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

Chapter 23 The Trouble Li Yunlong Caused for You
"Keep up the good work. I need to go back and report the good news to the headquarters. Our border region's arsenal can really make cannons now." The special envoy had witnessed the production of cannons with his own eyes and needed to go back immediately to report the good news to the deputy chief of staff.

"Special Envoy Fan, let me see you off." Li Muzhi offered to see him off.

"No need, I can walk by myself." The special envoy waved his hand, then remembered something and said, "Seeing is believing. Take that cannon that your arsenal made with me."

The special envoy knew exactly what kind of temper the head of headquarters had; even if he told him, the leader wouldn't believe him.

Only by letting him see it for himself can we truly show him.

Zhang Wanhe quickly replied, "These cannons have been temporarily lent to the 386th Brigade."

Zhang Wanhe's appointment as logistics minister was well-deserved.

He was aware of the previous insistence on holding Li Yunlong accountable.

The reason why Li Yunlong was so bold was because a leader at headquarters liked him.

During the Battle of Cangyunling, Li Yunlong disobeyed orders. If this commander hadn't spoken a few kind words to Li Yunlong in front of the deputy commander-in-chief, Li Yunlong's fate would not have been as simple as being demoted from regimental commander to work as an embroiderer in a clothing factory.

Otherwise, Zhang Wanhe would have turned a blind eye to Li Yunlong taking two hundred military uniforms from the clothing factory.

Furthermore, other regiments had a hard time getting twenty boxes of grenades from Zhang Wanhe, so why did Li Yunlong get them before the Battle of Lijiapo?

To put it another way, Li Yunlong's brigade commander was no pushover either.

The artillery is already in the hands of the 386th Brigade; they're just after the sugar.

"The artillery was lent to the 386th Brigade?" The special envoy was taken aback, still somewhat puzzled. "Heavy weapons and artillery are so important, shouldn't they be prioritized for allocation to division-level units?"

Zhang Wanhe explained, "The production of artillery shells requires white sugar, so we sent the 386th Brigade to get white sugar while producing artillery shells."

"I see." The special envoy nodded, without objection. "You did a good job. The cannon has been developed, but it can't be without shells. In order to continue producing shells, some rules and regulations don't need to be so strict."

"Yes." Zhang Wanhe nodded quickly.

"Alright, let the 386th Brigade focus on the sugar production first. Making artillery shells is more important, so we'll have to ask the headquarters leaders to wait." The special envoy left these words, not letting Li Muzhi or Zhang Wanhe see him off, and went back on his own.

As soon as the special envoy left, Li Muzhi went straight to the point and said to Zhang Wanhe, "The arsenal will need fuel for its future power, and I want to stockpile some coal in advance. Do you have enough manpower here?"

“We need to make money, but we don’t have enough manpower right now. But we can go and talk to the people…” Zhang Wanhe didn’t finish his sentence.

Li Muzhi interrupted, "If you don't have enough manpower on your side, then let the combat troops help you."

Once the special envoy returns, he will immediately submit an application report to headquarters. By the time we make contact with the combat troops, the orders from headquarters should have already been issued to the combat troops.

“Okay, then which combat unit do you want to cooperate with?” Zhang Wanhe asked.

“The 386th Brigade has just formed a new Second Regiment. The new regiment should not have any combat missions. Contact the new Second Regiment and, if they don’t have any combat missions, have the regimental commander, Kong Jie, come to me,” Li Muzhi said.

In the Battle of Lijiapo, Kong Jie was wounded and never served as the deputy commander of the Independent Regiment again.

Kong Jie recovered from his injury, and the 386th Brigade formed a new Second Regiment, of which Kong Jie is now the commander.

“Okay, no problem.” Zhang Wanhe nodded.

Li Muzhi continued, "Now that the arsenal has fuel, we'll need sugar to manufacture gunpowder and explosives. We can't keep relying on robbing sugar; the enemy isn't stupid. You can talk to the local people and ask them to grow more sugar beets. I'll try making sugar from them then."

