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

Chapter 190 History Changed
Border Region Arsenal

"Minister Zhang, I've finished writing this report. Here you go."

Li Muzhi handed the completed report to his superior, Zhang Wanhe, with both hands.

"Hey, Xiao Li, you've finally finished writing the report!"

Zhang Wanhe couldn't wait any longer. He sighed and solemnly accepted the report with both hands, as if it were something fragile and he was afraid of breaking it.

Zhang Wanhe took it and eagerly flipped through it.

Although Comrade Zhang was completely clueless about military manufacturing, as the saying goes, "one is influenced by one's company."

By hanging out with Li Muzhi every day, Comrade Lao Zhang gradually began to get involved in the military industry. This blank slate of military industry knowledge began to show its own graffiti.

In addition, Li Muzhi's report was written in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and Comrade Zhang quickly understood the trick, and laughed: "Haha, so that's how it is. If you can't make the cannon barrel, just don't bother with the cannon barrel at all. This new type of rocket can be made, hehehehe."

When Comrade Zhang finished speaking, Mei just kept chuckling.

If the troops can handle the medium artillery and fight the Japanese on the battlefield, then the supplies we capture for our logistics will definitely increase.

"Minister Zhang, don't just keep laughing," Li Muzhi reminded Zhang Wanhe. "You need to hurry up with the sugar."

"Xiao Li, look at you, can't you let me be happy for a little while longer? You always have to spoil the fun at crucial moments..." Zhang Wanhe said this, but still nodded. "Don't worry, once I submit this report to the headquarters leader, the headquarters leader will definitely give the order, and then this sugar will definitely be arranged for you..."

Before Zhang Wanhe could finish speaking, someone came to report: "Reporting to Minister Zhang, Factory Director, Brigade Commander Chen of the 386th Brigade has arrived."

Brigade Commander Chen is here!
Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe paused immediately: "The 120th Division is dismantling the Japanese military trains, and the 386th Brigade is also trying to contain the Japanese reinforcements. Brigade Commander Chen should be at the brigade headquarters, so why would he have time to come to the arsenal? Could it be..."

At this point, Zhang Wanhe laughed and said, "Could it be that someone brought you white sugar?"

“Minister Zhang, if it were white sugar, it should have been delivered earlier,” Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe.

If the 386th Brigade manages to get their hands on white sugar, it's highly likely they'll have captured it from a Japanese military train.

They didn't capture anything from the Japanese train, so Li Muzhi judged that Brigade Commander Chen had come for something else.

Of course, it must have been quite a big deal for Brigade Commander Chen to leave his brigade headquarters and come here.

Li Muzhi stood up: "Minister Zhang, let's go and see what other surprises Commander Chen has brought us."

"Yes, even if it's not white sugar, it'll definitely be some other surprise. Let's go." Zhang Wanhe nodded repeatedly.

Zhang Wanhe and Li Muzhi quickly walked out of the arsenal and saw that Brigade Commander Chen was not carrying a large amount of supplies, but only his guards.

Zhang Wanhe was stunned and said to the brigade commander, "Brigade Commander Chen, did you come to my arsenal empty-handed?"

"Minister Zhang, what's wrong? Coming to the border region's arsenal empty-handed? Have you broken military discipline?" The brigade commander glanced at Zhang Wanhe. "You're not welcoming me?"

"Haha, no, I welcome you, I warmly welcome you!" Zhang Wanhe said with a laugh. "Brigade Commander Chen, you're not staying at the brigade headquarters, but have come to the border region's arsenal. You must have something important to discuss."

"Xiao Li, Lao Zhang, it's like this," the brigade commander explained. "Yan Kai, the deputy director of the arsenal on Commander Yan's side, is very interested in the Hell Cannon's shells and rocket launchers. He's even been throwing gold bars at people. This is most likely on Commander Yan's orders. They want to get our Hell Cannon shells and rocket launchers. I'm here to remind you. Do you think you can take this opportunity to make your move?"

Zhang Wanhe thought the brigade commander was going to say something, but he didn't expect this.

Neither the cannonballs from the Hellfire Cannon nor the rocket launchers can be sold.

