Volume One, Chapter Seventeen: Forging Swords in the Remote Mountains—The New Armory Is Right Here!

The journey to Zhaojiayu was far more arduous than expected.

The so-called road was merely a narrow, winding path trodden by those before, snaking between sheer cliffs.

The soldiers, burdened with heavy packs and weapons, led mules laden with machine parts, inching forward with great difficulty.

In many places, the mules could not proceed and the equipment had to be carried manually by the men, using the most primitive methods—shouldering and lifting.

A lathe captured from the enemy weighed over a thousand pounds. Dozens of soldiers shouted in unison, tied it with ropes, and moved it forward bit by bit, like ants relocating their home.

Li Yunlong led the column, grumbling under his breath, yet personally shouldering the heaviest box of ammunition.

All his soldiers watched him closely.

As their regiment commander, he had to set an example.

Lin Mo and Zhao Gang, meanwhile, led a small reconnaissance team ahead to scout the route for the main force and to make contact with party organizations in villages near Zhaojiayu.

When they reached the mouth of Zhaojiayu Valley, everyone was stunned by the sight before them.

Two massive peaks, as if carved by knife and axe, rose precipitously, piercing the clouds. Between them was a narrow cleft, so tight that only a single horse-drawn cart could squeeze through.

A true “thread of sky.”

“Perfect place! Truly perfect!” Zhao Gang exclaimed with admiration. “This spot is a natural fortress!”

Lin Mo’s heart swelled with excitement as well.

He took out a sketch he had drawn earlier and began to outline his vision at the valley’s mouth.

“Political commissar, look here. We’ll build a permanent checkpoint with reinforced concrete, mounting two heavy machine guns and an autocannon on top. On the cliffs flanking both sides, we’ll carve several bunkers for crossfire.”

“Behind the checkpoint, we’ll lay multiple layers of minefields and barbed wire.”

“With this setup, it won’t matter if Yamamoto sends a special forces team or an entire infantry battalion—they won’t set foot in this valley.”

A gleam unique to engineers sparkled in Lin Mo’s eyes.

In his mind’s eye, a modern, impregnable military fortress already stood tall.

Deeper inside the valley, the scenery changed dramatically.

The valley opened up to fertile land, with a clear stream gently flowing from its depths.

Zhao Gang immediately dispatched men to explore upstream along the creek, quickly discovering an underground river hidden inside a cave.

The water was abundant and crystal clear.

Securing a water source meant half the problem was solved.

Lin Mo, accompanied by several soldiers knowledgeable in geology and armed with his homemade exploration tools, began searching for mineral veins within the valley.

After days of arduous work, they finally found a coal-iron coexisting deposit tucked away in an inconspicuous corner on the valley’s west side.

Though the ore grade was not high, the reserves were sufficient to support an armaments factory for years.

Everything was ready, only awaiting the crucial element.

Days later, the majority of the Independent Regiment gradually arrived at Zhaojiayu.

When the soldiers saw this valley, a paradise seemingly untouched by the world, all their exhaustion and complaints vanished.

“Damn! This place looks like a painting!”

“Are we really going to settle here?”

“Mountains, water, and arable land—this beats Yang Village any day!”

Li Yunlong beamed at the soldiers’ excitement.

He found Lin Mo, patted him on the shoulder, and laughed heartily, “Lin, my brother, you’ve really done it! You found us a paradise! From now on, this valley is our Independent Regiment’s domain!”

Pointing at the narrow cleft at the valley’s mouth, he declared boldly, “You take charge of building your armament factory inside; I’ll guard the gate outside! I, Li Yunlong, swear that as long as one of us is alive, no enemy will ever step foot in this valley!”

A vigorous campaign to build a base commenced throughout Zhaojiayu.

The soldiers put down their rifles and took up hoes and shovels.

They cleared the land for farming, built fortifications, and reinforced defenses.

The entire valley became a bustling construction site.

The armament factory’s construction was the highest priority.

Lin Mo personally chose the site, settling on the deepest part of the valley, a concealed mountain hollow surrounded on three sides by peaks.

He designed the factory layout with distinct zones: steel smelting, forging, machining, ammunition assembly, and weapons testing.

Each sector was carefully planned for safety, ventilation, and optimized production flow.

He also devised a simple hydroelectric system that harnessed the drop of the underground river to power generators and provide precious electricity to the factory.

At the same time, Zhao Gang dispatched his most capable cadres to search far and wide for skilled technicians and cadres who had escaped from the Red Cliff Cave.

With full support from headquarters and the division, over the course of more than two weeks, more than seventy highly skilled “treasures” were secretly brought to Zhaojiayu.

Experienced steel-smelting masters, gunsmiths who could dismantle and assemble firearms blindfolded, and chemical engineers intimately familiar with gunpowder formulas—all were the last flames of the Eighth Route Army’s military-industrial system.

When these battle-hardened workers saw Lin Mo’s factory blueprints and his unheard-of production concepts and technologies, they were profoundly shaken.

One white-haired steel master grasped Lin Mo’s hand, tears streaming with excitement: “Young comrade… no, Chief Engineer Lin! With your methods, we can truly smelt good steel! We can really make fine guns and cannons!”

Looking at these honest and steadfast faces, seeing hope rekindled in their eyes, Lin Mo’s heart swelled with pride.

“Masters, comrades!” he called out from a high vantage point.

“Though the Red Cliff Cave has fallen, the spirit of the Eighth Route Army’s armaments will never die!”

“From today onward, this place will be our new stronghold!”

He pointed to the factory under construction behind him, his voice ringing with determination.

“Here, with our hands and minds, we will forge the sharpest swords!”

“We will let the enemy know—they may destroy our factories, but they will never break our resolve to be self-reliant and armed!”

“Our goal is the stars and the sea! No, better yet, to equip our soldiers with our own weapons and build a brand-new China!”

“Now, I officially declare the ‘Sword Forging Project’ launched!”

At Lin Mo’s command, the first explosion of mountain blasting echoed through the depths of Zhaojiayu.

A new era had begun.

Far away in Taiyuan, Yoshio Shōzuka and Kazuki Yamamoto still reveled in their “great victory” of destroying the Red Cliff Cave armament factory.

Little did they dream that a more formidable and terrifying military-industrial beast was quietly being nurtured, soon to reveal its razor-sharp fangs.