Rise From Eight Hundred

Originally, Lou Dehua was still waiting for the cash from the sponsor, but he didn't expect that Tang Dao didn't get a penny back after going to Citibank. If Tang Dao hadn't paid nearly 10 million US dollars in cash, Lou Dehua would have even had the urge to kick Tang Dao out.

Now, he has already shot the arrow and there is no turning back.

The Krupp headquarters in the empire approved his report on investing in a steel plant in China yesterday. All the required equipment and technicians have begun to be prepared. With the efficiency of the Germans today, they will be shipped and set off in a week at the latest.

This naturally includes the various precision machine tools for forging parts that he asked for with his private goods. The headquarters is not stupid and knows that this is a job, but for Krupp, as long as there is enough profit, who cares who Rostav will sell the arms to!

Of course, the premise of all this is whether the funds of a certain shareholder are in place. In order to complete the construction of the steel plant as soon as possible, Lou Dehua guaranteed in the transoceanic telegram that the funds are in place.

But Tang Dao paid nearly 9 million US dollars in cash, but at least 3 million of that was used to pay for the equipment of the German-equipped division, and only 6 million was actually used to invest in the steel plant, which was 2 million short of the 8 million investment promised by Tang Dao, and that was before the 5 million for the "Laboratory No. 1" headed by Grunoff.

You know, Krupp is not a company that relies solely on resources and technology to occupy a dry share. All the equipment on the list alone is worth nearly 5 million US dollars. If you add the wages of domestic technicians, transportation costs, and factory construction costs, it will definitely exceed 8 million.

In addition, do you really think Krupp doesn't need to do public relations with the Japanese? I'm afraid that the Japanese foreign affairs staff stationed in the German Empire have already received cash checks!

On the Chinese side, Lou Dehua had personally visited Shanshan Yuan and Okabe Saburo a long time ago. Although Lou Dehua had contributed to the negotiations with the Chinese, that was a thing of the past. The Japanese also paid a price, and Krupp's transport vehicles were unimpeded in North China, otherwise Tang Dao and his men would not have arrived so smoothly.

Orientals especially love gold. Lou Dehua paid a thousand taels of gold to get Shanshan Yuan to agree to the Germans' request, allowing them to build a steel plant in HD and provide Japan with 100,000 tons of steel every year.

This is normal, otherwise, with Shanshan Yuan's current power, it would be difficult to explain to the headquarters why the Germans were allowed to invest in the construction of a steel plant.

Adding other trivial expenses, the total amount will definitely exceed 10 million US dollars when the steel plant is completed.

You said that if Tang Dao could not give the remaining money, Krupp would not be afraid. At most, it would invest more and do it itself, but would Lou Dehua's dear nephew make a fuss about this?

Lou Dehua could imagine what his nephew was like. As the biggest threat to him in the family, Lou Dehua, who had been demoted to the Far East branch, would be safest if he could not stay in this position.

Looking at a certain financial sponsor who had no money but was still confident and asked him to wait for money, Lou Dehua almost had his hair turned white with worry.

If time could be reversed, he would definitely not want to meet this bastard who likes to paint big cakes. No matter how tempting the cakes are, they are useless. Now he is almost starving to death.

Citibank is very efficient. Two days later, ten sacks and ten large suitcases were delivered to the hotel apartment where Tang Dao lived.

That was 7 million US dollars in cash and 1 million US dollars worth of gold bars sent by Citibank according to Tang Dao's request.

The spacious living room was filled with inconspicuous sacks and suitcases. At first glance, they looked like the local specialties brought by a country bumpkin into the city. But if you knew that they were all filled with colorful US dollars and gold, no matter who you are, you would feel like your soul was leaving your body at that moment.

The general manager of Krupp Far East Company, who had seen big scenes, felt the same way. Lou Dehua, who was called by Tang Dao and asked to bring financial personnel, opened a sack casually and saw colorful US dollars. At that moment, he almost died.

Tang Dao still had 7 million US dollars to pay, and it took only a few days to pay it all. It was much better than he expected.

‘No wonder the Japanese want to rob the Chinese, it’s really because the Chinese are too rich! ’ Lou Dehua finally found the best answer to the Sino-Japanese War at that moment.

