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

Chapter 195 Overjoyed

"Deputy Minister, as of now, a total of nineteen suspicious individuals have stepped on the special tracking powder we have sprinkled."

The assistant came over and reported to Haruno Sato.

Although they called him a suspicious person, it's highly likely that he was indeed a spy for the Eighth Route Army.

"Nineteen spies, the Eighth Route Army is really willing to invest heavily." Sato Haruno was still somewhat surprised when he heard this.

These so-called spies are no ordinary personnel.

These are all experienced veterans of the underground.

Each individual lurking in a key location could pose a significant threat to the Imperial Army.

Rescuing nineteen people at once is like catching nineteen big fish.

“Indeed, nineteen elite personnel—the Eighth Route Army has certainly gone all out.” The assistant nodded and said, “Shall we begin the closing in?”

“Judging by the time, most of the spies that were supposed to come out have already come out.” Sato Haruno nodded. “We can close the net now. We’ll take the military dogs and arrest them one by one. If we’re lucky, we can interrogate a few of the weak-willed regiments and get some intelligence about the arsenal from them, that would be even better.”

Although the possibility is slim, what if it happens?

This is the kind of surprise that intelligence warfare often brings.

Just like fishing in the wild, you never know what kind of fish you'll catch next.

Just as Sato Haruno was about to close the net, someone rushed over in a panicked voice: "Vice Minister, something bad has happened! Three regiments of the Eighth Route Army stationed in Heyuan County are coming at lightning speed!"

Three Eighth Route Army regiments from Heyuan County rushed over.
Upon hearing this, Sato Haruno was immediately stunned: "Baka! Even if they're just pretending in Heyuan County and want to get out of the hands of the reinforcements, they shouldn't be able to do it this quickly, right?"

These three Eighth Route Army regiments rushed over quickly; wouldn't that ruin my plan to catch the big fish?
"The main problem is that the Jin-Sui Army suddenly dispatched a large number of troops. They joined forces with the Eighth Route Army to attack the reinforcements. How could the reinforcements possibly withstand that?" the man explained. "Moreover, the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire swept across the battlefield. Just as you predicted, they weren't short of ammunition at all; they were using shells like they were free. The reinforcements have already retreated and are being pursued by the Jin-Sui Army. Meanwhile, three regiments of the Eighth Route Army are heading straight for us. Vice Minister, the three regiments of the Eighth Route Army are almost here. We probably need to hurry and retreat, or we won't be able to leave."

"Damn it, damn it all!" Sato Haruno stomped his foot angrily. "That damn Fujita Ichiji, that damn idiot!!!"

Sato Haruno now understood why the Eighth Route Army had been feigning ignorance in Heyuan County: they wanted to lure out the Jin-Sui Army and contain their reinforcements.

As for the specific methods the Eighth Route Army used to lure the Jin-Sui Army out, that's no longer important.

The important thing is that the reinforcements are indeed being suppressed by the Jin-Sui Army and are being hunted down.

With no enemies or obstacles, the three regiments of the Eighth Route Army headed straight for this direction.

This shows what!
This shows that the Eighth Route Army had a clear objective: they were not after the other half of the equipment and supplies, but rather they had determined that there was an important copper smelter here.

Three regiments came to search openly, which was much better than having scouts search stealthily.

These thousands of people searched recklessly, like soldiers scattered from beans; it wouldn't be long before they uncovered the copper smelter.

It's all because of that idiot Fujita Ichiji, always thinking he's so clever.

If they had handed over the work to me earlier, the copper smelter could have been secretly moved away sooner, and this mess wouldn't have happened today.

"Vice Minister, the Eighth Route Army's vanguard has arrived. If we don't retreat now, it will be too late." At this moment, someone else came to urge us on.

"Baka, baka, baka!" Sato Haruno cursed three times before having no choice but to quickly retreat.

What a waste of a copper smelter!

What a pity, such a good opportunity to capture Eighth Route Army spies.

Once the scent of the special tracking powder expires, the military dogs can no longer continue tracking.

……

Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Blind Cheng were unaware that when they picked up the transport team halfway and brazenly rushed to the old site of the Cui Village arsenal, they unexpectedly disrupted Sato Haruno's capture plan.

