Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 10 Are the Japanese soldiers idiots?
"We need to continue the experiments."

Li Muzhi pointed at Zhang Dabiao's troops and said to Lao He, "You saw it too, some of Battalion Commander Zhang's men are still carrying melee weapons, and they have very little ammunition. Meanwhile, Sunjiabao has been attacked, and the enemy reinforcements are likely numerous. With Battalion Commander Zhang's troops lacking firearms and ammunition, their combat effectiveness will definitely be affected. As for the delivery mission to the arsenal, once you capture the enemy reinforcements, are you still worried about not being able to seize more ammunition?"

Although Li Yunlong's Independent Regiment became famous overnight in the Battle of Lijiapo.

However, the Independent Regiment also suffered heavy losses; they ran out of grenades and were almost out of ammunition.

Zhang Dabiao was the battalion commander under Li Yunlong, and he also had the most weapons and ammunition.

If the First Battalion was already short of ammunition and firearms, the Second and Third Battalions of the Independent Regiment were even more lacking.

Even with our hellish cannons supporting us, basic ammunition is still indispensable when we try to get reinforcements from the Japanese.

"Hmm." The old man nodded, understanding what Li Muzhi meant.

Our artillery tests are mainly protected by combat troops.

If the combat troops lack firearms and ammunition, and they cannot withstand the enemy's reinforcements, we will ultimately be the ones who suffer.

The factory manager is right. If we take down the enemy reinforcements, we'll have even more ammunition, and we'll have no problem exceeding the arsenal's delivery target.

When Zhang Dabiao saw that all the weapons and ammunition were left to him, he was still quite excited to see Li Muzhi's expression: "Director Li, you are too kind, thank you so much."

Zhang Dabiao said he wouldn't share in the profits from Sunjiabao, but he was still very envious.

After all, the Independent Regiment had suffered heavy ammunition losses in the Battle of Lijiapo, and had not yet replenished them, leaving them in dire need of supplies.

Unexpectedly, Li Muzhi, the newly appointed director of the arsenal, is such a considerate person.

"Battalion Commander Zhang, how many enemies are there? Have you found out?" Li Muzhi asked.

Li Muzhi saw it all. When they were cleaning up Sunjiabao, Zhang Dabiao sent people out to monitor the enemy's movements.

"My men haven't returned yet, but I can basically deduce that there are at most five or six hundred reinforcements coming from the three enemy strongholds nearby. As long as our regimental commander arrives, dealing with them won't be a problem," Zhang Dabiao said casually.

Alright, just as Zhang Dabiao finished speaking, a spy came running over and reported to Zhang Dabiao: "Reporting to the battalion commander, three enemy groups have arrived. They have joined together and have a total strength of more than 500 men, including a Japanese company."

"Have you found out that a Japanese company has arrived?" Zhang Dabiao asked with a serious expression.

Zhang Dabiao didn't take those few hundred traitors seriously at all.

But these Japanese soldiers were not made of clay.

After the Battle of Lijiapo, the Independent Regiment suffered heavy casualties, and now only about 600 soldiers are still capable of fighting.

Even though they have replenished nearly two thousand rounds of ammunition and two hundred grenades at Sunjiabao, it is still challenging to confront this company of Japanese soldiers head-on.

"Yes." The informant nodded, looking at Zhang Dabiao, "Battalion Commander, are we still going to fight this battle?"

"Nonsense, of course we have to fight!" Zhang Dabiao said decisively. "The regimental commander has already said that whenever our Independent Regiment wants to eat meat, it's when we encounter the Japanese devils."

Li Muzhi looked at the informant and asked, "What is the enemy's marching formation like?"

The informant replied, "The traitors are in front, and the Japanese are behind."

"When these Japanese soldiers march, do they stay together or keep a distance from each other?" Li Muzhi asked again.

"Except for the scouts at the back, the Japanese troops were closely packed together," the informant replied.

Upon hearing this, Li Muzhi laughed and said, "Perfect, perfect!"

We've added a lot of nails and iron balls to the shells of our Hell Cannon, so we can test the effect of them exploding in a crowd of Japanese soldiers.

