Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

After the three finished talking, they walked out of the courtyard.

Ma Hongwei asked, "Sir, those weapons and equipment haven't been stored yet. Shall we go and store them now, or should we store them another day?"

Now that Chief of Staff Zhou is untrustworthy, he naturally wouldn't dare use the storage space in front of him.

This is their biggest secret right now.

If the other party had defected earlier and informed the Kuomintang, it would have been dangerous.

"I'll go with you first!"

Commander Liu nodded and said, "If I had known it would be like this, I should have had you put them in the cave first."

He had originally thought that these cadres who came to receive the equipment must be trustworthy veteran revolutionaries, and that it wouldn't hurt to tell them slowly.

But now it seems that I still overlooked people's hearts.

People are different.

Not everyone can stay true to their original aspirations.

When you're a soldier, you might think about becoming a squad leader or platoon leader.

At this time, officers and soldiers are united; whatever the soldiers eat, the officers eat, and they will have a strong sense of cohesion.

Even if they become squad leaders or platoon leaders, they won't have any complaints because their predecessors were the same.

But once they reach a high position and see what other DPP officials of the same rank have, they become dissatisfied with their own treatment.

On the Kuomintang side, a division-level cadre could receive 800 yuan in legal tender per month just for his salary.

On the Eighth Route Army side, however, division-level cadres only received a stipend of 5 yuan.

In addition to their salaries, the Kuomintang division commanders also received legal subsidies, such as large office expenses, travel expenses, family relocation allowances, housing subsidies, and ordnance storage fees.

Even the expenses for adjutants, personal cooks, orderly soldiers, grooms, and servants were all covered by the military budget, without the individual having to pay a single penny.

This is tantamount to using the country's money to support one's own people.

Of course, these formal incomes are only a small part.

The majority of the income comes from shady sources, such as falsely reporting troop numbers to receive salaries without actually working. A division commander can earn at least a thousand yuan just by receiving salaries without working.

There's also the resale of military supplies, such as food, bedding, clothing, medicine, and ammunition, all of which can be smuggled and sold.

If the location of the garrison is not right, they can directly demand settlements and protection fees from the merchants and villages. They have people and guns, but no one dares to refuse.

In contrast, the cadres of the Eighth Route Army had no income other than their allowances, and were strictly prohibited from receiving salaries without working, withholding supplies, or making unauthorized disclosures.

The corrupt tradition of seeking official positions and wealth has existed in China for thousands of years, and it is naturally not so easy to break it.

When some cadres rise in status, but their ideological development fails to keep up, they become extremely dissatisfied and may even consider betrayal.

Commander Liu thought to himself, "It seems I need to report this situation to the Central Committee so that the entire Eighth Route Army can strengthen its ideological work and nip problems in the bud!"

……

A short while later, the three of them followed the mountain path and arrived at the cave.

This was Ma Hongwei's first time here.

"This is a good spot; it's well-hidden and spacious enough to store plenty of supplies!"

After entering the cave, Ma Hongwei nodded.

"now!"

With a casual wave of his hand, Ma Hongwei conjured up a large number of weapons and equipment on the ground.

This time, the main items being transported were automatic rifles, semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and some ammunition.

"Click!"

Ma Hongwei opened a box and took out a 56-barreled cigarette.

"Sir, this is the Type 56 automatic rifle, or the Type 56 submachine gun, or the Type 56 assault rifle."

Holding the rifle, Ma Hongwei introduced it to Commander Liu: "This rifle is a copy made in my country. The prototype is the Soviet AK-47 automatic rifle."

"Automatic rifles can use the pressure of gunpowder gases and the action of springs to complete the feeding, locking, firing, ejection, and feeding of the cartridge. They can fire single shots or fully automatically, and can also be equipped with bayonets."

"This rifle, like the AK, uses 7.62*39mm intermediate-power cartridges. Each magazine holds 30 rounds, weighs 7.6 kilograms, and has an effective range of 400 meters. You can continue firing simply by changing a magazine."

Upon hearing this, Division Commander Liu said, "This kind of firearm is somewhat similar to the MP-18 submachine gun, but it's even more effective!"

The Flower Machine Gun uses 9mm pistol bullets, which are light and kinetic, capable of killing at close range but lack penetrating power; they can even be blocked by thick wooden boards and earthen walls.

In theory, the flower-shaped weapon has an effective range of 150 meters.

However, Commander Liu knew that the Huaji machine gun had a practical range of only 50-80 meters. It could not penetrate a steel helmet at a range of more than 100 meters and could only be used for street fighting and clearing trenches.

In contrast, the 7.62 intermediate-power bullets of the Type 56 assault rifle and the AK have ample propellant charges, making them usable even as machine gun bullets. They can penetrate steel helmets and ordinary brick walls, and their effective range far exceeds that of the Type 56 assault rifle.

Moreover, this automatic rifle can be fitted with a bayonet, allowing for close-quarters bayonet fighting even without bullets.

However, the flower mechanism cannot be fitted with a bayonet, meaning that once the bullets are fired, it can only be used as a fire poker.

They originally had nearly 300 flower-themed machines, but after the Long March, they suffered extremely severe losses.

Currently, they possess only about 70 MP18 and MP28 rifles in total, along with less than 140 Thompson submachine guns.

These are normally used by the guard platoon.

The 5000 Type 56 assault rifles and 5000 AKs that Ma Hongwei brought them this time are equivalent to an additional 10000 enhanced version of the Huaji gun.

If an assault force were formed, and all members were equipped with automatic rifles, it would possess extremely powerful firepower suppression.

With so many bullets, you don't need to fire a single shot and pull the bolt; it's practically like 10000 machine guns firing simultaneously.

It is conceivable that if the Japanese army launched a bayonet charge as in the past, they would kill the enemy with minimal casualties.

"It seems we need to find some veterans who are good marksmen and have them use automatic rifles to form an assault force!"

Commander Liu thought to himself, "After inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy during the defensive phase, we can then launch a surprise attack!"

There is also the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, which, although it only has a 10-round internal magazine, still has twice as many rounds as the Type 38 rifle's five-round internal magazine.

The only thing that worried Commander Liu was that these types of firearms were too wasteful of bullets.

However, the Eighth Route Army didn't fire many guns and simply didn't have enough sharpshooters to use.

If ordinary soldiers were to carry it, it would definitely be a waste of firepower.

Commander Liu thought to himself, "I hope Comrade Ma Hongwei can supply the bullets!"