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

Chapter 197 The Ultimate Weapon

Li Muzhi arrived at the canteen.

Whether they were workers from the border region's arsenal or skilled craftsmen from other arsenals.

They greeted each other with great respect and enthusiasm:

"Hello, director."

"Hello, Director Li."

……

"Okay, okay, okay, everyone is well, thank you for your hard work." Li Muzhi responded with a smile.

When they arrived at the food window, the lady serving the food scooped up a large spoonful of meat for Li Muzhi, but Li Muzhi returned half of it.

"Auntie, give me half vegetables. We can't just eat meat," Li Muzhi said with a smile.

"Director Li, Minister Zhang specifically instructed that you should get extra meat; look how thin you've become," the woman serving the food said with a smile.

"Being thinner is healthier," Li Muzhi insisted, demanding half vegetables.

The old lady serving the food had no choice but to give in to Li Muzhi and gave him half a serving of vegetables.

Seeing this scene, Liang Yuanze couldn't help but say to Lao He, "Lao He, your factory director Li eats the same food as the workers. Doesn't Minister Zhang give them any special treatment?"

In response to Liang Yuanze's question, Lao He said in a serious tone, "Look at our meals, is there any difference between this and having special meals prepared for us?"

"Well, well, there's no difference." Liang Yuanze paused for a moment; the food at the border region's arsenal was indeed too good.

To put it bluntly, even some arsenals that offer special meals can't compare to the quality of the food served in the main dining area.

Lao He explained, "Previously, Minister Zhang did indeed want to provide special meals for our factory director because the headquarters leaders had ordered Minister Zhang to take good care of his meals. Our factory director insisted on dining in the restaurant, so Minister Zhang had no choice but to upgrade the dining service to special meals."

"Hahaha." Liang Yuanze couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this. "Wouldn't Minister Zhang be at a huge loss?"

If Minister Zhang, who is so stingy, were to adopt a dine-in service model, wouldn't that significantly increase the costs?

For Minister Zhang, who had to stretch every penny to two, this was a death sentence.

Of course, Liang Yuanze felt a greater sense of approval for Li Muzhi.

He insisted on dining in the restaurant with the workers, which forced Minister Zhang to raise the prices of the workers' meals as well.

No wonder the workers respected him so much; it wasn't just because Li Muzhi had military industrial capabilities, but also because of his personal charisma.

With workers well-fed and well-hydrated, their health was excellent, and military production naturally reached its peak.

“Minister Zhang won’t lose out; he’s much more shrewd,” Lao He said.

On the surface, the upgraded dining standards have increased Minister Zhang's logistical costs.

When the workers are well-fed and physically strong, it has a significant direct impact on military production.

Procuring more weapons and ammunition ensures their quality.

Combat troops take the produced weapons and ammunition to open sources, which reduces the logistical pressure.

Once the combat troops have captured something, they no longer need to rely on logistics for support.

Liang Yuanze, carrying his meal, sat down in front of Li Muzhi: "Director Li, let me introduce myself. My name is Liang Yuanze, and I am the deputy director of the Huangyadong Arsenal."

"Hello, Deputy Factory Director Liang," Li Muzhi greeted him with a smile.

"Director Li, you're too kind. You've given our Huangyadong Arsenal so much equipment. On behalf of our Huangyadong Arsenal, thank you sincerely," Liang Yuanze said.

“Deputy Factory Director Liang, we’re all family, no need for thanks,” Li Muzhi said with a smile. “This is just the beginning. If I need more equipment that I can’t use, I’ll switch to your facilities.”

"Haha." Liang Yuanze laughed heartily, "Director Li, what you said really makes me feel good. I'll be waiting for it."

Immediately afterward, Liang Yuanze asked curiously, "I just heard that you workers were talking about how you're making a new rocket. It can be launched without a cannon barrel?"

The fact that the border region's arsenal had just produced a shoulder-mounted cannon was quite astonishing.

The shock had only just begun when Li Muzhi developed a new type of rocket that didn't require a cannon barrel and could fire the shells directly.

This made Liang Yuanze sigh, "Director Li's energy and inspiration are simply too amazing."

"Deputy Factory Director Liang, if we can get the equipment for this new type of rocket back, and if there's any extra equipment, we should transfer it to your Huangyadong Arsenal so that you can also produce this new type of rocket there," Li Muzhi said.

"Director Li, you're not joking, are you?" Liang Yuanze was shocked again.

Liang Yuanze could foresee that if Li Muzhi could really build a rocket that could fly on its own, there would be no need for cannon barrels to fire it.

This must be one of the most prized weapons from the border region's arsenal.

This trump card weapon, is it going to be directly shared between the border region's arsenal and the Huangyadong arsenal?
That breadth of vision and perspective is truly remarkable.

“Deputy Factory Director Liang, as I said, we are all family. Family doesn’t joke around,” Li Muzhi said solemnly.

As the saying goes, don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Once this new type of rocket was introduced, the Japanese went berserk and had to make other arsenals produce this weapon as well.

Only when this weapon is widely deployed can the Japanese be kept busy dealing with it.

As for Liang Yuanze's belief that these 107mm rockets would become the arsenal's trump card, that's simply not true.

It's just a mere 107mm rocket; it's not even worthy of being considered a trump card.

The real trump card is still stored in Li Muzhi's mind, waiting for the right conditions.

