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

Chapter 331 Expatriate Technicians
Li Muzhi had barely finished writing down half of the equipment specifications when Lao He rushed over: "Factory Manager, you wanted to see me?"

"Old He, go to the workshop right now and get a few technicians who know the equipment best to come here with me," Li Muzhi said without stopping his pen or looking up.

"Factory manager, the workshop's production schedule is very tight. How many technicians do you specifically need?" Lao He asked.

"As long as production is guaranteed, spare as many as you can," Li Muzhi said.

Although the Japanese took away a lot of equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal, there was still a considerable amount left.

At that time, identifying and verifying whether the equipment is functioning properly will be a considerable workload.

Li Muzhi certainly hoped to send a few more people over, but it mainly depended on Lao He, since the production of weapons and ammunition at the arsenal could not be delayed.

"Okay, I'll go and distribute them." Lao He nodded, without asking Li Muzhi what he needed the technicians for, and quickly went out.

Li Muzhi continued writing furiously, finishing the names of the remaining equipment.

That's not all; Li Muzhi also drew a rough sketch of the approximate outline of these devices.

After the simple drawing was finished, Lao He came over with four technicians: "Factory Manager."

"Old He, I need to send these four technicians out. Please arrange their work accordingly," Li Muzhi said to Old He.

"Yes, factory manager." Old He nodded and left.

"Time is tight, so I'll hold the meeting here." Li Muzhi looked at the four technicians and got straight to the point: "The combat troops have captured equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal. This batch of equipment is currently hidden outside. I need you to go over there to identify and select this batch of equipment and screen the equipment that the border region arsenal needs."

Upon hearing this, the technicians became excited: "Factory manager, is this true? The equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal has been captured by the combat troops?"

They worked at the border region's arsenal all day and never went outside, so they were somewhat out of touch with the news.

Upon hearing that the Taiyuan Arsenal had been taken over, how could he not be shocked?

That was deep in the Japanese territory, the very heartland of Commander Yan's lifeline, and it had actually been captured by the combat troops.

More importantly, with the equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal, the scale of our arsenal can be expanded many times over.

“Of course it’s true.” Li Muzhi nodded and looked at the four of them: “Now I will teach you how to identify the necessary machines and equipment. Watch carefully.”

Li Muzhi displayed the notebook in front of the four people and began to explain it quickly.

About an hour later.

"You've remembered them all, right?" Li Muzhi finished explaining and picked up the water glass on the table to drink some water.

"Factory manager, we've got it all." The four technicians nodded, still somewhat suspicious: "Factory manager, besides the equipment we need, aren't you bringing back the rest?"

“I understand what you mean. Bringing back the other equipment can expand our production scale,” Li Muzhi said solemnly. “The Japanese have definitely set their sights on our border region arsenal. We should actually be moving the factory now, but production is tight, so we have no choice but to continue production and postpone the relocation. These pieces of equipment that can expand production should be moved to the rear. Remember, only bring back three of each type of equipment I need. Move the rest to the rear as well. Don’t bring them all over here.”

Li Muzhi didn't take all of these corresponding equipment; he didn't want to put all his eggs in one basket.

Once Li Muzhi has manufactured weapons and ammunition using these devices, he can write down the relevant technical data and provide it to the rear.

In this way, the rear areas can quickly acquire the ability to produce the same weapons and ammunition.

"Yes, factory manager, we've got it." The four technicians all nodded emphatically.

"Wait a minute, I need to make a call," Li Muzhi said to the four technicians, then picked up the phone receiver on the table: "Connect me to Minister Zhang."

The call connected quickly, and Zhang Wanhe's voice came through: "This is Zhang Wanhe."

“Minister Zhang, I’ve already found four technicians to select the equipment. Would you like to send someone over to pick them up, or should I have the head of the guard send someone to deliver them to you?” Li Muzhi asked.

Although this is the rear area, the technicians are all valuable and still need to be escorted.

"Have the captain of the guard send someone to my office," Zhang Wanhe said.

"Okay, sure," Li Muzhi replied, then hung up the phone.

"Come out with me." Li Muzhi led the four technicians out.

Upon arriving at the factory gate, Li Muzhi said to the patrolling guards, "Comrade, could you please have your captain come over here immediately?"

"Okay." The guard ran away.

Before long, the captain of the guard hurriedly brought the Emperor over: "Director Li, what are your orders?"

"These four technicians need to be delivered to Minister Zhang's office immediately. Send someone to deliver them there," Li Muzhi said to the captain of the guard.