Before the three regiments could even begin their search, one of the veteran underlings, seeing his main force approaching, quickly appeared and said, "Regimental Commander Li, there are three locations that are most likely the Japanese copper smelter. If your troops march towards these three locations, we'll surely see the results."

Although these veteran undercover agents did not find the copper smelter, they continued to secretly screen and eliminate targets.

This greatly narrows the search area for combat troops, saving search time.

"Really? That's great!" Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong quickly took out a map. "Comrade, please mark these three places on the map."

“Okay.” The old underground officer quickly took out a pen, circled three places on it, and said, “We are familiar with the terrain and can lead the way for you.”

"Old Ding, Blind Cheng, how about this, each of our three regiments will pick a place," Li Yunlong said to Ding Wei and Blind Cheng. "Let's see who's lucky enough to find the Japanese copper smelter."

"I'm sure I'll find it," Blind Cheng said confidently. "I'll pick first, no objections?"

"Whatever," Li Yunlong said, indicating that he didn't mind.

Everyone's luck is the same now.

There's no such thing as your chances of winning increasing just because you choose first.

Blind Cheng quickly chose a location, and under the guidance of the old underground member, the 772nd Regiment swiftly departed.

Ding Wei also chose a location and led the new regiment there.

Li Yunlong led the Independent Regiment to their final destination.

Half an hour later!
Li Yunlong cursed as he chopped off the head of the Japanese commander in front of him with a single stroke, yelling, "These damned beasts!"

Li Yunlong's target was a newly built comfort camp by the Japanese, where the Japanese had captured women from civilian families and committed numerous atrocities.

"Commander, many women have nowhere to go, what should we do?" Zhang Dabiao asked.

"Send some of the team back to Old Zhao and let him handle it," Li Yunlong ordered.

"Yes, Commander." Zhang Dabiao went to carry out the order.

"Cut off all the Japanese corpses' genitals!" Li Yunlong was furious and ordered his troops to cut off the Japanese soldiers' genitals and throw them into the wilderness to feed the dogs.

After the troops finished their work, the men sent by Ding Wei arrived and happily reported to Li Yunlong: "Regimental Commander Li, our New First Regiment has found the Japanese copper smelting plant."

"Understood." Li Yunlong nodded, quickly gathered his troops, and headed towards Ding Wei's direction.

……

Although the copper smelter's defenses were not weak, they quickly crumbled under Ding Wei's Hell Cannon attack.

The Japanese garrison could not hold out and quickly fled with some of the elite workers.

"Stop chasing them, forget about the escaped Japanese soldiers and workers," Ding Wei ordered. "The troops should enter the copper smelter as quickly as possible, capture all the remaining workers alive first, remember, capture them alive if possible, and then hurry up and dismantle the equipment and move the supplies."

The direction in which the Japanese soldiers withdrew with some elite troops was the direction Li Yunlong was heading.

He had already notified Li Yunlong, who had led his troops over.

When the two sides encounter each other, Li Yunlong will finish his work in the process.

"Yes, Captain."

Ding Wei's troops filed in.

"Commander Ding, Commander Ding, Commander Ding!" someone shouted from behind.

Ding Wei turned his head and saw that it was actually the brigade commander's guard company commander. Could it be that the brigade commander had arrived?

"Has the brigade commander arrived?" Ding Wei immediately asked the man.

"No, the brigade commander didn't come," the guard company commander explained. "The brigade commander ordered me to protect a dozen or so workers from the border region's arsenal so they could dismantle the machinery. Last time we dismantled the ironworks, Director Li said the furnace wasn't dismantled well. Luckily, the old underground officer led the way, otherwise I wouldn't have found you."

“Okay, okay, no problem. You take them in and start dismantling right away.” Ding Wei nodded immediately and also gave orders to the troops to fully cooperate with the workers at the border region's arsenal.
As Ding Wei had predicted, Li Yunlong ran into a fleeing Japanese army unit on his way there.

Li Yunlong then promptly killed all the Japanese soldiers and ruthlessly tied up these elite workers one by one.

When Li Yunlong arrived at Ding Wei's side, the 772nd Regiment had just arrived as well.

Blind Cheng cursed, "I'm so unlucky. That place is a newly built stronghold by the Japanese."

