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

Chapter 24 Look how capable you are!
Li Yunlong did not answer Ding Wei's question directly, but asked suspiciously, "Old Ding, with the light equipment I left you, do you think you can take over the Xikou warehouse?"

When Li Yunlong was the commander of the New First Regiment, he did have his own ideas about the Xikou Warehouse.

However, Li Yunlong had no weapons for attacking fortified positions, at most only a few mortars, which was not enough to take down the Xikou warehouse.

Ding Wei is here. With just a few mortars, how can he take over the Xikou warehouse?

"The main thing is that I managed to find a weakness in a puppet army battalion commander at the Xikou warehouse. When we attack, he will provide support from within and cooperate with me from the inside," Ding Wei explained.

"How did you get hold of the puppet army battalion commander at the Xikou warehouse?"

"I found out that the puppet army battalion commander had a concubine. With a little trickery, I discovered that this puppet army battalion commander was selling drugs privately," Ding Wei said casually.

The Japanese had strictly forbidden their puppet troops from selling contraband, and medicine was one of the contraband items.

Once discovered, there will be zero tolerance.

Li Yunlong was still suspicious: "Why didn't I find this before?"

Li Yunlong had considered targeting the puppet army officers at the Xikou stronghold, but he couldn't find any of them selling medicine privately.

Ding Wei laughed and said, "Actually, this puppet army battalion commander didn't keep a concubine, nor did he sell drugs..."

Before Ding Wei could finish speaking, Li Yunlong glared at him and understood: "Old Ding, you're really cunning."

Clearly, Ding Wei was slandering the puppet army battalion commander, leaving him speechless.

On the Japanese side, the crackdown on the sale of contraband was extremely strict.

Even if you're just a suspect, you still have to go to the military police's torture chambers to experience the taste of hell.

Not to mention that this puppet army battalion commander could not prove his innocence, and once he entered the Japanese military police, he would basically be dead.

In this way, they had no choice but to risk their lives for Ding Wei.

Ding Wei, that guy, truly deserves to be a strategist!

"Hehe." Ding Wei chuckled and said modestly, "It was just a little trick. Compared to you, Lao Li, there's still a gap. Although my unit in the 28th Regiment has more than 3,000 men, we haven't managed to get any mortars."

"Hahahaha." Li Yunlong laughed heartily, quite smugly. "You're not so bad, kid. Compared to me, you're definitely still a bit behind. Let me tell you, getting a few mortars is nothing, getting cannons, that's my real skill!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei couldn't help but be stunned: "Li Yunlong, you're not bragging, are you?"

I was just being modest, are you serious?

"Hahaha." Li Yunlong laughed twice more, then said to Zhang Dabiao, "Dabiao, pull back the cloth and let our Commander Ding see for himself!"

"Yes, Commander." Zhang Dabiao immediately complied.

The cloth was pulled back, revealing the true face of the Hell Cannon.

Ding Wei's eyes widened immediately upon seeing this.

Although Ding Wei had never seen the cannon before, it was a real lump of iron that couldn't be faked.

Ding Wei was shocked: "Old Li, how did you get this cannon?"

Ding Wei immediately understood the purpose of Li Yunlong and the brigade commander's visit. They had brought artillery; therefore, the attack on the Xikou warehouse would continue.

"Hahahaha." Li Yunlong laughed a few more times, showing off, "How about that, are you convinced now? Old Li was born to accumulate wealth. Compared to Old Li, you still have a long way to go..."

Before Li Yunlong could finish speaking, the brigade commander scolded him from the side: "Stop bragging, okay? It's not like you captured it on the battlefield. If you're so capable, go capture enemy artillery on the battlefield and take your own people's artillery. What makes you have the nerve to show off?"

Stealing their own people's artillery?
Ding Wei was somewhat bewildered upon hearing this.

Ding Wei knew perfectly well what conditions the Eighth Route Army was under.

A small number of infantry guns and mountain guns were assigned to division-level units.

Although this cannon is a bit strange, it is definitely meant to be assigned to a division-level unit.

Li Yunlong has the ability to snatch things from division-level troops?
And since he actually stole it, this kid's troubles are only getting bigger and bigger.

But why is there no anger on the brigade commander's face?

This is not reasonable.

Despite the brigade commander's insults, Li Yunlong remained confident: "Brigade commander, just you wait, it's only a matter of time."

"Hmm, I'm waiting. If you don't manage to get it back, see how I deal with you!" The brigade commander tossed Li Yunlong a sentence, seeing that the troops of the New First Regiment were moving quickly and had almost assembled.

The brigade commander then said to Ding Wei, "Leave some men to guard the house, and the rest of you come with me to the Xikou warehouse."

"Yes, brigade commander." Ding Wei nodded and immediately carried out the brigade commander's order.

On the way to the Xikou Warehouse, Ding Wei was still very curious: "Brigade Commander, whose cannon did Li Yunlong steal from our own people? And why did the enemy at the Xikou Warehouse suddenly strengthen their defenses?"

Suddenly, we have cannons now. The enemy's strengthened defenses at the Xikou warehouse are meaningless in the face of cannons, but Ding Wei still wants to know the details.

"The cannon was made by our border region arsenal. The border region arsenal took the cannon out for testing, and one shot destroyed three pillboxes in the Sunjiabao stronghold, forcing the puppet troops in Sunjiabao to surrender. Then another shot wiped out half a company of Japanese soldiers. Li Yunlong got carried away and took the cannon from them," the brigade commander explained.

"Can our border region arsenal produce cannons?" Ding Wei was shocked. Could the border region arsenal really produce cannons? Was that even possible?
Aren't they only capable of producing secondary bullets and black powder grenades?

If you can't even make bayonets, how can you make cannons?

However, this cannon looks like a cobbled-together piece, which is consistent with the patchwork style of the border region's arsenal.

Ding Wei also understood why the Xikou Warehouse had suddenly strengthened its defenses.

The cannons manufactured by the border region's arsenal were so powerful that they must have shocked the Japanese. It's estimated that not only the Xikou warehouse was reinforced with defenses, but probably all of the Japanese strongholds were also reinforced with defenses.

"Our new director of the border region's arsenal, Li Muzhi, is a top genius! Old Li looted a batch of equipment outside and only recently dug it back to hand it over. Li Muzhi used this equipment to build this Hell Cannon in front of us. As you can see, this Hell Cannon isn't heavy; even a mule could pull it, yet its destructive power is in no way inferior to the Japanese heavy artillery. You have to admire it," Li Yunlong explained.

"I'll definitely have to meet this Director Li when I have time." Ding Wei immediately became very interested in this Li Muzhi. Even if Li Yunlong had handed over the equipment, building cannons wouldn't be that simple. At the very least, they would need to work on explosives. This Li Muzhi was indeed remarkable.

At the same time, Ding Wei was also suspicious: "The arsenal produced this cannon, and with Lao Zhang's temper, he would protect it like his lifeblood. You, Li Yunlong, would not even let him touch it, let alone steal it. How did you manage to snatch it from Lao Zhang?"

"Hahaha." Li Yunlong laughed wildly, "I managed to snatch it, that's my skill."

The brigade commander glanced at him sideways: "Look how capable you think you are!"

(End of this chapter)