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

Chapter 348 Crushing the Type 38 Rifle
"No rush."

Li Muzhi waved his hand and said, "I'm still revising the blueprints for my guns. You should help me with the radar first."

Even if this new gun is to be made, the blueprints must be completed first.

Zhang Ganren couldn't wait: "Factory manager, I can still look at the blueprints while I'm eating anyway. Let me see your new gun blueprints. Maybe I can help you modify them."

"Let's eat first..." Li Muzhi didn't finish his sentence.

"Factory manager, you've whetted my appetite. I can't even eat anymore," Zhang Ganren interrupted Li Muzhi. "Just let me take a look at the blueprints for this new gun. I just need to take a look."

“Alright then, take a look first.” Li Muzhi nodded, opened the drawer, took out the rifle blueprints, and unfolded them in front of Zhang Ganren.

"Director Li, this new gun of yours..." Zhang Ganren's gaze fell on the blueprints, and his eyes immediately widened in surprise, "Is this a semi-automatic rifle?"

After loading eight rounds, you can fire continuously by pulling the trigger, unlike bolt-action rifles where you need to eject the spent cartridge and reload after each shot.

On the battlefield, especially at critical moments.

The continuous firing capability of a firearm means sustained firepower.

Zhang Ganren never expected that Li Muzhi's new gun would have such fierce firepower.

Whether it was the rifles of the Northeast Army, the rifles of the Jin-Sui Army, or even the Type 38 rifles of the Japanese, their firepower was inferior to his.

Looking at the structure of this gun, it's different from conventional rifles, making it highly feasible.

Zhang Ganren couldn't help but look at Li Muzhi immediately: "Factory Director, your new gun is quite good. As long as it can be manufactured and shown on the battlefield, it will definitely surprise everyone. However..."

"Just what?"

“With the equipment in our local arsenal, I’m afraid we can’t manufacture this new gun,” Zhang Ganren questioned.

Li Muzhi's gun design is good, but you still need the equipment to manufacture it.

Zhang Ganren inspected all the factories in the border region's arsenal, but with the existing equipment, he couldn't possibly manufacture this new gun.

Even if we could only manufacture two old Hanyang-made rifles, it would be difficult.

“A batch of equipment has already been transported back outside the arsenal,” Li Muzhi pointed out. “We’ll have someone move this equipment into the factory tonight. Once it’s assembled and tested, we can start making new guns.”

"Really?" Zhang Ganren was incredibly excited upon hearing this. "Since we have the equipment, we can definitely make this new gun. Factory director, thank you for trusting me. I will definitely finish the radar as soon as possible and then build the new gun for you."

“Once you’ve thoroughly grasped the concept of radar, go back and teach it to your students,” Li Muzhi said. “The hydrogen hasn’t been purified yet, the tungsten hasn’t been refined, and the manufacturing of seamless steel pipes is still in its infancy.”

“Yes, yes.” Zhang Ganren nodded. Making guns is different from making hell cannons and hell missiles.

The Hell Cannon and Hell Missiles have few parts, so as long as the production line is set up and there are enough manpower and raw materials, they can be manufactured quickly.

This gun is different. Besides the barrel, it has many other parts. It's not something you can just make out with a few words.

Just like with air defense weapons, although parts are already being produced, many parts have not yet been completed, and the technicians are still working hard.

"Factory manager, I think your air guiding device can be modified a bit." Zhang Ganren looked at the blueprints and his inspiration came quickly.

"How should we change it?" Li Muzhi asked.

“Okay, let’s change the gas tube like this, turn the magazine down, and then do this…” Zhang Ganren pointed to the blueprint and quickly explained the new idea to Li Muzhi. “This way, the magazine capacity can be larger, and semi-automatic can be converted to fully automatic. Wouldn’t that make the firepower even stronger?”

Li Muzhi was very impressed: "Hmm, not bad, your idea is good. With this modification, the semi-automatic rifle becomes an automatic rifle. But you have to consider our army's logistics. We can't supply that many bullets. And we have to ensure that every bullet eliminates an enemy as much as possible. So the semi-automatic rifle is still the most suitable for our army's conditions right now."

Li Muzhi, of course, still admired her.

Zhang Ganren is truly talented; in such a short time, he has been able to grasp the level of semi-automatic to fully automatic.

Although, many technical bottlenecks were bypassed along the way.

“That’s true, that’s true.” After Li Muzhi’s reminder, Zhang Ganren nodded repeatedly. “I had overlooked our army’s ability to supply ammunition. Semi-automatic ammunition is the most suitable for our army.”

