"Yes, Chairman, Chiefs, I promise to complete the mission." The two quickly nodded in reply.

"Well, in that case, it's not too early, so we should rest and reflect on the content of tonight's meeting. I think tonight, I'm going to dream with a smile on my face. Hehe, I don't know if there are any other things going on with you old guys? If not, let's just disperse! The chairman continued... Seeing several people shaking their heads with smiles on their faces, the chairman immediately announced the order to end the meeting....

After a night's rest, Commanders Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan were still immersed in the excitement and joy of attending the Politburo meeting last night. However, the two excited people did not forget the task given to them by the chairman in their memories last night. After eating a simple breakfast that had already been prepared by the guards, the two of them went to the telecommunications room of the central station, preparing to borrow the high-power radio station of the central government to contact the chief of staff in Taiyuan, and send the detailed data of various materials in the reserve warehouse of the military district into the contents of the telegram as a reference for the content of today's report.

While the two were anxiously waiting, the Central Telecommunications Office finally received a call back from Li Qing, chief of staff, from Taiyuan, Shanxi. Looking at the detailed list data that he had just received in his hand, even the commander Liu Hua couldn't help but be taken aback by the variety of various materials on the list, as well as the huge amount of each material.

"Political commissar, I really didn't expect that in less than two years, we have hoarded so much ammunition in our strategic reserve, which is beyond my imagination. In particular, food and ammunition were enough for the entire Eighth Route Army, which was nearly a million troops, and it would take one to two years. After all, the entire Shanxi Province is a huge grain-producing area, and it is not surprising that there can be so much grain. However, where did all this ammunition come from, I am very puzzled? Back in his room, looking at the list in his hand, Liu Hua asked puzzled at the political commissar in charge of logistics next to him.

"Commander, you, the supreme commander of the Shanxi Military Region, are busy fighting every day, so of course you don't know these logistical matters. I know a little bit about it, though. Because of the continuous fighting and the large number of captures, the ammunition used by the various units for nearly a year has basically relied on capture. After two consecutive years of expansion and development, the output of our arsenal is no less than the scale of the Taiyuan Arsenal of Yan Xishan Shipboard to a certain extent. However, due to the lack of various raw materials, the arsenal did not produce various weapons in large quantities. The main energy, as well as manpower and material resources, were put into the production of various bullets, mortar shells, 75 mountain artillery, field artillery shells ... According to my understanding, at present, the entire military factory has built more than a dozen production lines for bullets and shells, and is now working overtime to catch up with the work, just to keep more ammunition hoarded in the reserve warehouse..."Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan said proudly....

"I'm really busy, I even forgot about the development of the arsenal, such an important thing. I vividly remember that two years ago, the entire arsenal had less than four production lines for bullets, grenades and mortar shells, and now it can even produce mountain artillery shells. Quick, political commissar, tell me what is the current daily output of our Shanxi military factory. In two years, nearly 120 million rounds of various bullets and nearly a million shells of various calibers were hoarded... It's unimaginable? Liu Hua asked expectantly.

"Commander, according to the calculation of the number of bullet production lines that can produce 20,000 rounds of ammunition per day by working overtime, ten bullet production lines in the arsenal can produce 200,000 rounds of ammunition per day. In two years, it is reasonable to reach such a large scale. As for artillery shells, now several production lines combined, it is already possible to produce five thousand rounds of artillery shells of various calibers per day. It's just that this is a little devil who has suffered the entire North China region. Because the production of so much ammunition requires a large amount of raw materials, the soldiers have almost completely uprooted the entire railway line in North China...."Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan replied..."Relying only on the rails on the railway as raw materials is not a long-term solution. It seems that when we go back, we will build our own steel mill. Fortunately, the last time I negotiated business with the Americans, I bought two sets of equipment for a small ironworks and a set of equipment for a steelworks... After we go back, as soon as the equipment arrives, we will set up our own steel-making plant..."Liu Hua said with certainty..."Commander, this is all a matter after we go back." In my opinion, the urgent thing we need to delay now is to complete the tasks assigned to us by the chairman and several other leaders...."Luo Ronghuan said.

"Yes, first of all, the report that will be handed over to the chairman in the evening will be completed... Political commissar, the two of us will immediately go our separate ways and prepare materials together..."While speaking, the two of them were in their rooms, centering on the list they had just received, and began to write about the current situation of the strategic reserve of the Shanxi Military Region, as well as suggestions on the future development of the strategic reserve....