"Okay." The captain of the guard nodded and immediately assigned men to escort the technicians away.

"Director Li, would you like to take the Emperor for a stroll?" the captain of the guard asked.

"No, I need to get back to work." Li Muzhi shook his head, patted the Emperor's head, and then returned to his laboratory to work on radar.

……

386th Brigade Headquarters

"Old Chen, why did you call me here so mysteriously? Is there something you need?" Wu Yaohan looked at the brigade commander with suspicion. "If it's something, why can't you tell me over the phone?"

Although the Japanese sweeps had temporarily ceased, Japanese spies were everywhere, gathering intelligence, so Wu Yaohan's work remained very busy.

"Do you remember when the Japanese devils came looking for our headquarters twice?" The brigade commander went straight to the point.

Wu Yaohan immediately looked somewhat ashamed: "This is a dereliction of duty on the part of our intelligence department."

If the Japanese first discovered that the Eighth Route Army headquarters was in Daxia Bay, it was an intelligence failure.

However, the Japanese soldiers' second deduction that the Eighth Route Army headquarters was in Chenjiayu was a dereliction of duty.

Immediately afterward, Wu Yaohan looked at the brigade commander with a puzzled expression: "Old Chen, have you found the reason?"

The brigade commander in front of me used to work in intelligence.

In fact, Wu Yaohan even partnered with him for a few days.

The other party summoned me in such a mysterious manner, and even mentioned that the Japanese had twice searched for the headquarters' location. This was most likely because they wanted to tell me classified information.

"Take a look at this." Brigade Commander Chen handed a top-secret folder to Wu Yaohan.

Wu Yaohan took it and his expression quickly turned to shock, breaking out in a cold sweat: "Old Chen, how did you find out what's in here?"

This folder contains information about a high-ranking Japanese spy. The Eighth Route Army headquarters was discovered by the Japanese twice, and both times this person was involved.

What terrified Wu Yaohan even more was that this person had discovered some clues about our border region's arsenal and was looking for its location.

If this person succeeds, the consequences will be unimaginable.

“There was a Japanese officer named Fujita Ichiji who felt he couldn’t stay with the Japanese anymore, so he planned to come to my side as a prisoner of war,” Brigade Commander Chen explained. “I just scared him a little and got this important information out of him. I secretly investigated and finally found the evidence, which is why I called you over immediately.”

"Old Chen, you've really helped me a lot. If those Japanese spies had actually found our border region arsenal, I would have been in deep trouble even if I died a thousand deaths..." Wu Yaohan was extremely excited.

“This is what I’m thinking,” Brigade Commander Chen said. “Since this high-ranking Japanese spy is looking for our border region arsenal, and when the Japanese are conducting another sweep, if they get information about our border region arsenal, they will definitely want to strike at its vital point. You understand what I mean?” The brigade commander had once wanted to use this tactic on that idiot collaborator, but the situation changed too quickly, and he couldn’t use it.

“Yes, I will report this to the headquarters commander immediately.” Wu Yaohan understood what the brigade commander meant.

For now, leave this Japanese spy alone and give him a fake location for a border region arsenal.

Headquarters mobilized troops and deployed an ambush formation in advance.

The Japanese army's sweeping campaign dealt them a heavy blow, which bought time for our border region's arsenal to resume production.

At that time, this high-ranking Japanese spy can also be eliminated.

"Alright, you can go back right away. I need to hurry up and take over the natural gas plant here too," the brigade commander said.

Now that we've verified that the information provided by Fujita Ichiji is accurate, it's time to take action against Hojo Keiji.

"I've heard of Fujita Ichiji too. I think he used bullet-making equipment to lure us in, right?" Wu Yaohan stood up and asked, "What do you plan to do with him?"

“It’s definitely not appropriate to keep such a good-for-nothing on our side,” the brigade commander said tactfully.

"Haha, that's right, that's right." Wu Yaohan laughed and quickly left with the top-secret folder.

The brigade commander arrived at the place where Fujita Ichiji was being held.

Because Fujita Ichiji provided very important intelligence leads and had performed reasonably well in the past few days, the brigade commander treated him fairly well.

Upon seeing the brigade commander approach, Fujita Ichiji quickly bowed politely and said, "Greetings, sir."

"Fujita Ichiji, I've confirmed that the clues you provided are true." The brigade commander looked satisfied.

"I told you before, every word I said is true," Fujita Ichiji assured.

"I'm having a problem right now," the brigade commander said casually.

