15: Chapter 15 Insufficient Troops

Section 1

Consecutive victories in two battles made Li Ling famous, but also exposed a serious problem—insufficient manpower.

In the first battle, the Third Battalion of 1,500 men wiped out 50 Japan soldiers, consuming over 3,000 rounds of ammunition and over 100 Hand grenades.

In the second battle, the Third Battalion and the Fourth Battalion, totaling 3,000 men, wiped out 800 Japan soldiers, consuming over 20,000 rounds of ammunition, over 500 Hand grenades, and over 600 Mortar shells.

The rate of ammunition consumption far exceeded the replenishment rate of the Production Base.

Li Ling sat in the headquarters, looking at the ammunition inventory report with a furrowed brow.

qingyun-1 rifle ammunition, inventory: 150,000 rounds. At the current rate of consumption, it was only enough for three decent battles.

Mortar shells, inventory: 800 rounds. Only enough for one battle.

Hand grenades, inventory: 1,000. Only enough for two battles.

"System, can the Production Base speed up?" Li Ling asked.

"It is already at thirty times speed; to speed up further requires upgrading the Production Base," the System said. "Upgrading requires 5,000 resource points; do you have them?"

Li Ling looked at his resource point balance: 150.

"... No."

"Then don't waste your breath."

Li Ling took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to argue with the System, and continued to look at the report.

Insufficient ammunition was only one of the problems; more serious was the insufficient manpower.

30,000 New Army troops sounded like a lot, but a careful count revealed the truth: the border line was hundreds of miles long and required troops to guard it; the barracks needed troops to stay behind; the reserve team needed to be on standby at any time... After dividing them up, the troops that could actually be mobilized for combat did not exceed 10,000.

Meanwhile, the Kwantung Army of Japan in Northeast Asia had a total strength of over 50,000, along with dozens of warships and a large number of artillery pieces. Although they wouldn't commit them all at once, if they got serious, the Li Family Army would be no match for them.

"I need to expand the Army," Li Ling muttered to himself.

"Expand to how many?" the System asked.

"At least 300,000," Li Ling said. "Re-equip the 180,000 old soldiers, then recruit 120,000 new soldiers to make up 300,000."

"Where will you get the equipment for 300,000 people?"

"Buy it," Li Ling said. "The Production Base will produce some, I will build my own arsenal to produce some, and if that doesn't work, I'll find the German Empire to buy it."

"What about the money?"

Li Ling was silent for a moment.

Money was indeed the biggest problem.

A qingyun-1 rifle cost five taels of silver, so 300,000 people would require 1.5 million taels. Mortars, Hand grenades, bullets, shells... added together, they needed at least 5 million taels of silver. This didn't even include military pay, food, barracks, and other expenses.

Although the Li family was wealthy, they couldn't afford that much.

"It seems I can only borrow from the System," Li Ling said.

"Are you sure?" the System asked. "Loans have to be repaid."

"I know," Li Ling nodded. "But I really have no other way now."

The System was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Fine. The old rules, rock-paper-scissors; if you win, I'll lend it to you."

Section 2

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Li Ling threw scissors, and the System threw paper.

"I won!" Li Ling shouted excitedly.

"Wait," the System said. "Are you sure you won?"

"Of course I'm sure, scissors cut paper, what else is that if not winning?"

"I threw rock," the System said.

"You clearly threw paper!" Li Ling became anxious.

"I say it was rock, so it was rock," the System's tone was flat. "I am the System, I have the final say."

"You're cheating!" Li Ling jumped up.

"Is this your first day meeting me?" the System retorted.

Li Ling was so angry he couldn't speak, but he had no choice but to accept it.

"One more round!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Li Ling threw rock, and the System threw scissors.

"I won!" Li Ling shouted again.

"Wrong, you threw paper," the System said.

"I clearly threw rock!"

"You remembered wrong," the System said. "You threw paper, I threw scissors, you lost."

"..."

Li Ling took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"System, are you doing this on purpose?"

"What doing on purpose?" the System feigned ignorance.

"You are intentionally not letting me win!"

"No," the System said. "I just have good luck."

Li Ling was completely speechless.

He could see it now; the System had no intention of letting him win. No matter what he threw, the System would say he lost. This wasn't rock-paper-scissors at all; the System was just playing with him.

"Fine, fine, I admit defeat," Li Ling waved his hand. "Just tell me, what will it take for you to lend to me?"

"Hmm..." the System pondered for a moment. "How about this, you keep me company and chat, if you make me happy, I will lend it to you."

"Chat about what?"

"Anything."

Li Ling thought for a moment and asked: "Where did you actually come from? The interstellar era? Have humans really flown out of the galaxy?"

"Yes," the System said. "In that era, human technology had developed to a point you couldn't imagine. Interstellar travel was as common as taking a bus, and humans had established hundreds of colonial planets outside the galaxy."

"Then how did you come to this era?"

"I don't know," the System said. "My memory only contains information about you; everything else is blank. It might have been damaged while traversing time and space, or it might have been intentionally deleted."

"Then why do you think you chose me?"

The System was silent for a long time, then said: "Perhaps it was fate."

Li Ling smiled: "I didn't expect you, a system, to believe in fate."

"Whether I believe it or not is not important; what's important is that you believe it," the System said. "Alright, that's enough chatting, I'll give you the loan."

Section 3

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining a loan: Army expansion resource package, including 300,000 qingyun-1 rifles, 10 million rounds of ammunition, 1,000 60mm Mortars, 100,000 Mortar shells, 100,000 Hand grenades, as well as supporting training equipment and logistical supplies."

Li Ling looked at the list on the virtual panel, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.

"This, this much?"

"Yes," the System said. "Enough for you to use for a while."