Under the busyness of the two, before they knew it, the time of the day had passed. With the names of the two men signed on the report, the sky outside the room has slowly darkened. It was not until this moment that the two of them realized that they had been in the room for almost a day, and they had not even had time to eat a little lunch, and their stomachs began to protest..."Commander, I really didn't expect that it would be dark so soon, and I hadn't eaten for a day, and my stomach has now begun to protest." No, I must eat first, and after eating, I will report to the chairman..."After checking the report in his hand, Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan breathed a long sigh of relief, touched his stomach that was protesting, and said with a smile.

"Me too, now my stomach has begun to protest...", the two of them prepared to leave the room to find food. However, just as the two of them got up from their seats, a sharp knock on the door reached their ears. As the door was pushed open, Xiao Zhang, the guard in charge of the safety and life of the two, appeared at the door..."Xiao Zhang, what's the matter, so anxious." However, you came just in time, we haven't eaten for a day, and now the stomach is in a strong protest. Look, can you get the two of us something to eat first? No matter what we eat, as long as we can fill our stomachs, we still have to go to see the chairman, so the sooner you ask, the better..."Liu Hua said with a smile.

"Report to the two chiefs, that is, the chairman is looking for you. The chairman knows that the two of you have not eaten for a day, so he has prepared a special meal and is waiting for you to go. In addition, Vice Chairman Zhou and the Commander-in-Chief are both at the chairman's house, and now they are waiting for the two leaders..."Facing Liu Hua's request, the guard Xiao Zhang shook his head embarrassedly and said.

"What, the chairman invited us to dinner, and there are two people, Vice Chairman Zhou and Mr. Zhu....Political commissar, I really didn't expect that our face is really big, and we let the three leaders wait for the two of us. Quick, take the report, we'll go right away, we can't let the three chiefs wait too anxious..."Liu Hua immediately reacted and said anxiously....

In this way, under the leadership of the guard Xiao Zhang, the two of them trotted almost all the way, and ran quickly towards the small courtyard where the chairman's house was located at their fastest speed. Finally, a few minutes later, the two stood in the doorway, panting. And the chairman, Vice Chairman Zhou, and the commander-in-chief are sitting around a table full of various dishes, talking and laughing, and from time to time there are bursts of hearty laughter.

"Report to the chiefs, Liu Hua, the head of the reading division, and Luo Ronghuan, the political commissar, were ordered to come and report..." For a while, the three leaders who were talking and laughing immediately turned their heads and focused their eyes on Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan..."Hehe, our two comrades, Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan, are here, come in." I heard the guard Xiao Zhang say that you were busy writing reports today, and you locked yourself in the house all day, and you didn't even eat lunch, so you were hurriedly called over by a few of our old guys. Quick, my stomach must be protesting now, let's get something to eat first..."The chairman said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Chair, Chiefs. This is the report that I and the political commissar have completed, please read it..."Liu Hua walked into the room, stood in front of the chairman, handed the report to the chairman, and said..."Okay, good job. We three old guys read the report first, you two must be hungry, eat something first. In a while, we still have important things to ask you, hurry up and fill your stomach..."The chairman took the report handed over by Liu Hua, without any hesitation, and ordered loudly in a commanding tone....

"Yes, Chairman...."In the chairman's command, the two of them were still a little restrained. But in the face of the temptation of gastronomy, coupled with the constant protest of the belly. Without any hesitation, he immediately picked up a steamed bun and began to eat the steaming dishes on the table. In less than a few minutes, a few steamed buns have already been eaten....

The chairman, Vice Chairman Zhou and the commander-in-chief sat together and looked at the report just written by Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan. As the three of them slowly delved into the content of the telegram, their brows were sometimes furrowed, sometimes relaxed, and even worse, when they encountered something important, they would discuss a few words in a whisper.

Ten minutes later, Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan were already full of food and drink, and stood motionless in front of the three leaders. At the same time, the three chairmen also slowly put down the telegram in their hands, but from the expressions on their faces, Liu Hua saw a look of shock and excitement. In just a split second, the faces of the three people were replaced by seriousness....

"Comrade Liu Hua, Comrade Luo Ronghuan, now that I ask you something, you must answer truthfully. Is everything written in the report true? The chairman's eyes stared closely at Liu Hua's eyes glued to him, and then asked.

"Yes, chairman, leaders, there is nothing false in the content of the report, all of it is true, I guarantee it with my party name, all the content is true..." Immediately afterwards, political commissar Luo Ronghuan also replied with an affirmative face.

"According to the report, all kinds of ammunition hoarded in the strategic reserve are all hoarded by the arsenal in the past two years. I can't believe how big your arsenal has grown now. Comrade Liu Hua, can you give us a detailed report on the current specific scale of the arsenal? You must know that this arsenal may be, to a certain extent, the first arsenal in the true sense of our army, and we have to pay attention to it. Vice Chairman Zhou said.

