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

After Chapter 173, we're no longer afraid of being robbed by the brigade commander.
Taking advantage of the moment when Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie were in high spirits, Zhang Wanhe spoke up: "Gentlemen, don't get too excited yet. Is there something you've forgotten?"

"Have we forgotten something?" Li Yunlong and the other two looked at Zhang Wanhe.

"You brought back over a thousand military horses, right? Would you like some too?" Zhang Wanhe said with a grin, "Don't worry, the price will definitely be fair."

"Go away, you old Zhang, don't even think about coveting our warhorses. These are for building our cavalry." Li Yunlong immediately glared at him.

However, Li Yunlong still had someone bring over Kuroshima Morita's mount and said to Li Muzhi, "Brother Li, this is Kuroshima Morita's warhorse. I'm giving it to you."

Kuroshima Morita's warhorse?
Upon hearing this, Li Muzhi paused for a moment.

Li Muzhi was certainly no stranger to Kuroshima Morita.

In the TV series, Li Yunlong's cavalry company was surrounded by a Japanese cavalry regiment while covering the regimental headquarters' breakout. The regimental commander of this cavalry regiment was Kuroshima Morita.

Unexpectedly, Li Muzhi managed to steal Kuroshima Morita's warhorse.

The military horse in front of me is well-fed and strong; it is indeed a fine horse.

"Commander Li, thank you." Li Muzhi accepted the gift without hesitation.

Zhang Wanhe approached Li Yunlong and said, "Commander Li, how about you send me one too?"

"You old Zhang, you never miss out on anything," Li Yunlong cursed, but still said, "Fine, I'll give you one too."

Li Yunlong also had another military horse brought out and gave it to Zhang Wanhe.

"I told you to send one horse, and you actually sent one?" Zhang Wanhe said, pulling on the reins and scoffing. "You might have a horse, but you probably don't have enough fodder. Can you afford to feed it?"

“Old Zhang, whether I can afford to support him or not is my own business, you don’t need to worry about it.” Li Yunlong handed Zhang Wanhe a message, and then said to Li Muzhi, “Brother Li, the rocket launcher test is finished. This rocket launcher works very well, I don’t think it needs any modifications. Why don’t you give me all twelve rocket launchers that were tested?”

Before Li Muzhi could speak, Zhang Wanhe exclaimed from the side, "You, Li Yunlong, I knew you weren't that generous. So you sent the military horses for these twelve rocket launchers?"

"I haven't received the data for this rocket launcher yet," Li Muzhi reminded him.

"Yes, yes, I was so happy that I forgot such an important detail." Kong Jie immediately took out his notebook and handed it to Li Muzhi.

The data in this notebook was not recorded by Kong Jie, but rather by the military's official documents.

Li Muzhi took it and looked at it. Li Yunlong said from the side, "Brother Li, your rocket launcher is really useful. I think we can just start producing it directly."

Ding Wei said, "If we could fix the problem of the exhaust flame, it would be even more perfect."

Old He interjected, "Commander Ding, aren't you being a bit too greedy? Every weapon has its flaws. These rockets rely on propellant for launch, and combustion produces a tail flame."

"Hehe, that's true." Ding Wei chuckled.

After reviewing the data and confirming that there were no problems, Li Muzhi said to Li Yunlong and Ding Wei, "Gentlemen, you should go back first. I won't see you off. The arsenal is quite busy."

Li Muzhi did not respond to Ding Wei's topic.

To reduce the plume of rockets, later generations have tried to minimize it as much as possible. To completely eliminate the plume, the only way would be to use drones carrying bombs.

Drone warfare has become a mainstream combat method in later wars.

When the conditions are right, Li Muzhi will naturally want to develop drones as well.

"Brother Li, aren't you going to give me these twelve rocket launchers?" Li Yunlong didn't take a step.

"There are still some details that need to be improved," Li Muzhi casually offered as an excuse.

Next, Gao Liujin needs to seize the military train; he needs a rocket launcher.

"Alright then, Lao Ding and I will go back first. You can send someone to deliver the rocket launchers and Hell Cannons to us later." Although Li Yunlong really wanted to take the twelve rocket launchers, Li Muzhi was the authority.

