Preserved fruit, Chongqing.

In the evening.

Outside the 28th Arsenal.

The gate was full of people.

It's time for a shift change, the day shift workers leave, and the night shift workers come in, after all, it's a time of war, and the factories operate twenty-four hours a day, producing weapons and ammunition for the front.

In the flow of people, there were five people walking together.

Judging from the clothes, these people should be basic engineers or skilled workers, one of the older people touched his pocket, there was a pile of fiat currency inside, counted, he sighed deeply:

"Heh, wages have risen again·····"

When he said this, he said it with a mocking tone.

"That's a tenfold increase."

The other tone was also heavily mocking.

The other three did not speak, but two of them also sighed in unison.

Obviously, although wages have been raised, and by a lot, this is not a good thing.

Several of them were the first batch of engineers or skilled workers who retreated to this side, who came with the factory, and experienced the golden age of fiat currency, when the purchasing power of fiat currency was very strong, and a hundred fiat currency could buy two scalpers, and they held technical positions in the arsenal with good salaries, and their lives were very comfortable.

But as the war progressed, the fiat currency depreciated sharply, so fast that people were caught off guard, and sometimes every few days, the price doubled, and now, a hundred fiat currency can buy less than half a chicken.

Even if the wages have risen five times compared to before the war, these people feel that life is a little unbearable, after all, prices have risen more than a hundred times, especially for those who have families, life is almost stretched.

Four of the five sighed, and only one of the youngest said in a calm tone:

"Hurry up and buy food, otherwise the price will rise again."

When the words fell, the expressions of the other four people who were originally sighing disappeared instantly, like rabbits burning their tails, and the five of them rushed to the market in unison.

An hour later, several people walked out of the market carrying a small bag of grain, and the older engineer who spoke at first had a gloomy face:

"The price of food rises every three days, and the purchase is still limited, how the is this life!"

"Brother Chen, mine is for you, anyway, I don't have much pressure to be alone, you have a family to support."

Finally, the young man, who had always had a calm expression, handed over the food bag in his hand.

"Xiao Chen, this..."

Looking at the food bag handed over by his hand, the engineer's face fell into hesitation.

Honestly, he wanted it.

He is now seven years old Chinese New Year's Eve, has three children at home, two old people to support, and although his wife has a job, the money she earns can barely support herself, and the family expenses are very large, and his salary is completely insufficient.

But it's really ····· to ask for someone else for no reason

"It's fine."

Xiao Wang stuffed the grain bag in his hand into Brother Wang's hand:

"We are all surnamed Chen, I just entered the factory, thanks to you for taking care of ······"

"Thank you..."

After hesitating for a long time, the person named Brother Chen finally accepted the grain bag.

He really needs these things.

He didn't finish college, and he was a technical backbone in the 28th Arsenal, responsible for managing a processing team, proficient in a series of machine tool operations, and even able to make targeted improvements, but except for a few top technical engineers who came back from abroad such as the factory director, the rest of the skilled workers did not have a high income.

A few people chatted and chatted and walked into a small alley.

"Then yourself..."

As soon as Brother Chen spoke, he saw Xiao Chen take out a stack of exquisite papers and lowered his tone:

"I can go to the black market and buy some."

The moment they saw the piece of paper in Xiao Chen's hand, the other four people took a breath of cold air in unison:

"How do you have this? And so much more. ”

Acid-free paper, the middle is painted in the northwest mountainous area of Shanxi, full of wheat grains and rice ears, and numbers are written on the two corners of the edge.

"Hey, hey."

Xiao Chen smiled and distributed the food stamps in his hand to the other four people.

Staring at the food stamps in front of them, everyone fell into hesitation.

In this big rear, the fiat currency is depreciating every day, the price of food is rising every day, and the money in hand is not as good as day by day, but among this, there is a strange thing, that is, the exquisite food stamps in front of you.

This food stamp, which is said to have been issued by the gang, can be used directly to exchange for food.

This thing began to appear in the Chongqing area five months ago, and then it was out of control, and in the hands of any merchant it could easily be exchanged for food or other supplies.

And what is outrageous is that five months have passed, and this is used as a certificate of delivery (goods) and exchange (currency), and the price code has not changed at all.

The strength is comparable to that of silver, and even that of gold.

