Chapter 124: All Of Them Are The Type That Won’t Release The Eagle Without Seeing The Rabbit
Li Muzhi came to Zhang Wanhe’s place and, seeing the sugar Zhang Wanhe brought, was still startled.
“Factory Director, where did you get this sugar from? This must be five thousand catties, right?” Li Muzhi was truly shocked.
It hadn’t been long, but the total amount of sugar sent by the combat troops to the arsenal had already exceeded ten thousand catties.
One must know, this was sugar, a strategic material.
Now it seemed almost like a common commodity. The efficiency of the combat troops was truly astonishing.
Another five thousand catties of sugar arrived, which meant the Border Region could produce eight hundred cases of grenades.
With the power issue solved, the production of other shells could also increase substantially.
“Hahaha.” Zhang Wanhe laughed heartily and said, “This was obtained by Regiment Commander Liu from the 115th Division. This Regiment Commander Liu is impressive. We just gave him a Hell Cannon, and he arranged such a big surprise for us.”
“Did Regiment Commander Liu not have time again and not come in person?” Li Muzhi was quite interested in this Regiment Commander Liu.
This man first sent someone to deliver a general’s sword in exchange for a Hell Cannon.
With this Hell Cannon, he then obtained five thousand catties of sugar.
This man’s capabilities were extraordinary.
“Of course. They said to hurry and send the remaining Hell Cannon over, and exchange all the remaining sugar for shells, half assault type and half lethal type.” Zhang Wanhe was so excited that spit flew from his mouth, almost spraying onto Li Muzhi’s face.
Five thousand catties of sugar—how many shells would that make?
The shells produced could then be exchanged for more sugar supplies. Our logistics outlook was bright, hahaha.
“Alright.” Li Muzhi nodded. “Once the cannon is ready, quickly send it over along with the shells.”
Hearing this, Zhang Wanhe detected another layer of meaning in Li Muzhi’s words.
Zhang Wanhe knew that only the last cannon was left in production.
It would be completed soon.
Regiment Commander Liu brought five thousand catties of sugar, with one thousand catties exchanged for a Hell Cannon.
The remaining four thousand catties of sugar exchanged for shells would give them eighty rounds.
Could they produce eighty shells in such a short time?
When did the Hell Cannon shell production rate become this fast?
One must remember, the 386th Brigade needed shells prioritized for their attack on the Zhengtai Line Railway to seize the train.
Not to mention, the 120th Division was still waiting for shells to be distributed.
Facing Zhang Wanhe’s suspicion, Li Muzhi smiled and explained, “Minister Zhang, it’s like this: those high-level talents from the Huangyadong Arsenal improved our production process for us. Efficiency has increased a lot. Lao He even said that by the end of today, they could produce forty shells.”
“How many, forty?” Zhang Wanhe exclaimed, his eyes immediately widening into rounds. “Xiao Li, you’re not joking, right? This fast?”
Although Zhang Wanhe didn’t fight wars, he knew well.
Once the 386th Brigade seized the Japanese military train, the commotion would be earth-shattering.
The Japanese invaders would inevitably retaliate bloodily, and the combat troops’ need for shells would definitely not be a small number.
Because the arsenal’s shell production efficiency wasn’t high, Zhang Wanhe had the idea of stockpiling some shells in the warehouse.
Now hearing that shell production efficiency had improved, what was the point of stockpiling?
“Minister Zhang, those high-level talents are truly very important to our arsenal.” Li Muzhi brought up the old matter again.
“Rest assured, absolutely.” Old Zhang’s expression was a bit unnatural, but he still agreed.
In fact, Old Zhang had already mentioned it to the headquarters leader.
He had just opened his mouth when the headquarters leader scolded him a few times. Old Zhang didn’t dare say anything more and could only slink back.
Now that Li Muzhi had again emphasized the importance of these high-level talents, Old Zhang could only steel himself and try again.
……
386th Brigade Independent Regiment
“Old Ding, Old Zhao, I’m going out for a stroll.”
Li Yunlong left without eating, stepping out and greeting Ding Wei and Zhao Gang.
Zhao Gang cursed, “I say, Regiment Commander Comrade, you go out strolling every day. Today you stroll to the Jin Sui Army’s 321st Regiment, tomorrow to the direct line 217th Regiment. Can’t you stay put at regimental headquarters with your troops?”
In the few days since returning, Li Yunlong had been running out every day.
He had visited all the surrounding friendly forces, and Zhao Gang had major objections.
Ding Wei was quite calm: “It’s fine, Old Zhao. Let Old Li go strolling. There’s no warfare right now anyway, and with you and me watching the troops, what are you worried about? He’ll at most mooch a couple meals outside.”
Attacking the Zhengtai Line Railway to seize the military train would touch the Japanese invaders’ reverse scale. If Li Yunlong could get more friendly forces involved, even the brigade commander had tacitly approved it, so they certainly couldn’t hold Li Yunlong back.
“Haha.” Li Yunlong laughed heartily and said to Zhao Gang, “Old Zhao, you should learn more from Old Ding here. I can’t stay idle at home, or I’ll easily stir up trouble. Then I’d just be adding chaos for you, Old Zhao!”
“So where are you going today?” Zhao Gang asked.
“Going to Chu Yunfei’s place to mooch a meal. Regiment Commander Chu called yesterday inviting me over for dinner. I have to give him face.” Li Yunlong said seriously, “See, I haven’t even eaten. I’ve got an empty stomach, ready to mooch a full meal over there. Doesn’t that save the regiment a meal too?”
“Old Li, get going quick. Don’t keep Regiment Commander Chu waiting.” Ding Wei directly pushed Li Yunlong out the door.
