Chapter 258: 257, Compressed Military Rations, Successful Sniper Attack On Bank Of Japan, Forming The Elite Aviation Team
Lin Shuiwang did not receive a direct reply from the Whitney couple, so he could only send a telegram back with the situation.
Fang Wen, upon receiving the telegram, was no longer in a hurry.
At least from Lin Shuiwang’s telegram, he knew that Pratt & Whitney was indeed researching and developing twin-engine engines.
In other words, even without his help, they would surely appear on the battlefield in the future, and he still had a chance to obtain that super powerful engine.
Since the engine issue couldn’t be resolved temporarily, he would do something else.
The energetic him prepared to start researching and developing compressed rations.
Compressed rations were a complete accidental discovery; among several cold heading machines custom-ordered from Europe, one was for processing bullet casings.
But just processing bullets was too wasteful, so Fang Wen had the cold heading machine manufacturer add a few molds that could be used to forge casings for different types of shells.
As a result, after this thing was shipped back, one worker dropped a steamed bun into it, and it was pressed into hard little pieces.
This matter spread in the bullet factory, and Huo Duanyang mentioned it in passing when he came over.
It was this one sentence that suddenly made Fang Wen realize that the cold heading machine could also be used to process compressed rations.
But at that time, he was just about to compete in the trans-Pacific race with Pan American Airways, so he didn’t pay attention to it.
Now he had time.
Fang Wen, no longer spending effort on the engine, immediately got to work.
For this thing, nutrition came first, taste second, but it had to not be too unpalatable.
Fang Wen felt he couldn’t do it himself, so he conducted a reward solicitation in the Industrial Park.
After the announcement was posted on the bulletin board in the Industrial Park, it quickly spread.
Immediately, some people who knew how to make pastries came to sign up.
These people would first make a batch using their recipes, then let everyone taste it; if it passed, they would buy the recipe.
After purchasing raw materials and actually operating, various pastries were made.
They were truly varied.
After tasting these pastries, he selected those with popular flavors, and Fang Wen prepared to trial-produce them.
But after the first batch was made, Fang Wen discovered the problem.
How could pastries with moisture be made into compressed rations? They would easily go moldy and spoil that way.
Obviously, compressed rations weren’t made this way.
Fang Wen turned to another direction and hired a food expert.
This request was sent through the group’s radio wave network to various places, receiving many replies from offices and branch companies everywhere.
In the end, Fang Wen chose an expert who had stayed a long time in both Europe and China, proficient in both Chinese and Western pastry techniques.
This expert took a Taishan Airlines plane and landed at Yangon Airport. After Fang Wen brought him to the Industrial Park, he eagerly raised the question: “I want to make a food that can be preserved for a long time. How should I do it?”
The expert thought for a moment: “Simple or complex?”
“Simple is best.” Fang Wen replied without thinking.
The expert had real skills and immediately came up with a simple recipe.
Just mix wheat flour, sugar, and shortening in proportion, then add a little water and knead into dough.
Let it naturally proof; once proofed, divide it into the required size and length, then bake into shortbread.
Fang Wen was noncommittal and smiled as he asked: “I’ve opened an Industrial Park here and recently want to add a biscuit factory. Would you do technical guidance for me at 30 US dollars per month?”
With the issuance of Legal Tender, Fang Wen no longer used domestic currency as employment expenses; that would be harming his own employees.
Actually, many people domestically didn’t think highly of Legal Tender either; this food expert was one, and he happily accepted: “Sure, sure.”
“Good, then sign the Confidentiality Agreement and employment contract.”
Bai Zeshan, who had been standing beside Fang Wen, placed the contract and Confidentiality Agreement in front of the food expert; now it was his turn.
Nowadays, with Taishan Group being so large, it could no longer keep secrets like before and could only restrict through credit and contracts.
The food expert took the Confidentiality Agreement and employment contract and read them carefully; the employment contract was clear in black and white, with distinct rights and responsibilities, no issues.
But the Confidentiality Agreement said it required secrecy for ten years, until Republic of China year 34, that is, 1945.
If breached, he would receive punishment from Taishan Group.
Looking at the punishment details, the food expert was quite frightened: “Will I die?!”
“It depends on the harm caused by the leak; if you don’t leak it, there’s absolutely no problem. You know, large companies all have secrets.” Bai Zeshan replied.
The food expert accepted this explanation and signed the agreement.
Afterward, he was taken to the bullet factory.
When he heard that the machines for making bullet casings were to be used for biscuits, it really shocked him.