Even, this thing can be exchanged for fine white sugar.

The problem is that the government strictly forbids the use of this thing.

But several people didn't hesitate for too long and immediately accepted it.

Although the official ban on the use of this thing, in fact, they also collected a lot of this themselves, and they only said it verbally, and there was no punishment at all.

There was a time when it was forcibly banned, and it was found that it was confiscated, but then it caused a series of riots and was forced to abandon this decision.

"How did you have this?"

The other four hid the food stamps in their hands and continued to ask.

"They gave it."

小陈 says:

"In addition, they also sent me an invitation to go to the Heyuan County Arsenal."

After a pause, he continued:

"I promised."

The remaining four fell silent.

Who they are, several people are clear.

In the past, the official joked that the group of people were Tubalu, Tuhaha, what do you want, the arsenal is also manual work, primitive production, local steelmaking, manual forging. Fighting devils is all about swimming and not fighting.

But as you can see from the food stamps, it is clear that the situation is not the same as advertised.

Here in Chongqing, prices are soaring, fiat currency is depreciating every day, and others have not changed for five months.

This shows that the supplies on the other side are very sufficient, even unbelievably sufficient, and the military means are also very tough, which can effectively deal with the devils, otherwise it is impossible to ensure that the value of the food stamps will not be depreciated in wartime.

The fine white sugar that circulated on the black market came from that gang.

Not so long ago, a message circulated.

It is said that the gang had a large number of tanks and a large number of heavy artillery, and wiped out 8,000 devil soldiers in World War I, forcing the devils to gather more than 50,000 troops around the Zhengtai Railway to confront each other.

There is gossip that they can mass-produce rifles, machine guns, mortars, shells, and even make their own cannons, and they can refine their own high-quality cannon steel.

Many businessmen can prove that this is true, and some gossip newspapers and some patriotic journals have also reported on this incident, and there are photos to prove it. As for the official.

Never admitting it, or even vehemently denying it, is clearly counterproductive.

Thinking of this, several people did not persuade them, and the rumors could not be fun, but it might be better to go over there. Xiao Chen is only twenty-two years old now, alone, and has the ideal of building for the country's industry, so it doesn't matter if he breaks through.

Anyway, as the factories here became more and more erosive, a steel mill closed down before, and many skilled workers and even engineers went there.

"Are you going?"

Xiao Chen suddenly asked:

"They said it just"

The four hesitated for a moment, then shook their heads at the end.

The four of them are not young, some of them are married and have children, and they have parents and relatives here, so they can't just leave.

"Before leaving, remember to talk to Director Zhou."

Finally, Brother Chen advised.

"Hmm."

Xiao Chen nodded.

The director of the factory is a technical master, an expert in metallurgy and metal materials, and a doctor from Harvard University, who is very good to him.

······

At the same time.

Director Dai's office.

Bang····

There was a loud bang, the door was slammed, and Director Dai walked in with a gloomy face, so frightened that the legs and stomachs of several people waiting in the office trembled.

The director was scolded by the old man?

Several people speculated in their hearts that the director went to see the old man before, and it was said that it was because of the gang of people.

"Is all this true?"

Director Dai casually threw down a stack of materials in a gloomy tone.

Recently, the Japanese army has been making big moves in the country, a large number of troops have been mobilized, materials have been mobilized, and the air force has also begun to assemble, and it seems that Zizi is preparing to launch a large-scale battle, and he has been busy investigating devils and spying on Japanese intelligence, and rarely pays attention to that group of people.

I didn't expect these things to happen.

In the Zhengtai Railway area of Shanxi, the Japanese army mobilized more than 40,000 troops to launch an attack on a regiment on Tuba Road in the Zhaojiayu area, that is, the territory of Li Yunlong, who had weapons and ammunition provided by mysterious forces.

The result of the battle also exceeded everyone's expectations, and instead of winning, more than 40,000 Japanese troops suffered heavy losses, with more than 10,000 casualties, and nearly 8,000 Japanese troops were killed.

And.

After investigation, this turned out to be the truth, without any exaggeration.

After this battle, the group of people became famous, coupled with the large-scale rescue of the victims and the attraction of fleeing people, the reputation was already very good, and it immediately attracted many talents to go to the desertion, and they couldn't stop it.

