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

Chapter 174 The Brigade Commander's Dark Face
386th Brigade Headquarters

"Brigade Commander, intelligence reports that Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie have successfully entered the mountains with a large amount of captured goods and headed towards the arsenal. Judging by the time, they should have arrived at the arsenal by now."

The deputy brigade commander approached the brigade commander, his voice trembling with excitement, "They must have successfully captured the Japanese Cuicun arsenal, so we don't need to risk sending troops."

"Hahaha." The brigade commander laughed loudly. "I knew Li Yunlong was capable. Damn it, so many Japanese troops were chasing and intercepting him, but he still managed to run back. If we take the profits from the arsenal to Director Li, we can get a lot more Hellfire cannons, and we can also arrange to get the rocket launchers."

Immediately afterwards, the brigade commander asked curiously, "Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie must have seized a lot of things during their robbery of the Cui Village arsenal. They can't move very fast, so how did they manage to escape the Japanese pursuit?"

The deputy brigade commander explained with a smile, "Brigade commander, I received news from the Jin-Sui Army that, apart from the 358th Regiment, all other units of the Jin-Sui Army have been defeated. I heard that the cavalry regiment led by Kuroshima Morita, which attacked the 358th Regiment, lost more than a thousand warhorses. I reckon Chu Yunfei certainly doesn't have that kind of capability, and those thousand-plus warhorses must have fallen into the hands of Li Yunlong and his men. Because Li Yunlong and his men used more than a thousand warhorses to carry equipment and supplies back, so they were very fast."

Upon hearing this, the brigade commander was somewhat surprised: "You mean that Li Yunlong first took Ding Wei and Kong Jie to help Chu Yunfei fight, and then took the opportunity to steal Kuroshima Morita's military horses and used them as transport vehicles?"

“I think that’s probably the case.” The deputy brigade commander nodded and said, “Not only did Kuroshima Morita’s cavalry regiment suffer heavy losses, but Ueno Village’s mechanized regiment also suffered heavy losses. Li Yunlong and his men must have first severely damaged these two Japanese rapid deployment units to prevent them from being quickly pursued and killed after they obtained the equipment and supplies from the Cui Village arsenal.”

"Haha." The brigade commander laughed again. "Li Yunlong did a really good job this time. Now that he's back, I've been worrying about what reason to use to take the warhorse from him. It's not easy to find a reason."

These are thousands of warhorses, let alone a brigade commander.

Even if the division commanders knew, they would still be envious.

Last time, half of the horses and equipment that the brigade commander seized from Li Yunlong were taken by the division commander.

"If you can't find a reason, just make one up. Li Yunlong's skinny arms can't possibly twist your thick legs, Brigade Commander," the deputy brigade commander laughed.

"Hahaha, that makes sense, that makes sense." The brigade commander laughed heartily.

The deputy brigade commander then reported: "Also, the intelligence officer reported that the railway section near Zhangjiacun will be repaired and open to traffic by noon tomorrow. What do you think, should we prepare to launch an attack?"

The brigade commander asked, "Has our old comrade who replaced Kameda Yamamoto sent any information about the Japanese military trains' transport?"

“He’s only just gone undercover, it’s not that fast yet,” the deputy brigade commander replied. “He also needs time to gradually familiarize himself with the work, we can’t rush that.”

Then, the deputy brigade commander continued, "However, the Japanese have repaired the railway section at Zhangjiacun. We can easily guess what supplies their military trains will be transporting—it will definitely be provisions and weapons and ammunition."

The Japanese troops didn't gain much from attacking the Jin-Sui Army and their elite troops, and they also depleted a lot of their supplies, weapons, ammunition, and other materials.

Therefore, their military trains would definitely prioritize transporting these.

"That's true." The brigade commander nodded and said, "Now that those little devils are going to restore their railway, we should hurry up and take them down again, cut off their railway line, and destroy their road transport as well. Those little devils' army won't be getting any logistical support!"

