The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 8 Expert Panel Review

The next day, ten o'clock in the morning.

Wang Tiezhu brought the factory's main leaders and Liu Tao and others to the gate to wait for the arrival of their superiors and the expert group.

The road inside the factory is a cement road, while the road outside the factory is a dirt road.

It is located inside the mountains, with many bends in the road.

Although Panshan Machinery Factory is only 60 kilometers away from Kunming City, it takes at least two or three hours to drive from Kunming City to Panshan Machinery Factory.

This is the Third Line Construction!
Even if a city like Kunming fell, the military factories in the mountains could still produce and provide weapons and ammunition to the troops, allowing the soldiers to continue fighting.

At the factory gate, there was a sign saying "Military restricted area, entry strictly prohibited."

The soldier on guard stood straight, fully armed.

After waiting for a while, Liu Tao saw dust in the sky ahead. He knew that the superiors and the expert group had arrived.

Sure enough, several jeeps arrived at the factory gate.

These jeeps, with their military green color, crude semi-soft tops, and rugged jeep shapes, are exactly the Type 212 jeeps produced by the Beijing Automobile Factory.

If this type of jeep was put in 30 years, it would definitely be called "industrial garbage" and no one would use it. But in this era, the 212 jeep is the envy of everyone and the standard means of transportation for cadres and state-owned factory leaders.

There is only one Type 212 jeep in the entire Panshan Machinery Factory.

Four jeeps stopped at the gate, and leaders and experts got out of the cars one by one.

Liu Tao was secretly surprised that there were seven or eight people crammed into each jeep.

Thirty years later, it would definitely be seriously overloaded.

"Comrade Wang Baoguo, leaders, and experts, welcome to Panshan Machinery Factory." Wang Tiezhu stepped forward and shook hands with everyone one by one.

Wang Baoguo introduced both parties one by one.

"Is this young man Comrade Liu Tao?" When Wang Tiezhu introduced the people on this side and introduced Liu Tao, Wang Baoguo looked at Liu Tao carefully.

Too young!
Can such a young guy improve the Type 54 pistol?
Wang Baoguo became even more confused.

"Comrade Wang Baoguo, this is Comrade Liu Tao, a top student from Beijing Industrial College. He graduated this year and was transferred to our factory. The improvement work on the Type 54 pistol was completed by Comrade Liu Tao alone." Wang Tiezhu said.

After some greetings, everyone headed to the office building.

The leaders and experts drove a jeep, while Liu Tao, Liu Shengli and others squeezed into the same car with the factory director.

Office building, conference room.

Normally the conference room is quite spacious, but today with dozens of people sitting there, it seems crowded.

There are 25 leaders and experts from Kunming City and 20 leaders from Panshan Machinery Factory, a total of 45 people.

"Comrades, time is precious, let's start the meeting directly. Now, please ask the Panshan Machinery Factory to introduce the improvement work of Type 54." Wang Baoguo personally presided over the meeting and got straight to the point at the beginning.

"Comrade Liu Tao, please introduce your work to the leaders and experts." Wang Tiezhu said to Liu Tao.

Liu Tao stood up and said, "Good morning, leaders and experts. Now I will report on the improvement of the Type 54 pistol on behalf of our Panshan Machinery Factory."

"I started thinking about the improvement of the Type 54 pistol when I was in college and looked up a lot of information in the school library," Liu Tao introduced the whole process.

Beijing Institute of Technology, the first science and engineering university founded by the Party, was formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences established in Yan'an in 1940. It was renamed the North China University of Technology in 1946, moved to Beijing in 1949, and officially changed its name to Beijing Institute of Technology in 1952.

In the field of firearms, Beijing Institute of Technology is very famous and ranks among the top in the country.

Liu Tao introduced the advantages and disadvantages of the Type 54 pistol and his own ideas and methods for improving the pistol.

At first, the experts were skeptical, but as Liu Tao introduced the topic, they gradually became serious, listened attentively, and kept writing down in their notebooks. Liu Tao was a little nervous at first, but he spoke more fluently later.

Liu Tao reported for more than half an hour before he finished, and his mouth was dry.

Liu Tao sat down after taking a sip of water.

"Director Wang, are the drawings ready?" asked the leader of the expert group.

The leader of the expert group is Yang Yong, an expert in the field of firearms in Kunming. He was formerly a technical backbone of the May 1st Arsenal and participated in the imitation of Soviet light machine guns. He is now the chief engineer of the Yunnan Provincial National Defense Management Office.

"Time is tight, so we can only prepare three drawings," said Wang Tiezhu.

Afterwards, Wang Tiezhu asked Lin Shengli to hand over the three drawings to the experts.

As for the original manuscript of Liu Tao's painting, it is in the confidentiality department.

The experts were divided into three groups and began to look at the drawings carefully.

Even lunch was eaten during the meeting.

When I feel sleepy, I go to the next room and lie down for a while.

In the afternoon, we went to the shooting range to test the gun.

Ten pistols were prepared, and each man could fire one or two magazines.

"Old Wang, that's amazing. Your Panshan Machinery Factory launched a big satellite this year." Wang Baoguo fired two magazines and said to Wang Tiezhu with emotion.

You can tell whether a gun is good or not by trying it.

Wang Baoguo is also an old revolutionary. He joined the Red Army in 1930, and later liberated Southwest China and stayed in Kunming. He always carries a gun and goes to the shooting range to practice shooting from time to time.

Even though he hasn't been to the battlefield for more than 20 years, Wang Baoguo is always ready to put on his military uniform and fight on the battlefield.

"Haha, didn't the great man say that this world is ultimately a world of young people? What we have to do is to protect them." Wang Tiezhu laughed.

Although they were not in the same division, they were in the same column.

The two are also old friends.

"Old buddy, you can't miss out on Comrade Liu Tao's commendation," Wang Tiezhu reminded.

This is also to ask for credit for Liu Tao.

This contribution is so great that it is enough to rewrite the entire history of pistol development in China.

Wang Baoguo nodded and said, "Don't worry, the provincial commendation will come soon. I will report to my superiors immediately and apply for their acceptance. This is not an improved version of the Type 54 pistol, but a brand new pistol!"

"I think that the first pistol developed by China itself should not be the Type 64 pistol, but this pistol. This honor should belong to your Panshan Machinery Factory and our Yunnan Province!" said Wang Baoguo.

"It would be great if I could get a brand new model!" Wang Tiezhu smiled so hard that his mouth split open.

Wang Baoguo smiled, but there was expectation in his eyes.

Although the design of Type 64 was finalized in 1964, it was delayed in production due to well-known reasons.

But now when they tried the gun, they found that the gun Liu Tao had tinkered with was a mature pistol in terms of both appearance and performance. There was hope that it could obtain the approval of superiors and be put into production first.

Looking at the experts again, after testing the gun, they all praised it highly. Wang Baoguo knew that the gun was most likely safe.

Even if the superiors don’t approve it, at least there is no problem with the province. No matter how you look at it, it’s a big surprise.

Wang Baoguo couldn't help but smile.

(End of this chapter)