Since he said there are details that need to be improved, then we should listen to his opinions.

Li Yunlong left with Ding Wei.

Kong Jie returned all twelve rocket launchers to Li Muzhi, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he approached Li Muzhi and said, "Director Li, well, there's something I'd like to trouble you with."

"What is it?" Li Muzhi turned to look at Kong Jie.

"Hehe." Kong Jie rubbed his hands awkwardly, then said, "As you can see, I've been allocated over three hundred warhorses. I'm not fighting now, so what about the fodder for these horses..."

Although Li Yunlong and his men had previously seized hay from the Black Island Morita Cavalry Regiment in Ping'an County, they still needed to raise warhorses.

Before Kong Jie could finish speaking, Zhang Wanhe interrupted him: "Hey, Commander Kong, you don't have any fodder, don't you know to let the horses out to graze? What, you're helping the arsenal mine coal, and we're supporting your people in logistics, and now we have to feed your horses too?"

“Minister Zhang, these warhorses can’t possibly eat grass all the time,” Kong Jie explained. “Can we get an advance? If I perform meritorious service later, we can deduct it from that.”

“Minister Zhang, I think you shouldn’t make things difficult for Commander Kong. You can provide some feed for these three hundred-odd military horses,” Li Muzhi said, turning to Zhang Wanhe.

Who knows when Kong Jie's more than three hundred military horses will come in handy, so we can't let them go to waste.

“Alright, Commander Kong, since Xiao Li has spoken up, I’ll provide the resources.” Zhang Wanhe nodded and added, “You said it yourself, you’ll get the money from it when you make a contribution later.”

“No problem, sure, sure.” Kong Jie nodded repeatedly.

We have the Hell Cannon now, thirty rocket launchers, plus a cavalry battalion. We can mine coal and take a couple of battles in our spare time. No problem.

With the horse feed deal settled, Kong Jie said to Li Muzhi, "Director Li, I'm going to rest now." "Okay," Li Muzhi nodded.

After Kong Jie and his men left, Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe and Lao He, "Minister Zhang, you and Lao He should put these equipment and supplies into storage. I still need to work on the shells."

“Okay, okay, no problem, no problem.” Zhang Wanhe nodded immediately.

Li Muzhi returned to the arsenal to continue producing conventional artillery shells, and Lao He and Zhang Wanhe happily put the equipment into storage.

……

On the way back, Li Yunlong was so happy that he was spitting as he spoke: "Hahaha, Lao Ding, now you and I both have two Hell Cannons! Liu Weidong is so awesome, but he only has one. Hahaha, we've crushed that scholar."

As for Gao Liujin, Li Yunlong didn't even mention him anymore; that guy was simply not worthy of being our opponent.

Ding Wei said, "Old Li, let's not be too happy yet. Although Liu Weidong only has one Hell Cannon right now, he has acquired large-caliber steel pipes and 6,000 catties of white sugar. He will definitely exchange them for the Hell Cannon. Even if his superiors want to rob him, he will probably have two Hell Cannons by now."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong immediately cursed, "Damn it, I had completely forgotten about this if you hadn't mentioned it. It seems we need to hurry up and take the workers back for the brigade commander to interrogate them and find out the location of the Japanese's next arsenal. If we take over this next big arsenal, we can finally suppress that scholar guy completely."

"Let's put the interrogation of the workers aside for now. I have a feeling that once we get back, the Hell Cannon might be robbed by the brigade commander. After all, the 772nd and 771st Regiments are still empty-handed," Ding Wei warned.

Ding Wei is a man with a broad perspective. When the brigade commander saw that we and Li Yunlong had brought back two more hell cannons, he would definitely treat everyone equally, considering the bigger picture.

Therefore, the brigade commander was bound to rob them.

"Why should we? It's none of our business if the 772nd and 771st Regiments are empty-handed. They're incompetent, so they shouldn't even get a bowl of soup!" Li Yunlong cursed.

