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

Chapter 166 Being the Logistics Minister Isn't Easy
Border Region Arsenal

"Factory manager, these are bullets that have been re-adjusted according to your requirements and are now being made again. Take a look."

Old He arrived at Li Muzhi's office with more than a dozen newly made bullets.

This time, Lao He's expression was full of confidence.

Because he had already measured all of these bullets in advance, and they all met Li Muzhi's requirements.

Old He breathed a sigh of relief.

Of the bullets made earlier, three were barely acceptable.

But the factory manager deemed them all unqualified and ordered the machines to be readjusted.

The factory manager's requirements are far too high.

Of course, Lao He understands.

The factory director's pursuit of excellence was also to dispel the previous criticism of the poor quality of bullets manufactured in the border region!

Furthermore, producing good bullets ensures that combat troops can effectively kill Japanese soldiers.

If a bullet is of poor quality, has an off trajectory, or insufficient range, it could result in an enemy surviving.

"Old He, judging from your expression, the bullets should all be up to standard this time, right?" Li Muzhi understood the answer from Old He's expression, picked up the measuring tools, and began to measure carefully.

Soon, Li Muzhi finished measuring and smiled: "Not bad, all fifteen bullets this time passed the test. You've worked hard."

When Lao He heard Li Muzhi's praise, a smile appeared on his face: "Factory Director, it's not hard work, it's not hard work, it's all worth it."

Immediately afterward, Lao He said impatiently, "Then I'll start producing at maximum capacity right away!"

"What's the rush? These dozen or so bullets still need to be tested. Once the tests are successful, we can proceed with production," Li Muzhi said.

"How do we test it?" Lao He asked. "We can't just use these dozen or so bullets to hit rocks, can we?"

Although these dozen or so bullets may not seem like a large number, it would be a waste to shoot at rocks during the test.

"Judging by the time, the targets that Minister Zhang brought should have arrived by now..." Before Li Muzhi could finish speaking, Zhang Wanhe walked in excitedly.

"Xiao Li, I've brought you all the targets you wanted." Zhang Wanhe looked at the dozen or so bullets in front of Li Muzhi and smiled, "This time, are all the bullets up to standard?"

"Only when the test is completed and there are no problems can it be considered truly qualified," Li Muzhi said.

"Let's go test it right away."

Li Muzhi and Lao He followed Zhang Wanhe to a secluded spot on the outskirts of the arsenal.

Here, Zhang Wanhe brought over a dozen targets, all of whom knelt on the ground with their hands tied and bags over their heads.

These were all traitors who had been publicly tried by the people and were wanted to be executed, arousing great public resentment.

Zhang Wanhe handed Li Muzhi a stack of files and said, "Little Li, would you like to take a look at the atrocities committed by these major traitors?"

Li Muzhi casually picked up the top file, glanced at the first few lines, and closed it without reading the rest: "Since it's the result of a public trial by the people, let's respect their wishes."

When the Japanese invaders came in, the country was shattered and the people suffered terribly.

The most hateful are the traitors.

They knew best how to deal with their own people, helping the Japanese invaders to commit atrocities.

Li Muzhi read the first few lines of the traitor's file. This traitor led the Japanese to find the hiding place of more than 100 wounded Eighth Route Army soldiers. Not only did he kill more than 100 wounded soldiers, but he also slaughtered most of the villagers in the villages that were protecting the wounded soldiers. The rest would have been killed if they hadn't run away quickly.

Such traitors don't even need a public trial; they can be caught and executed directly.

"Let's begin." Zhang Wanhe put away the dossier and handed the dozen or so bullets to the guard captain for testing.

The guard captain always carried this rifle with him, and he had killed three Japanese soldiers on the battlefield.

Before my eyes, the barrel of this rifle is old, and the rifling is almost worn down.

But the captain of the guard still couldn't bear to replace this old fellow.

The captain of the guard loaded a few bullets into the chamber, pulled the bolt to chamber the round, aimed at the first target, and gently pulled the trigger.

boom!
The gun fired, and the sound was crisp and clear.

The traitor, who was being targeted by the guard captain, was shot in the chest and fell headfirst to the ground.