When he noticed that something was wrong, he mobilized his strength to investigate carefully, and just came out with the results, and then he was invited to tea and was scolded.

"The news is true."

The subordinate replied with a bowed head.

"Damn."

Director Dai's face was gloomy.

According to the collected information, Zhao Jiayu's Tuba Road has a machinery factory, and the technical level is very high, it can produce a lot of weapons, machinery and equipment, and even high-quality cannon steel, which can be called the mother of industry.

After the occupation of Heyuan County, it was even forming a large-scale industrial base, which far exceeded the Taiyuan Arsenal at its peak.

This is really not good news.

Also, they have hundreds of tanks, as well as hundreds of half-track armored vehicles.

"Check it out for me."

Director Dai's face was gloomy:

"Investigate that Chen Fan, and use all your strength to investigate this person for me."

At this time, several subordinates in the room found that there was a bright slap print on the face of their own director, and the room was too dark before, and the director kept his head down and didn't find it.

"Yes."

Several people hurriedly lowered their heads.

"Also."

Director Dai continued:

"Closely monitor all technicians and prohibit the outflow."

He remembered that the gang was recruiting technicians everywhere, and they even reached for them.

"Yes."

Several people hurriedly agreed.

······

The other side.

The 772nd regiment was stationed.

Cheng Shifa inspected the troops, and he has been in a very good mood recently.

Not long ago, the brigade headquarters gathered him and two other regiments in refitting and annihilated a full-fledged devil brigade in one fell swoop, eliminating a full 1,200 devils, and the troops they used were only the brigade artillery battalion and the three main regiments.

The total number of troops is 7,000 people.

One of the regiments served as a reserve, and two more battalions did not take part in the battle.

In other words, their 6,000 people annihilated a 1,200-strong brigade of the devils, and they quickly eliminated them, ending the battle before the devil's reinforcements reacted.

This was unimaginable before.

Although there were not many seizures, the devils resisted stubbornly, and the two Type 94 mountain cannons were also blown up, resulting in very few seizures, but now he no longer cares about the seizures.

The 772nd Regiment was armed with a new Mauser rifle, and the Czech style was popularized to the squad, and it was supported by dozens of 60 and 82 mortars. There were even two large-caliber heavy machine guns, as well as two Type 92 infantry guns.

I can't look down on the devil's goods anymore.

What can make him excited now is either the 75 mountain artillery or the 120 large-caliber mortar like Li Yunlong. This is the real regimental artillery.

This is not a pipe dream.

These artillery, although at present, all belong to the brigade artillery battalion.

But as far as he knows, with the technical support and equipment support from Zhao Jiayu's side, Zhang Wanhe is organizing his own production of 75 mountain guns and 120 mortars, and the gun sample gun has reached the test stage and is about to be put into production.

As for the shells, after the fuze problem was solved, the production lines were laid out, and even quite a few have already been produced.

Moreover, a week ago, his superiors ordered him to organize an artillery group to receive new artillery, stating that after a while, his regiment would be able to have an artillery company of an independent regiment, an artillery company equipped with 120 mortars or 75 mountain guns.

"Commander."

At this time, a regimental correspondent ran over and said to Cheng Shifa:

"The artillery crew that went to the headquarters for training has returned, and it has also brought back five artillery pieces, and the person in charge of transportation who came with you asked you to receive it."

"Great."

Cheng Shifa's eyes lit up, and he immediately led people to the regiment headquarters.

Five guns.

Enough to form a real artillery battery.

Soon, Cheng Shifa walked to the road and saw the artillery crew he sent back from afar, as well as five artillery pieces pulled by big mules, and the cannonball transport cart that was also pulled by big mules.

The moment he saw these artillery, Cheng Shi was in a daze.

These cannons, he knows.

L24 Bofors mountain artillery, the artillery of Li Yunlong's troops, he has been coveting it for a long time.

"Five guns, eight hundred shells, sign for it."

Said the captain of the transportation team at the headquarters in charge of transportation.

After signing, Cheng Shifa couldn't help but ask:

"These cannons are..."

"A total of one hundred, half of which are reserved for the artillery units directly under them, and fifty are distributed to the main regiments."

Said the captain in charge of transportation.