Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 153 Warhorse for Machine Gun

Although Wang Gensheng and Ding Wei were not very familiar with each other, they had only shared one drink together.

But Ding Wei should be willing to make the trade; perhaps some people would hesitate to trade ten rifles for one light machine gun.

However, most regimental commanders would be eager to trade twenty rifles for one light machine gun.

For example, Wang Gensheng exchanged a thousand rifles for fifty light machine guns. It seems like a lot, but those thousand rifles were enough to transform a thousand guerrillas armed with broadswords into a proper regular army.

Li Yunlong's eight battalions could immediately become ten battalions.

"Oh! What a rare guest! What wind blew our Eighth Route Army's direct cavalry regiment commander here!"

Wang Gensheng knew that Ding Wei's teasing was not malicious, so he smiled and replied:
"We've brought you wealth and honor, now it's up to you, Commander Ding, whether you want it or not! How about it, twenty rifles for one light machine gun, are you in or not!"

Ding Wei was taken aback for a moment after hearing Wang Gensheng's words, then immediately nodded and said:

"Twenty rifles for one light machine gun? Such a good deal is definitely worth doing. Give me a thousand of them first!"

Upon hearing Ding Wei's immediate demand for a thousand rifles, Wang Gensheng shook his head and laughed:

"There aren't that many left. I just exchanged a thousand rifles with Li Yunlong and another six hundred with Kong Jie. I can probably exchange another four hundred now. But besides rifles for light machine guns, there are also heavy machine guns for light machine guns, one for one!"

"No, I mean, where did you get so many rifles? I haven't heard of any large-scale Japanese cavalry around here! Our cavalry regiment, Kuroshima Morita, was wiped out by you a long time ago!"

The reason Ding Wei was so concerned about the movements of the Japanese cavalry was mainly because he had always wanted to establish a cavalry unit as a rapid-mobility force.

It should be noted that among the three major military units, Ding Wei's New First Regiment was the only one without a cavalry unit, but there were no cavalry units within the New First Regiment's garrison area for a long time.

The only enemy unit they could attack, the puppet cavalry battalion in Wanjia Town, was given to Li Yunlong by Ding Wei.

Therefore, Ding Wei was naturally envious of Kong Jie and Li Yunlong's cavalry company, and when he heard that Wang Gensheng had changed so many cavalry rifles, he naturally had his eye on them.

Wang Gensheng also did not hide anything, saying:
"As you know, this is a pure cavalry regiment, so the only way to expand its size is to target the Japanese cavalry. Not long ago, I received intelligence from the command that there was a Japanese cavalry regiment stationed in Baotou, so I led the cavalry regiment to bring back those Japanese warhorses."

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng's words, Ding Wei immediately stood up, looked at the map hanging on the wall, and exclaimed in surprise:

"My goodness, Baotou is over a thousand miles away from here! Your ability to travel a thousand miles and wipe out an entire Japanese regiment is truly remarkable!"

Upon hearing Ding Wei's praise, Wang Gensheng immediately waved his hand and said:

"It wasn't that impressive. The main reason was that I launched a surprise attack under cover of darkness. Also, the Japanese cavalry regiment only had a little over three thousand men, which was no match for the Japanese infantry regiment, which is why I succeeded. Of course, this was also because I had more than five hundred light machine guns, which gave me a lot of firepower, so I dared to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese cavalry regiment."

"More than 500 light machine guns? That's probably about the same number of all the light machine guns in our 386th Regiment combined! You already have so many and you still want to replace them with light machine guns?!"

Wang Gensheng shook his head at Ding Wei's words:

"I had no choice! After all, my cavalry isn't exactly regular cavalry; I'm learning the fighting style of the Japanese Yamamoto Special Forces! But the Japanese Yamamoto Special Forces used cars, and cars aren't so easy to get, so I had to use warhorses instead. For me, warhorses are just a means of transportation." Ding Wei nodded after hearing Wang Gensheng's words.
"And submachine guns for Yamamoto's special forces are hard to come by, so you turned your attention to light machine guns, wanting to use them to replace submachine guns, right?"

"That's right, we'll replace the submachine guns with light machine guns. Oh, and Commander Ding, we don't have a thousand cavalry rifles, so you'll have to make do with these four hundred!"

Ding Wei, however, said:
"If you don't have rifles, then use warhorses instead! You've brought so many warhorses this time, so giving me a whole company's worth shouldn't be a problem!"

Upon hearing that only a company's worth of warhorses was needed, Wang Gensheng naturally felt it wasn't enough and immediately nodded in agreement.

“There aren’t many warhorses in this company that can be exchanged, but exchanging warhorses for light machine guns is not the same as exchanging them for rifles! I don’t agree to exchanging twenty warhorses for one light machine gun. It should be at least three warhorses for one light machine gun.”

Kong Jie was immediately unhappy with Wang Gensheng's offer and said:

"Hey! You're asking for the moon! Three warhorses for a light machine gun? You might as well rob someone!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Gensheng immediately became displeased and said:

"How can you call this robbery! Look at what you're saying. Back then, Old Li used five Type 96 light machine guns to exchange for Sun Desheng."

Trading three horses for a light machine gun? That's excessive? What's excessive about it?

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng's words, Ding Wei immediately replied:

"How can these be the same! Sun Desheng is a talent. Without Sun Desheng, Old Li's cavalry company wouldn't have been able to get up and running. And if I'm not mistaken, your cavalry skills should also have been learned from Sun Desheng!"
Besides, do you really think Old Li gave me five light-duty rifles to exchange for Sun Desheng? He was repaying a favor. I was the one who told Li Yunlong about the puppet army cavalry battalion stationed in Wanjia Town. If it weren't for that information, would Li Yunlong have known that a puppet army cavalry battalion was stationed in Wanjia Town?

Upon hearing this, Wang Gensheng immediately waved his hand and said:

"Alright! Alright! You're right. Even if three warhorses can't be exchanged for one light machine gun, it can't be like rifles, where twenty warhorses can be exchanged for one light machine gun!"

Ding Wei naturally understood that Wang Gensheng could not accept exchanging twenty warhorses for a light machine gun.

So after thinking it over, he finally extended one hand and said:
"Five horses, five warhorses for a light machine gun, that's not unreasonable!"

Wang Gensheng was naturally delighted to hear that Ding Wei was willing to exchange five warhorses for a light machine gun, considering that Wang Gensheng's ideal price was ten warhorses for a light machine gun.

Now that Ding Wei was actually willing to exchange five warhorses for a light machine gun, Wang Gensheng immediately agreed:

"Good deal! It's settled then, five warhorses for one light machine gun!"

When Ding Wei saw that Wang Gensheng agreed so readily, he naturally understood that this meant he had asked for too much.

However, Ding Wei himself had set the price for the five warhorses in exchange for one light machine gun, so there was no reason for him to go back on his word.

He couldn't go back on his word! So Ding Wei had no choice but to swallow this bitter pill.

(End of this chapter)