Chapter 206 Oil! The Passionate Years

On the afternoon of the day when the Southeast Shanxi base won a great victory, a car drove towards the gate of the Border Area Weapons Experimental Research Bureau.

The truck stopped and the director jumped out of the cab. He greeted the guard on duty and went straight to the office with a clear purpose.

After entering the door, he ignored Huang He who was a little surprised. He first poured himself a cup of hot water, then sat down and said:

"Why did you choose such a remote location? It's so far away that you can't even pull a telephone line. The area drawn by the boss is so large, why is there no location you like?"

"If it doesn't work, I'll make a radio for you, which will be convenient for communication."

After the daily complaints, the director didn't even give Huang He a chance to talk back. He took out a letter and a bloodstained medal from his arms.

"This letter was given to me by Principal Chang this morning. When he was delivering goods to the base in southeastern Shanxi yesterday, he met a veteran of the 129th Division."

"This comrade specifically asked me to send it to the Military Industry Bureau. You can take a look at the content first, and we will talk about the follow-up later."

The strange letter aroused Huang He's interest. He has been in the world of Bright Sword for so long, and he has received only a few letters.

The last time someone sent a letter was four years ago. At that time, he had just arrived in the north, and from time to time, his former classmates would write to him to discuss some scientific research matters.

After unfolding the letter paper, a few lines of crooked words came into view. It was not difficult to see that they were written by a soldier who had only participated in the Eighth Route Army literacy class.

"Comrade, hello.

It is the pride of our Eighth Route Army that the rear can produce such a good cannon. It's a pity that we are still on the battlefield. We don't know which comrade developed the weapon personally, and we don't even know his name.

The soldiers in the camp all want to see him, so a trophy is sent with the letter.

Please find a way to send his photo to the 129th Division so that we can all see this beloved comrade with our own eyes."

This letter has no format, and it is not even very smooth to read, and there are a few typos.

But Huang He felt the enthusiasm of the frontline soldiers in these few short lines. The passionate years unique to this era are condensed in this letter.

After reading it repeatedly, he turned his eyes to the medal.

The medal is round as a whole, with a diameter of about three centimeters. Judging from the weight, it should be made of copper, and the horizontal bar is engraved with four seal characters in Chinese to commemorate joining the army.

From the front, there is a golden duck with its wings spread on the medal.

Above the duck, there is also a chrysanthemum emblem symbolizing the Japanese locust family, set off by a radiant background.

On the back, there is a cherry blossom, and in the flowers is a pair of helmets, representing the army and navy respectively. The frame formed by the helmet straps is written with seal-style Chinese characters for the Showa 6-9 Incident, arranged in three rows.

Before coming to the world of Bright Sword, Huang He was very interested in military history. Not only did he see the pattern of this medal on the Internet, he even knew its origin.

In 1931, the Japanese launched a long-planned war of aggression in the Northeast without declaring war.

Three years later, the Japanese army's top brass issued this medal to reward soldiers who participated in the above-mentioned war operations.

Looking at Huang He who was in deep thought, the director stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.

"This thing should have been captured by a soldier. My suggestion is to return it when you send the letter. Although it is a token of his love, it is too valuable."

"Forget about the photos. Safety is the priority at this stage."

"If you have the chance, please take some time to visit the 129th Division. In a sense, it is your mother's home."

Hearing this, Huang He nodded silently.

The soldiers on the front line wanted photos of the military workers in the rear. In his impression, this happened in the Bobosha factory in the northeast.

But the situation is different now. Spies from various forces at home and abroad are looking for him frantically. If the photos are leaked, it is easy to be dangerous.

After a while, he picked up the pen on the table and began to reply.

"Comrade:

I am very happy to receive your letter. It is my job to develop new equipment.

Please pick up the weapons we made by ourselves, charge into battle and push the invaders into the sea. We are waiting for the triumph of the whole army, and victory will definitely belong to us."

When writing here, an indescribable emotion surged in my heart.

For Huang He, whether it is a military worker in the rear or a soldier on the front line, everyone is a national hero.