There was still 1 million US dollars left, and Tang Dao took out 800,000 US dollars and gave it to Lou Dehua to pay the salaries of all German technicians in the "Laboratory No. 1", including Grunov, while Tang Dao only took 100,000 of the remaining 200,000 US dollars. Tang Dao did not say the other 100,000, and Lou Dehua did not ask. Anyway, the 100,000 US dollars was taken away by him.

"Commander, we invested so much money to help this guy make money, and the dog-day still coveted our 100,000 US dollars." Shen Laoliu couldn't help but complain with some heartache after Lou Dehua left with a smile.

100,000 US dollars, converted into oceans, is 400,000. This huge sum of money is enough for the whole group of the Four Lines Group to eat and drink for a whole year, but it was taken away by a foreigner so easily. It means that Shen Laoliu is convinced by Tang Dao to the bone. If it were Ye Chenghuan, he might point at Tang Dao's nose and scold him as a prodigal son.

You know, the military expenditure of the entire 80th Army Group with more than 40,000 regular troops in half a year is probably only this much!

"Haha, Lao Liu! Our ancestors said: If you want to get it, you must first give it! Just like fishing, you can't just get a fish hook and fish! You must have bait.

For us, we are not afraid of him taking it, but we are afraid of him not taking it. If there is no such thing, how can he take the risk to help us? Just to help him achieve results so that he can go back to take charge of the arms empire in the future? That pie is big, but it is too far away. "Tang Dao, who has completely solved the problem of Krupp, is obviously in a good mood and explains to Shen Laoliu with a smile.

"Believe it or not, if we take this money, the batch of weapons that we pay the balance will not only be delivered to HD as quickly as possible, but it will also save us a lot of unnecessary trouble. "

Tang Dao's words came true. Half a month later, the ammunition that occupied almost half of the train was not only safely transported to the HD Fengfeng coal mining area, but also the person who was very considerate helped to transport it to the mountainous area designated by the contact person by truck.

This not only saved the trouble of the three infantry regiments and a large transport team of 4,000 people who were already on standby in the mountainous area, but also indirectly reduced the losses of the 80th Army.

You know, after receiving Tang Dao's request, the general manager of the 80th Army was almost excited to high blood pressure by the line of words "helping to transport a complete German-equipped division". After asking the top leaders for instructions, the criticality of it rose to the height of the survival of the 80th Group.

The preparation alone took more than 20 days. The 80th Army mobilized its two main divisions in Shanxi Province and nearly 10,000 militia troops, with a total force of more than 1 00,000 people.

Of course, these 100,000 people were not all used for transportation. The real participants in the transportation were three non-main regiments and a militia transport team with a variety of transportation tools such as donkeys, mules, and wheelbarrows.

The main force of tens of thousands of people gathered in the direction of Niangziguan in eastern Shanxi, pretending to threaten Niangziguan and Jingxing County.

Not to mention that the Japanese army was very nervous and immediately dispatched troops from all over the country to gather in eastern Shanxi to prevent counterattacks by the Chinese army. You know, Jingxing is the gateway to eastern Shanxi. If it is lost, the Chinese can march forward to the important town of Shimen in Hebei Province, which is dozens of kilometers away. It can be regarded as another key point of the Japanese North China Front Army in North China besides the two cities of Pingjin. Many important materials must be transported from here to the front line.

Even a large city like HD has more than half of its defense forces withdrawn. If it weren't for these three people who were quietly lurking The newly formed second-line infantry regiment, and replaced with the main regiments such as 772 and 771, may be able to conquer HD with this feint to the east and attack to the west.

The Second War Zone Command was also shocked. After asking, the 80th Army replied that it was a special military operation to avenge the hundreds of anti-Japanese activists who were massacred by the Japanese army some time ago. Although the Second War Zone Command has nominal jurisdiction, the 80th Army is a special army and is fighting the Japanese. They can't say that they ordered you not to fight, right?

They can only turn a blind eye and let the 80th Army toss around. Even if they don't fight, it's good to scare the Japanese.

