From to 1935 2020

Stalin thought of the bright future that Huang Ke had drawn for him in another plan: two years later, the Soviet Union would be able to produce its own streptomycin, and by then, the export of this item alone would be able to create at least a thousand dollars a year for the Soviet Union. Huge profits of more than ten thousand dollars.

How could Stalin not be happy that the investment in China's revolution turned from a loss to a profit in a few months, and it is even more likely to turn into a "huge profit"?

In addition to streptomycin, what the Red Army sent this time was a book—"The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" written by Huang Ke, which was sent in Russian, with the translator Qin Bogu at 28.5.

Stalin had read that book, but he couldn't put it down once he opened it. He read it twice all night.The next day, he handed over the book to the intelligence department for evaluation, which also included the Japanese Communist Party who "learned" in the Soviet Union.The result of the feedback after a week is: the person who wrote this book must be a Japanese expert, and the analysis of Japan is extremely thorough.

Although Stalin thought it was a bit exaggerated in the last part of the book, "the conspirator behind the scenes is the United States", but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it seemed to be the case, but he didn't feel "shocked".The reason is simple: it is actually very common in international politics to use proxies to start wars for their own benefit.

Afterwards, he was very amazed at this mysterious "Comrade Sea Snake". He was not only an excellent agent, but also a Japanese hand, and he also had a good understanding of international politics.

However, the third document that Stalin received was Huang Ke's request for "military help" from Stalin through the Red Army.

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-------------------- Chapter 116 Suiyuan Raiders -------------------

Great picture, click "well"

The Red Army gave Stalin a very detailed explanation of the military aid needs this time.

At the beginning, I did not directly ask for equipment in a simple and rude manner, but explained the reality of China very patiently, with a special emphasis on one point: China’s road conditions and traffic problems, and then explained: light infantry equipment is the most suitable for the current Red Army equipment.

In terms of artillery, the requirement is a light mountain cannon weighing several hundred kilograms, the lighter the better.The Soviet Union has a bunch of ready-made goods left over from World War I, which can be retrieved directly.

The most important mortar, Huang Ke didn't talk nonsense here, and directly copied the design drawings of the 60mm mortar that played an important role in the Korean War in later generations.And Xiao Huangke himself even made a sample by using the existing hardware materials by himself. Of course, the materials are all unqualified, especially the gun barrel, which is a display that can only be seen. product only.

The domestic mortars in the Soviet Union at this time, even the "funny stuff" such as the 37mm shovel gun, which even my own family didn't like to see, had to wait until 1939 to invent.As soon as Stalin asked, he immediately understood that the Soviet Red Army was indeed blank in this regard.In Huang Ke's request for assistance reported to him, he particularly emphasized that if the Soviet Union felt that the cost of opening another production line was too high, they could use the existing barrel production line to produce a batch of mortar barrels with similar calibers. In other aspects, including artillery shells, China can try to solve it by itself, but the gun barrel technology is too high, so it can only be helped by the Soviet Union.

At that time, Huang Ke specially provided two drawings, one for a 60mm mortar and one for an 81mm mortar.The reason why it is 81 mm instead of the 1937 mm mortar equipped by the Soviet Red Army in November 11 is that Huang Ke was very careful in this matter and deliberately only reported the "national standard number" of 82 mm.Because 81 mm is a non-standard caliber with Soviet characteristics, its specific development time is unknown.I am a Chinese who asked for the caliber, and kept calling out 82mm. If the 82mm mortar is now being studied, it may cause unnecessary misunderstanding and trouble. After all, the latter is a military secret of the Soviet Union.

At that time, Stalin saw a very detailed report on mortars, and asked about the following. After knowing that there was a blank in mortar research in China, he issued instructions on the spot to require the Soviet military industry to develop related products in advance, and Huang Ke The demonstration samples and design drawings produced were also sent to the Artillery Design Bureau for advice immediately.

During the anti-revolutionary period, the efficiency of various departments in the Soviet Union was unprecedentedly efficient, especially after learning that Stalin personally intervened in this matter. After all, no one wanted to go to Lubyanka for tea.

