Section Eighteen

  After finding a substance similar to nitrate in the cave, Li Tie thought of getting some sulfur to try it out. Chemistry was his strong point when he was in high school after all. Making explosives shouldn't be that difficult, right?

  But unexpectedly, no sulfur was found nearby, so this matter cannot be handled for the time being.

  But Li Tie knew his own foundation, which was the so-called weak basics and thin foundation, almost below the poverty line. Don't look at how each member of his team now has a handgun and an assault rifle. Handgun bullets are still okay, after all, in this era, revolver bullets are still abundant in China. But assault rifle bullets are fired once and reduced by one, and after firing, there is no place to replenish, even the devils may not have them, and after the bullets are fired, the assault rifle in hand becomes a fire stick. Considering this point, when Er Gou District Captain arrived at the mountain base, he used the excuse that this thing burns too much ammunition (this is true, a burst of bullets went out in a few shots.) And the bullets were too few, and his team often had to go out to perform some special tasks (that is, to sweep the devils or educate some Han traitors), all assault rifles and bullets were collected into his own hands. Although those soldiers who held assault rifles at that time were reluctant to give up their guns, under Li Tie's benevolent rule, after paying a little price (all bullets were handed over, each person was issued 38-style rifle bullets), they still handed them over to Li Tie. What if you don't hand it over? Bullets are not compatible, watching others train there, and you can only be depressed. But even so, trying to save as much as possible, the captured bullets have already been used up by more than half.

  On one hand, it is gradually building its own base, on the other hand, it continues its patrol mission in this area.

  Li Tie had asked Er Gou District Captain for instructions, and he led the four small teams and the militia team to temporarily garrison in the mountain cave, also defending this area. The Er Gou District Captain had agreed. Moreover, he specially sent his adoptive father over, bringing two people and a pot, to establish a new kitchen squad in the mountain cave, serving the four small teams and the militia team.

  The car with its generator and electrical wiring removed now looks nothing like a car at all.

  All the places that can be used as platforms, such as carriages and the like. Because they are made of wood, they were directly made into tables and stools and other office supplies, while the chairs were moved to Li Tie's single-person dormitory. This is a slightly larger side cave, and it is also the only one with electric lights installed. As a leader, doing something special can be understood. This is Li Tie's dormitory, also serving as the meeting room of the Shan Dong Cave Committee, and the reception room of the head of the Shan Dong Cave (Li Tie).

  Other wheels and the like were disassembled and stored in a warehouse as spare parts, while the bow-shaped boards on top of the wheels were all disassembled and made into several large choppers. Of course, they weren't used for chopping trees (not necessarily in the future either). They were mainly used to chop off the enemy's heads. When it came time to fight with bayonets, these choppers proved to be much more useful than bayonets. A certain army had used such choppers as their so-called "big knives" back then. It was said that these knives made of good steel were indeed very effective. Li Tie chopped down a small tree with a trunk as thick as a bowl, and with one swing of the knife, it fell to the ground, cut clean and smooth. What a great knife! All the people present agreed that this would be a divine weapon that would give the enemy nightmares every night.

  That day, Li Tie led everyone to a mountainous area slightly farther away from the cave. In a mountain valley, Li Tie found that the trees here seemed to be taller and more lush than elsewhere, and the grass was much deeper.

  Before everyone arrived at the valley, a stinky smell of rotten eggs drilled into everyone's nostrils.

  Sulfur! This was the only thought in Li Tie's mind.

  Stinky eggs, hum, joke. In this era where everyone is busy running around for a mouthful of food, who has stinky eggs at home and can have such a big smell? How many stinky eggs would that be?

  The closer you get to the valley, the heavier the flavor is, and the temperature also feels a bit hotter.

  This is actually a natural hot spring.

  Everyone knows that sulfur is most likely to appear in places like volcanic mouths and hot springs. With the presence of a hot spring, combined with such a strong smell, it's certain that there is sulfur here.

  As expected, when they arrived at the valley, Li Tie found a large amount of sulfur.

  Because the smell in the valley was too great. Li Tie brought everyone to fetch some sulfur and left the valley. It wasn't until they climbed back up to the top of the mountain that everyone finally let out a long breath with a sulfurous smell. They were finally out, the smell inside was really overwhelming.

