineers from the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau and Hanyang Arsenal through the Ministry of the Army, and directly purchased equipment and technology related to the artillery production of the Arsenal from Japan, preparing to start building the Xuanhua Arsenal In addition to the 75mm-caliber 150-type mountain gun and the [-]-type field gun, as well as the [-]mm howitzer equipment, the imitation work of the French mortar is also in progress.

The production capacity of large-caliber artillery in Japan is insufficient. Last year, the artillery produced by Japan was subcontracted from the purchase order of the US military aid. The technology was given to Wang Geng, but Wang Geng threatened to import equipment directly from Britain and France, and to cancel the remaining undelivered artillery orders to Japan, and at the same time suspend the export of crude oil to Japan. Dumbfounded, after much deliberation, he finally obediently agreed to Wang Geng's request.

而参战军的新兵招募工作则从来没有停止过，自1917年11月底连续编组了No.11、No.12和No.13师之后，12月份入伍的新兵又使得参战军南苑大本营的补充旅恢复到了4个。

Although the second loan to the United States was successfully concluded at the end of December, in fact Wang Geng did not stop production at the three arms factories of the Colt Gabor Company in the United States. The eighth batch of U.S. weapons that arrived at the end of December The fire is enough to arm five mixed brigades, and Wang Geng formally organized and established the No.12 Division of the participating army in early January.

The No.14 division of the participating army was organized on the basis of the ninth brigade of Han Fuqu, the third division of Suiyuan. Wang Geng added two supplementary brigades to him, and at the same time added another supplementary brigade to Wu Peifu in Kulun, Outer Mongolia, making Suiyuan The total number of participating armies in Yuan and Outer Mongolia reached the full establishment of three divisions and nine brigades.

Han Fuqu also became the third general in the participating army to go from brigade commander to division commander. At this time, he was only 29 years old, and he was only a battalion attached to the 10th mixed brigade 16 months ago.

与此同时，参战军航空队则向吴佩孚的外蒙古库伦派驻了1个se5的战斗机中队、2个dh4侦察轰炸机中队，以上每个中队的编制都是16架，此外就是一个包含12架飞机的汉德利佩季0400重型轰炸机中队。同时给驻防哈尔滨的王廷桢也派去了同样数量的航空队。

Like China Fudao Automobile Company, the engine is the source of power for everything. Wang Geng’s first goal is to imitate the engine with imported parts and raw materials based on the transferred production drawings and authorized patents. The second step is to make the above four The localization of the engine was followed by the development of new domestic engines. In 1918, China’s machinery industry and steel industry technology still had a gap with Europe and the United States. To make a qualified engine, high-quality cast iron and steel were essential.

The iron ore of China Iron and Steel Corporation in Xuanhua base has been put into production, and the thermal power plant, ironmaking, steelmaking, coking and other branches will also start to be put into operation at the end of January. 1 tons of stone, while the first 80-ton blast furnace in the ironworks has been put into production, and the second 450-ton blast furnace can also be installed, commissioned and put into production before the end of February.At that time, the iron produced by ri will reach 450 tons, and the annual iron production will exceed 2 tons.

The first phase of Xuanhua Steelmaking Plant has three 140-ton open hearth furnaces, with an expected annual output of 15 tons of steel, and three 5-ton electric furnaces for smelting alloy steel, gun tube steel and tool steel. 5000 tons of special steel such as pipe steel.

The first phase of the project will be completed before the end of June and reach the expected production capacity. The second phase of the Xuanhua Iron and Steel Joint Base will continue to start in the second half of the year. By the end of the year, the production capacity of iron ore will be expanded to 6 million tons per year. The annual output of crude steel has doubled to 160 tons and 60 tons, and the annual output of electric furnace special steel has been increased to 30 tons.

The main coking coal and coal for thermal power generation of the Xuanhua Iron and Steel Joint Base mainly come from the Kailuan Coal Mine and Jingxing Coal Mine in Shanxi controlled by the British. Coal is transported to the Xuanhua Base through the Jinjing section of the Jinshan Railway and the Beijing-Suihai Railway day and night.

With the commissioning of the Xuanhua Iron and Steel Base, Xuanhua Armory will gradually no longer rely on imports of gun barrel steel and gun barrel steel raw materials, and the engine production of China Fudao Automobile and China Aircraft Manufacturing Company will also obtain cast iron and engines that are urgently needed for engine production For steel products, the steel rolling workshop and wire drawing workshop of Xuanhua Iron and Steel Plant will gradually be able to provide various armor steel, stainless steel, spring steel, gun barrel steel, gun barrel steel, etc. of world quality.

It can be said that Wang Geng spent 9 months arming a new army with American-style munitions and singing the three major disciplines and nine points of attention. The prototype of the heavy industry system for emerging industries such as energy, steel, ordnance, automobiles and aircraft!

At the same time, the command system of the participating army is reflected in the dual leadership mechanism with the mixed brigade as the basic unit and the reorganized division as the front army unit. Measures such as donations and salaries have played a key role in improving and improving people's livelihood, stabilizing the agricultural foundation of the northern provinces and maintaining social stability.

In fact, the challenges facing China in 1918 were much greater than those of the previous year. Externally, the inevitable civil war in Russia was about to break out, and the goal Wang Geng set for the participating troops was to recover all the resources from the "China-Russia Nippot" on the Eastern Front. All territories occupied by Tsarist Russia since the Treaty of Chu.

Internally, the national House of Representatives election before August will become a arena for various factions. The political forces within the Anhui Clan, between the Anhui Province, between the North and the South, and within the South are complex. Maintaining the vigor and loyalty of the participating troops under the banner is a huge challenge. While avoiding civil war, we must also strive to move the country closer to unity and democracy through constitutionalism.

In a word, there is a long way to go!