Film and Television World Life Record

This method is much more effective than hiding in mountain strongholds. It's already difficult to march in the mountains, and it's even more difficult to completely wipe them out.

Li Mu didn't force the issue. He turned his guns around and targeted the smaller bandit dens under the four major bandit strongholds. The five battalions each marked out an area, covering the entire Nanyang region, and once again launched a vigorous crackdown.

While the army was busy, Li Mu was not idle either. Recently, under the protection of the guard company, Tao Cheng, the general manager of the construction factory, and a group of architects accompanied Li Mu to various places in Nanyang to inspect and select sites.

Now that its sphere of influence covers the entire Nanyang area, this fertile land of nearly 30,000 square kilometers is no longer just a few counties. All planning and construction must naturally be carried out with the entire Nanyang area as the blueprint.

Considering future warfare, many buildings that originally couldn't find suitable locations gradually found new places as the territory expanded.

For example, regarding school buildings, in addition to the school building currently under construction, a larger and more suitable location for building a school building has been found.

Not only school buildings, but also various other buildings that needed to be hidden and protected from the ravages of war found many suitable locations for construction.

In the future, Li Mu will inevitably need to build many factories. Relying solely on imports is not a long-term solution. Otherwise, if fighting breaks out in Europe, many types of weaponry will become difficult to purchase.

All of these things need to be prepared for now, at least by getting some infrastructure in place first.

Soon, a construction plan based on Nanyang was drawn up, including roads, factories, various infrastructure, and all kinds of civilian and military buildings.

Li Mu was not short of money. The Nanyang region had abundant human resources, and there were also many refugees, so there was plenty of good labor everywhere.

So while the front lines were engulfed in war, Nanyang was teeming with life, as if it had become a giant construction site.

With jobs and income available to people at the bottom of society, consumption has increased, leading to an unusual boom in Nanyang's commodity market.

That day, Li Mu was inspecting the construction progress of the school building when Liu Peiming came over to report.

"Commander, a few people have recently come from the north, wanting to make contact with us."

Li Mu said, "The north!"

Liu Peiming said, "That's right! Commander, what's our stance?"

Li Mu said, "What's with this attitude? We're united against a common enemy now, don't overthink it. By the way, is something wrong with them?"

Liu Peiming reported: "I heard that we have channels to obtain foreign medicines, hardware tools and steel, and they want to purchase some privately."

Li Mu nodded: "Okay, then give them a discount and don't make any money off them. I heard the economy over there is quite difficult, and it's not easy for anyone."

With Liu Peiming gone, Li Mu fell into deep thought. The various supplies he had purchased from overseas were not only being sold in Wuhan, but he also began selling them in the Nanyang area.

This kind of commodity is extremely scarce in China, and it is in short supply everywhere, especially in the Northwest region, where there is a greater lack of procurement channels.

Many merchants from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Xikang, and even further northwest come here to purchase goods.

In particular, the goods he purchased from overseas included a lot of hardware tools, small general-purpose machinery, and special steel, all of which could be used as tools and materials for making weapons.

He had read the documents and knew a bit about the situation in the north. To be honest, it was quite dire at that time. They had only been given the organization of an army, and the army numbered less than 100,000. Not only were they financially strapped and destitute, but their weapons were also inadequate; many people were still using spears and broadswords.

Even the firearms available were in a terrible state, a veritable hodgepodge of various types from different countries. You could find Hanyang rifles, Fengtian rifles, Guangzheng rifles, Gongxian rifles, German rifles, Sichuan rifles, Turkish rifles, Shaanxi rifles, Jiangxi rifles, Japanese rifles, Hubei rifles, Shanxi rifles, Russian rifles, and many others here.

Among such a vast array of firearms, some rifles are too old, with rifling almost worn away; some are severely damaged and can only be fired with difficulty; and some are homemade or low-quality imitations, with extremely poor performance and quality.

When they advanced into the North China front, they encountered retreating Nationalist troops and were often met with the question: "Can you 'sticks' really fight against the Japanese planes and artillery?"

Of course, even so, having a gun is better than not having one!

However, it wasn't just a problem with guns; ammunition was even scarcer. When the 129th Division, with over 10 men, went to the front lines, the entire division had only 2 rounds of ammunition. That's less than ten rounds per person on average. With such a limited supply of ammunition, they would be wiped out in any battle of even moderate size.

For Li Mu, his reinforced regiment consumes more energy in a month of training than that.

This also shows that the situation there is really bad; there is a shortage of guns, ammunition, and supplies.

On the other hand, while supplies were scarce, their fighting strength was exceptionally strong. After 25,000 li of training, their willpower was almost as strong as an iron army.

Every army in the world, with equal equipment, would be unable to find its match even with binoculars.

The biggest weakness in the north right now is the lack of resources, money, and equipment. After all, you can't cook without rice, and this is the biggest factor limiting their combat effectiveness.

However, they should have already started building a small arms factory over there. Although it's small in scale, lacks equipment, raw materials, and technology, and the quality of the products it produces isn't very good, it can at least produce some weapons and ammunition to replenish the troops' supplies on a small scale.

They came to purchase hardware tools, small general-purpose instruments, and steel for this very reason.

