Comrade, Your Ingredients Are Too Complicated

Chapter 206 Oil! Years of burning passion

 On the afternoon of the victory in the southeastern Shanxi base area, a car drove towards the gate of the Border Area Weapons Experimental Research Bureau.

 The truck stopped and the director jumped down from the cab. He said hello to the guard on duty and went straight to the office with a clear purpose.

 After entering the door, he ignored Huang He who was a little surprised. First, he poured a glass of hot water by himself, then sat down and said:

"Why did you choose such a remote location? It's so far away that you can't even run a phone line. The area the boss drew for you is so large, so why isn't there a location you like?"

“If that doesn’t work, I’ll give you a radio station. It will make communication easier.”

After finishing his daily rant, the director didn't even give Huang He a chance to talk back. He took out a letter and a blood-stained medal from his arms.

“This letter was given to me by Principal Chang this morning. When he was delivering goods to the southeast Shanxi base area yesterday, he met a veteran of the 129th Division.”

“This comrade specifically asked to send it to the Military Industry Bureau. You should read the content first and we will talk about the follow-up later.”

 The strange letter aroused Huang He's interest. After coming to the world of Liangjian for so long, he has only received letters a handful of times.

 The last time someone sent a letter was four years ago. At that time, he had just arrived in the north, and from time to time, former classmates would write to him to discuss some scientific research matters.

After unfolding the letter paper, a few lines of crooked characters came into view. It is not difficult to see that it was written by a soldier who had only participated in the Eighth Route Army literacy class.

“Hello, comrade.

 It is the pride of our Eighth Route Army that the rear can produce such good artillery. It's a pity that we are still on the battlefield and we don't know which comrade personally developed the weapon. We don't even know his name.

All the soldiers in the camp wanted to see him, so they sent a trophy with the letter.

Please find a way to send his photo to the 129th Division, so that we can all see this beloved comrade with our own eyes. "

This letter has no format, and it doesn’t even read smoothly. There are a few typos.

But Huanghe felt the enthusiasm of the frontline soldiers in these few lines. The passionate years unique to this era are condensed in this letter.

 After reading it over and over, he turned his attention to the medal.

 The medal is generally round in shape, with a diameter of about three centimeters. Judging from the weight, it should be made of copper, and the horizontal strips are engraved with four Chinese characters in seal script to commemorate joining the army.

 From the front, there is a golden duck with spread wings on the medal.

There is also a chrysanthemum emblem symbolizing the Guizi Tianlu family above the duck, which is set off by a radiant background.

There is a cherry blossom on the back, and among the flowers are a pair of helmets, representing the army and navy respectively. In the frame formed by the helmet belt, there are Chinese characters written in seal script of the Incident of Showa 6 to 9, arranged in three columns.

 Before coming to the world of Liangjian, Huang He was very interested in military history. Not only had he seen the pattern of this medal online, he even knew its origins.

 In 1931, the Japanese undeclared war and brazenly launched a long-planned war of aggression in the Northeast.

Three years later, the top army officials issued this medal to reward soldiers who participated in the above-mentioned war operations.

Looking at Huang He, who was deep in thought, the director stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.

"This thing must have been captured by a certain soldier. My suggestion is to return it when you send the letter. Although it is someone's sincerity, it is too valuable."

“Forget about the photos, safety is the priority at this stage.”

"If you have the chance, take the time to go to the 129th Division. In a sense, it can be regarded as your natal home."

Hearing this, Huang He nodded silently.

The soldier on the front line wanted photos of the military workers at the rear. In his mind, this happened in the Bobosha factory in the northeast.

But the situation is different now. Spies from various forces at home and abroad are frantically looking for him. If the photos are leaked, it will easily be dangerous.

 After a while, he picked up the pen on the table and started to reply.

　　　Comrade:

 Happy to receive your letter. Developing new equipment is my job.

Please take up the weapons we made with our own hands, charge into the battle, and push the invaders completely into the sea. We are waiting for the triumph of the whole army. Victory must belong to us. "

 Writing this, I feel an indescribable emotion welling up in my heart.

 For Huang He, whether they are military workers in the rear or soldiers on the front line, everyone is a national hero.

