Chapter 5: One Against Three
Zhang Dabiao brought Li Muzhi to the Sunjiabao Stronghold.
Zhang Dabiao said to Li Muzhi: “This Sunjiabao Stronghold is entirely puppet soldiers, no Japanese invaders. The puppet soldiers’ troops are one company. If all the puppet soldiers in this company come out, my battalion can take care of them easily.”
“Battalion Commander Zhang, you still need to prepare for the enemies coming out and running away,” Li Muzhi said to Zhang Dabiao.
These enemies see we have artillery, and they’ll easily scatter and run.
Enemies escaping with weapons won’t do; these are all our captures.
“Factory Director Li, at this point, stop keeping us in suspense. What exactly is this new weapon of yours that can force out a company of puppet soldiers?” Hearing how confident Li Muzhi was, Zhang Dabiao couldn’t help but ask again.
“Uncover the cloth,” Li Muzhi instructed Lao He.
“Yes.” Lao He nodded and immediately uncovered the cloth, revealing the Hell Cannon.
Zhang Dabiao and the soldiers of the battalion stared, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
Earlier, everyone had been guessing what this new weapon pulled by the mule might be.
But no one had imagined it would actually be a cannon!
Though this cannon looked different from the usual ones—rougher and cruder, even like a makeshift stall good pieced together from parts.
But it really was a cannon.
“Factory Director Li, did your Arsenal really make a cannon?” Zhang Dabiao doubted his own eyes.
He still went forward to touch it; it felt ice-cold. This was a real iron lump, not some paper-mâché fake.
“Battalion Commander Zhang, now that you’ve seen the cannon, prepare for the enemies to come running out,” Li Muzhi got back to business.
Zhang Dabiao didn’t waste time and immediately ordered the troops to surround Sunjiabao.
The First Company Commander couldn’t help but lean in close to Zhang Dabiao and mutter: “Battalion Commander, the Arsenal is making such a big show. If this cannon doesn’t fire when the time comes, won’t that be a huge joke?”
After all, the grenades made by the Arsenal sometimes only split in half when they exploded.
Whether the cannon they’ve tinkered with can even fire is truly a questionable matter.
“Shh, keep it down, don’t let them hear,” Zhang Dabiao quickly made a shushing gesture to the First Company Commander.
These are Arsenal folks; we have to treat them well, can’t joke about them.
Clearly, Zhang Dabiao didn’t believe the Arsenal’s cannon could fire either.
“Factory Director Li, my troops are ready. You can start testing your cannon,” Zhang Dabiao said to Li Muzhi once the troops were in combat positions.
“Mm, good.” Li Muzhi nodded, then had people push the cannon into position, and he personally operated the aiming.
After aiming was set, Lao He assisted with loading the cannonball.
Watching Li Muzhi work so professionally, Zhang Dabiao couldn’t help but mutter to himself: Factory Director Li is so confident; could this cannon really fire?
But the Arsenal can’t even make grenades properly; for them to make a cannon and have it fire… that’s just too much like a tall tale.
Whatever, whatever.
Better not overthink it; stay rational.
If the cannon doesn’t fire later, I’ll order no soldier to laugh!
Whoever dares laugh and makes the Arsenal lose face, I’ll deal with him myself.
“Lao He, you light it.” Once ready, Li Muzhi had Lao He light the fuse.
This wasn’t a pull-cord fire; it needed a match to ignite the fuse for firing.
The method was a bit old-fashioned, but if it works, that’s fine.
Later with better conditions, Li Muzhi would improve the firing method.
“Factory Director, you do it. I’m afraid my luck is bad.” Lao He’s hands were actually trembling; he worried his bad luck would affect the cannon’s firing.
“It’s fine, Lao He. Have confidence in our Arsenal’s capabilities,” Li Muzhi encouraged.
“Alright, Factory Director.” Lao He took two deep breaths, steadied his emotions, controlled his shaking hand, lit a match, and used it to ignite the fuse.
The fuse hissed and burned, giving off green smoke.
At this moment, the Arsenal workers all looked expectant and solemn, staring fixedly at the burning fuse.
Whether our Arsenal could regain its face from now on and shake off the criticism of poor quality all depended on this newly made Hell Cannon.
Though they didn’t believe the Arsenal’s cannon could fire, Zhang Dabiao and the battalion soldiers still cast curious glances.
The fuse burned out—boom!
The Hell Cannon roared with rage, and everyone’s hearts stirred: the cannon really fired!
The cannonball whistled toward Sunjiabao.
Boom!
The gun tower Li Muzhi had aimed at wasn’t hit.
But the cannonball wasn’t far off, only missing by a dozen meters.
It landed in the open space between three gun towers. The open space wasn’t big; the three gun towers were built close together.
The blast created a big crater in the open space. The powerful shockwave and instant ground tremor actually shook down all three gun towers.
In other words, though the target was missed, it successfully took out three with one shot.
Seeing the Hell Cannon knock down three gun towers with one shot, Lao He excitedly hugged Li Muzhi: “Factory Director Li, success! We succeeded.”
The Arsenal workers cheered:
“Success! Haha, our cannon succeeded.”
“As expected of the Hell Cannon; this power is too strong.”
“From now on, let’s see who dares say our Border Region Manufacturing has poor quality.”
“The Hell Cannon is made; from this moment, our Border Region Arsenal stands tall!”
“Factory Director is awesome!”
“Factory Director is too awesome.”
……
Zhang Dabiao and the battalion soldiers watched as one shot took out three gun towers, all dumbfounded.
They had all thought the Border Region Arsenal’s cannon wouldn’t fire.
Who would’ve thought not only did it fire, but with such great power.
One shot downing three gun towers—this counted as heavy weapons. Ordinary mountain cannons and infantry guns were small fry compared to it.
Real men should wield this kind of artillery—rawr!
The First Company Commander rubbed his eyes hard a few times, staring at the three collapsed bunkers, dumbfounded as he said to Zhang Dabiao: “Battalion Commander, we’re not seeing things, right? The Arsenal really made a cannon?”
The First Company Commander was now glad that Battalion Commander Zhang Dabiao had told him to keep quiet earlier.
Otherwise, if his doubts about the Arsenal had been overheard, he’d be slapping his own face right now.
The Arsenal’s cannon quality was top-notch: long range, accurate, great lethality. In a word, the Arsenal is really awesome!
“Communications Soldier, Communications Soldier, where the hell are you!” Zhang Dabiao didn’t answer the First Company Commander but shouted for the Communications Soldier.
The Communications Soldier popped up from somewhere and dashed to Zhang Dabiao’s side: “Battalion Commander, I’m here.”
“Run back to regimental headquarters at top speed right now, tell the Regiment Commander the Arsenal’s new weapon is a cannon—one shot took out three gun towers. Go!” Zhang Dabiao roared at the Communications Soldier, spraying him with spittle.
Zhang Dabiao didn’t need to think; once this cannon was produced, all troops would go crazy for it.
While other units were still in the dark, hurry and get the Regiment Commander here to stake our claim first.
“Yes.” The Communications Soldier ran off like the wind.
