Chapter 2258
Having a clearer understanding of the gap in national power between North Korea and other countries was one of Li Zhi’s gains while studying abroad in Sanya. Although he had some vague understanding of this before going abroad, at that time he only believed that the gap mainly existed in the combat effectiveness of the military, but did not realize that the deep-seated reasons such as political structure, social system, and economic foundation were the fundamental reasons for the difference in combat effectiveness. location.
In other words, North Korea's repeated defeats in resisting foreign invasions are not just a problem of its military, but because there is a large gap between its comprehensive national strength and other countries. This is reflected in its military inability to resist invasion and can only rely on its allies. Send troops to the rescue.
Can such a gap be quickly eliminated by training a group of senior commanders? Now Li Xie understands that the answer is obviously no. Even if Andosi and others can complete their training in Sanya with excellent standards, when these officers return to North Korea, the new army they can command will probably only have a few hundred people.
The reason is simple. If North Korea wants to complete the equipment and training of a new and larger army, it will have to purchase a large number of guns and standard weapons from Haihan, and this expenditure does not have priority in North Korea's financial budget. In view of this current situation, it is difficult for Li Zhi to integrate into the topic being discussed at the moment, and he can only look at others' showing off with complex emotions of envy, jealousy and hatred.
The argument between Zheng Zha and Luo Keren is just the normal state of the relationship between the two countries, and it will not intensify the conflict just because of a few strange words between each other. After all, they are all allies that are dependent on Haihan to a certain extent. In addition to conflicts, they also have many common interests. . If it really gets ugly, Haihan will intervene to mediate, but at that point, they may have to pay a price for it.
Therefore, after they each had a few quarrels, they did not continue to argue on the issue of arms purchase. It was Li Xie's unconcealable embarrassment on this issue that gave them a better understanding of the distant North Korea.
This banquet, whose main purpose was to provide diplomatic opportunities, did not last long and soon came to an end unknowingly. The guests one after another said goodbye to the senior officials of Haihan present and left. Some people found nothing here and left unwillingly. But there are also people who have gained a lot and secretly lament that their trip to Sanya was not in vain.
After the banquet, several high-ranking officials from Haihan who attended the banquet could finally sit down, fill their hungry stomachs, and moisten their thirsty throats. During the banquet, they were all busy socializing and had no time to enjoy the food and wine on the table.
"How's it going? I see there are a lot of people around you all the time, are you busy enough?"
Tao Donglai asked Bai Kesi next to him.
Bai Kesi put down the cup in his hand, waited for the drink in his mouth to go down his throat, and then responded: "They all came to me to inquire about the situation. They want to know in advance our arms sales arrangements for the next year."
Tao Donglai nodded and said: "It seems that Tian Du's arsenal expansion plan must be implemented more quickly, otherwise we will be forced to lose a lot of orders next year."
"Orders... let's solve our own problems first, otherwise no matter how many orders we have, we won't be able to complete them." Bai Kesi responded slightly tiredly.
Industrial production projects, including military manufacturing, have always been in charge of Bai Kesi. To the outside world, Bai Kesi is responsible for the negotiation of all arms orders. If you want to know about Haihan's arrangements for the arms trade, of course, you should go to Bai Kesi as the source of the information. Most reliable.
After Tao Donglai announced his intention to arrange arms sales during the banquet, Bai Kesi was quickly surrounded by people who came to inquire about the news.
Some people want to get the best price, some want to try to buy equipment that may not be on the export list, and some hope that Baix can shorten the delivery time. Everyone hopes to get first-hand information from Baikes and get the best trading conditions for themselves. And Bai Kesi had to cheer up and deal with these difficult customers.
The arms trade is one of the most profitable items among Haihan's export commodities, and the annual export of arms and equipment brings considerable benefits to Haihan's treasury. It is no exaggeration to say that the profits from the arms trade support most of the military expenditures of the Haihan Army. The number of arms orders received every year will even directly affect the military budget for the next year.
