Beiyang reactionaries

"After listening to your words, I also decided to enter Sichuan."

As soon as Yu Qingao finished speaking, Liu Qingen frowned.

Compared with losing Guo Jingyu, Yu Qingao's departure dealt a greater blow to Hanyang Arsenal.Because Yu Qingao is the most outstanding "craftsman king" of Hanyang Arsenal.Yu Qingao is very capable. He can roughly imitate many foreign rifles just by looking at the operation.At present, there are many imitations of weapons in the Hanyang Armory, all of which are Yu Qingao's painstaking efforts.

There is also the semi-automatic rifle made by Liu Qingen, which is also credited by Yu Qingao.If Yu Qingao is lost, Hanyang Armory will lose its strongest force in the imitation and development of weapons.

"Brother Busheng (Yu Qingao), why do you think so?"

"Actually, it's not a day or two that I want to leave Hanyang Armory. Ever since I returned to China, I have been very disappointed. Hanyang Armory is the largest and most technologically powerful arsenal in our country. It was supposed to be the treasure of the country and should be praised. I love it in my hands. But look at Prime Minister Duan, he has money to fight, how much does it cost to dispatch 10,000+ troops. I think this year, he should have spent at least 5000 to 6000 million just to fight in Hunan. [-] million. And Prime Minister Duan also has money to buy Japanese weapons, including Feng Hejian (Feng Guozhang) who also has money to buy Japanese weapons. But they don’t have money to give us Hanyang Arsenal. Does our armory need much money? Our annual The funding is only a few million. As long as we have this little money, the development of our arsenal will be very fast, maybe our annual output has already broken through more than [-] rods."

Yu Qingao was very sad and indignant when he said these things.

Yu Qingao studied gun manufacturing in England and France, and had just returned to China.But after returning to China, Yu Qingao was not in a good mood.Because Yu Qingao participated in the manufacture of rifles in the Hanyang Arsenal in the early years, but this time he returned to China to hope to manufacture mortars.

But there is no funding.

The entire Hanyang Arsenal is currently severely underfunded.This is what Liu Qingen and other high-level officials of Hanyang Armory are very critical of.They think that Duan Qirui has money to fight and buy Japanese weapons, but has no money to invest in Hanyang Arsenal, which is really shameful.Including Feng Guozhang, he has the money to spend 4000 million to buy Japanese guns, but he has no money to invest in the Hanyang Arsenal.

It just so happens that the Sichuan Armory is looking for talents and is willing to support Yu Qingao's mortar research. Of course, he also wants to go to Sichuan.Especially this time Duan Xun dared to confront the British warships, and Duan Xun directly stated that his goal was the localization of Chinese weapons and equipment, which made Yu Qingao even more excited.Before that, Yu Qingao was already moved, but he never dared to make a decision, but today he really made a decision.

To enter Sichuan.

"Brother Ziqing (Liu Qingen), think about it. The Hanyang Arsenal is the largest and best armory in our country. It can be said that the level of China's weapons manufacturing depends on the strength of the Hanyang Arsenal. But Feng Hejian (Feng Guozhang) and Duan Hefei (Duan Hefei) Qirui) The leaders of the two governments don’t pay much attention to the Hanyang Arsenal, so what future does our Chinese Arsenal have?”

"Too."

Liu Qingen nodded slightly.

Then he said with a wry smile: "Last year I went to Beijing to attend a meeting, and found that the generals of our Beiyang Army had no interest in the arsenal and did not attach importance to the development of our arsenal. In their minds, foreign weapons are the best, and the direct troops are all German weapons or Japanese weapons. Only those miscellaneous troops who don’t pay attention to them will be assigned to our Hanyang. However, during the meeting last year, there was one person who attached great importance to the construction of the arsenal.”

"Who?"

"Yan Xishan, the governor of Shanxi. I also visited his arsenal with him. This person attaches great importance to the construction of the arsenal, and I hope I can give some pointers, but his strength is limited, so the scale of the Shanxi arsenal is also very limited, basically no Become a climate."

"Brother Ziqing, at present, Sichuan is the future of China's weapons development."

Guo Jingyu has been speaking for Sichuan.

"General Duan is the current overlord of the Southwest, and his strength far exceeds that of Yan Xishan. Moreover, the Sichuan Armory has already reached a certain scale. I heard that a batch of new equipment has been brought in to expand the Sichuan Armory. More importantly, they have a support for domestically produced weapons. A transformed general. This is the rarest thing.”

"Well, I also think this is the most important thing."

Yu Qingao also supports Guo Jingyu's point of view.

There are warlords like Duan Xun who support the development of weapons, this is the most important thing.With such a general around, the Sichuan Arsenal will definitely continue to develop.

"You really are."

