The weakness of the domestic industrial base during the Republic of China was actually a well-known thing, and the regular troops of the Kuomintang were better to say, after all, there were several large arsenals in Hanyang, Gongxian, and Jinling that were supported there, at least the rifles made in Hanyang and zhongguo could also be supplied to the ranks on a priority basis, and the warlord armed forces in various places did not have the treatment of the central army.
Without imperial grain, the weapons of the old foreign devils could not be economically carried, and the rest could only rely on their own hands to eat and clothe, and second, in the real history of that time, basically every platoon of warlords, such as Zhang Zuolin, Yan Xishan and other big men, had their own arsenals, but the scale, size, and quality of the craftsmanship were different. If you talk about the strengths and weaknesses, before September 18, it was the three eastern provinces, but after the fall of the northeast, the most productive among the warlords was the Taiyuan Arsenal in Yan Xishan.
The earliest person in charge of the Taiyuan Arsenal, formerly known as the "Shanxi Military Craft Practice Factory", was Liu Qingen, the general office of the Hanyang Arsenal, thanks to the accumulation of the Hanyang Arsenal for decades, the Taiyuan Arsenal was able to develop continuously and steadily, not only manufacturing a large number of long and short firearms, but even producing heavy weapons such as the Jinzao 13-type artillery.
However, the most reflective of the Taiyuan Arsenal manufacturing process of the gun is the Jinzo Thomson submachine gun, to the American Thomson 1921 submachine gun as the prototype of the Jinzao Thomson as early as 1928, the output of each month can reach more than 900, to the eve of the Anti-Japanese War, the total output of the Jinzao Thomson reached more than 40,000. This output is not worth mentioning for the industrially developed Europe and the United States, but it is definitely a big amount for the industrially backward Republic of China.
In terms of specific configuration, Yan Xishan once equipped Thomson to the squad level, usually carried by the squad leader, as a support weapon for the charge. By the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance in 1937, there were more than 100 Jin Thomsons in one of Jin's infantry regiments. According to records, in the Battle of Nankou in August 1937, the independent 7th Brigade of the Jin Sui Army consumed more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition for submachine guns alone, and with Yan Laoxi's frugal character, such ammunition consumption was enough to make him feel sad for a long time.
In addition to the eighth route army's establishment expenditure to shanxi to participate in the war, Yan Xishan specially allocated 200 equipment to the Eighth Route Army Taiyuan Office guard platoon, the Eighth Route Army through the collection of Equipment for the Collapse of the Jin Army and the purchase of various methods, a total of 514 Thomson of the Jin Dynasty, mainly equipped to the headquarters or the main combat unit of the reconnaissance and guard personnel. It is said that during the Hundred Regiments War, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was equipped with this kind of Jinzhan Thomson.