Zhang Wanhe immediately said, "Commander Chen, you should also know that we can't possibly sell the shells and rocket launchers for the Hell Cannon, can we?"

The brigade commander did not answer Zhang Wanhe, but turned to look at Li Muzhi: "Little Li, although Commander Yan does not have many machines, he still has some, right? What do you think?"

The brigade commander knew, of course, that these two weapons wouldn't be sold easily. The reason he still came to talk to Li Muzhi was to see if Li Muzhi had any new ideas.

“Brigade Commander Chen, you’re right.” Li Muzhi nodded.

A dead skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

Commander Yan once owned the Taiyuan Arsenal and had a vast fortune.

Before the Taiyuan Arsenal was lost, he still managed to transport some equipment with him.

These facilities are still supplying munitions to the Jin-Sui Army.

Upon hearing Li Muzhi's words, Zhang Wanhe immediately turned his head and glared at him: "Little Li, what do you mean? You're not really planning to sell Hell Cannon shells and rocket launchers, are you? The headquarters leaders would never agree to that."

Not to mention that the headquarters leaders wouldn't agree, I, as the logistics minister, would never agree either.

Although we are fighting the Japanese together, we have different beliefs.

Even after driving the Japanese away, we'll definitely have to fight them again.

Leaking the shell technology and rocket launcher technology of the Hell Cannon to them will only increase the pressure on our own combat troops when we fight the enemy later!

Li Muzhi replied to Zhang Wanhe: "Minister Zhang, as the saying goes, it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who has his eye on you. If someone keeps eyeing you and we don't sell, there's no room for negotiation. I'm afraid this is not a long-term solution."

“Xiao Li, this is no joke.” Zhang Wanhe’s expression immediately became extremely serious. “If our technology is taken over by them, and the Japanese are driven away in the future, they will use this technology to attack us.”

The brigade commander's expression was also serious, but he did not speak.

Li Muzhi's words are not without reason.

Commander Yan is now the highest-ranking officer in the Second World War Zone, while our 18th Group Army is still in his combat order.

It's really not appropriate to leave no room for maneuver at all.

However, this technology is something that cannot be learned by the other side.

Li Muzhi continued, "Minister Zhang, I can prevent them from getting the technology." "Prevent them from getting the technology?" Zhang Wanhe paused, then quickly asked, "How would you do that?"

They're practically throwing gold bars at people; it's like a fat sheep being delivered right to their doorstep.

As long as the enemy cannot obtain the technology, then this business is worth considering.

“We won’t sell the rocket launchers yet; we’ll keep them for ourselves. Besides, the rockets are small and not easy to handle, so…” Li Muzhi paused for a moment, then continued, “The Hell Cannon’s shells are large, so I can find a way to install a self-destruct device inside to prevent disassembly. Once they buy them, the self-destruct device will activate if they try to disassemble them. That way, we won’t have to worry about them cracking the core technology of the shells.”

Hearing Li Muzhi say this, Zhang Wanhe's eyes lit up: "Hehe, as expected of you, Little Li, I knew you wouldn't do something stupid. I didn't know you had this trick up your sleeve."

The bounding mines were equipped with detonation devices to prevent disassembly; once buried, the Japanese had no way to remove them.

The cannonballs of this hell cannon are equipped with self-destruct mechanisms to prevent disassembly, which will prevent them from cracking our technology.

His Jin-Sui Army can buy artillery shells to fight the Japanese, but if he wants to learn the technology, no way!

Remembering something, Zhang Wanhe asked, "How difficult is it to place a self-destruct device inside the cannon shells of this Hell Cannon to prevent disassembly?"

“There are definitely technical difficulties, but we can make a good profit from Commander Yan,” Li Muzhi said calmly.

“But there’s still a problem,” Zhang Wanhe said after thinking for a moment. “If the Jin-Sui Army buys our Hell Cannon shells and hoards them, what will happen when we go to war with them in the future…”

Before Zhang Wanhe could finish speaking, Li Muzhi laughed and said, "That's not a problem either. I can set the expiration date of the shells, for example, they can't be fired normally after a year."