  Back in the cave, it just so happened that Old Lü was cooking, with a small pile of charcoal beside the stove. This was what Old Lü had set aside to use for starting fires in the cave during winter, as this type of charcoal produced no smoke when used for heating during winter. This is what Li Tie and Old Lü said, but of course Li Tie's real intention was simply that he didn't want his food to have too much of a smoky flavor when they had barbecue in the winter, and also to avoid eating a mouthful of black ash afterwards.

  Li Tie mixed several things together and ignited them with a carbon fire. A burst of flames rose up, followed by a thick plume of smoke.

  Succeeded.

  Confirmed.

  Now it's up to me to turn these things into powerful weapons, a mighty killer - the Li family's ultimate killing technique.

  In order not to affect the fish in the pond, Li Tie built two thatched cottages outside the cave because of an accident which changed the shape of the mountain cave.

  Of course, Li Tie made a detailed record of all the production processes and also wrote down some matters that need special attention during the process.

  Because except for himself, no one in the entire team knew chemistry. So Li Tie recorded all the details and then found a few meticulous guys to make it specially.

  Due to the lack of iron ore in the base (even if there is, it can't be smelted), many weapons cannot be made.

  But Li Tie was not deterred.

  Those famous "landmine wars" weren't watched in vain back then.

  All available containers were collected, loaded with explosives, and to increase the lethality, Li Tie also had people add many shards of porcelain and iron fragments. Of course, these porcelain and iron fragments were not left unclean, but were washed clean and disinfected at high temperatures. Not only that, he even added a lot of dry feces and other things that are harmful to human health.

  There were stonemasons, carpenters and bricklayers among the militia. Li Tie simply incorporated the entire militia into the Arsenal Factory. As a result, the Mengxian Arsenal Factory had workers for the first time. With simple tools, a large number of stone cannons were born.

  With landmines, Li Tie felt he had a chance to show off his skills.

  The surrounding hillsides of the cave, Li Tie set up minefields with all four teams, of course, outside the minefield, a simple fence was made with branches and conspicuous signs were written that this is a minefield, all people are prohibited from entering, otherwise the consequences will be borne by themselves.

  Li Tie wasn't afraid of the enemy knowing there were landmines here, because under his leadership, team members fully demonstrated the excellent virtues of the Chinese nation. All the landmines were fake, let alone if the devils came, even if they themselves weren't careful and entered the minefield, if they didn't take the safe path, they couldn't guarantee a safe retreat. Although he was the teacher, the leader of everyone here, it's just like the saying goes: "a chaotic fist can kill an old man", if team members didn't follow the rules, even he himself wouldn't be able to handle them.

  On each mountain slope, there is only one safe path, recorded by special marks. These marks are different on each mountain slope and can only be recognized by people from the base. Even if someone from the base tells you, you may not necessarily be able to recognize them. Because these marks are all living things, they could be trees or a blade of grass, and only those who frequently live in this area can distinguish them. The slopes are covered with grass and rocks everywhere. All the landmines laid on the mountain slope are made of stone. They come in different shapes and sizes. Some are placed underfoot as treadle mines, while others are placed on the ground as tripwire mines.

  Li Tie laid out a variety of mines on the mountain slope, including mother and child mines, tripwire-activated mines, delayed-action mines, mine-in-mine, tree mines, jump mines, and chemical mines.

  This is a slope that challenges the limits of human thought, there's nothing that can't be done, only what hasn't been thought of.

  The devils think of everything, but we can do anything!

  The landmines made by the arsenal are much better than those issued by the higher authorities.

  After supporting other guerrilla forces for some time, the landmines here quickly became famous.

  Can black gunpowder be compared to ordinary gunpowder? Can a stone landmine be compared to an ordinary landmine? Can a mine detector detect a stone landmine? The devils can't look at every stone, that would be exhausting. It's better to just send troops to tread on the mines directly.

  As a result, the landmines produced by the arsenal were in short supply for a period of time (it seemed that except when Li Tie himself led his men to lay mines on the mountain slope, just enough was available, but after supporting other guerrilla teams, there was never enough). But there was no way out, the arsenal had limited conditions, limited production capacity, mainly due to limited raw materials - the nitrate reserves in the cave were not particularly rich.

  The munitions factory needs to be expanded in scale.