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

Chapter 337 A match made in heaven
The brigade commander looked at the last student, who had never even killed a chicken: "Why didn't you do it?"

"I'm scared, I don't dare," the student said hesitantly.

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if the Japanese invaders attacked our logistics area one day, slaughtering our comrades and our fellow countrymen? Would you just stand by and watch?"

"I, I, I..." the student stammered.

"I'll say something I shouldn't: if the Japanese invaders reach the border region's arsenal and try to kill your teacher, would you also..." The brigade commander didn't finish his sentence.

A fierce glint flashed in the student's eyes: "I will never allow anyone to hurt my teacher."

"There are three people left here, so kill them all."

……

The final result was no surprise. Under the brigade commander's coercion, this student, who dared not even kill a chicken, killed the remaining three traitors and underwent a baptism of blood.

"Students, I'm sorry, I still have to apologize to you. You are logistics personnel, not soldiers of my combat unit. It's my fault for drawing blood from you." The brigade commander finally apologized to the students.

“Commander, you’re doing this for our own good, you’re right.” Liu Fuxing and the other students showed no hatred on their faces, having realized something.

It is wartime now, and even staying in the rear is not absolutely safe.

Wasn't the previous director of the border region's arsenal also wounded by the Japanese?

Who knows, the Japanese might come and kill us one day. We can't just bend over and vomit because we're afraid of blood, and let the Japanese take the opportunity to slaughter us.

Having already shed blood, we were willing to fight to the death when we encountered the Japanese.

Even in our spare time, we should proactively learn some military skills, so that when combat troops can't support us, we still have to rely on ourselves.

Of course, they no longer dared to use the word "amiable" to describe their opinion of the brigade commander.

This bespectacled leader's amiability is just a facade; when he gets fierce, he's truly ruthless.

No wonder even someone as capable as Commander Li was like a mouse before a cat when he saw him, completely suppressed.

The dismantling and transportation teams were very efficient, and the equipment from the natural gas plant was quickly moved away.

The guerrillas cleaned the area one last time, still feeling unsatisfied: "This place is too poor, with so few supplies."

The team returned under the cover of night.

Several students gathered around Liu Fuxing and said, "Squad leader, when we get back to the arsenal, we should also talk to our teacher or Minister Zhang. We should learn some military skills too. Just like Commander Chen said, if the Japanese invade our arsenal one day, we can't be unarmed. Our teacher is more important than any of us. We must protect our teacher."

"Okay." Liu Fuxing nodded. "When we get back, I'll mention it to the teacher. We can take an hour or two during our evening rest time for military training, so it won't interfere with our learning from the teacher."

"Yes, it's settled then."

……

Before dawn, the team entered the mountains.

Lao Yu led the dismantling team and the transport team toward the logistics area, with the guerrillas continuing to escort them until they reached the logistics area.

The brigade commander returned to the 386th Brigade headquarters, taking Fujita Ichiji with him.

"Sir, I'm not going with your logistics team. Are you taking me to your headquarters?" Fujita Ichiji asked the brigade commander suspiciously.

"Do I look like an idiot to you? I'll take you to the command post," the brigade commander cursed.

The brigade headquarters is in such an important location, how could I possibly let you know?

"Then are you going to find me another place to recuperate?" Fujita Ichiji asked again, after all, the brigade commander had said that he should recuperate.

"Hmm." The brigade commander nodded and said, "You made a great contribution to taking over the natural gas arsenal this time, so we'll definitely arrange a good place for you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Fujita Ichiji, you can stay here for now." Halfway there, the brigade commander settled Fujita Ichiji in an abandoned cave and assigned two men to guard him.

"Yes." Fujita Ichiji was secretly pleased to see that the brigade commander had only left two people to guard him.

These two didn't get any rest last night, so they'll definitely be drowsy during the day today.

As soon as they doze off, their chance to escape will come.

When the brigade commander returned to the brigade headquarters, Wu Yaohan happened to send someone to deliver Fujita Ichiji's belongings.

The brigade commander then sent someone to deliver this item to Fujita Ichiji.

"You're really giving this back to me?" Fujita Ichiji was quite surprised when he received the item.

I originally thought that the bespectacled Eighth Route Army officer was just saying he wanted to borrow it for a couple of days and wouldn't return it.

I didn't expect them to return it to me so quickly.

