Chapter 199: Just You Wait For That Day!
Not only did Li Yunlong’s expression change, but even Kong Jie’s expression also changed drastically.
The two quickly turned their heads to look toward the distant horizon, where several black dots were rapidly flying over.
Immediately, someone shouted loudly: “Enemy planes are coming, concealment, concealment!”
Li Yunlong and Kong Jie did not need to give orders; their respective troops quickly dispersed and took concealment.
The transportation team also quickly pulled into the woods and dispersed to hide.
As these several airplanes approached from far away, everyone’s hearts were lifted.
Although Li Muzhi was very capable, he had not produced anti-aircraft weapons.
Now facing Japanese Invaders’ airplanes, we still had no way to deal with them.
This was where the Border Region Arsenal was located; if Japanese Invaders’ airplanes discovered here and dropped bombs, it would truly be no joking matter.
Li Muzhi, who was experimenting with tungsten ore in the office, also heard the engine sounds of Japanese Aircraft.
He did not panic; the Border Region Arsenal factory was built in a cave dwelling, with anti-aircraft effects not inferior to an air-raid shelter at all, with thick layers above, unafraid of Japanese Aircraft dropping bombs.
Looking at Japanese Aircraft through the window, Li Muzhi’s expression was still somewhat uneasy.
In the TV series, when Li Yunlong attacked Ping’an County Town, it aroused active responses from various units, turning Northwestern Shanxi into a chaotic mess.
Even when Li Yunlong besieged Lieutenant General Shinozuka’s most favored special operations team in Ping’an County Town and used Italian cannons to take out Yamamoto Ichiki, no airplanes appeared.
At that time, Li Muzhi had even felt somewhat puzzled: where were the Japanese Invaders’ airplanes, why did they not appear.
Even if most of the Japanese Invaders’ airplanes were in the Navy’s hands, the Army still had some airplanes.
Later, Li Muzhi checked some information: when the Japanese Invaders’ First Army was formed, it was not equipped with airplanes.
The army’s combat method mainly relied on ground troops for operations.
Now, these airplanes had appeared; this was an extremely dangerous signal.
The time left for the Border Region Arsenal was probably not much.
Unfortunately, the Border Region Arsenal’s conditions were too poor to produce seamless steel pipes.
Once seamless steel pipes could be produced, anti-aircraft weapons must be prioritized.
Suppressing the Japanese Invaders’ air superiority would not only reduce the battlefield pressure on the troops but also prevent Japanese Aircraft from reconnaissance to obtain intelligence and bombing our army’s logistics.
“Factory Director, when can you produce anti-aircraft weapons?” Lao He came to Li Muzhi’s office.
For Japanese Army’s airplanes, Lao He had an instinctive hatred.
Lao He’s wife and child were all killed by bombs dropped from Japanese Army airplanes.
Although he had now rebuilt a new family and had new children, that did not mean the hatred had faded.
Lao He’s health was not good, so he could not go to the battlefield to fight the Japanese Invaders desperately; he could only devote all his energy to military industry production.
If I cannot personally kill Japanese Invaders, then I will produce weapons and ammunition to let others kill them for me.
Of course, due to the Border Region Arsenal’s poor conditions, the bullets and grenades produced were of poor quality, making Lao He’s wish difficult to realize.
And when Li Muzhi’s Hell Cannon proved workable, why was Lao He the first to change attitude and support him? The reason lay here.
Why Lao He now respected and admired Li Muzhi so much: besides Li Muzhi’s outstanding military industry ability, it was that Li Muzhi could make Lao He’s vengeance more satisfying and fulfilling.
“Lao He, rest assured, I won’t let Japanese Invaders’ airplanes fly over our heads for too long.” Li Muzhi gripped Lao He’s hand tightly.
Li Muzhi was of course aware of Lao He’s hatred.
Not only Lao He, many workers in the arsenal had blood feuds with Japanese Aircraft.
“Mm, Factory Director, I’m waiting for that day.”
……
Fortunately, this was ultimately a false alarm.
After several Japanese Army airplanes searched around here, showing no signs of attack, they turned around and rapidly left toward other directions.
Seeing Japanese Aircraft leave, Lao He said to Li Muzhi: “Factory Director, you continue with your work; I’m going back to work.”
“Good.” Li Muzhi nodded, and after Lao He left, he immediately threw himself back into the continued inspection work on this tungsten ore.
Outside, seeing Japanese Aircraft leave, Zhang Wanhe let out a big sigh of relief: “Thank heavens, thank God, this damned airplane didn’t discover here.”
If Japanese Invaders’ airplanes discovered here, it would be a nightmare.
The Border Region Arsenal was no longer what it used to be; with a large family and business, moving with all these dependents would not be easy.
Moreover, Li Muzhi had said.
The iron smelting furnace could not be stopped, or else the furnace would easily develop cracks and become unusable later.
In that case, iron could not be smelted.
“Everyone, don’t move, don’t unload things; wait until dark to move, to prevent Japanese Aircraft from doubling back.” Zhang Wanhe ordered.
These were lessons learned from past painful experiences; Japanese Aircraft often returned suddenly.
Pretending to fly away, then quickly killing back after a while, not giving ground personnel time to take concealment and hide supplies.
“Yes, Minister Zhang.” The transportation team personnel continued to stay in place for concealment, with no other actions.
