Rise from the sword

Chapter 420 Let's develop sustainably!

The terrain along the Zhengtai Railway was relatively flat, and there were many carriageways. After the four infantry companies of the Second Battalion filled up one hundred carts, they quickly retreated along the flat carriageway towards Zhaojiayu.

Under the traction of big mules, these modified carts are fast, comparable to a quick march.

At the same time, the independent regiment that received the telegram also dispatched the cavalry battalion, the newly formed machine infantry company, and the third artillery company to meet them.

More than half an hour after the Second Battalion left, the brigade from Yuxian County arrived late.

The captain, who was troubled by the landmines laid by the special team and was blocked by the second artillery company for more than an hour, saw the situation of the railway near the four villages and was so stunned on the spot that he forgot to give an order.

It is actually very common for the railway to be destroyed by the Eighth Route Army. Over the years, the Japanese lieutenant who has been guarding Yuxian County is also used to it.

According to his previous experience, those poor guerrillas tried their best to get close to the railway, and suffered heavy casualties for this. However, the damage to the railway in the end was actually very low.

The Zhengtai Railway is not a light rail, but a standard rail. A section of the rail is 300 meters long and weighs more than [-] kilograms. It is fixed with spikes and the roadbed is also very stable. It is difficult to cause devastating damage in a short time.

The Eighth Route Army lacked weapons and tools. All they could do was dig up the roadbed, burn the sleepers, or use difficult methods to remove a small section of railroad track.

The Imperial Army has engineers stationed in all counties and has repair materials. This damage can be repaired in less than half a day, and sometimes it will not affect the normal traffic.

Unless the Eighth Route Army dispatches a large number of people and the destruction takes a long time, it can cause serious damage to the railway.

For example, in the so-called Hundred Regiments War a few years ago, the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the emptiness of troops in Yu County and dispatched thousands of people to destroy the railway for a whole night. A large number of roadbeds were destroyed, sleepers were burned, and many railroad tracks were even stolen. , Afterwards, the Yuxian Engineering Squadron spent more than a month in repairs and consumed a lot of spare rails.

At that time, even several bridges were blown up, and it took a long time to repair them.

but····

For the railways in front of them, the roadbed is intact, and the sleepers are not damaged much. Many sleepers are left intact or even piled up as a whole. Only the rails are completely gone.

"How is this going?"

Looking at the bare section of railway in front of him, the captain didn't understand.

How did the Eighth Route Army strip away such a long section of railroad tracks in such a short period of time?

and also.

The roadbed was not damaged, and the sleepers were basically intact, especially the neatly stacked sleepers, which was definitely intentional. What does this mean?
I don't know, I thought it was done by the Imperial Engineers!
"Report."

Fortunately, there were other commanders who were not stunned, and sent someone to figure out the retreat direction of the Second Battalion of the Independence Regiment: "The Eighth Route Army that attacked the railway fled along the horse road towards Pan County."

"Pan County?"

The captain was still a little unbelievable at first.

There is a full brigade stationed in Pan County. Isn't this deliberately hitting the imperial army in the face?
"Hi."

The reporting ghost continued:
"There are new wheel marks on the carriageway, and the cavalry scouts have also spotted the other side's tracks."

"Report to Captain Shimagawa immediately."

The captain immediately gave the order, and after a pause, he continued:
"Send someone to measure the length of the railway destroyed by the Eighth Route Army."

Looking at the almost endless empty railway again, the captain felt a little dizzy.

Big trouble this time.

The missing rails are at least 800 meters long. Yuxian County does not have so many spare rails. There are a lot of sleepers prepared when they fall down, but the Eighth Route Army did not destroy the sleepers at all.

They are all kept, even stacked neatly.

The captain of the Devils wanted to cry but had no tears.

······
at the same time.

"Boost."

"Wang Gensheng, you lead the special team to disperse the guard, and the scouts who find the devils will kill them immediately."

With more than 120 carts full of steel rails, Li Yunlong and Erying drove straight towards Zhaojiayu.

The reinforced pallet trucks are very heavy, and each one can hold two long rails, that is, two sections of steel rails more than ten meters long. These rails are cut and stacked neatly on the pallet trucks. The strengthened scooter is shock-absorbing, and it runs fast.

"Captain."

Along the way, the monk touched his head, a little confused:

"We don't have much time, and it's too late to destroy the roadbed, but why don't we even burn the sleepers?"

In the past, when the army destroyed the railway, it usually used three methods, digging the roadbed, burning the sleepers, and lifting the rails.

