Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

This incredible business deal was actually settled remotely.

Neither Ren Zhong nor Hu Rentao realized that there were still people as upright as the other in today's society.

There was basically no haggling at all.

They didn't even have a video chat online, yet they trusted each other.

So, when they exchanged more contact information later, Ren Zhong discovered that Hu Rentao was a legitimate associate professor specializing in steel!

Hu Rentao, on the other hand, felt very secure after receiving the down payment, and both parties were very satisfied with the cooperation.

Ren Zhong brought up some aspects of the indigenous blast furnace that he didn't understand and asked Professor Hu. Only then did Professor Hu realize that Ren Zhong was serious and was actually planning to do something in a foreign country with super outdated technology. In Professor Hu's opinion, this technology was riddled with problems, so he couldn't help but optimize Ren Zhong's indigenous blast furnace to make it more reasonable and efficient.

With this professional's help, the original 5-cubic-meter indigenous blast furnace was expanded to about 15 cubic meters. Of course, it couldn't be any larger. The strength of this kind of purely handmade indigenous blast furnace wouldn't be able to withstand it, and it would easily collapse, unless some steel supports were used in the middle for reinforcement.

But now Ren Zhong was in Yang Village, where could he find extra steel to use as pillars for the blast furnace? He would have to wait until the iron was smelted.

The Eighth Route Army's main channel for obtaining steel was actually dismantling railway tracks, which made it impossible for Ren Zhong to make demands.

Dismantling railway tracks was not only risky but also extremely difficult. With the transportation tools currently available to the base area guerrillas and main regiments, it was difficult to transport a railway track over a long distance. At this time, a normal railway track was 8 meters long, weighing more than 40 kilograms per meter, making a total of more than 300 kilograms!

Horses couldn't carry this weight, and it would take at least six to eight strong men to lift it together.

In addition, the cutting tools were primitive, making it difficult for the Eighth Route Army to cut them into small sections. This resulted in the base area of the Eighth Route Army having great difficulty obtaining steel, and the ordnance factories were in a state of extreme shortage.

Even the manufacture of landmines had been changed to using pottery jars. How could Ren Zhong ask for some steel to build this indigenous blast furnace?

Originally, Ren Zhong was a little apprehensive about developing iron and steel smelting now, after all, he was a complete layman in this area. He was also a liberal arts student, and now he was being forced to engage in chemistry and mechanical processing.

Now he was being forced to engage in architecture and smelting, which was purely being forced to become an all-around science student.

Fortunately, the old book "Indigenous Iron Smelting," written during a special period, provided very detailed descriptions of the detailed construction and smelting process of indigenous blast furnaces, and it was all written in traditional Chinese characters. Ren Zhong could directly tear off the cover of the old book and take it with him for reference.

This time, with the guidance and optimization of Associate Professor Hu Rentao, Ren Zhong printed out the new design drawings, and he felt even more confident.

Bright Sword World, three days after the Brigade Commander left.

He was relatively simple-minded. He just needed to get the things and never wanted to use his brain too much to think about where they came from.

After nearly two months of getting along, Lao Li believed that he already understood Ren Zhong very well.

This person should not have any ill intentions towards the base area.

Otherwise, everything that Ren Zhong was doing for the base area now would cause significant losses to the Japanese devils and puppet troops.

No spy would do this, and this wasn't the way to bleed yourself dry with a honey trap.

"Old Li, it should be here. I'll go get it in a while." Ren Zhong pretended not to know and bid farewell to Lao Li, really taking a trip to the mountain cave he often visited.

In the cave, the things he brought were naturally placed there. He packed them into a package and leisurely returned to the village.

In order to maintain a sense of mystery, Ren Zhong fabricated an excuse saying that the people in his organization didn't like to interact with outsiders, so this mountain cave near Yang Village had an open view and could see far around. Li Yunlong ordered that no one could approach this mountain cave without orders.

Inside the mountain cave, machine tools, materials, and some strange things could appear at any time. No one knew how Ren Zhong's organization managed to transport things here without being noticed.

Anyway, Li Yunlong was a pragmatist. He believed whatever Ren Zhong said as long as it was good for him, completely a qualified tool person.

After returning with the peerless secret manual, Li Yunlong couldn't wait to go over and take a look, only to find that there was basically nothing he could understand.

"Old Brother Ren, this is still the old rule, you command, and I'll do it." Li Yunlong handed the secret manual back to Ren Zhong without any shame.

Ren Zhong smiled, opened the secret manual, and began a new round of work arrangements for Li Yunlong.

Building an iron smelting blast furnace was by no means an easy task, especially after Hu Rentao's optimization and revision, the indigenous blast furnace was much larger than the original version, and the materials required were several times more.

But for Li Yunlong, these were not problems!

"Second Battalion, Third Battalion, all of you get to the construction site for me, working in three shifts 24 hours a day! The First Battalion is responsible for the defense zone. If there aren't enough people, I'll find more. We must build this blast furnace in the shortest possible time," Li Yunlong said fiercely.

"Stop, stop, Old Li, are you trying to die? We don't need so many people on the construction site. One battalion, three companies, divided into three shifts, working 18 hours is enough." Ren Zhong was startled. Old Li was good at everything, but when he started a project, he was like a madman.

"Another battalion has to go mining to get iron ore and coal. We'll do both at the same time. After selecting the blast furnace site, the iron ore and coal mines will also be mined simultaneously, and then they have to be crushed into particles. We also need to build a large warehouse."

Ren Zhong wasn't as anxious as Li Yunlong. This thing couldn't be done with just a few words, it would take time.

"However, once the blast furnace is built, the confidentiality work will be difficult to do. If a dozen-meter-high blast furnace is in the open, even if the Japanese devil reconnaissance plane pilot is nearsighted, he won't escape it.

We have to rely on a stone wall like a kiln to hide the blast furnace. To be honest, the several cliffs near the water near the original New First Regiment驻地 are really good."

Now the base area was heavily surrounded by the Japanese devils, and its strength was also at an absolute disadvantage. Once the Japanese devils discovered that the base area had actually started large-scale iron and steel smelting, that would be terrible. It was likely that Yoshio Shinozuka wouldn't be able to sleep and would come in force.

"Old Brother Ren is right. Tell me the requirements, and I'll have someone look for them. We can't deal with the Japanese devils' reconnaissance planes and fighter planes now. If these beasts really find out, then we really can't protect it." Li Yunlong also had a headache.

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