In just one week, this group of people made the first sample gun for Stalin according to the blueprint given by Huang Ke, and even managed to make a small batch of shells manually.

The reason why they acted so quickly was that during the cleaning period, the "benevolent father" was very impatient, forcing all the military personnel who were accustomed to being loose and fond of fishing to work hard, and did not dare to be lazy at all.As for the design document given by Huang Ke, at that time, he suggested that the ready-made, scrapped 76.2mm artillery barrel could be slightly expanded, and the old residual rifling should be ground off to make it directly. It doesn’t matter what caliber it is in the end. Huang Ke also knew that the Soviet Union could not produce mortars of this caliber at this time, and there was no related barrel production line, and it was unlikely to open a production line for China, so he gave the most realistic suggestion.

The people from the Artillery Design Bureau thought it was very reasonable. They got an old barrel of an obsolete 76.2mm artillery, slightly expanded the bore, and the relevant objects were quickly built.The matching mortar shells were also manufactured in the same period. After the actual test, the military personnel were very satisfied with the test results, saying: it was a very successful design from the beginning, as long as the barrel was replaced with Specialized mortar tubes, the weight can be further reduced.

After receiving the initial evaluation report provided by the military, Stalin was taken aback.With his growing interest, he paid more attention to the other two customized equipment that Huang Ke asked for.

The other two custom-made equipment, one of which was obtained with the help of Rhubarb, is one of the wonderful weapons invented by the British Empire during World War II: PIAT anti-tank grenade - this thing simply uses a large spring The "large slingshot" that fires armor-piercing warheads is said to be a design that even children can do.

The people from the Weapons and Equipment Bureau took out relevant objects and reported to Stalin in front of them:

"That thing is a large spring launcher. The structure is very simple. Any factory can produce it. We quickly built one and tested it. The range is about 240 meters to 280 meters."

Stalin looked at the "spring launcher" sample submitted by the military industry department, and instantly understood what it was.

The British PIAT anti-tank grenade that Huang Ke copied, its main body is a metal launch tube with a length of 373 inches (about 1 meter), a weight of 32 pounds (14.52 kg), and a diameter of 76 mm.The upper part of the front end is open to accommodate super-caliber armor-piercing shells, and the tail end is a T-shaped shoulder rest covered with canvas. The structure is so simple that it is reminiscent of the bow and crossbow of the cold weapon era.Inside the launch tube was a huge spring attached to the shoulder rest at one end and the firing pin at the other. The PIAT has an effective range of 91 meters for attacking tanks; when projected as a light mortar against houses and buildings, the effective range can reach 300 meters or even farther.

PIAT was first used in actual combat by Canadian forces in the Battle of Sicily, but the effect was not satisfactory.On the one hand, the armor-piercing power is insufficient, and on the other hand, the fuze has serious safety problems. Unless it is stored upright all the time, any slight collision in other states may cause the ammunition to explode.

With the help of Big Huang Ke, after obtaining the design drawing of this equipment through netizens, referring to its launch principle, he carried out a "crazy" streamlined design.

The PIAT designed by the British is mainly used for anti-tank.

Huang Ke, on the other hand, regards him as a spring launcher that "does not use gunpowder". Therefore, the bulky T-shaped shoulder rest is directly canceled, because he intends to let the shooter hit the ground or even be clamped around his waist to "throw".

There is no need to consider the anti-tank function, and all redundant designs related to anti-tank have been cancelled. The weight and distance requirements of the fired warhead are set as: it can hit a warhead weighing 0.6 kg to between 200 and 300 meters. .

Since the weight of the firing warhead is reduced (the British warhead weighs 1.13 kg), the core spring does not need to be so strong, the length is also shortened by a quarter, and the diameter is reduced to 57 mm, so the overall weight is reduced to insufficient At nine kilograms, it was almost half lighter than the British prototype.

The PIAT invented by the British is quite troublesome and difficult to install the spring: soldiers have to lie on the ground, step on the T-shaped shoulder rest with their feet and toes, and use their hands, feet, waist and waist together to barely install it.On Huang Ke's side, due to the reduced weight of the warhead, the requirement for elastic force is lowered. When it is pressed against the ground, the bolt can be pulled and tightened by pressing down with pure hand strength and body weight.

