Chapter 161: Damn, That’s Brilliant
386 Brigade New First Regiment
“Regiment Commander, judging by the time, the shoulder-mounted cannons from the Border Region Arsenal should be ready by now.”
The deputy regiment commander approached Ding Wei and said, “Aren’t you going to make time to go check out the arsenal?”
“I’m not Li Yunlong, leaving the regimental headquarters at the drop of a hat.” Ding Wei’s expression was extremely serious.
Although the Japanese invaders are now fighting fiercely with the Jin Sui Army and the Direct Line Army, we don’t seem to face much threat.
But what if the Japanese invaders attack? As regiment commander, I definitely can’t leave my post.
Of course, the biggest reason is that Ding Wei knows Li Yunlong too well.
If this guy gets the testing rights for the shoulder-mounted cannons at the arsenal, he’ll call me over right away.
So, Ding Wei doesn’t need to go to the arsenal at all; he just needs to wait for Li Yunlong’s message.
“Regiment Commander, when Regimental Commander Li was leading our New First Regiment before, he often left his post too, but I was still here. At critical moments, I could help with commanding.” The deputy regiment commander replied.
If Headquarters Leader hadn’t shoved Ding Wei into the New First Regiment as regiment commander, the deputy regiment commander would already have been promoted to command the New First Regiment by now.
“For these shoulder-mounted cannons, Regiment Commander, I think you should still go compete for them…” The deputy regiment commander’s words trailed off.
Someone came running up and reported to Ding Wei: “Report, Regiment Commander, Regiment Commander Kong from the New Second Regiment and Regimental Commander Li from the Independent Regiment are passing by our regimental headquarters with their troops. They want you to quickly assemble your troops and join them to get rich.”
Ding Wei paused upon hearing this and said, “Wasn’t Old Kong coal mining for the arsenal? How did he bring his troops out too?”
“Isn’t it the New Second Regiment’s off-duty time now?” The deputy regiment commander suddenly remembered.
The New Second Regiment is coal mining for the arsenal, and not only do they eat well, but they also have off-duty time—it’s really enviable.
“Yeah, that’s true.” Ding Wei nodded, then remembered something and smiled, “Li Yunlong dragged Old Kong out too. Looks like this guy really got the testing rights for the shoulder-mounted cannons. Pass my order immediately: assemble the whole regiment.”
“Regiment Commander, we haven’t received any orders from brigade headquarters.” The deputy regiment commander reminded him.
“No problem. The brigade commander said that at critical moments, I should handle things at my discretion. You assemble the troops first, then I’ll go see Li Yunlong and Kong Jie.” Ding Wei said.
“Got it.” The deputy regiment commander nodded and immediately went to carry out Ding Wei’s orders.
Ding Wei quickly walked out of the regimental headquarters and immediately spotted the dozen or so cannon barrels carried by Kong Jie’s men. He asked Kong Jie right away: “Old Kong, are these the shoulder-mounted cannons made by the arsenal?”
“Yes.” Kong Jie nodded and said to Ding Wei, “These shoulder-mounted cannons are named rocket launchers. There are twelve in total. Factory Director Li asked me to bring them out for testing.”
“I bet Li Yunlong gave you some rotten idea again.” Ding Wei glanced at Li Yunlong on the side and asked, “Where are we testing them, and why bring my New First Regiment along too?”
It looks like the testing rights for these shoulder-mounted cannons fell into Kong Jie’s hands, not Li Yunlong’s—kind of interesting.
But for Ding Wei, it didn’t matter either way; these two were old comrades anyway.
“Old Ding, don’t tell me you don’t know?” Kong Jie looked puzzled and curiously at Ding Wei. “Li Yunlong said he found the location of a Japanese invaders’ arsenal. You didn’t know about something this big?”
In Kong Jie’s view, Li Yunlong had obtained such important intelligence.
When he went to work, he would definitely bring Ding Wei along.
Did this guy not tell Ding Wei in advance?
Upon hearing that Li Yunlong had found the location of an enemy arsenal, Ding Wei’s expression turned deadly serious as he looked at Li Yunlong: “Li Yunlong, this isn’t a joke, right? You really found the location of an enemy arsenal?”
