Bright Sword: I built Italian cannons for Li Yunlong

Li Yunlong's voice lowered, and his eyes lost their usual fierceness, replaced by deep sorrow.

"The base area's output is limited, and with the Japanese raiding it from time to time, it's already quite remarkable that we have this much cotton."

"Sometimes when the cotton harvest was poor, we had no choice but to rob the Japanese."

At this point, a fierce look returned to his face: "Don't the Japanese transport team have cotton-padded clothes and canned food? I'll lead my brothers to rob them."

He suddenly threw a punch, as if he had returned to the battlefield.

But that brilliance quickly faded, replaced by a deeper sense of helplessness: "But every sneak attack was a life-or-death struggle!"

He couldn't continue, he just clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles turned white.

Suddenly, he remembered something, looked up, and stared intently at Zhou Zhen: "Old Zhou, you're an educated man, knowledgeable and experienced. Think of a way for me, Old Li, even if... even if it's just to make the soldiers suffer a little less from the cold, it would be helpful!"

Zhou Zhen met Li Yunlong's gaze but did not answer immediately. Instead, he nodded cautiously and said, "Commander Li, I cannot give you an answer yet. I need to understand the situation at the factory carefully. Please give me some time."

Over the next two days, Zhou Zhen became even busier.

He not only repeatedly inspected the cotton and fabric, but also carefully learned about the textile technology and production capacity of the base area.

Given the current production capacity of the base area, the supply of both cotton and cloth is limited.

It is obviously impractical to add more cotton to each cotton coat.

If we also consider the needs and production schedule at the front lines, overly complicated processes are not an option.

He spent half a month writing, drawing, and conducting various experiments on his own.

Li Yunlong saw all of this and felt a pang of unease, but he forced himself not to disturb him. He simply instructed the kitchen staff to add as much meat as possible to Zhou Zhen's meals.

Zhou Zhen naturally noticed the change in his meals.

"I never imagined that Director Li, such a rough and unrefined man, would have such a meticulous side."

Feeling touched, I also sped up my work.

Finally, half a month later, Zhou Zhen took the initiative to find Li Yunlong, who was sewing.

"Commander Li, I have some ideas that I'd like to share with you."

When Li Yunlong saw Zhou Zhen's serious expression, he was immediately delighted.

"Haha! I knew it! You must have some tricks up your sleeve!"

Li Yunlong grabbed Zhou Zhen's arm, ignoring the surprised looks from the female workers around them.

He practically dragged Zhou Zhen along, taking three steps at a time, to his residence.

"Quick, tell me, what's the best idea?"

Seeing the excited look in Li Yunlong's eyes, as if he had discovered a treasure, Zhou Zhen didn't keep him in suspense any longer.

"The warmth of this clothing mainly comes down to two things: windproofing and the filling. The cotton production in our base is limited, so we can't add more cotton, and therefore we don't have much room to improve the filling."

"Then the only feasible solution is to improve the windproof performance of cotton-padded clothing."

He picked up a twig and began drawing on the ground while explaining:

"First, our cotton cloth is not thick enough to provide any wind protection."

"Windproof?"

Li Yunlong muttered the word, seemingly having grasped its meaning.

"Isn't this just like this house? As long as it doesn't let in any drafts, it's very warm!"

Zhou Zhen nodded affirmatively.

That makes sense.

In modern society, people can get through winter with relatively thin winter clothes. In addition to down and high-quality long-staple cotton being warmer, the outer layer of these clothes also has excellent windproof properties.

This way, cold air can't get in and warm air can't get out, resulting in excellent heat retention.

Zhou Zhen drew a cloak-like object on the ground and then pointed to it.

"Our homespun cloth is sparse and not windproof. To solve this problem, we just need to brush a layer of windproof coating on the cloth. And this thing actually existed in ancient my country."

Li Yunlong's interest was piqued, and he pressed for an answer: "What is it?"

Zhou Zhen took out a jar and handed it to Li Yunlong. Li Yunlong took one look and quickly recognized it.

"Tung oil!"

"Yes, it's tung oil. Tung oil is a natural polymer material that was used to make umbrellas in ancient times. We can make a cloak that is both windproof and rainproof by simply coating homespun cloth with tung oil."

After Zhou Zhen finished speaking, Li Yunlong, who had been listening attentively, raised an objection.

"Advisor Zhou, I, Lao Li, have used the oil-paper umbrella you mentioned. Although it can keep out the rain, it is hard and brittle, and not suitable for making clothes."

Since Zhou Zhen proposed this solution, he must have already considered the hard and brittle properties of tung oil after it dries.

"That's easy to fix. We just need to add castor oil to the boiled tung oil to improve it."

"This stuff doesn't affect the cotton quota. Although it will increase the amount of cotton cloth used, the production capacity of the base should be sufficient."

"This cloak can be worn on the outside to protect against the wind and also as a raincoat, killing two birds with one stone."

Li Yunlong slapped his thigh at this moment.

"That's a great idea. You scholars really do have the best brains."

Then Zhou Zhen explained to Li Yunlong:

"Our current cotton-padded jackets use the simplest 'grid' quilting, which makes the cotton fibers tend to shift, especially after a few washes."

"We can solve this problem simply by changing the quilting to this 'diamond quilting'."

"At the same time, we can also add neck protectors and fastening buckles to the collar, cuffs, and hem to reduce the amount of cold air getting in. I estimate that the warmth of the cotton-padded jacket can be improved by 50%."

After listening, Li Yunlong's eyes reddened. He grabbed Zhou Zhen's shoulders tightly and said, "I, Old Li, am very good at judging people. From the first time I met you, I knew you were a capable kid."

"I won't say much more, but I'll personally host a banquet to thank you after this is done."

"No time to lose! Make a list of what you need, and I'll get it myself!"

Zhou Zhen was also infected by Li Yunlong's decisive personality and said with a smile, "Then I'll be waiting for your victory celebration, Commander Li."

"Don't call me Commander Li, just call me Old Li from now on."

"Hey! Old Li."

Zhou Zhen never expected that he would receive the same treatment as Political Commissar Zhao so quickly.

At this moment, Li Yunlong seemed to have rediscovered the feeling of commanding with composure on the battlefield.

The pent-up energy that had been simmering for so long finally found an outlet.

They act swiftly and decisively, getting things done as soon as they say they'll do it.

With his full support, the clothing factory, which was originally just operating in an orderly manner, instantly became a new battlefield.

Zhou Zhen was in charge of leading the team to conduct experiments on "tung oil modification," while Li Yunlong was in charge of supervising the sewing group to learn the new "diamond quilting" method.

As a result, his loud voice could be heard throughout the entire clothing factory every day.

"So what if you're a little slow? Study hard, this is a matter of life and death for the brothers on the front lines!"