"Report Vice Chairman Zhou, the political commissar knows more about this matter than me, let's let the political commissar make a detailed report to everyone, if there are any questions, I will add...."Liu Hua replied.

"Chairman of the report, Vice Chairman Zhou, commander-in-chief, at present, the entire arsenal includes a total of ten production lines for various bullets, four production lines for artillery shells, and three production lines for grenades. In addition, there is a two-day rifle production line and a machine gun production line. At the same time, the arsenal was equipped with a gunpowder factory and an iron-making factory, but because of the lack of equipment, the entire iron-making plant could only rely on the local method for iron-making, which not only had low yield, but also had very poor iron quality, and could only be used to produce various grenades and mines. "Political Commissar Luo Ronghuan, in the shocked eyes of everyone, replied in detail..."There are so many production lines, I heard you right....Comrade Luo Ronghuan, the arsenal has so many production lines, how about the output of the military factory, can it guarantee the consumption of ammunition for the troops?" The commander-in-chief hurriedly asked while being shocked.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, because of the lack of various raw materials, three production lines of weapons are almost out of order. However, the production line of various ammunition, according to the requirements, is working overtime to produce, according to the output of 20,000 rounds of ammunition per production line, it can currently reach the production of 200,000 rounds of various bullets and 5,000 rounds of various artillery shells...."Luo Ronghuan continued....

"Well, for so many years, we have been looking forward to our army being able to have a real arsenal, but I really didn't expect that now this wish will come true. Enlai, boss, we already have our own arsenal..."The chairman immediately showed a smile on his face, and said to the two partners next to him with a look of relief.

"Yes, our Eighth Route Army finally has its own arsenal, and it is a very large arsenal. Now, the weapons and ammunition of our Eighth Route Army no longer need to be restrained by others. However, there are too few raw materials. Otherwise, we would be able to produce our own rifles and machine guns....", Vice Chairman Zhou replied....

"Enlai, the lack of raw materials, we can solve it slowly. As long as we have the equipment, other problems will not be difficult for us [***]. In addition, I believe that with the vision of Liu Hua, the commander of our reading division, he must have been thinking of a way to solve the current predicament encountered by the arsenal for a long time..."The chairman replied with a smile on his face. put his eyes on Liu Hua in front of him....

"Chairman of the report, we will indeed find a way to solve the current predicament encountered by the arsenal. First of all, I have ordered two sets of advanced iron-making equipment and one steel-making equipment in the United States through the U.S. Embassy. As long as these equipment can be delivered to Shanxi, we can immediately build an ironmaking plant and a steelmaking plant. And at that time, our military factories will have sufficient raw materials to produce all kinds of weapons...."Under the watchful eye of the chairman, Liu Hua immediately replied.

"Sure enough, I guessed correctly, our Commander Liu Hua has already been well prepared... I believe that when the ironworks and steelworks are all picked up, the Shanxi Arsenal will be able to produce a steady stream of weapons and ammunition, which will be continuously transported to all units on the front line. In the future, we, the troops of the Eighth Route Army, will no longer need to worry about ammunition...."The chairman said confidently.

"Comrade Liu Hua, although after the establishment of the iron and steel plant, it can solve the problem of the supply of raw materials. But where did we get so much iron ore? As far as I know, in the whole of North China, apart from a large amount of coal resources, there is basically no iron ore found. And there is no iron ore, and there is no raw material for the steel mills..."Vice Chairman Zhou asked..."Yes, without iron ore, the ironworks, the steelworks will not become decorations..."The commander-in-chief also found the problem and said.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although there is no iron ore in North China. However, the Ma'anshan area, which is less than 100 kilometers away from Tianjin, is rich in iron ore resources. As long as we can occupy the Ma'anshan area, then the iron ore resources there will be continuously transported to North China to support the construction of the entire North China region...."Liu Hua replied confidently.

"Ma On Shan... Northeast Ma'anshan... Old guys, at the end of the day, we're still talking about the Northeast. It just so happens that Liu Hua and Luo Ronghuan are both here today, so we will solve some problems in front of them. For those problems that can't be solved, we can also ask these two supreme commanders of the Shanxi Military Region...."After hearing the words of Ma Anshan, the chairman shook his head speechlessly, and said with a smile to the two partners beside him.

"Ma'anshan, it seems that no matter what the considerations, we must send troops to the northeast in the shortest possible time. However, some problems must be solved by the two of them, and today we will solve all the problems that should be solved at Lao Mao's house..."The commander-in-chief slowly put away the smile on his face and said with a serious face.

(To be continued)