Bright Sword: Starting from Obtaining the Equipment Slot

Wei Dayong stood in the middle of the courtyard and handed the submachine gun in his hand to the soldier next to him.

He glanced at the puppet soldiers kneeling on the ground, then at the Independent Company soldiers standing in the courtyard.

"Wang Xiao".

Wang Xiao squeezed through the crowd and strode up to Wei Dayong.

"Company commander, I'm here."

"Take stock of the spoils; we need to be quick."

Wang Xiao turned around and waved to the row of soldiers behind him.

"Did you all hear that? Come with me."

A row of soldiers followed Wang Xiao into the pillbox.

Ma Fenghuai carried a light machine gun and walked to Wei Dayong's side, his eyes fixed on the puppet soldiers on the ground.

"Company commander, what should we do with these lackeys?"

"We'll hold them in custody for now, and then we'll talk about it after we've taken inventory of the supplies."

Ma Fenghuai nodded and mounted the machine gun on an oxcart in the middle of the yard, pointing the muzzle towards the puppet troops.

Zhou Huaiyuan led the soldiers of the second and third platoons to begin clearing the several bungalows in the front yard.

The doors of the bungalows were kicked open one by one, and the sounds of people rummaging through things could be heard from inside.

A soldier ran out of the rightmost bungalow, carrying two wooden crates in his arms.

"Company commander, there's something good in this room."

He placed the wooden box in front of Wei Dayong and opened the lid.

One box contained neatly arranged bullets, wrapped in oiled paper, with twenty rounds per pack, and the box contained at least a thousand rounds.

The other box contained hand grenades, Japanese Type 97, with anti-rust oil still applied to the shells, brand new from the factory.

Wei Dayong squatted down, picked up a grenade, and examined it.

"Continue the search."

Another soldier rushed out of the warehouse on the first floor of the pillbox.

"Company commander, there's a small ammunition depot under the pillbox."

How big is it?

"Go see for yourself, it's piled up in half the room."

Wei Dayong followed the soldier into the first floor of the pillbox.

The door panel on the bottom floor had been lifted, and looking down from above, there were more than a dozen wooden crates neatly stacked inside.

Several rows of brand-new Type 38 rifles leaned against the wall.

The boxes were stacked in three layers, and all of them were sealed.

Wei Dayong led the way down the ladder, tore off a seal, and opened the box.

The box contained twenty leather bullet boxes, each with sixty bullets, neatly stacked.

He then opened a larger box next to it, inside which was the receiver of a Type 92 heavy machine gun, with the barrel stored separately in a long wooden box.

Wang Xiao stood beside the pile of ammunition, his expression as if it were Chinese New Year.

"Company commander, we've struck it rich this time!"

Wei Dayong reached out and touched the barrel of the heavy machine gun.

"Move everything out, leave nothing behind."

Wang Xiao led his men to start moving the ammunition boxes.

Boxes of bullets were carried out of the pillbox and piled up in the middle of the courtyard.

Hand grenades, ammunition boxes, rifles, machine gun parts, all laid out one by one.

Ma Feng noticed something new in the kitchen outside and quickly walked up to Wei Dayong.

"Company commander, there's a cellar behind the kitchen, it's full of grain."

"How many?"

"At least two thousand catties of coarse grains, and over a hundred catties of cured meat."

"Move out too."

Ma Feng turned around and ran back, calling several soldiers to help him move the grain.

At the same time, Zhou Huaiyuan and his men found even more weapons and ammunition.

The spoils piled up in the yard.

Old Wu stood in front of the puppet army's line, watching the soldiers of the Independent Company carry things out box by box, his expression complex.

The young puppet soldier leaned close to Old Wu's ear and whispered something.

Old Wu shook his head and didn't say anything.

Wang Xiao, holding a booklet, squatted down next to the ammunition boxes and began to count and register them.

"One hundred and seventy-two Type 38 rifles."

"Six light machine guns."

"Type 92 heavy machine guns, two in total."

"Forty-two thousand bullets."

