Chapter 79: The Brigade Commander Is Asking For Too Little
“Xiao Li, the 386 Brigade has brought back the stuff. Come out and handle it.”
Li Muzhi was continuing to communicate with several key personnel about disassembling the locomotive, when Zhang Wanhe walked in.
“Everyone, you’ve got a preliminary understanding of the locomotive’s mechanisms. Absorb them in more detail. Ask me if you don’t understand.” Li Muzhi said to these key personnel.
“Okay.”
Li Muzhi followed Zhang Wanhe out, and the Brigade Commander immediately came up with a smile: “This time I brought back quite a few good things for you. You have to give me a few more cannon shells.”
Previously, the Brigade Commander had Li Yunlong bring oil to find Li Muzhi, and as a result Li Muzhi gave twenty cannon shells. Li Yunlong ran back happily to report the good news to the Brigade Commander.
The Brigade Commander was so angry he kicked him: You’re usually pretty shrewd, Li Yunlong!
You got fooled by a few words from Li Muzhi, how did you become so short-sighted!
Li Muzhi said twenty shells, and you didn’t know to ask for a few more on top!
Even if you could get one more cannon shell, that would be good.
But you just ran back happily.
“Brigade Commander Chen, don’t worry, I definitely won’t shortchange you.” Li Muzhi smiled and said, “I heard Regimental Commander Li mention a small lathe. Move it over first and let me take a look.”
Small lathe!!!
Before the Brigade Commander could speak, Zhang Wanhe on the side exclaimed in surprise: “Real or fake? Is there really a lathe?”
Although Zhang Wanhe didn’t understand military industry manufacturing, he had heard of lathes.
Without this thing, many parts couldn’t be produced.
He hadn’t expected the 386 Brigade to get a lathe. It was truly unbelievable.
The Brigade Commander didn’t answer Zhang Wanhe, but waved his hand and had Ding Wei pull over the cart carrying the lathe.
Once the cloth was uncovered, revealing the scrapped small lathe underneath, Zhang Wanhe’s expression froze: “I say, Brigade Commander Chen, you just brought back a batch of junk?”
Zhang Wanhe hadn’t expected this small lathe to be scrap.
Look, some are broken, some are worn out, and some are even deformed.
Can this junk still be called a lathe? It’s practically scrap metal.
Facing Zhang Wanhe’s stunned look, the Brigade Commander said: “Old Zhang, don’t be dissatisfied. Being able to bring back a batch of junk is already pretty good. If you want to fix the lathe, that’s no problem either. First give me five Hell Cannons, and I’ll get you a good lathe.”
Zhang Wanhe’s face lit up: “Brigade Commander Chen, don’t joke. How could I give you five Hell Cannons?”
“You’re the one who joked with me first.” The Brigade Commander shot back at Zhang Wanhe, then turned to Li Muzhi: “This stuff is scrap, but you definitely have a way to fix it. Having it is better than nothing, right?”
“Yes, Brigade Commander Chen, you’re right. Having it is better than nothing.” Li Muzhi gave an affirmative reply, then turned to Zhang Wanhe and said: “Minister Zhang, have someone move it into the warehouse first. Be careful when handling it.”
“Okay.” Zhang Wanhe responded and was about to call Lao He to send people to move it.
Just then, Kong Jie’s New Second Regiment had finished their task and come back for dinner. Li Yunlong was there too.
“Brigade Commander!”
“Brigade Commander!”
Kong Jie and Li Yunlong immediately saluted the Brigade Commander.
Zhang Wanhe said to Kong Jie: “Regiment Commander Kong, trouble you to move this small lathe into the warehouse.”
Small lathe?
Kong Jie looked at this iron lump and was stunned for a moment, then turned to ask Li Yunlong: “Did you and Old Ding bring this back?”
Kong Jie didn’t understand military industry production, but he had been coal mining at the arsenal for a few days.
He had vaguely heard a bit about the significance of lathes to the arsenal.
“Nonsense, if Old Ding and I didn’t bring it back, could you, Kong Er Lengzi, dig it up while coal mining?” Li Yunlong said smugly.
“Hmph, what are you so proud of? If you have the ability, bring back a good lathe, then you can brag.” Kong Jie snorted, then immediately called people to move the lathe into the warehouse.
Li Yunlong wasn’t idle either and called people to help move it.
“Brigade Commander Chen, move the acidic liquid over for a look.” Li Muzhi said to the Brigade Commander again.
“Move the stuff over.” The Brigade Commander ordered again.
Soon, more than twenty barrels were brought over, each filled to the brim.
Labels with Japanese Invaders’ text were stuck on the barrels. Li Muzhi knew some Japanese and could recognize them.
Eight barrels of concentrated nitric acid, ten barrels of concentrated sulfuric acid, five barrels of concentrated hydrochloric acid.
“Regiment Commander Kong, move the stuff inside.” After recording, Li Muzhi instructed Kong Jie.
“Okay.” Kong Jie nodded.
Finally, Li Muzhi had the Brigade Commander show the copper wire and copper billets.
Looking at this copper wire, Li Muzhi was also very excited.
The total weight of the copper wire exceeded one thousand catties.
This copper wire was of high quality, good material for modifying the generator.
Copper wire was also necessary material for making some other precision parts.
As for the copper billets, there were large and small ones.
The small ones were for making bullets, the large ones for cannon shells.
The arsenal couldn’t make bullets yet, so these small copper billets would be stored for now.
With the arsenal’s power solved, these large copper billets could be just right for producing cannon shells.
“There’s also a batch of scrap metal. See if there’s anything usable inside. Screen it yourself. Melt down the useless stuff.” Finally, the Brigade Commander had people hand over the scrap metal to Li Muzhi.
“Brigade Commander Chen, this batch of scrap metal is also very useful. It has disassembly value.” Li Muzhi took a rough look; not everything inside was scrap.
With some assembly and modification, it could still be used.
For example, the scrapped gun parts could be disassembled and used to repair other damaged guns.
The junk radios and receivers had intact parts inside that could be disassembled to repair broken radios and receivers or modified into other things.
For instance, they could be used to make detonators for remote-controlled bombs, using radio wave transmission and reception to detonate.
They could have miraculous effects at critical moments on the battlefield.
No need to, like in TV dramas, have the bomb ready but the fuse fail, forcing someone to risk detonating it manually and increasing casualties for nothing.
“Haha, as long as it’s useful, great.” The Brigade Commander laughed heartily, looking at Li Muzhi: “So let’s get to the point. I want to exchange all this stuff for Hell Cannon shells. How many can you give me?”
See, the Brigade Commander is much shrewder than Li Yunlong.
He let Li Muzhi name the price first.
Li Muzhi chuckled and said: “I’ll give you twenty.”
“Twenty?” The Brigade Commander paused upon hearing that.
In the Brigade Commander’s view, the value of these things was still a bit less compared to the over ten thousand liters of oil Li Yunlong had gotten earlier.
Although copper wire, copper billets, and industrial acid were important, the amount of oil was considerable too.
Unless this small lathe was intact, but it was scrap.
The Brigade Commander quickly adjusted his emotions and said tactfully to Li Muzhi: “This operation put our troops in great danger.”
“So how many do you want?” Li Muzhi asked with a smile.
“Twenty-five.” The Brigade Commander said.
“Okay, no problem. Just as you said, twenty-five for you.” Li Muzhi agreed very readily.
“…” Brigade Commander.
He agreed so readily?
The Brigade Commander thought to himself: Oh no, I asked for too few.