"Okay, I'm retreating, otherwise you will have to pay for my meal. This time I came out mainly to relax. There is too much work in the Military Industry Bureau."

"Remember to find me when you return to the border area next time, and you have to pay me back a meal then."

The director was about to leave Huang He's office, but he turned around and ran into Wang Dexing. Behind him, there was a stranger with oil stains all over his body and a dirty face.

When the comrade saw the people in the room, his eyes lit up immediately.

"Director Zeng! Director Huang! The new well in the factory has produced oil! Come with me to take a look."

Before he finished speaking, Lao Zeng grabbed Huang He's arm excitedly. Without saying a word, he directly pulled Huang He to the parking lot, not even giving him a chance to protest.

·····

After more than half an hour's drive, the three finally arrived at the Yanchang Oilfield Factory.

The guards in the factory did not stop them, and the truck drove smoothly from the living area to the working area.

With the production equipment and construction equipment provided by Huanghe, the entire oil plant underwent two expansions.

This place is already a large industrial area with hundreds of workers, and the Engineering Office has even thoughtfully built supporting living areas around it.

Just when they reached the outskirts of the work area, the three of them heard deafening cheers.

Going a little deeper, you can see workers everywhere singing and dancing in the open space, and the atmosphere looks like a Chinese New Year.

This is not because comrades are lazy and do not want to participate in work.

Mainly because there are safety risks in newly mined oil wells, and the extraction of oil is accompanied by a large amount of flammable gas.

If it accumulates to a certain extent or is suppressed for a long time, it may explode. The current protective equipment in the factory is not enough to support everyone's entry.

Five hundred meters behind them is the oil outlet connecting the successful transportation pipeline and the oil storage device. Judging from the oil stains around it, not much was wasted when the oil came out.

The situation at the scene opened Huang He's eyes. This was his first contact with an oil plant, and he had a lot of questions in his mind.

"Old Zeng, I heard that when oil is dug out, it will spray out so violently that it even needs cement and barite powder to suppress it. When there was oil in Chou Country, it seemed like it sprayed out for half a year at a time."

"And why didn't I see the kowtow machine? How did the oil come out?"

The director couldn't answer this question. It's no joke that the lines are separated by mountains. The two had no choice but to suppress their curiosity and wait until the professionals arrived before asking.

Looking at the busy workers, Huang He felt filled with emotion.

After all, oil is the blood of modern industry. The purpose of many military operations on the European battlefield now is to plunder oil resources.

If we can hold on to our own oil fields, we will definitely not be short of funds during the development period after the war.

Just like in the years of the oil crisis, international oil prices soared tenfold. Beibei made a large amount of unexpected wealth from this, which led to a surge in power.

Your Di Xunzong used the money he earned to develop the military crazily. Not only did he build an ocean-going fleet to rival the Chou Kingdom, he also made his own strategic missile reserves 40% more than those of his opponents.

The army also expanded to four million, more than twice the size of Chou Country.

According to tradition, when the north got rich, they abandoned light industry and only focused on the development of military technology.

Powerful equipment such as the Il-76, the Caspian Monster ground-effect aircraft, and the Tu-160 White Swan are high-tech products developed in that era of militarism.

At its peak in the north, the situation once turned into a bear attacking and an eagle defending.

A large part of the money consumed during this period was the dividends brought by oil, coupled with what the planned economy provided.

Although the comrades workers do not know what will happen in the future, they know very well that with oil, the following days will get better day by day.

With oil, the air force's fighter jets and the army's carrier vehicles can attack the enemy without any scruples.

It is for the above reasons that everyone is so excited.

After waiting in the safe area for a while, the factory director came from the inside covered with travel. He introduced the situation of the scene to the two of them vigorously and resolutely without saying any nonsense.

"Secretaries-general, we will make a fortune this time. The first new well dug in the factory is a self-injection type that produces oil. According to rough estimates by comrades, the daily output is about ten tons."

"I am very grateful to the two doctors and more than 40 senior technicians recommended by Director Huang. Without them, the overall progress of the exploration work will be delayed by at least a few months."

"I have already sent someone to notify the bosses. They will arrive soon."

