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

Chapter 276 This move is very insidious.

Border Region Arsenal

Li Muzhi was developing the device inside the flashbang when Zhang Ke, a metallurgist, came over, handed him a sample of powder, and said, "Director, how is this powder?"

These were scraps from the production of fake tungsten ore, which Li Muzhi asked Zhang Ke to grind into powder.

Zhang Ke didn't know what Li Muzhi intended to do with grinding the scraps into powder, but he did as he was told.

Li Muzhi stopped what he was doing, took the glass and examined it, nodding: "Hmm, not bad, it's ground very finely."

Zhang Ke asked suspiciously, "Factory manager, what do you plan to use this powder for?"

Li Mu asked seriously, "When our soldiers are fighting the Japanese with bayonets, where are our weaknesses?"

Although Zhang Ke had never been on the battlefield, he still knew the details like the back of his hand: "Besides physical strength, endurance, and explosive power, the Japanese Type 38 rifles were longer than our rifles, and their bayonets were also longer. When it came to bayonet fighting, our soldiers were often at a great disadvantage in close combat because their weapons were not long enough."

Li Muzhi nodded: "Yes, that's right. In close combat, our soldiers' weapons are shorter, which puts them at a great disadvantage. And right now, our arsenal hasn't started manufacturing bayonets yet. Even if they do, the soldiers' rifles are shorter than the Japanese soldiers', which will also put them at a great disadvantage in bayonet fighting. So!"

Li Muzhi paused for a moment, then continued, "So I plan to take a different approach and directly destroy the Japanese's advantage in bayonet fighting."

Destroy the Japanese soldiers' advantage in bayonet fighting?
Zhang Ke didn't quite understand Li Muzhi's meaning and asked suspiciously, "Factory director, how do you plan to destroy it? Just by using the leftover scraps from making fake tungsten ore?"

“Dr. Zhang, you must remember this: in the eyes of us military industrial workers, there is no such thing as scraps.” Li Muzhi said seriously, “If I grind this into powder and add two more things, that will be the magic weapon for our soldiers to defeat the Japanese in close combat.”

As he spoke, Li Muzhi picked up two small bottles from the table. One bottle contained wood ash, and the other contained charcoal powder.

Li Muzhi took another large container, poured in the wood ash and charcoal powder, and finally poured in Zhang Ke's powder as well.

Li Muzhi stirred it well, then pointed to the mixed powder in the container and said with a smile, "Now this is the blinding powder. When our soldiers are engaged in close combat with the Japanese, they will sprinkle this blinding powder on the faces of the Japanese soldiers. If the powder gets into their eyes, they will become blind on the spot. You tell me, if the Japanese soldiers can't see, won't they be at the mercy of our soldiers?"

"This..." Zhang Ke was stunned upon hearing this.

He thought Li Muzhi was trying to make some new type of explosive powder, but he never expected it to be blinding powder.

This move can be described as extremely insidious.

If you destroy the Japanese soldiers' eyes on the battlefield, wouldn't their bayonet fighting skills be destroyed immediately?

At that point, the Japanese soldier will be like pork on a chopping board. If our soldiers want to stab him to death, it won't matter if their weapons are a little shorter.

Let alone the fact that the weapons are too short, even if our soldiers were unarmed, it would still be bullying the Japanese.

Li Muzhi continued with a smile, "If this powder is scattered out without protective gear like masks beforehand, the Japanese soldiers will have difficulty breathing if they inhale it into their lungs. If it's handled properly, our soldiers won't need to fight in close combat; the Japanese soldiers will just fall down on their own."

"Factory Director, in my memory you have always been a very kind person, but now when I look at your smile, it looks so sinister." Zhang Ke was greatly shocked.

The border region's arsenal was able to smelt steel, was manufacturing iron pots, and was making bullet casings, but Li Muzhi was nowhere to be seen making bayonets.

Now it seems that with this blinding powder, the bayonet could have been moved back quite a bit.

As a metallurgical PhD, Zhang Ke knew that bayonets contained a significant amount of gold, and that a good bayonet could not be made without a certain level of industrial expertise.

The reason Li Muzhi didn't make bayonets was that he was waiting for the conditions for refining tungsten ore to be ripe.

When the time comes, the tungsten ore will be refined and added to the bayonet steel to create bayonets with superior performance.

Now that we have blinding powder, the need for bayonets can be postponed.

Moreover, the cost of this blinding powder is very low.

There are a lot of scraps left over from making fake tungsten ore. All of these are ground into powder. Wood powder and carbon powder are also very easy to obtain. We have no shortage of wood, and we have even less shortage of carbon.

In fact, the soldiers had used other methods on the battlefield before.

For example, you could sprinkle chili powder or pepper powder, but that stuff is just too expensive.

The cost of this blinding powder is so low that it's practically negligible.

"What kind of sinister smile is that?" Old Zhang's voice came from outside.

Upon seeing Zhang Wanhe arrive, Zhang Ke immediately pointed to the blinding powder in front of him and said, "Minister Zhang, the factory director made this mixed powder. If you spray it on the faces of the Japanese soldiers on the battlefield, it can blind them and cause them to have difficulty breathing."

