Chapter 85 The Moon of Yesteryear

Finally, we can rest. We're staying in a cave dwelling, which is basically a basement. As soon as you go in from the outside, you can feel the obvious temperature difference. Even without a fire, it's much warmer inside than outside.

A moment later, a woman with a sallow complexion and a thick waist came carrying a bucket of hot water to help Xie Ning wash up. Xie Ning quickly put down the comb she was holding and took it from her. "Give it to me, give it to me. How could I let you bring me water?"

That belly looks like she's about six months along, doesn't it?

"It's alright! I'm very strong!" The woman smiled honestly. Pregnancy was nothing; she still followed the team. They were all used to it. Then she handed the new military uniform to Xie Ning, saying, "This is what Captain Xu gave you."

Wearing a blue military uniform, Xie Ning raised an eyebrow, indicating that he was determined to stand firm.

"Thank you, you've worked hard."

After everyone left, Xie Ning looked at the bucket of hot water and sighed inwardly. Water resources were scarce here, and it was already a great favor that she could have a bucket of hot water to wash up.

The military uniform she was wearing was quite large, but it wasn't too long for Xie Ning, since she was 1.75 meters tall, which was considered tall. Just as Xie Ning was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) binding her legs with white cloth strips, there was another knock on the door. "Comrade! I've come to bring you food."

The food looked good: a plate of mutton, a bowl of rice, and a boiled egg.

Seeing Xie Ning's crookedly bound legs, the woman chuckled, quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks, and moved next to Xie Ning to help her bind her legs. She said with a smile, "Binding legs is an art. With leg bindings, we can walk for longer without pain or fatigue."

Xie Ning nodded in agreement as she stood on the earthen bed. "I know, it can prevent the swelling and pain caused by blood pooling in the lower body."

Although she didn't quite understand, the woman continued, "That's right, and when we're marching in the forest, those bugs can't bite us anymore. If necessary, we can take them off and use them as stretchers to bandage and fix the bones of comrades with fractures. When climbing, we can tie them together and use them as ropes... There are so many benefits."

If you need to tie something up and there's no rope around, leg wraps can come in handy, like tying up some unlucky guy, Xie Ning thought to himself.

"You see, you need to start wrapping the flat end of the leg wrap around your leg from the shoe upper. Turn the leg wrap over every one or two wraps. The tightness should be just right. If it's too tight, you can't take a step. If it's too loose, it's useless. A well-made leg wrap should seal the shoe opening tightly, so it won't loosen even after walking for a long time."

One end of the leg wrap is flat, and the other end forks into two ropes, about ten centimeters wide and between one and two meters long.

Xie Ning practiced a few times on his own. Although he didn't play as well as the woman, he wasn't too bad either, barely passing the test.

Dinner was still delivered, and after Xie Ning finished eating, someone else took it away.

The next day, Xu He saw Xie Ning and exclaimed, "You look so energetic!"

The group walked along the narrow path for about half a day. When they saw the people waiting for them, Xie Ning was still somewhat surprised, even though he had some guesses in his heart. He didn't expect them to actually come to see him in person.

Even those who knew Xie Ning well beforehand couldn't help but marvel at her youth and talent when they finally met her. Although they all believed that women could hold up half the sky, and there were many female comrades in the base, very few could actually reach this level.

The meeting was small, but it was mostly attended by high-ranking leaders. Aside from polite greetings, the main focus was on discussions about the development of the defense industry.

No matter what, Xie Ning's female identity and age would have aroused suspicion at first, but when Xie Ning spoke eloquently at the meeting, everyone's initial doubts gradually turned into shock and admiration.

Weapons and equipment are the material basis of the army's combat effectiveness. They have workshops to repair guns and weapons, produce new grenades, retrieve bullet casings from the battlefield, and reload them with gunpowder and lead heads. When the lead is used up, they use wooden bullet heads.

The army's weapon equipment rate was less than 40%, and the rest could only be supplemented with spears and broadswords. Guns and ammunition were also in short supply. Most of the rifles were reassembled by the Hongjun Ordnance Factory and could not be used for automatic fire.

Of course, Hongjun had its own arsenal. A few years ago, in order to deal with the weapons problem, Hongjun established an arsenal in the Jinggangshan base area to repair various weapons and equipment. However, due to the scarcity of personnel and equipment in the arsenal, it could only carry out some simple repair work, such as repairing the bird guns commonly used by civilians. Later, an ordnance department was set up to repair various weapons that had suffered heavy losses throughout the army and to manufacture some simple weapons and ammunition.

Due to the encirclement and suppression campaigns and the Long March, these things no longer exist, but there were still some people working in the arsenal at that time.