Huang Ke made a similar product in Shanghai. It is slightly different from the British. The original design of the British is to target anti-tank warheads and impact fuzes. The main purpose is anti-tank and the pursuit of flat-fire capabilities. Sacrifice less.However, Huang Ke's goal was to purely pursue the range of "catapult and projectile" and detonate it with a time-delayed fuze.Huang Ke's version makes better use of the power of the spring, and also completely relies on the power of the spring.In the British version, the power utilization rate of the spring is only a small part, and the main flight power comes from the propellant of the anti-tank head projectile.

Since a better strong spring could not be found, the launch distance was only about 160 meters at that time.Afterwards, he sent the self-made sample to the Soviet Union by ship, and the Soviet side found a better spring and replaced it according to Huang Ke's request.The launch tube with the caliber has been updated, and after a little improvement, it can easily hit a distance of 240 meters - if the launch warhead is cast more suitable for aerodynamics and the center of gravity of the warhead is controlled, it can be hit even more. Far.After replacing it with a grenade warhead (about 350 grams) with the wooden handle removed, it can easily shoot nearly 300 meters away.

The relevant test data was sent back to China by telegram, and Yan'an immediately agreed with the result, and then issued an order of up to [-] to Stalin.

The data of [-] pieces shocked Stalin, and he asked the cost immediately:

"Is it expensive to manufacture?"

"The cost price of a complete set of equipment will not exceed 20 rubles!" (At this time, the ruble exchange rate is about 1 US dollar = 5.3 rubles, and the cost of the Sten submachine gun is 10 US dollars. At this time, the monthly salary of Soviet workers is 500 rubles)

The people in the military industry department quoted a conservative price, and then explained:

"The whole set of equipment, the most expensive part, is actually the spring. The steel pipe can be replaced by any iron pipe or even a thin steel plate with curled edges - you don't even need a seamless steel pipe. As for the spring, it is made from a ready-made industrial spring. I found it. Other small parts can be produced by any hardware factory. In mass production, the price of 20 pieces will not exceed [-] rubles. If more are made, the cost will be even lower!"

"20 rubles? One is only 20 rubles, which is really cheap! Well, just according to the requirements of the Chinese comrades, you can improve that thing, and then make [-]! In addition, tell the Chinese comrades that if this The weapons are really useful, as much as they want, we will support as much, there is no upper limit!"

Regarding this piece of equipment, Huang Ke made it very clear in the information: Because China is unable to produce springs and rolled steel pipes, it is difficult to produce it by itself, but it is very easy to manufacture in the Soviet Union.The reason for this thing is that it saves propellant, which is excellent. It has individual fire support equipment with an attack distance of 200 to 300 meters, and it fires various explosives weighing less than 0.6 kilograms—mainly individual soldiers. Used grenades.

In the aid application sent by the Red Army, the attitude of "doing big things with small money" revealed between the lines, made Stalin, who had been a triumphant son, very happy to see it.He clearly saw that this group of Red Army leaders were "pragmatic", "economical", and took the initiative to save money for the Soviet Union. This attitude was Stalin's favorite. Instead, he took the initiative to be generous and said " Give as much as you want."

At this time, Stalin didn't know that it was such a spring toy that he and the Soviet military industry department regarded as a spring toy. In the world, countless imitations and improvements have been derived.

In order to reduce the weight, there was even a heresy of a weight-reduced version of the aluminum alloy casing in later generations, and its range and power were also enhanced with the improvement of the spring performance, becoming a famous "Guerrilla War Artifact".Before the birth of RPG, from guerrillas to terrorists, this thing is almost irreplaceable and must be equipped by every family.Even after the emergence of RPG, this "Huang's slingshot" can still be seen in the hands of guerrillas in poor countries who cannot afford RPG.

There are no other reasons for the popularity of this thing, and it has several advantages: 1. It is very easy to make, and the cost is extremely cheap. You can find a steel pipe and add a spring, and you can imitate it in a rough handicraft workshop.