Among them, digging the roadbed is the most destructive to the railway, followed by burning the sleepers, but the devil has a large number of spare sleepers, and burning it is not very destructive to the railway. In fact, destroying the rails is actually the best, but this thing is very difficult to destroy. Sometimes one or two regiments can only take away a few pieces.

But this time, the head of the group suddenly ordered that only the rails should be cut and taken away, the roadbed should not be damaged, and the sleepers should not be damaged as much as possible. This made the monk puzzled.

"Why burn the sleepers?"

Li Yunlong stared:
"Isn't it very troublesome for the devil to repair?"

"what?"

The monk was taken aback.

"Monk."

Afterwards, Li Yunlong taught earnestly:

"We need to understand sustainable development."

"It's like plucking wool. You can't pluck it all at once. You have to leave some wool for the sheep for the winter, isn't it? When the sheep grows wool next year, you can pluck it again."

"It's called sustainable development."

Having said this, Li Yunlong stopped talking.

Li Yunlong, your original plan was to use all three moves.

The roadbed was dug out, the sleepers were burned, and the rails were cut off to take them back. But in the end, I thought of Brother Chen's offer. As long as he destroys the railway, the business will be completed, and there will be a price, and it will be a little bit more.

Immediately, Li Yunlong began to ponder.

Without the roadbed and sleepers, wouldn't it be much slower for the devils to build the railway?
There was a large shortage of steel materials in the regiment, so in the end, Captain Li decided to take away only the steel rails and leave the rest alone, so that the devils could concentrate on installing the rails and repair them faster.

Independent regiments can also have more steel.

Of course, part of the reason was digging the roadbed and burning the sleepers. The devils had already adapted to it, and it was not very destructive.

The monk has also read a lot of books over the years, and he is already an intellectual comparable to a junior high school graduate. In addition, he has been working in the independent group for so long, and instantly understood the meaning of his head.

"It makes sense..."

The monk nodded, he thought it was very good.

"such a pity."

"Even if there are big mules, the transportation capacity of the cart is not enough. This is an enemy-occupied area, and there is no way to mobilize the common people."

Li Yunlong looked at the cart full of steel rails beside him, thinking in his heart:

"When the strength of the army is stronger, when the road out of the mountain is repaired, when the two spies are still caught, and when the heavy-duty off-road truck that brother Chen said is available, then we will bring the truck over every week to get steel."

"Now that there is a repair shop in the regiment and the ability to handle steel materials, the demand for rails is huge."

······
"Order the West Village Brigade of Panxian County to immediately intercept it."

After receiving the news from the front line, Shimagawa Osamu, the commander of the No.70 Eighth Regiment of the Japanese Army in Yuxian County, immediately ordered the Panxian garrison to dispatch. Thinking that the opponent was Li Yunlong, the regiment leader also specially ordered:
"It is forbidden to launch an offensive rashly, mainly to contain."

"Hi."

The staff officer quickly went to convey the order.

And the news that came later made the captain of the devil's alliance stunned.

"Nani?"

"The sleepers and roadbed were not damaged, but the rails were stripped of [-] kilometers?"

Colonel Shimagawa couldn't believe it.

"how is this possible?"

He subconsciously didn't believe it, but the telegram from the frontline troops was clearly written, so he couldn't help but not believe it. In the end, the regiment leader even went to the four villages for field inspections.

No wonder he was so nervous.

One and a half kilometers of railroad tracks were taken away, which is no small matter.

Due to the lack of steel resources in the empire, the stock of spare rails in his Yuxian County is less than 200 meters, which is far from enough to make up for this hole, and even the spare rails at Niangziguan Railway Station can't make up half of it.

The rails that were damaged in the past were repaired and continued to be used, and the Eighth Route Army rarely took the rails away.

Now, [-] kilometers of rails have been taken away. Although I don't know how the other party did it, it is difficult for even the imperial engineers to take away such a long distance of rails in such a short time.But if you want to repair it, you can only mobilize the rails from other places. After this, plus the maintenance time of the engineers, the railway may have to be interrupted for a week.

The Zhengtai Railway is the most important railway line in Shanxi, and even in North China. It is responsible for the supply and transportation of the garrisons along the way, the deployment of troops, and the transportation of important ores.

If it was interrupted for a week, he was afraid that the higher-ups would be so angry that he would commit seppuku.

His most important task is to ensure the smooth flow of the railway line.

In the end, when Colonel Shimagawa saw the empty railway embankment, he passed out stiffly.

