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

Chapter 124: They're all the kind of guys who won't act until they see the benefits.

When Li Muzhi arrived at Zhang Wanhe's place, he was still surprised when he saw the white sugar that Zhang Wanhe had brought.

"Factory manager, where did you get this sugar? There must be five thousand catties of it." Li Muzhi was genuinely surprised.

In such a short time, the total amount of white sugar delivered by the combat troops to the arsenal has exceeded 10,000 jin.

You should know that this is white sugar, a strategic resource.

Now it looks a bit like a mass-produced item; the efficiency of the combat troops is truly astonishing.

Another 5,000 catties of white sugar were delivered, which means that the district can now produce 800 boxes of hand grenades.

With the power problem solved, the quantity of other shells can also be increased significantly.

"Hahaha." Zhang Wanhe laughed and said, "This was brought by Regiment Commander Liu from the 115th Division. This Regiment Commander Liu is really something. We just gave him the Hell Cannon and he gave us such a big surprise."

"Is Commander Liu too busy again, and hasn't come in person?" Li Muzhi was quite interested in this Commander Liu.

This person first sent a general's sword in exchange for a hell cannon.

With this hellish cannon, they managed to get another 5,000 catties of white sugar.

This person's abilities are extraordinary.

"Of course! They said to send the remaining Hell Cannon over there as soon as possible, and exchange all the remaining sugar for cannonballs, half for assault and half for casualties." Zhang Wanhe was so happy that his spittle flew everywhere, almost splattering onto Li Muzhi's face.

Five thousand catties of white sugar—that's enough to make countless artillery shells!

The shells we produced can be exchanged for even more sugar supplies, and our logistics situation is looking bright! Hahaha.

“Okay.” Li Muzhi nodded. “Once the cannon is ready, send it to him quickly, along with the shells.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe realized that Li Muzhi's words had another layer of meaning.

Zhang Wanhe knew that only one cannon was left in production.

It will be completed soon.

Commander Liu brought 5,000 catties of white sugar, of which 1,000 catties were exchanged for a Hell Cannon.

The remaining four thousand catties of white sugar can be exchanged for artillery shells, which means we'll have to give them eighty shells.

Can we really manufacture eighty shells in such a short time?

When did the Hell Cannon's shell production become so fast?

You have to understand that the 386th Brigade was going to attack the Zhengtai Railway and seize the trains, so the artillery shells had to be reserved for them first.

Not to mention, the 120th Division was also waiting for the shells to be delivered.

Faced with Zhang Wanhe's suspicion, Li Muzhi explained with a smile: "Minister Zhang, it's like this, those senior talents from the Huangyadong Arsenal have improved our production, and the efficiency has increased a lot. Lao He said that we can make forty shells by the time we get off work today."

"How many, forty rounds?" Zhang Wanhe's eyes widened immediately upon hearing this. "Xiao Li, you're not kidding, are you? That fast?"

Although Zhang Wanhe didn't fight, he was well aware of the situation.

Once the 386th Brigade seizes the Japanese military train, the commotion will be earth-shattering.

The Japanese will surely retaliate with bloodshed, and the combat troops will definitely need a large number of artillery shells.

The arsenal's shell production efficiency was not high, which is why Zhang Wanhe had the idea of ​​storing some shells in the warehouse.

Now that we hear that shell production efficiency has improved, why should we bother saving them?

“Minister Zhang, those senior talents are really important to our arsenal.” Li Muzhi brought up the old topic again.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Old Zhang's expression was a little unnatural, but he still agreed.

In fact, Comrade Zhang had already mentioned it to the leaders at headquarters.

He had barely opened his mouth when he was reprimanded by the headquarters leader. Old Zhang dared not say anything more and could only slink back home.

Now that Li Muzhi has once again demonstrated the importance of these high-level talents, Comrade Zhang has no choice but to bite the bullet and continue.

……

386th Brigade Independent Regiment
"Old Ding, Old Zhao, I'm going out for a walk."

Li Yunlong didn't even eat before stepping out the door and greeting Ding Wei and Zhao Gang.

Zhao Gang scolded, "Comrade Regiment Commander, you're always out wandering around. Today you wander to the 321st Regiment of the Jin-Sui Army, tomorrow you wander to the 217th Regiment of the elite troops. Can't you just stay at the regimental headquarters and be with your troops?"

In the few days since he returned, Li Yunlong has been going out every day.

Zhao Gang had visited all the friendly forces in the surrounding area, and he had a lot of complaints.

Ding Wei remained calm: "It's alright, Lao Zhao. Let Lao Li go out for a stroll. Anyway, there's no war going on right now. You and I are keeping an eye on the troops, so what are you worried about? He'll just be out there getting a couple of meals at most."

Attacking the Zhengtai Railway and seizing military trains would provoke the Japanese. Li Yunlong has the ability to involve more friendly forces, and the brigade commander has tacitly approved it. We certainly can't hold Li Yunlong back.

"Haha." Li Yunlong laughed and said to Zhao Gang, "Old Zhao, you should learn from Old Ding. I can't stay idle at home, otherwise I'll easily cause trouble. Wouldn't that just be causing you trouble, Old Zhao?"

"So where do you want to go today?" Zhao Gang asked.

"I'm going to Chu Yunfei's place to get a meal. Commander Chu called me yesterday to invite me over for dinner, so I have to give him face," Li Yunlong said seriously. "Look, I haven't even eaten yet. My stomach is empty. If I go over there and get a full meal, it'll save the regiment a meal too."

"Old Li, you'd better hurry up and leave. Don't keep Commander Chu waiting." Ding Wei pushed Li Yunlong out the door.

"Hey hey hey..." Zhao Gang still couldn't stop him, and Li Yunlong slipped away.

