Chapter 22: The Munitions Problem

  "Does Yang have something on his mind?" asked Xiao Zhenying, who had been observing that Yang Feng seemed to be paying extra attention to Tong Lin Ge, Zhao Deng Yu and Zhang Zi Zhong.

  "It's nothing, just some feelings. By the way, I don't know what else you need, let me see if I can do my part," said Yang Feng.

  "We lack everything, even food is not enough to eat, ammunition and medicine are all in short supply. The Northwestern Army has never had a full day, it was like this when Old General Feng was around, now that he's gone, it's even harder." Xiao Zhenying said with a bitter smile.

  Yang Feng thought that the grain was no big deal, it's just giving you tens of tons of beef for a few dollars, and medicine is easy to say, I'll send you some sulfonamide, Yunnan Baiyao and so on later. But this military equipment is indeed more troublesome, can't I go abroad to buy AK47 for them? The problem is that even if I buy it, I won't be able to transport it back to the country!

  "What weapons are you short of now?" Yang Feng asked.

  "We lack everything, don't worry about Brother Yang's jokes. We can't even make one rifle per person, not to mention the rifles from the Qing dynasty era which we also have, but their grooves are all worn out and the bullets can't be matched, soldiers carry them just for show."

  Yang Feng was drinking a mouthful of water that directly sprayed out, it was such a group of people who were killed by the Japanese army's most elite Kwantung Army in Xifengkou with an almost one-to-one exchange ratio.

  "One regiment has only a dozen or so small-caliber guns, and they're all old mountain guns and field guns. There are over a hundred heavy machine guns, but light machine guns can't even be distributed to every company, let alone every platoon. Otherwise, do you think we'd be armed with just one big knife per person? We have no choice, we also want each person to have a submachine gun, but there aren't any!" Xiao Zhenying continued to lament.

  "Don't you have your own munitions factory?"

  "If we had an arsenal, would we have fallen to this point? We do have a few machines, repairing guns and whatnot, and we can also make some hand grenades ourselves, but that's about it." said Xiao Zhenying.

  "You're going to fight against Japan this time, can't they even allocate some for you?" Yang Feng asked.

  "Who's in charge? The committee head or General Zhang? Without the Shenyang Arsenal, the Northeastern Army is already on edge. Can General Zhang still take care of us? By the time he can supply us with bullets, we'll have already offered incense to our ancestors."

  As for the chairman, Yang brothers, two years ago we were still arch-enemies on the battlefield! He would have liked us to destroy each other!" Xiao Zhenying said with a cold smile.

  Yang Feng's mind was racing, this old fox's words couldn't be trusted entirely, he was a cunning and experienced con artist, in his eyes Yang Feng was probably just a foolish rich man, easy to deceive.

  "In terms of arms, my brother is indeed willing but unable, however if you have the money, I can help you get in touch with some foreigners, and they might give us a discount on buying a few cannons." Yang Feng said with a sly smile.

  The old fox smiled just as slyly, the two foxes' eyes met, with a somewhat affectionate and appreciative flavor.

  "Shall we go take a look at those antiques?" said Yang Feng.

  "Then please!" Xiao Zhenying said with a smile.

  Yang Feng brought a antique dealer named Chen Ping, who was an old acquaintance of the Liu Hai Feng family, so Yang Feng felt relatively at ease.

  The 29th Army had a large number of antiques, mostly jade and other high-end items. It's estimated that even the most refined ones would be hard to please these people, which shows that Sun Dianying is still very good at giving gifts.

  However, Yang Feng was clueless about these things. In the end, Chen Ping gave an estimate of their value, totaling over 20 items, worth around 7 to 8 thousand.

  Ten thousand oceans.

  "General Xiao, I, Chen Ping, have a reputation in the antique business of North Ping. If you're not convinced, you can find someone to appraise it." Chen Ping said with a fist bump towards Xiao Zhenying.

  "Mr. Chen is a well-known honest man in Beiping City, who doesn't know that? Your appraisal, brother, I have no opinion." Xiao Zhenying said, he was very clear about the value of these things, they were all gathered by several generals, and had been appraised by others beforehand, which was basically similar to Chen Ping's estimate.

  "Xiao Lao Ge, should we take the brother away now or later?" Yang Feng asked with a smile, holding a fist-sized jade monkey in his arms. In modern times, such a large piece of jade would be worth hundreds of millions, and he estimated that this one piece alone could cover half of their investment.

  "Hey, don't worry about anything else, let's get moving! Everyone, help Brother Yang move the stuff to the car!" Xiao Zhenying waved his hand grandly, and then two soldiers came over and helped Yang Feng move the boxes of antiques onto the vehicle.

  "Xiao Lao Ge, you're awesome!" Yang Feng gave him a thumbs up.

  Xiao Zhenyang smiled and said, "Who dares to cheat the army out of its money? That would be a real old man hanging himself, tired of living."

  "Yang brothers, the insufficient part..."

  Yang Feng waved his hand: "Forget it, let's just say that brothers are treating the 29th Army to a drink!"

  "All right, that's enough, Brother Yang. Let's not say anything else. One sentence: in the future when needed, the 290,000 soldiers of the 29th Army will rush into boiling water and walk through fire without hesitation!" Xiao Zhenye said with some emotion.

  Yang Feng's actions were equivalent to waiving half of their cargo fees all at once. Although he didn't understand why Yang Feng did this, Xiao Zhenying was also clear that the favor 29th Army owed him was quite substantial.

  "Hey, saying that is being too polite. Let's not mention the brotherhood and familiarity among us all, just because you're going to fight against the devils, I don't even have the face to ask for this money," Yang Feng said.

  At this time, those generals also divided the samples cleanly, one by one wearing cotton-padded jackets, just like a group of migrant workers returning home for the New Year.

  "Yang brothers, this overcoat of yours is a good thing, it's not much worse than the Japanese military overcoat!" Zhao Dengyu said with a smile.

  "It's just that wielding a big knife is inconvenient and can't be worn when fighting." Another brigade commander, Tong Zeguang, said.

  "Who still wears this when fighting? This camouflage uniform is versatile, the cotton coat can be used as a blanket for camping outdoors, and these military boots, one kick could probably break someone's bones." Huang Weigang coolly flashed his leg.

  "Alright, alright, let's all take our seats quickly, it's already past noon, Brother Yang is probably starving by now!" Liu Ruming said.

  The wine and dine was sumptuous, Zhangjiakou being a provincial capital and a famous city in the northwest, a hub for trade inside and outside the pass, naturally wouldn't be too shabby in terms of food and drink. A group of people directly booked a whole restaurant, dozens of high-ranking officers from the 29th Army got drunk with Yang Feng until they were dizzy and confused, then stumbled back to the military camp, took a tour of the troops, even held a drill, Zhao Dengyu who was drunk showed off his knife skills on the spot, Yang Feng watched with a monkey-like face and cheered him on.