"Director Li, your aim is pretty good." The guard captain immediately praised him.

After pulling back the barrel, there was almost no gunpowder residue inside, indicating that the primer had burned very thoroughly.

Don't underestimate the gunpowder residue.

If it remains in the barrel, it will affect the lifespan of the gun.

In the past, when bullets were manufactured in the border areas, the gunpowder did not burn completely, leaving a lot of residue.

This greatly affects the lifespan of the guns, and we already don't have enough guns to begin with.

Now, these new bullets are accurate, have sufficient range, and the gunpowder burns completely. Their quality is comparable to that of the Japanese bullets.

Zhang Wanhe laughed from the side, "Hahaha, that's for sure. Look who made these bullets. Little Li can even make cannons and rocket launchers, so making mere bullets is nothing."

Old He laughed too: "From now on, who will complain about the poor quality of bullets made in our border region when you guys are carrying guns!"

Li Muzhi smiled faintly and said, "We've only fired one bullet. We've tested more than a dozen bullets. Captain, you can give your summary and remarks now."

"Good!" The guard captain nodded, reloaded the gun, and aimed at the new target.

boom!
boom!
boom!
……

The captain of the guard fired all of the dozen or so bullets.

Not a single bullet misfired, or had any quality issues such as trajectory deviation or insufficient range.

The pass rate for the test was 100%, and all the traitors were executed.

The guard captain exclaimed excitedly, "These bullets are just as good as the Japanese bullets! They're so useful! From now on, when we fight the Japanese, we won't have to get them so close to the ground." Previously, the bullets manufactured in the border region were of poor quality; it was difficult to hit accurately even at close range, let alone at long distances.

Letting the Japanese get close to fight was a last resort.

After all, the closer the distance, the slightly higher the hit rate.

Of course, bringing the Japanese soldiers closer to fight also had significant drawbacks.

The Japanese soldiers were already quite good marksmen, and we were at a disadvantage in close-quarters firefights with them.

But there was nothing we could do; our arsenal was too weak to produce good bullets.

Many times, when the soldiers couldn't outshoot the Japanese soldiers, they would charge forward and fight them with bayonets.

This bayonet fighting isn't even the Japanese's style... Sigh, in short, the military industry is lagging behind, and the army suffers the most.

Now, the border region's arsenal can produce good bullets.

This would greatly compensate for the team's lack of long-range combat capabilities and avoid the drawbacks of fighting the Japanese at close range.

"Hahaha." Zhang Wanhe laughed again. "I told you long ago, Little Li can even build cannons, so making these mere bullets is a piece of cake, hahaha."

Old He, standing to the side, said happily to Li Muzhi, "Factory Director, since the live-fire test of the bullets went smoothly, I'll go back and have people start production as quickly as possible."

After saying that, Lao He was about to take a step, not even waiting for Li Muzhi's consent.

"Wait a minute." Li Muzhi called out to Lao He again and instructed, "During the production process, we still need to conduct careful spot checks. Although it is impossible to ensure that every bullet is 100% qualified, we should try our best to guarantee the pass rate."

"Yes, factory manager." Old He happily ran off.

"Captain of the Guard, you should take your men and dispose of these bodies," Li Muzhi said to the captain of the guard.

These traitors are hateful, but their bodies cannot be simply abandoned.

The decomposition of corpses can easily lead to the spread of plague and disease.

"Yes, Director Li." The guard captain immediately led his men to dig the pit.

"Xiao Li, now that the bullets are done, it's time to get on with the conventional shells," Zhang Wanhe said to Li Muzhi with a smile.

Large-caliber steel pipes and white sugar have arrived again, and the hell cannon and shells are still being made.

Bounding mines and hand grenades can also increase production.

Although the test results for the rocket launcher haven't come back yet, it's definitely working properly.

Now that the bullets are made, all that's left is the final conventional shell.

Although our troops captured the enemy's artillery, grenade launchers, mortars, and infantry guns.

However, due to a severe shortage of artillery shells, the captured artillery could not maintain its firepower, which greatly affected the combat effectiveness of the troops.

