Chapter 173: No More Fear Of The Brigade Commander Raiding Us
Taking advantage of the moment when Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie were all excited, Zhang Wanhe spoke up: “You three, don’t get too carried away with the excitement. Haven’t you forgotten something?”
“Have we forgotten something?” Li Yunlong and the other two looked at Zhang Wanhe.
“Didn’t you bring back over a thousand warhorses? Do you want to sell some too…” Zhang Wanhe said with a grin, “Don’t worry, the price will definitely be very fair.”
“Get lost, Old Zhang, don’t even think about our warhorses. These are for forming cavalry.” Li Yunlong immediately glared at him.
However, Li Yunlong still had someone bring over Kuroshima Morita’s mount and said to Li Muzhi: “Younger Brother Li, this is Kuroshima Morita’s warhorse. Elder Brother is giving it to you.”
Kuroshima Morita’s warhorse?
Li Muzhi paused upon hearing this.
Li Muzhi was of course no stranger to Kuroshima Morita.
In the TV series, Li Yunlong’s cavalry company was surrounded by the Japanese invaders’ cavalry regiment while covering the regimental headquarters’ breakout, and the regimental commander of that cavalry regiment was Kuroshima Morita.
He hadn’t expected that Li Muzhi had snatched Kuroshima Morita’s warhorse.
The warhorse in front of him was fat and strong, indeed a good horse.
“Regimental Commander Li, thank you.” Li Muzhi didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it directly.
Zhang Wanhe leaned close to Li Yunlong: “Regimental Commander Li, how about giving me one too?”
“You, Old Zhang, you never miss a thing.” Li Yunlong cursed, but still said, “Fine, I’ll give you one too.”
Li Yunlong had someone else bring over another warhorse and gave it to Zhang Wanhe.
“I said give me one, and you really just give one.” Zhang Wanhe pulled on the reins while pursing his lips, “You have the horses, but you probably don’t have enough horse feed, can you even afford to keep them?”
“Old Zhang, whether I can afford it is my own business, you don’t need to worry.” Li Yunlong shot back at Zhang Wanhe, then said to Li Muzhi: “Younger Brother Li, the rocket launcher test is done. This rocket launcher is very good, I don’t think it needs any changes. How about giving me all twelve of these test rocket launchers first?”
Before Li Muzhi could speak, Zhang Wanhe called out from the side: “You sly Li Yunlong, I knew you weren’t being so generous. Turns out you’re giving warhorses to get these twelve rocket launchers.”
“I haven’t gotten the data on this rocket launcher yet.” Li Muzhi reminded them.
“Right, right, got so excited I forgot this important detail.” Kong Jie immediately pulled out his notebook and handed it to Li Muzhi.
The data in this notebook wasn’t recorded by Kong Jie, but by the troops’ clerk.
Li Muzhi took it and looked. Li Yunlong said from the side: “Younger Brother Li, your rocket launcher is really good, I think we can just go straight into production.”
Ding Wei said: “If we could fix the tail flame drawback, it would be even more perfect.”
Lao He interjected: “Regimental Commander Ding, aren’t you being a bit too greedy? Every weapon has flaws. This rocket relies on combustion propellant to launch, and combustion produces tail flame.”
“Heh, that’s true.” Ding Wei smiled.
After Li Muzhi finished looking at the data and confirmed no issues, he said to Li Yunlong and Ding Wei: “You two, head back first. I won’t see you off, the arsenal is pretty busy.”
Li Muzhi didn’t engage with Ding Wei’s topic.
To eliminate the rocket’s tail flame, later generations tried to minimize it as much as possible. To make it completely disappear, you’d need drones carrying bombs.
Drone warfare was the mainstream combat method in later wars.
When conditions were ripe, Li Muzhi would of course develop drones too.
“Younger Brother Li, you’re not giving me these twelve rocket launchers?” Li Yunlong didn’t move.
“There are still some details that need perfecting.” Li Muzhi gave a casual reason.
Next, he needed to have Gao Liujin go snatch a military train; he needed rocket launchers.