Zhao Gang looked at Ding Wei suspiciously: "Commander Ding, is this... is this really the brigade commander's intention?"

Zhao Gang had been tricked once before. He actually thought the brigade commander had ulterior motives for sending Li Yunlong to the scrap yard to test the artillery shells.

As it turned out, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei conspired to fool themselves, but fortunately nothing bad happened in the end.

This time, Li Yunlong returned and couldn't sit still for a day, always running around outside. Ding Wei said it was the brigade commander's idea.

Zhao Gang also called the brigade commander, but the brigade commander only told him to listen to Ding Wei.

Zhao Gang has already been scammed by Ding Wei once, and now he doesn't know whether he should trust Ding Wei or not.

After all, Li Yunlong was the regimental commander.

What kind of regimental commander doesn't stay with his own troops? What kind of regimental commander doesn't stay at the regimental headquarters and runs to other people's places every day?

If there were any emergency military situation and the regimental commander wasn't there, wouldn't that be a huge joke?

"Old Zhao, if you don't believe me, just call the brigade commander again and ask," Ding Wei said with a smile. "With Li Yunlong gone, we two are doing just fine here. If anything happens, I'll help with the command."

"Never mind, never mind, I won't bother the brigade commander anymore. I'll go do some ideological work." Zhao Gang waved his hand and went to do some ideological work.

The ideological work with the more than 1,000 direct subordinate prisoners of war that Li Yunlong and Ding Wei brought back must be intensified.

Jingle Bell!
Not long after Zhao Gang left, the phone on the table rang.

Ding Wei walked over and picked up the phone: "This is Ding Wei."

The brigade commander's voice came through the telephone receiver: "Ding Wei, has that bastard Li Yunlong been behaving himself these past few days?"

“Li Yunlong has sent eight friendly forces to escape in the past few days,” Ding Wei replied.

"Damn it, that bastard really thought he was going to cause a major upheaval," the brigade commander cursed, then asked, "And what happened?"

“Brigade Commander, you know exactly what the Jin-Sui Army and their elite forces are like. They’re the type who won’t act until they see a clear benefit,” Ding Wei said tactfully.

To put it bluntly, Li Yunlong didn't manage to reach an agreement with a single family.

To put it more nicely, Li Yunlong has already made the deal.

When we make a move and the opportunity arises, the elite troops of the Jin-Sui Army will see that there is money to be made, and none of them will be able to sit still.

"Where is Li Yunlong? Is he here now?" the brigade commander asked.

"He's not here, he just went out." Ding Wei asked suspiciously, "What's wrong? Is there something you need Li Yunlong to do?"

"No, it's just that Li Yunlong isn't here. Are the morale of those loyal prisoners of war you rescued still stable?" the brigade commander asked.

These prisoners of war joined the Eighth Route Army mainly because they admired Li Yunlong. After being brought back, Li Yunlong was out and about every day, and it was doubtful that he could keep the prisoners' hearts in check.

"Although many still retain the warlord-like style of the loyalists, Li Yunlong has dealt with a few troublemakers, and morale is relatively stable now," Ding Wei replied. "Zhao Gang is quite capable and is working hard to change their minds."

"Hmm." The brigade commander grunted and hung up the phone.

The deputy brigade commander walked over and said to the brigade commander, "Brigade commander, I finally got something useful out of that bastard."

"Speak quickly." This military train intelligence has been stuck for days; we really can't wait any longer.

“There’s a Japanese soldier named Kameda Chichiku at Uehara Station. He has access to detailed intelligence about the Japanese military trains transporting supplies. He’s extremely greedy, and to make money, he’s even secretly selling military intelligence from the Japanese side,” the deputy brigade commander replied.

"Great! Go ask Zhang, the logistics officer, for the money right away, and bribe this little devil first," the brigade commander said decisively.

The brigade commander had no doubt about the existence of such special Japanese soldiers, as he had previously worked in intelligence.

There were indeed such Japanese soldiers on the Japanese side; they valued personal interests above all else.

This is similar to the corrupt elements within the inner circle; they care nothing for national interests, only for promotions and money.

While we're at it, let's also see how many artillery shells the arsenal has produced.

“Brigade Commander, no rush,” the deputy brigade commander said. “We have an old underground party member who looks very similar to this Kameda Chichiro. He is also fluent in Japanese and can even speak with the accent from Kameda Chichiro’s hometown. I’m thinking, how about we switch him out?”

After all, our money didn't come easily.

We can't let the Japanese get away with this so easily.

The best solution is to have someone replace Kameda, who is worth hundreds of millions.

If our veteran underground party members can successfully assume this identity and remain in hiding, the significance will be profound.

From now on, we'll know exactly what's on those Japanese military trains.

If they lacked anything, they would just rob those Japanese military trains.

"Really?" The brigade commander paused, then looked at the deputy brigade commander: "Do you have photos of the two of them?"

"Deputy Brigade Commander, the photos are ready." Just then, someone handed over the developed photos.

The brigade commander took it and looked at it, then exclaimed with delight, "I feel like this is the same person."

"Brigade Commander, since you're certain it's the same person at first glance, our chances of successfully switching them are quite high. I'll get to it right away," the deputy brigade commander said with a smile.

"Remember, it would be best if we could switch the beams and pillars. If we can't succeed in switching them, we must ensure the safety of this old comrade," the brigade commander instructed. "As for that little devil Kameda Chichi, we must capture him alive."

The attempt to switch the beams and pillars failed, so they captured Kameda, a prisoner of over 100 million, and tried to extract information about the Japanese military trains from him.

The switch was successful. They kept hundreds of millions of dollars in the turtle field and extracted personal life knowledge from him. This was essential information for the old comrade to infiltrate the undercover.

"Yes, Brigadier."

(End of this chapter)