Rare Metals

Chapter 64 Rare Metals (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Deep inside the mine shaft in Gouzi Village, electric lights emit a steady, slightly dim glow thanks to a sufficient power supply.

Chen Yuan frowned as he looked at the list of special metals necessary for manufacturing higher-quality gun barrels, mortar shells, and even machine tools that might be needed in the future, which was displayed on the "Flint" platform in his mind.

Chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, tungsten—these are names of alloying elements that are familiar in modern industry, but in China at this time, especially in the anti-Japanese base areas trapped deep in the Taihang Mountains, they were as unfamiliar and distant as a book written in the heavens.

It has been a while since I last mentioned to Wen Shizhou that I needed these "special metals that can make iron harder and tougher," but Secretary Wen has yet to respond.

Chen Yuan knew that this matter couldn't be rushed, and there might not even be a result.

He could imagine the current state of mineral resource development in China.

Where are these metal deposits located? Have they been mined? Even if they have, are they in enemy-occupied territory, Nationalist-controlled territory, or remote frontier areas? How are they obtained? Each of these is a formidable hurdle.

He first experimentally added trace amounts of alloy that were accidentally extracted from automotive parts, and continued to improve the processing technology of ordinary steel.

Unbeknownst to him, his seemingly "outlandish" list of demands had already been taken very seriously by Wen Shizhou, who immediately reported it to Zhou Huan, the leader of the Xingtai Anti-Japanese Provisional Government.

Zhou Huan was also taken aback as he held the note with unfamiliar words written on it.

He could barely recognize the characters for chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium, but he had no idea what they were, what they were used for, or where to find them.

Although he came from an intellectual background, he studied humanities and was a complete novice in metallurgy and mining.

"Secretary Wen, what kind of mines is Master Chen asking for? We've never even heard of them here," Zhou Huan said, pointing to the note with a puzzled look.

Wen Shizhou was in the same boat. He could only repeat Chen Yuan's vague explanation: "Master Chen said it's some kind of catalyst that can make steel stronger and more durable." Adding a little bit would make the forged swords, guns, and cannons much stronger. He didn't know exactly what kind of ore it was or how it was used; he only said that he had read about it in some old books and thought it might be useful.

Since this matter concerns the "Gongyi Blacksmith Shop," the most important production site at present, and is also related to whether the quality of future military products can be improved, Zhou Huan dared not be negligent.

He immediately submitted the list, along with a brief explanation, as an urgent document to the newly established Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Anti-Japanese Government, which was responsible for coordinating military and political affairs in parts of southern Shanxi, northern Henan, and western Hebei, in the name of the Xingtai Anti-Japanese Provisional Government.

Leaders in Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan provinces also attached great importance to the report.

Improving weapon quality is a matter of paramount importance.

They immediately searched internally and in relevant systems, and inquired whether there were any technical personnel who understood mining and metallurgy.

However, after asking around, the results were disappointing.

Within the government and its surrounding bases, educated and technically skilled individuals were already extremely rare, and those proficient in modern metallurgy and familiar with the distribution of special minerals were almost nonexistent.

Occasionally, one or two cadres who had studied in Beiping or Tianjin and had some industrial knowledge could only offer fragmented information such as "Tungsten is used in light bulb filaments, it's very hard" and "Zinc is white and can be used to make batteries." They knew little about chromium, etc.

Strategic metals like molybdenum and vanadium are either completely unknown to most people, or they only know their names, with no clue about where they are produced in China or how to obtain them.

As for how to use it, they knew absolutely nothing.

The situation was compiled truthfully, and along with the troublesome metal list, it was reported again via secret radio and finally placed on Yanzhou's desk.

At this moment, Yanzhou had become the command center and spiritual beacon for the nationwide resistance against Japanese aggression behind enemy lines.

Under extremely difficult conditions, the Party Central Committee, with remarkable foresight and pragmatism, is embarking on building various foundations to support the protracted War of Resistance, including the crucial military industry.

In the spring of 1938, in order to strengthen the unified leadership and planning of the military industry of the whole army, the Central Military Commission established the Military Industry Bureau (referred to as the Military Industry Bureau), which was headed by Qiang Li and others who were proficient in radio technology and organizational management.

The Military Industry Bureau, starting from scratch, tried every means to establish and develop a military industrial system under the leadership of the Communist Party.

The report was initially suppressed because the raw materials were not easy to find, and it would require mobilizing valuable resources from various sources.

After Chen Yuan successfully developed the mortar shells, Yanzhou's level of attention increased significantly.

Artillery shells are different from other supplies.

The central government assigned this task to the Military Industry Bureau, instructing them to make overall arrangements.

This report from the Taihang Mountains front line, after several twists and turns, was finally delivered to the head of the military industry bureau.

The report itself was brief, but the information it contained caught the eye of the person in charge: a blacksmith shop in a mountain village deep in the Taihang Mountains was not only mass-producing high-quality standard cold weapons and grenade casings, but was also trying to imitate the metal parts of mortar shells, and had already realized the key role of special alloys in improving weapon performance!

This goes far beyond the scope of an ordinary "blacksmith shop," demonstrating a rare and commendable technological awareness that points towards the foundation of modern military industry.

This blacksmith shop in the mountain village seems to be even more powerful than the Liushudian arsenal under the Military Industry Bureau.

This is no longer a blacksmith shop!

However, reality is equally cold.