"Alright, Comrade Zhang Ganren, there are still many details to be completed on this new gun, so let's not keep you from eating." Li Muzhi put away the blueprints while speaking seriously, "Now you should focus on making the radar and not get distracted. The worst thing in military industry is to do two things at once."

"Factory manager, are you sure I've got the radar sorted out for you? Are you really going to let me help you with this new gun?" Zhang Ganren still felt like he was dreaming.

“I also have a lot of things to do. If you can make the new gun for me, you will be the deputy factory director,” Li Muzhi said solemnly. “Later, our arsenal will be making this semi-automatic rifle, as well as submachine guns, pistols, and light and heavy machine guns. You can be in charge of all these projects.”

"That's wonderful, Factory Director. I feel like I've finally found my place." Zhang Ganren was flattered. "To be honest, when Minister Zhang advised me to leave the battlefield, I refused to go no matter what, and I almost got into a fight with someone. Now, I feel like Minister Zhang is my benefactor."

Zhang Ganren was not a pedantic person.

Killing Japanese soldiers on the battlefield, although it is still killing Japanese soldiers, is limited by individual ability.

However, if the wisdom is used in military industry to help Director Li produce more weapons, the combat troops can kill more Japanese soldiers with more weapons, and that would be the greatest manifestation of its significance.

"Zhang Ganren, you've finally figured out my good intentions!" Just then, Zhang Wanhe arrived, heard this, and walked in with a smile.

Upon seeing Zhang Wanhe arrive, Zhang Ganren quickly stood up, his face beaming with a smile: "Minister Zhang, I'm sorry, I was rude and argued with you earlier."

"It's alright, it's alright." Zhang Wanhe waved his hand generously and said, "Throughout history, every talented person has a stubborn streak."

“Minister Zhang, I think what you said is wrong,” Zhang Ganren said.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Wanhe asked.

“I think Director Li has a good temper and is a nice person,” Zhang Ganren said, pointing at Li Muzhi.

"Haha." Zhang Wanhe laughed and said, "That's because no one dares to mess with him. Otherwise, if Xiao Li were to lose his temper, the consequences could be quite terrible."

Anyone who offends Li Muzhi...

Let alone Li Muzhi being angry, our logistics minister, the headquarters leaders, and even the leaders in the rear would all be furious.

"Minister Zhang, please stop joking with me." Li Muzhi changed the subject.

Seeing that Li Muzhi valued Zhang Ganren highly, Zhang Wanhe still asked, knowing the answer already, "Little Li, what do you think of this Zhang Ganren?"

"After reading the radar theoretical operation data I wrote down, he can now help me set up the radar," Li Muzhi said.

"Is he that amazing?" Zhang Wanhe was a little stunned. He used to think that Zhang Ganren was a useful person, but it would be a waste of talent to put him on the battlefield. He didn't expect that this guy could quickly master radar knowledge and even help Li Muzhi with radar.

On the surface, Li Muzhi was saying that Zhang Ganren could help him develop radar, but in reality, this implied another layer of meaning.

In Li Muzhi's eyes, Zhang Ganren was a person with extremely high talent, who could be Li Muzhi's right-hand man and could greatly relieve Li Muzhi's worries and work.

This is of great significance.

In this way, Li Muzhi wouldn't have to work so hard.

Later, when he went to other arsenals to provide guidance, Zhang Ganren was able to take over Li Muzhi's responsibilities independently.

"The main reason is that Director Li's writings are very detailed in theory and easy to understand," Zhang Ganren said modestly.

"Hehe, easy to understand, hehe." Zhang Wanhe chuckled, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

What a simple and easy-to-understand explanation!

I glanced at that book too. Easy to understand my foot! It was like reading a book written in a foreign language.

Comrade Zhang quickly changed the subject and asked Li Muzhi, "Little Li, the first batch of equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal has arrived. Have you seen it? How is it? Can the air defense weapons be manufactured? If the headquarters leaders weren't too busy, they probably would have come to you personally to inquire about this matter."

The Japanese planes were rampant, and without anti-aircraft weapons, it was truly unpleasant to be treated like a subordinate.

Furthermore, even if radar is developed, without air defense weapons, it still reduces the potential of a hero, thus diminishing its importance.

