Chapter 42 Old Li's Request

October 22, 1938. Headquarters of the Provisional 2nd Division in Qifeng County.

"Brother Wang, to be honest, your department's 'Rest Ceremony' was truly impressive." Li Yunlong, attending the rest ceremony as the representative of the Eighth Route Army, was thoroughly shaken at this moment. Holding a funeral that unexpectedly brought out twelve mountain cannons as gun salutes—even if they were 57mm cannons, artillery was still artillery, right? Twelve mountain cannons; probably very few Nationalist Central Army units could muster that many artillery pieces all at once.

"This is perhaps their final bit of dignity, so naturally we must do our utmost. We cannot have them shed blood and make sacrifices only to leave not even a name behind in the end. I hope that decades from now, there are still people who remember them." Wang Yue did not mind Li Yunlong buttering him up by calling him "Brother Wang." In fact, the fact that this fellow had held out this long before resorting to it had already surprised him.

"Well, Brother Wang, can I take the machine guns and cannons back together this time?" Li Yunlong rubbed his hands in excitement. No matter the weapon, as long as it passed through his hands, he was happy. To say the least, the Madsen light machine guns equipped by the New 1st Regiment could be upgraded, and with a bit of luck, getting a cannon wasn't entirely out of the question. Wasn't that how the previous five-barrel rotary cannon was acquired?

"Certainly. Three domestically manufactured 57mm mountain cannons, 51 Madsen light machine guns, and I will throw in 100 rounds of 57mm shells for you. However, you must write me a receipt, otherwise, I won't have an easy time explaining it to your Minister Zhang." Wang Yue smiled, knowing Old Li's routines inside and out.

"Writing a receipt is definitely not a problem. But tell me, can we also settle the matter we discussed earlier?" Li Yunlong asked with a smile. Another purpose of his trip this time was to discuss the previous agreement with Wang Yue.

The so-called agreement was that Wang Yue would trade weapons for the former Northeast Army puppet troops captured by the Eighth Route Army. During this period, Li Yunlong had successively sent over 1,157 men. After Gu Yufei's preliminary screening, these captives had no major issues and were all kept behind. Consequently, Wang Yue needed to pay Li Yunlong 1,157 rifles.

"No problem. Let's not just do 1,157 rifles; I will directly gather a bit more for you. Take a look and see if you're satisfied." Wang Yue smilingly handed a pre-prepared inventory list to Li Yunlong. Wang Yue was not short on weapons, but for the sake of the Military Affairs Commission's face, he couldn't give away good weapons either—that would be much more serious than finding someone to do calligraphy.

"So many! Alright, alright, absolutely fantastic! Brother Wang is truly a stand-up guy; my Independent Regiment will definitely remember this favor!" Looking at the thin slip of paper in his hands, Li Yunlong was overwhelmed with wild joy, his hands even trembling slightly. For no other reason than the sheer quantity.

7.7mm Five-Round Kropatschek Rifles: 1,307 pieces.
Shanghai-Made Detonator Guns: 73 pieces.
15.9mm Nanjing-Made Heavy Matchlocks: 18 pieces.
25mm Shanxi-Made Heavy Matchlocks: 7 pieces.

Type 11 Light Machine Guns: 3 pieces.
Type 91 Light Machine Guns: 3 pieces.
7.7mm Black Powder Rifle Ammunition: 30,000 rounds.
7.7mm Black Powder Rifle Ammunition (Remanufactured): 48,000 rounds.
Paper-Cased Ammunition for Shanghai-Made Detonator Guns: 2,000 rounds.
15.9mm Black Powder Rifle Ammunition (Remanufactured): 5,000 rounds.
25mm Black Powder Rifle Ammunition (Remanufactured): 2,000 rounds.
Fuzhou-Style Grenades: 20 boxes.
Old Military Uniforms: 1,021 sets.
Conical Bamboo Hats: 1,000 pieces.
Palm-Leaf Rain Capes: 1,000 pieces.
Straw Sandals: 2,000 pairs.