“Old Li, complaining won’t solve anything. It’s almost certain that the brigade commander will rob our hell cannons and give them to the 772nd and 771st Regiments. We can’t fight against the brigade commander’s big legs. We’d better think of a solution soon.”

"Old Ding, you strategist, have you come up with some ideas?" Li Yunlong turned to look at Ding Wei, as if Old Ding had a way to solve the problem.

In the past, when we tried to make money, the brigade commander would always rob us, which annoyed us greatly. We were no match for him.

Now that Lao Ding has a way to deal with the brigade commander, that's a good thing.

If I get rich again, I won't be afraid of being robbed by the brigade commander.

"Our Hell Cannon isn't so easy to take," Ding Wei said seriously. "The 772nd and 771st Regiments thinking they can just get it for free? It's not that simple, so..."

Ding Wei paused for a moment, then continued, "So, we're asking the 772nd and 771st Regiments for veterans. What do you think?"

Although the Independent Regiment and the New 1st Regiment replenished their ranks at Concentration Camp No. 9.

However, with the continuous fighting, the casualties of the troops gradually increased.

We don't want new recruits for logistics; we prefer veterans.

The 772nd and 771st Regiments have many veterans, many of whom have crossed snow-capped mountains and grasslands. These are the elites who have been tested by time, and each one is extremely valuable.

Take this opportunity to replenish our troops from the 772nd and 771st Regiments; this will definitely boost our unit's combat effectiveness and lead to a great victory.

"Hahaha." Li Yunlong burst into laughter upon hearing this. "Old Ding, you've got a really cunning idea. How come I didn't think of that? Right, if the 772nd and 771st Regiments want us to share their Hell Cannons, they'll have to trade them veterans. Damn it, I'm not going to do a losing business."

After recounting how the brigade commander was about to rob the Hell Cannon, Ding Wei continued, "The brigade commander will probably be envious of the military horses we're taking back, especially you, Lao Li. Your seven or eight hundred military horses are definitely tempting the brigade commander."

"No way! I won't give it to you, even if you kill me!" Li Yunlong shouted immediately. "Last time, we had Lao Kong steal a whole cavalry battalion's worth of horses and equipment from Wanjia Town, but the brigade commander took most of it, leaving only my cavalry company. Now he wants to steal it again, why should he?"

"Old Li, complaining won't do you any good."

"Old Ding, have you come up with another solution for me?" Li Yunlong asked expectantly.

"Why should I help you with your troubles? Figure it out yourself." Ding Wei adopted an indifferent attitude, as if it were none of his business.

"Old Ding, you son of a bitch, I knew it, you're still after my horses." Li Yunlong cursed, then said, "How about this, if you can solve the problem of the brigade commander robbing the horses, I'll give you a hundred of these horses."

Li Yunlong knew that Lao Ding was the kind of guy who wouldn't do anything without a profit.

The brigade commander hasn't even robbed me yet, and you're already eyeing me.

However, Li Yunlong also understood that if the brigade commander really robbed them, it wouldn't be as simple as just a hundred horses.

"Two hundred horses, I suppose," Ding Wei said.

"Old Ding, you son of a bitch!" Li Yunlong roared. "If I hadn't dragged you along to make a fortune, you wouldn't even have these three hundred-plus warhorses. You don't even remember the good I did for you, and now you're taking advantage of my misfortune!"

"Old Li, don't you think about it? You have seven or eight hundred military horses, while I only have a little over three hundred. If the brigade commander isn't keeping an eye on you, is he going to keep an eye on me?" Ding Wei said seriously. "You're just attracting attention because you're so successful!"

"If I give you two hundred horses, will I not attract attention?" Li Yunlong questioned.

By then, we'll have about the same number of military horses as Ding Wei, so the brigade commander won't rob us anymore?

If things go wrong, you, Old Ding, might become the brigade commander's target for robbery too.

"Give me two hundred warhorses, and I'll have a way," Ding Wei said confidently.

"Alright, I'll give you two hundred horses. Tell me, what's your plan?" Li finally nodded.

To reiterate, if it were a brigade commander robbing, it wouldn't be as simple as just two hundred horses.

(End of this chapter)