“Alright then, Old Ding and I will head back first. When the time comes, send someone to deliver the rocket launchers and hell cannons to us.” Although Li Yunlong really wanted the twelve rocket launchers, Li Muzhi was the authority.
Since he said there were details to perfect, it was best to heed his opinion.
Li Yunlong left together with Ding Wei.
Kong Jie returned all twelve rocket launchers to Li Muzhi and didn’t leave immediately, instead leaning close to Li Muzhi: “Factory Director Li, um, I have a small matter I want to trouble you with.”
“What is it?” Li Muzhi turned to look at Kong Jie.
“Heh heh.” Kong Jie rubbed his hands awkwardly, then said: “You saw it, I got over three hundred warhorses here. I’m not fighting wars right now, so about the horse feed…”
Although Li Yunlong and the others had seized the Kuroshima Morita Cavalry Regiment’s horse feed in Ping’an County Town earlier, Li Yunlong and they also needed to feed warhorses.
Before Kong Jie finished speaking, Zhang Wanhe interrupted: “Regiment Commander Kong, if you don’t have horse feed, why not let the horses graze? What, you dig coal for the arsenal, we logistics support your men, and now we have to feed your horses too?”
“Minister Zhang, these warhorses can’t just eat grass, right.” Kong Jie explained, “Can you advance some? Later when I earn merits, deduct it from there.”
“Minister Zhang, don’t make it hard for Regiment Commander Kong. Provide horse feed for these over three hundred warhorses.” Li Muzhi turned to Zhang Wanhe and spoke.
Who knew when Kong Jie’s over three hundred warhorses might come in handy; they couldn’t let the horses go to waste.
“Fine, Regiment Commander Kong, since Xiao Li spoke up, I’ll provide the horse feed.” Zhang Wanhe nodded and added, “You said it yourself, deduct it later when you earn merits.”
“No problem, yes, yes.” Kong Jie nodded repeatedly.
With hell cannons and thirty rocket launchers, plus a cavalry battalion, and having dug coal, stealing time to fight a couple battles would definitely be no problem.
With the horse feed matter settled, Kong Jie said to Li Muzhi: “Factory Director Li, I’ll go rest then.”
“Good.” Li Muzhi nodded.
After Kong Jie left with his men, Li Muzhi said to Zhang Wanhe and Lao He: “Minister Zhang, you and Lao He put this equipment and supplies into storage. I still need to work on cannonballs.”
“Good, good, no problem.” Zhang Wanhe nodded immediately.
Li Muzhi returned to the arsenal to continue working on conventional cannonballs, while Lao He and Zhang Wanhe happily stored the items.
……
On the way back, Li Yunlong was so excited he was spitting as he talked: “Hahaha, Old Ding, now you and I both have two hell cannons. That Liu Weidong is so impressive, but he only has one. Haha, that scholar is under us now.”
As for Gao Liujin, Li Yunlong didn’t even mention him; that guy wasn’t even worthy to be their opponent.
But Ding Wei said: “Old Li, we shouldn’t celebrate too early. Liu Weidong only has one hell cannon now, but he got large caliber steel pipes and six thousand jin of sugar, so he’ll definitely exchange for hell cannons. Even if his superiors try to rob him, he’ll probably end up with two hell cannons.”
Li Yunlong cursed upon hearing this: “Damn it, if you hadn’t said it, I’d have forgotten. Looks like we need to hurry back the workers to let the brigade commander interrogate them, find out the next Japanese invaders’ arsenal location, take down that next big arsenal, and totally crush that scholar.”
“Leave the worker interrogations for now. I have a feeling that when we get back, the brigade commander might rob our hell cannons too, after all, 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment are still empty-handed.” Ding Wei reminded.
Ding Wei had a sense of the overall situation. The brigade commander sees us and Li Yunlong bringing back two more hell cannons; from the overall situation, he’d want to balance things.
So, the brigade commander would definitely rob them.
