The War of Resistance: From Overseas Chinese Mechanics to King of Nanyang

"Brother Rong, we've already exceeded five hundred people, are we still recruiting?" Although Huang Zurong himself felt that the compensation offered wasn't high, it was already very high for those who were struggling to make ends meet.

Especially with meat in every single meal, this kind of life is simply heavenly.

It's important to know that many landlords couldn't afford to have meat at every meal; being able to eat it once a week was considered quite good.

Now, as long as you go to the temporary camp to work as a mercenary, you can eat meat and earn money. How could people not flock to it? So in just a few days, the number of people exceeded 500, and there was a constant stream of people coming to sign up.

The sparsely populated temporary campsite has now become unusually lively.

Besides the resounding bugle calls, there was only the drifting smoke from cooking fires.

"Recruit, keep recruiting. How many people are there?" Huang Zurong nodded. For him, the number of people was still a bit small. In his opinion, at least several thousand people should be recruited.

"Brother Rong, if there are any more people, I'm afraid we won't be able to stay here." Chen Shunwen said worriedly. At first, he said there would be at most two or three hundred people, but now there are five hundred people just for training. Not counting the logistics personnel and the people responsible for producing guns and cannons, the total number is close to one thousand. The huge amount of rice, noodles, vegetables, and meat consumed every day makes him feel a little scared. Huang Zurong, on the other hand, seems very calm.

In fact, Huang Zurong was also under a lot of pressure, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and persevere. In the past few days, his balance had not exceeded five figures, and it was basically all used to purchase supplies. Fortunately, the batch of legal tender was exchanged for a lot of gold, so he did not have to worry about funds.

However, he had already discovered one problem: prices in Dali were rising rather quickly. The reason, of course, was that the total amount of currency in the area had increased while the supply of goods had decreased, which naturally led to higher prices.

So he is also considering whether to reduce the money supply.

However, the massive daily consumption of resources forced him to rely on fiat currency.

Because this thing is really useful, and the profit margin is huge.

"Yes, train for two more days, then move the people to Tengchong in batches." Huang Zurong knew what the other party meant; if things continued like this, the 29th Division stationed in the city would panic, so he could understand.

"Perfect timing, I was just about to pay a visit to Major General Ma Weiji, the commander of the 29th Division."

He couldn't get away before, so he asked Chen Shunwen to visit him. Now that he has the time, he naturally wants to go in person. There are some things he needs to talk to the other party about.

"Now?" Chen Shunwen asked.

"Let's go." Huang Zurong was a decisive person, without any hesitation. Of course, before that, he prepared a batch of gifts, believing that the other party would definitely not refuse.

Not long after, Major General Ma Weiji, commander of the 29th Division, learned that Huang Zurong of the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanics wanted to visit him. After thinking about it for a moment, he agreed.

Upon meeting, Ma Weiji's first thought was that the other party was really young. After exchanging compliments, they got down to business.

"Mr. Huang, five hundred people is the most we can have. You know that quite a few people have already complained to me," Ma Weiji reminded him. After all, he had received so many things from the other party, so he naturally had to do his job. But now that there were more and more people, he really couldn't handle it anymore.

Upon hearing this, Huang Zurong was not discouraged. Instead, he nodded politely and said...

"General Ma, I understand what you're saying. I've decided to send them to Tengchong in batches. They'll be there to reorganize for a month or two before heading south into Burma."

Upon hearing this, Ma Weiji looked at the other person in surprise and asked incredulously.

"Mr. Huang, are you really going to fight back?"

He initially thought the other party was just joking, but he was surprised to find out they were serious.

"Of course, the Japanese invaders invaded our homeland, so we should fight back." Huang Zurong said in a matter-of-fact manner. His homeland was invaded, so how could he just stand by and watch? He was not one of those cowards in North America who could only protest silently.

"Of course..." Ma Weiji chuckled awkwardly, clearly not optimistic about the other party's idea. After all, what could these few people do?

If the Japanese were really that easy to defeat, they wouldn't have lost half of their territory. But he certainly couldn't say that.

"General Ma, I know you don't think highly of us, but that's not important. I just want everyone to see clearly that we Southeast Asian Chinese are not all opportunists when facing the Japanese army; we dare to fight the devils with real swords and spears," Huang Zurong explained.

"Yes, I understand. But with so few people and no decent weapons, to be honest, the chances are slim. You're more likely to be cannon fodder," Ma Weiji said frankly.

Huang Zurong was not surprised by this, so he did not refute it, because what the other party said was the truth.

"That's why I need General Ma's help this time." With that, Huang Zurong handed over a prepared list.

Seeing this, Ma Weiji was a little curious, but he still took the list and his pupils widened considerably.

Water bottles, binoculars, and military boots, among other military supplies.

Such items were also scarce for the Yunnan Army.

Although not many, they are enough to equip a company.

"What is this?" Ma Weiji asked, suppressing his shock as he held the list in his hand.

If the other party's request isn't too outrageous, he'll comply; otherwise, he'll definitely try to refuse.

He didn't want it to be like this either, but the 29th Division was newly formed, and it was formed when the mountain city didn't allocate much material. In other words, his newly formed division was entirely funded by Long Yun out of his own pocket.

But the Yunnan Army is not what it used to be, and it doesn't have such a large empire anymore. Naturally, supplies are also scarce. Even with the Burma Road as a transport route, don't forget that the Central Army's Fifth Army is watching over Kunming. They don't dare to be too reckless.

"I'd like to borrow a few more men. You know they're all greenhorns, many of them can't even tell left from right," Huang Zurong quickly stated his request. Although the 29th Division wasn't very strong, it had quite a few veterans and key personnel, and Huang Zurong was looking for these veterans.

Upon hearing this, Ma Weiji quickly shook his head: "We can't lend it anymore. You're like Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou and never returning it. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking."

He's not stupid to have gotten to this position. Although he's greedy, he still understands certain things.

Hearing this, Huang Zurong was immediately embarrassed. He did have this plan, but he didn't expect to be exposed by the other party. This made him wonder if he hadn't given enough.

"Mr. Huang, you must come from an extraordinary family. You could easily be a wealthy young master, so why do you want to get involved in these murky waters?" This was what puzzled Ma Weiji.