2. Don't be picky eaters!With a little improvement, you can launch grenades, grenades, self-made explosive kits, Molotov cocktails, explosives under 1 kg, everything can be bombed, and everything can be shot.It doesn’t matter if it’s heavier than 1kg, as long as the shooting range is closer, people who have used it say it’s good!

3. There is only a slight sound when launching, and there is no smoke and fire. It is extremely concealed and shoots people in the face quietly.The best part is that it can be launched indoors, and the tailless afterflame will not hurt people-this is something that RPGs and bazookas cannot do.

As for the third weapon, a 12.7mm anti-tank gun.And this thing is equipment that has not been developed by the Soviet Red Army during this period.In history, the Soviet Union did not start a project to formally research anti-tank guns until 1938. At that time, there were two types of 12.7 mm and 14.5 mm. The former was aborted because of its low power.

Huang Ke also provided a simple drawing here: mainly the design of the muzzle brake and the anti-recoil device, the 12.7mm caliber, the bullets and the previous aided machine guns are common.

The requirements for the structure of firearms, the original text is: In order not to cause trouble for the Soviet military production, as long as the bullets can be fired from the barrel of the 12.7mm machine gun, it does not matter even if it is the most original design of "single hit one".

Regarding this point, Huang Ke also made a detailed explanation: the purpose of this gun is firstly to directly attack the enemy hiding behind sandbags during harassment and confrontation, and secondly to be used for anti-armor combat. It is very satisfying to penetrate the armor of about ten millimeters, so there is no need to specially develop bullets.

Regarding this anti-tank gun, people in the military industry department also built it within a few days-it was the simplest and original gun design, especially the design requirements of "single one", a bunch of core parts can be directly obtained from ready-made guns. The 12.7 machine gun is made of materials, only a few of which require special processing.The most complicated thing is the anti-recoil device.

"The anti-recoil design provided by the Chinese comrades is very good!"

When Stalin asked, people from the military equipment department had already built a sample gun and put it in front of Stalin. Stalin took a look and found that the number of parts used in this gun was reduced to the extreme—only one bullet could be loaded at a time. After firing a shot, it is manually unloaded and reloaded. It is really an extremely streamlined "single hit one" anti-tank gun.

Stalin asked again:

"Will it be troublesome to arrange the production of this gun by the military industry department?"

"It's not very troublesome, almost all the parts are ready-made, and a few one or two can be manufactured with a little adjustment of the production line - the only trouble is the anti-recoil device, which is a brand new design, and the production line needs to be re-prepared .”

"According to the request of the Chinese comrades, let's build... [-] guns first. In addition, you can also improve this gun. It can hold a few more bullets at a time, and the bolt is loaded to increase the shooting speed. By the way, remember to build more A few, let the army try it out, our Red Army also needs its own anti-tank guns.” ——Stalin, who was in a good mood, took the initiative to double the amount of aid to China this time, from one hundred aids to I bought two hundred.

As for the mortars requested by the Red Army, Stalin did not make a decision directly - after all, the establishment of an artillery production line involves the entire military industry system and requires the coordination of multiple departments.After asking about the manufacturing process of the gun, they simply ordered them to expand the existing scrapped barrel according to this standard.First temporarily produce a batch of 81mm mortars and send them to China for trial use, and at the same time order the military industry department to produce a batch of corresponding shells.

As for the 50mm mortar, because there is no corresponding barrel production line, it is impossible for the Soviet Union to open a new one for the Red Army.After asking about the situation of the military industry department, Stalin ordered the development of this level of small-caliber mortar suitable for the tactical characteristics of the Soviet Red Army—that is, during this period, 60mm caliber products were very common in the world, but because Maozi liked large-caliber mortars Naturally, the mortar project approved in advance has been reduced to [-]mm from the very beginning.As for the artillery design bureau, because they got the blueprint provided by Huang Ke, they habitually started to trial-produce the artillery according to the design of the blueprint at the first time - and the later results were naturally very successful.

