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

Ultimately, this is a contest of industrial strength between the two sides, and we have actually gained the upper hand in some local battles.

Trading steel and explosives for the enemy's life is a win-win situation for us no matter how you look at it.

After settling Secretary Ma and the main force comrades in, Village Chief Jiang immediately used the village's telephone to notify the village chiefs and party secretaries of more than a dozen surrounding villages to prepare to hand over the next tasks.

About three hours later, twenty or thirty bicycles were parked at the entrance of Shuainan Village, creating a lively scene.

This is also a unique feature of China. As the industrial strength of our base areas grows stronger and the industrial chain becomes more complete, the cost of producing a bicycle also decreases.

Now the price is so low that ordinary people can afford to buy and use it, especially in the enemy-occupied areas where the price is even cheaper, which can be considered as giving the suffering people a way to survive.

With the surge in private bicycle ownership, a brand new profession has even emerged: bicycle repairman.

Not to mention back in the base area, car mechanics are a newly emerging profession and are highly sought after.

In enemy-occupied and Nationalist-controlled areas, it was even more extreme. Our base areas would specifically select people who lived in poverty and who often secretly supported us for training.

Then, they transported bicycle repair parts and tools through various channels, which improved their family's livelihood.

This can be considered a basic form of reward, and also a role model.

The lives of ordinary people in the occupied territories are too hard. It would be good to have more ways to make money, at least to give many hardworking and kind people a breather.

Village Chief Jiang presided over the meeting, the topic of which was how to cooperate with the main force to recapture Goose City, a great thing that concerned everyone's interests.

Everyone present was very familiar with the welfare benefits related to the recapture of enemy-occupied county towns and their incorporation into the base area; they could even recite every single one of them.

Unexpectedly, this windfall finally landed in Goose City; it's truly a blessing from heaven.

The thought that it wouldn't be long before a large amount of meat appeared at their doorstep, and the whole village, young and old, ate meat every day, made everyone grin involuntarily.

Village Chief Jiang coughed a few times, interrupting the sweet dreams of all the village chiefs and village party secretaries present.

"When the main force arrives, we will definitely need a lot of people and vehicles to help transport supplies. You should all report your respective strengths, and we will make arrangements after we have compiled the statistics."

"By the way, I want to remind everyone to maintain sufficient defensive strength in the village. A major battle is about to begin, and after the enemy is defeated, the remnants will definitely scatter everywhere, and may even wander into the vicinity of our village."

"The more critical the moment, the more vigilant we must be, lest we fall at the last moment before dawn."

At this moment, the village chief of Lijia Village stood up and patted his chest, guaranteeing:

"Old Chiang, don't worry about that, we've already made arrangements."

"The enemy's retreating soldiers, numbering only a hundred or so, are dreaming if they think they can take advantage of our Li Family Village."

"Putting everything else aside, the minefield at the entrance of our village alone is enough to give the enemy a hard time."

“Even if all the able-bodied men in the village go out to help, we still have women, the elderly and children.”

"All the female comrades have undergone military training and can shoot. The elderly can take charge and command, or rescue the wounded, and even seven or eight-year-old children can stand guard."

"When it comes to fighting the Japanese devils, all the men, women, and children of our Li family village will fight together. If even one of them is a coward, he or she will disgrace the ancestors of the Li family."

"I would like to make a statement here: Lijia Village will provide 120 able-bodied young men, 20 armed militiamen, 10 tricycles, and 30 two-wheeled bicycles."

No sooner had these words been spoken than the village chief of Zhangjiadian also stepped forward to express his opinion:

"Old Li, look at what you're saying, as if only your Li family village are heroes. Fighting the Japanese and recovering lost territory is the duty of all Chinese people, no question about it, let's do it."

"We've had enough of these invaders' humiliation these past few years. Now that we can finally get our revenge, Zhangjiadian is ready to risk everything."

“We’ll send 150 able-bodied young men from Zhangjiadian, and all the armed militiamen can go out. I’ll just take the old folks from the village to guard the village. There’s absolutely no problem.”

"Don't let my age fool you, my marksmanship is unmatched in the surrounding area; many young men can't keep up with me."

"As for transportation, all the vehicles in the village that we have are mobilized; we'll help as much as we can."

When Zhang was young, he had worked in big cities and even joined a gang. However, he returned to his hometown to become the village chief because he was getting old.

Under his leadership, Zhangjiadian's power was the strongest among the nearby villages. If it weren't for Shuainan Village's advantageous location by the river, this meeting should have been held in Zhangjiadian.

Before Zhangjiadian had anything, even the local bandits didn't dare to mess with it. Now, with a large number of rifles and light machine guns, plus grenades and landmines, it's a pipe dream for a company of Japanese soldiers to take over Zhangjiadian's fortifications without using artillery.

In fact, Village Chief Zhang knew very well that the main force was preparing to take action this time, and that they had made thorough preparations to sweep away all obstacles with lightning speed.

As for those defeated soldiers who have lost all morale and are like stray dogs, they are not worth paying attention to at all, and can only bully villages that have no ability to fight back.

If they dare to cause trouble in Zhangjiadian, they're just asking for death. If they can hold out for half a day, the pursuing troops will probably arrive soon.

Besides, even in the most extreme case, if the fortifications at the entrance of their village couldn't stop the enemy, he could still lead all the women, children, and elderly people in the village to hide.

Many years ago, to prevent such a thing from happening, he spent a huge sum of money to dig a large secret passage under the ancestral hall in the village, which could easily accommodate hundreds of people.

If we just hide for two days, everything will be settled.

This is why Village Chief Zhang dared to risk everything: as long as Goose City is recovered, all those involved will receive substantial government rewards, and the future development of the entire village will depend on this one gamble.

Next, the other village chiefs also spoke up, but none of them had the courage of Village Chief Li and Village Chief Zhang. They left half of the militia to guard the homes, and also left some of the able-bodied men behind.

This is a sign of composure. As Village Chief Jiang said, everyone's good days are just around the corner, and there's no need to let the family suffer any harm at this time.

Secretary Ma, who was listening in, kept a straight face and didn't say a word. This was everyone's choice, and he couldn't interfere.

With his access privileges, he knew many confidential matters.