Chapter 32: Way Too Ballsy
Ono Shiota unsurprisingly expressed approval for this transaction, and Cao Weida was naturally not surprised by this, as he had ample reason to suspect.
After negotiating again with Nakamura, Cao Weida found Zheng Chaoyang and arranged a meeting time with him.
In the middle of the night, Cao Weida cautiously entered a household on the way, which was a safe house he had specially rented for private meetings with people he needed to see but couldn’t conveniently meet in public.
“Brother Chaoyang, here are the details of this transaction, take a look.”
Zheng Chaoyang took the paper handed over by Cao Weida, looked at the details on it, and couldn’t help but gasp.
“Type 38 rifles one thousand, two base loads of ammunition, Type 11 light machine guns thirty, three base loads of ammunition, Type 92 heavy machine guns. 75mm mountain guns five?! And equipped with two base loads of artillery shells”
At this point, he didn’t know what to say anymore; the further he read, the wider Zheng Chaoyang’s eyes grew. He never imagined they would play on such a grand scale this time!
Is this emptying out an armory or what?!
“Brother Cao, are there maybe an extra zero written on these numbers?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve double-checked repeatedly; there is absolutely no extra digit.” Cao Weida shook his head; actually, he hadn’t expected there to be so many supplies either.
This batch of equipment, if priced according to the Jin-Sui Army’s procurement rates, would at least double in cost; it couldn’t be had for less than 30 silver dollars.
One could only say that Ono Shiota and his group had guts too big; this was the equipment configuration for an reinforced regiment!
Take the final 75mm mountain guns, for example; in the famous War of Resistance TV series Bright Sword, they were actually French 1897 75mm field guns, which had their pros and cons in performance compared to the 75mm mountain guns on the list.
Although inferior in power and rate of fire to the Italian guns, the little devils’ 75mm mountain guns were actually more suitable for the Communist Party in terms of mobility, which was vastly superior.
If Li Yunlong got these supplies, forget one Ping An county town; he’d dare to attack Taiyuan!
When he first saw this list, he too was shaken three times by Nakamura the little devil’s ‘grand gesture.’
“The price will still be as last time, Brother Chaoyang. See if you can take them all; if it’s too much, just say so, and I’ll find other people to handle it.”
“Yes! Definitely yes! Absolutely yes!” Zheng Chaoyang’s eyebrows were practically flying off as he said “yes” three times in a row.
Although the battlefields between China and Japan had now fallen into a war of attrition, improving the Communist Party’s survival environment somewhat, their days were still tight.
On the surface, the Kuomintang and Communist Party had formed a united front for the War of Resistance, but in reality, their vigilance toward the Communist Party had never relaxed, especially after seeing the dawn of victory, when this attitude became even more pronounced.
Apart from the blockade on various supplies, the harm to the Communist Party’s underground members had never stopped.
In Bright Sword, when they clearly saw Li Yunlong and his men fighting to the death against the Yamazaki unit, as friendly forces, shouldn’t they help out?
But on the contrary, the Nationalists were ordered not to intervene, with violators facing military law!
Just from this, one could tell that the Kuomintang and Communist Party were never of one mind.
The Communist Party’s territories were mostly rural areas; forget industrial equipment—the bullets and grenades produced by those so-called arsenals were indescribable.
Now, such a huge batch of equipment suddenly available for purchase—how could he, who knew full well the severe shortage of armaments and supplies in the Communist Party, let it go?!
He wouldn’t give up even a single gun or bullet to others!
Cao Weida smiled wryly; he had long guessed the outcome, so he wasn’t surprised at all.
“This batch of goods will arrive in about five days. Once the supplies are here, I need to offload them within three days. Price still as last time—no problem, right?”
Zheng Chaoyang immediately replied: “Of course no problem.”
At eighty percent of black market prices, the Communist Party was already getting a huge bargain; more often, the pain was having money but nothing to buy.
As long as they had weapons, money wasn’t hard to come by; hitting a few damn traitors and evil landlords would yield plenty.
“Master Cao, you have great connections; see if you can help get some more anti-inflammatory medicine?”
“You know our situation; we’re desperately short of these supplies.”
Since Cao Weida had already guessed his identity, he no longer hid it.
After the last successful transaction, Luo Yong had notified him of the organization’s decision: henceforth, unless necessary, he was to stop all dangerous intelligence gathering and shift to deep cooperation with Cao Weida.
Compared to intelligence that didn’t affect the big picture, supply procurement was clearly more important.
This was not only protection for Zheng Chaoyang but even more so for Cao Weida.
After all, intelligence gathering carried the risk of exposure; once exposed, even if Zheng Chaoyang was a steadfast revolutionary with faith, he couldn’t guarantee enduring torture.
If he gave away Cao Weida, the Communist Party would lose the hard-found supply procurement source, a loss they were unwilling to bear.
