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

Chapter 148: We can finally make cannon barrels!

A secret transaction venue.

Zhang Wanhe was waiting here with a hell cannon.

An agreement has been reached with the Jin-Sui Army to conduct the transaction here.

Of course, considering that Comrade Zhang was unfamiliar with military machinery, in order to prevent him from being scammed, he also brought along a few military personnel who knew the machines.

They had all been repeatedly instructed by Li Muzhi that the functions of the replacement machine must not be rendered useless.

Otherwise, terminate the exchange.

Comrade Zhang didn't wait long before Fang Ligong, the chief of staff of the 358th Regiment of the Jin-Sui Army, arrived.

Fang Ligong spotted the Hell Cannon that Zhang Wanhe had brought at a glance, and his expression instantly lit up with joy: "I didn't expect that the Eighth Route Army would actually be willing to trade their heavy artillery for our equipment."

When Zhang Wanhe saw Fang Ligong, he had the same thought and was also overjoyed: "Haha, the Jin-Sui Army is willing to exchange their equipment for our Hell Cannon, that's great! These key pieces of equipment are exactly what Xiao Li's side urgently needs."

Both sides were delighted and satisfied, so the transaction naturally went very smoothly.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two sides got down to business.

Zhang Wanhe and his military personnel confirmed that the machine was working properly. Fang Ligong saw that it was indeed the same artillery that Li Yunlong had carried that day. The two sides cooperated quickly and exchanged items.

After the items were exchanged, to prevent the other party from having second thoughts.

Both parties left the scene as quickly as possible with their goods.

"Haha, with these key pieces of equipment for Xiao Li, the production efficiency of our border region's arsenal will increase significantly." On the way back, Zhang Wanhe laughed heartily.

Fang Ligong was also laughing, but with a sarcastic tone: "The Eighth Route Army traded their heavy artillery to us, and we went back to have the arsenal copy it. This is a huge loss for the Eighth Route Army compared to the trade. What's laughable is that they act like they've found a treasure. Farmers are just farmers, they don't have much knowledge, hahaha."

Carrying this hellish cannon, Fang Ligong returned to the 358th Regiment headquarters as quickly as possible.

Seeing that Fang Ligong had actually pulled back the Eighth Route Army's hell cannon, Chu Yunfei was still very surprised: "Brother Ligong, is this really the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery?"

"Commander, you haven't even seen it yourself, how could it be fake?" Fang Ligong laughed. "Those country bumpkins from the Eighth Route Army are ultimately a bunch of short-sighted fools."

"Brother Ligong, don't be so sure of yourself." Chu Yunfei didn't think the Eighth Route Army was stupid, but the heavy artillery had indeed been replaced, which made Chu Yunfei not entirely agree with what Fang Ligong said.

Soon, Chu Yunfei noticed that Fang Ligong hadn't returned the shells, and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong? There are only cannons, but no shells?"

Fang Ligong explained: "Regimental Commander, although neither of us understands the military industry, we both know that the most valuable thing is the cannon itself. As for the shells, our arsenals can also make them. I don't think it makes much sense to change the shells."

In fact, Fang Ligong had asked Zhang Wanhe to exchange a few shells.

Comrade Lao Zhang's answer was that the Jin-Sui Army had not mentioned in advance that they would change the shells, and Zhang Wanhe did not bring any shells.

If Fang Ligong doesn't agree, then that's it.

How could Fang Ligong disagree? He immediately completed the transaction and swiftly brought the Hell Cannon back.

"That's true." Chu Yunfei didn't suspect anything and said, "Then let's send someone to deliver this Hell Cannon to the higher-ups immediately."

"Yes, Commander!" Fang Ligong nodded and immediately carried out Chu Yunfei's order, sending someone to remove the hell cannon.

"Brother Ligong, according to intelligence, the Japanese are rapidly mobilizing their troops, and it looks like they're going to attack us. We need to prepare to defend ourselves as soon as possible." Chu Yunfei pulled Fang Ligong aside and got down to business on the sand table.

"Have those Japanese devils lost their minds this time? Can't they tell the difference between primary and secondary objectives?" Fang Ligong cursed. "It was clearly the Eighth Route Army that attacked their railway and stole their military train. Why don't they deal with the Eighth Route Army instead of attacking us!"

When Fang Ligong learned that the Eighth Route Army had seized the Japanese military train, he was extremely shocked.

Those Eighth Route Army peasants are really something! They managed to bring the train back, and even two armored trains that were supposed to be reinforcements. The expressions on the faces of the high-ranking Japanese officials must have been as red as a pig's liver.

"The reason is simple: the Japanese can't find the Eighth Route Army for the time being, so they're going to take it out on us and their elite troops." Chu Yunfei was quite calm. "The Japanese have retaliated before; we'll deal with whatever comes our way."

“That’s true,” Fang Ligong nodded and said. “I think the main purpose of the Japanese attacking us was to take the supplies we had.”

This time, we took advantage of the chaos and intercepted a lot of supplies from the Japanese, whether it was the Jin-Sui Army or our elite troops.

The Japanese are under great logistical pressure, and the railways have not yet been restored to normal operation, so the supplies will definitely be sourced from the Japanese themselves.

"So, the higher-ups have already ordered all our units to hide or move our supplies in advance, leaving not a single thing for the Japanese." Chu Yunfei sneered, "The Japanese don't have many logistical supplies. They can only take a couple of hits at us. Once their supplies run out, they'll just stop. Maybe then we'll even have a chance to counterattack them."