As long as the Japanese army cannot receive timely replenishment of supplies and ammunition, their combat effectiveness cannot be fully realized.

Suppressing the Japanese army's fighting capacity will benefit our subsequent struggle.

The deputy brigade commander nodded: "Isn't the 120th Division also trying to seize the Japanese military train? The arsenal is also sending people to dismantle the locomotives. If we do this, it will indirectly contain the Japanese reinforcements and indirectly support them."

The 120th Division had informed the 129th Division beforehand that they were planning to rob a Japanese military train.

After all, such a big matter definitely needs to be communicated to neighboring units.

Dismantling the Japanese locomotives takes time, and neighboring units must try their best to hold back large numbers of Japanese reinforcements.

Since we've set up Japanese railway lines and trains here, the Japanese troops here won't be able to reinforce the 120th Division anymore.

The brigade commander sighed, "It's a bit of a pity, we can't dismantle the locomotive."

The deputy brigade commander was quite philosophical about it: "Brigade commander, why are you just like Li Yunlong, always trying to take advantage of every opportunity? Besides, as long as those Japanese military trains are still running on the railway, why should we worry about not being able to get our hands on a locomotive?"

"Hahaha, that's true, that's true. I guess my vision is a bit narrow, hahaha." The brigade commander laughed.

That is absolutely true.

As long as the Japanese military trains are still running on the railway, we will never lack locomotives.

Whenever the border region's arsenal needs locomotives, just give the word, and I'll find any section of railway, intercept a train, and get to work.

With a strong weapon in hand, we have the confidence to do anything.

The deputy brigade commander remembered something and said, "Brigade commander, I've received another small lead."

"What clue?" the brigade commander asked suspiciously.

"An intelligence officer reported that they discovered the newcomer, Haruno Sato, has been secretly tinkering with something."

"what?"

"The specifics are still unclear; the intelligence officers need time to investigate," the deputy brigade commander replied.

"Have our intelligence agents find out what Sato Haruno is secretly working on," the brigade commander said solemnly. "He's very likely plotting something."

Although Sato Haruno had just been parachuted in, the brigade commander and he hadn't even fought each other yet.

However, the brigade commander had already obtained some information from the intelligence department that this Sato Haruno was the deputy director of the Japanese military police headquarters.

The Japanese soldier who managed to get to this position was definitely not an ordinary person.

"Yes, Brigade Commander, I'll go then." The deputy brigade commander had barely left when someone ran up to report: "Reporting, Brigade Commander, Regiment Commander Li and Regiment Commander Ding have returned."

"Hahaha, let them in quickly..." The brigade commander was so happy that he stopped halfway through his sentence and immediately changed his mind: "Never mind, never mind, I'll go out and greet them myself."

Of course, when he left the brigade headquarters, the brigade commander still deliberately kept a dark expression on his face.

We have to resort to underhanded tactics, otherwise how can we get the military horses from Li Yunlong?

As the brigade commander walked out of the brigade headquarters, he immediately saw the military horses that Li Yunlong and Ding Wei had brought back.

The brigade commander couldn't help but smile.

Thousands of warhorses! We've struck it rich!

Of course, the brigade commander immediately wiped the smile from his lips and reverted to his stern face.

Upon seeing the brigade commander emerge, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei immediately saluted: "Brigade Commander."

Then, before the brigade commander could speak, Li Yunlong asked suspiciously, "Brigade commander, why do you look so pale? Did Blind Cheng upset you again?"

The brigade commander, his face dark, glared at Li Yunlong and cursed, "Li Yunlong, don't play dumb with me! Of my five regimental commanders, besides you, who else could possibly anger me?"

Li Yunlong protested, "Brigade Commander, you're really wronging me..."

"I've wronged you!" the brigade commander interrupted, "You brought over Japanese military dogs earlier, and while you pretended to be respectful to me, you secretly obtained intelligence about the Japanese Cuicun arsenal. Why didn't you report it?"

