Chapter 23: Too Soon to Rejoice

Looking at the rifle in Zhang Dabiao’s hands and then at the machine gun held by Arnold, Li Yunlong found himself liking them more and more.

Observing the three men—Zhang Dabiao and the others—with eyes glowing with excitement and a look that suggested they wanted to glue themselves to the weapons, Li Yunlong chuckled. With these treasures dangling in front of them, he wouldn’t have to worry about any resistance when he asked them for their best men later.

"Alright, alright, your eyes are going to get stuck on them if you stare any longer!" Li Yunlong waved his hand with feigned annoyance.

Immediately after, however, he grinned. "How about it? These machine guns are good, right? You all want them, don’t you?"

"Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. I’m planning to draft our finest soldiers to form a regiment-level reinforced firepower company. Don’t you dare hide your best men from me!"

Li Yunlong acted like a big bad wolf. "Whoever is the most proactive, I might consider prioritizing them for the next batch of weapons!"

Hearing this, Zhang Dabiao became anxious. "Hey! Regiment Commander! You promised that you would equip our First Battalion first!"

"Cut the crap! When did I ever say that? Who can prove it?" Li Yunlong refused to admit it, just to teach the kid a lesson for playing tricks.

The commanders of the Second and Third Battalions exchanged a glance, and before Zhang Dabiao could complain, they grabbed him by the arms, one on each side!

"Old Zhang, I have to criticize you for this!"

"Who doesn't know that our Regiment Commander always keeps his word? He never goes back on his promises! Isn't that right, Old Wang?"

"Exactly! Old Zhang, we’re all Party members; we must be realistic. Fabricating things out of thin air is unacceptable!"

Zhang Dabiao was left speechless. "You two have had enough! Let go of me! Careful, or I’ll beat you both up!"

Watching Zhang Dabiao being dragged away while the other two nagged him, Li Yunlong couldn't help but laugh. "Hahahaha..."

Xu Gaoxiang watched this scene with envy. "Old Li, the bond between you all is truly wonderful!"

"By the way, there are ten MG42 general-purpose machine guns here in total, all equipped with components for both light and heavy machine gun use. I’ll just count them all as light machine guns for you!"

"Of course, I’m not a stingy person."

Li Yunlong nodded in agreement. "Haha, Brother Xu is a straightforward man!"

"The accompanying ammunition will be based on one unit for heavy machine guns. One unit is four thousand rounds, so that’s a total of forty thousand rounds of ammunition!"

At first glance, forty thousand rounds sounded like a lot, but considering the rate of fire of the MG42 general-purpose machine gun, even with careful use, it wouldn't last very long.

Then there was the semi-automatic M1 Garand rifle, which was also a glutton for ammunition. The machine gun rounds were easier to manage since they used standard Mauser rifle cartridges, which had other sources of supply, but the M1 Garand rounds were exclusively provided by Xu.

Besides, once he got used to such high-quality gear, Li Yunlong would have to work harder to kill more Japanese soldiers to replenish his supplies.

This was a little scheme of Xu Gaoxiang’s. He had gone to great lengths to establish a cycle for Li Yunlong: kill the Japanese to trade for weapons, and use the new weapons to kill more Japanese.

"Hahahaha, I, Old Li, have become wealthy!" Initially, Li Yunlong was overjoyed at the forty thousand rounds, but he quickly realized the reality of the situation.

"Tsk, this won't do; it’s still not enough! Brother Xu, how are we going to handle the ammunition supply?" Li Yunlong looked at Xu Gaoxiang with anticipation.

"Don't be so impatient! Old Li, did you forget you were going to treat me to a drink? It’s freezing cold out here; shouldn't we warm ourselves up first?" Xu Gaoxiang stomped his feet, unable to bear the cold any longer.

"Ah, right, right, look at my brain. Old Li is used to the cold and forgot about that. Let’s go, let’s head to the regimental headquarters. We’ll drink and talk!" Li Yunlong shook his head and quickly pulled Xu Gaoxiang toward the headquarters.

Once inside the back room of the headquarters, they lit the fire and warmed the kang. Before long, it began to heat up, and Li Yunlong and Xu Gaoxiang sat cross-legged on the platform.