"Our superiors are wise."

……

When Zhang Wanhe arrived at the arsenal with his equipment...

Just then, a rumbling sound rang out.

Zhang Wanhe was immediately delighted: "Haha, Xiao Li is really efficient! The locomotive is assembled and running so quickly!"

Zhang Wanhe ran into the power workshop of the arsenal, where the rumbling locomotives were running normally.

"Haha, from now on, our border region's arsenal will have motivation too!" Zhang Wanhe laughed heartily, his eyes even starting to blur.

War is all about logistics.

The arsenal is a very important part of logistics.

Previously, our industrial base was weak, and we could only produce reloaded bullets and grenades.

The soldiers suffered heavy losses fighting the Japanese.

Now, our arsenal is powered! Soon, we can provide our soldiers with high-quality weapons and ammunition, reducing their bloodshed and casualties. The others at the arsenal cheered along.

"Hahaha, who would have thought that our factory director could bring back a Japanese locomotive to use as power?"

"The locomotive can pull even a fully loaded train. With such powerful output, the strength of our arsenal begins to take off from this moment."

"Listening to the rumbling sound of this machine, it doesn't feel noisy at all; it's the most beautiful sound in the world."

"Yes, that's the most beautiful sound."

……

The excited workers even tossed Li Muzhi into the air, and then caught him again.

Startled, Comrade Zhang rushed over to stop him: "Don't do this, don't do this. I understand how everyone feels. If we make a mistake, there will be no place to regret it."

After rescuing Li Muzhi from the workers' enthusiasm, Zhang Wanhe said happily, "Little Li, I've brought back all the key pieces of equipment you wanted. Go and take a look."

"Old Qi, Old Lu, you guys continue here," Li Muzhi said to the bigwigs. "The engine power is fine now, let's move on to the next step."

"Okay, Director Li." These bigwigs were full of enthusiasm and immediately directed the workers to connect the power machinery and generator.

Li Muzhi followed Zhang Wanhe out and looked at the several small lathes they had brought back in the yard. He immediately went forward to examine them carefully.

After confirming that all the small lathes were working properly, Li Muzhi said happily, "Minister Zhang, now that we have all the small lathes, we can make the cannon barrel ourselves."

The military workers breathed a sigh of relief when Li Muzhi said the equipment was normal.

They checked and verified that the machine was working properly.

But they did not relax.

Only when Li Muzhi said that there was no problem with the machine did they finally relax completely.

Upon hearing Li Muzhi say that they could make cannon barrels themselves, the group stared at him in disbelief: "Factory manager, are you kidding me? With just a few small lathes, we can make cannon barrels ourselves?"

The industry of cannon barrels is equivalent to the top industrial level of a country.

Our arsenal's power plant has only just started operating, and the electricity supply hasn't been completed yet.

The ironworks hasn't started operating yet either.

Factory manager, you said in advance that we could make cannon barrels, you weren't just making things up, were you?

With our limited capabilities, how could we possibly make a cannon barrel?

Zhang Wanhe looked at Li Muzhi in surprise: "Little Li, are you really capable of this?"

The cannon on the shoulder, Li Muzhi wanted to modify the barrel of a captured mortar.

There aren't many of these cannons, so even if Li Muzhi builds shoulder-mounted cannons, the number will still be limited.

But if Li Muzhi could make his own cannon barrels, that would be a completely different story.

Think about it.

If one day, every one of our soldiers carried a cannon on their shoulder, wouldn't they blow the Japanese devils back to their hometown?

"Okay!" Li Muzhi replied succinctly.

The barrel of a rocket launcher is different from the barrel of a standard artillery piece.

The barrels of standard artillery need to withstand high chamber pressure, so the quality requirements for the barrels are very high.

Since the barrel of a rocket launcher does not need to withstand chamber pressure, the quality requirements for the barrel can be greatly reduced.

Now that the steel has been produced, we can use the equipment in the arsenal and these key small lathes to make a cannon barrel that meets the requirements for a rocket launcher.

Hearing Li Muzhi's affirmative answer, Zhang Wanhe and several military engineers were overjoyed. One of them suddenly remembered something and asked, "Then can the cannon barrel on the shoulder be made? Can the cannon barrel of the Hell Cannon be made?"

If we could make the barrel of the Hell Cannon, then we would essentially have the ability to manufacture cannons independently.

No more being restricted by large-diameter steel pipes.

“No.” Li Muzhi shook his head and explained, “The cannon on this shoulder does not need to bear any chamber pressure, so the quality requirements for the cannon barrel are not high. The Hell Cannon is different. Although it can bypass the huge chamber pressure, there is still a recoil force when it is fired, which puts a certain requirement on the cannon barrel’s strength.”

"It's alright. As long as we can mass-produce these shoulder-mounted cannons, the significance is already there." Zhang Wanhe was quite open-minded.

Once we've produced enough shoulder-mounted artillery, with the abilities of Li Yunlong and his regimental commanders, we won't have to worry about not being able to seize large-caliber steel pipes.

Who knows, they might soon seize the equipment capable of producing large-diameter steel pipes.

At that time, we will be able to produce our own hell cannons.

“As long as the factory director is here, I believe that sooner or later we will be able to produce large-diameter steel pipes ourselves.” These military industry workers all had a superstitious faith in Li Muzhi.

"Now that we've brought the things back, let's hurry up and move them in," Li Muzhi said. "Everything is in need of rebuilding, and there's still a lot to do."

"it is good."

……

(End of this chapter)