“Hey, hey, hey…” Zhao Gang still couldn’t stop him, and Li Yunlong slipped away.
Zhao Gang looked suspiciously at Ding Wei: “Regimental Commander Ding, this… this… this is really the brigade commander’s intention?”
Last time, Zhao Gang had been tricked once.
He let Li Yunlong take shells to the scrap yard for testing, really thinking the brigade commander had other plans.
In the end, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei had teamed up to fool him. Fortunately, nothing went wrong.
This time, Li Yunlong returned and couldn’t sit still for a day, running out every day, and Ding Wei said it was the brigade commander’s intention.
Zhao Gang had called the brigade commander, but he just said one thing: listen to Ding Wei.
Zhao Gang had already been tricked by Ding Wei once. Now he didn’t know whether to trust Ding Wei.
After all, Li Yunlong was the regiment commander.
Which regiment commander doesn’t stay with his own troops? Which one doesn’t stay at regimental headquarters but runs to others’ places every day?
If some urgent military intelligence came up and the regiment commander wasn’t there, wouldn’t that be a huge joke?
“Old Zhao, if you don’t believe me, call the brigade commander again and ask.” Ding Wei said with a smile. “With Li Yunlong not here, aren’t the two of us doing just fine? If anything comes up, I’ve got your back commanding.”
“Forget it, forget it. I won’t bother the brigade commander. I’m off to do ideological work.” Zhao Gang waved his hand and went to do ideological work.
The over a thousand direct subordinate prisoners of war that Li Yunlong and Ding Wei brought back needed their ideological work done urgently.
Ding-a-ling-ling!
Not long after Zhao Gang left, the phone on the table rang.
Ding Wei walked over and picked up the microphone: “This is Ding Wei.”
From the microphone came the brigade commander’s voice: “Ding Wei, has that damn Li Yunlong been behaving these past few days?”
“Li Yunlong has visited eight friendly forces in the past few days,” Ding Wei answered.
“Damn it, this bastard really plans to poke a hole in the sky for me.” The brigade commander cursed, then asked, “Any results?”
“Brigade Commander, you know well what the Jin Sui Army and direct line are like. They’re all the type who won’t release the eagle without seeing the rabbit.” Ding Wei said tactfully.
To put it bluntly, Li Yunlong hadn’t succeeded with any of them.
To put it nicely, Li Yunlong had succeeded with all of them.
When the time came to make our move and the combat opportunity arose, seeing profits to be made, those Jin Sui Army direct line troops wouldn’t be able to sit still.
“Where’s Li Yunlong? Is he here now?” the brigade commander asked.
“Not here, he just left.” Ding Wei was suspicious. “What’s up? Is there something for Li Yunlong to handle?”
“Not exactly. With Li Yunlong not around, are the direct subordinate prisoners of war you rescued still stable in their loyalty?” the brigade commander asked.
These prisoners mainly joined the Eighth Route Army out of admiration for Li Yunlong. Now that they were brought back and Li Yunlong was running around outside every day, their loyalty might not hold.
“Although many still have those direct line warlord styles, Li Yunlong stepped in and dealt with a few troublemakers. Loyalty is still stable for now,” Ding Wei answered. “Zhao Gang has good work ability and is hurrying their ideological work.”
“Mm.” The brigade commander acknowledged and hung up the phone.
The deputy brigade commander walked over and said to the brigade commander, “Brigade Commander, I finally got something useful out of that bastard’s mouth.”
“Tell me quick.” The military train intelligence had been stalled for days; he couldn’t wait any longer.
“There’s a little Japanese invader named Kameda Jouoku at Uehara Station who can access detailed intelligence on Japanese military train transport supplies. This man is extremely greedy for money. To gather wealth, he’s even secretly selling military intelligence from the Japanese Army side,” the deputy brigade commander answered.
“Great. Go to logistics Old Zhang right away for money and buy off this little Japanese invader first,” the brigade commander said decisively.
For such a special Japanese invader, the brigade commander had no doubts. He had once worked in intelligence.
The Japanese Army indeed had such Japanese invaders; they valued personal gain above all else.
They were like the corrupt elements on the direct line side—for promotions, titles, and money, national interests meant nothing.
While at it, also check how many shells the arsenal had produced.
“Brigade Commander, no rush,” the deputy brigade commander said. “We have an old underground party member who looks very much like this Kameda Jouoku. He also speaks Japanese fluently and even knows the accent from Kameda Jouoku’s hometown. I’m thinking, why not pull a switcheroo?”
After all, our money didn’t come easy.
Why cheaply benefit the Japanese invaders?
The best way was to have someone replace this Kameda Jouoku.
As long as our old underground party member could successfully take over this identity and go undercover, the significance would be profound.
In the future, we’d know exactly what was being transported on the little Japanese invaders’ military trains.
Whatever they lacked, we’d target their military trains to seize it.
“Is that so?” The brigade commander paused, looking at the deputy brigade commander. “Do you have photos of the two?”
“Deputy Brigade Commander, the photos are developed.” At that moment, someone handed over the developed photos.
The brigade commander took them and looked, delighted. “How come they look like the same person to me?”
“Brigade Commander, since you can tell at a glance they’re the same person, our switcheroo success rate is definitely high. I’ll go do it right away,” the deputy brigade commander said with a smile.
“Remember, best if the switcheroo succeeds. If it fails, be sure to ensure this old comrade’s safety,” the brigade commander instructed. “As for this little Japanese invader Kameda Jouoku, capture him alive.”
If the switcheroo failed, capture Kameda Jouoku alive and pry Japanese military train intelligence from him.
If successful, keep Kameda Jouoku alive and extract his personal life details—these were essential for the old comrade’s undercover work.
“Yes, Brigade Commander.”