“Old Ding, with profits this big, if I didn’t have too few troops, how would you and Old Kong get a share!” Li Yunlong boasted smugly.
“Did you report this to brigade headquarters?” Ding Wei asked.
“I wanted to give the brigade commander a surprise.” Li Yunlong explained.
Earlier, when sending the military dog corpse to brigade headquarters, Li Yunlong hadn’t told the brigade commander—it was all to give him a surprise.
“You’re worried that if the brigade commander finds out, he’ll get involved, and once we take the arsenal, he’ll swallow all the profits.” Ding Wei saw right through it, then his expression turned extremely serious. “Something this big—we can’t not notify the brigade commander.”
Li Yunlong said directly: “Old Ding, this time the cannonballs issued from the arsenal went first to the division commander, then passed through the brigade commander, and got cut in half. Old Ding, we definitely can’t let the brigade commander touch them again this time. If our capital isn’t big enough, we won’t have the confidence when we go to work. If we take all the profits from this arsenal, our capital will be plenty big. Then we can thoroughly crush that scholar. Damn it, you don’t know—the scholar sent six thousand jin of sugar to the arsenal, plus a bunch of large caliber steel pipes, enough to make over twenty Hell Cannons. We gotta hurry and grab a few more of those cannons!”
Ding Wei was shocked upon hearing this: “Did Liu Weidong really send six thousand jin of sugar and large caliber steel pipes to the arsenal again?”
In Ding Wei’s eyes,
Li Yunlong and Kong Jie were his own brothers—no need to compete with them.
The High Liujin next door didn’t catch Ding Wei’s eye.
Ding Wei’s real rival was Liu Weidong from the 115th Division.
Seeing Liu Weidong rack up such big merit again, Ding Wei naturally couldn’t hold back.
“Exactly, Old Ding. You didn’t see it—at the arsenal, that scholar kid acted so obnoxiously. We have to crush this bookworm who read a few broken books!” Li Yunlong said, eyes glaring.
Facing Li Yunlong’s annoyed posture, Ding Wei still comforted him: “Old Li, let’s not get too anxious. The reason Liu Weidong gets more profits than us isn’t because he’s more capable—it’s just that there’s a bit more profit over there than here. That’s all.”
Ding Wei’s words hit Li Yunlong right in the heart. Li Mouren laughed heartily: “Right, right, right. Old Ding, you see things so clearly. Why didn’t I realize that before? I just stewed in anger for nothing.”
Ding Wei continued: “Since there’s more profit over at Liu Weidong’s side, once we take the arsenal and have plenty of gear, we can totally go over there and grab a haul too. After all, he Liu Weidong crossed the line first. Why can he grab from our side but we can’t grab from his? We’ll just follow behind Liu Weidong. Whatever he eyes, we grab first. That way, the bookworm…”
Before Ding Wei finished, Li Yunlong burst out laughing again: “Hahaha, right, right, right. Old Ding, you scheming advisor nailed it—all right to my heart. We’ll follow behind that scholar and grab first. Hahaha, brilliant plan—what a great idea!”
Kong Jie said from the side: “Old Li, Old Ding, beating the scholar like this by ganging up on him—even if we win, it doesn’t seem very honorable.”
Li Yunlong immediately cursed: “Kong Er Lengzi, whose side is your ass on!”
Ding Wei also said to Kong Jie: “Old Kong, as long as we can outdo Liu Weidong, who cares how many of us team up? If he’s got the guts, let Liu Weidong find some helpers too.”
Kong Jie smiled and said: “I was just joking, just joking. How many dishonorable things have we three brothers done already!”
“Hahaha, Old Kong, don’t talk nonsense. I, Li Yunlong, never do dishonorable things.” Li Mouren laughed heartily and denied it.
“Alright, back to business.” Ding Wei said with a serious expression. “An operation this big—we can’t not notify brigade headquarters. I’ll send someone there. My New First Regiment will head out first.”
