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

Chapter 94 Heaven has eyes, it's my turn to get rich again!
The concentration camp's garrison was wiped out completely by Ding Wei and Li Yunlong, leaving not a single Japanese soldier behind.

Standing atop a pile of Japanese corpses, Li Yunlong, like a war god, arrogantly looked at the more than a thousand of his own loyal prisoners of war before him: "My loyal brothers, I am Li Yunlong! That bastard Sakata Nobutetsu was killed by me! If you're willing to fight the Japanese with me, then come with me. If not, I won't force you!"

David immediately responded: "I'm willing to follow Commander Li and fight for the Eighth Route Army. Commander Li's regiment alone can defeat the Sakata Regiment. Following a commander like that is better than those bureaucrats in the inner circle."

Xiao Long then roared, "Those bureaucrats in the direct line don't treat us like human beings. They're fighting amongst themselves even with a formidable enemy at hand, refusing to come to our aid. Such an army is destined not to last long. I'm willing to follow Commander Li to fight the Japanese, even if I die in battle, it's better than being implicated and killed by the direct line."

Immediately afterwards, others followed suit:
"It is our honor to be able to fight the Japanese alongside Commander Li."

"What soldier wouldn't want to follow a commander who can fight? Without a doubt, I'll follow Regiment Commander Li."

"And me too. As long as Commander Li doesn't mind, I'll follow you to the end."

"Our elite 27th Division and 72nd Division were defeated by the Sakata Regiment, and their unit numbers were canceled. Even if we went back to other elite units, we would be ostracized and have a hard time. So we'll just stay with the Eighth Route Army."

"That's right, we're fighting the Eighth Route Army."

……

More than a thousand of his loyal prisoners of war were all willing to follow Li Yunlong.

This scene left Chu Yunfei and Captain Sun Ming completely stunned.

Captain Sun Ming exclaimed incredulously, "Commander, did I see that right? Li Yunlong just stood there and shouted 'I am Li Yunlong!' He killed Regiment Commander Sakata, and all these thousand-plus of his own troops were willing to follow him? Is it really that simple for him to recruit over a thousand prisoners of war?"

These are the core members, the ones who look down on the Eighth Route Army the most. They changed their allegiance to Li Yunlong just because he shouted a word.
It's important to understand that this change of flag and banner is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

The Eighth Route Army was only a theoretical ally and would be eliminated sooner or later.

What does changing flags and banners mean now? Don't so many people understand?

"This is probably one of the reasons why the Eighth Route Army expanded its forces so rapidly," Chu Yunfei said solemnly.

Li Yunlong's move was very clever; it was a well-timed and targeted attack.

If they were other direct subordinate prisoners of war, Li Yunlong would probably find it difficult to recruit them.

But these were the elite 72nd Division and the elite 27th Division, which were defeated by the Sakata Regiment.

However, Li Yunlong's decisive action on Cangyun Ridge, where he killed Sakata Regiment Commander and crushed Sakata Regiment, fundamentally impacted the morale of these loyal prisoners of war.

Of course, there are two other important reasons.

One of them was Li Yunlong, who came to their rescue and was their savior.

returning a Favour many times more!

Another point is that the 27th and 72nd Divisions, which are directly affiliated with the Chinese military, have indeed had their designations revoked.

If they don't join the Eighth Route Army, they'll be assigned to other elite units after they go back, but they won't have an easy time there either.

If you're unlucky enough to end up under a general who's incompetent and only cares about making money and getting promoted, it's like having a nightmare.

"The Eighth Route Army is expanding at an alarming rate, no wonder the situation in the mountain city..." Captain Sun Ming didn't finish his sentence.

Chu Yunfei interrupted, "Deputy Officer Sun, let's not talk about politics."

"Yes, Commander." Captain Sun Ming nodded.

It was impossible to reorganize the more than 1,000 prisoners of war all at once, so Li Yunlong and Ding Wei temporarily placed them in the ranks. "Commander Li, we're empty-handed, we have no weapons or ammunition!" someone shouted to Li Yunlong. "Commander Li, we know the Eighth Route Army is poor, but we can't fight the Japanese empty-handed with you, can we?"

"Don't worry, the weapons and ammunition will be provided for you on your way back with me." Li Yunlong confidently patted the barrel of the Hell Cannon and said, "See this thing? This is a cannon comparable to heavy weapons. I'll show you something. Staying in my unit is no less firepower than your old unit!"

The concentration camp has been captured; now we should hurry to clear out the outposts and checkpoints to make way for the transport teams.

Once these outposts and sentry posts are captured, the weapons and ammunition seized can be used to arm these prisoners of war directly.

What? The brigade commander agreed to distribute the spoils we captured to prisoners of war without our consent?
The brigade commander will agree; he has to agree!

Our team and Lao Ding's team are now full, so we definitely need to equip them with weapons and ammunition as well.

In this way, our military force will be stronger, and we can do a better job in attacking the railway line.

The brigade commander surely understands this principle.

Even if we take a step back and assume that both the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment are under the command of the brigade commander, then they are still under the brigade commander's command.

"Commander Li, is this breach in the camp's defenses caused by your artillery fire?" a prisoner of war asked loudly.

They were in the prisoner-of-war camp when they heard two huge cannon shots, as loud as thunder.

They were all thinking to themselves, "Who's so rich as to bring heavy artillery to attack a concentration camp? Isn't that a waste?"

The concentration camp's defenses were so poor that even ordinary infantry artillery could destroy them.

Using heavy artillery to bombard it would be superfluous.

After they came out, they didn't see any heavy artillery.

What came into view were two strange cannons belonging to Li Yunlong and Ding Wei. How could such thin barrels have such great power?

"Yes, that's it." Li Yunlong nodded arrogantly. "Its name is as fierce as its power. It's called the Hell Cannon! A cannon specially designed to send the Japanese devils to hell."

"Commander Li, now that you have heavy artillery, why rush back? You have to lead us to avenge our country!" a prisoner of war shouted. "Many of our brothers were forced to mine for the Japanese. Many of them died from exhaustion, starvation, or were beaten to death. We have to kill those beasts before we go back."

Li Yunlong nodded readily: "Nonsense, we absolutely have to avenge you, but we still need to get our weapons ready first..."

Before Li Yunlong could finish speaking, Ding Wei, who was standing to the side, keenly caught the details in his words and said to Li Yunlong, "Old Li, wait a moment."

"Old Ding, what's wrong?" Li Yunlong asked, puzzled. "Even if you want revenge, you should prepare the weapons beforehand."

We have to complete the task assigned to us by the brigade commander.

“Old Li, that brother just said that they were forced to mine by the Japanese, and we had to bring heavy artillery to shoot them down. Think about it…” Ding Weiyi gave him a hint.

Li Yunlong instantly understood. Old Ding really lived up to his reputation as a cunning strategist, enlightening Li Yunlong at a crucial moment.

A mine that can only be captured with heavy artillery must have very high defenses.

In other words, it wouldn't be worth the Japanese doing this to a mineral that's generally worthless.

Therefore, this mine is very valuable.

Haha, thank God, it's my turn to get rich again!
(End of this chapter)