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

Chapter 151 A Big Pie Falls on Commander Kong's Head
Kong Jie did not return to the arsenal immediately, but waited on the way.

An hour later, several of the spies returned.

"Commander, these are the data for the bounding mines."

Several informants handed a notebook to Kong Jie and reported, "Commander, we have all confirmed with our own eyes that all twenty bounding mines that were planted successfully detonated, and the Japanese did not dig up a single one."

The informants spoke with unusual excitement.

The fact that the bounding mines cannot be dismantled minimizes the risk of them being dug up and copied by the enemy.

Those few Japanese engineers who tried to dig all died a terrible death.

"How's the bombing going with the Japanese engineers?" Kong Jie asked with a smile as he took the data.

Although Kong Jie was not present.

But I can still recall that scene.

Seeing the Japanese soldiers crying and screaming after being hit by bounding mines must have put a lot of pressure on the Japanese engineers, but they had no choice but to clear or dig out the mines.

As a result, the remaining bounding mines all detonated. Once this got out, the Japanese engineers probably wouldn't dare to clear our bounding mines again.

The Japanese engineers dared not clear the mines, so their troops dared not easily pursue us.

In a sense, these bounding mines could, on a grand scale, halt the Japanese army's mass assaults.

On a smaller scale, this is practically a powerful tool for covering troop retreats, with tremendous deterrent effect.

"Haha." Several informants laughed wildly, then said, "How much worse could it have been? The bodies were blown to pieces, not a single piece of flesh was intact. Commander, it's a real pity you didn't see that scene. Although our bounding mines were all detonated, the Japanese didn't dare to dig any more, nor did they dare to pursue us. Instead, they went after their elite 217th Regiment."

"Haha, let's go back." Kong Jie laughed heartily, not feeling any regret at all.

These bounding mines are so useful, I'll ask Li Muzhi for some as soon as I get back to submit the data.

As long as we have bounding mines in hand, why worry about not seeing bounding mines blowing up the Japanese devils in the future?

Kong Jie returned to the arsenal as quickly as possible, just in time for lunch.

"Go eat, you guys go eat first." Kong Jie called to the soldiers to eat, because after they ate, they would continue digging the coal.

"Yes, Commander." The soldiers went to line up for their meals.

"Is this a meal for Director Li?" Kong Jie watched as Lao He carried a meal toward Li Muzhi's office.

"Yes." Lao He nodded and explained, "The factory manager is very busy and doesn't have time to eat. That's why I brought it to him."

“I’ll take it to him; I need to report the data from the bounding mine test to him anyway,” Kong Jie replied.

"How was the mine-jumping test?" Lao He asked immediately.

Twenty bounding mines were made, and Li Muzhi sent Kong Jie to test them.

I didn't expect to get the results data so quickly.

Commander Kong's efficiency is truly impressive.

"Great stuff!" Kong Jie gave it a very high rating. "This thing jumps into the air and explodes. Even if the Japanese soldiers aren't clustered together, its destructive power is still considerable. On average, one can kill ten Japanese soldiers."

When the Japanese company pursued, they were not in a dense formation.

If it's a group charge, the kill count would be even higher, a major victory.

Upon hearing this, Lao He grinned and said, "From now on, your combat troops won't complain about the poor quality of the landmines in our border area anymore, haha."

Previously, the arsenal in this area produced some reloadable bullets and grenades, as well as some landmines.

However, the quality of this landmine is slightly better than that of a hand grenade.

After all, landmines contain more explosives.

However, these landmines often malfunctioned, drawing considerable criticism from combat troops.

Now, our factory director has made landmines that can jump into the air and explode on their own. One of them can kill ten Japanese soldiers. We've finally regained our dignity.

"Not at all, not at all. Ever since Director Li took over as director, the quality of the products made by this arsenal has been truly exceptional," Kong Jie quickly remarked.

"Alright, Commander Kong, then you can take this meal to the factory director." Old He handed the meal to Kong Jie.

To be honest, he was very busy as the workshop director.

We need to focus on producing hand grenades; once we've got bouncing mines sorted out, we'll definitely start focusing on producing those soon too.

Furthermore, bullet production has also been set up today.

If the bullets produced meet the required standards, then they should be put into production as soon as possible.

At that time, even he, as the workshop director, would be overwhelmed... Fortunately, with the help of those big shots from the Huangyadong Arsenal, Lao He was still able to manage.

"Okay." Kong Jie took the food and carried it to Li Muzhi's office.

On Li Muzhi's desk were more than a dozen bright orange bullet casings.

Li Muzhi was looking down, carefully checking each item.

Kong Jie entered without Li Muzhi noticing.

It wasn't until Kong Jie brought the food to Li Muzhi and placed it on the table that he smiled and said, "Director Li, no matter how busy you are, you still have to eat."

"Oh, Commander Kong, you can put this aside. I'll finish checking these dozen or so shell casings before I eat." Li Muzhi heard Kong Jie's voice, but didn't look up, continuing to work with his head down. Kong Jie didn't speak, standing quietly to the side.

His gaze also fell on the cartridge case, and Kong Jie quickly noticed something different.