But having taken the money, he had to do the work; Fang Wen assigned him five workers who knew pastry making, and they began busying themselves.
This kind of thing really needed a food expert.
In just two days, he figured out a method.
Crush the shortbread made from wheat flour into granules and powder, then add special liquid and stir evenly, finally compressing in the cold heading machine into extremely compact compressed rations.
This was the first type of compressed rations.
It could be eaten directly, with a salty-sweet taste.
It was the basic model.
Fang Wen had them continue developing on this basis and began preparing to make compressed rations.
To make compressed rations, Fang Wen had the European branch company order 2 cold heading machines that could specifically press 500 grams per portion of compressed rations.
The 2 custom cold heading machines hadn’t arrived yet, but news came from Guangzhou.
A staff member from the Industrial Park telegraph room came to report.
“General Manager, telegram from Guangzhou saying something big happened in the United States.”
The telegram from Guangzhou could only be from father-in-law Kuang Shanming; to allow contact in urgent matters, Fang Wen had told him the company’s commercial radio frequency, and precisely because it was a plain text telegram, the telegraph operator could also see the content.
Fang Wen took the telegram paper and checked the content.
【Good son-in-law, you guessed it right. In December of the Western calendar, the United States indeed launched a second measure and ordered two days ago to no longer purchase silver in large quantities from the international market. Our channels here have little information and still don’t know why, but suddenly the silver price plummeted.】
【The Japanese at Shanghai Gold Exchange are selling silver; because no one can take that much, it was a dead market that day, no transactions.】
【Our Guangzhou Gold Exchange reacted a bit slower; in the morning many people sold some silver, but in the afternoon no one dared to buy.】
【Thanks to your reminder, I led by selling out, and they followed suit; now we’re all on the shore watching the play.】
【Son-in-law, you say how low the silver price can fall; give a bottom, and we’ll buy back at that level.】
Fang Wen was stunned; father-in-law really thought of him as a god of wealth. Who knew how much silver would fall this time.
He remembered that when the United States first announced the Silver Purchase Act, the silver price was only 0.45 US dollars per ounce; returning to the origin shouldn’t be a problem.
Immediately, Fang Wen had the telegraph operator send a reply.
Guangzhou Gold Exchange second-floor dedicated room.
More than twenty gold firm bosses were overjoyed.
They had gone through an extremely unforgettable operation.
At high prices, they sold all their silver to the Japanese.
Then all exchanged it for value-preserving gold, with no losses.
Now without American purchases, the silver price was definitely unstable.
They wanted to see today how low the silver price would fall.
At this time, Kuang Shanming came in and was immediately surrounded by the gold firm bosses: “What did your son-in-law’s telegram say?”
“He said, wherever it took off from, it has to return there.”
The gold firm bosses were stunned; this was ruthless enough.
Because of the US Silver Purchase Act, the silver price had hovered around 1 yuan for a long time; if it returned to 0.45 yuan, the Japanese would lose badly.
But they themselves would double their profits.
They raised their glasses to celebrate this sniper attack.
Afterward, the gold exchange downstairs opened.
A swarm of people rushed in, all selling silver; with buyers but no sellers, the price even slid sharply due to one person’s small buy order.
Everyone saw clearly that without Americans buying silver, this speculation was over.
The losses of these speculators weren’t the biggest; the panic was in Shanghai.
Several trading firms in the Japanese Concession in Shanghai had participated in hoarding silver; now with the silver price plummeting, their losses were heavy.
But that wasn’t the core issue; the key now was having silver but unable to sell it.
For this, Japan protested to the United States, but such protests were useless; they stopped buying silver, could they be forced to buy?
No one expected that the National Government’s random punches would inflict internal injuries on the Japanese.
If the world’s largest silver consumer, passing through China, no longer bought silver, how could Japan offload the silver in their hands.
This time, even silver mines on mainland Japan started worrying about the future silver trend.
In this situation, some Japanese businesses chose to short-sell, throwing out their silver regardless of cost.
The silver price fell to 0.8, and finally someone made a move.
But that small volume couldn’t absorb the flood of sell orders.
For a continuous month, the silver price kept falling, but there still weren’t many takers.
Even the National Government, with insufficient Legal Tender reserves, was unwilling to intervene.
Until the new year arrived, the silver price fell to 45 cents per ounce.
That was the return to origin that Fang Wen mentioned.
The Southern gold firm alliance finally made their move; the bold ones swept up all the silver in the market, buying as much as there was.
When their funds were nearly used up, the latecomers finally reacted and rushed to buy silver.