Both sugar beets and sugarcane can be used to make white sugar. As long as the raw materials are available, Li Muzhi has a way to make white sugar by hand.

Northwest Shanxi is located in the north, where sugar beets are grown, while sugarcane is grown in the south. Due to the harsh conditions of war, sugar beets were scarce; otherwise, Li Muzhi could have simply sent Zhang Wanhe to purchase them.

"You can make sugar from beets?" Zhang Wanhe was shocked. You're impressive enough to make explosives, but you can also make sugar?
"Give it a try. If it really works, we won't need to have our combat troops risk their lives to make sugar anymore." Li Muzhi was being very cautious with his words; he certainly wouldn't say that he could actually make it by hand right away.

“Okay, then I’ll communicate with the local people.” Zhang Wanhe nodded.

……

New First Regiment

"Commander, the Japanese have just reinforced their defenses at the Xikou warehouse."

The intelligence officer of the New First Regiment reported to Ding Wei, the newly appointed commander of the New First Regiment, "According to our original plan, it is probably impossible to attack the Xikou Warehouse."

"Why has the defense of the Xikou warehouse suddenly been strengthened? Does the Japanese know I'm going to take them down?" Ding Wei couldn't help but curse when he heard this.

Ding Wei was originally the commander of the 28th Regiment of the Third Military Sub-district. He was ordered to go to the rear for training, but was intercepted by the headquarters leaders and transferred to the New First Regiment as its commander.

As the saying goes, a new broom sweeps clean. Ding Wei, now the commander of the new First Regiment, naturally had to make some achievements immediately. After all, when Li Yunlong left, he had equipped the new First Regiment with all the necessary equipment.

A strong general has no weak soldiers under his command, and we can't let our brigade commander, who is known as one of the "Three Heroes of Whampoa," down.

“I don’t know either. I’m afraid we have to cancel the military operation to attack the Xikou warehouse…” Before the intelligence officer could finish speaking, someone ran up to Ding Wei and reported: “Reporting, Regiment Commander, the brigade commander has arrived, and Regiment Commander Li of the Independent Regiment has also arrived.”

The brigade commander and Li Yunlong have arrived?

Ding Wei was still a little puzzled when he heard this.

Why did the two of them come to the new regiment together without saying goodbye?

Suppressing his suspicions, Ding Wei immediately ran out of the regimental headquarters.

"Brigade Commander!" Ding Wei saluted the brigade commander.

"Ding Wei, order the entire New First Regiment to be assembled," the brigade commander instructed.

"Yes, brigade commander." Ding Wei didn't even ask why, and immediately sent people to assemble the troops.

"Ding Wei, how is it? Has the enemy strengthened their defenses at the Xikou warehouse, making it impossible for you to continue your work here?" the brigade commander asked directly.

Ding Wei is not like Li Yunlong; he reported to the brigade commander in advance before setting up the Xikou warehouse.

The brigade commander wanted Li Yunlong to conduct live-fire drills, so why did he choose the Xikou warehouse instead of other places? This is the reason.

"Yes, Brigade Commander, I just received intelligence that the defenses of the Xikou Warehouse have been suddenly strengthened. It's not advisable to attack the Xikou Warehouse again." Ding Wei nodded, looking at the brigade commander suspiciously. "Do you know why?"

"It's all because of Li Yunlong causing trouble for you." The brigade commander glanced at Li Yunlong beside him.

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei couldn't help but turn to Li Yunlong and ask, "Li Yunlong, have you gotten into trouble again?"

Ding Wei knew his old buddy Li Yunlong very well; he felt uneasy if the guy didn't cause trouble every few days.

Ding Wei was able to come to the New First Regiment to take advantage of the situation because Li Yunlong disobeyed the orders of the headquarters leaders on Cangyun Ridge.

Look at him, he even dares to disobey the orders of the headquarters leaders. Li Yunlong is incredibly audacious.

(End of this chapter)