Zhang Wanhe moved toward Li Yunlong: “Regimental Commander Li, did you attract this airplane?”
Although Li Yunlong was capable, he also loved to stir up trouble.
Li Yunlong had only just arrived not long ago today, and Japanese Invaders’ airplanes appeared.
Zhang Wanhe could not help suspecting whether Li Yunlong had drawn the Japanese Aircraft.
Facing Zhang Wanhe’s question, Li Yunlong glared: “Old Zhang, you can eat whatever, but you can’t talk nonsense! Am I a fool, leading Japanese Aircraft toward our arsenal?”
Kong Jie looked at Li Yunlong: “Then when you attacked the Japanese military train, did Japanese Aircraft appear?”
Kong Jie already knew that Li Yunlong’s large batch of weapons and ammunition were all captured from the Japanese military train.
“No.” Li Yunlong shook his head and cursed: “I don’t know what’s up with these Japanese Aircraft; when we attacked the county town, they didn’t appear. When I dealt with Japanese Invaders’ mechanized troops and cavalry regiment, they didn’t appear either; even when I attacked the military train, they still didn’t appear. Now they suddenly appeared…”
Li Yunlong did not finish his words and immediately shut his mouth.
On the distant horizon, the airplanes that had originally flown away returned.
“Damn it, these Japanese Invaders’ airplanes are indeed cunning; good thing I planned to unload things after dark.” Zhang Wanhe cursed luckily.
“Old Kong, I’ll give you these cannons and cannonballs right away.” Li Yunlong quickly said to Kong Jie, “Ding Wei and Cheng Xiazi are still working outside; I need to go meet them.”
Although Li Yunlong did not know why these Japanese Invaders’ airplanes suddenly appeared, he realized it was not something good.
“Old Li, why don’t you take these cannons and cannonballs over, pick up those two, and then give them to me.” Kong Jie said.
“No need, I have enough artillery fire here.” Li Yunlong waved his hand.
He could still keep thirty grenade launcher mortars, one Type 92 Infantry Gun, plus one Hell Cannon; the firepower was sufficient.
Bringing too many weapons and ammunition, with excessive remaining firepower, would also affect the troops’ mobility.
As for the copper refining plant moved back and what reward compensation Li Muzhi would give, that could be set aside for now and discussed later.
If Cheng Xiazi and Ding Wei were not picked up, the brigade commander would light him up!
“Alright then.” Kong Jie was not polite and immediately had people receive the cannons and cannonballs from Li Yunlong’s side.
Li Yunlong also directly gave half of the light and heavy machine guns, then said to Kong Jie: “Old Kong, with Japanese Aircraft appearing today, this is no good omen. Maybe one day the Japanese Invaders will come straight to the arsenal; if Old Ding and I can’t reinforce in time, the arsenal side will depend entirely on you.”
“Old Li, rest assured; if those Japanese Invaders dare come, I’ll cook them a pot of steel meat soup!” Kong Er Lengzi said boldly.
Li Yunlong said no more; after giving the things to Kong Jie, and waiting until Japanese Aircraft flew away again and did not reappear after a while, Li Yunlong hurriedly left with his troops.
……
In several desolate villages over ten kilometers from the Border Region Arsenal, Gao Liujin and Gao Xigang led their troops hiding here.
Seeing Japanese Aircraft fly away, Gao Liujin cursed: “Why did these Japanese Invaders’ airplanes suddenly come out? They’re delaying our business too much. Looks like transporting these captured supplies to the arsenal will have to wait until dark.”
There was too much stuff, making a big target; since Japanese Aircraft had come out, they could not move during the day.
Otherwise, exposing ourselves would be a small matter.
If Japanese Aircraft followed the trail and found our Border Region Arsenal, that would be fatal.
Gao Xigang untied the bag of gray-black particles, grabbed a handful from inside, looked at it in front of his eyes, then threw it back, and said to Gao Liujin: “Do you think these Japanese Invaders’ airplanes suddenly appearing has something to do with this gray-black stuff we grabbed?”
When Li Yunlong and the others made such a big commotion attacking the iron smelting plant, no Japanese Aircraft appeared.
Even if it was a small iron smelting plant, it was still valuable.
And now, not long after we attacked the military train and grabbed this gray-black stuff, Japanese Aircraft came out.
So, Gao Xigang judged that these Japanese Aircraft were most likely drawn out by us grabbing this gray-black stuff.
“If that’s really the case, then won’t we get scolded to death!” Gao Liujin also grabbed a handful of the stuff, looked at it in front of his eyes, then carefully put it back, even carefully brushing all the gray off his hand back into the bag.
To get industrial acid and sugar that the Border Region Arsenal could use immediately, we gave up quite a bit of the black-gray stuff.
If these Japanese Invaders’ airplanes were really drawn out by this gray-black stuff, then it was obvious.
Sugar and industrial acid probably were not as valuable as this gray-black stuff!
They were not even worth a fraction of this stuff!
We threw away the watermelon and brought back sesame seeds; we’ll definitely get scolded when we go back.
Moreover!
Now we’ve drawn out Japanese Aircraft.
With airplanes, it would be much harder for us to go back and grab the other gray-black supplies.
After all, if the Japanese Invaders could deploy airplanes, would they skimp on ground troops for cover?
Perhaps at this moment, North China Area Army Commander Gangcun had already urgently dispatched troops for reinforcement.