Of course, Tang Dao also specifically stated that HD will become an important supply line in the future, and the 80th Army will naturally not make the mistake of cutting off its own financial resources, and will not fight anyone but HD.

The lack of HD troops actually made it much easier for Krupp to operate. When Krupp requested the local Japanese garrison to send troops to escort its transport team, the local garrison commander refused due to military emergency. Krupp could only use its own armed escort team on the iron mine.

It should be noted here that because the mine is located in the mountainous area, Krupp has the right to armed escort at Fengfeng Coal Mine. Whether it was under the rule of the 29th Army at the time or under the rule of the Japanese army that occupied most of North China, Krupp's armed escort force exceeded 1,500 people.

It is usually trained by professional soldiers and has mortars, heavy machine guns, and even two machine guns. Its combat power is comparable to that of a Chinese infantry regiment. It is the second most powerful armed force in the entire HD area except for the Japanese army.

The 80th Army spent such a price, of course, not just for the sake of revolutionary friendship, but also for something. Commander Tang did not specify the reward, but just one point was enough for the elders of the 80th Army to unanimously agree to take on this job.

Before leaving, Tang Dao had already told Brigade Commander Cheng that as long as this batch of equipment could be handled, all the mountain artillery and Maxim heavy machine guns eliminated by the Four-line Regiment would be transferred to the 80th Army.

Let alone other things, just the mountain artillery almost made Brigade Commander Cheng sleepless for a week.

How many mountain artillery does the Four-line Regiment have now? That's as many as 20. If all 20 75mm mountain artillery were given to the 80th Army, it means that the 80th Army could build a complete mountain artillery regiment.

An artillery regiment! For the 80th Army, which had struggled out of hardship, it was a dream from the moment it was established.

Who would have thought that this dream would come true in the second year of the war.

That also means that from now on, in the war against Japan, it is not just the soldiers of the 80th Army who hide in the trenches and wait for the Japanese attack. The 80th Army can also pour shells on the Japanese infantry or heavy firepower points that are preparing to attack.

You say, seeing many of his soldiers being killed in the trenches by the Japanese artillery without firing a shot, and having no other way but to be filled with grief and indignation, how can Brigade Commander Cheng not be excited?

As for Tang Dao, the reason why he dared to make such a boast was naturally the confidence given by the equipment of the German-equipped division.

Even after the discount, the German-equipped divisions were luxurious: 12 Swedish-made Bofors 75mm mountain guns; 12 German-made 150mm heavy mortars; 24 German-made GRW34 81mm mortars; 36 Swiss-made Sorotung 20mm machine guns; 48 French-made Brandt 60mm mortars; 48 American-made Browning M2HB 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns; 72 German-made MG08 Maxim heavy machine guns...

Not to mention other light equipment, these big guys alone are not enough for the 8,000 people of the Four-Line Regiment to equip. Wouldn't Tang Dao quickly eliminate the original old equipment and throw it to friendly forces?

Although the caliber of the Bofors mountain gun is the same as that of the Japanese Type 41 mountain gun, as a light howitzer that has been tested in the Battle of Shanghai, it has proven its worth. The price of up to 16,000 US dollars per gun is absolutely worth it.

Not only does the range and accuracy of over 9,000 meters completely beat the 6,500-meter range of the Type 41 mountain gun, but its 700-kilogram gun body can be disassembled into eight pieces for transportation, and its mobility is also much stronger than the Type 41 mountain gun.

With these two points alone, the Bofors mountain gun is one level higher than the Type 41 mountain gun. Except for the weight of the projectile, its other performance is even comparable to the 105mm caliber howitzer equipped at the division level of the Japanese army.

Especially when entering the rugged and difficult mountainous areas, mobility and range are the key to the success of a mountain gun design. In this regard, European manufacturing completely beats the Japanese.

Don’t look at only 12 guns. If you can effectively use its range and accuracy far exceeding the Japanese Type 41 mountain gun and its powerful mobility, you can effectively suppress a Japanese artillery regiment.

As for whether the Japanese army will be forced to take out a larger caliber heavy artillery, first they have to transport the big guys weighing nearly 2 tons into the mountains, and the weight is not something that can be pulled by a few pack horses.

