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

Chapter 5 One versus Three
Zhang Dabiao brought Li Muzhi to the Sunjiabao stronghold.

Zhang Dabiao said to Li Muzhi, "This Sunjiabao stronghold is full of traitors, not Japanese soldiers. The traitors' strength is a company. If all the traitors in this company come out, my battalion can easily take them down."

"Battalion Commander Zhang, you still need to be prepared for the enemy to come out and run away," Li Muzhi said to Zhang Dabiao.

When the enemy sees that we have cannons, they will easily split up and run away.

The enemy is escaping with their weapons; that won't do, as these are all our spoils.

"Director Li, now that we've come this far, stop being so mysterious. What exactly is this new weapon that can force a whole company of traitors out of hiding?" Zhang Dabiao couldn't help but ask again, hearing Li Muzhi's confidence.

"Uncover the cloth," Li Muzhi instructed the old man.

"Yes." Old He nodded and immediately pulled back the cloth, revealing the Hell Cannon.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Dabiao and the soldiers of the First Battalion almost had their eyes pop out of their sockets.

Previously, when everyone saw the new weapon being pulled by the mule, they all speculated about what it might be.

But no one expected that it would actually be a cannon!
Although this cannon is different from the cannons we usually see, it looks rougher and simpler, even like a cheap piece of junk cobbled together from parts.

But this really is a cannon.

"Director Li, did your arsenal really produce cannons?" Zhang Dabiao wondered if he was seeing things.

He still went up and touched it. It was icy cold to the touch; it was a real lump of iron, not some paper dollop.

"Battalion Commander Zhang, now that you've spotted the cannons, you should be prepared for the enemy to come out," Li Muzhi said, getting back to the main point.

Zhang Dabiao didn't hesitate and immediately ordered his troops to surround Sunjiabao.

The company commander couldn't help but lean close to Zhang Dabiao and whisper, "Battalion Commander, this arsenal is making such a big show of things. What if the cannons fail to fire? Wouldn't that be a huge joke?"

After all, the grenades produced in the arsenal sometimes exploded in two pieces.

Whether the cannons they've cobbled together will even fire is a real question.

"Shh, keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear us." Zhang Dabiao quickly made a shushing gesture to the company commander.

They're an arms factory, so we have to treat them well. How can we laugh at them?

Clearly, Zhang Dabiao didn't believe that the cannons at the arsenal would fire effectively.

"Director Li, my troops are ready. You can start testing your cannons now," Zhang Dabiao said to Li Muzhi as soon as his troops were ready for battle.

"Okay, good." Li Muzhi nodded, then had someone push the cannon to a suitable position, and then Li Muzhi began to operate and aim it himself.

After aiming, Lao He assisted in loading the shells.

Watching Li Muzhi working so skillfully, Zhang Dabiao couldn't help but wonder: With Director Li so confident, could this cannon really actually fire?
The arsenal couldn't even make hand grenades properly, so how could they possibly make cannons and fire them? That's just... a fantasy.

Forget it.

I shouldn't overthink it; I should be more rational.

If the cannon fails to fire, we must give the order that none of the soldiers are allowed to laugh!

Anyone who dares to laugh and embarrasses the arsenal will be dealt with by me.

"Old He, you light it." After everything was done, Li Muzhi asked Old He to light the fuse.

This is not a pull-string firing mechanism; it requires lighting the fuse with fire to fire.

The method is a bit old-fashioned, but it works.

When better conditions become available later, Li Muzhi will improve the firing method.

"Factory manager, you should do it. I'm afraid I'll have bad luck." Old He's hands were even trembling. He was worried that his rusty hands would affect the firing of the cannon.

"It's alright, Lao He, you have to have confidence in the strength of our arsenal," Li Muzhi encouraged. "Alright, Director." Lao He took a couple of deep breaths, composed himself, and then, controlling his trembling hands, lit a match and used it to ignite the fuse.

The fuse hissed and burned, emitting wisps of blue smoke.

At this moment, the workers in the arsenal all looked on with anticipation and solemnity, their eyes fixed on the burning fuse.

Whether our arsenal can regain its reputation now and get rid of the criticism of poor quality in the future depends entirely on this newly built hell cannon.

Although they didn't believe the cannon at the arsenal could fire, Zhang Dabiao and the soldiers of the First Battalion still cast curious glances their way.

The fuse burned out, boom!
The hell cannon roared in fury, and everyone's hearts skipped a beat: the cannon had really fired!
The shells whistled towards Sunjiabao.

boom!
The pillbox that Li Muzhi was aiming at was not hit.

However, the shell's deviation was not far, only a dozen meters.

They landed in the open space between three pillboxes. The open space wasn't large, and the three pillboxes were built rather close together.

The open space was blasted into a large crater, and the powerful shockwave and instantaneous ground tremor actually caused all three pillboxes to collapse.

In other words, although the target was missed, the team still managed to defeat three opponents at once.

Watching the Hell Cannon destroy three pillboxes with a single shot, Lao He excitedly hugged Li Muzhi: "Director Li, we succeeded! We succeeded!"

The workers at the arsenal cheered:
"Success! Haha, our cannon is a success!"

"As expected of the Hell Cannon, its power is too strong."

"From now on, let's see who dares to say that the quality of our border region's products is poor."

"The Hell Cannon has been built! From this moment on, our border region arsenal has stood up!"

"The factory manager is awesome!"

"The factory manager is awesome."

……

Zhang Dabiao and the soldiers of the First Battalion were all dumbfounded when they saw that one shot had destroyed three pillboxes.

Everyone originally thought that the cannons at the border region's arsenal wouldn't fire.

Who would have thought that it not only fired, but also had such great power?

One shot can destroy three pillboxes; that's considered heavy weaponry. Ordinary mountain guns and infantry guns are nothing compared to it.

A real man should command this kind of artillery, roar!
The company commander rubbed his eyes hard a few times, staring at the three collapsed bunkers. He said to Zhang Dabiao, speechless, "Battalion Commander, are we sure we're not seeing things? The arsenal really made cannons?"

The company commander was now thankful that Battalion Commander Zhang Dabiao had told him to keep his voice down.

Otherwise, if they overheard your questioning of their arms factory, you'd be slapping yourself in the face.

The quality of the cannons produced by that arsenal is simply outstanding. They have a long range, are accurate, and have great destructive power. In short, that arsenal is really awesome!
"Signal soldier, where's the signal soldier? Where did he go?!" Zhang Dabiao didn't answer the company commander, but shouted for the signal soldier.

The communications soldier suddenly appeared out of nowhere and rushed to Zhang Dabiao's side: "Battalion Commander, I'm here."

"Run back to the regimental headquarters as fast as you can right now and tell the regimental commander that the arsenal's new weapon is a cannon. One shot took out three pillboxes. Go now!" Zhang Dabiao yelled at the communications soldier, spitting all over his face.

Zhang Dabiao knew without a doubt that once these cannons were produced, all the military units would be scrambling to get their hands on them.

While the other units are unaware, hurry up and get the regimental commander over so we can strike first.

"Yes, sir." The communications soldier ran off like the wind.

(End of this chapter)