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

Chapter 79 The brigade commander is too few

"Xiao Li, the 386th Brigade has brought the supplies back. Come out and handle it."

Li Muzhi was continuing to communicate with several key personnel about dismantling the locomotive when Zhang Wanhe walked in.

"Gentlemen, you've all gained a basic understanding of the locomotive's structure. Now, take a closer look and absorb the concepts. If you still have questions, feel free to ask me," Li Muzhi said to the key personnel.

"Ok."

Li Muzhi followed Zhang Wanhe out, and the brigade commander immediately approached him with a smile: "I brought you back a lot of good stuff this time, so you'd better give me a few more shells."

Previously, the brigade commander had asked Li Yunlong to bring oil to Li Muzhi, but Li Muzhi gave him twenty artillery shells instead. Li Yunlong ran back excitedly to report the good news to the brigade commander.

Enraged, the brigade commander kicked him, saying, "You, Li Yunlong, aren't you usually quite shrewd?!"
How did you become short-sighted just because you were fooled by Li Muzhi's few words?
Li Muzhi said he'd give you twenty shots, but you didn't know to add a few more!

Even just one more shell would be good.

But you, you just came running back like a puppy.

"Brigade Commander Chen, don't worry, you definitely won't be treated unfairly," Li Muzhi said with a smile. "I heard from Regiment Commander Li that there are small lathes, so let's bring them over and take a look."

A small lathe!!!

Before the brigade commander could speak, Zhang Wanhe exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Do you have a lathe?"

Although Zhang Wanhe didn't understand military manufacturing, he had heard of lathes.

Without this thing, many parts cannot be produced.

It's unbelievable that the 386th Brigade was able to acquire a lathe.

The brigade commander did not answer Zhang Wanhe, but waved his hand, signaling Ding Wei to bring over the cart carrying the lathe.

As soon as the cloth was lifted, revealing a small, already-ruined lathe underneath, Zhang Wanhe's expression froze: "Hey, Commander Chen, all you brought back was a bunch of junk?"

Zhang Wanhe had no idea that this small lathe was a scrap.

Look, some are broken, some are worn out, and some are even deformed.

Can this junk even be called a lathe? It's practically scrap metal.

Seeing Zhang Wanhe's stunned expression, the brigade commander said, "Old Zhang, don't be dissatisfied. It's already good enough that you managed to bring back a batch of junk. If you want to get a good lathe, no problem. Give me five Hell Cannons first, and I'll go and get you a good lathe."

Zhang Wanhe said with a bright smile, "Brigadier Chen, you must be joking. How could I possibly give you five hell cannons?"

"You were the one who joked with me first," the brigade commander replied to Zhang Wanhe, then turned to look at Li Muzhi: "This thing may be scrap, but you definitely have a way to fix it. Something is better than nothing, don't you think?"

“Yes, Commander Chen, you’re right. Something is better than nothing.” Li Muzhi gave an affirmative answer, then turned to Zhang Wanhe and said, “Minister Zhang, have someone move it into the warehouse first. Be careful when moving it.”

"Okay," Zhang Wanhe replied, and was about to ask Lao He to send someone to move it.

Just then, Kong Jie's new Second Regiment finished their work and came back for dinner, and Li Yunlong was there too.

"brigadier!"

"brigadier!"

Kong Jie and Li Yunlong immediately saluted the brigade commander.

Zhang Wanhe then said to Kong Jie, "Commander Kong, could you please move this small lathe into the warehouse?"

Small lathe?

Kong Jie stared at the lump of iron for a moment, then turned to Li Yunlong and asked, "Did you and Lao Ding get this back?"

Kong Jie didn't understand military manufacturing, but he spent a few days digging coal at the arsenal.

I also heard a little about the significance of lathes to the arsenal.

"Nonsense, if it weren't for me and Lao Ding getting it back, could you, Kong Erlengzi, have dug it up by mining coal?" Li Yunlong said smugly.

"Hmph, what are you so proud of? If you're so capable, bring back a fully functional lathe before you start bragging." Kong Jie snorted and immediately ordered people to move the lathe into the warehouse.

Li Yunlong wasn't idle either; he also had people help move things.

"Brigade Commander Chen, bring the acidic liquid over so we can take a look," Li Muzhi said to the brigade commander.

"Bring the stuff over here," the brigade commander ordered again. Soon, more than twenty barrels were brought over, each one full.

The bottle had a label with Japanese characters on it, which Li Muzhi recognized because he knew some Japanese.

Eight barrels of concentrated nitric acid, ten barrels of concentrated sulfuric acid, and five barrels of concentrated hydrochloric acid.

"Commander Kong, move the things inside," Li Muzhi instructed Kong Jie after making a note of it.

"Okay." Kong Jie nodded.

Finally, Li Muzhi asked the brigade commander to show the copper wire and copper billet.

Looking at the copper wire, Li Muzhi was also very excited.

The total weight of the copper wire exceeded one thousand kilograms.

This copper wire is of superior quality and is excellent material for modifying generators.

Copper wire is also an essential material for making other delicate parts.

As for copper billets, they come in both large and small sizes.

The smaller ones are used to make bullets, and the larger ones are used to make artillery shells.

Our arsenal can't produce bullets right now, so we'll have to store these small copper billets for the time being.

With the power problem solved at the arsenal, these large copper billets were perfect for producing artillery shells.

"Here's another batch of scrap metal. See if there's anything usable in it. You can sort through it yourself. If it's useless, just melt it down." The brigade commander finally had the scrap metal handed over to Li Muzhi.

“Brigadier General Chen, this batch of scrap metal is also quite useful; it has dismantling value.” Li Muzhi glanced at it and realized that not all of these items were junk.

With some reassembly and modification, it can still be used.

For example, the disassembled gun parts can be used to repair other damaged guns.

Broken radios and radios can be disassembled to repair broken radios and radios or to convert them into other things.

For example, it can be used as a detonator for remote-controlled bombs, using the transmission and reception of radio waves to detonate them.

It can be surprisingly effective at crucial moments on the battlefield.

It won't be like in TV dramas, where a bomb is planted, the fuse malfunctions, and someone is risked to detonate it, needlessly increasing casualties.

"Haha, good that it's useful." The brigade commander laughed and looked at Li Muzhi: "Then let's get straight to the point. I'm going to use all these things to exchange for shells for the Hell Cannon. How many can you give me?"

Look, that brigade commander is much more shrewd than Li Yunlong.

Let Li Muzhi make the offer first.

Li Muzhi chuckled and said, "I'll give you twenty shots."

"Twenty rounds?" The brigade commander paused for a moment upon hearing this.

In the brigade commander's view, the value of these things was still somewhat lacking compared to the tens of thousands of liters of oil that Li Yunlong had previously obtained.

While copper wire, copper billets, and industrial acids are important, the amount of oil is also considerable.

Unless this small machine tool is intact, but is a piece of junk.

The brigade commander quickly composed himself and said to Li Muzhi tactfully, "Our army has taken a very big risk in this operation."

"How many do you want?" Li Muzhi asked with a smile.

"Twenty-five rounds," the brigade commander said.

“Okay, no problem, we’ll do it your way, twenty-five rounds.” Li Muzhi agreed very readily.

"……"brigadier.

Why did they agree so readily?

The brigade commander thought to himself: Oh dear, I didn't ask for enough.

(End of this chapter)