"Brigadier, I was just trying to give you a surprise," Li Yunlong explained with a forced smile. "Besides, when I brought Lao Ding out, didn't I tell him to send someone to report to you? What's wrong? Did Lao Ding forget to send someone? Damn it, Lao Ding, did you forget to send anyone?"

When Li Yunlong spoke last, he turned his head and glared at Ding Wei.

Ding Wei was speechless. "You old Li, it was clearly the brigade commander who was dealing with you, why are you dragging me into this?"

Ding Wei didn't argue with Li Yunlong, but looked at the brigade commander and asked, "Brigade commander, did the communications officer I sent not arrive at the brigade headquarters?"

"We've arrived." The brigade commander nodded and praised, "Ding Wei, you did the right thing. Unlike Li Yunlong, who tries to hide everything from me, you must report anything to me promptly from now on."

"Yes, Brigade Commander." Ding Wei was pleased to receive the praise.

Li Yunlong, who was standing nearby, shouted, "Brigade Commander, look, look! You yourself admitted that Ding Wei sent someone to tell you. I'm not hiding anything from you, am I?"

"Ding Wei reporting is Ding Wei's duty. You reporting is your duty. Ding Wei has fulfilled his duty. What about your duty? Have you fulfilled your duty?" the brigade commander pointed out.

“Brigade Commander, this is unreasonable…” Li Yunlong was about to continue shouting when Ding Wei stopped him: “Old Li, let me report to the brigade commander.”

Ding Wei could tell that the brigade commander was deliberately putting on a dark face; he was after their warhorses.

If you, Lao Li, continue arguing with the brigade commander on this topic, you'll be led by the nose and put in a passive and disadvantageous position.

If you continue like this, all our military horses will fall into the hands of the brigade commander.

"Alright, alright, Lao Ding, come here, you report on your work." After Ding Wei pressed the button, Li Yunlong finally realized what was going on.

The brigade commander has set a trap for himself, and he's foolishly walking right into it.

Old Ding saw things more clearly.

Next, it's up to Lao Ding to see how he deals with the brigade commander.

These two hundred military horses of ours are not given to Ding Wei for nothing.

Ding Wei reported to the brigade commander, "Brigade commander, this time I'm going out with Li Yunlong..."

Ding Wei described the details of the operation in great detail, and concluded: "Although the equipment and supplies of the Cui Village Arsenal are less, Li Yunlong and I have brought back the workers and managers of the Cui Village Arsenal. Of course, we didn't bring them directly to the brigade headquarters, but left them outside. As long as you, Brigade Commander, can find out the location of the Japanese's next large arsenal from them, we can make up for this regret."

"Yes, if we can get clues about the Japanese's next large-scale arsenal by interrogating these workers and managers, that would be a really great thing." The brigade commander looked quite excited.

Although the materials and equipment of the Cuicun arsenal were not safely retrieved, the workers and managers were taken. Among them, there must be some who know clues about the next arsenal.

"Go and make arrangements for the people." The brigade commander quickly summoned a brigade staff officer and asked him to conduct a preliminary screening and processing of these workers and managers.

After the initial screening, the brigade commander personally took charge.

"Yes, brigade commander." The brigade staff officer accepted the order and left.

The brigade commander looked at Ding Wei with a smile: "So, what did Xiao Li give you when he handed over the equipment and supplies from the Cui Village arsenal?"

Although the equipment and materials for the Cui Village arsenal were incomplete, the raw materials for making bullets and shells were plentiful and complete, which was of great significance.

And the skilled workers they brought back were exactly the kind of human resources that the border region's arsenal desperately needed.

Once the screening and approval processes are modified, it will be usable.

Therefore, this job is quite valuable, and Li Muzhi certainly won't be stingy with the money.

(End of this chapter)