With these weapons, forming three or four skeleton regiments would be completely effortless. As for that 25mm Shanxi-made heavy matchlock, it might fall a bit short for attacking watchtowers, but for assaulting bandit strongholds or wealthy landowners' compounds, it was more than adequate. The headquarters arsenal was already capable of remanufacturing 37mm black powder solid steel shells, though it still couldn't supply them at full capacity. Having these two thousand rounds of 25mm rifle and artillery ammunition was pretty close to sufficient.

Some of those rifles would need to be ceded to fraternal units, after all, not all the captives brought in were captured by the New 1st Regiment. But he could keep more of the ammunition for himself. If he kept 70,000 rounds, the New 1st Regiment would become the regimental-level unit with the most abundant ammunition reserves in the entire Eighth Route Army. The only pity was that the black powder ammunition was considerably weaker in power.

"We are friendly forces, after all; naturally, we must help one another." Wang Yue smiled. After just a few months, he no longer cared about these trifles, and giving them to Li Yunlong was of no consequence. Compared to weapons, personnel were the most important asset.

At the very beginning, Wang Yue had even wanted to equip himself with the 7.7mm five-round Kropatschek rifles. After all, when the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau tested them, this contraption could pierce a 7mm-thick steel plate at a distance of 300 meters. But once he got his hands on them, he realized that the bureaucrats who conducted the initial tests must have faked the results. Using black powder ammunition, having any lethality at all at 300 meters was already fortunate. To achieve the firepower described in the test report, one had to use smokeless powder ammunition—specifically, the kind of ammunition used by the British .303 Lee-Enfield.

However, smokeless powder ammunition was harsh on rifles. A rifle designed for a service life of 10,000 rounds would be doing well to last 1,000 rounds using smokeless powder. As for how long these current old guns could last, heaven only knew. Yet black powder ammunition had its own advantages; unable to resolve the issue of nitrocellulose, the Eighth Route Army had no choice but to use black powder as the propellant.

As for the source of black powder, it was easily resolved. During the Republic era, many ordinary people in the North China region possessed the skill to boil native saltpeter. While it didn't meet the standards of industrialized black powder production, it wasn't far off. The black powder Wang Yue purchased back from Jiangcheng this time was quite similar to what Du Gui formulated himself.

"Brother Wang, can you sell me a bit more ammunition for your rotary cannon?" Li Yunlong's small eyes rolled as he asked in a consultative tone. Things like 37mm steel-core shells looked simple, but the arsenal couldn't produce qualified ones; they simply couldn't handle that special steel projectile head. Therefore, the Eighth Route Army's artillery shells were made of cast iron or crude steel, and they had to be prioritized for another artillery piece. This left Li Yunlong not daring to go gallivanting outside anymore. There was no alternative—he genuinely lacked ammunition.

Right now, the Independent Regiment only had the company equipped with Dreyse carbines running out to forage when things came up, and even then, they only dared to pick on soft persimmons, not daring to easily provoke even bandits. If he hadn't previously colluded with Yan Shuzhai and entrusted the other party to help remanufacture a batch of artillery shells, he would have wanted to hide deep in the mountains right now.

Well, as a matter of fact, he *was* in the mountains. After the battle of Heyuan County expanded into a massive melee, the New 1st Regiment had voluntarily withdrawn from Heyuan County, retreating all the way to the outskirts of Qifeng County to continue acting as neighbors with Wang Yue.

During the previous period, the New 1st Regiment had expanded too quickly. It hadn't seemed like much at the time, but after retreating into the mountains, various issues gradually came to the surface. To put it without exaggeration, Li Yunlong lacked everything right now. Seeing Wang Yue again after such a long time, opening his mouth to ask for things was only natural.

"If I give you things for nothing, I won't have an easy time explaining it to my superiors." Wang Yue glanced at Li Yunlong, feigning difficulty. Giving Li Yunlong artillery shells wasn't actually a big deal, but he had to maintain the dignity of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs.