Chapter 35: Brigade Commander, You’re Awesome!
“Brigade Commander, you’re wrong about that. I, Li Yunlong, was quite the handsome young man back in the day in our village and surrounding areas. Matchmakers proposing marriage practically kicked down our doorstep…” Li Yunlong defended himself.
“Get lost, get lost. I don’t have time to listen to your nonsense.”
The Brigade Commander pushed Li Yunlong aside and said to Li Muzhi with a smile again, “Li Muzhi, no problem. Whenever you’re ready to consider your personal matters, come find me. I’ll always keep an opportunity open for you here.”
Li Muzhi saw that the Brigade Commander was determined to play matchmaker. He was about to adopt a righteous and serious attitude when Lao He arrived pushing the cannon with his men.
Li Muzhi took the opportunity to say to the two, “You guys take the cannon and hurry up and leave. Lao He must have notified Minister Zhang for sure.”
Li Muzhi had no intention of blaming Lao He. After all, these were two Hell Cannons, a huge deal for Zhang Wanhe.
Li Yunlong and the Brigade Commander were both sharp; they didn’t hesitate and immediately waved their hands, having their men push the cannon away.
The two didn’t linger: “Li Muzhi, we’re off. Get us that sugar soon, and we’ll supply you with cannonballs early.”
“Alright, you two, I won’t see you off.” Li Muzhi said to them.
“No need, no need to see us off. Goodbye.” Li Yunlong and the Brigade Commander slipped away in a flash with the cannon and guard troops, vanishing.
Once they ran to a place far from the arsenal, Li Yunlong still glanced back, seeing no one from the arsenal chasing them.
Li Yunlong still couldn’t quite believe it: “Brigade Commander, did we really just get the cannon like that? When Li Muzhi calms down, will he make us give it back?”
After all, these were two Hell Cannons.
Taking advantage of Li Muzhi being happy looking at the equipment to snag the cannons—it felt a bit shady no matter what.
By then, Li Muzhi would be too embarrassed to ask for them back, but if he told the headquarters leader, our skinny arms couldn’t twist the headquarters leader’s thigh, right?
Worst case, we’d have to return the cannon obediently and get a thorough scolding from the headquarters leader.
The headquarters leader would curse us for using our schemes on our own people instead of on the Japanese Invaders.
“Now that we have the cannon, let’s hurry back and get to work.” The Brigade Commander didn’t want to dwell on it and said to Li Yunlong, “There are only six cannonballs left in total. I’ll give you five, kid. Do whatever you want with them.”
“Brigade Commander, did I hear that right? You’re giving me five cannonballs?” Li Yunlong suspected his ears had failed him.
With only six cannonballs left in total, in Li Yunlong’s view, two from the Brigade Commander would already be generous.
He hadn’t expected the Brigade Commander to give him five.
And let him do whatever he wanted—that was awesome.
“If you’ve got the skills, go poke a hole in the sky.” The Brigade Commander said.
“Heh heh heh.” Old Li chuckled excitedly twice, then asked, “Brigade Commander, I’m still a bit confused. Why are you giving me five cannonballs?”
“Simple.” The Brigade Commander explained to Li Yunlong, “Next, I have to extort sugar from the Puppet Army, right? You take the cannon and stir up trouble with the Japanese Invaders. They’ll get even angrier and crave clues more, raising the reward substantially. For the merit-hungry Puppet Army, think about what that means!”
“Brigade Commander, brilliant.” Li Yunlong gave the Brigade Commander a thumbs up. As expected of the Brigade Commander.
Those traitors were already eager for merit, constantly stimulated by the Japanese Invaders’ rewards—they’d all go mad.
To make you perish, first drive you mad!
“Enough with the flattery. Let me tell you, if you don’t do the job well, don’t come back to see me.” The Brigade Commander cursed.
“Brigade Commander, rest assured. Stirring up trouble is my specialty…” Li Yunlong didn’t finish his words.
The Brigade Commander glared: “Hm?”
“I mean stirring up trouble for the Japanese Invaders.”
“That’s more like it.”
……
Now only two cannons had been produced, both given to the 386th Brigade—they definitely needed to explain to headquarters.
Li Muzhi was preparing to report to headquarters when Head of Logistics Zhang Wanhe rushed back in a flurry.
As soon as he arrived, Zhang Wanhe hurriedly asked, “Li Muzhi, Lao He said you gave the cannon we just produced to the 386th Brigade too?”
“The 386th Brigade brought back a batch of equipment, I…” Li Muzhi didn’t finish.
Zhang Wanhe still said, “That won’t do. You’re too thoughtless. You know how the headquarters leader is—they’re waiting for the cannon. And you just handed it over to the 386th Brigade. That’s letting down the headquarters leader.”
The headquarters leader had already given the word: the second cannon produced should be sent to headquarters.
“Minister Zhang, didn’t the headquarters leader say that for anything beneficial to military industry production, I have the authority to act first and report later?” Li Muzhi looked at Zhang Wanhe. “Besides, the headquarters leader is reasonable. I’ll explain it properly to him.”
“What equipment did the 386th Brigade bring back?” What’s done is done; Zhang Wanhe knew saying more was pointless.
Besides, if the headquarters leader really issued the order, Li Muzhi could act first and report later for military industry production.
“Once the arsenal’s power is up and running, with this equipment, we can produce standard cannonballs.” Li Muzhi answered.
As for making rocket launchers and rockets, there was no rush to mention it now.
People of this era had no concept of such weapons in their minds.
What, we can produce cannonballs???
Zhang Wanhe’s eyes went wide at once.
Cannonballs were extremely scarce for our army.
Those few infantry gun cannonballs in the logistics warehouse had been saved up and still weren’t used—that’s why!
Because we couldn’t produce cannonballs ourselves; each one used was one less!
But now, once the arsenal’s power was up, we could produce cannonballs ourselves. This, this, this was simply huge good news!
Then, ammunition for our mortars, mountain cannons, infantry guns, and such firearms could be supplied, with profound significance for the troops’ combat power.
“Li Muzhi, you’re not joking, right? We can really make cannonballs?” Zhang Wanhe was overjoyed!
“If we couldn’t make cannonballs, do you think I’d easily give two Hell Cannons to the 386th Brigade?”
“You, you, why didn’t you bargain a bit? Even if the equipment from the 386th Brigade can make cannonballs, giving them one cannon would suffice.” Though Zhang Wanhe had no rebuttal, he couldn’t shake his stingy temper and still felt Li Muzhi was a bit thoughtless.
“Minister Zhang, we can’t calculate it that way.” Li Muzhi shook his head, analyzing, “Think about it: with one Hell Cannon to the 386th Brigade, they brought back equipment for making cannonballs. With two, couldn’t they give us even more surprises?”
“What you say makes sense, but if they bring back a thousand pounds of sugar, won’t they want another Hell Cannon? Division-level troops don’t even have cannons in hand, yet one brigade like the 386th wants three. That’s too uneven—who wouldn’t have emotions about it?”