Cao Weida rubbed his temples and smiled bitterly: “You’re really giving me a tough one. Anti-inflammatory medicine is a strategic item under even stricter control than arms.”
The last batch of anti-inflammatory medicine had been drawn from the system; he now had only twenty boxes of penicillin left.
Zheng Chaoyang felt a bit awkward; he knew this request was indeed excessive. Last time, Cao Weida had given so much anti-inflammatory medicine for free, and the Communist Party already owed a big favor.
But he had no choice; the organization’s shortage of anti-inflammatory medicine was enormous. He had been a soldier and fought in battles before, so he knew too well the suffering of the wounded and sick without it.
Every time he thought of former comrades and veterans who didn’t die on the battlefield but suffered to death under illness, his heart ached painfully.
After pondering for a moment, Cao Weida said: “I can only say I’ll try; I can’t guarantee success.”
Zheng Chaoyang quickly said: “I understand. Do your best; no pressure. That you even have this intention means I’m already very grateful.”
“Alright then, I know you’re in difficulty. I still have a few boxes of penicillin; I’ll bring them to you in a couple days. For the rest, we’ll have to wait for news.”
He had originally planned to keep the twenty boxes as backup, but thinking of the Communist Party predecessors who fought bloodily and risked their lives against the devils, he felt bad being too stingy.
Those were the most lovable people!
Forget it; one couldn’t be too selfish. Anyway, it was just for backup; if something really happened, leaving three or five boxes should suffice.
If not enough, he could figure out a way to get a few more from Ono Shiota and them without issue, so he might as well be more generous.
Hearing this, Zheng Chaoyang was instantly delighted; he hadn’t expected this unexpected gain!
He grabbed Cao Weida’s hand, eyes brimming with tears: “Comrade Cao, thank you for your support! On behalf of those in need, thank you!”
“Cough cough… no need, no need to be polite. I’m just doing my small part.” Zheng Chaoyang’s enthusiasm made Cao Weida a bit unaccustomed; mainly, he didn’t have a concrete grasp of the Communist Party’s current dire shortage of anti-inflammatory medicine.
If he saw it himself, he’d know the horrific state of the Communist Party’s field hospitals without antibiotics.
The feverish, infected wounded lying in bed awaiting judgment—what agony and despair they felt.
Forget soldiers; even many leaders had sacrificed due to lack of medicine.
“To you, it might be just a small effort, but to us, the help is immense!” This gratitude from Zheng Chaoyang was absolutely sincere, without any performance; he truly appreciated Cao Weida’s selfless contribution.
He didn’t know that Cao Weida didn’t value these antibiotics much; in his eyes, they were expensive and not something money alone could buy!
Whoever got these antibiotics—not to mention the money they could make, the key was whether they’d be willing to sell!
These were life-saving things!
Everyone treated them as treasures and was unwilling to sell!
And Cao Weida not only didn’t sell but selflessly gave them to the Communist Party; this favor alone was worth more than gold!
Even many lacking knowledge revered penicillin as a ‘miracle drug’! Extremely superstitious about it!
Believing that no matter the illness, with penicillin, it would be cured instantly!
Modern people might not understand the era’s emphasis on antibiotics; for example.
During the 1945 Chongqing Negotiations, the third Miss Song gave seven doses of penicillin as a gift to the Chairman, showing how precious penicillin was and how treasured it was!
And last time, Cao Weida had given plenty of anti-inflammatory medicine plus a full twenty boxes of penicillin—four hundred doses!
This favor was heavier than mountains!
Zheng Chaoyang was filled with emotion, his eyes moistening: “You may not know, but the medicine you sent last time saved many people of determination at critical moments—those were lives!”
“I know this request is really pushing it, but I have no choice.”
The sky was dim, even the moon seeming to hide lazily.
At this time, Beiping had streetlights, introduced to Chinese cities gradually since the late Qing and early Republic.
As an ancient capital with a long history, Beiping had begun installing streetlights as early as the early 20th century.
But mainly distributed along main city roads, commercial areas, and important sites.
Despite Beiping being under Japanese puppet regime rule during the War of Resistance, with urban construction affected by war, basic lighting facilities were still maintained in certain areas.
However, the streetlights of this era were dimly yellow with limited brightness, just enough to prevent pedestrians from being blind.
Cao Weida didn’t take the main road but stuck to the alleys beside it for a shortcut home.
At this hour, aside from some entertainment venues still brightly lit, almost all shops had closed their doors.
A week had passed, and the Japanese informant from before still hadn’t been caught. The usually heavily guarded little devils, after a bout of frantic searches harassing the people, had gradually relaxed their searches of Beiping.
Even so, nighttime patrols continued.
A squad of little devils carrying Type 38 rifles, leading a team of Chinese collaborators, patrolled down the main road. Cao Weida just glanced indifferently and planned to leave directly.
But just as he turned, his attention was drawn to two staggering figures supporting each other as they walked ahead.
