Beiyang reactionaries

"Yes."

At present, the major producers of natural rubber in the world are in Asia.China, British Malaya, and the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra in the Republic of Indonesia are the countries that produce the most natural rubber in the world.

The current situation is that in British Malaya, the annual output of natural rubber is about 55 tons, and the annual output of natural rubber in the Republic of Indonesia is more than 60 tons.Among them, the output of Sumatra is more than 30 tons, and that of Kalimantan and Java Island is about 30 tons.

After more than 20 years of development in China, the current natural rubber output is about 40 tons.About 10 tons of them are natural rubber plantations established by Chinese businessmen in Nanyang and many natural rubber tycoons returning to China to invest in cooperation with the local government.The rest are the rubber plantations reclaimed by the Construction Corps formed later in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and other places.

These three countries account for 85% of the world's natural rubber.

Then French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) is about 7 tons, Thailand is about 6 tons, and Sri Lanka is about 10 tons.Asia controls more than 95% of the world, leaving only South America and Africa.

Besides China, 98% of the production of natural rubber in Asia is controlled by Nanyang Chinese businessmen.Originally, among the natural rubber in Asia, there were also British merchants and Dutch merchants.But during the Great Depression, these businessmen went bankrupt on a large scale.The Chinese businessmen who have received the support of China have aggressively acquired these natural rubber plantations. As a result, 98% of the natural rubber in Asia is currently in the hands of Chinese businessmen.After the war broke out, natural rubber was one of the most important strategic materials.Starting from the automobile industry, the shipbuilding industry, medical equipment, and cable industry, none of them can do without natural rubber.

Even more so in the military.

Tanks, airplanes, warships, none of them can do without natural rubber.

So Duan Xun needs to control natural rubber.Mastering this strategic material will have a great advantage in negotiating with European and American countries in the future.

"What does Japan mean to our transport ships?"

"How did Japan respond to the ships we delivered?"

"no problem."

After Japan placed an order for the Chinese shipyard, more than seven months have passed. The first batch of transport ships and two escort destroyers have been completed and delivered to Japan.Especially the 3000-ton and 1700-ton transport ships are already relatively simple things for China.More than seven months have passed, and most of the four 4-ton transport ships and eight 3000-ton transport ships have been completed.

Including a 1-ton transport ship, it has also begun to launch.Including two 7100-ton transport ships are also being organized in an orderly manner, and they will be launched in about half a year.

China's Jiangnan Shipyard had already assembled [-]-ton rounds for the United States during World War I.Of course, this [-]-ton wheel is only assembled, and the accessories are all brought from the United States.But this kind of assembly ability is also a kind of ability in the shipbuilding industry.Among the current Chinese shipyards, there are not a few shipyards that have assembled over [-] tons of ships.

What was the main lack of the previous Chinese shipbuilding industry?

Accessory supply capacity.

At that time, China's shipbuilding industry could not produce many things by itself.It can only be assembled by importing parts from the great powers.And now China, after the three five-year plans, after the crazy import of various machinery and equipment from the great powers, a lot of spare parts factories needed by the shipbuilding industry have come out.There are more than 100 shipboard engine factories for ships in the country alone.There are seven shipboard engine factories that the government and the military have focused on building, and the rest are relatively small private factories.It mainly supports small ships of tens of tons and hundreds of tons.

At present, China's shipbuilding industry can be completely self-sufficient.

It is too easy for Chinese shipyards to build 3000-ton and 1700-ton transport ships.There are even no technical difficulties in building [-]-ton rounds.Even the current Chinese shipyards do not have many technical difficulties in building transport ships of [-] to [-] tons.After all, China is currently able to build aircraft carriers of [-] tons and [-] tons.

Although China's aircraft carrier technology is either British or Japanese.However, in the process of building such an aircraft carrier, including the process of building battleships and heavy cruisers, China will continue to absorb various technologies.

In terms of technology absorption and imitation, China's technical personnel are still very strong.

"Is there no problem with the escort destroyer?"

"Yes."

Yan Huiqing nodded.

The arms trade between China and Japan was originally military to military.However, it was not the military that made the transaction, but a trading company was set up to be responsible for such business.Moreover, such a company is directly affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.

The specific matters are still in the hands of the cabinet.

It's just that when it comes to negotiations, the military will also send people to participate.

"Prime Minister, Japan is not only satisfied with the escort destroyers and transport ships we delivered, but they also want to increase their orders for us. Including destroyers, escort destroyers, transport ships, and even some light cruisers."

"An additional order?"

"Yes. Since Japan occupied Java Island, Irian Island, and Borneo, it has seized a lot of things and a lot of resources, and they have to be transported back to Japan. And Japan has shipped a large amount of industrial products and military supplies to the south. Therefore, Japan currently needs a large number of transport ships. It is roughly estimated that Japan needs 150 million tons of transport ships to transport each other to the Southeast Asia. However, Japan itself lacks transport ships, so our shipping companies are more involved. But even if we add our country's shipping companies At present, Japan still lacks a large number of transport ships. Therefore, Japan hopes to build a large number of transport ships and escort destroyers, so it wants to continue to increase orders.”