By then, the Japanese side had already sold out all their silver.
1936, that is, Republic of China year 25.
January.
Fang Wen received the good news from Guangzhou.
He wasn’t very happy about it.
Japan’s economy had regressed sharply now; the silver incident couldn’t stop them, and under militarism, the counterattack would be even more ferocious.
Those bankrupt people, poor people, ronin, when armed and placed on Chinese mainland, would be more brutal than nobility; they wanted to take everything, disregarding any life.
Only tooth for tooth, blood for blood could stop them.
It was time to return to China to recruit elite pilots.
But before that, Fang Wen had one more thing to do.
He loaded 1 ton of made compressed rations and 10,000 bullets onto Yunhe.
Then he sent a telegram to contact Shunzi at Xiangxi Airport, having him contact Bai Yunfei.
At Xiangxi Airport, Fang Shun’s wife Long Yumei left the airport and, under her other identity, connected at a nearby secret liaison point.
Bai Yunfei, as the dedicated contact, had stayed lurking this time, now changed into ethnic minority clothing.
He let Long Yumei into the room and exchanged quietly.
“Water Dragon will provide 1 ton of compressed rations, 10,000 bullets.” Long Yumei said in a low voice.
“What are compressed rations?” Bai Yunfei asked puzzled.
“Shunzi said they are special food for marching and fighting; one small piece weighs a pound, can be preserved a long time, and provides satiety and nutrition when eaten.”
“This good?” Bai Yunfei was surprised, then smiled; the mysterious Water Dragon had already provided battlefield first aid kits that saved many soldiers’ lives, so another compressed rations wasn’t surprising.
He said seriously: “The organization wants me to ask, the Red Army doesn’t take a needle or thread from the masses; since it’s a transaction, each gets what they need, can’t let Water Dragon lose out. You go ask him what transaction return he wants.”
Long Yumei nodded and turned to leave.
Shunzi’s telegram came back; after Fang Wen decoded the encrypted telegram, he showed a surprised expression.
What transaction return?
He treated this as a transaction only as a cover and hadn’t thought of really profiting from it.
But saying he wanted nothing wouldn’t do either, so Fang Wen pondered.
He thought of the Red Army soldiers’ tenacity and perseverance, that willpower and fearlessness of death were the foundational qualities of a wartime pilot.
He, who originally planned to withdraw after the War of Resistance and hand over the airplane assets to the Red Army, came up with an idea.
Now, using this to train a few elite pilots would perfectly fit his elite flight formation.
With this thought, he immediately sent a telegram to Shunzi.
Long Yumei, who had just returned home, went out again and reported back to Bai Yunfei.
“Water Dragon replied. He wants the organization to form an elite pilot combat formation, saying our Red Army soldiers have good qualities and spirit, and wants to find a few from our side.”
“This request?” Bai Yunfei nodded. “I’ll report to the superiors right now.”
Bai Yunfei took out the secret radio station to contact his direct superior, waiting for a reply.
This wait lasted half an hour.
The superiors replied: “Water Dragon is a trustworthy revolutionary friend; not only send qualified people to learn flying, but also obey his orders and protect his safety. Convey this directly.”
“Also, for the airdrop matter, please tell Water Dragon: The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army will be established soon; that is the harshest place. Can the airdrop supplies be given to them?”
One night passed, with three round trips, before Fang Wen finalized this airdrop matter.
But he hadn’t expected the Red Army to give this airdrop supplies to the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.
The Northeast region now had been operated by the Kwantung Army for 3 years and shouldn’t be underestimated.
Although the exact location was still unknown, Fang Wen had already begun preparing in advance.
For this, he paused the return to China plan and began studying how to conduct air transport to the Northeast.
Air transport would inevitably be safest at night.
But now, because he had killed a Japanese nobility pilot in the Bohai airspace competition, airports everywhere would surely be surveilled by Japanese spies.
Going from a land airport wasn’t safe.
Taking the water route for takeoff and transfer would be safer.
He opened the Taishan Airlines seaplane route map he had drawn himself.
Yangtze River, Yellow River, Hai River were all his safe gangplanks; takeoff from any of the three would work.
Even without that much trouble, he could directly take off from Yangon with the seaplane Xuanming.
The distance from Yangon to the Northeast was about 4,000 kilometers, just within Xuanming’s range.
As long as the fuel supply for the return was solved.
If he could complete refueling and resupply during the return flight in the air, Fang Wen felt he could complete this 8,000-kilometer ultra-long flight.
That way, it would mean he could later fly Xuanming to Japan for a trip.