Zhang Dabiao looked at Li Muzhi with some confusion and asked, "Director Li, what's just right?"

“These Japanese soldiers are packed tightly together. If our Hellfire cannons were to fire into the crowd, Battalion Commander Zhang, the pressure on your combat troops would be…” Li Muzhi didn’t finish his sentence.

Zhang Dabiao immediately slapped his forehead, beaming with joy, the pressure greatly reduced: "Right, right, I almost forgot, we also have artillery support. Your shells are so powerful, they'll blow the Japanese to bits, making it much easier for us to deal with them later." Little did Zhang Dabiao know, he had only just witnessed the explosive power of the Hell Cannon's ordinary shells.

But the real main course was the shells mixed with a lot of iron balls and nails!
Just then, Li Yunlong and Zhang Wanhe arrived.

Their gazes immediately fell upon the hell cannon, and their expressions instantly became excited.
"My God, am I seeing things?" Zhang Wanhe exclaimed in disbelief. Could Li Muzhi really have turned that pile of junk from the arsenal into cannons?

"Old Zhang, I told you, you have to trust your arsenal. Look, they really did produce cannons." Li Yunlong's tone was completely devoid of his previous skepticism, as if he had never questioned the arsenal at all. His shamelessness was unparalleled.

Zhang Wanhe didn't even look at Li Yunlong: "Didn't you, Li Yunlong, laugh at our arsenal before, saying we couldn't build cannons? Now you're acting like nothing happened!"
Suppressing his inner turmoil, Zhang Wanhe ran towards the Hell Cannon, while Li Yunlong ran towards Li Muzhi.

"Minister Zhang!"

"Minister Zhang!"

"Minister Zhang!"

……

When the people from the arsenal saw Zhang Wanhe, they immediately saluted him.

Old He excitedly told Zhang Wanhe, "Minister Zhang, Factory Director Li led us to build the cannon, and we took Sunjiabao with one shot. Look, we also captured a lot of supplies."

Zhang Wanhe's mind was entirely focused on the cannon, as if he hadn't heard the greetings from the arsenal workers or Lao He's words. He reached out and tremblingly touched the cannon barrel.

It's ice-cold to the touch; this is a real iron thing!

Hmm, why does this cannon barrel look so familiar?

Zhang Wanhe rubbed his eyes, then looked at Lao He: "The cannon barrel looks like a large-caliber steel pipe that Li Yunlong handed over to the arsenal. Can this steel pipe withstand the chamber pressure of a shell being fired?"

Traditional artillery relies on immense chamber pressure to propel the shell out.

Therefore, the requirements for the gun barrel are very high.

If the barrel quality is poor, it will explode on the spot.

The large-diameter steel pipe in front of us is clearly unable to withstand the enormous chamber pressure.

Old He nodded and replied, "Yes, this cannon barrel was cut from the large-diameter steel pipe that Li Yunlong handed over. The factory director designed a different firing method than traditional artillery, so it doesn't have to withstand huge chamber pressure."

"I see." Zhang Wanhe nodded, noticing that the shells were also different from the traditional ones.

Zhang Wanhe remembered something and asked, "These shells are so powerful, how do you make explosives at your arsenal?"

One shot could destroy three pillboxes; black powder was definitely out of the question.

"Factory Director, speaking of this, you really have to admire our factory director." Even now, Lao He still seems incredulous when he talks about it: "This was made by the factory director using chemical fertilizers and white sugar."

"Fertilizer and sugar can be used to make explosives?" Zhang Wanhe was stunned for a moment.

Putting aside the sugar, isn't this fertilizer the fertilizer that the Japanese sold to us for farming?

Can the fertilizer powder from this kind of land be used to make explosives?
It sounds so mysterious.

Are the Japanese soldiers stupid?
“Minister Zhang, this fertilizer contains a large amount of ammonium nitrate,” Lao He explained.

"Fertilizers contain a lot of ammonium nitrate?" Zhang Wanhe reacted as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

Zhang Wanhe certainly understood what ammonium nitrate was; it was the main component of ammonium nitrate explosives.

The fertilizer sold by the Japanese contained a large amount of ammonium nitrate. This, this, this... are you serious?

(End of this chapter)