“Anyone who understands how to make cannon shells, step forward!”
Under Su Yang’s fierce gaze, a few of the captured men pleaded, “Officer, we were forced to do it.”
“Please, spare us.”
“We…”
Su Yang immediately relaxed his stern face, smiling as he asked, “Do you know how to produce cannon shells?”
“Yes～”
Upon receiving confirmation, Su Yang’s heart blossomed with joy. He said with a smile, “Would you be willing to contribute to defending our country?”
At this moment, the men dared not say no, and could only nod in agreement.
“Please, Officer, just give us your orders, and we’ll do our best.”
“Good!” Su Yang laughed heartily, “A man’s word is his bond!”
“I am Su Yang, the Captain of the County Detachment, and I, on behalf of the Eighth Route Army, welcome your joining.”
“Get up～”
He then personally went to help these “artillerymen” to their feet.
“From now on, cannon shells and manufacturing will be in your hands. You’ve worked hard～”
“Li San, register them, and later, we’ll prepare some delicious food to reward them.”
Li San: “Yes!”
This scene left the artillerymen stunned.
These people were the Eighth Route Army, not bandits?
Initially, they thought that the people before them were from another mountain stronghold, but they were actually the Eighth Route Army.
It was no wonder that they had mistaken them.
After all, they didn't even have military uniforms.
Su Yang naturally offered special treatment to these skilled artillerymen.
Talent was more valuable than equipment.
After some inquiries, Su Yang learned about the situation of the makeshift armory.
There was equipment for producing cannon shells here.
However, the gunpowder used for the shells was black powder, and they lacked the capability to produce smokeless powder.
But this was no problem for Su Yang.
He had personally experienced the power of his extraordinary talent.
As long as he learned the manufacturing process of black powder, and then studied it further, Su Yang was confident that he could find a way to produce smokeless powder.
After dealing with the makeshift armory, Su Yang returned to the Black Dragon Mountain stronghold.
Upon exploring the Black Dragon Mountain stronghold, Su Yang discovered it was an ideal base.
Therefore, Su Yang decided to have his troops stationed there.
Of course!
Su Yang had another reason for making this decision, and that was the location of the makeshift armory, which was in a natural cave.
According to Black Dragon, there was a secret passage inside the makeshift armory that led directly to the top of the Black Dragon Mountain stronghold.
Su Yang naturally wouldn't give up such an ideal place.
After all, with the growing number of personnel, Black Dragon Village could no longer accommodate so many people, and it would draw attention.
The Black Dragon Mountain stronghold perfectly solved this problem.
Having made his decision, Su Yang quickly called a meeting.
Deployment of the base, handling of weapons, distribution of food, and construction of the base… etc.
Black Dragon Village became the outpost of the base.
This way, any developments outside would be quickly detected.
As for food, Su Yang directly allocated a portion to the villagers.
The people responsible for distribution were the bandits who had been incorporated into the army.
In order to train the newly recruited personnel, Su Yang had them apologize to the villagers they had harmed and help with work as atonement.
The people who were incorporated were not major criminals, and under the persuasion of our army personnel, the villagers reluctantly forgave them.
When the villagers learned that Su Yang, of the Eighth Route Army, had eradicated the Black Dragon Society, they gained their support.
Su Yang had reaped a lot of goodwill from the people.
This was also Su Yang’s intention.
The people’s trust played a crucial role in any army.
Moreover, these were the villages around the base.
If there were any developments in the future, they would be able to receive news quickly, equivalent to establishing multiple posts.
Extremely useful!
Following Su Yang’s deployment, corresponding posts were set up… etc.
The base’s vigilance significantly improved.
In terms of weapons, to better utilize them, Su Yang equipped each squad with a Czech ZB-26 machine gun.
Rifles were also issued to everyone.
The artillery squad was equipped with 80mm mortars, and they also had access to the collected handguns.
This ensured that the artillery squad had a certain degree of self-defense capability in case of attack.
However, what made Su Yang worried was the lack of machine gunners in the squad.
To utilize the machine gun effectively was not that simple, and machine gunners also needed to know how to maintain and repair them… etc.
The County Detachment didn’t have machine guns in the first place, so they didn’t have any machine gunners.
Generally, only regular troops would have such talent.
After much consideration, Su Yang could only seek help from his superiors.
Moreover, there was a lot of captured equipment that he couldn’t use himself.
For example, the Liao-13 heavy machine gun was too heavy, difficult to maintain, and ammunition was scarce.
The 75mm field gun was too bulky and not something the current artillery squad could operate, and one field gun wasn't enough.
Artillery needs to be fired in groups to be truly effective.
Currently, the squad had 80mm mortars which were sufficient for fire support, and mortars were more convenient for guerrilla warfare.
It should be no problem to exchange this weapon for a few machine gunners.
After hearing Su Yang’s explanation, Yang Zhihua finally felt relieved. He naturally understood the reason.
“Don’t frown. What’s a 75mm field gun? I guarantee that in the future, we’ll have 105mm, 150mm field guns!”
“What you need is to train your artillerymen well. Don’t let it be like now, where you have cannons but can’t use them.”
“Yes!” Yang Zhihua grinned, “Captain, I remember it. Everyone is listening.”
“Of course!” Su Yang said confidently, “It won’t just be cannons, but light and heavy machine guns, planes, and tanks too.”
“What you need to do is learn to use these things.”
“Yes!”
Gou Sheng, Li San, and Shui Sheng, along with a few others, stood up with high spirits and roared in agreement.
After going through everything that happened in the past, they trusted Su Yang unconditionally now.
“Time is short. Everyone, focus on strengthening your squad’s training and discipline,” Su Yang stood up and said, “If you have any questions, come to me on the back mountain.”
“Dismiss!”
“Yes!”
Then, Su Yang wrote a letter and gave it to the messenger.
“Take this letter to the battalion commander. Be careful on your way~”
The messenger received the letter, gave a military salute, and said, “Guaranteed to complete the mission.”
After taking care of everything, Su Yang went to the makeshift armory on the back mountain to learn about the manufacturing of gunpowder.
.