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

Currently, most of the sulfonamides in China come from donations by overseas Chinese, with a small portion coming from donations by the American Red Cross.

These sulfonamides are like a drop in the ocean for the millions of soldiers across the country.

Those sulfonamides were basically reserved for officers in the bald-headed elite troops.

Even the officers in the Jin-Sui Army didn't get much.

Yan Xishan couldn't understand where these Eighth Route Army soldiers got so much sulfonamide.

"Could it have been given to us by the Russians?"

Yan Xishan began to speculate.

He felt that this was the only possibility and explanation.

After the Japanese army imposed a blockade on China, it became extremely difficult to purchase sulfonamides.

He also didn't believe that the Eighth Route Army could have so much money to buy these sulfonamides.

Only the Russians, who were of the same lineage as the Red Army, would be willing to give so much sulfonamide.

The previous Battle of Taiyuan had resulted in numerous casualties among his generals and officers, so this batch of sulfonamides was indeed needed.

At least 45% of the soldiers in their Jin-Sui Army died not from gunshot wounds, but from infected wounds.

Yan Xishan took a deep breath and asked, "What kind of guns do you need?"

Commander He said, "We need 10 60mm mortars and 10 Shanxi-made Type 38 heavy machine guns (modeled after the Japanese Taisho 3 air-cooled heavy machine gun)..."

"impossible!"

Before he could finish speaking, Yan Xishan interrupted him, saying, "The Ejin-Suiyuan Army has suffered heavy losses, and its arsenal has not yet been rebuilt. It is severely lacking in weapons and cannot possibly give you that many!"

He absolutely refused to give machine guns and artillery to the Eighth Route Army, because these were far more powerful than ordinary rifles.

Moreover, their production of these heavy weapons is not large.

Just like the Type 38 heavy machine gun manufactured in Shanxi, the Taiyuan Arsenal's peak production was only 90 guns per month.

The production of the water-cooled Maxim machine gun was even lower.

"How much can Commander Yan offer?"

Commander He wasn't angry; he had known this would be the outcome all along.

Asking for so much just now was simply overcharging.

"Commander He, I'm only doing this for your sake!"

Yan Xishan said, "These machine guns and cannons are extremely expensive and require a lot of ammunition. Your Eighth Route Army can't afford to maintain them."

"Here's what we'll do: we can sell you two 60mm mortars, two for 25 small yellow croakers each."

"I can sell you four Czech ZB26 light machine guns modified to 65 caliber, 25 small yellow croakers for each one."

"The rest are Jin-made Type 65 rifles (imitating the Japanese Type 38) and Jin-made Type 79 rifles (imitating the Hanyang rifle), two small yellow croakers per rifle."

They can produce 600 .65 caliber light machine guns a month, and selling four to the other side wouldn't cause them any significant damage.

They could produce more than 3000 Type 65 rifles and Type 79 rifles made in Shanxi each per month.

"You guys are charging way too much!"

Commander He frowned.

According to the other party's calculation, just two mortars and four light machine guns would require 125 small yellow fish (a type of weapon).

All that was left was 937.5 rifles.

This was quite different from what he had expected.

Previously, a rifle cost only one small yellow coin, but the other party was asking for two, doubling the price.

They had already let it go that the other party had asked Shanxi merchants to sell them goods at high prices, but now they were actually trying to cheat them.

"so……"

Yan Xishan continued his offer: "We'll give you ten shells for each mortar, and another 20,000 rounds of ammunition."

If it weren't for the fact that the other party had sulfonamides, he wouldn't have wanted to sell them a single gun.

A single mortar shell costs 5 yuan, and with the bullets, it's 1300 yuan.

This is all his money.

"Whoosh!"

Commander He suddenly stood up and said calmly, "It seems Commander Yan doesn't really need these sulfonamides. I think I should sell them to Commander Wei instead!"

The Commander-in-Chief Wei he mentioned was Wei Lihuang.

When the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, Wei Lihuang was the commander-in-chief of the 14th Army Group. After fighting the Japanese army for several months, he led his troops into Shanxi and served as the forward commander of the Second War Zone.

After the fall of Taiyuan, he led his troops to retreat to the area west of the Fen River and south of Taiyuan.

"Commander He, please wait!"

Seeing this, Yan Xishan had no choice but to agree: "How about we buy a rifle for 1.5 small yellow croakers?"

"It's still a bit too low!"

Commander He shook his head.

"I'll give you another 50,000 rounds of ammunition; this is my final offer."

Yan Xishan said, "Things are different now than in the past. Our arsenal's production capacity has not yet recovered, and we lost a lot of weapons and ammunition in the previous battles. Since there is less of these things, the price will naturally be higher."

"Okay, let's do it this way!"

Commander He nodded in agreement.

After this round of bargaining, we got about 470 more rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, which is pretty good.

Yan Xishan asked, "Did Commander He bring those sulfonamides? We need to barter on the spot; we can't give you the guns and ammunition first!"

"It's here; it's outside the city!"

Commander He said, "Let's trade outside the city!"

"good!"

Yan Xishan nodded and said, "Then I'll have someone prepare it right away!"

After the two sides reached an agreement, Commander He headed out of the city.

Yan Xishan's subordinate said, "Commander-in-Chief, should I arrange for someone to...?"

Yan Xishan glared at the other man and retorted, "The Japanese invaders seized Taiyuan; they are now our greatest enemy!"

Not to mention, he now needs the Eighth Route Army to help him resist the Japanese invasion.

Even if he didn't need to, he wouldn't dare to attack the Eighth Route Army.

He had already witnessed the Red Army's prowess during the Red Army's Eastern Expedition 36 years prior.

Now that the Eighth Route Army is far larger than the Red Army was back then, he dares not provoke them even more.

……

Not long after.

Yan Xishan then led his men to the outskirts of the city.

The two sides began trading while they were locked in a standoff.

Yan Xishan ordered his doctors to verify the sulfonamide powder.

Commander He then ordered his men to check the quantity of guns and ammunition.

After both parties confirmed that everything was correct, the transaction was finally completed.

Yan Xishan said with a smile, "Commander He, you suddenly have so many more guns and ammunition. I hope you can give the Japanese invaders a good beating!"

Commander He said in a deep voice, "Rest assured, we will show absolutely no mercy to the enemy!"

Yan Xishan narrowed his eyes, naturally understanding the double meaning in the other party's words.

"Let's go!"

Commander He waved his hand and led the Eighth Route Army away with the guns and ammunition they had acquired in exchange.

Commander He thought to himself, "We've acquired so many guns and ammunition in just one transaction. It seems we need to do more of these transactions in the future!"

In the future world, sulfonamides will be plentiful.

With the support of large quantities of sulfonamides, they could certainly exchange them for even more guns and ammunition.

However, as they acquire more and more guns and cannons, the Kuomintang and those warlords will certainly become increasingly hostile towards them.