"Really?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe quickly came closer, looked at the object, and solemnly asked Li Muzhi, "Little Li, is this thing expensive to produce? Can the tattered cloth on the Japanese military cap really stop them?"

In our rear hospitals, there are too many soldiers wounded from bayonet fighting with the Japanese.

It's not that these soldiers didn't fight hard enough on the battlefield; it's just that the Japanese had superior weaponry and better training, putting our soldiers at a huge disadvantage in close combat. Now, with this blinding powder, which can instantly blind the Japanese on the battlefield, wouldn't they be completely at our mercy?

in fact.

In the past, the soldiers had tried throwing sand at the faces of the Japanese soldiers before.

But the effect is not very good.

Because those two tattered pieces of cloth on the Japanese soldiers' caps were really annoying.

Our soldiers threw sand, but they only needed to turn their faces to the side, and the sand was blocked by the rags, preventing it from getting into their eyes.

If this blinding powder can render the rag ineffective, then it will be quite significant.

Before Li Muzhi could answer, Zhang Ke interjected, "Minister Zhang, the cost is incredibly low! Just grind the waste left over from making fake tungsten ore into powder, and then add wood powder and charcoal powder."

"That really does mean the cost is extremely low." Old Zhang laughed. The waste materials left over from fake tungsten ore, such as wood powder and charcoal powder, are inexpensive, which means they can be produced in large quantities.

When the time comes, during close combat, our soldiers won't... Oh right, we haven't asked if the tattered cloth on the Japanese soldiers' caps can stop them yet.

Zhang Wanhe quickly continued, "Can those two pieces of cloth on the Japanese military caps keep out the fuss?"

“Minister Zhang, why don’t you have Commander Kong take it and test it? Then you’ll know,” Li Muzhi said.

“Hmm.” Zhang Wanhe nodded, then asked, “How do you carry this blinding powder? You can’t just put it in your pocket, can you?”

Li Muzhi said, "This definitely can't be put directly into a bag. The best container is an eggshell, which is then sealed. When you need to use it, just take it out, crush it, and sprinkle it on the Japanese soldiers' faces. The effect will definitely be good. But the logistics department uses all the eggshells as fertilizer, so let's wrap it in paper. Before using it, open the paper packet, grab the powder in your palm, get close to the Japanese soldiers, and then sprinkle it on their faces. It will work the same way."

"Okay." Zhang Wanhe nodded immediately, called someone over, and told him to go find Kong Jie right away.

"Zhang Ke, go find some paper and repackage these blinding powders," Li Muzhi said to Zhang Ke. "Bring them over when they're packaged."

"Okay, factory manager." Zhang Ke carried the container away.

Li Muzhi's gaze was fixed on Zhang Wanhe: "Minister Zhang, you came directly here without being announced by the guards. Is there something urgent? Is the battle at the front not going well?"

“If things aren’t going well at the front, wouldn’t I be anxious and cursing?” Zhang Wanhe pointed.

"That's true." Li Muzhi nodded, and Old Zhang's face truly showed no negative emotions.

Li Muzhi still asked, "So the battle at the front is going very smoothly?"

"I don't know much about the specifics, after all, I'm in logistics. But I've heard that more than a dozen divisions from our direct forces are coming to fight the Japanese mopping-up operations. With them joining in, perhaps this mopping-up operation will be broken," Zhang Wanhe said.

"What about Commander Li's side?" Upon hearing that more than a dozen divisions of his direct subordinates had joined, Li Muzhi immediately felt relieved.

I have a vague feeling that this counter-sweep will probably end sooner than expected.

“He doesn’t know about that side.” Zhang Wanhe shook his head and said, “But Commander Li is someone who never suffers losses in battle. If the Kumamoto army is wiped out, he can probably take the opportunity to get something back for us.”

“That’s true.” Li Muzhi nodded and asked, “Minister Zhang, why did you come here in such a hurry? It can’t be because you’re concerned about the production of the Hell missile, can it?”

“No.” Zhang Wanhe shook his head and said, “It’s the Military Intelligence Bureau. They are eager to exchange our equipment for our flashbangs immediately, and they said it would be best if the transaction could be completed in the next couple of days.”

"So urgent?" Li Muzhi was still taken aback. "Could it be that they've already transported this equipment from the rear?"

If this equipment were in the mountain city, the journey to get it here would be quite long.

"Judging from their tone, the equipment should arrive tomorrow night," Zhang Wanhe said. "They probably have some important arrest mission and urgently need flashbangs."

“This is a bit too rushed,” Li Muzhi replied. “Give me two more days, and it’s clearly not enough to get the device out.”

“They said they can give us a few first,” Zhang Wanhe said. “You can take a few to make do for now, you don’t need to be so particular.”

"What about the equipment? Can we send someone to inspect it tomorrow night?" Li Muzhi asked.

If you're just doing it halfway, managing to make a few, then it's still worth a try.

“They said it was okay,” Zhang Wanhe nodded.

"Alright, Minister Zhang, I'll try my best to get there as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)