“Minister Zhang, we do need to make the shells, but there’s another, more important matter.” Li Muzhi turned to Zhang Wanhe and said, “As you can see, the border region’s arsenal is currently producing Hellfire cannons and shells, as well as bounding mines and hand grenades. The rocket launcher tests have passed without problems, so we need to immediately hurry up and make rocket launchers and rocket shells. The bullets have also passed testing and we need to hurry up and start production. This presents a very serious problem.”

"What serious problem?" Zhang Wanhe's expression immediately turned solemn upon hearing Li Muzhi mention a serious problem.

Now that the border region's arsenal is up and running, there's hope for the future every day, and Zhang Wanhe certainly doesn't want any serious problems to arise at the arsenal.

"There's a serious shortage of workers," Li Muzhi said solemnly. "The arsenal is producing more types of weapons and ammunition now, and to ensure this output, we need to guarantee the manpower. Minister Zhang, you have to find a way to supply me with more workers, preferably all experienced ones, not novices."

Li Muzhi's last sentence was a direct implication.

Minister Zhang, you'd better try to find a solution from other arsenals.

It's not that Li Muzhi is rejecting inexperienced newcomers. Our equipment and machines are very valuable. If a novice accidentally breaks them, it will affect production, which is a minor matter.

The worst thing is that the machine might break down and be beyond repair. To put it more bluntly, if a major accident were to occur due to a new operator's mistake, that would be... Therefore, Li Muzhi hoped that Zhang Wanhe could provide him with an experienced operator.

Zhang Wanhe immediately understood Li Muzhi's implication, and his expression turned somewhat troubled: "Little Li, you really know how to give me a difficult problem."

Li Muzhi, you want those specific workers? That's not a big deal, we'll take care of it for you.

Then, regarding those talented people from the Huangyadong Arsenal, I've already been scolded twice by the headquarters leaders, and I still haven't managed to keep them.

Now you're asking me for a large number of skilled workers from other arsenals. Otherwise, you could become the Minister of Logistics.

“Minister Zhang, how about this, we should report this to headquarters and go through them…” Li Muzhi also felt that directly asking Lao Zhang to go to other arsenals to find skilled workers would put a lot of pressure on Lao Zhang.

"No!" Comrade Zhang immediately waved his hand decisively and said, "The headquarters leaders are so busy, how can we disturb them? Let me handle this matter."

In order to retain those few talented people from the Huangyadong Arsenal, the headquarters leaders scolded us twice.

Before this matter was settled, we told the headquarters leaders that we wanted to transfer more skilled workers from other arsenals to the border region arsenals. The headquarters leaders will definitely have to... Oh well, since I can be the head of the logistics department at headquarters, I should be able to handle this matter.

"Minister Zhang, are you sure this can be done?" Li Muzhi asked doubtfully; this was no small matter.

Although the weapons and ammunition manufactured at the border region's arsenal are very important to the troops.

However, other arsenals are also very important.

This bowl of water is probably not so easy to keep level.

"I'll give it a try first," Old Zhang said, not daring to make any guarantees.

“We need to act quickly,” Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe. “Minister Zhang, it’s not that I’m rushing you, but we need to get these skilled workers here as soon as possible so that our weapons and ammunition production can increase sooner. Although I’m not involved in the battlefield situation, I can still tell. Our combat troops have gained so many advantages over the Japanese, and their bloody retaliation will come soon. We must get the weapons and ammunition in the hands of the combat troops as soon as possible. Otherwise, if our border region’s arsenal’s weapons and ammunition production doesn’t keep up, resulting in insufficient combat effectiveness for the troops and being defeated by the Japanese, and if we are forced to relocate, the arsenal’s production will have to stop.”

The objective fact remains that the Japanese are still stronger than us. If the Japanese launch a large-scale mopping-up operation, the consequences of having to move our families would be too great.

Li Muzhi hoped that the troops could withstand the pressure from the Japanese and would not need to relocate again.

Of course, the most important prerequisite is that our arsenal must provide the troops with sufficient and usable weapons and ammunition.

"I know, I know." Comrade Zhang was covered in sweat. The border region's arsenal was developing better and better, logistics were being improved, and there was hope for the future.

I thought my job as the logistics minister would become easier and easier, but alas, I was wrong.

(End of this chapter)