“Why should he? 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment being empty-handed is none of our business. If they don’t have the ability, they shouldn’t even get the soup!” Li Yunlong cursed.
“Old Li, complaining won’t solve it. The brigade commander robbing our hell cannons for 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment is probably set in stone. Our thin arms can’t twist the brigade commander’s thick legs; we’d better think of a way soon.”
“Old Ding, you scheming advisor, have you thought of some method?” Li Yunlong turned to look at Ding Wei, seeming like Old Ding had a way to solve this.
Before, whenever they got rich, the brigade commander would rob them, which was infuriating, but who could beat the brigade commander.
Now, if Old Ding had a way to deal with the brigade commander, that was good.
In the future, even if they got rich, they wouldn’t fear the brigade commander robbing them.
“Our hell cannons aren’t that easy to take.” Ding Wei said seriously, “If 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment want them for free, it’s not that simple, so…”
Ding Wei paused, then continued: “So, we ask 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment for veteran soldiers. What do you think?”
Although Independent Regiment and New First Regiment had replenished soldiers at No. 9 concentration camp.
But with continuous fighting, the troops’ casualties were gradually increasing.
They didn’t want logistics new recruits; they wanted veteran soldiers.
772 Regiment and 771 Regiment had many veteran soldiers, many who crossed Snow Mountain and traversed grassland, the elites sifted by great waves, each very valuable.
Taking the chance to replenish a wave of soldiers from 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment would definitely boost the troops’ combat power greatly.
“Hahaha.” Li Yunlong laughed loudly upon hearing this, “Old Ding, you really have a vicious idea. Why didn’t I think of it? Right, if 772 Regiment and 771 Regiment want us to share hell cannons, they have to exchange with veteran soldiers. Damn it, I’m not doing a losing deal.”
With the hell cannon robbery matter settled, Ding Wei said: “The warhorses we’re bringing back, the brigade commander will probably covet them too, especially you Old Li with your seven or eight hundred warhorses; that’ll definitely whet the brigade commander’s appetite.”
“Not giving, I’m not giving, not even if beaten to death.” Li Yunlong immediately shouted, “Last time, Old Kong snatched a cavalry battalion’s horses and equipment from Wanjia Town, and the brigade commander robbed most of it, leaving me only a cavalry company. Now he wants to rob again? Why!”
“Old Li, complaining doesn’t help.”
“Old Ding, have you thought of another solution for me?” Li Yunlong asked expectantly.
“Why should I think of solutions for your trouble? Think of it yourself.” Ding Wei adopted a none-of-my-business attitude.
“Old Ding, you bastard, I knew you were eyeing my warhorses.” Li Yunlong cursed, then said, “How about this: if you solve the brigade commander robbing my warhorses, I’ll give you a hundred warhorses.”
Li Yunlong knew Old Ding was the type who didn’t get up early without profit.
The brigade commander hasn’t even robbed me yet, and you’re already eyeing them.
But Li Yunlong also understood that if the brigade commander did rob, it wouldn’t be just a hundred horses.
“Two hundred.” Ding Wei said.
“Old Ding, you bastard!” Li Yunlong was furious, “If I hadn’t dragged you to get rich, you wouldn’t even have these over three hundred warhorses. Not appreciating my kindness, and now you’re taking advantage of the fire to rob me!”
“Old Li, think about it: you have seven or eight hundred warhorses, I only have over three hundred. The brigade commander isn’t eyeing me, he’s eyeing you!” Ding Wei said seriously, “You’re the tall tree that attracts the wind!”
“If I give you two hundred, I won’t be the tall tree anymore?” Li Yunlong questioned.
Then, he and Ding Wei would have about the same number of warhorses, and the brigade commander wouldn’t rob?
Worse, Old Ding might become the brigade commander’s robbery target too.
“As long as you give me two hundred warhorses, I’ll have a way.” Ding Wei said confidently.
“Fine, I’ll give you two hundred. Tell me, what’s your method.” Li Mouren finally nodded.
Still that saying: if the brigade commander robbed, it wouldn’t be just two hundred horses.
