Bright Sword: Infinite Logistics

Chapter 75 Drug Support
In the Xiyao shooting range, in the cave dwelling.

"Brigadier Commander, Minister Zhang, why are you here?" Meng Zhige looked at the two of them, asking questions, but in fact he was not surprised by their arrival.

What he did in this shooting range was still too advanced for the Eighth Route Army.For this extremely wasteful behavior of bullets, the senior officials of the Eighth Route Army will definitely feel sad, and then try their best to persuade him to get a batch of bullets from him to improve the situation on the front line.

But he didn't expect that the brigade commander and Zhang Wanhe would come together.

"Counsellor Meng, I have to discuss something with you." The brigade commander took out a telegram from his pocket and slapped it on Meng Zhige's desk: "Look, Li Yunlong plans to give it to his infantry battalion." An artillery battery has been set up. It’s not too much for me, the brigade commander, to have an artillery regiment, right?”

This familiar line made Meng Zhige burst into laughter.Well, the cavalry has been changed to artillery, right?
"It's not too much, but I really can't afford the artillery regiment now. We'll have to wait a few months." Meng Zhige paused: "Look, in my idea, the artillery regiment can't be paid for." You need at least a few heavy mortars, heavy mortars, and field guns that can be used for appearance. But so far I have only provided you with gadgets with a caliber of [-] mm, which are fine for infantry companies and platoons. As for the artillery regiment, it’s really a bit crude.”

"In addition, giving you heavy weapons will also test your logistics and transportation. Before giving you heavy weapons, I have to provide feed so that you can cultivate a mules and horses unit to facilitate artillery maneuvers..."

The brigade commander and Zhang Wanhe were instantly choked by Meng Zhige's words.

We just want to introduce this topic and then lower the requirement to get a batch of bullets from you.Why did you really consider the artillery regiment when you opened your mouth?
How can we continue this topic?
After Meng Zhige finished speaking, he looked at the expressions of the two people, smiled, and took the initiative to stir up the topic: "But I guess you came to me today not for some artillery group, right? Do you want to get some bullets from me? "

Looking at Zhang Wanhe, the brigade commander spoke first: "I want a batch of bullets. As for this matter, it's my fault and I had a conflict with the comrades of the [-]th Brigade..."

"Let me tell you." Zhang Wanhe interrupted the brigade commander: "Advisor Meng should know that our Eighth Route Army is short of clothing and ammunition, and a large part of the bullets are purchased from the black market."

Meng Zhige nodded, he was aware of this situation.He even knew that behind most of these black markets were puppet soldiers providing the supply of goods.

The Japanese have a lot of bullets. They fight a war with the Japanese, then hide a few more rows of bullets, and then sell them out afterwards.Even the officers came forward to sell the ammunition of the entire company and platoon together, and then divided the spoils afterwards.

Not only bullets, they also sell guns, ranging from rifles to machine guns.When the Japanese asked where the guns were, they said they had lost them when they were running for their lives. Especially the machine gun, which was so heavy. Who would have taken it with them when they were running for their lives?Taijun, you have also seized a lot of weapons and equipment for the Eighth Route Army. Why do you have the nerve to say that we...

This trick numbed the Japanese. Finally, in order to curb this phenomenon, the Japanese began to strictly control the bullets of the puppet troops.The effect is naturally there, but it cannot be eliminated.In addition, the Eighth Route Army's ordnance industry was also developed in the later period, and the dependence on purchasing bullets was greatly reduced, so it was not greatly affected.

"We have a huge demand for bullets, and the defense areas of each army often overlap. Therefore, there have been situations where the two armies raise each other's prices and give arms dealers an advantage. Some time ago, in order to lower the price of arms, we set up a unified Standard. As you know, the [-]th Brigade wanted to attack Wuxiang County. They temporarily raised the price and cut off a batch of ammunition that was supposed to be sent to the [-]th Brigade."

Zhang Wanhe clapped his hands and said, "No, the lawsuit has been filed at the headquarters."