The cartridge case looks brand new; it doesn't look like a salvaged old cartridge case.

Kong Jie's eyes quickly lit up: "This means Director Li is preparing to manufacture bullets."

That's right, that's right!
I almost forgot about it.

Li Yunlong and the scholar each brought back their respective equipment: one brought back the bullet-making equipment, and the other brought back the key components of the equipment.

Now that the power plant for the arsenal is sorted out, Li Muzhi wants to work on shoulder-mounted cannons, and the ammunition can't be neglected either. Li Muzhi is pursuing a two-pronged approach.

Li Muzhi inspected more than a dozen shell casings, but his expression was still very happy: "Three of them are not up to standard. We'll adjust the machine again later."

Just because you have the power source and the equipment doesn't mean you can manufacture bullets.

Even after the equipment is assembled, it still needs to be debugged to its optimal state.

In this way, production capacity can be maximized, and the quality of the products can be guaranteed.

Previously, the practice of manufacturing bullets in the border region was criticized!
Now that Li Muzhi has taken over, he must completely eliminate this problem!
The quality of each new bullet produced by the border region's arsenal must be guaranteed as much as possible.

The song says, "Every bullet eliminates an enemy!"
While the song is somewhat exaggerated, it precisely illustrates the requirements for bullet quality.

If even one of these bullets fails to fire, misfires, or has other quality issues, it could very well allow an enemy to survive on the battlefield.

"Director Li, you've finished your work? Let's eat first." Kong Jie smiled and pushed the food towards Li Muzhi.

Li Muzhi picked up his chopsticks and started eating, saying as he ate, "Commander Kong, haven't you eaten?"

"No rush, I can eat later." Kong Jie shook his head, then handed the notebook to Li Muzhi: "Director Li, this is the data fed back from twenty bounding mines."

"Oh, so fast?" Li Muzhi immediately stopped eating and quickly took the notebook.

Li Muzhi quickly glanced at it and looked very satisfied: "Hmm, the effect is good. This afternoon, I'll have Lao He start mass production."

"Hehe." Kong Jie rubbed his hands awkwardly and looked at Li Muzhi: "Director Li, your jumping mine works very well, look, hehe."

Seeing Kong Jie's awkward yet polite demeanor, Li Muzhi smiled and said, "No problem, Commander Kong. I'll give you a hundred of these bounding mines once they're put into operation."

Give me a hundred!!!

When Kong Jie heard this, he almost thought he had misheard.

In Kong Jie's opinion, he would be lucky to get thirty or fifty pieces.

Unexpectedly, Li Muzhi generously gave him a hundred!

If Minister Zhang finds out, he'll probably scold me for being shameless and suspect that I used sweet talk to deceive Director Li.

"Director Li, um, I didn't quite catch that. How many did you say?" Kong Jie couldn't help but ask again.

“One hundred.” Li Muzhi looked at Kong Jie’s excited and somewhat incoherent appearance and could understand his feelings.

These bounding mines are so powerful that they are even more sought after than hand grenades.

Giving Kong Jie a hundred pieces at once is like a huge windfall for Commander Kong.

"Haha." After confirming, Kong Jie was so happy that he didn't know whether to put his hands in front or behind him. He looked at Li Muzhi excitedly and said, "Director Li, I, I, I thank you on behalf of all the soldiers in the regiment."

Old Kong really isn't good at speaking; even his words of gratitude sounded so awkward.

Fortunately, Li Muzhi didn't mind and laughed, "Commander Kong, a hundred pieces is nothing. When the combat troops below get more sugar in the future, I can give you more. On the condition that you dig the coal carefully for me, the arsenal is now in operation and the demand for coal is huge."

The arsenal now needs to smelt iron, manufacture bounding mines, and produce rocket launchers.

Once the bullet equipment is debugged, we can start manufacturing the bullets.

Once we run out of bullets, we'll also make conventional artillery shells.

Therefore, the demand for energy is very high, which means that more coal is needed.

Li Muzhi is already considering it.

He disassembled the Japanese locomotive, weighing six kilograms, and wanted to add another power source to increase output.

Those two iron-clad locomotives run on gasoline, but we should try to avoid running gasoline as much as possible. We'll keep those iron-clad locomotives as backup power.

Since we can mine coal, we should try our best to develop steam power.

"Director Li, don't worry, if you hadn't stopped me from working overtime, I could have doubled the coal production for you..." Old Kong counted on his fingers in front of Li Muzhi, "One, three, oh no, I could have mined 50% more for you!"

“Commander Kong, that’s not necessary. You and your soldiers are human beings, how can you treat them like slaves?” Li Muzhi said solemnly. “Go home when it’s time to go home, rest when it’s time to rest. As long as we can maintain the current coal mining output, that’s fine.”

"Okay, sure." Kong Jie was moved again, but didn't know how to express it, so he only said two words.

"Commander Kong, I can eat by myself, so don't delay me. Go and eat." After saying that, Li Muzhi lowered his head and continued eating.

Kong Jie did not leave, but said to Li Muzhi, "Director Li, there is something else I need to report to you."

"What is it?" Li Muzhi asked, chewing on rice and braised pork, as he looked up at Kong Jie.

(End of this chapter)