Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

"Is the young Taoist priest really telling the truth?!"

Liu Mang's eyes lit up. He knew all too well the difficulties of running a steel mill; technology, maintenance, and materials—each aspect was extremely costly. If he could obtain steel for free, it would undoubtedly save him a great deal of money!
However, this also means that he is deeply bound to the forces related to the Little Celestial Master, making him easier to manipulate in some matters in the future.

If it were someone else making such a request when they couldn't force it, they would definitely consider it carefully.

But he could still trust the Little Celestial Master. After all, what was a Taoist priest up to, vying for supremacy over the world?
“Of course it’s true!” Zhang Zhiwei said.

"How long exactly is the 'long-term contract' that the little celestial master mentioned?" Liu Mang pressed.

Once you decide to bind your partners, you must bind them deeply; if the timeframe is too short, it's not very meaningful.

"Is a hundred years enough?!" Zhang Zhiwei said.

"A hundred years?" Liu Mang's eyes widened. He originally thought Zhang Zhiwei would say three years, five years, or ten years, but he never expected Zhang Zhiwei to say a hundred years.

The number seemed too high to be true; he even suspected that Zhang Zhiwei was playing a trick on him.

Not only him, but Wang Ai and Lü Ci also thought so; a hundred years was clearly not a proper number.

“However, I have one request,” Zhang Zhiwei said.

"What are your requirements, Little Celestial Master?" Liu Mang asked.

"This steel must not be used in civil war, nor should it be used against our own people," Zhang Zhiwei solemnly declared.

Liu Mang was taken aback, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "If possible, who would want to fight a civil war? I also want to fight the Japanese pirates, but Er Tuzi is still my nominal boss, so I can't turn against him."

"However, although I sent out a lot of people to participate in the encirclement and suppression, I never used lethal force. Many times when we were about to catch up, we would stop and rest, cook a meal on the spot."

"Occasionally, we'd run into them, but it was all just for show. It looked intense, but actually, not many people were killed. We didn't push things too far, always leaving room for maneuver. For example, last time, when Er Tu Zi asked me to blow up the bridge, I just dismantled the bridge planks..."

Zhang Zhiwei smiled. Liu Mang's words were a mix of truth and falsehood; he should take them with a grain of salt. The reason he was perfunctory during the encirclement was probably because he wanted to preserve his strength, fearing that he would suffer too much loss and let others benefit.

So his intention was to drive the other party out of his territory. As long as the other party had no intention of entering Sichuan, he would indeed do as he said, just go through the motions and make a show of dealing with the Nanjing side.

But if the other side has the intention to enter Sichuan, he will show no mercy. For example, in the great battle at Qianzhang Pass, when the other side pointed its sword at Chengdu, he immediately gathered an army of 200,000 and fought a fierce battle, with both sides suffering more than 10,000 casualties.

As for the bridge demolition, that had even less to do with Liu Mang; it was his uncle who did it.

"Yaoba" is the term used in Sichuan and Chongqing to refer to the youngest paternal uncle. Nowadays, people have many children, so it's common to see uncles or paternal uncles who are younger than oneself.

Liu Mang was only four years older than his uncle. Their relationship was more like that of childhood friends than elder and younger.

The two had a good relationship and supported each other in their early years. One occupied Chongqing and the other occupied Chengdu. The two Lius formed an alliance, grew stronger, and dominated Sichuan and Chongqing.

However, the two later had a disagreement.

His uncle wanted to seize control of the Central Plains and asked Liu Mang to support him in becoming the ruler of China.

Liu Mang wanted to stay in Sichuan and Chongqing and didn't want to go out and fight.

When the alliance between the two Lius broke down, the Jinling faction sowed discord, causing the alliance to completely disintegrate and a major war to begin.

The final result was that the uncle was beaten so badly that he retreated to Xikang and begged his nephew to stop and spare his life.

Out of consideration for past relationships, Liu Mang did not pursue the matter to the bitter end, and his uncle remained in Xikang, nominally submitting to him, but in reality, he had no control over Xikang. Therefore, what happened there could not be attributed to Liu Mang.

As for why Liu Mang's uncle didn't blow up the bridge... there are various explanations.

Some say that bridge is a vital transportation hub, built with silver donated by eighteen provinces during the previous dynasty. It was essential for all travel between the north and south. How could business be conducted if it were destroyed? Rebuilding it would cost hundreds of thousands of silver dollars. Who would pay for that? The Chairman's reputation is not worth that much.

Some people said he couldn't afford the risk of blowing up the bridge. After all, he was just a defeated general in a remote corner. If the bridge was blown up and people couldn't cross, would he be expected to fight to the death? But if he didn't blow it up, Chiang Kai-shek might use it as an opportunity to cause trouble. So he compromised and only dismantled the bridge planks.

Some say that this person harbored a rebellious streak and held a grudge against the Chairman for sowing discord and causing him and Liu Mang's uncle Yan Qiang to suffer. He deliberately made things difficult for the Chairman, dismantling only eighty meters of the hundred-meter-long bridge and leaving several dozen meters for people to build bridges to cross the river.

