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

Chapter 199 Waiting for that day!
Not only did Li Yunlong's expression change, but Kong Jie's expression also changed drastically.

The two quickly turned their heads to look at the distant horizon, where several black dots were flying rapidly towards them.

Immediately, someone shouted, "Enemy planes are coming! Take cover! Take cover!"

Neither Li Yunlong nor Kong Jie needed to give orders; their respective troops quickly dispersed and concealed themselves.

The transport team quickly moved into the woods and dispersed to take cover.

As these planes approached from afar, everyone's hearts were in their throats.

Although Li Muzhi was very capable, he did not create any anti-aircraft weapons.

Even now, we still can't do anything about the Japanese planes.

This is where the arsenal is located. If the Japanese planes spotted this place and dropped bombs, it would be no joke.

Li Muzhi, who was testing tungsten ore in his office, also heard the sound of Japanese plane engines.

He was not alarmed. The border region's arsenal was built in cave dwellings, which were just as effective as air-raid shelters. The walls were thick and there was no fear of Japanese bombs.

Looking out the window at the Japanese planes, Li Muzhi's expression was still somewhat...unpleasant.

In the TV series, Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County sparked a strong response from various units, plunging northwestern Shanxi into chaos.

Even when Li Yunlong surrounded Lieutenant General Shinotsuka's favorite special forces team in Ping'an County and used Italian artillery to kill Yamamoto Ichiki, no planes appeared.

At the time, Li Muzhi was still a little puzzled as to why the Japanese planes hadn't appeared.

Even though most of the Japanese planes were in the hands of the navy, the army did have a few planes, though not many.

Later, Li Muzhi checked the records and found that when the Japanese First Army was formed, it was not equipped with aircraft.

The army's operational methods rely primarily on ground forces.

Now that the plane has appeared, this is an extremely dangerous sign.

Time is probably running out for the border region's arsenal.

Unfortunately, the conditions at the border region's arsenal were too poor to produce seamless steel pipes.

Once we can manufacture seamless steel pipes, we must prioritize building anti-aircraft weapons.

This curbed the Japanese air superiority, which not only reduced the battlefield pressure on our troops but also prevented the Japanese aircraft from conducting reconnaissance to gather intelligence and bomb our logistics.

"Factory manager, when will you be able to manufacture anti-aircraft weapons?" Lao He came to Li Muzhi's office.

Old He harbored an instinctive hatred for Japanese aircraft.

Lao He's wife and children were all killed by bombs dropped by Japanese planes.

Although he has now remarried and has new children, it does not mean that the hatred has faded.

Lao He was in poor health and unable to fight the Japanese on the battlefield, so he could only devote all his energy to military production.

I can't kill the Japanese devils myself, so I'll manufacture weapons and ammunition and let others kill them for me.

Of course, due to the poor conditions at the border region's arsenal, the bullets and grenades produced were of poor quality, making it difficult for Lao He to realize his wish.

The reason why Lao He was the first to change his attitude and support Li Muzhi when his Hell Cannon proved effective lies in this.

The reason why Lao He now respects and loves Li Muzhi so much is not only because Li Muzhi has outstanding military capabilities, but also because Li Muzhi can make Lao He's revenge more satisfying and fulfilling.

"Old He, don't worry, I won't let the Japanese planes fly over our heads for too long." Li Muzhi held Old He's hand tightly.

Li Muzhi was certainly aware of Lao He's hatred.

Not only Lao He, but many workers in the arsenal also had a deep-seated hatred for Japanese planes.

"Yes, factory manager, I'll be waiting for that day."

……

Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

After searching the area and finding no signs of attack, several Japanese planes turned around and quickly left in other directions.

As soon as the Japanese planes left, Lao He said to Li Muzhi, "Factory Director, you continue with your work, I'm going to get back to work."

"Okay." Li Muzhi nodded. After Lao He left, he immediately threw himself into the work of continuing to examine the tungsten sand in front of him.

Outside, watching the Japanese planes leave, Zhang Wanhe breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank God, God bless us, those damned planes didn't find this place."

If the Japanese planes were to spot this place, it would be a nightmare.

The border region's arsenal is not what it used to be. It's a large and complex business, and moving it with its own family is no easy task.

Moreover, Li Muzhi also said so.

The iron smelting furnace cannot be stopped, otherwise, it will easily develop cracks and become unusable.

In this way, iron cannot be smelted.

"Don't move anything, don't unload anything. Wait until dark to move things, in case the Japanese planes turn back," Zhang Wanhe ordered.

These are lessons learned from past painful experiences; Japanese planes often launched surprise attacks.

They pretended to fly away, then quickly returned a while later, giving the ground personnel no time to hide or conceal supplies. "Yes, Minister Zhang." The transport team members also remained hidden in place, making no other moves.

Zhang Wanhe moved closer to Li Yunlong and asked, "Commander Li, did you provoke this plane?"

Although Li Yunlong was capable, he also loved to cause trouble.