“I’ve checked the equipment. It can make seamless steel pipes, whether it’s the barrel of the Hell Cannon or the gun barrel. However,” Li Muzhi paused for a moment before continuing, “there are still two important pieces of equipment missing. Without these two pieces of equipment, we cannot make seamless steel pipes that meet the requirements of air defense weapons.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe's expression froze: "Xiao Li, are you saying that we still can't build anti-aircraft weapons?"

Although the Hellfire can still be built, and the importance of heavy artillery on the battlefield is undeniable, without the protection of anti-aircraft weapons, our heavy artillery would be easy targets for enemy planes bombing from the sky.

“Minister Zhang, there’s no way.” Li Muzhi shook his head. “Anti-aircraft weapons have a much longer range than guns, and the quality requirements for seamless steel pipes are much higher. I can’t force substandard seamless steel pipes to be used in anti-aircraft weapons. That would not only fail to shoot down the Japanese planes, but it would also be irresponsible to the lives of our soldiers.”

Anti-aircraft weapons fire their shells higher and with a larger explosive charge.

Substandard seamless steel pipes can cause barrel explosions on the battlefield—this is no joke.

Remembering something, Zhang Wanhe said, "Perhaps you could consider reducing the range of this anti-aircraft weapon a bit? Wouldn't that lower the requirements for the quality of the gun barrel?"

On the battlefield, Japanese planes typically attacked the ground from an altitude of several hundred meters.

“Minister Zhang, I understand what you mean.” Li Muzhi still shook his head. “The reason why the Japanese planes attacked our army at low altitude was mainly because they took advantage of our lack of anti-aircraft weapons. Attacking the ground at close range made it easier to hit targets. But this does not mean that the Japanese planes did not have the ability to fight at high altitude. If we build anti-aircraft weapons with a range of several hundred meters, the Japanese planes will be unable to hit them when they climb higher, and the lives of our soldiers will not be guaranteed. This also exposes in advance the fact that our army’s logistics can produce anti-aircraft weapons.”

Once the Japanese find out that we can make anti-aircraft weapons and threaten their air superiority, who knows what crazy things they might do.

If the Japanese were to frantically mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to attack, even if our entire Eighth Route Army had more than 300,000 men, we would still be no match for them.

Prematurely instilling a sense of deadly threat in the enemy will only invite their deadly and frenzied retaliation.

What Li Muzhi wanted was stability!

What kind of stability!

That is to develop sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons so that the Japanese planes can't get a chance to attack.

On the ground, the Japanese mechanized forces were contained by rocket launchers.

The Japanese army's group charges were contained by hellfire cannons and bouncing mines.

At that time, even if the Japanese have hundreds of thousands of troops surrounding and annihilating us.

As long as their aircraft are unable to mount a strong attack, their rapid mechanized units and mass assaults are restrained, and their strengths are suppressed.

At that time, our army will be able to maneuver against the Japanese army as much as possible by relying on the advantages of terrain and morale.

There is another very important reason.

That means the equipment capacity of this arsenal is still limited, and air defense weapons have very high requirements for parts.

Technicians also experience significant losses when manufacturing parts.

Not everyone who makes parts is as skilled as Zhang Ganren.

It's impossible for Zhang Ganren to make all the parts by himself.

This means that the production of air defense weapons will be very low.

With low production, it is even more important to pay attention to the protective capabilities of air defense weapons.

If you build anti-aircraft weapons with a range of only a few hundred meters, and the Japanese planes climb up, those anti-aircraft weapons with a range of only a few hundred meters will be easy targets for them, which is equivalent to sending them to their deaths.

"That damned Yan Xi!" Zhang Wanhe understood Li Muzhi's meaning and cursed, "Why did we give up the perfectly good Taiyuan Arsenal to the Japanese in the first place? The Japanese must have taken that equipment back to their homeland. That Yan Xi deserves to die!"

“Minister Zhang, it’s also possible that Commander Yan didn’t manage to purchase these two pieces of equipment either,” Li Muzhi said.

"So, is it impossible to develop this air defense weapon?" Zhang Wanhe looked at Li Muzhi angrily, even though he had already assured the headquarters leaders in advance.

If we can't develop this anti-aircraft weapon, I'll be beheaded.

Well, Minister Zhang is now in a difficult position.

"The factory director of the Cui Village arsenal seems to have mentioned that the Japanese have a seamless steel pipe factory," Li Muzhi recalled, adding, "If our combat troops can take over this seamless steel pipe factory, it's highly likely that they'll have the equipment I need. After all, it's a factory that specializes in producing seamless steel pipes, so the equipment must be much more sophisticated."

