Chapter 6

Good! I trust your judgment; after all, from the early days of the War of Resistance to now, everyone can see your efforts. But little Zhang, I need to tell you something about your appointment letter. Our base previously had no dedicated procurement department; now the procurement department can be said to consist of only you, and the organization cannot give you any financial support. Our Eighth Route Army is really too poor; the director of the general hospital, Liu, is constantly cursing, saying there are too many wounded and medicine is nowhere near enough, and now a large part of our expenditures go to medicine and medical equipment.

The deputy chief of staff said somewhat embarrassedly, after all, doing this and handing over responsibility like that is somewhat unfair to Zhang Qian.

It's fine, I understand; I thought of these things on my way back. Our Eighth Route Army is the people's army, fighting for the people and serving the people. The war of national defense is a righteous cause; I will do everything I can to help everyone.

Zhang Qian looked solemnly at the senior commanders and continued: "But, senior commanders, I hope to have some autonomy in personnel assignments, and you can rest assured I won't create a faction; I understand discipline. Materials obtained through my channels, in principle, I will turn over to headquarters for distribution as needed, but I hope to have a small portion allocated by me, not exceeding one-tenth of the total. These materials are mainly for experiments, after all we cannot rely forever on external sources for all our weapons and equipment; someday we must produce our own."

Finally, the senior commander gave the go-ahead, agreeing to Zhang Qian's request. The four left the cave together, with the guards already waiting outside. Before leaving, the senior commander suddenly stopped, looked at Zhang Qian, and said: "I hope everything you said can be realized soon; I hope we never again have to worry about five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition."

After seeing off the senior commanders, Zhang Qian returned alone to the cave, silently calculating while looking at the European map with the campaign situation drawn on it; there were still eight and a half months!

One month later, northern Shanxi had become bitterly cold; fortunately, the comrades of the clothing factory had worked extra and finished all the winter uniforms, so the troops of the base would not suffer from the cold this year.

Zhang Qian and Zhang Wanhe sat in the cave, discussing the next arrangements.

At that moment, a loud voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"Old Zhang, Old Zhang! Where are you? Little Li has come to see you."

A man who looked weathered by wind and frost walked in laughing; upon seeing Zhang Wanhe he bared his big white teeth—he was none other than Li Datuanzhang, the famous handsome young man from the Dabie Mountains area.

"Hahaha, Old Zhang, you're really hard to find, you're indeed a busy man. Look what I brought you—this is something I couldn't bear to drink myself." Upon noticing another person in the cave, Li Yunlong turned to Zhang Wanhe and said: "Who is this? A stranger—I've been to the logistics department many times, but this is the first time I've seen you."

Zhang Wanhe took several bottles of wine from Li Yunlong's hand; upon closer look, they were Fenjiu. He then introduced Zhang Qian to Li Yunlong.

"This is Zhang Qian, the newly appointed head of the procurement department in our logistics unit; he's the only person from the Dabie Mountains who has studied abroad."

Li Yunlong laughed even more happily upon hearing Zhang Qian's name.

"Yo, your name, Little Li, has been like thunder in my ears for years; the unit has certainly benefited from your care. When I first came in, I wondered, who the heck is this pretty‑boy scholar? Now I see it's my mistake—I'll punish myself with a drink."

Having said that, Li Yunlong snatched a bottle of Fenjiu from Zhang Wanhe's hand, pulled out two bowls from his pocket, spilled the wine, and gulped down a bowl in one go.

Zhang Wanhe watched Li Yunlong down a bowl of wine in one gulp, then fell silent, feeling as if his earlier promise to give him the wine was just so much hot air.

"This sorghum liquor really packs more punch than sweet‑potato liquor; Director Zhang, do you drink? Want a bowl?"

Without waiting for Zhang Qian's answer, Li Yunlong poured two bowls for himself and then shouted toward the door: "Huzi,"

"Go get a bowl from the mess hall for me."

The guard at the door, Huzi, heard Li Yunlong's words, soon brought back an empty bowl, and then went out again.

"I didn't expect to see Director Zhang today; I only took two bowls, my oversight. Little Li will punish himself with another drink." Li Yunlong filled the empty bowl, pushed it to Zhang Wanhe, and then downed a bowl in one go.

"Alright, Li Yunlong, you hardly ever let me see something nice, yet you haven't done anything and already drank two bowls—half the bottle is gone. What, did you come here just to get your fix?"

Hearing Zhang Wanhe's words, Li Yunlong flashed his signature smile, feigning hurt: "Old Zhang, you say that, but I'm not the type to take advantage; I just missed you. Lately the unit has been resting, and whenever I have free time I come to see you—you can't wrong a good person."

"Hahaha, get lost. You, Li Yunlong, only show up when you need something—spit it out, what problem have you run into now?"

"Then I won't stand on ceremony—Zhuzi, Zhuzi, come in quick and show Director Zhang your cannon."

Hearing Li Yunlong's words, an honest, simple fellow came in from outside, holding a mortar.

"Old Zhang, lately the enemy's movements have been getting bigger; our regiment has clashed with them often. Look, this mortar is smashed—this piece has history. Back when I hadn't yet joined the New 1st Regiment, I served under Commander Cheng the Blind for a stint as a battalion commander; talking about this just makes me feel ill. When he enlisted, I personally taught him how to fire. At that time, Zhuzi seized this mortar from the enemy position, fired it from there and killed several enemies—it's his lifeline; you need to find someone to repair it."

Zhang Qian looked at the artilleryman named Zhuzi; his mortar was so damaged it was unrecognizable—he couldn't even tell its original model, and the barrel showed obvious deformation.

"Regiment Commander Li, I see the mortar's barrel is unusable; to fix it we'd at least need to replace the barrel, but the logistics department's arsenal can't produce one and lacks steel for barrels—this mortar is basically beyond repair."

Upon hearing this, Zhuzi, who had been standing silently aside, became agitated and said to Li Yunlong: "Regiment Commander, you promised to help me fix this mortar."

Li Yunlong didn't turn his head; he just waved his hand, signaling Zhuzi not to worry.

"Old Zhang and Director Zhang, look how this soldier cherishes his mortar—it's too important to him. Little Li isn't unreasonable either; I heard what Director Zhang just said, so let's leave it in the logistics department for the comrades to study. But since this precious item is being given to you, Old Zhang, giving me twenty boxes of hand grenades isn't too much, is it? Don't give more—I just want twenty boxes, hehe."

The plot thickens—inside the cave, Li Yunlong's hehehe laughter filled the air.