阎锡山认为:只有掌握足够的武力,才能贯彻主张,扩大势力,维护统治,确保政权。因此,他非常重视武器的制造,在太原成立了兵工厂,规模仅次于东北军阀张作霖的兵工厂。他不惜高价向国外购买各种机械、图纸、资料和实物标本,用重金聘请德国人和日本人充当工程师,生产的武器有手枪、步枪、冲锋枪、轻 Yan Xishan said: Only with enough armed force can we implement our ideas, expand our power, maintain the rule and ensure the power. Therefore, he attached great importance to the manufacture of weapons. He established an arsenal in Taiyuan, second only to the arsenal of Chang Tso-lin, a northeastern warlord. He purchased various kinds of machinery, drawings, materials and physical specimens abroad without paying any hefty price. He hired Germans and Japanese as their engineers to spend heavily to produce pistols, rifles, submachine guns and light