Some say that he was poorly equipped and wanted to blow it up, but the explosives were too cheap and failed to collapse it, which is the most widely circulated explanation now.

But in any case, this has nothing to do with Liu Mang, though Zhang Zhiwei did not point this out.

After speaking eloquently for a while, Liu Mang slammed his hand on the table and said in a resounding voice:
"Don't worry, Little Celestial Master, I guarantee you that this will never happen again. We Chinese don't fight each other!"

Fan Pengju leaned back on the sofa with his arms crossed, and couldn't help but purse his lips; he didn't believe a word of it.

Zhang Zhiwei naturally didn't believe it either, but given the current situation, once Xiao Shuai made his move, a civil war was impossible in the short term, so whether he believed it or not was meaningless.

He laughed and said, "Since Commander Liu says so, then I believe him."

Upon hearing this, Liu Mang laughed heartily. After exchanging a few more polite words, he turned the conversation to Chen Yulou's Unloading Ridge Warriors.

"Little Celestial Master, when will your group of rakes come here? I'll send someone to welcome them and give them a proper welcome."

"We'll be traveling by water, it should take another three to five days!" Zhang Zhiwei said.

“There’s still plenty of time!” Liu Mang looked at Fan Pengju: “Fan Ha’er, I’m leaving the picking up the people to you. They’re here to dig air-raid shelters for us, so we must be polite to them.”

"Don't worry, General, I will certainly be polite," Fan Pengju said with a smile.

Liu Mang nodded, and after chatting for a few more minutes, he frowned and said, "By the way, Little Celestial Master, I've noticed you. You started digging air-raid shelters several years ago, and now you're going to build a huge one, moving the entire factory into the mountains. Right now, you're even going to sponsor me with a large amount of steel to expand my military..."

He paused, deliberately lowering his voice, his tone full of solemnity:

"Little Celestial Master, do you feel... a great battle is about to begin?"

"Isn't that what the Commander-in-Chief thinks too?" Zhang Zhiwei laughed. "The Commander-in-Chief also built air-raid shelters last year. It couldn't be that he just followed suit because he saw how enthusiastically I was building them."

Liu Mang nodded: "It's definitely not just blindly following the trend. For the past two years, I've had a feeling that a storm is brewing. Those toad-skinned Japanese pirates have gone too far, taking the Northeast and then Rehe..."

"Lao Tzu is also educated, not some uncultured old man. In 'On the Six States,' it says, 'Today they cede five cities, tomorrow ten, and then they can rest peacefully for one night. When they rise and look around, the Qin army is already at their doorstep. Thus, the land of the feudal lords is limited, but the desires of the tyrannical Qin are insatiable...'"

"The current situation is somewhat similar to that time. China's territory is limited, and the Japanese pirates are insatiable. If we lose a few more places, I'll be left with nothing. We'll all become slaves of a conquered nation."

Liu Mang was very agitated, swearing repeatedly: "Now, everyone is getting more and more dissatisfied with Er Tuzi. If he continues to do things in such a crazy way, won't the Japanese pirates be defeated one by one? Then I have to make some plans myself." He pointed to the bunkers outside and said: "I'm building these air-raid shelters and those bunkers now, so that one day I can use them to resist the Japanese pirates."

"Damn it, even if one day the Japanese invaders occupy other places, I won't let them succeed. Even if I can't win, I'll fight in the streets and in the mountains, and I'll wear those bastards down here until they die."

Upon hearing this, Fan Pengju, who had been leaning back with his arms crossed, suddenly sat up straight, slammed his hand on the table, and said loudly:
"That's right, that's what I was thinking too. Damn it, if those bastards dare to come to Sichuan, I'll make them know that the pot is made of iron. With one order from me, the brothers of the Gelaohui can immediately gather an army of hundreds of thousands and wipe them out!"

While the two were talking, Zhang Zhiwei did not interrupt. He knew that Liu Mang and Fan Pengju were not exaggerating, which was why he did not want to fall out with Liu Mang.

Although Liu Mang was indeed ruthless in some respects, otherwise he wouldn't have earned the nickname "Liu the Loser of His Son," he did indeed do what he just said.

After the war against the Japanese broke out, he personally led an army of 400,000 to fight without affecting his own interests, and eventually died on the front line.

In the traditional Chinese mindset, judging whether a person is a hero or a coward has always been based solely on their integrity.

Sacrificing oneself for one's country is the most noble thing to do. It can help you prove that all your crimes stemmed from a failure of methodology, not from a mistake in values.

Therefore, even though people in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions called him Liu the Loser of His Son and hated him with a passion, after his death, they still buried him next to the Wuhou Temple amidst their curses, which truly made him worthy of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

After Liu Mang and Fan Pengju gave each other a good dressing down,

Liu Mang looked at Zhang Zhiwei: "Little Celestial Master, your steel plant produces hundreds of thousands of tons of steel every year. It's outrageous! With such a huge production capacity, even if you squeeze out just a little bit, my few dilapidated arsenals can't handle it even if they work overtime. This is still a problem!"

