Chapter 49: The Brigade Commander Takes Action

Night of October 25, 1938
386th Brigade Headquarters

“Li Yunlong, are you sure you want me to give you this IOU?” The brigade commander looked at the three IOUs for a hundred thousand silver dollars each in his hand. No matter how he looked at them, it all seemed unreal. Could Old Chen’s reputation really be worth so much? Although he thought the other side had a point, the risks involved in this move were indeed considerable.

“Commander, rest assured. Little Li here will make sure to exchange all three hundred thousand silver dollars for you!” Li Yunlong gripped the three IOUs tightly but didn’t flinch. When he looked up, all he saw was the commander’s scrutinizing gaze, which suddenly made him feel as if he were a guilty thief.

Such a significant matter should have been handled personally by the commander, but for various reasons, headquarters did not approve the commander’s entry into Qifeng County, nor did it allow him to contact the Temporary Second Division just yet. In the end, the responsibility fell on Li Yunlong.

“All of it!” The commander’s lips curled into a slight smile as he saw Li Yunlong’s guilty expression. Although this guy had handed over the cannons and machine guns from the last deal, his dealings hadn’t been flawless. When the three cannons finally reached his hands, there were only thirty rounds of ammunition left; the remaining sixty rounds had all been “test fired.” The light machine guns were even worse—many had become worn-out relics, and several magazines were missing. On average, each machine gun only had two magazines left, with many spare firing pins and cleaning tools lost as well. In contrast, the Independent Regiment, the 772nd Regiment, and the New First Regiment had all replaced their light machine guns. If it weren’t for the fact that those weapons were already ruined, he would have been tempted to deal with this guy.

“Of course it’s all of it! Commander, don’t you trust Little Li to get the job done? As long as you promise me an artillery company later, I’ll make sure everything’s accounted for!” Li Yunlong quickly composed himself, his face earnest and determined.

“The headquarters leadership attaches great importance to this loan. These IOUs bear not only the official seals of our Eighth Route Army and the 129th Division but also the signatures of several commanders as guarantees. They even stipulate interest. If the Temporary Second Division can’t obtain the funds from the Military Commission, I’ll have to repay the full amount with interest myself!” Commander Chen genuinely worried that the debt might fall on his shoulders. Both headquarters and the divisional command were strapped for cash; even if they wanted to repay it for him, they simply couldn’t.

“So, do I need to negotiate the price?” Li Yunlong probed cautiously. After all, he was now somewhat of a man of means. How could the commander doubt him so much?

“Don’t get carried away. After all, munitions are hard to come by now, and I don’t have the connections to exchange prisoners for guns, you know?” The commander released the IOUs but spoke words that startled Li Yunlong.

“Commander, those aren’t just my weapons—each man gets one rifle. Those guns have already been delivered to the Independent Regiment and the 772nd Regiment,” Li Yunlong hurriedly explained. The New First Regiment had replaced all its old rifles. Although the Karabiner 98k performance was inferior, it was undoubtedly better than the worn-out rifles they held.

Not to mention the ammunition—over seventy thousand rounds. You can ask Zhang Wanhe; it’s hard to say if the headquarters arsenal even has that many rounds. The New First Regiment now has 1,500 men, with two battalions fully equipped with these rifles. For a long time, the New First Regiment won’t be short of ammo.

“Only fools like Kong Jie and Cheng Shifa buy your nonsense, trading their broken guns for good ones. Only you, Li Yunlong, could pull such a low trick,” the commander said, pointing a finger at Li Yunlong’s nose with a scowl.

“Commander, that’s unfair. The Temporary Second Division gave me Karabiner 98ks from the old Northeast Army stockpile. These are decades-old rifles, and they still use black powder ammunition. By no measure are they good guns,” Li Yunlong said with a bitter face, clearly aggrieved. The story about the origin of these guns was fabricated by Wang Yue.

“Come on now, I’ve heard that many of them are new rifles with excellent mechanical performance and accuracy. As for black powder ammo, tell me—does the headquarters arsenal have any ammo that isn’t black powder?” The commander almost laughed at Li Yunlong’s claims. Many Eighth Route Army units still used locally made single-shot rifles. The five-shot Karabiner 98k was considered a good weapon here. Even after mass production of the Hanyang rifle, the Karabiner 98k was still being produced. The reason production stopped later was that the Jiangnan Factory began issuing smokeless powder cartridges for this rifle. Trying to switch a black powder rifle to smokeless powder ammo was bound to cause problems.

“The firepower of those rifles really isn’t great. Even the Dreyse carbine outperforms them,” Li Yunlong said with a look of disdain. The Dreyse carbine’s caliber and powder charge were larger than the Karabiner 98k’s, naturally giving it more power.

“Those Dreyse carbines you have were also obtained from the Temporary Second Division, right?” The commander recalled the short carbines he had seen at the Independent Regiment last time. Li Yunlong was already secretly manufacturing ammunition. Although the bullets weren’t very powerful, they were still lethal.

“Yes, but there are very few of them. They said they need to source more from other channels; there’s none in stock,” Li Yunlong frowned slightly. He had discarded many old single-shot rifles, revolvers, and Hanyang rifles this time, but he hadn’t dared to part with a single Dreyse carbine. The reason was simple: the ammunition for this weapon was very easy to obtain. Even with black powder bullets, they could fire them easily using homemade primers without mercury fulminate. Otherwise, the New First Regiment wouldn’t be able to make their own ammo.

“The headquarters is very interested in the weapons from the Temporary Second Division. We suspect that the Northeast Army might have a secret large-scale arsenal in the Taihang Mountains. Otherwise, how else could they possess so many weapons?” The commander shook his head gently. When the weapons were few, it wasn’t so suspicious—after all, the Nationalist Army did sell guns. But suddenly producing over a thousand rifles was intriguing. They were talking about 1,400 or 1,500 rifles, dozens of light machine guns, and several artillery pieces—comparable to some Jin-Sui Army divisions.

“That can’t be. If the Northeast Army had an arsenal, Wang Yue wouldn’t be the one in charge. He was just a colonel, not a high-ranking officer,” Li Yunlong shook his head, clearly disagreeing with the commander’s judgment.

“You’re underestimating Commander Wang. His father was the Northeast Army’s treasurer and intelligence chief. Wang himself graduated from the Northeast Military Academy and later worked at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. He was childhood friends with that imprisoned man. If he hadn’t opposed that man’s killing of Chang Yang, he wouldn’t have been reassigned to logistics. It’s quite normal for him to know some secrets from the Commander-in-Chief’s era—secrets that even that man doesn’t know,” the commander smiled. Both the Temporary Second Division and the Eighth Route Army were now very cautious, mainly because of Wang Yue’s identity and background.

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