"What's the problem?" Fujita Ichiji asked.

"The natural gas plant is surrounded by our guerrillas, and the Japanese soldiers at the plant won't contact us. How should I use this as leverage to coerce Hojo Keiji into submission?" The brigade commander feigned trouble.

“I don’t think this is difficult,” Fujita Ichiji blurted out without hesitation. “In your ancient times, didn’t you have a way of sending messages by tying notes to arrows and shooting them into the enemy camp?”

"Arrows don't have the range of guns," the brigade commander said.

Our arrows only have a range of a few dozen meters. Once our personnel get close to the range of the Japanese guns, their bullets will not be kind.

“Use a mortar,” Fujita Ichiji immediately said. “Pour out the explosives from the shells, stuff the note inside, and fire it with a mortar.”

"What if this shell lands on the pipeline, sparks, and ignites the natural gas?"

"Then what do you suggest?" Fujita Ichiji couldn't think of any stupid solutions for a moment.

"You go and be the messenger," the brigade commander said.

The brigade commander didn't actually want to listen to Fujita Ichiji's advice; he just wanted to see what kind of stupid ideas this guy could come up with.

This question, I have to say, shows that this guy's brain is so stupid it's hard to describe.

Such an idiot should be kept around to give the Japanese a headache.

"What, me?" Fujita Ichiji waved his hands frantically, extremely nervous: "No, no, I can't get in, they won't let me in."

"I believe you have a way to get in." The brigade commander's expression was serious. "You've been eating and drinking well these past few days. Do you know what that means?"

"What's wrong? I've already cooperated with you all, and you still want to kill me?" Fujita Ichiji felt a tightness in his neck as soon as he saw the brigade commander's expression change and he became murderous.

Didn't we say that the Eighth Route Army treats prisoners of war well?

That's why I came here as a prisoner.

Now it seems that's not the case; it looks like they're going to discard them after they've served their purpose.

"Here, before executing prisoners, we always give them a few good meals..." The brigade commander didn't finish his sentence.

Fujita Ichiji was so frightened that he immediately knelt down: "Don't kill me, don't kill me, I'm willing to go, I have a way to get in."

Seeing Fujita Ichiji's disheveled appearance, the brigade commander smiled to himself: This guy is really easily frightened.

Of course, it was fortunate that this guy was easily frightened, otherwise he really wouldn't cooperate to meet Hojo Keiji, and the brigade commander's plan would have to be put into action.

The best way to take over a natural gas plant is without bloodshed.

"Are you sure there's a way to get in now?" the brigade commander asked definitively.

"Yes, yes, I have it." Fujita Ichiji nodded his head vigorously.

"Then tell me, how are you going to get in?" the brigade commander asked again.

What if Fujita Ichiji suddenly lost his mind and came up with a stupid plan to go there, only to be shot dead by the Japanese soldiers at the natural gas plant? That would be a real problem.

Therefore, it's better to listen to it first.

“I can hold up a banner that says I’ve discovered clues about your arsenal,” Fujita Ichiji said. “That way, even if Hojo Keiji has suspicions, he won’t easily let anyone fire.”

“That’s a…” The brigade commander paused, then shook his head, “an incurably stupid method.”

The Japanese had so many elite spies who couldn't find our arsenal, but you, Fujita Ichiji, found it? Who would believe you?

If you really do that, you'll probably be riddled with bullets on Hojo Keiji's orders.

“Isn’t this a good idea? Even Yoshio Shinotsuka has his eye on your arsenal. If I were to…” Fujita Ichiji was still trying to defend himself.

"Alright, shut up." The brigade commander shook his head, interrupting Fujita Ichiji. "You should just go through with my plan."

"What's your method?" Fujita Ichiji asked.

“You run ahead, and I’ll have my men shoot you down from behind…” Before the brigade commander could finish speaking, Fujita Ichiji shook his head repeatedly, “No, no, what if your men accidentally hit the bullseye? Then I’ll be in trouble.”

"You really don't trust me?" The brigade commander's expression hardened.

"I don't believe it, how could I dare not believe it?" Fujita Ichiji immediately shrank his neck, thinking to himself that it didn't seem like a wise move for him to join the Eighth Route Army.

After a few days of preferential treatment, they were forced to do high-risk work.

Today's work is done, but what about tomorrow, or the day after? Who knows what the Eighth Route Army will send us to do next?

If this continues, I'm afraid I won't live more than a few days.

It seems we still need to find a chance to escape.

(End of this chapter)