Bright Sword: Follow Kong's fun and build the strongest military industry

Moreover, the research and development of coal-powered steam engines is nearing completion. Now, if we can get more precision machine tools, we can mass-produce qualified parts. Then we can mass-produce steam engines that can drive various machines and equipment.

Although the world's industrial powers have now entered the electric age and many advanced machine tools are driven by electric motors, our military's industrial strength is limited, so it is acceptable to use coal-fired steam engines to drive machine tools.

Although its efficiency is much lower, compared with huge facilities such as hydroelectric power stations or thermal power stations, a small steam engine is more concealed, and even can be found in major bases.

If you open a small-scale mechanical processing plant, you can quickly relocate even if you encounter the enemy. Unlike an arsenal, it is impossible to relocate. Once the mechanical equipment is dismantled, the cost of rebuilding it will be very high.

We still need to keep a low profile now and try our best to lay a solid industrial foundation. The key is to continuously deplete the enemy's strength.

Political Commissar Qin didn't have anything to say, as he knew his own business clearly. Fortunately, the arsenal was now on the right track and there was no need for the chief consultant Kong Hao to worry too much.

Next, Kong Hao sent a telegram to Minister Zhang, the main content of which was that he wanted to take the Xingtian Special Forces to Tianjin and hoped to get the cooperation of our personnel along the way.

After Minister Zhang consulted with the head of the headquarters, he agreed to this request and sent a special material transport escort team to go with the special forces. At the same time, other troops along the way fully cooperated with the special forces' operations.

At this time, there was a troop under the 9th Column of the Eighth Route Army in the Ji Zhong Plain, operating in Wuyi County. It was at the county brigade level. Their captain's surname was Li, and he was nicknamed Great Ability.

In fact, the county brigade had only about 20 to 30 people in total, seven or eight old-style rifles, and the rest were swords and spears. Oh, and there were also two single-shot pistols issued by the underground.

The only thing the entire county brigade could show off was the old Mauser pistol that the captain Li Dabenshi had used for many years. Judging from the style, it should have been made in Jin, but it must have changed hands many times and had many problems. If it was not maintained regularly, it would easily break down in battle.

But even so, this old-fashioned Mauser pistol is the treasure of the entire team and the most important source of firepower. Captain Li usually wipes it with his own hands, and no one else is allowed to touch it.

This afternoon, Li Dabenshi was discussing the next plans for the troops with Ding Dasuanpan.

"I say, Abacus, we have to be careful when competing with those bastards of the Ninth Route Army this time. Don't let them beat us, or we won't be able to survive in Wuyi County in the future."

"Don't worry, they are very capable. As for the people in the Ninth Route Army, they are all temporary teams. When fighting, they just rush forward. They have never received any military training. It's easy to defeat them."

"But we are too weak now. There is no chance of defeating the Japanese. We can only look for trouble with the small groups of puppet troops and try to get some of their equipment to arm our team."

"After all, we only have seven or eight guns and less than a hundred rounds of bullets. We simply don't have the money to attack the enemy's stronghold. We can only wait until the puppet troops are isolated and then find a way to attack them."

Faced with this situation, Li Dabenshi had no good solution. His own strength was there, and if he wanted to cause trouble for the enemy, he had to have the capital.

Suddenly he thought of something and asked, "Abacus, I heard that the Shanxi Provincial Headquarters has been supporting our military region with a lot of guns and ammunition recently. I heard that there is a rifle called the Ma Sihuan rifle, which has a long range and high accuracy. It can completely beat the Japanese's Type 38 rifle. The most important thing is that this rifle is a new one that has never been fired."

"To be honest, I have fought in wars for so many years, using some old rifles, and I have never touched a new gun."

Ding Suanpan also echoed, "I haven't touched it either. Not to mention our county brigade, even Xie Gouzi's old third company, the main force, doesn't have a new gun, not even our old third regiment."

"The last time we went back to the base, I specifically asked Lao Wang from the logistics department. The weapons that the headquarters sent to the military sub-district this time include 50 Mauser rifles, 8,000 rounds of ammunition, 15 side-opening Mauser pistols, 1,300 rounds of ammunition, and 800 grenades."

"I heard that these good things were distributed to the three main regiments of the military sub-district on the same day. Even Xie Gouzi's old third company received a new rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, which were given to that Gui Jianchou guy."

"The commander and political commissar are really biased. If we go by marksmanship, Shitou would at least be in the top ten in our military sub-district. He should at least be assigned to our county brigade."

Li Dabenshi was already used to Ding's complaints. He just sighed and said sourly:

"They are a regular main force, while we are just a county brigade that no one knows about."

"And calling ourselves a county brigade is just flattering ourselves. If we really count, we are probably not even as good as the militia."

"The total number of weapons in the entire team that have been equipped with explosives is less than ten. It's a bit embarrassing to say this to others."

While the two were talking, the guard Digua pushed the door open and walked in, saying loudly:

"Report to the captain, the military sub-district headquarters has sent people over, and they have brought a truckload of supplies."

Ever since Li Dabenshi was appointed as the captain of the Wuyi County Brigade by his superiors, he has to follow the rules in everything, especially he has to report when entering the door, otherwise he will be severely criticized by him.

Of course, this rule only applies to his guard Digu, and everyone else remains the same.

When they heard that someone from the headquarters was coming and brought something with him, Dabenshi and Dasuanpan were immediately overjoyed and hurriedly got off the bed and went out to greet them.

These days, whoever has supplies is the boss. Even if their mortal enemy Xie Gouzi comes, as long as he brings supplies, they will both greet him with a smile.

"Liu Bao, why is it you?"

When the two arrived at the yard, they found that they were acquaintances and immediately greeted each other enthusiastically.

"Captain Li, I am here on the orders of the commander to deliver a letter to you, and also to bring you some weapons, ammunition and supplies."

"This time I brought ten old-style rifles, five Hanyang rifles, three hundred rounds of ammunition, twenty sets of military uniforms, five hundred kilograms of food, and fifty eggs. The uniforms are what the commander promised your county brigade last time."

After saying that, he took out a letter from his underwear pocket and handed it to Li Dabenshi.

After hearing that he had obtained so many supplies at once, Ding Da Suanpan was already very happy in his heart, but he said with dissatisfaction:

"It's obvious that they were replaced by the main force. It makes our county brigade look like a junk collector. Who cares?"