"Okay, I'm retreating, otherwise you have to take care of the food. The main reason for coming out this time is to relax and unwind. The Military Industry Bureau has too much work."

"Remember to look for me next time you go back to the border area. You will have to give me a meal then."

The director was about to leave Huang He's office when he turned around and ran into Wang Dexing head-on. Behind him, there was a stranger with oil stains all over his body and a dirty face.

This comrade’s eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the people in the room.

“Director Zeng! Director Huang! The new well in the factory is producing oil! Come with me and have a look.”

Before he finished speaking, Lao Zeng was so excited that he grabbed Huang He's arm. Without saying a word, he pulled Huang He directly to the parking lot, without even giving the other party a chance to protest.

ˆ·····

 After more than half an hour's drive, the three finally arrived at the Yanchang Oilfield Plant area.

The security forces at the factory did not stop them, and the truck drove smoothly from the living area to the work area.

ˆ With the production equipment and construction equipment provided by Huanghe, the entire oil plant was expanded twice.

This place is already a large industrial area with hundreds of workers, and the engineering agency has even thoughtfully built supporting living areas around it.

Just when they reached the periphery of the work area, the three of them heard deafening cheers.

 Going a little deeper, you can see workers everywhere singing and dancing in the open space, and the atmosphere looks like a Chinese New Year.

 It’s not that comrades are lazy and don’t want to work.

 Mainly because there are safety hazards in newly mined oil wells, and the extraction of oil is accompanied by a large amount of flammable gas.

 If it accumulates to a certain extent or is suppressed for a long time, it may explode. The current protective equipment in the factory is not enough to support everyone's entry.

Five hundred meters behind them is the oil outlet connecting the successful transportation pipeline and the oil storage device. Judging from the oil stains around it, not much was wasted when the oil came out.

 The situation at the scene was an eye-opener for Huang He. This was his first contact with an oil plant, and he had a lot of questions in his mind.

“Old Zeng, I heard that when oil is dug out, it will spray out so violently that it even needs cement and barite powder to suppress it. When there was oil in Chou Country, it seemed that it sprayed for half a year at a time.”

“And why didn’t I see the kowtow machine? How did the oil come out?”

The director couldn't answer this question. It's no joke that the lines are separated by mountains. The two had no choice but to suppress their curiosity and wait until the professionals arrived before asking. Looking at the busy workers, Huang He felt filled with emotions.

 After all, oil is the blood of modern industry. The purpose of many military operations on the European battlefield now is to plunder oil resources.

If you can hold on to your own oil fields, you will definitely not be short of funds during the development period after the war.

Just like in the years of the oil crisis, international oil prices soared tenfold. Beibei made a large amount of unexpected wealth from this, which led to a surge in power.

Your Di Xunzong used the money he earned to develop the military crazily. Not only did he build an ocean-going fleet that could rival the U.S., he also made his own strategic missile reserves 40% more than those of his opponents.

The army also expanded to four million, more than twice that of the Chou Kingdom.

 According to tradition, when the north got rich, they abandoned light industry and only focused on the development of military technology.

 Il-76, Caspian Monster ground-effect aircraft, Tu-160 White Swan and other powerful equipment are high-tech developed in that era of aggressive military affairs.

 At its peak in the north, the situation became one of bears attacking and eagles defending.

 A large part of the money consumed during this period was the dividends brought by oil, coupled with what was provided by the planned economy.

Although the comrades workers do not know what will happen in the future, they know very well that with the availability of oil, the days to come will get better day by day.

With oil, the air force's fighter jets and the army's delivery vehicles can attack the enemy without any scruples.

 It is for the above reasons that everyone is so excited.

After waiting in the safe area for a while, the factory director came from inside covered in dust. He introduced the situation of the scene to the two of them vigorously and resolutely without saying any nonsense.

“Secretaries-general, we will make a fortune this time. The first new well dug in the factory is a self-injection type that produces oil. According to a rough estimate by comrades, the daily output is about ten tons.”

“I am very grateful to the two doctors and more than 40 senior technicians recommended by Director Huang. Without them, the overall progress of the exploration work will be delayed by at least a few months.”

"I have already sent someone to notify the bosses. They will arrive soon."

