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

Chapter 203 The storm
"Take cover! Enemy planes are coming! Take cover!"

Ding Wei led the new regiment and, relying on their superior firepower, quickly approached the edge of Kuroshima Morita's base.

But before Ding Wei could make a move, he saw Japanese planes approaching from the horizon.

Ding Wei could only order his troops to take cover on the spot immediately.

The Japanese planes were very fast, skimming low overhead from the new regiment.

"Commander, these Japanese planes are flying so low, should we shoot them?" Someone asked Ding Wei as the Japanese planes entered machine gun range.

"Nonsense, just hit him!" Ding Wei said without hesitation.

The Japanese planes flew low, indicating that they had spotted our troops.

Under Ding Wei's command, the machine gun immediately began firing into the sky.

Da da da!
Da da da!
Da da da!
……

The machine gun opened fire quickly, but missed the target.

What puzzled Ding Wei was that the Japanese planes did not retaliate when they were attacked.

It seemed like it only glanced at us from low altitude before quickly flying away.

"Commander, what's going on? Why aren't the Japanese planes retaliating?" someone asked, puzzled.

"I don't know either." Ding Wei scratched his head, completely baffled as to what the Japanese planes were up to.

"Commander, since these Japanese planes aren't attacking, should we continue attacking Kuroshima Morita's base?"

"Nonsense, we're already here, we have to take back the horse feed, our warhorses can't go hungry..." Ding Wei didn't finish his sentence.

Li Yunlong's cavalry company commander, Sun Desheng, rode over on a fast horse and shouted to Ding Wei: "Regimental Commander Ding, our regimental commander said there is an urgent military situation. He wants you to immediately abandon the attack on Morita's base on Kuroshima and come with me to find him."

"What urgent military situation?" Ding Wei was puzzled as to why the Japanese planes had come out but weren't attacking.

It seems this is related to the urgent military situation that Li Yunlong mentioned.

"Commander Gao from the 120th Division attacked another Japanese military train. There were five carts of tungsten ore on it. We need to seize all five carts of tungsten ore. All the Japanese troops have gone to reinforce, and time is of the essence. Commander Ding, you need to get there as quickly as possible," Sun Desheng said quickly.

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei did not hesitate and immediately ordered: "The New First Regiment shall assemble immediately and prepare for a forced march."

"Commander, what should we do with all the supplies we captured?" someone asked.

Ding Wei fought his way through, clearing outposts and checkpoints, and still managed to capture some spoils, though not many.

However, a forced march meant that the troops had to travel light and prioritize speed.

"No, we don't want any of it," Ding Wei said decisively. "Leave a few people to notify the nearby residents and let them take it over."

"Yes, Captain."

Under Ding Wei's orders, the new regiment quickly set off with Sun Desheng.

On the way, Ding Wei still asked, "Company Commander Sun, what is this tungsten ore?"

“I don’t know either. Anyway, our regimental commander said that Director Li said this tungsten ore is more valuable than white sugar,” Sun Desheng explained.

"No wonder the Japanese planes came out; they're desperate." Ding Wei suddenly realized.

More valuable than white sugar, there are five truckloads of it, which is two or three hundred tons.

If it were two or three hundred tons of white sugar, we would be furious, let alone supplies that are more valuable than white sugar.

"Commander, we're going to seize tungsten ore, but what about the fodder for our military horses?" someone asked Ding Wei, leaning closer to him.

While the mission of seizing tungsten ore was important, the feed for the military horses was also crucial.

When our military horses return, there won't be any horse feed left.

"What else can we do!" Ding Wei said seriously. "We delayed the horse feed haul because we were trying to secure tungsten ore for the logistics team. Minister Zhang will have to compensate us later!"

joke!

Old Zhang was overjoyed when he managed to snatch back five truckloads of tungsten ore.

Could he refuse if I asked him to give me some of the horse feed he had?

Our warhorses have enough feed; we can just borrow more from Kuroshima Morita later.

"Yes, yes."

……

On Cheng the Blind's side, the railway had only just begun to be dismantled.

The Japanese planes came, but they still didn't attack Blind Cheng.

The plane seemed to glance down at something, then quickly flew away.

This puzzled Blind Cheng.

When Li Yunlong's messenger arrived, Blind Cheng still decisively chose to cooperate with Li Yunlong.

They blew up several sections of the railway, and the troops quickly followed Li Yunlong's messenger.

Around the same time, Blind Cheng and Ding Wei, with their respective troops, joined up with the troops of Li Yunlong, Gao Liujin, and Gao Xigang.

Upon meeting, both Blind Cheng and Ding Wei asked simultaneously, "Gao Liujin, where is the tungsten ore?"

"They're over there, just follow me." Seeing that everyone was present, Gao Liujin quickly composed himself, sharpening his knife with anticipation.

"go!"

"Let's go!" Several regimental commanders immediately led their troops and set off at top speed.

Halfway there, Ding Wei still had a question for Li Yunlong: "Li Yunlong, those Japanese planes clearly spotted us earlier, why didn't they attack?"

Normally, the Japanese should have known that we were going to steal tungsten ore. How could they not attack when they discovered our troops?