Seeing the factory director covered in oil stains, Huang He held his hand tightly and said solemnly:

"Comrade! Thank you for your hard work! Thank you for everything you have done for the border area. Compared with everyone else, what I have done is completely insignificant."

"I would also like you to introduce the specific situation now, and I will see if there is anything else that can help our factory. If you need anything, just ask, and there is no need to worry about anything."

"good!"

·····

After the factory director's description, Huang He and the director felt from the bottom of their hearts that the comrade from the Department of Geology of Tsinghua University was indeed a professional with real materials.

He cooperated with the two doctors to locate the drilling rig location very accurately, and found oil in just the first well.

Logically speaking, the oil output should not be that fast.

Since the oil in most areas of the country is buried in very deep strata, the required drilling depth is generally between 200 and 3,000 meters.

With such depth, even with professional tools it would take a long time. What's more, there is a loess layer here in Yanchang, which is prone to collapse and the speed cannot be fast at all.

However, due to the amazing underground oil storage, self-injection oil was discovered just after drilling to 86.3 meters.

Yanchang, the ninth largest oil field in later history, thus began its first gush.

The blowout just mentioned by Huang He was because the miners were unclear about the pressure conditions of the drilled formations or had inaccurate predictions, which resulted in a large amount of formation fluids pouring into the wellbore.

However, the comrades at the oil plant made repeated calculations during exploration and conducted rigorous underground pressure tests.

With the transportation system and oil storage device prepared in advance, the blowout was avoided.

Since it is a spontaneous blowout well and the formation pressure is very high, there is no need for a kowtow machine for the time being.

Before new equipment is brought in, freeing up a machine can greatly improve the efficiency of oil extension.

After a brief chat, the biggest contributor to the first well also arrived at the scene. When he learned that he could continue to make demands, his eyes lit up and he got straight to the point:

"Director Huang, when I first came to our factory, I built a lot of human-powered wooden drilling machines. Although most of them only produced water but not oil, we still used them to drill several oil wells."

"According to my analysis, the mines that only produce water are most likely because they are not deep enough, so they can only pump out water floating on the oil layer."

"If we can add a casing to the drilling rod, we will definitely get oil by penetrating the water layer and drilling downwards. It's a pity that the quality of the steel casing produced in our border area is not good enough."

"So I hope you can provide more equipment so that the factory can produce at full capacity."

This demand did not exceed Huang He's expectations. After all, no oil man can resist the temptation of developing oil fields, not to mention that he knows how much reserves Yanchang has.

"Oil processing: The factory products of synthetic distillation and refined petroleum products are the next step to ensure our fuel supply.

Unlock time: 70 days

Effect: Allow civilian factories in the system to produce equipment needed for oil extraction, and refinery conversion fuel efficiency +10%"

"Fuel Refining Type II: Better planning of refinery layout can reduce fuel waste.

Unlock time: 70 days

Effect: Civilian factories in the system produce refineries (the most advanced style during World War II), oil conversion fuel efficiency +20%, refinery conversion fuel efficiency +10%"

Compared to the previous stage, which only gave one set of equipment, the new stage directly unlocked the production rights.

This is just like the fixed facilities built in the region or province by civilian factories in the game to provide industrial production capacity or military operation support for the forces or locations.

Thinking of this, Huang He was shocked. According to the current situation, it is possible to unlock the rights to lay "nuclear reactors" and "rocket bases" in the future.

The former can produce a nuclear bomb a year in the game, and the latter can produce a rocket a day. I just don't know what kind of effect it will provide in reality.

·····

After dark, everyone left the scene except the staff of Yanchang Petroleum.

On the way back, no one spoke. Before parting, the director looked at the Yellow River and said seriously:

"I have always believed that we are a nation that has experienced more than 5,000 years of ups and downs and has seen all kinds of battles. The current hardship is the inevitable storm in the process of realizing national rejuvenation."

"After knowing you, I am more certain that we will rise to the challenge, turn crisis into opportunity, and create a new world."

"Comrade, keep working hard in the days to come!"

"Good!"

On the wall, there are shadows of two hands tightly clasped together.

Here we come