“Fine, fine, fine. Okay, okay.” What Li Yunlong liked most about Ding Wei was this: at critical moments, he didn’t hesitate and cooperated exactly as needed.
Ding Wei sent someone to brigade headquarters to report, left some men to guard the place, and took the rest of his troops to swiftly follow Li Yunlong and Kong Jie toward the Jin Sui Army 358th Regiment.
……
Jin Sui Army 358th Regiment
“Regimental Commander, these little Japanese invaders are going crazy.”
Chief of Staff Fang Ligong said gravely to Regimental Commander Chu Yunfei, “Our defense zone has already been occupied halfway, and the Japanese invaders are still biting at us like mad. Their firepower hasn’t weakened—instead, it’s gradually strengthening. Regimental Commander, why don’t we temporarily pull back? No need to clash head-on with the Japanese invaders.”
Under the joint attack of the Kuroshima Morita Cavalry Regiment, Ueno no Mura Mechanized Regiment, and two Japanese invaders infantry battalions, the 358th Regiment resisted stubbornly and fought bravely.
But Chu Yunfei was on the defensive after all, and the Japanese invaders’ momentum was strong. After bitterly holding out for days, the 358th Regiment had taken significant casualties and lost half its positions.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese invaders overran all of the 358th Regiment’s positions.
Facing Fang Ligong’s persuasion, Chu Yunfei’s expression was extremely serious: “The Eighth Route Army destroyed the Japanese invaders’ railway transportation, so their logistical supplies are short. Don’t be fooled by their daily strengthening firepower—it’s all bluffing. Hold on a bit longer, and when their ammunition supply runs out, they’ll have nothing left.”
Chu Yunfei added: “Our remaining positions are all very fortified. We absolutely cannot give them up easily. Otherwise, without fortified works for defense, if we withdraw, the Japanese invaders will pursue and slaughter us—we’d be fish meat on the enemy’s cutting board. Tell the brothers to hold on a little longer; the Japanese invaders are about to collapse.”
If he could withdraw, Chu Yunfei would have already done so.
These two—Black Island Morita and Ueno no Mura—had deliberately teamed up to attack the 358th Regiment, mainly to settle scores.
They had locked onto the 358th Regiment.
So Chu Yunfei had no choice: he couldn’t retreat and had to fight these two Japanese invaders to the end, even if he couldn’t win—he had to fight.
Chu Yunfei wanted to see who between him and these two Japanese invaders could hold out till the end!
“Yes, Regimental Commander.” Fang Ligong nodded, gritted his teeth, and said, “Then we’ll see who between us and the Japanese invaders lasts till the end…”
Before Chu Yunfei finished speaking, someone came to report: “Report, Regimental Commander, Chief of Staff, the Eighth Route Army’s Regimental Commander Li Yunlong is here.”
Li Yunlong was here?
Chu Yunfei and Fang Ligong were both surprised to hear Li Yunlong had come.
The Japanese invaders couldn’t find the Eighth Route Army, so they took it out on us Jin Sui Army and Direct Line Army. Weren’t you Eighth Route hiding?
Now, you, Li Yunlong, actually showed up.
Fang Ligong immediately said: “Regimental Commander, about the Hell Cannons, although we sent someone to negotiate with Li Yunlong’s side, nothing came of it. Since Li Yunlong is here, let’s bring it up with him again right away.”
With two regiments and two battalions of Japanese invaders opposite them, Fang Ligong didn’t think Li Yunlong had come to help.
“You command here. I’ll go see him.” Chu Yunfei tossed the words to Fang Ligong and immediately walked out of the command post.
Although Chu Yunfei judged that the Japanese invaders were about to hold out no longer, life wasn’t easy for the 358th Regiment’s brothers either.
Since Li Yunlong had come, he probably wasn’t here to haggle over Hell Cannons—Li Yunlong was most likely after these Japanese invaders too.
If Li Yunlong was willing to cooperate with the 358th Regiment to strike these Japanese invaders, Chu Yunfei wouldn’t let such a rare comrade-in-arms slip away easily.
“Yes, Regimental Commander.”