"Blind Cheng, stop complaining and hurry up and help move the supplies." After saying that, Li Yunlong led the troops into the copper smelter, his face beaming: "If we take a copper smelter back for Brother Li, I wonder how much stuff Brother Li will give us."

"Needless to say, there will definitely be plenty of rocket launchers." Blind Cheng was overjoyed.

The 772nd Regiment has acquired the Hell Cannon, but they haven't had a chance to get the rocket launcher yet.

Now that we've taken this copper smelter back, our 772nd Regiment will have a chance, hehe.

"Gentlemen, I'll take a larger share later, you don't mind, right?" Ding Wei said seriously as he watched the two enter.

"Why should I!" Li Yunlong and Blind Cheng both glared immediately.

“I’m luckier than the two of you,” Ding Wei argued. “It was me who found the copper smelter.”

"Hahaha." Li Yunlong laughed and said, "It sounds like there's some truth to it, but!"

Li Yunlong paused for a moment, then continued, "But I still disagree."

“I disagree too,” Blind Cheng echoed.

……

Although the border region's arsenal had only a dozen or so workers, they were all experienced veterans.

With them directing the dismantling, the dismantling efficiency of this copper smelter was much faster than that of the iron smelter.

Seeing this scene, Li Yunlong said to Ding Wei, "Old Ding, if we could have the border region's arsenal send some workers and technical teams to accompany us every time we go out to work, our dismantling efficiency would be much faster, and we wouldn't damage the machinery and equipment."

"Old Li, that's probably not realistic right now, we'll have to wait," Ding Wei shook his head.

Although Ding Wei did not work at the border region's arsenal, the arsenal now produces so many types of weapons and ammunition that the workers in the arsenal are probably not enough, so how could they possibly send a technical team of workers to our combat troops?

These dozen or so workers in front of me were probably squeezed out by Li Muzhi, who was worried that we would damage the copper smelting furnace again.

Only when factory director Li Muzhi has trained enough skilled workers can this team be assigned to our combat troops.

"That's true." Li Yunlong nodded.

The copper smelter was dismantled and all the materials were loaded onto trucks. The transport team was fully loaded and set off immediately.

Cheng the Blind said to Li Yunlong and Ding Wei, "You two escort the transport team back. I'll take the 772nd Regiment to sabotage the Japanese railway line and dig up an extra section. When the transport team takes the copper smelter back, let them come back to transport rails and sleepers."

Now, the Japanese reinforcements have been chased and bitten by the Jin-Sui Army, and the remaining small fry of Japanese soldiers in these strongholds are not worth mentioning at all.

Three regiments were providing cover for the transport convoy; there was an excess of manpower.

Ding Wei turned to Li Yunlong and said, "Old Li, here's what we'll do: I'll lead the New First Regiment to Morita's base on Kuroshima Island to seize horse feed, and you'll escort the transport team back. Then, you can bring the transport team out to meet me and Regiment Commander Cheng."

"Why wasn't it me who went to Morita's base on Kuroshima to steal horse feed, but you?" Li Yunlong was unwilling.

"It's very simple. I'm asking you to escort the transport team back. You'll be carrying the load on your shoulders. Don't even think about sneaking away until the transport team reaches the arsenal," Ding Wei said seriously.

"Old Ding, don't worry, I promise I'll come back as soon as I steal the horse feed from Kuroshima Morita, and I promise I won't run away," Li Yunlong assured him.

"Do you think I believe it or not?"

"If you don't believe me, fine, but I'm not willing to do this cover-up job anyway."

“You have no choice but to follow me. The brigade commander said I must stay with you. You cannot act alone while I am away.”

"The brigade commander isn't here, so I'm going to act alone, what are you going to do about it!"

Blind Cheng suggested from the side: "Why don't you two play rock-paper-scissors?"

In the end, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei played rock-paper-scissors.

Ding Wei chose rock, Li Yunlong chose scissors, and Li Yunlong lost.

Enraged, Li Yunlong kicked Cheng the Blind: "You son of a bitch, Cheng the Blind, what kind of terrible idea are you coming up with?"

Li Yunlong had no choice but to silently protect the transport team as they returned.

Cheng the Blind and Ding Wei split up into two groups: one went to the railway line, and the other went to the base of Kuroshima Morita.

(End of this chapter)