“I’ve thought about the reason too. It’s highly likely that Gao Liujin also stole some tungsten ore, and the Japanese planes are probably looking for that,” Li Yunlong said.

Although the Japanese planes did appear, their numbers were not large.

They're not attacking ground troops; they're probably still desperately searching for the tungsten ore that was stolen.

Once we find the tungsten ore we've seized, we can then take the opportunity to find our arsenal.

Therefore, this is the reason why the Japanese planes had no time to attack.

Immediately afterwards, Li Yunlong said, "But now we have to be careful. We're heading towards the remaining tungsten ore of the Japanese. Once the Japanese planes spot us, they will definitely attack us, so we have to be careful."

Ding Wei calmly replied, "It's alright. It's getting dark, and the Japanese planes can't fly at night, so we can continue at full speed."

Blind Cheng nodded and laughed, "We robbed five carts of tungsten ore, and we also raided a Japanese warehouse. I wonder what else is in that warehouse? Gao Liujin, do you know him?"

Cheng the Blind asked this question to Gao Liujin.

"How would I know what's in that warehouse? I only discovered the Japanese had a warehouse there today," Gao Liujin said. "But if we join forces, with four hell cannons, taking it down shouldn't be a problem."

“Gao Liujin, this time, you won’t say we’ve overstepped our bounds again, will you?” Li Yunlong said.

"Did I say that now?" Gao Liujin glared.

"Haha, I'm just confirming," Li Yunlong laughed. "When we get the profits, we'll split them equally among the five regiments. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"Li Yunlong, look how capable you are! This is tungsten ore, and you're going to divide it equally among five regiments!" Gao Liujin glared again. "If we take it back, Director Li of the Border Region Arsenal will probably be worried about what to give us."

Of course, although Gao Liujin said that, he was still looking forward to it.

With our five regiments working together, getting the remaining tungsten ore shouldn't be a problem.

I wonder how Li Muzhi, the director of the border region's arsenal, will treat us then.

"Needless to say, each regiment will have a hundred rocket launchers." Gao Xigang, the new commander of the 28th Regiment, was overjoyed.

We've benefited from this opportunity.

Seeing that Ding Wei, the old commander of the 28th Regiment, was doing very well in the 386th Brigade, and Gao Liujin was also doing quite well, our 28th Regiment, with 3,000 men, was still not doing well, and we were still losing face.

Now that's great, we can benefit from it.

If we have a chance with rockets, then we can also work on hell cannons.

"Everyone, let's not think about the division of spoils for now, let's focus on the present," Ding Wei said seriously. "This operation can only succeed, it cannot fail."

Ding Wei's words made the expressions of the several regimental commanders turn serious.

Several more reconnaissance scouts were dispatched, and the team's marching speed increased once again.

It's getting dark, so it's best to attack when it's dark. At that time, there won't be any Japanese planes to reinforce us, and we'll definitely have enough time for the whole night.

Behind them, Zhang Wanhe led the transport team on a brisk journey.

"Faster!" Zhang Wanhe urged the team to speed up. "The combat troops have taken over the Japanese warehouse. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can transport the goods back."

"Yes, Minister Zhang."

……

A Japanese military warehouse.

"Commander Okamoto, thanks to your timely intervention, the remaining tungsten ore was all moved into the warehouse." The garrison officer of the warehouse was very grateful for Commander Okamoto's support.

Commander Okamoto was originally stationed at Yuehua Station. After the military trains there were attacked, Muto Gotsuki, the commander of the 16th Brigade at Yuehua Station, ordered Okamoto's regiment to come and reinforce them, and also brought with him the porters and transport vehicles from Yuehua Station.

They hurried to move all the remaining tungsten ore into the warehouse.

“Tai-kun, we still shouldn’t be careless.” Captain Okamoto’s expression was extremely solemn. “Right now, apart from me, all the other reinforcements are tied down. This clearly shows that the Chinese also know the importance of tungsten ore. Our defensive mission is still very difficult.”

“Okamoto-kun, you’re right, our defense mission is very difficult.” The garrison officer’s expression was solemn.

In the past, with the warehouse's sturdy defenses, they had no fear of the Chinese.

But now the Chinese have the Hell Cannon, a heavy weapon specifically designed to counter strong defenses.

Although the warehouse was guarded by a full eight hundred men, with the addition of the Okamoto Regiment, the force numbered nearly four thousand.

But the Chinese realized the importance of tungsten ore, and the number of troops they sent would certainly not be small.

With reinforcements tied down, the Chinese will surely fight back fiercely tonight.

This battle will be extremely fierce and arduous, but as long as we can hold out until dawn and the planes arrive to help, then we'll be safe.

The Chinese had no anti-aircraft weapons, and faced with the relentless bombing by aircraft, they could only tuck their tails between their legs.

Then, the garrison officer sighed with a pained expression: "It's a pity that in order to move the tungsten ore as quickly as possible, we didn't have time to move the remaining supplies on the train."

The military train also carried cotton and coal.

These are all supplies needed by the Empire's logistics.

“Tai-kun, tungsten ore is far more important than any of this!” Captain Okamoto said seriously. “We know that the Chinese will definitely come back, so we shouldn’t be distracted by this.”

"Yes, Okamoto-kun."

(End of this chapter)