Except for these few things, the rest are the simplest conventional weapons.After receiving the Streptomyces culture solution provided by Huang Ke and confirming that it is genuine, Comrade Stalin, who is in a happy mood, is now unusually generous in aiding the Chinese revolution.

Now it is not a problem for him to assist the Red Army with tens of thousands of Mosin Nagant rifles, hundreds of machine guns, nearly a hundred mountain cannons, enough bullets and shells, and even the T26 tank that has just been developed and equipped with the Red Army.In fact, Stalin had already made up his mind: the scale of arms delivery in the future must be greater than that of supporting the Northern Expedition of the Artillery Party.What limits aid now is transportation capacity.

Looking at the aid list proposed by China, Comrade Stalin sighed to Lyobyshev:

"There is a difference between human resources and waste. It is immediately obvious when a comparison is made. Competent comrades pay great attention to details when they do things. You can see that the weapons aid that Comrade Li Runshi asked us for is very in line with the actual situation. Even if it is New weapons - 20 grenades, only [-] rubles! And any factory here in the Soviet Union can produce them. Asking for anti-tank guns and mortars is also very carefully considering the specific situation of the Soviet Union. Adding extra trouble to us. In contrast, those old wastes only want money, want money, and they don't know how to do anything except money."

Lyobyshev catered to him and said, "Comrade Sea Snake, I heard that he is also from the working class. He has excellent machining skills and knows military manufacturing very well. He is a professional in this field."

"Well, I have seen those design drawings and samples. This is a very realistic request made by a revolutionary comrade who has worked on the front line at the grassroots level. It is completely different from the style of remote revolutionaries hiding in Moscow to recuperate. They are extremely pragmatic. !"

Stalin snorted, happily picked up the HSBC investigation report sent back from Shanghai, and looked at it carefully...

Lyobyshev has long seen that Comrade Stalin, who manages so many things every day, spends so much energy on these "little things worth tens of thousands of rubles" because he likes this young "colleague" so much. Comrade "Sea Serpent".

"It's no wonder that Comrade Stalin appreciates him..."

In the past six months, Comrade Sea Snake brought too many surprises to Comrade Stalin and the face he earned.

The book "The Chrysanthemum and the Knife" brought to Stalin by Huang Ketuo is now on the market in China and Japan. On the Soviet side, Stalin liked it very much after reading it, and instructed that it can also be published in the Far East. It was not easy to publish periodicals in the Soviet Union during the period of the Great Purge, which is a domestic reference book for studying Japanese military affairs, and it was even more difficult to get Stalin's appreciation and personal approval and be listed as official books.

In addition to these, as the Chinese Red Army gradually opened up the land channel with Outer Mongolia.Stalin has been considering another thing recently: building a light rail railway from Mongolia to Suiyuan.

Although Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia are close together, there is not even a decent road between the two. Looking up, it is either a grassland or a Gobi or desert.Purely by road transportation, the cost is extremely high - in history, the Soviet Union transported a large amount of equipment to Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army through Suiyuan, but the transportation cost was not low, and it was extremely manpower-intensive.

If a light rail railway can be built from Cherlov to the Sino-Mongolian border, the situation in the entire Far East will be greatly improved.

During this period, Stalin was constructing a wonderful strategic idea in his mind: in the next six months, the Red Army would capture the entire Suiyuan area and connect the entire Suiyuan area with Outer Mongolia.Once this strategic goal is achieved, the Soviet Red Army stationed in Outer Mongolia will have a "reliable" strategic partner.The Soviet Union's strategic pressure from Japan in the entire Far East was reduced by half in an instant. After September [-], it faced the Japanese Kwantung Army, which occupied the entire three northeastern provinces, and then extended its tentacles to the Chahar region next to Outer Mongolia. , the Soviet Union is actually extremely vigilant.Especially after the mustache on the west came to power, his growing anti-Soviet tendencies made the Soviet Union feel the crisis of the two-front war again.

It's just that the army of the Cannon Party in this period is either trash or reactionary, and they are all unreliable.As for the "little brother" of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which allowed them to occupy Suiyuan and protect the flanks, the Soviet Union was naturally extremely supportive.