Fan Pengju said, "We still need to expand. We need to build more and bigger arsenals. Right now, the weapons the brothers have are still a bit too weak."

Liu Mang said with a worried look, "Expanding the arsenal requires money. Where am I going to get the money? I've been collecting land taxes for forty years now, and people outside are calling me Liu the Loser of His Son."

Fan Pengju said, "This is indeed a problem. We are poor in the mountains, not as rich as those in the Jiangnan region. How to make money is a real problem."

"Should we collect more land taxes and make the people suffer a little more?" Liu Mang probed.

“That might not work. Some places are already suffering from famine. If we take more, we’ll leave them with no way to survive!” Fan Pengju quickly denied.

Wang Ai glanced at Lü Ci, then at Zhang Zhiwei. Only a fool wouldn't see that these two were putting on a show, trying to get money from them.

But should they really fund the construction of an arsenal? Wang Ai was reluctant. Although the two of them made nice promises, it was hard to say what the weapons would actually be used for once the arsenal was built.

Zhang Zhiwei paused for a moment and then said, "As for the money, I can get you a loan from the Tiantong Chamber of Commerce."

The two, who had been singing in unison, immediately turned their heads and gave a thumbs up.

Liu Mang: "The Little Celestial Master is righteous!"

Fan Pengju: "The Little Celestial Master is so straightforward!"

Zhang Zhiwei: "…………"

"You two are robbing a rich man!" Zhang Zhiwei laughed.

"Little Celestial Master is joking..." Liu Mang was about to explain.

Zhang Zhiwei interrupted him and continued, "But an arsenal is a money-burning business, and it can't be run with just this small loan from me. You'll have to figure out the majority of the funding yourself!"

“Do it yourself…” Liu Mang frowned and said, “Continue to raise taxes? That’s not entirely impossible. Some places have already raised taxes to a hundred years from now, while I’m only raising them to forty years from now. There’s still room for maneuver!”

Seeing that Liu Mang was getting serious, Fan Pengju quickly said, "General, don't be silly, you can't go too far!"

"If we don't increase taxes, how are we going to make money?" Liu Mang shrugged.

Zhang Zhiwei patted Liu Mang on the shoulder: "Making money is our forte, I'll teach you!"

"What should we do? Please enlighten us, Little Celestial Master!" Liu Mang said, clasping his hands.

Zhang Zhiwei said, "The reason why our Tiantong Chamber of Commerce has been able to grow so big and strong and make so much money is because we don't like to make money off the poor."

"What do you mean? Whose money are you going to make?" Liu Mang asked.

"Whoever has money, we'll make money from them!" Zhang Zhiwei said.

"Then who has money?" Liu Mang asked.

Zhang Zhiwei pointed at Liu Mang: "You!"

Liu Mang was taken aback, seemingly confused: "Where would I get a little money? Of course, if the Little Celestial Master takes a fancy to anything, feel free to take it!"

Zhang Zhiwei laughed and said, "I'm not a bandit, what would I take? Does Commander Liu know how we make money?"

"Please speak, Little Celestial Master!" Liu Mang asked.

"Fatty, tell me!" Zhang Zhiwei wasn't sure either.

Wang Ai said, “We take some local raw materials, such as pig bristles, tung oil, tungsten ore, raw silk, tea and so on, process them into luxury goods, and ship them to the United States, Britain, Southeast Asia, and other places. We can then resell them for several times or even dozens of times the price, making money in dollars.”

"Knife?" Fan Pengju didn't understand. "What kind of knife?"

“No, no, no, it’s not a knife, it’s dollars, the money that Citibank uses,” Wang Ai snapped her fingers, “It’s the top hard currency abroad, and it’s basically used for settling large transactions!”

“Dollar, dollar, sounds like it’s here!” Fan Pengju tapped the table: “This name is good. As soon as the little celestial master arrives, the money will arrive.”

"Haha, that makes sense!" Liu Mang picked up his teacup. "Come, let me toast the Little Celestial Master with tea instead of wine!"

Zhang Zhiwei picked up his teacup, clinked it against his lips, drank it all in one gulp, and continued, "One dollar is roughly four silver dollars. In China, who can afford that?"

“This is making a lot of money!” Liu Mang laughed.

Zhang Zhiwei nodded: "That's right, we only make money from the rich. Our Tiantong Chamber of Commerce never makes money from the poor. How much money can the poor have? They toil in the fields all year round, and what they earn isn't even enough for some people to eat in one meal. So..."

Zhang Zhiwei patted Liu Mang on the shoulder: "General Liu, if you want to make big money, stop thinking about the meager land taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the pockets of ordinary people. How much money can you make from that?"

"Even if you receive this for a hundred years, you still won't be able to build a well-trained army. Let's change our target, make a killing, expand and strengthen our forces, and create a new era of glory." (End of Chapter)