"Hahahaha, I’m in for a treat today! Come, let me handle this!" Li Yunlong diligently took the food box and happily arranged the dishes on the table.

Xu Gaoxiang took out two small jars of liquor and removed the wax seals. The room was instantly filled with the fragrance of alcohol. Li Yunlong was immediately hooked. "Smells great! Genuine Fenjiu!"

With eyes gleaming, Li Yunlong quickly pulled out two bowls. "Brother, fill them up!"

*Splash...* The clear, fragrant liquor overflowed. Li Yunlong couldn't wait and took a small sip.

"Ah... that’s a lingering aftertaste!" Li Yunlong closed his eyes, looking completely satisfied.

"Come, Old Li, just for the fact that you took out Sakata, I’ll toast you a bowl!" Xu Gaoxiang lifted his bowl with a solemn expression.

"Hey! Brother, you're being too formal! You played a part in this too. Come, let’s drink! I’ll finish mine first!" Li Yunlong drained his bowl in one gulp.

After three rounds of drinks and several dishes, the two were slightly tipsy. Following some more bold talk, they got down to business.

"Hiccup!" Xu Gaoxiang burped, grabbed a handful of peanuts, and tossed them into his mouth.

*Crunch, crunch...* "Old Li, the ammunition is easy to handle. It’s just like the weapons: I won’t distinguish by caliber. Pistol rounds will be one silver dollar for two hundred rounds, rifle and machine gun rounds will be one silver dollar for one hundred rounds, and hand grenades will be one silver dollar for ten!"

"As for artillery shells, it’s the same as the cannons. Shells under 100mm are one silver dollar each, those between 100mm and 200mm are ten silver dollars each, and anything over 200mm is twenty silver dollars each!"

Hearing Xu Gaoxiang’s pricing, Li Yunlong knew in his heart that he was being given a massive favor. He had heard that when Chiang Kai-shek bought cannons, a single shell cost two hundred silver dollars!

Li Yunlong solemnly raised his bowl. "Nothing to say, brother, I toast you!"

Although it was cheap enough, he still had no money in his pockets. Li Yunlong hurriedly opened the cabinet behind him and took out the command swords of Sakata and the others, placing them on the table.

"Brother, this is Sakata’s command sword, plus two Lieutenant Colonels’ and one Major’s. Take a look. I’m counting on these to make my fortune!"

Li Yunlong untied the rags wrapped around the four swords and "shing" drew Sakata’s command sword, placing it in front of Xu Gaoxiang.

Xu Gaoxiang took the sword and examined it. A prompt appeared on his interface: "One modern Japanese regimental commander’s (Colonel) command sword. Good material, average craftsmanship, with some historical added value. Can be exchanged for 200,000 trading points. Confirm transaction?"

"Good sword. I heard Sakata’s regiment was an elite unit. To be able to get his command sword, you’re something else, Old Li!"

"I’m not one to be stingy, brother. I’ll make the call: I’ll trade you ten thousand silver dollars for this command sword!"

Li Yunlong’s eyes popped out of his head. He nearly spat out his drink, and his voice reached the rafters. "Pfft... *cough, cough, cough*, how much? Ten thousand?!"

*Slap!* Li Yunlong slapped his forehead, shouting excitedly, "My dear mother! This is a hell of a deal! It’s worth it! Hahahaha..."

Li Yunlong paced around in joy. Converted to rifles, that was a thousand of them; converted to machine guns, that was two hundred. Even if he bought 75mm mountain guns, that was twenty of them—enough for an entire artillery battalion!

Now, let Zhang Dabiao and the others fight over it! He could re-equip the whole regiment!

"I, Old Li, have made it big! Main force regiment? Rubbish! I’m going to be an ace regiment!"

Unfortunately, Li Yunlong was happy too soon. The headquarters was already considering punishing him!

Xu Gaoxiang knew that not long after, Ding Wei would be sent to replace Li Yunlong as the commander of the New First Regiment. This was a fine mess—the next batch of weapons would be one thing, but the reinforced company’s worth of gear he had brought this time would likely... end up benefiting Ding Wei!