In fact, when Stalin generously increased the aid needed by the Red Army before, he also threw a bait: take Suiyuan, and there will be more material aid in the future.

Before the Spring Festival of 1936, the Central Red Army, which had moved the center of the revolutionary base from Tianshui to Yan'an, received a question from Stalin: whether it could take the entire Suiyuan area within the first half of 1936.

When Stalin sent this telegram, the high-level military meeting in Yan'an repeatedly discussed the topic of the Suiyuan strategy.

Stalin saw the strategic significance of Suiyuan Province, and so did Li Runshi.Shortly after the end of the Long March, while launching the Northwest Campaign, the Red Army also sent a small group of elite Red Army troops to the Daqingshan area to secretly establish an advance base. In fact, it was to prepare for the Suiyuan offensive in the second year.

"However, the Battle of Suiyuan was not so easy to fight!"

"Suiyuan borders Chahar in the east, and Jinbei in the south. There is a railway connecting the Pingjin area. Fu Zuoyi's troops can get the support of the Jin Army, the 29th Route Army, and the Central Army at any time! What's more dangerous is that the Mongolian German army in the Chahar area The royal family and the Japanese are also ready to move."

Regarding this matter, Chairman Lee Yoon-seok is very sober.

"The benefits are huge, the traps are huge, and the risks are huge! Most importantly, the rear of our Red Army is actually very unstable, and it can even be said to be in danger."

When discussing this matter at a high-level meeting within the Red Army, Chairman Lee Yoon-seok tapped three places on the map with his fingers.

The first place is where the green horse is.

"Here in Qingma, Ma Bufang's strength is still there. Although we drove him to Hexi, everyone must have a good idea of ​​the situation in the occupied area of ​​​​Hedong. The local people are very hostile to the Red Army, and this situation will not improve in the short term. "

The second place is outside Tongguan, where more than [-] central army elites are currently gathering.

"Fu Zuoyi's Department in Suiyuan, according to the information provided by Xiao Huang, this person is an official in the Kuomintang army, and has the nickname of Seven and a Half Routes. The reason is that his administrative training methods are very similar to ours. The liberation war of another plane, It is also the enemy that caused the most trouble to the North China Liberation Army, not even one of them. Although his army has only 3 troops, he is an elite division that can fight very well. It is not to be underestimated. But the most troublesome thing is the tyranny of distance! "

Chairman Lee Yoon-seok spread his fingers and compared them on the map.

"Attack from south to north, from Yulin to Baotou, the land distance is 600 miles - and the natural danger of crossing the Yellow River!"

"If you attack from west to east, it will be farther. Our current northernmost control area is currently Wuhai. It is more than 300 miles from Wuhai to Bayannur, the westernmost point in Suiyuan, and then to Baotou. Five hundred miles! It's too far, too far!"

Finally, he tapped the Red Army's current control areas in northern Shaanxi and southern Gansu, as well as a large stretch of Hedong area south of the big bend of the Yellow River "Ji".

"Horse bandits, bandits, mountain bandits!"

Chairman Li Runshi patted the map, frowned and said:

"The current situation in the so-called base areas of the three provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia is full of banditry! Our Red Army, as a foreign dragon crossing the river, has only firmly occupied the most prosperous cities and the fertile areas around Hetao. But the large areas of mountains and mountains The villages are actually not within our control. This piece of land of more than 100 million square kilometers, with thousands of villages, our Red Army really controls it. How many villages do we actually control if we can control it like the Jiangxi Soviet area? ?”

"According to the information provided by Xiao Huang, there is no need to say more about the remnants of the Ma family army in Hedong. In another time and space, it took us a full ten years to completely wipe out them after liberation. And those Han bandits and horse bandits in other areas ?When our Red Army gained power, they lay dormant and honest. Once the main force was outside and the interior was empty, Chang Kaishen’s Central Army took the opportunity to advance westward and copy our rear. The incarnation became the Returning Home Mission, and then it was based on the great disaster in the field, and it was flying on the grass with high mobility!"