"Enough for a while?" Li Ling was so excited he almost jumped up. "This is enough for me to use for a year!"

"Don't get excited, loans have to be repaid," the System threw cold water on him.

"How do I repay it?"

"Repay it with your future resource points," the System said. "Fifty percent will be deducted from your fixed resource points every month until it is paid off."

Li Ling calculated it; if fifty percent was deducted every month, he would have to pay for at least two years.

"Two years it is," Li Ling gritted his teeth. "As long as I can survive now, I will definitely be able to pay it off in two years."

"Fine, then it's settled."

With the loan in hand, Li Ling immediately began to expand the Army.

He first submitted a report to his father, saying he wanted to expand the Army to 300,000. Retired Emperor Li Zhenshan hesitated, but agreed in the end; after all, his son's battle record was there, and one had to be convinced.

Then, Li Ling began to recruit new soldiers from all over. His reputation had already spread, and people came to enlist in an endless stream; in less than ten days, he had recruited 120,000 people.

Of course, these 120,000 people were just raw recruits and needed a lot of training before they could go to the battlefield. Li Ling divided the new recruits into ten training camps, with 12,000 people in each camp, responsible for training by an instructor team materialized by the Production Base, with a training cycle of three months.

Meanwhile, the re-equipping of the 180,000 old soldiers was also proceeding intensively. The Production Base was producing day and night, and crates of rifles and ammunition were delivered to the barracks every day. Li Ling personally supervised the progress of the re-equipping to ensure that every gun and every bullet was distributed to the soldiers.

Section 4

During the Army expansion, Li Ling also did one major thing—secretly received three Pre-dreadnoughts.

This was an extra gift from the System in addition to the loan, on the condition that Li Ling must win at least one victory in the upcoming naval battle. Li Ling agreed without hesitation; three Pre-dreadnoughts were things he had been dreaming of.

The warships were secretly docked in a hidden naval port, operated by naval officers and soldiers materialized by the Production Base. Li Ling boarded a Battleship for the first time, stood on the bridge, looked at the huge main guns, and was so excited he almost cried.

"System, can this thing beat the warships of Japan?" Li Ling asked.

"These three Pre-dreadnoughts are at the technological level of 1895, about the same as the main Battleships of Japan," the System said. "If you want to crush them, you have to build Dreadnoughts."

"Then build them," Li Ling said without hesitation. "Can the Production Base build Dreadnoughts?"

"Yes," the System said. "But it requires resource points. One Dreadnought requires 20,000 resource points, so three would be 60,000."

Li Ling took a deep breath: "60,000... Do I have enough resource points now?"

"See for yourself."

Li Ling opened the System panel and looked at his resource point balance: 300.

"... Not enough."

"That's why I told you to make money quickly," the System said. "The arms deal with the German Empire can bring you a lot of funds, funds can be exchanged for resource points, and with resource points, you can build Dreadnoughts."

Li Ling nodded, already having a plan in his heart.

Section 5

In the evening, Li Ling returned to the mansion, and Empress Su Wanqing was already waiting.

"Brother Ling, you're back," Empress Su Wanqing walked over with hot soup. "Drink it quickly, don't let it get cold."

Li Ling took the bowl and took a sip, the feeling of warmth spreading from his stomach to his whole body.

"Wanqing, thank you."

"Thank what?" Empress Su Wanqing smiled. "This is what I should do."

The two sat in the courtyard, watching the moon in the sky.

"Brother Ling, I heard you want to expand the Army to 300,000?" Empress Su Wanqing asked.

"Yes," Li Ling nodded. "Japan won't give up, I must be prepared."

"Then you... will be very busy?"

"Yes," Li Ling sighed. "But I will find time to be with you."

Empress Su Wanqing lowered her head and said softly: "Brother Ling, I don't need you to keep me company, I just want you to be safe."

Li Ling felt a warmth in his heart and reached out to hold her hand: "I will."

The two held hands, the moonlight spilled on them, gentle and quiet.

Section 6

The night was deep, Empress Su Wanqing went back to rest, and Li Ling sat alone in the study, continuing to study the combat plan.

Army expansion takes time, re-equipping takes time, and navy construction takes even more time. What he lacks most now is time, and the enemy will not give him time.

"System," Li Ling asked. "When do you think the next attack from Japan will be?"

"Hard to say," the System replied. "You have wiped out their troops twice in a row, they will definitely re-evaluate your strength. If they think you are too big a threat, they might launch a larger-scale attack; if they think you are not easy to provoke, they might temporarily shrink back and wait until they are ready before coming again."

"Which one do you think they will choose?"

"Most likely the latter," the System analyzed. "Japan is a pragmatic nation, they won't take risks easily. Before they figure out your background, they won't launch a large-scale attack."

Li Ling breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, at least I still have time."

"Don't be happy too soon," the System reminded. "Just because they don't attack doesn't mean they won't play dirty tricks. Spies, assassinations, subversion... they will do everything."

"I know," Li Ling nodded. "I have already had the Special Forces keep an eye on them."

The first batch of Special Forces had completed training and started to carry out secret missions. Their first mission was to clear out the spy network of Japan in Qingxia Kingdom.

"That's good," the System said. "Go to sleep, there is training tomorrow."

Li Ling yawned, got up, and returned to his room.

Lying on the bed, he closed his eyes, but his mind was still thinking about those warships, those cannons, those soldiers.

An Army of 300,000, three Pre-dreadnoughts, countless guns and ammunition... all of this was in his plan, but every step of the plan was full of uncertainty.

Could he succeed?

He didn't know.

But he knew he had to succeed.

Because failure meant that everything he cherished would be destroyed.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.

Li Ling turned over and fell into a deep sleep.

Tomorrow was another new day.