Although this is not the most ideal artillery for Tang Dao, for example, the "Type 63 107 rocket launcher", one of the future Chinese black technologies that Tang Dao has been dreaming of, is a thing that is respected by military enthusiasts around the world as one of the three great artifacts of guerrilla warfare. If it can be taken out one day, the Japanese will be beaten to tears.

The reason why it is called a "magic weapon" is that the combat weight of less than 400 kilograms and the maximum range of 8,500 meters are not mentioned. Just talk about the traction tool of this thing...

The war has proved that its traction tool can simply shatter the three views of all professional soldiers: jeeps, cars, agricultural tricycles, tractors, two people or a donkey, any of which can pull a 12-tube rocket launcher around.

The most amazing thing is that this rocket launcher can also disassemble the 12 launch tubes for use, and each soldier can carry two barrels or 4 shells on his back to march in the mountains.

That means that a 20-man artillery squad can maneuver 30 kilometers in a day and complete five rounds of saturation attacks by manpower alone.

Rocket launchers are not like ordinary artillery shells. They rely on accuracy. They rely on pure firepower coverage. What is the error of 1 meter, 5 meters, or 10 meters? My error is 50 meters. However, within 20 seconds, 12 rounds of salvos will bombard the sky and earth, and all people and animals within a few thousand meters will be destroyed.

The concept of the fighting nation is the word "strong". Although China's military industry has made other modifications, this essence has never been lost, so that in the future, it has done such crazy things as super rocket launchers with a range of more than 400 kilometers.

Of course, for Tang Dao at this time, although he is drooling over this weapon, the current conditions are limited. It is better to use limited scientific research and manufacturing in more practical places. There is also the risk of fearing that this technology will be copied by Japan, which is at its peak. It is better to wait until the turtle grandsons who have a good life go to poke the ass of the American cowboys, and let the angry American cowboys sit on the giant ship and pick up the big stick to beat them up, and then consider this "artifact".

Bofors mountain guns plus 150-caliber heavy mortars, Suloton 20mm machine guns, and quadruple 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns are the most ideal artillery battalion equipment for Tang Dao at present, which is enough to resist the Japanese attack from the sky and the ground, and it does not need to be replaced for at least 2 years.

Of course, the equipment of a German-equipped division cannot be swallowed by the Four-Line Regiment. Tang Dao also plans to distribute a batch of light firepower, including rifles, light machine guns, submachine guns, Mauser pistols, helmets and other equipment to the 80th Group and the 17th Division that is being re-equipped.

These two trustworthy friendly forces are equipped with at least one German-equipped infantry regiment, one Japanese-equipped infantry regiment, plus the Four-Line Regiment with a strength of 8,000 people, so that Tang Dao will have the opportunity to compete with the Japanese in Taihang Mountains again according to its own ideas.

The Chinese army that took the initiative to attack at that time was not like the last battle in southeastern Shanxi. Although the total force was nearly 150,000, the weapons and equipment were so poor that many Chinese soldiers had no guns at all. The only chance they had guns was after their comrades died in battle.

There were as many as five main infantry regiments with sufficient equipment, including super infantry regiments such as the Four-Line Regiment, both in terms of manpower and equipment.

If the Japanese, who always liked to send troops according to a 1:2 or even 1:3 force ratio, did not wake up quickly, they would inevitably end up with a bloody head.

Of course, these are all later stories. Tang Dao, who had solved all the affairs of Krupp Company, was waiting in the concession these days. He went out to listen to music during the day and called Brigadier General Tian or Lou Dehua, who had nothing to do, to drink and taste tea at night.

That was not in vain. From these two people, Tang Dao also learned clearly about the turbulent situation in Europe.

The eagerly expanding army of the mustache leader has made European countries nervous. In the eyes of these two people, war will come sooner or later.

However, with their current vision, they don’t know how big the scale of the war will be.

And Tang Dao knows that only when the war burns to half of the earth and the German mustache and the island country mustache are mixed together, China will have a chance to win the war.

Fortunately, the historical line has not completely deviated.

In the future, Rockefeller’s efficiency in controlling people will be faster than Tang Dao imagined.

Not even a week later, on the fifth day, Miss Laura came to visit in person.