Looking at the factory director covered in oil, Huang He held his hand tightly and said solemnly:

“Comrade! Thank you for your hard work! Thank you for everything you have done for the border area. Compared with everyone else, what I have done is completely insignificant.”

“I would like you to introduce the specific situation now, and I will see if there is anything else that can help our factory. If you need anything, just ask, and there is no need to worry about anything.”

"good!"

ˆ·····

 After the description of the factory director, Huang He and the director felt from the bottom of their hearts that the comrade from the Department of Geology of Tsinghua University was indeed a professional and had real materials.

 The location of the drilling rig he worked with the two doctors was very precise, and oil was found in just the first well.

 Logically speaking, the oil output should not be so fast.

Since the oil in most areas of the country is buried in very deep strata, the required drilling depth is generally between 200 and 3,000 meters.

 With such depth, even with professional tools it would take a long time. What's more, there is a loess layer here in Yanchang, which is prone to collapse and the speed cannot be fast at all.

However, due to the amazing underground oil reserves, self-injection oil was discovered just after drilling to 86.3 meters.

  Yangchang, the ninth largest oil field in later history, thus began its first spurt.

The blowout just mentioned by Huang He was because the miners were unclear about the pressure of the drilled formation or could not predict it accurately, which caused a large amount of formation fluid to flow into the wellbore.

However, the comrades of the oil plant have made repeated calculations during exploration and conducted rigorous underground pressure tests.

 With the transportation system and oil storage device prepared in advance, the occurrence of blowout was avoided.

Since it is a self-blowout well, the formation pressure is very high, so there is no need for a kowtow machine for the time being.

 Before new equipment is brought in, freeing up a machine can greatly improve the efficiency of oil extension.

 After chatting briefly for a while, the biggest contributor to the first well also came to the scene. When he learned that he could continue to make demands, his eyes lit up and he got straight to the point:

“Director Huang, when I first arrived at our factory, we built a lot of human-powered wooden drilling machines. Although most of them only produced water but not oil, we still used them to drill several oil wells.”

“According to my analysis, mines that only produce water are most likely because they are not deep enough, so they can only pump out water floating in the oil layer.”

“If we could add a casing to the drilling rod, we would be able to drill down through the water layer to produce oil. It’s a pity that the quality of the steel casing produced in our border area is not good enough.”

“So I hope you can provide more equipment so that the factory can produce at full capacity.”

This demand did not exceed Huang He's expectation. After all, no oil man can refuse the temptation to develop oil fields, not to mention he knows how much Yanchang's reserves are.

“Petroleum processing: Synthetic distillation and refining of petroleum products from plants is the next step in ensuring our fuel supply.

 Unlocking time: 70 days

 Effect: Allow private factories in the system to produce equipment required for oil extraction, and the refinery’s conversion fuel efficiency will increase by 10%.

“Fuel refining type II: Better planning of refinery layout can reduce fuel waste.

 Unlocking time: 70 days

 Effect: The civilian factories in the system produce refineries (the most advanced model during World War II), the fuel conversion efficiency of oil +20%, and the fuel conversion efficiency of the refinery +10%"

 Compared with only one set of equipment being given in the previous stage, the new stage directly unlocks production permissions.

 This is just like the fixed facilities built in a region or province through civilian factories in the game to provide industrial production capacity or military operation support for the force or location.

Thinking of this, Huanghe's whole body was excited. Judging from what is happening now, wouldn't it be possible to unlock the authority to lay "nuclear reactors" and "rocket bases" in the future?

 The former can produce one nuclear bomb a year in the game, while the latter can produce one rocket every day. We just don’t know what kind of effect it will provide in reality.

ˆ·····

 After dark, everyone left the scene except the oil extension workers.

Neither of them spoke on the way back. Before parting, the director looked at Huang He and said seriously:

“I have always believed that we are a nation that has gone through ups and downs for more than five thousand years, and we have seen all kinds of battles. The current difficulties are inevitable storms in the process of realizing national rejuvenation.”

“After getting to know you, I am even more convinced that we will rise to the occasion, turn crises into opportunities, and break into a new world.”

 “Comrade, keep up the good work in the coming days!”

"good!"

On the wall, there are the shadows of two hands tightly clasped together.

I'm coming

 (End of this chapter)