However, given their financial resources, they probably can't purchase much.

Li Mu thought about his mission. He knew he couldn't do it alone. He needed to unite more people and first establish good relationships.

Thinking of this, Li Mu called his guard to bring Liu Peiming over.

Liu Peiming saluted: "Commander, you wanted to see me?"

Li Mu asked, "Did you see him?"

Liu Peiming said, "Not yet."

Li Mu said, "I heard they fought well at Pingxingguan."

Liu Peiming said, "Yes! Commander, I heard that they ambushed and annihilated more than a thousand Japanese soldiers. It was the first victory since the start of the War of Resistance. It was reported in the newspapers."

Li Mu said, "I heard their equipment isn't very good?"

Liu Peiming said, "I heard that they are using outdated guns, all kinds of models, and bullets are scarce. They are reluctant to use them. Many people don't even have guns and are still using broadswords and spears."

Li Mu thought for a moment and asked, "How many guns did we get from the last re-equipment operation, and how many were seized during this bandit suppression?"

Liu Peiming said, "Adding them all up, there are over two thousand poles!"

Li Mu waved his hand and said, "They fought well at Pingxingguan. These guns are all given to them, and we will also give them an extra 300,000 rounds of ammunition."

Liu Peiming was taken aback: "Commander, should we escort them?"

Li Mu said, "We have a whole bunch of German-made weapons. What use are these guns if we keep them? Since they can fight the Japanese in the north, let's give them to them. It's a waste to keep them."

Liu Peiming saluted: "Yes, Commander!" and turned to handle the matter.

Half an hour later, Liu Peiming ran over again.

"Commander, Representative Fang wants to see you. Would you like to meet him?"

Li Mu thought for a moment and said, "Let's meet him!"

During the brief meeting, Representative Fang was extremely enthusiastic, especially with the more than two thousand guns and three hundred thousand rounds of ammunition he received as a gift, which completely overwhelmed him. He even wondered if he was dreaming, his mind still reeling.

Leaving aside how many people might lay down their spears and swords after receiving those two thousand guns, the three hundred thousand rounds of ammunition would give the base area a sliver of confidence in its ammunition reserves, as they were desperately short of ammunition.

For example, with bullets, after a battle, they would collect the spent cartridges, take them back to their military equipment, and refill them, even though the refilled bullets were of poor quality and often misfired.

But they are bullets after all, so they are very precious.

They can reload a single bullet multiple times until it can no longer be used as a bullet, and then melt it down to make other weapons, without wasting a single bit.

With this level of equipment and no source of ammunition, they miraculously grew their forces by fighting and relying on captured weapons.

This will and strong survival ability also forged their tenacious fighting power.

After the meeting, Li Mu instructed Liu Peiming, "Go to the warehouse again and get twenty Browning pistols and ten thousand rounds of pistol ammunition. Have Representative Fang take them back as a gift."

Liu Peiming saluted: "Yes, Commander, I'll take care of it right away."

After seeing off the guests from the north, and considering the increasingly complex situation ahead, we realized we couldn't be completely in the dark; we needed our own intelligence agency.

After thinking for a long time, Li Mu called Liu Peiming over and asked, "Peiming, do you want to change jobs?"

Liu Peiming was taken aback: "Change jobs? Commander, I just wanted to run an errand for you, you're not going to kick me out, are you?"

Li Mu kicked him: "Speak properly."

Liu Peiming raised his head and said with his chest out, "Commander, please give your instructions."

Li Mu said, "I plan to set up an intelligence department, relying on the financial resources, manpower and channels of Nanyang and Muwu Trading Company, to establish an independent intelligence organization."

"Are you capable of shouldering this heavy responsibility?"

Liu Peiming's expression turned serious, and he said somewhat excitedly, "Commander, I...I can do it."

Li Mu said, "Don't be too happy yet. Building an effective intelligence organization is not so easy. I'll teach you some methods in a bit, and I'll send some knowledgeable people to assist you. You two can work together to get the framework up and running as soon as possible."

Liu Peiming saluted and said, "Yes, Commander!"

Then he asked, "Commander, intelligence organizations all have a prestigious name. What are we called?"

Li Mu glared at him and said, "Let's call it the Military Intelligence Division."

Liu Peiming stood at attention and saluted, saying, "Yes, Commander!"

……

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed since the Battle of Shanghai ended. On this day, Li Mu had just attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the field hospital and was on his way to the school buildings to check on the progress of the construction.

Liu Peiming walked over with a serious expression.

"Duanzao!"

Li Mu asked, "What's wrong?"

Liu Peiming said gravely, "Nanjing has fallen!"

Upon hearing this news, Li Mu remained silent for a long time before finally sighing. Although he had established a certain foundation and gained some strength, it was not enough to change the overall situation.

There are some things that, even if you know them, you can't stop them.

Are there any specific details?

Liu Peiming said, "The intelligence channels in Nanjing had just been established when they fell. It was a complete mess, a total rout."

Li Mu nodded: "Anything else going on?"

Liu Peiming said, "The message from Muwu Trading Company is that the connection we used last time has reached them. They said that this time, for just 400,000 yuan, they can get us the position of commissioner of the administrative office."