Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

Bright Sword World, Yang Village.

The entire Independent Regiment, almost entirely under Li Yunlong's command, launched a vigorous large-scale production campaign.

Despite Li Yunlong's recent arrival in the Independent Regiment and the apparent disarray of many matters, Old Li, seemingly brash and simple-minded, was actually quite astute.

Upon his arrival and brief handover from Kong Jie, he sensed instability within the Independent Regiment, a lack of enthusiasm towards him as the new commander.

Realizing the precarious situation, Li Yunlong hastily contacted the headquarters, pleading with the Chief of Staff and Division Commander to implore the Commander to allow Kong Jie to stay as his deputy. Of course, Old Kong's friendship with Old Li had also stood the test of time. From the bottom of his heart, Li Yunlong didn't want to see Kong Jie relegated to a common soldier's position, as his chances of making a comeback would be slim, lacking a platform and any real opportunity to earn merit.

By retaining Kong Jie as his deputy, Old Li immediately seized the initiative. With Kong Jie's deep roots in the Independent Regiment, Li Yunlong's words now carried significant weight!

Therefore, when Ren Zhong presented the requirements for constructing buildings and production lines, Old Li immediately mobilized the soldiers to work with all their might. Li Yunlong now acted without hesitation or reservation on everything Ren Zhong said, displaying complete obedience and diving straight into action!

For the production and storage of gunpowder and explosives, which required dry conditions, Li Yunlong led his men to a flat area on the mountainside halfway up the mountain. They quickly built several well-ventilated thatched sheds using wooden planks as walls within a few days. Considering the inherent dangers, Li Yunlong, under Ren Zhong's guidance, also dug a firebreak to separate the sheds from the forest, preventing any fire here from igniting the entire mountainside.

Old Li's extensive camouflage efforts were out of necessity. He currently lacked any effective anti-aircraft weapons, so he had to find ways to minimize the risk of being detected by the Japanese from the air.

As for the sulfuric acid production line in Yang Village, a location was found just outside the village, nestled against a mountain and near a water source. Simple wooden structures were built against a stone cliff that extended fifty or sixty centimeters. This setup, built at the foot of the mountain against the cliff, could also easily avoid detection and bombing by Japanese reconnaissance planes.

Sulfuric acid production also caused significant pollution, so it had to be dispersed around the area, separated from the other labor-intensive production lines of the armory to minimize harm to everyone.

After all, this was purely artisanal manufacturing; environmental concerns were out of the question. However, Ren Zhong, building upon the original production line, still tried to add some protective measures, providing the sulfuric acid production workers with some basic protection and placing the facility in a well-ventilated area. This was already a significant improvement in health protection compared to historical artisanal production lines.

With Li Yunlong taking the lead as a tireless workaholic, the Yang Village Armory progressed rapidly. The refurbished bullet production line was quickly completed, and under Ren Zhong's guidance, the first batch of soldiers-turned-industrial-workers in Yang Village successfully reloaded bullets in less than two days!

Even though their production efficiency was only twenty or thirty bullets a day, everyone was working under Ren Zhong's guidance, stumbling and learning, but this gave Li Yunlong immense hope.

This was his, Li Yunlong's, unique third channel for obtaining ammunition.

Previously, when Li Yunlong was in the New First Regiment, he could only obtain ammunition through captures. After arriving at the Independent Regiment, being closer to the headquarters' arsenal, he could get some supplies from headquarters, but the amount was pitifully small. Zhang Wanhe was so stingy that giving a thousand bullets at a time was considered a great favor!

But what made Li Yunlong even happier was that, with the large cave transformed into a new factory, the manual punch press components that Ren Zhong had painstakingly brought were finally assembled into 25 units. Coupled with the copper sheet material that Ren Zhong had accumulated for over two months, Ren Zhong felt the time was right and asked Li Yunlong to bring people to take them out of the cave.

Of course, these things weren't free.

Each manual punch press cost 400 silver dollars. The copper sheet material was one silver dollar per kilogram. All in all, the Independent Regiment would owe Ren Zhong 11,352 silver dollars at once!

Ren Zhong didn't charge for the one kilogram of penicillin and vitamins, leaving them for the Independent Regiment's use. Anyway, the Independent Regiment couldn't afford these things now!

Seeing the items, Li Yunlong was somewhat numb and didn't realize that this transaction was a huge debt for the Independent Regiment, agreeing to it directly.

This ton of copper sheet, even with the current production methods and large losses from scraps, could still produce more than 60 bullets per kilogram. The remaining scraps wouldn't be wasted either; sent to the arsenal, they could be re-melted and forged to produce another 30-odd bullets. The ton of copper material Ren Zhong brought, if all processed into bullets, would theoretically exceed 100,000 rounds, increasing Li Yunlong's stock by tens of thousands!

Old Li was overjoyed and personally joined Ren Zhong in learning how to process bullets with the manual lathe. However, in the initial stages, everyone was exploring the production process. Even though Ren Zhong had solved the complete process of producing bullets using manual punch presses with the help of the materials, everyone's processing skills weren't high. On average, each unit could only produce thirty to forty bullet casings a day. Adding the later reloading process, the total daily production was only five to six hundred rounds.

This production capacity, compared to Ren Zhong's main plane's bullet production line, was equivalent to less than a minute's worth of production, but it greatly boosted Li Yunlong's confidence.

This was the first time in his history that he could increase his weapons and ammunition without capturing them from the enemy.

Although the current production capacity wasn't that great, from now on, the Independent Regiment could continuously strengthen its strength without fighting.

When the first batch of reloaded bullets came off the line, Old Li's old face broke into a smile. He immediately ordered Kong Jie to start recruiting new soldiers and conduct live-fire training to improve their marksmanship.

Such extravagant training was impossible in other regiments.

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But now the Independent Regiment had the conditions for it. The fired bullets could continue to be reloaded, only wasting some propellant and explosives.

With a complete sulfuric acid production line, all of this was now affordable for the Independent Regiment.

With just this move, Li Yunlong immediately restored the Independent Regiment's morale to its highest level.

After gaining a firm foothold in the Independent Regiment, Old Li requested Zhang Dabiao, Wang Chengzhu, and Sun Desheng from Ding Wei, appointing them as the First Battalion Commander, Platoon Leader of the Artillery Platoon, and Company Commander of the Regiment Headquarters Direct Line Company, respectively.

With Kong Jie recruiting and replenishing the gaps, the Independent Regiment under Old Li's command had now regained its strength!

Seeking continued reading, brothers, see you tomorrow!