“That arsenal is in the First War Zone, that’s too far away.” Zhang Wanhe scratched his forehead. “Now the Japanese are coming back again, we can’t let Commander Li and his men slip away again. Last time, Commander Li could get the Jin-Sui Army involved, and his brigade commander could bring in his elite troops to hold back the Japanese. This time, he’s going to the First War Zone all by himself, it’s going to be tough.”

We've acquired the equipment from the Taiyuan Arsenal, but...

The journey was long, and we've only just managed to get the first batch of equipment back.

It was very difficult to transport the equipment back, so they simply moved it to the rear.

However, transporting them smoothly to the rear areas was not something that could be done simply by doing so.

The Japanese are still desperately searching for equipment.

Against this backdrop, crossing the Second World War zone to reach the First World War zone and working on that seamless steel pipe factory made the journey even more arduous.

The difficulties in bringing the equipment back are far more than just crossing mountains and rivers!

“Minister Zhang, I think you’ve overlooked a detail,” Li Muzhi said.

"What details?" Zhang Wanhe asked.

“We’re logistics people, so our main focus is on logistics. If we have the equipment, we’ll figure out how to build it,” Li Muzhi said. “If we don’t have the equipment, we’ll let the combat troops take it. As for how the combat troops will do the work, that’s their business.”

“Xiao Li, the problem you’ve created for Li Yunlong this time is probably quite big.” Zhang Wanhe agreed with Li Muzhi’s words.

Yes, how to bring back that seamless steel pipe factory from the First War Zone is a matter for the combat troops; what can we logistics personnel possibly figure out?

Instead of wasting time, it would be better to… Remembering something, Zhang Wanhe added, “But Commander Li and his men have just returned. Their troops have suffered considerable losses. I have only just equipped them with Hellfire missiles, rocket launchers, and other weapons and ammunition. Their troops still need time to integrate. How could they possibly go to work in the First Theater Command right away?”

“Minister Zhang, you’re overthinking things again,” Li Muzhi said. “I’ve already said how to seize equipment; that’s the combat troops’ business. Why are you worrying about that? Maybe…”

"Maybe what?"

"Perhaps Commander Li is already thinking about this." Li Muzhi understood Li Yunlong's personality all too well and knew his heart very well.

Old Li wanted to get more equipment for himself than anyone else.

Li Yunlong must have his eye on that seamless steel pipe factory in this war zone.

Perhaps Li Yunlong has already begun making preparations in secret.

“Even if Li Yunlong wanted to go, I doubt his brigade commander would easily agree…” Zhang Wanhe didn’t finish his sentence.

Li Muzhi interrupted, "Minister Zhang, let me reiterate, we don't need to worry about matters within the combat units."

There's no need to even think about it; if Brigade Commander Chen doesn't agree, Li Yunlong wouldn't dare to do it.

There will be times when Commander Chen is not around.

When the Japanese special forces launched a surprise attack on Chen Jiayu's headquarters, Li Yunlong's regiment served as the flank guard. He dared to detach a battalion. If the brigade commander were there, would he dare to do it?

Furthermore, Li Yunlong ordered his entire regiment to attack Ping'an County in order to save his wife. If the brigade commander were there, would he have dared to do that?
This is all because the brigade commander is not here.

Li Muzhi could foresee that Li Yunlong might have already secretly prepared with his men, just waiting for the brigade commander to be away.

"Alright, alright, let's not think about the combat troops anymore." Zhang Wanhe waved his hand, ending the topic, and looked at Li Muzhi, "If we can't make the anti-aircraft weapons, what about the guns? Surely we can make those, right?"

Before Li Muzhi could speak, Zhang Ganren interjected, "Minister Zhang, the factory director is already designing the blueprints for the new gun. I've seen them. This new gun is a semi-automatic rifle with fierce firepower. Once it's made, it will definitely crush the Japanese Type 38 rifles!"

Semi-automatic rifle?
The Type 38 rifle that crushed the Japanese soldiers?

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wanhe immediately raised an eyebrow and looked at Li Muzhi with surprise: "Little Li, is this true?"

Although Zhang Wanhe didn't know what semi-automatic meant, he could still understand what it meant to crush the Type 38 rifle.

The Japanese Type 38 rifle was highly accurate and had a long range. Soldiers would be happy for months if they captured one on the battlefield.

However, Li Muzhi was able to produce a semi-automatic rifle that could easily outperform the Type 38 rifle, which naturally shocked Comrade Zhang.

(End of this chapter)