"The item is in your hands now, didn't we return it to you?" After saying this, the Eighth Route Army soldier who delivered the item returned to his post.

The scene that followed was exactly as Fujita Kazuji had predicted.

The two Eighth Route Army soldiers guarding him dozed off, and Fujita Ichiji tiptoed out of the cave.

Then he ran quickly and crossed three mountains in one go.

Seeing that no one was chasing him, Fujita Ichiji could hardly believe that he had escaped so easily.

That bespectacled Eighth Route Army officer didn't seem like a careless person.

Forget it, forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore.

We were fortunate enough to escape the misery of the Eighth Route Army.

Being a prisoner of the Eighth Route Army is not easy, needless to say, being a prisoner of the Jin-Sui Army and the direct line army is even more difficult. It's best to give up that idea and go back to work properly.

However, where should we go to make a living? Fujita Ichiji fell into deep thought.

……

"Brigadier, as you instructed, Fujita Ichiji has successfully left." Two soldiers who had been pretending to doze off returned to report to the brigadier.

"Yes, you did a good job. Go and rest." The brigade commander nodded.

The deputy brigade commander leaned close to the brigade commander and asked, "Brigade commander, where do you think Fujita Ichiji will settle next on the Japanese side?"

If it weren't for this idiot providing timely intelligence, allowing the brigade commander to take over the natural gas plant without bloodshed, and even uncovering a spy lurking in the upper echelons of our army, who knows what kind of losses this spy would have caused us later.

Such a valuable talent, I hope he can continue to be valued by the Japanese army. "Now that he's gone back, I believe that with his extraordinary way of thinking, he certainly won't let us down. What do you think?" the brigade commander said expectantly.

"Hahaha." The deputy brigade commander laughed heartily. "Not bad, hahaha, he certainly won't let us down, hahahaha."

……

Border Region Arsenal

Drop drop!
Li Muzhi turned on the power, and the radar component in front of him emitted an alarm sound.

Li Muzhi revealed a satisfied expression; the alarm sound was from intercepted radio waves.

According to the display screen, this is a high-powered radio from headquarters transmitting a message.

When Li Muzhi modified the radio wave direction finding device into a core component of the radar, he retained the original direction finding function.

When this radar was made, it could not only be used to monitor Japanese aircraft, but also to receive incoming radio waves and locate the transmitter.

Unfortunately, due to limited equipment, we can only produce a limited number of items. So, we try our best to make the functions as comprehensive as possible.

"Factory manager, the food is getting cold." Xiao Gu's urging voice rang out from outside the door.

"Xiao Gu, bring the food in for me," Li Muzhi instructed, having missed his meal in order to catch up on the schedule.

The door opened, and Xiao Gu quickly brought the lunchbox in for Li Muzhi.

"Xiao Gu, you should go eat too," Li Muzhi said as he opened his lunchbox.

Xiao Gu didn't go to eat while waiting for him.

"Okay." Xiao Gu nodded and quickly went to the cafeteria.

Braised fish, a serving of green vegetables, a cornbread bun, and a steamed bun.

Li Muzhi had only eaten half of his meal when Zhang Wanhe arrived uninvited: "Little Li, why are you only eating now? You've already missed your mealtime. This won't do. Your health is important. You need to eat on time from now on."

"Thank you for your concern, Minister Zhang. I will definitely pay attention in the future." Li Muzhi nodded and asked, "Minister Zhang, why did you come over in such a hurry? Is there anything urgent?"

“Here’s the thing, headquarters gave me orders to set up a fake arms factory. This has to be done in secrecy, so it’s not appropriate to talk about it over the phone. That’s why I came here in person to tell you,” Zhang Wanhe replied.

"A fake arsenal?" Li Muzhi asked suspiciously. "Could this fake arsenal be used to attract the Japanese's attention and cover our tracks?"

“I didn’t ask for the specifics, but the headquarters told us to do it, so we’ll do it,” Zhang Wanhe said. “However, these Japanese aren’t easy to fool, so we need to get some real stuff over there. That’s why I need your assistance.”

“Minister Zhang, I understand what you mean.” Li Muzhi nodded. “I will take stock of the equipment in the arsenal and make a list for you. You can have someone take it over.”

There are still spare equipment in the warehouse at the arsenal that have not been used.

