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

Chapter 17: Now that we have cannons, do we still need to pay back money?
“Once upon a time, there was a Jewish merchant who had more than three thousand pigeons to sell. Instead of selling them directly, he went to the countryside to buy more pigeons. He found a family and was willing to buy their pigeons at twice the price.”

"The family was overjoyed and, without saying a word, immediately sold all 100 pigeons they kept."

"The second time, the Jewish merchant came to the village again. He spread the word that he was willing to buy 2000 pigeons at three times the price, today only, no exceptions."

"At first, no one believed it, but when the first villager came out and explained the situation, everyone believed it. The village had gathered 2000 pigeons, and the villagers jumped up and down to count their money. The Jewish merchant also left with a smile on his face."

"The Jewish merchant came to the village for the third time to buy pigeons, offering five times the price. The villagers exclaimed in surprise, but they had no pigeons left; they had all been sold."

"The Jewish merchants came twice more afterward, and the price skyrocketed to more than ten times. Although the villagers were all green with envy, they could only look on with envy."

"One day, the villagers heard that someone was selling pigeons somewhere for an outrageous price of ten times the market price. But they could buy them for ten times the price and then sell them to a Jewish merchant for more than ten times the market price, making a profit from the difference. So the villagers bought all five thousand pigeons that the merchant had."

"However, the villagers did not expect that the Jewish merchant would never appear again. The man who sold them more than 5,000 pigeons was also a shill hired by the Jews."

"This is a scheme orchestrated by the Jews. They first buy the pigeons from the villagers at a high price, letting them taste the sweetness of success. Then they drive the price up even further and sell them back to the villagers at an even higher price. The Jews also sell off their original three thousand pigeons at a high price, making a fortune."

After Li Muzhi finished explaining to Zhang Wanhe, Zhang Wanhe couldn't help but say, "Isn't this just swindling money?"

However, Zhang Wanhe admired the moral of the story.

Although we don't have that many pigeons, we can use other products as substitutes.

"To put it nicely, it's a business tactic. To put it bluntly, it's definitely deception." Li Muzhi nodded and said to Zhang Wanhe, "If we use it on traitors, is that still deception? That's economic punishment for traitors!"

"But this takes a bit too long." Although Zhang Wanhe agreed, he felt it was too long.

We desperately want to get the money right away and stockpile the fertilizer the Japanese have on their side as quickly as possible.

“I do have a quick way to get money, but it’s risky,” Li Muzhi added.

"Tell me."

"Isn't there a traitor lending money at exorbitant interest rates? Let's send someone to borrow from them." Borrowing money and not paying it back is the fastest way to make money.

"Go borrow from loan sharks?" Zhang Wanhe was taken aback. "If we can't repay the loan sharks, won't our people be in danger?"

The traitors who lent money weren't stupid either. They knew that people had to be discerning when it came to borrowing money; not just anyone could get a loan.

In other words, only our underground personnel can borrow it.

These underground agents went through so much trouble to infiltrate the area, only to use the money to borrow from loan sharks and then be unable to repay it. What's the difference between that and being exposed?

“Minister Zhang, how could you be so clever all your life, yet so foolish this time?” Li Muzhi pointed and said, “Now that we have money, we’ve built the shells, and our hell cannons can continue to roar. Do you think we still need to pay back the money?”

"Hey, right, right!" Zhang Wanhe slapped his forehead and immediately agreed, "Yeah, we have the Hell Cannon now, why bother paying back the money? We'll just take care of these traitorous dogs!"

While dealing with these traitors, we can also raid their homes, which will provide another source of funding.

When the time comes, we can use any money we don't have to sell to exploit the pigeon-selling scheme on other traitors. If we do it right, our logistics will have a steady stream of funding coming in.

Zhang Wanhe looked at Li Muzhi and praised him highly: "Li Muzhi, I really didn't realize you had such a high talent in military industry. You're also incredibly skilled at raising funds for the organization. Who knows, maybe one day I, the logistics minister, will really..."

“Minister Zhang, please refrain from saying such ominous things,” Li Muzhi quickly interrupted Zhang Wanhe, saying, “Even if we use cannons to wipe out the traitors, our underground personnel will still face certain risks. Minister Zhang, you decide what to do.”

Those traitors who dared to lend money at exorbitant interest rates all had Japanese shareholders behind them. Even if you eliminate the traitors, there are still Japanese soldiers; the Japanese won't give up.

Even if our underground personnel aren't handled properly, there's still a risk of them being exposed.

“You don’t need to worry about what to do or how to do it right now,” Zhang Wanhe nodded.

No matter how great the risk, is it greater than the combat troops fighting the Japanese on the battlefield?

Our logistics department is the backbone of the troops, so we must do everything we can to provide good logistics support to the troops.

Otherwise, it would be my dereliction of duty as the logistics minister!
In the time it took to talk, they returned to the arsenal.

Looking at the quiet arsenal, Zhang Wanhe's mood was completely different at this moment.

First he was furious, now he is ecstatic.

"Li Muzhi, once the workers at the arsenal return, we'll put aside the bullets and grenades for now. You need to get all the cannons out first," Zhang Wanhe said solemnly to Li Muzhi.

Now that we can make cannons, even Zhang Wanhe, the logistics minister, will voluntarily stop producing bullets and grenades and not resume production.

"Yes, Minister Zhang." Li Muzhi nodded.

Zhang Wanhe went to the production workshop to take a look.

"With just a few pieces of equipment like a welding machine, a cutting machine, and a generator, you were able to build a cannon. It's truly incredible," Zhang Wanhe couldn't help but exclaim again.

Zhang Wanhe needs to write a report for headquarters.

He was wondering what the headquarters leaders would think if they saw his report.

“Minister Zhang, power is the foundation of military production,” Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe. “We still need to get the power system up and running at the arsenal as soon as possible.”

“Isn’t there a generator here?” Zhang Wanhe pointed to the generator.

“This generator is too weak, and it burns oil. Our army can’t keep up with the oil supply,” Li Muzhi said.

"Do you have any ideas?" Zhang Wanhe asked Li Muzhi.

Since they've said that, there must be a way.

"Once we have enough cannonballs, let the combat troops go and loot them." As a top-level military officer and expert from later generations, Li Muzhi could make generators by hand, but with the limited logistics of the Eighth Route Army, it was still very difficult to make high-powered generators by hand.

Therefore, the approach should return to the most basic one: let Li Yunlong take the loot.

"Going to seize the enemy's generators? That's probably unrealistic," Zhang Wanhe questioned. Generators are only found in the enemy's arsenal, and we don't even know the location of their arsenal.

“Minister Zhang, once the cannonballs are made, I will naturally have a solution.” Li Muzhi was very confident.

"As long as you have a way, just tell me what you need." Zhang Wanhe didn't ask any further questions. The most urgent task now was to hurry up and get the raw materials for making artillery shells.

(End of this chapter)