Chapter 63: Behold the National Revolutionary Army

Leaving aside the Sichuan Army's 123rd Division, which was overwhelmed with gratitude and eager to deepen cooperation with the Second Temporary Division, that fellow Milong seized the opportunity of the Ordnance Administration evacuating supplies to start a new business—weapon swapping. As the name implied, he traded the weapons in his own hands for those held by the Ordnance Administration to achieve a win-win situation.

For instance, he traded 158 brand-new ZB26 light machine guns for 317 newly repaired 7.92mm Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns. At first glance, the numerical ratio might seem absurd.

Yet the bigwigs at the Ordnance Administration were thrilled out of their minds. Imported new machine guns cost 1,100 silver dollars each; even if spare barrels, magazines, and firing pins were missing, they were still imported new machine guns worth 1,100 silver dollars. As for the Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns, even brand-new ones cost only around 400 silver dollars, not to mention that these were all repaired old weapons.

The Hotchkiss M1931 light machine gun had extremely demanding requirements for the marksmanship of the gunner and the coordination between the primary and assistant gunners. Without strict training, troops simply could not master it. Coupled with the fact that these guns came in four different calibers, frontline units greatly resented them. More often than not, they would rather use domestically produced Qi-La-Li light machine guns than the Hotchkiss M1931.

Meanwhile, Milong also made a profit. Why did the National Revolutionary Army's Czech light machine guns rarely come with spare barrels, and why were magazines in such short supply? Weren't they all siphoned off into the arsenals? An original barrel plus a firing pin plus four magazines could easily be sold for 200 silver dollars. As for the Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns, it was only the Central Army that refused them; if sold to warlord or miscellaneous armies, the baseline price was 600 silver dollars, and if sold to bandits, 800 silver dollars was quite achievable. It was a pity they lacked dedicated tripods, otherwise these could have been used as heavy machine guns, which were far more useful in low-intensity combat than the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns.

Did you think that was the end of it? Not at all. The temptation of the Czech light machine guns for the Ordnance Administration went far beyond that. After temporarily clearing out the 7.92mm Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns from the Ordnance Administration's hands, the administration proposed trading their self-converted 7.92mm Lewis light machine guns for Czech light machine guns, exchanging 1,148 Lewis light machine guns for 382 ZB26 light machine guns.

This left Wang Yue utterly baffled. Why on earth didn't they issue such a large quantity of converted Lewis light machine guns to frontline units? No matter how inferior this contraption was, it was still better to use than the Japanese Type 11 light machine guns, wasn't it? Yet they simply refused to issue them. Strangely enough, this batch of converted light machine guns consisted entirely of brand-new weapons rather than repaired ones like the Hotchkiss M1931 light machine guns.

After making some inquiries, he discovered that this batch of guns had actually been purchased back in the day by Wu Ziyu. Ever since the Hubei Bureau converted their calibers, they had remained sealed away in Jiangcheng. If not for this stock-taking and westward evacuation of supplies, this batch of guns probably would have been forgotten entirely. It was also a mystery how they managed not to be sold off over a dozen years, which hardly aligned with the usual style of the National Revolutionary Army.

Upon learning that Milong still had a batch of brand-new ZB26 light machine guns in his possession, the Ordnance Administration wanted to buy this batch as well. However, they were reluctant to actually spend money. In the end, they managed to acquire this batch of new guns through barter: 160 Czech light machine guns were traded for 105 FND light machine guns, 137 FN 1930 light machine guns, and 78 DP light machine guns.

At the same time, Milong sold off his batch of Japanese-style weapons at high prices. Many units falsified their battle reports, but no matter how they fabricated them, they still needed some visible spoils of war to show for it. Consequently, the batch of Japanese weapons in Wang Yue's hands became hot commodities. If Milong hadn't refused to accept cash on the spot, they probably would have been sold out long ago.

296 Type 90 steel helmets were traded for 300 M35 steel helmets plus 20 brand-new Hanyang rifles.

163 pairs of Showa Type 5 military boots were traded for 20,000 rounds of 7.92mm round-nosed ammunition.