"The premise is that it can't affect production here," Zhang Wanhe instructed. "The Japanese have already dropped poison gas, and a brutal sweep might start at any time. Our troops still need a lot of weapons and ammunition."

“Of course, of course.” Li Muzhi nodded and said, “When this equipment is brought over, some workers will also be sent over so that they can produce ammunition there as well. With workers involved in production, it will feel more realistic, right?”

“Yes, that’s fine.” Zhang Wanhe nodded and said, “From what the headquarters leaders said, as long as the Japanese notice this fake arsenal, we can dismantle it before they take action to prevent the loss of equipment and workers.”

Next, Zhang Wanhe discussed some more details with Li Muzhi.

After Li Muzhi finished his meal, they had discussed most of the details.

Old Yu arrived, looking travel-worn and beaming: "Minister Zhang is here too, Factory Director. The operation went very smoothly; the natural gas plant has been dismantled."

"Haha." Before Li Muzhi could even respond, Zhang Wanhe burst into laughter, patting Lao Yu on the shoulder: "Comrade Lao Yu, you've worked hard! Once we get the natural gas plant equipment back, we can start refining tungsten ore. When the first batch of equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal arrives, we can begin working on the seamless steel pipes. With seamless steel pipes, we'll have hope for our air defense weapons."

"Minister Zhang, let's go out and take a look right away," Li Muzhi said impatiently.

The radar is now complete, but just being able to warn of enemy aircraft isn't enough; the main thing is to expedite the tungsten refining process.

With tungsten, air defense weapons can be developed and equipped with radar, making it a perfect match.

"Let's go." Zhang Wanhe pulled Li Muzhi and walked outside.

The supplies were not transported directly to the arsenal because the Japanese had dropped bacteriological bombs on the other side of the forest.

So this equipment is located on the other side of the arsenal, which is also relatively well hidden.

Some of the guerrilla leaders had seen Zhang Wanhe before, and when they saw him coming, they greeted him warmly: "Hello, Minister Zhang."

"Good, good, good. You guerrilla comrades have worked hard." Zhang Wanhe was unusually generous and said directly, "Seeing that you have captured quite a lot of weapons and ammunition, you only need to hand over half of them. Keep the other half for yourselves."

The guerrillas captured weapons and ammunition from the guards of the natural gas arsenal, enough for about five hundred men. It consisted of firearms and ammunition, but no artillery.

Upon hearing this, the guerrilla leaders all looked somewhat...uncomfortable.

Our guerrilla forces, totaling over nine hundred men, didn't even have enough equipment to go around for the remaining five hundred.

Minister Zhang, you still want us to hand over half of it? What kind of "condolence" is this?

Seeing that the guerrilla leaders were not in a good mood, Zhang Wanhe said in a serious tone: "The Japanese devils will soon launch a large-scale mopping-up operation. We need to leave the supplies for the main force. I hope you can understand."

"Yes, Minister Zhang, we understand." The guerrilla leaders all nodded.

Li Muzhi spoke up: "How about this, I'll make the decision. Each of your guerrilla teams can receive a rocket launcher and be equipped with ten rockets, how about that?"

"Who is this...?" The guerrilla captains all looked at Li Muzhi with suspicion.

“Xiao Li, this isn’t appropriate…” Zhang Wanhe hadn’t expected Li Muzhi to give them several rocket launchers.

The Japanese sweep could come at any time, and it would be a fierce storm more intense than ever before.

The main force will be under great pressure, and Zhang Wanhe wants to leave the best for the main force.

If the main force can't hold out, then it has to be relocated.

If the arsenal is relocated, it will have to cease production.

“Minister Zhang, these local guerrillas also need training,” Li Muzhi said. “They are also our armed forces. If they have better equipment, they can provide better cover when cooperating with the main force. The main force doesn’t need these few rocket launchers, does it? Once the first batch of equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal arrives, the production scale of these rocket launchers will expand rapidly, and then…”

"Alright, alright, I'll do as you say." Zhang Wanhe nodded in agreement.

"Comrade, thank you, thank you so much!" The guerrilla leaders were overjoyed to be able to receive rocket launchers and thanked Li Muzhi repeatedly.

"Xiao Li, hurry up and check the equipment," Zhang Wanhe urged, as if checking the equipment quickly would allow them to refine tungsten immediately.

"Okay, Minister Zhang." Li Muzhi nodded and began to inspect the work.

(End of this chapter)