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

Chapter 12 Top Talents
After Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao left, Zhang Wanhe took a good look at Li Muzhi and praised him highly: "Li Muzhi, I really didn't expect that you could build cannons and make explosives. It's really beyond my expectations."

At this moment, Zhang Wanhe believed that the wisest decision he had made was to promote Li Muzhi to the position of director of the border region's arsenal!
Li Muzhi looked at Zhang Wanhe seriously: "Minister Zhang, in order to make cannons, I stopped the production at the arsenal without my permission and did not report to you in advance..."

Zhang Wanhe interrupted Li Muzhi before he could finish speaking: "What you did was for the sake of our army's military production. You did nothing wrong; on the contrary, you have made a contribution! When we get back, I will immediately report to headquarters and award you a commendation!"

joke!

This is a top talent capable of creating cannons!
When the headquarters leaders find out, they all have to put aside what they're doing and come to meet them in person.

"I don't care about credit. Our army's weaponry is really terrible. I just want to provide as much support as possible to the troops, so they can shed less blood and kill more Japanese soldiers." Li Muzhi said modestly, then changed the subject, "Minister Zhang, about what I just told Regiment Commander Li, you..."

Before Li Muzhi could finish speaking, Zhang Wanhe interrupted him: "Li Muzhi, that Li Yunlong is a scoundrel. Don't listen to his nonsense. Besides, such precious weapons as artillery should be equipped to our division-level units, not a small basic regiment."

Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe, "Minister Zhang, that batch of equipment and large-caliber steel pipes were all handed over by Regiment Commander Li. His contribution is so great that I think it's reasonable to reward him with a cannon as an exception. Besides, we even asked him to exchange it for something. The arsenal is out of sugar, and we urgently need sugar to make more cannon shells. Otherwise, even if we can make ten more cannons, without shells, these cannons are meaningless."

"How many? Can the arsenal make another ten cannons?" Zhang Wanhe's voice trembled when he heard this number.

Although he did not witness the cannon's destructive power firsthand, he did see the enormous crater.

If our troops could be equipped with ten of these cannons, it would be of great significance.

"It's barely passable," Li Muzhi nodded, looking at Zhang Wanhe. "Minister Zhang, if you think about it another way, this Regiment Commander Li is a master at getting things done. Even when his own equipment isn't up to par, he can still get such important equipment. Just imagine, if we equip him with the Hell Cannon, wouldn't that be like adding wings to a tiger for him? Who knows, he might even get us another batch of equipment and machinery soon."

“Li Muzhi, do you think this equipment and machinery is so easy to handle? Li Yunlong can’t just be lucky…” Zhang Wanhe stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

It seems that Li Yunlong didn't get things done through sheer luck.

Zhang Wanhe had also heard about the new regiment.

When the new regiment first started, the entire regiment had fewer than ten light machine guns and none heavy machine guns; three people had to share one broken gun.

Despite these meager conditions, Li Yunlong, in less than a year after taking office as the commander of the new First Regiment, managed to equip the regiment with heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars without ever asking the logistics department for a single gun or bullet.

In the Battle of Cangyunling, Li Yunlong was even able to fight head-on with the elite Japanese Sakata Regiment and even killed the regimental commander.

How could someone like that possibly rely solely on sheer luck?

“If we make an exception and give Li Yunlong a cannon, what will the other units think? Won’t they all come to me asking for cannons?” Zhang Wanhe said.

If Li Yunlong's basic regiment could get artillery, wouldn't the commanders of the main regiments all go crazy?

“Minister Zhang, this is why I asked Commander Li for sugar or an officer’s sword,” Li Muzhi said, pointing. “It’s understandable for the troops to ask for ordinary conventional ammunition, but this is artillery. We can’t let the troops just ask for it. There are too many monks and not enough porridge, and no matter how it’s distributed, there will be complaints. But having Li Yunlong exchange a thousand catties of sugar or an officer’s sword sets an example. Any other troops who want artillery will have to meet the same conditions. This way, they will have to rely on their own abilities to get things in exchange, which will also help improve the enthusiasm of the troops. More importantly, won’t the logistics department take this opportunity to increase its supply? With the troops continuously sending sugar, our artillery shells can be produced continuously without stopping production.”

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea." Zhang Wanhe immediately thought it was a good idea after hearing Li Muzhi's suggestion.

When the troops below came to ask for supplies, they would just grab them without even trying, leaving the logistics department increasingly impoverished.

Although there was a rule that all spoils of war had to be handed over to the logistics department, the troops below kept reaching out for them.

These cannons represent a valuable source of artillery power, and the troops below must be extremely envious.

Letting them exchange goods can boost the troops' morale and also provide an additional source of revenue for logistics.

Li Muzhi continued, "Of course, sugar and general's swords aren't so easy to obtain. You can set other conditions, such as having the troops raise the money."

"Hmm, that's a really good idea." Zhang Wanhe gave it high praise, looking at Li Muzhi: "Li Muzhi, I didn't realize you had such talent. If I were to sacrifice myself someday, I might just let you take my place."

“Minister Zhang, don’t talk nonsense. The bullet that could kill you can’t be manufactured at all,” Li Muzhi said immediately.

According to the original work, the logistics minister in front of us did not actually die; he was promoted to lieutenant general.

"Haha." Zhang Wanhe laughed heartily.

“Minister, since you’ve agreed, let’s go find Commander Li now, and also take this opportunity to test the shells,” Li Muzhi said.

"The shells still need to be tested. Didn't they all fire successfully?" Zhang Wanhe pointed.

Zhang Wanhe had just counted; there were only nine shells left.

The arsenal is now out of sugar and can no longer produce artillery shells.

In Zhang Wanhe's view, as long as the shell can fire, that's fine. If they continue testing, every shell they use will be one less shell available.

"The shells used to attack Sunjiabao were ordinary shells. I also made another kind of shell, which I added a lot of iron balls and nails to test its crowd-killing effect," Li Muzhi explained. "Just then, enemy reinforcements arrived. Their ranks were very close together, so they were perfect targets."

The shells contained a lot of iron balls and nails?

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe couldn't help but shudder; this was a ruthless move.

A single cannonball could collapse three pillboxes. If such a powerful cannonball were to be filled with iron balls and nails and explode in a dense crowd, what difference would that make from sending the crowd to hell?

"Has our cannon been named yet? What's it called?"

"Hell Cannon".

“Yes, it lives up to its name.” Zhang Wanhe nodded, his expression becoming expectant, and smiled, “Then we’ll have to continue testing.”

(End of this chapter)