"720 hand grenades."

"Nine 'Turtle Box' pistols."

"Coarse grains, 2,100 jin."

"Cured meat, 120 catties..."

After Wang Xiao finished reading the last number, he looked up at Wei Dayong.

"Company commander, this is enough to feed our entire company for a month and we'll still have some left over."

Wei Dayong walked to the middle of the courtyard and looked at the piles of weapons, ammunition, and food.

The independent company has 127 men, and with the weapons they already had, each of them now has a gun to spare.

Six light machine guns can form three machine gun squads, and two heavy machine guns can form one heavy machine gun squad.

He picked up a Type 38 rifle from the pile of ammunition and pulled the bolt.

The bolt is smooth, and the chamber is coated with anti-rust oil, indicating that it is very well maintained.

Wei Dayong turned to look at Lao Wu.

"Come here."

Old Wu walked quickly to Wei Dayong.

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Has the Xiaowangzhuang outpost always had so much surplus?"

Old Wu shook his head.

"No. These weapons and ammunition were transported from the county town three days ago. They said they were temporarily stored here and would be transferred to the front line in a few days."

"Three days ago?"

"Yes, it was delivered by three trucks. The Japanese said the situation at the front was critical, so they dispersed the supplies to various outposts and would send them to the front when needed."

Wei Dayong put the rifle back into the ammunition pile.

"So, it's like Qiao'er's mother opened the door for Qiao'er—what a stroke of luck!"

Old Wu's lips moved, but he didn't dare to reply.

Wei Dayong walked up to a part of a Type 92 heavy machine gun, picked up the barrel and looked at it in the torchlight.

The rifling inside the barrel was clear and neat, indicating it had never been used.

He put the gun barrel back and turned to Wang Xiao.

"Let the soldiers who don't have guns come and get them. Each soldier will have a Type 38 rifle, thirty rounds of ammunition, and four hand grenades."

Wang Xiao closed the booklet and stood up.

"Yes."

The unarmed soldiers of the Independent Company lined up on the west side of the courtyard and walked past the pile of ammunition one by one.

Wang Xiao was in charge of distributing rifles, Ma Feng was in charge of distributing bullets, and Zheng Dali was in charge of distributing grenades.

After each soldier received his weapon, they assembled in the open space on the east side of the courtyard.

Zhou Huaiyuan stood at the front of the line, watching his soldiers finally have weapons they could handle, and he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

A soldier took the Type 38 rifle, rubbed the stock with his hand, and his eyes even turned a little red.

"After several months, I finally have some gear again!"

After distributing the rifles, Wei Dayong instructed Ma Fenghuai to select men from the entire company to distribute the six light machine guns and two heavy machine guns.

He then called Wang Xiao over, and the two whispered to each other for a while.

Finally, Wei Dayong nodded and shouted to a soldier next to him, "Hou Yue! You performed the best in this battle. From now on, you're the third platoon leader!"

The other person was taken aback for a moment, then overjoyed: "Yes, sir! Thank you, platoon leader! I promise I'll do a good job!"

Those who frequently watch Hong Kong dramas will immediately recognize Hou Yue's accent as coming from Guangdong, and like Wei Dayong, he is also a member of the Central Army.

After the weapons and equipment were distributed, Wang Xiao had the grain packed up.

After everything was tidied up, only the group of puppet soldiers remained kneeling on the ground in the courtyard.

Wei Dayong walked up to them, his gaze sweeping over each of them.

"Who holds the highest rank among you now?"

The puppet soldiers kneeling on the ground all raised their heads, their eyes falling on Liu, the platoon leader who listened to their advice.

Platoon Leader Liu slowly stood up, his legs still feeling weak.

"Sir, my name is Liu Nian'an, and I'm a platoon leader in the garrison of this stronghold. Our company commander and deputy company commander have both been killed by you!"

Wei Dayong looked at the puppet army platoon leader who was in his early thirties.

"Liu Nian'an, how many years have you been a puppet soldier?"

"More than half a year."

"Have you killed any civilians?"