"Now, Brigadier Chen is in the wrong and urgently needs to get a batch of ammunition to apologize. Otherwise, this will be the only thing that opens his mouth when old comrades meet in the future. How ugly!"

Meng Zhige laughed out loud: "I didn't expect you to do this, Brigadier... Tell me, how many bullets do you want from me?"

"Director Zhou, take out the material statistics table from the warehouse and let the brigade commander and Minister Zhang take a look."

Zhou Ying on the side put the folder in front of the brigade commander.Her expression was a bit strange. After working in the [-]th Brigade for so long, this was the first time she had seen the brigade commander look like this.The brigade commander looked at the statistics table and his expression suddenly changed: "Counsellor Meng, you have a lot of bullets...but there are quite a lot of other supplies."

With that said, the brigade commander handed the statistical table in his hand to Minister Zhang.Zhang Wanhe opened it and took a look, and immediately exclaimed.

"That is specially prepared for you. If you don't come again, I will send someone to call you." A smile appeared on Meng Zhige's face: "Minister Zhang, remember to send someone to pull supplies every week from now on."

What does the Eighth Route Army lack?When it comes to this topic, the first reaction of most people is weapons and ammunition.The Eighth Route Army is notoriously short of ammunition supplies, and for an army, weapons and ammunition are the guarantee of combat effectiveness and are an extremely important part.

But in reality, there is much more to it than just weapons and ammunition.

During this month of spending time with the Eighth Route Army, Meng Zhige saw too many things.Nearly half of the new regiment fought with illness; the soldiers of the District Squadron were as thin as a hemp stick; the [-]th Brigade, where half of the soldiers had patched and tattered clothes, and the other half wore yellow-green military uniforms...

These pictures and scenes made Meng Zhige deeply realize that weapons and ammunition are not a panacea.When supporting weapons and ammunition, he must also support other things to improve the lives of soldiers and civilians in the base area, such as food, medicine, clothing, etc.

Especially those medicines banned by the Japanese. Almost every bottle of medicine was brought back by underground workers who risked their lives.If he helps one more bottle, the comrades in enemy-occupied areas will be safer.

"Specially prepared? So you want me to take all these medicines?" Zhang Wanhe's tone was trembling.

"Then how long do I have to take alone to finish all the medicine?" Meng Zhige tore off a piece of paper and began to make a list of supplies.

"One hundred thousand rounds of ammunition for the [-] rifle, [-] rounds for the [-] machine gun, and [-] rounds for the [-] mortar. We only have so many weapons and ammunition for the time being, and we will stop using my shooting range."

"In terms of medicines, there are [-] quinine pills, [-] iodine tablets, [-] various vitamin tablets, [-] analgesic tablets, and [-] analgesic injections. In addition, there are [-] shots of cowpox vaccine and [-] boxes of sulfa. Vaseline, fish oil..."

"There isn't much food for now. I just got some flour, about twenty tons. I won't give you the finished clothes. I will give you ten tons of cotton for this batch. You can transport it back and make your own clothes. You won't need the new batch. Now, I plan to make a special batch of combat uniforms for them to try out the effect."

……

Looking at the long motorcade behind him, Zhang Wanhe felt dazed and inexplicably panicked.

"Old Zhang, what are you looking at?" The brigade commander came over and waved his hand in front of Zhang Wanhe's eyes.

Now Zhang Wanhe came to his senses: "It's nothing, I just think it's too unreal. I have been in charge of the supply department for more than a year, and except for the past few months, I have never been so rich. I haven't said this yet. In a few words, dozens of tons of supplies were shipped back first, and they were all in short supply..."

"The key is once a week, and the transportation location is near the headquarters." The brigade commander listened to the gunfire from the shooting range: "This Consultant Meng is very mysterious, but he does help us sincerely. Go back and talk to the boss. Put the guard company between the shooting range and the headquarters. His method of transporting supplies is really amazing."

(End of this chapter)