The factory price of 7.92mm round-nosed ammunition was a little over 400 silver dollars per 10,000 rounds, while the military sold them out at around 700 to 800 silver dollars. Down in the secondary black market, a single round cost about ten cents, and in the markets of Shanxi Province, a bullet went for roughly twelve or thirteen cents. No matter how one calculated it, this deal was by no means a loss.

Trading for those Showa Type 5 military boots back then was partly out of a desire to support Li Yunlong, and partly to equip his own troops. However, the Japanese shoe sizes were simply too small, making it impossible to equip the troops with them. Hence, they simply dropped the idea of issuing them.

2 Type 95 officers' swords were traded for a brand-new Qi-La-Li light machine gun.

The Type 95 officers' sword was a Japanese subaltern's blade, a mass-produced piece of mechanical junk, yet at the present time, such items were not easy to capture. Milong had originally wanted to exchange them for two light machine guns, but seeing that the Sichuan Army officers who came to the black market were so emaciated they were reduced to skin and bones, he didn't fuss over the details and even gifted the officer a pack of compressed biscuits.

2 Type 3 heavy machine guns were exchanged for 3 ZB37 heavy machine guns and 20 VZ24 rifles.

This was a wealthy, direct-line central army unit making a visit, and since they also possessed good items, one naturally could not hold back when dealing with such customers.

8 Type 96 light machine guns were exchanged for 16 FND light machine guns.

These Type 96 light machine guns were all brand-new weapons, complete with spare parts and accessories. Even compared to imported Czech light machine guns, they could be considered luxurious. Strictly speaking, the other party actually got the better end of this exchange ratio.

136 Type 38 rifles were exchanged for 200 VZ24 rifles.

15 Type 38 cavalry rifles were exchanged for 30 brand-new Hanyang rifles.

This was still 1938; otherwise, this sort of Northeast-manufactured Type 38 cavalry rifle probably wouldn't have been worth as much as a standard Type 38 rifle.

5 Type 44 cavalry rifles were exchanged for 12 brand-new Hanyang rifles.

The Type 44 cavalry rifle was exquisitely manufactured, low in production volume, and quite expensive, so selling it at a higher price was definitely justified.

2 Type 97 sniper rifles were exchanged for 2 Mauser Type 24 heavy sporting rifles.

98K sniper rifles equipped with 4x scopes were said to number only a few dozen within the entire National Revolutionary Army, and those that survived to the present day were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Encountering them, he naturally seized them without hesitation. To be honest, this transaction was a loss; the range and precision of the Type 97 sniper rifle both surpassed the 98K sniper rifle, and coupled with its quieter sound, less pronounced muzzle flash, and lower recoil, it was clearly better suited for use as a sniper rifle.

The 98K sniper rifle was not without its flaws either, such as the low stopping power of the Arisaka rifle cartridge and the inferior steel material of the rifle body, which made it prone to rust.

4 Type 89 grenade dischargers were exchanged for 2 Republic of China Year 20 model 82mm mortars.

The Ordnance Administration also produced grenade dischargers on a small scale, but domestically produced grenade dischargers simply could not compare to those of the little Japanese. There were still many technical hurdles regarding the tiny grenade discharger that domestic industries could not overcome; processing was difficult, and man-hour consumption was high. Even viewed purely from the perspective of production costs, this transaction was quite fair.

However, given that Wang Yue had already decided not to equip his forces with the Type 89 grenade discharger anymore, this deal was pure profit. There were two reasons for this decision: on one hand, the Type 89 grenade discharger was difficult to acquire, and on the other hand, its ammunition was hard to procure. It wasn't that they couldn't manufacture it, but rather that there was simply no need. Given the same production cost, choosing between a Type 89 grenade shell and a 120mm mortar shell was actually a very easy choice.

If possible, Wang Yue felt that mass-producing the Sichuan-made 47mm mortar was the ultimate path forward.