There are still a few years left before the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Setting a one-year validity period can completely eliminate this problem.

"Can't fire properly, hehe, well then, I think that'll do." Zhang Wanhe chuckled, looking at Li Muzhi. "In your opinion, what kind of equipment should we ask Commander Yan for?"

"Of course, it depends on whether Commander Yan has the equipment we need to manufacture new types of rockets," Li Muzhi said directly.

Although the next stage of the Cui Village arsenal might contain the equipment that Li Muzhi needs.

But this is just a judgment at the moment; it's still unknown when Li Yunlong and his men will bring back this large-scale arsenal.

If we could get the equipment from Commander Yan in advance, we would definitely get it started first.

Even if we can't get equipment from Commander Yan, we can get other things.

In short, if they want our things, they have to pay the price.

"Hahaha, that makes sense, that makes sense!" Zhang Wanhe laughed heartily. "If this goes well, we can develop our new type of rocket ahead of schedule. You can put the self-destruct device inside the shell first. I should report to the headquarters leaders in advance..."

The brigade commander, somewhat bewildered, interrupted Zhang Wanhe: "Minister Zhang, what new type of rocket? Aren't your border region's arsenal developing rocket launchers?"

The brigade commander couldn't help but curse in his heart again: How come Kong Jie didn't send me any information in advance? How come his blockhead rusted at the critical moment!

When asked by the brigade commander, Zhang Wanhe kept him in suspense: "Brigade Commander Chen, let me ask you a common-sense question."

"what is the problem."

"Have you ever seen a shell that can fly by itself to kill the enemy?" Zhang Wanhe asked.

"This is ridiculous!" The brigade commander glared. "Without a gun barrel, how are these shells fired?! Old Zhang, are you kidding me...?"

The brigade commander paused abruptly before finishing his sentence, looked at Li Muzhi suspiciously, and then tentatively asked, "Little Li, Old Zhang isn't really joking, is he? You're not really telling me you can build a shell that flies out and kills the enemy, are you?"

The idea that a shell could fly out on its own and kill the enemy is too far-fetched.

This isn't some divine act of conjuring soldiers from beans, nor is it like Sun Wukong's life-saving hair; how could it possibly fly out on its own to fight the enemy?

But Zhang Wanhe was being mysterious and keeping things in suspense. Although the brigade commander thought it was nonsense, he couldn't just reject it outright when his gaze fell on Li Muzhi's face.

The factory director in front of us, Mr. Li, is the kind of guy who built heavy artillery out of a piece of large-diameter steel pipe.

They even figured out how to fire artillery from the shoulder.

Now that he says he can develop his own flying shells, the brigade commander doesn't dare to reject him rashly.

“Brigadier General Chen, there’s no other way. Our border region’s arsenal can’t manufacture cannon barrels, so I had to abandon the cannon barrels and find another way,” Li Muzhi said.

The brigade commander's eyes widened in disbelief: "Little Li, you're not kidding, are you?"

What they mean by that is, they can make it!!!
How could this not shock the brigade commander?

Even though the brigade commander had seen many storms, he couldn't remain calm at this moment.

For hundreds of years, cannonballs have been fired from cannon barrels, but you, Li Muzhi, have changed history!

Of course, the brigade commander cursed Kong Jie several times in his heart: Kong Jie failed to provide such important information to the brigade headquarters in time. This blockhead is really infuriating.

The brigade commander could foresee that if Li Muzhi really developed a shell that could fly on its own, it would be of great significance on the battlefield.

Troops can move quickly while carrying artillery shells, and their concealment is also high. A sudden attack would definitely be surprisingly effective.

If such shells were produced, wouldn't all the combat troops go crazy fighting over them?

If we can't gain the upper hand in advance, Kong Jie really needs to be put to the test... It seems we need to consider whether to find someone else to help the arsenal mine coal.

"Brigade Commander Chen, what are you saying!"

Zhang Wanhe, standing to the side, swaggered and said, "The person standing in front of you right now is Xiao Li. If he says he can make it, then he definitely can! What, you dare to question him!"

(End of this chapter)