Li Yunlong had only been there a short time when the Japanese planes appeared.

Zhang Wanhe couldn't help but wonder if Li Yunlong had provoked the Japanese plane.

Faced with Zhang Wanhe's question, Li Yunlong glared at him: "Old Zhang, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want! Do you think I'm stupid enough to lead Japanese planes toward our arsenal?"

Kong Jie looked at Li Yunlong: "When you attacked the Japanese military train, did Japanese planes appear?"

Kong Jie already knew that Li Yunlong had obtained this large quantity of weapons and ammunition from Japanese military trains.

“No,” Li Yunlong shook his head, cursing, “I don’t know what’s wrong with these Japanese planes. They didn’t appear when we attacked the county town. They didn’t appear when I was dealing with the Japanese mechanized units and cavalry regiments. They didn’t even appear when I attacked the military train. Now they’ve suddenly appeared…”

Li Yunlong stopped talking immediately before he could finish.

In the distance, the plane that had flown away turned back.

"Damn it, those Japanese planes are really cunning. Luckily, I planned to unload the stuff after dark," Zhang Wanhe cursed with relief.

"Old Kong, I'll give you the cannon and shells right away," Li Yunlong said quickly to Kong Jie. "Ding Wei and Blind Cheng are still working outside; I need to go and meet them."

Although Li Yunlong didn't know why the Japanese planes had suddenly appeared, he realized it wasn't a good thing.

"Old Li, why don't you take these cannons and shells with you, bring those two back, and then you can give them to me," Kong Jie said.

"No need, I have enough artillery firepower," Li Yunlong waved his hand.

He could keep thirty grenade launchers and mortars, one Type 92 infantry gun, and one Hellfire cannon, which would be enough firepower.

Carrying too many weapons and ammunition results in excessive firepower surplus, which also affects the mobility of the troops.

As for what rewards or compensation Li Muzhi will give for moving the copper smelter back, that's something we can't worry about for now; we'll talk about it later.

If Blind Cheng and Ding Wei hadn't been brought back, the brigade commander would have burned himself alive!

"Alright then." Kong Jie didn't stand on ceremony and immediately ordered his men to take over the artillery and shells from Li Yunlong's side.

Li Yunlong also gave half of the light and heavy machine guns, and then said to Kong Jie, "Old Kong, the appearance of Japanese planes today is not a good sign. Who knows, the Japanese might invade the arsenal one day. If Old Ding and I can't send reinforcements in time, the arsenal will be entirely in your hands."

"Old Li, don't worry, if those little devils dare to come, I'll cook them a pot of iron-clad meat soup!" Kong Erlengzi said proudly.

Li Yunlong didn't say much. After giving the items to Kong Jie, he waited until the Japanese planes flew away again. After waiting for a while and not seeing them again, Li Yunlong hurriedly led his troops away.

……

In several remote villages more than ten kilometers away from the border region's arsenal, Gao Liujin and Gao Xigang led their troops to hide.

Watching the Japanese planes fly away, Gao Liujin cursed, "Why did those little devils' planes suddenly appear? They've really delayed our plans. It seems we'll have to wait until dark to transport the captured supplies to the arsenal."

There are too many of these things, making them a big target. Since the Japanese planes have already come out, we can't move them during the day.

Otherwise, it's a minor issue if we expose ourselves.

If the Japanese planes followed the clues and found our border region's arsenal, that would be disastrous.

Gao Xigang untied the bag containing the grayish-black granules, grabbed a handful, looked at them, and then threw them back. He said to Gao Liujin, "Do you think the sudden appearance of these Japanese planes might be related to this grayish-black stuff we stole?"

Li Yunlong and his men made such a big commotion that when they attacked the ironworks, no Japanese planes appeared.

Even if it's a small ironworks, it's still valuable.

And now, we've only just attacked the military train and seized this grayish-black thing, and the Japanese planes have already come out.

Therefore, Gao Xigang judged that the Japanese plane was most likely lured out by the fact that we had seized this grayish-black thing.

"If that's really the case, then we'll be cursed to death!" Gao Liujin also grabbed a handful of this thing, looked at it in front of his eyes, and then carefully put it back, even carefully patting all the dust on his hands into the bag.

In order to get industrial acids and white sugar that could be used immediately to the border region's arsenal, we gave up a lot of black and gray stuff.

If the Japanese plane was indeed lured out by this grayish-black thing, then this is... quite obvious.

White sugar and industrial acid are probably not as valuable as this grayish-black stuff!

It's not even worth a fraction of what this thing is worth!

We've lost the watermelon but brought back a sesame seed; we're sure to get scolded when we get back.

and!

Now the Japanese planes have provoked us.

Now that we have airplanes, it will be much more difficult for us to go back and retrieve the other gray and black supplies.

After all, if the Japanese can deploy aircraft, how could they lack ground support?

Perhaps at this moment, Okamura, the commander of the North China Expeditionary Army, has already swiftly dispatched troops to provide reinforcements.

(End of this chapter)