For safety reasons, Haihan has always fixed the production site of weapons and equipment in the industrial zone inland of Tiandu to avoid the leakage of key technologies. Although production capacity has maintained an upward trend year by year, it still cannot fully meet Haihanjun's own needs and export orders.
To this end, the Ministry of Industry has formulated a plan to expand military production capacity and further increase the output of export-oriented weapons and equipment. In addition to a series of expansion projects in the Tiandu Industrial Zone, the plan also includes the construction of another shipyard on the Ganga Peninsula near Sanya, specifically for the construction of various ships for export, to ease the slipway dock of the Victory Port Shipyard. Seriously inadequate pressure.
For Haihan, the problem is not the cost of these expansion projects. The current revenue and expenditure situation of the national treasury can fully cover the project expenses. The part that really makes the executive committee feel embarrassed is that Haihan is currently training industrial workers, especially The speed of training senior technicians is still difficult to meet the demand for expanding production capacity.
People in this period generally lacked the opportunity to receive basic education. If a commoner could attend a private school for a few years and know a few hundred words when he was young, he was considered to be literate. Those who were qualified to enter the imperial examination room and have a good family background may not be able to do so in a county. There were about a hundred people. However, even with this level of education, his knowledge is far from enough to be the professional technician required by Haihan.
Most of the current industrial workers in Haihan come from poor backgrounds and have low levels of education. Many of them slowly began to receive literacy education after joining Haihan's factories. To train such a group of people into industrial workers who can understand mechanical processing drawings is obviously not an overnight success. Even if Haihan spends a lot of resources on training them, probably only a very small number of talented people will be able to advance.
Currently, most of those who can hold foreman positions in various production units were craftsmen who had mastered a certain craft before, and then transferred to other jobs after a long period of hands-on training. However, this training method obviously cannot keep up with Haihan's development needs, so Haihan's weapons and equipment production capacity has begun to gradually slow down its growth rate after an initial period of rapid development.
The main production capacity of Haihan Ordnance Industry is still used to produce some weapons and equipment that do not require high technical requirements, such as cast iron cannons, old-fashioned flintlock guns, even more primitive matchlock guns, as well as swords, guns and armor ordered by foreign armies, etc. . As for the new equipment developed by Haihan Ordnance Industry, the manufacturing process required is often too complex and the working hours are too long, resulting in high costs. The most critical thing is that Tian Du does not have enough senior technicians. These new weapons cannot be mass-produced and become standard equipment. They can only stay in the sample stage and cannot be installed in combat troops. Even if there are advanced weapons with mass production capabilities such as seven-shot rifles, they can only be equipped by a very small number of elite troops due to insufficient production capacity.
Haihan possesses military technology that far exceeds this era, and also has educational methods that far surpass this era, but even so, there is no way to train enough industrial workers in just a few years. If you want to rely solely on technological advantages to widen the gap with the armed forces of other countries of the same era, at least at this stage, you have encountered a bottleneck.
"The measures we need to take are not just to build more factories, but more importantly, to increase investment in vocational education and training. Only when we have enough industrial workers will it be possible to improve the current level of industrialization." Ning Qi paused and added: "Just because people put down their hoes and fishing nets and walked into the workshops does not mean that they have become industrial workers."
"What Ning Qi said makes sense. Lao Bai, how big of a hiring gap does Tian Du have now?" Tao Donglai asked.
Baikes said: "If you are referring to the plan to expand the ordnance industry, then we need at least one thousand to fifteen hundred skilled workers, and at least fifty foremen who can understand the drawings and process flow."
"Then how long will it take for our vocational education institution to train this group of people?" Tao Donglai turned to Ning Qi and asked.
Ning Qi spread his hands and said: "One year? Maybe two years? But those who can meet the standards of a foreman, I can tell you, can only be selected from skilled workers with more than three years of work experience."
