Bright Sword: I built Italian cannons for Li Yunlong

Zhou Zhen arranged for people to build a row of simple workshops near the arsenal. Each workshop was staffed with four people, and the process of synthesizing mercury fulminate was broken down step by step.

This approach has two advantages: firstly, even if an accident occurs, it can be contained to a very small extent; secondly, each workshop operates on the same procedures, ensuring extremely high efficiency.

Although the eight-person team was fully capable of handling all the work on the mercury fulminate production line, he still had to inspect it every day, as it was currently the most dangerous production line in the arsenal.

That day, while he was inspecting the mercury fulminate production line, a soldier ran over.

"Factory manager, you have a phone call."

Zhou Zhen followed the soldier to the communications room. As soon as he picked up the receiver, he heard Li Yunlong's familiar loud voice.

"Old Zhou, guess what good stuff I got for you this time?"

"What? Old Li, stop beating around the bush! You're just blurting this out out of the blue. Even if Zhuge Liang were alive, he wouldn't have guessed this!"

"Hehe, you'd better think about how to thank me!"

"I managed to get you a small sand casting machine for mortar shells."

"What?" Zhou Zhen's voice rose instantly; he could hardly believe his ears.

"A foundry? It can even make mortar shells, Old Li, you...you're not kidding me."

This thing is of great significance to the current arms factories, like sending charcoal in snowy weather.

"When have I ever lied to you about important matters? Besides this machine, I also got quite a bit of the nitric acid and gasoline you wanted. How about that? You won't lose out by exchanging gifts with your Brother Li!" Li Yunlong laughed smugly on the other end of the phone.

Zhou Zhen took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the joy in his heart, but the excitement in his tone could not be concealed: "That's great, really great, Lao Li, on behalf of all the comrades in the arsenal, thank you."

He knew that the greater the reward, the greater the risk, and Li Yunlong must have taken a huge risk to get these things.

At this point, he was also prepared for massive bleeding.

"A verbal thank you isn't enough." Li Yunlong's tone shifted, revealing his true intentions.

"Look, Lao Zhou, our brothers in the Independent Regiment have put in a lot of effort to get these things done. You can't just let them work for nothing, can you?"

As expected, it was the same recipe and the same taste. Fortunately, Zhou Zhen was already mentally prepared.

Could Li Yunlong really do a losing business? I know him too well.

Zhou Zhen laughed and scolded, "You, Li Yunlong, you've been waiting for me here! Tell me, what's it about my things that you've got your eye on this time? Purple eggs or hand grenades? Let me tell you, the arsenal has just resumed production, and we're very poor."

"Hehe, am I the kind of person who's petty?" Li Yunlong said with a grin, but his offer was unambiguous. "Look, I've given you so many gifts, so you, Brother Zhou, certainly won't be stingy either. Just give us about two hundred boxes of those new incendiary bombs from last time."

"Two hundred boxes! Li Yunlong, do you think those are potatoes that grow in the ground?!" Zhou Zhen almost jumped up and shouted into the microphone.

"Even when beating up landlords and rich people, they weren't this ruthless."

"The Japanese attacked before, and the arsenal was damaged. There weren't many shell casings left in stock. At most, we can only scrape together fifty boxes in the warehouse. Take it or leave it."

"Yes, yes, yes, but... fifty boxes? Old Zhou, you're bargaining way too hard, you're cutting it off right off the bat!" Li Yunlong began to complain.

"We risked our lives to get this gift from the Japanese stronghold with the brothers of the Independent Regiment. How can I explain this to them?"

"Your younger brother also came from the Independent Regiment. You know how poor the Independent Regiment is! You can't be like that married daughter-in-law who just abandons her family."

"Add a little more, a hundred boxes, at least a hundred boxes, otherwise I'll lose a fortune on this deal."

"Fifty boxes, not a single one more." Zhou Zhen didn't back down, but his tone softened a bit as he explained, "Old Li, I'm not being stingy with you."

Without bullet casings, I can't magically produce them for you.

Here you go, take these fifty boxes of the new incendiary bombs.

In addition, I'll allocate you an extra 100 boxes of reloaded purple grenades and 30 boxes of regular hand grenades. That's really not enough; comrades on other fronts also need to eat.

After a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, Li Yunlong let out a heartbroken sigh: "Sigh... alright, alright."

Who told me to make such a stingy friend like you?

Fifty boxes it is, but it's agreed that the purple eggs and hand grenades must be a sufficient number and of good quality.

"Next time there are shell casings, you have to give me those first."

"Deal." Zhou Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on his face. "As long as it's produced, I'll definitely prioritize supplying it to your Independent Regiment."

"That's more like it." Li Yunlong was satisfied, and then got down to business. "By the way, the brigade commander has ordered me to transport the raw materials I obtained, along with that foundry machine, directly to your Huangyadong arsenal. You should arrange for people to receive them as soon as possible."

"Great, I'll get ready right away."

Even after hanging up the phone, Zhou Zhen's mind remained unsettled for a long time.

He hadn't expected Li Yunlong to act so quickly and efficiently, not only obtaining the urgently needed chemical raw materials but also acquiring a mortar shell casting machine.

This was a wonderful surprise; with the equipment to produce shell casings, he could try to produce mortar shells.

But the core of the shell—the explosive—is a problem.

If we continue to use the original gunpowder, its power is far too low, and the soldiers will definitely suffer losses on the battlefield.

However, the ideal explosive for synthetic shells is still TNT.

However, given the current basic conditions of the Eighth Route Army, neither the toluene required for TNT production nor the extremely demanding temperature control conditions needed for TNT synthesis could be achieved.

Therefore, besides TNT, the only two explosives that are currently suitable and worth considering are nitroglycerin and ammonium nitrate explosives.

In terms of sheer power, nitroglycerin and similar nitro explosives far surpass ammonium nitrate explosives.

The problem is that although nitroglycerin is very powerful, it is too sensitive and can easily explode accidentally, making it extremely unsafe.

Therefore, after nitroglycerin is manufactured, it usually undergoes a series of passivation treatments to reduce its sensitivity.

However, this makes the process more complicated.

Ammonium nitrate explosives, on the other hand, are much more stable and are actually the most suitable option for use as shell filler.

The only problem is that its power is much weaker than that of nitroglycerin-based explosives.

Given the current conditions, it is unrealistic to expect to directly implement nitroglycerin explosives in one step.

The production of nitric acid alone has already consumed a huge amount of manpower and resources in the base. If we also have to produce various passivating agents, the pressure on the base will be too great.