The person in charge gathered several comrades who had just arrived in Yan'an and had some industrial or chemical backgrounds to study the list together.

"Chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, nickel—" Liu Guifu, who had worked at the Taiyuan Arsenal, shook his head repeatedly as he looked at the list. "These are all essential components for making good guns, cannons, and tools. But in our country—it's difficult!"

Based on his memory and limited understanding, he introduced to everyone: "China is rich in tungsten. It is found in Jiangxi and Hunan. I heard that the tungsten ore in Dayu, Jiangxi is very famous, but that area is now under the control of the Kuomintang and is mainly for export to earn foreign exchange. It would be extremely difficult for us to get our hands on it."

Li Qiang was aware of this, as the Red Army had also exploited tungsten ore in the Central Soviet Area, selling it in exchange for many essential supplies for the Soviet Area.

"Molybdenum—I've heard there are mines in the Yangjiazhangzi area of ​​Jinxi in Northeast China, but they were occupied by the Japanese long ago and are now under the control of the puppet state of Manchukuo. Chromium—this stuff is extremely rare in our country. I've heard there are some small deposits, but there's basically no proper mining; we mainly rely on imports. Vanadium—this is even more obscure. I think there are vanadium-bearing iron ore deposits in the Chengde area of ​​Rehe, but those also fell into enemy hands long ago."

"In other words, apart from tungsten, which might be obtainable in very small quantities through special channels in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, the rest are either deep in enemy-occupied territory or basically non-existent in China," the person in charge concluded, his tone heavy.

"Then we—" someone asked hesitantly.

"No matter how difficult it is, we have to find a way!" the person in charge said firmly. "The importance of that location in the Taihang Mountains is self-evident. Since they've raised this request, it means they've already grasped the basics; all they're missing is this final push." ​​If we don't have it, we'll find a way to get it! We'll exchange for it! We'll get it! Once they succeed there, we can use it here in the future.

The meeting decided that the Military Industry Bureau would be directly responsible for this matter, coordinating and implementing a multi-pronged approach.

First, utilize all possible underground relationships and business channels.

The Ministry of Social Affairs is requested to issue instructions to underground party organizations in major cities under Kuomintang control, such as Chongqing, Wuhan, and Xi'an, as well as in Hong Kong and Shanghai, where our secret activity sites still exist, requiring them to make every effort, using various overt or covert identities, to procure the metals on the list.

It does not have to be pure metal; it can be alloy scrap containing these elements, old cutting tools, old machine parts, used high-speed steel lathe tools, or even damaged ball bearings.

Tungsten is a key target; the goal is to see if it is possible to purchase some tungsten sand or ferrotungsten through businessmen under the guise of "industrial raw materials" or "filament materials."

At the same time, try to purchase some relevant German or English industrial manuals or chemical dictionaries, even the most basic ones, to help comrades in the base area understand these materials.

While seeking opportunities from outside, it is also necessary to mobilize the forces within the base area.

The list and general physical characteristics of the metals were distributed to various bases, especially those near enemy-occupied railways and factories.

The mine's guerrillas were instructed to pay special attention to collecting any "special"-looking metal objects, machine wreckage, and discarded tools during raids and reconnaissance missions.

In particular, we should pay attention to whether there are any clues about the transportation of these raw materials to factories and mines occupied by the Japanese army.

They also needed to try to establish the most basic identification capabilities. The Military Industry Bureau managed to send one or two simple mineral identification manuals and a small amount of the most basic chemical reagents to Taihang.

At the same time, we remind the Shanxi, Hebei and Henan regions to try to find and gather personnel with some chemical knowledge to learn the simplest qualitative analysis methods, even if they can only roughly determine whether a piece of "strange iron" may contain the required elements.

It was also requested that Taihang, while making every effort to obtain these alloying elements, should not wait, but continue to conduct in-depth research on the heat treatment and forging processes of ordinary steel based on existing conditions, and explore its performance limits.

Explore whether there are other alternative materials or local methods that may be found within the site and have a similar effect.

These demands were rapidly transmitted to various locations via radio waves and clandestine transportation.

In Chongqing, comrades on the underground front of our Party began to cautiously contact hardware stores and second-hand markets under the guise of "setting up small factories" and "repairing machines" in order to find scrap alloy steel parts that might contain chromium and molybdenum.

In Hong Kong, underground Communist Party members used trading firms as cover to try to establish extremely cautious contacts with the international metals market in order to explore the possibility of obtaining trace amounts of tungsten ore.

In the areas surrounding Japanese-occupied cities such as Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Beiping, and Tianjin, the underground Communist Party, after receiving new missions, re-examined the factory ruins and vehicle wreckage they had previously looted or scouted, searching for any metal fragments that gleamed with a special luster or were exceptionally hard.

Meanwhile, in Yan'an, the comrades of the Military Industry Bureau, in their cave dwellings, under the dim light, rummaged through a few tattered foreign language engineering manuals they had painstakingly collected, struggling to decipher the unfamiliar element symbols and performance charts, trying to provide even the slightest glimmer of light for the explorations on the front lines.

This was a tragic yet persistent "ant-like" expedition to acquire the basic materials of modern industry, launched under conditions of extreme scarcity and blockade.

Despite the slim chance of a goal and the faint hope, every step is fraught with unknowns and dangers.

But for Communists who know all too well that the quality of weapons and equipment means the lives of countless soldiers, they must make a hundredfold effort as long as there is even the slightest possibility.

>