"Then what suggestions do you have for us to change this situation?" Tao Donglai asked.
Ning Qi was silent for a while, then responded: "We want to change, but there is no way, but how to weigh the pros and cons, we have to discuss it together. We can involve private educational institutions in the training, such as the Qiongxi Academy in Danzhou , has provided us with a lot of junior talents in the past few years, but if we want to open up this gap, we have to provide relevant technologies to these private educational institutions, which is very likely to cause the loss of important technologies, no matter which country they flow to. It’s not a good thing for us.”
What Ning Qi said touches on another bottleneck that Haihan is currently facing. Haihan's training of high-level technical talents is still concentrated in government-run educational institutions. On the one hand, this is because the teaching staff is limited, and many courses still need to be explained by the time traveler in person. On the other hand, it is also to ensure that these advanced technologies will not be easily leaked out as much as possible.
"Old He, what do you think?" Since the matter involves confidentiality issues, Tao Donglai must seek He Xi's opinion.
He Xi responded: "I don't know much about industrial technology, but I think other countries currently do not have sufficient conditions to apply these technologies. Of course, what Minister Ning said is also true. If we outsource some advanced technical training projects To private educational institutions, it is indeed possible to leak technology.”
Tao Donglai said: "So what you are saying is that we may leak some technologies, but it will not pose a threat to the outside world?"
He Xi said: "Annan has obtained some of the weapons manufacturing technology we transferred, but as far as I know, the weapons manufactured by Annan have never been able to reach the performance level they should have. This should be an excellent example. Even if We have taught hard, and the people who learned it have also worked hard, but the effect is still not satisfactory. Moreover, this is the result of a complete set of technology transfers. We will not cover these contents in the process of training technicians, so I think it is risky. It should be okay. It would be better if we find a few more colleges and offer different subjects to spread the risk.”
Bai Kesi said: "I personally agree with Lao He's view. The technology we teach to workers is not a single thing, but a link in the entire industrialization process. The leakage of a single technology is not enough to prevent Haihan from spreading. Create another industrialized social environment. Just now, Lao He took Annan as an example. In fact, what was built after the introduction of technology in Annan was not considered an arsenal. According to our standards, it was just a workshop. They did not have corresponding industries. What the system can produce can only remain at the technical level of the workshop.”
Yan Chujie, who had been silent until now, took over the conversation: "Zheng Zao specifically talked to me about this matter when he came to Victory Fort a few days ago and asked me for advice on how to improve production quality. I could only suggest him to slow down the production speed. Improve the process requirements of each processing link ”
"The method you mentioned is also useful, but the effect is limited. A workshop is just a workshop, and no matter how hard you try, it will not turn into a factory." Bai Kesi nodded and said, "But we don't need to explain it in too much detail to the Annan people. Wait until they take their time. Think about it. Maybe after ten or eight years, they will understand that this is not a problem with the technologies we teach, but that they do not have sufficient conditions to implement these technologies.”
In fact, what Baikes mentioned is the main reason why Haihan dared to transfer some old weapons and equipment manufacturing technology to foreign countries. Since there is no corresponding industrial system, countries like Annan can only use traditional manual craftsmanship to make what they consider powerful weapons. In any case, the things created in this way cannot be compared with Haihan, which has more advanced processing technology.
"It seems that we can indeed consider expanding the scope of vocational training institutions and involving private institutions. I will write this down first, discuss it at a meeting as soon as possible, and then put it into practice." Tao Donglai listened to everyone's opinions , it was decided to include the solution previously proposed by Ning Qi as a matter for discussion by the Executive Committee.
Ning Qi nodded and said: "Since everyone thinks it is feasible, let me make some preparations first. It just so happened that this event invited the deans of the two largest academies in Danzhou. I will ask for their opinions later. Let’s see if they have anything to add. Qiongxi Academy has submitted many applications for adding training subjects, and this should be considered as their wish.”
(End of chapter)