"Haha, Director Li, yes, yes, you're right, we're family." Liang Yuanze laughed heartily again, feeling extremely happy.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah, now I finally understand why Lao Qi and the others volunteered to stay. If it were me, I..."

Liang Yuanze stopped speaking before he realized something was wrong. He had only just arrived at the border region's arsenal, and he was already changing his mind.

If our Factory Director Xu finds out, he'll be skinned alive.

Old He chuckled from the side, "Deputy Factory Director Liang, our border region arsenal is indeed short-handed. If you could..."

"Go away, go away, don't talk nonsense!" Liang Yuanze cut off the topic.

He admitted that the prospects at the border region's arsenal were good, the food was good, and the equipment was sufficient. The key was Director Li, the core figure with great personal charisma, who was also good at building new equipment.

If I could follow him, the future... cough cough!
Why am I getting distracted again?

I'm the deputy director of the Huangyadong Arsenal!
But you must set an example by yourself.

Liang Yuanze stood up with his lunchbox in hand and said to Li Muzhi, "Director Li, my people aren't behaving very well while eating. I'll go and manage them."

The transport team of the Huangyadong Arsenal really behaved badly.

They were all like starving ghosts reincarnated, after all, they had never eaten such good food before. Liang Yuanze's excuse was very good.

Liang Yuanze stood up and left. Lao He smiled at Li Muzhi and said, "Factory Director, I think we can try to win over this Deputy Factory Director Liang."

"Are we lacking in management personnel at our border region's arsenal?" Li Muzhi asked Lao He.

Li Muzhi basically didn't manage things; he left it all to Lao He and a few other managers.

“As the family business grows bigger, there’s bound to be a shortage of managers,” Old He nodded.

What Lao He meant was that it's not so scarce now, but it will definitely become scarce later.

Li Muzhi joked, "What would you do if Deputy Factory Director Liang came and became the deputy factory director?"

Li Muzhi was unaware that Lao He and other managers were all vying for the position of deputy factory director.

Old He paused for a moment, then said with a stiff neck, "I, Old He, am not someone who disregards the overall situation. If Deputy Factory Director Liang can come, and if he is more capable than me, then I will submit to him."

"Hehe." Li Muzhi chuckled and said, "It's not really appropriate to poach a few senior technical talents from the Huangyadong Arsenal and then poach their deputy director as well."

“Didn’t you say that we also need to give them the ability to produce new rockets? If I were the director of the Huangyadong Arsenal, I would take over even the director, let alone a deputy director, it would be worth it.” Lao He immediately expressed his opinion.

“Alright, let’s settle on that then.” Li Muzhi said to Lao He, “Whenever you manage to poach Deputy Factory Director Liang, you can become the deputy factory director of the arsenal in this district.”

As for Deputy Director Liang, who was in charge of excavating the Huangyadong arsenal, Director Xu over there was going to cause trouble.

Li Muzhi didn't care about anything else; the pressure was now on Minister Zhang.

Furthermore, Lao He had hinted that the border region's arsenal was growing too large and needed senior management, so Li Muzhi would definitely have to provide support.

Upon hearing this, Lao He was overjoyed and looked at Li Muzhi: "Factory Director, do you keep your word?"

"When have I ever gone back on my word?" Li Muzhi retorted.

"Hehe." Old He chuckled, then, remembering something, asked, "So, what position did you give Deputy Factory Director Liang when you poached him?"

“He was the deputy director of the Huangyadong Arsenal, so he will naturally remain the deputy director here,” Li Muzhi said.

"So, at that time, he and I will both be deputy factory directors?" Lao He paused.

"What's wrong?" Li Muzhi looked at Lao He. "Why don't you give him your seat?"

Li Muzhi had already thought it all out.

Not only Lao He should be promoted to deputy factory director, but the others can also be promoted to deputy factory director.

The border region's arsenal has grown quite large; perhaps we can consider setting up branch factories sometime.

These deputy factory directors are all managers of the branch factories.

"Hehe, factory director, I'm very clear about my abilities. If I become the deputy factory director, I'll definitely be much more useful than the director." Old He had a bit of a self-praising tone to it.

"Haha." Li Muzhi affirmed, "Yes, I think so too."

"Haha." Old He laughed excitedly.

……

After finishing their meal, Liang Yuanze and his men immediately set off to move more things.

Lao He went along, most likely to give Liang Yuanze a heads-up about poaching people, and Li Muzhi didn't care.

I plan to tour all the workshops first, and then return to the office.

Although rockets are launched using rails.

However, the drawings for the honeycomb-shaped launch tubes can still be prepared in advance.

If the opportunity arises later, we can still make some honeycomb-shaped launch tubes.

Li Muzhi had just finished inspecting the first workshop when Zhang Wanhe appeared, looking like he'd been injected with chicken blood: "Hehe, Little Li, I've traded the official knife for what I needed."

Upon hearing this, Li Muzhi's expression became excited: "Are you sure?"

Two of these items are ordinary supplies, not so easy to obtain.

So fast, and the efficiency is already there!

"Xiao Li, look at my expression, do you think I'm joking with you?"

Zhang Wanhe's expression was very serious. "I've had everything brought over."

"Let's go, to my office right away." Li Muzhi didn't waste any time and immediately had Zhang Wanhe's men move the things to his office.

(End of this chapter)