Liu Qingen smiled wryly, and then said: "To tell you the truth, the Sichuan side also contacted me, hoping that I would join Sichuan as the director of the Sichuan Arsenal. It's just that I refused."

"Brother Ziqing, I think you should think about it."

Guo Jingyu advised Liu Qingen.

"That's right, brother Ziqing, I also think you should think about it. Judging by what General Duan is doing now, it must be to develop the Sichuan Armory well. That's why he is so thirsty for talents. With the current Hanyang Armory The situation, at most, is that it can maintain the current situation, and it is impossible to have a big development. You should really think about this invitation. The Sichuan Arsenal has a foundation, and in addition to the rapid development in the past few years, I heard that the annual output of rifles has reached 3 With more than [-] pieces, there must be a certain technical reserve. It is not a big problem to develop a little bit on this basis and surpass the Hanyang Arsenal in scale."

"Let me think about it. I am different from you. I can approve your resignation. But if I want to resign, I have to resign with the Ministry of War."

Liu Qingen was also moved.

Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, China's arsenals have been headed by Hanyang Arsenal and Jiangnan Manufacturing Plant.However, the Sichuan Arsenal has developed rapidly in recent years. After several expansions, the production of weapons has risen sharply.

It's just that the Sichuan Arsenal still lacks foundation, and its technical reserves are much worse than Hanyang Arsenal and Jiangnan Manufacturing Plant.That's why they poach people everywhere.However, although the technical reserves are insufficient, the scale of the Sichuan Arsenal is there.

As long as it develops a little bit, it will definitely not be inferior to Hanyang Arsenal and Jiangnan Manufacturing Factory.

It can even be said to be more promising.

"Brother Ziqing, you think too much. There are not just one or two people in the Ministry of War who are eyeing your position. If you resign, some people want to replace you."

The arsenal's funds are insufficient, and that's for people like Liu Qingen who want to do things.In fact, although the funds are insufficient, the Ministry of the Army still allocates funds to the Hanyang Arsenal every year.Including the Governor's Mansion in Hubei, there will also be some allocations.

This is an asset to many people.

Even in terms of the technical capabilities of the Hanyang Armory, it does not manufacture weapons, but can also do some other businesses, all of which are money-making businesses.If you do a little trick in it, it's all money.For others, this position is definitely a favorite.

"Yes."

"You don't need to talk, I want to think about it."

Liu Qingen sighed.

I have put so much effort into the Hanyang Arsenal, and now many rifle models in the Hanyang Arsenal are related to Liu Qingen.Is it really necessary to leave Hanyang Arsenal?However, the treatment and support from Sichuan did attract Liu Qingen.

But he still had to think about it.

After all, once I choose to enter Sichuan, it will be a brand new journey.This is not an easy decision.

178 The Forces of All Parties 5

"Hongfu (Yang Xingfo), is this General Duan unreliable?"

Japan.

Yang Xingfo and Zhou Ren came to Japan on behalf of Duan Xun as the director and engineer of the Sichuan Iron and Steel Plant.The main purpose is to check the iron-making equipment that is about to be shipped to Sichuan and see how the blast furnace equipment is doing.

Duan Xun has signed a contract with Japan.

Borrowed 3000 million silver dollars from Japan, but a large part of the money was used to buy steel equipment from Japan.There are 4 iron-making furnaces and 6 steel-making furnaces. The planned annual output of pig iron is 13 tons and the annual output of steel is [-] tons.

If the city is really built, it will be the largest steel plant in China.

Not only the equipment for the steel plant, but also the equipment for mining iron ore.Although Duan Xun knows that Europe and the United States have better technology in this regard, for Duan Xun now, cooperation with Japan is the fastest.

One million silver dollars.

When signing this cooperation, Duan Xun's hands were trembling.Because according to this cooperation, Japan will help China establish a Sichuan iron ore mining plant and a steel plant within two years.But Duan Xun started two years later, that is, from the date of the establishment of the steel factory, he had to repay Japan 500 million silver dollars every year for ten consecutive years, and he had to repay 5000 million with interest.Moreover, during this period of time, Japanese iron ore and pig iron will be offered at a low price.Even if the repayment plan is very smooth, Japan can earn 5000 to [-] million from this contract ten years later.

If there is any problem in the middle, this steel plant will become Japanese.

Definitely an unequal treaty, definitely a risky contract.But Duan Xun insisted on signing the contract.After signing this contract, Japan began to transport the equipment of the steel plant to Sichuan.

The Japanese side is very positive and very happy.

With such a high interest rate, plus the ability to import a large amount of iron ore and pig iron from Sichuan, there is no better deal than this.So they were more anxious than Duan Xun. When Yang Xingfo and Zhou Ren went, the Japanese blast furnace equipment was ready, and all that was left was to be shipped to China.

"how?"