Duan Xun frowned slightly.

Indeed.Japan brought back a large amount of assets and resources from Nanyang, and also transported a large number of troops to Nanyang.According to the current situation, Japan needs a transport ship of more than 15 tons to transport a division to Nanyang.In addition to the deployment of military supplies, a Japanese division going south requires at least a transportation capacity of more than 20 tons.Therefore, Japan currently needs 150 million tons of transport ships, but as the war becomes more intense, the transport capacity Japan needs will continue to increase.But Japan lacks enough transport ships, so it wants China to build them for them.

Japan is really ambitious.Japan wants to let China produce small-tonnage warships and transport ships for them.So what do Japanese shipyards produce?

Aircraft carriers, battleships, heavy cruisers, and submarines.

Japan is going to concentrate on producing major warships and continue to increase their naval strength.Although Japan's shipbuilding industry is not as good as top powers like Britain and the United States, its strength is also possible.

Their efforts to build these important warships will surely allow their naval strength to grow rapidly.

"How many things are currently being built in Japanese shipyards?"

Duan Xun turned his head and asked Xu Yongchang.

Xu Yongchang is the representative of the military on the Supreme Council and the Chief of Staff of the Military Council.For the military situation of all countries in the world, we must have a clear grasp.Xu Yongchang immediately said: "At present, Japanese shipyards are all accepting orders from the Japanese military, and they are all doing their best to build large warships such as aircraft carriers and battleships. According to our intelligence agencies, Japanese shipyards are currently building six ships. Aircraft carriers, four battleships, three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and seven destroyers. As for submarines, we have no specific data. Moreover, these data may not be completely accurate, and there must be situations that we have not grasped .The Japanese shipyards are currently building more warships than this.”

"Six aircraft carriers, four battleships, three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and seven destroyers?"

"Yes."

Xu Yongchang nodded and continued: "Moreover, the Japanese navy has always believed in the strategy of improving the attack and defense capabilities of a single ship, so these warships are larger than the world standard tonnage of the same level. It is like the destroyers currently built by Japanese shipyards. It is more than 3000 tons, which is the tonnage of European light cruisers according to the standard. However, many Japanese light cruisers have a tonnage of more than 5000 tons, and there are even 6000 tons and 7000 tons. Such tonnage is even relatively light. The heavy cruiser. Besides, the displacement of the four battleships currently under construction by the Japanese Navy is astonishing. The standard displacement of the four Yamato-class battleships they have formulated is 4 tons, and the full row is above 4 tons. Currently, the Yamato Battleships No. 64000 and No. 70000 have been under construction for more than a year, and construction of No. 400 and No. [-] ships has also started. Not only the tonnage, but the gunboat of the battleship Yamato must be equipped with heavy guns exceeding [-]mm."

"Japan is really good."

Duan Xun smiled bitterly.

I don't know what to say.But I really admire Japan in my heart, building so many warships at one time.Sure enough, a large amount of Japanese military expenditures flowed into the navy, and their shipbuilding speed was also amazing.

When these plans are completed, the total tonnage of Japan's warships will increase by 50 tons.

What kind of strength is this.

Adding Japan's current naval tonnage, as well as the destroyers and escort destroyers built by China for Japan, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy's warships can even reach 200 million tons.If so, Japan will become the navy with the highest gross tonnage in the world.

"What does Japan pay for?"

Duan Xun asked Yan Huiqing directly.

Japan is importing more and more things from China.Including the current expansion of the Japanese Army, it also needs to import some tanks from China.The tanks produced by Japan itself are not comparable to China in any respect.Both in terms of quantity and quality, they are inferior to China.

At present, Japan is desperately working hard, and its annual tank production is less than [-].Moreover, Japan can basically only produce light tanks, and there is no production of medium tanks and heavy tanks at all.This really has something to do with Japan's industrial strength.It can be seen from the production of steel.

The current production of pig iron and crude steel in the United States, China, the Soviet Union, Germany, and the United Kingdom is in the tens of millions of tons.The United States is perverted. The current steel output is 4400 million tons, crushing the world powers.Germany is 2000 million tons, the Soviet Union is 1400 million tons, the United Kingdom is 1300 million tons, and China is second only to the United States, with a steel output of 2600 million tons.China's steel output is already the sum of the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.

In comparison, Japan's steel output is only 600 million tons, only one quarter of China's and one seventh of that of the United States.

This is the gap.

What is steel, steel is the foundation of industrial society.In today's industrial society, the most basic data is steel production.The reason why China can have tens of thousands of aircraft, tens of thousands of tanks, and 80 automobiles is due to such steel production.

Japan is different.

Originally, Japan's steel production was limited, and the navy was still building a large number of warships, including a large number of transport ships, which consumed a lot of steel every year.It is also necessary to build airplanes and tanks, as well as develop automobiles and motorcycles.All aspects must be developed, so Japan's current steel production is far from enough.