Chapter 53: Many People Couldn’t Sleep That Night
“For our Empire, for His Majesty! For our Empire’s prosperity this time we must convince His Majesty to accept our suggestion, launch the Battle of Shanghai, and divert all foreigners’ attention to other places!”
“Best case, we can also occupy Shanghai, adding more territory and natural resources to our Empire’s development once again!”
After Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura got off the airplane and took a car, under the protection of a team of guards, they boarded the warship returning to the homeland,
Iwane Matsui stood on the deck, facing the sea breeze while looking at the seascape, and said excitedly and thrilled.
At this moment, he was like a war maniac possessed, full of ambition.
“That’s a must! Otherwise, we finally got an audience with His Majesty, and if we don’t properly convince him to let us carry out the Shanghai Operation as per our plan, wouldn’t that be wasting this precious opportunity?”
“Such an opportunity isn’t something you can get just because you want it!”
Masao Okamura also nodded in strong agreement.
He too was full of fighting spirit, gazing at the seascape, fully endorsing Iwane Matsui’s words.
Because if this Battle of Shanghai could be ignited and detonated by them, it would not only greatly help their promotions and wealth, but also be a major turning point for the Japanese Army’s future development.
Because the island country where the Japanese Army resides has far too few natural resources,
so to achieve leapfrog development for their country, their gaze was fixed on the backward China, trying every means to invade here and take everything for themselves.
So these two, both ambitious men, fully understood each other’s thoughts.
“You’re right, His Majesty seeing us this time is simply a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity, so we absolutely cannot miss it, we must use every trick to convince His Majesty to launch the Battle of Shanghai!”
“This is a very important battle, crucial both for our Empire’s development and for diverting foreigners’ attention!”
Iwane Matsui nodded in agreement.
Afterward, he also chatted freely with Masao Okamura about their Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere ideals.
And the warship carrying them was sailing through the rippling blue waves, cutting through the wind and waves, and nearby, groups of seagulls could occasionally be seen flying and circling in the sky, as well as some dolphins.
Dozens of dolphins were escorting alongside the warship, a very pleasing sight…
……
……
As the time for the First Battle of Shanghai drew ever closer,
Zhou Wenhua, who had already started his own industry chain,
was also beaming with smiles, locking himself in his room to review the latest accounts.
Seeing one good income after another coming in continuously and profiting,
Zhou Wenhua’s mood was extremely good.
So after delaying for nearly two months to hide the business,
Zhou Wenhua also planned to completely cut them off tonight.
No longer paying attention to his current father’s hidden businesses,
and loss-making businesses.
In addition,
Zhou Wenhua was also considering where in the rear area to establish his secret small arsenal would be better.
And whether it was better to produce and research Soviet Army weaponry and equipment and ammunition, or German weaponry and equipment and ammunition.
After thinking it over,
Zhou Wenhua decided that in the early stage, he would honestly produce rifles, submachine guns, and mortars that could be made from seamless steel pipes at the arsenal first,
Being able to produce these few things would allow self-sufficiency in the early war and get by.
Later, for light and heavy machine guns, the heavy machine gun aspect could improve the domestic DP28 belt-fed model, as well as the Mark-type heavy machine gun with the bear’s small shielded cart, which could ensure heavy machine gunners wouldn’t get headshot by elite Japanese sniper.
As for the bear’s DShK anti-aircraft machine gun, it could be researched and produced a bit later.
As for the 82mm mortar, it could be researched and produced now,
But for the 120mm and 160mm heavy mortars, think about them later, and they would also need car transportation, otherwise rear transport would be troublesome.
Not to mention using these heavy mortars on the battlefield; at most they could fire once or twice before being located and taken out by the Japanese Army.
As for the 76.2mm howitzer that could counter armored positions and also provide artillery support to his own troops’ infantry in combat, research and manufacture it later.
Anyway, building up the army is much easier than building up the navy and air force in a domestically weak industrial foundation.
Moreover, mortars are simple to operate, highly mobile, and have low imitation requirements; calling them early-game artifacts is no exaggeration.
Just rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, and mortars would be enough to last until the late war.
Of course, besides finding a stable rear area and sufficient raw materials, these ideas could be realized.
Otherwise, without a stable rear area and sufficient raw materials, everything is just a castle in the air, daydreaming.
Besides needing to quickly find a stable rear area with his own weaponry and equipment and ammunition arsenal.
Thus, Zhou Wenhua finally decided to select four to five places in regions that didn’t fall during the War of Resistance to establish his arsenals; these eight unfallen regions were Qinghai, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Ningxia, XJ, Gansu, XZ, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xikang, Yan’an, Kunming, Xi’an, Guiyang, LS, and WLMQ, etc.,
Finally, Zhou Wenhua first targeted Kunming, Yunnan, Yan’an, and the Sichuan Region, these four places, for small-scale arsenal construction,
After figuring out the rear area matters,
Zhou Wenhua of course quickly procured large quantities of raw materials to transport to the rear area for storage.
Otherwise, once war breaks out later, it would be hard to obtain sufficient raw materials, machine tools, equipment, etc.
After thinking through these matters,
Zhou Wenhua took another look at the profitable accounts,
then went out to have the kitchen prepare some food for him,
At the same time, after he ate and drank his fill,
he also had butler Liu Xing completely cut off and clear out his father’s loss-making businesses and hidden businesses again.
And his actions that night shocked the business community in Shanghai and many other domestic places.
Many industrialists and merchants, especially those doing business with the Zhou Family, were worried and discussing whether the Zhou Family’s family business was about to fail and go bankrupt.
Thus, many people sent people to inquire with butler Liu Xing, or called to personally inquire with Zhou Wenhua himself.
In short, that night, many industrialists and wealthy merchants suffered insomnia.
Of course, many rivals were gloating, all expecting the Zhou Family to go bankrupt in all its businesses and hand over the entire market share.