Big trouble!

Before fainting, this was the only thought that came to Dazuo Shimagawa's mind.

······
Taiyuan.

When Colonel Shimagawa woke up and sent a telegram to Yoshimoto, it was already night.

"Zhengtai Railway was attacked by Li Yunlong?"

Looking at the telegram in his hand, Gibbon twitched his eyes.

In order to avoid being voluntarily "seppuku", Shimagawa emphasized Li Yunlong in the telegram, and wrote it directly on the first line, which made Yoshimoto look away when he saw the first line.

Gibbon looked at the map and found the location where the railway was attacked, then moved his gaze all the way, passing through Pan County, and finally arrived at the location of the Independence Regiment.

"Baga, damn Li Yunlong..."

"A bunch of trash."

After swearing, Gibbon subconsciously rubbed his forehead.

He found that Li Yunlong directly crossed Pan County, and then moved forward for more than 100 miles to attack Zhengtai Railway, which was almost [-] miles away from the Independence Regiment's base.

Did it run too far?
It's too troublesome!
Also, the Panxian garrison is such a waste!People in the defense zone passed through casually, but they didn't find it?
Beside him, Yamamoto, who flew directly back from Beiping, bowed his head silently.

Li Yunlong's troops were highly mobile, but the empire's troops were insufficient, so it was impossible to blockade them. Troops with hundreds or even thousands of people could pass through the defense zone of the imperial army by casually attacking from east to west.

Taking a deep breath, Gibbon controlled his mood and continued to look at the telegram. After seeing it, he jumped up when his mood exploded, and his whole body exploded:

"Isn't there a single [-]-kilometer track left?"

"how is this possible?"

Gibbon, who exploded from the inside out, threw the telegram to the ground.

Not destroyed, but stolen.

As the commander of the First Army, he is well aware of the maintenance capabilities of the Zhengtai Railway, which means about a week of maintenance time.

Now, not only the headquarters of the North China Front Army, but even the base camp had to come and question him.

However, because of the foreshadowing of Li Datuan's [-]-mile raid on the Zhengtai Railway, as well as the fact that he is a lieutenant general, he has a good mental capacity. After taking a few breaths with a ferocious face, he quickly calmed down.

The common sense is that it takes a week to repair, but if he intervenes and then mobilizes maintenance teams from other places, the time can be cut in half, that is, it can be repaired in four days.

The [-] kilometers of rails add up to less than a hundred tons of steel. The empire has millions of tons of steel every year, and this loss is still affordable.

Things have happened, there is not much point in being angry, the most important thing now is how to prevent such incidents from happening again.If this Li Yunlong came to steal more than one kilometer of railroad track every month, he might have to step down in half a year.

"General."

Yamamoto took the opportunity to interject:

"It seems that Li Yunlong should have the equipment to cut the rails, otherwise it would be impossible to steal [-] kilometers of rails in such a short period of time."

"Ah."

Gibbon nodded and asked:

"From Yamamoto-kun's point of view, how should we prevent similar incidents from happening again?"

Gibbon continued to read the follow-up telegram with a calm expression.

Although the follow-up telegram is not good news.

One was a telegram about Pan County, saying that a large number of independent regiment troops had been found. This group of Eighth Route Army attacked the military station, destroyed the artillery towers, and restrained a large number of troops, making it impossible to send troops to stop the Eighth Route Army troops that were destroying the railway.

The other was a telegram about the pursuit troops, saying that Li Yunlong was marching faster than expected with the steel rails. Coupled with the blocking of heavy artillery, the pursuit troops failed to catch up.

In order to reduce responsibility, Shimagawa sent all the telegrams to Yoshimoto.

"This Li Yunlong..."

Gibbon snorted.

He didn't report much hope to the pursuing troops. Since Li Yunlong dared to come out to steal the rails, he must be well prepared.

"Strengthen the vigilance and blockade around the railway."

Yamamoto immediately said:

"Li Yunlong's army is very powerful. With the same strength, the imperial army does not have an advantage. Now that we are short of troops, we can only give early warning and prevent Li Yunlong from getting close to the railroad tracks."

"Then, immediately start the bombing of the independent regiment's base."

When he came back this time, he also came with fifteen bombers dispatched by the North China Front Army, and the subsequent ammunition and fuel have also been loaded and will soon arrive in Taiyuan.

"Just do as Yamamoto-kun says."

Gibbon smiled.

General Gangcun suddenly agreed to replenish his planes and fuel bombs, which made Gibbon a little happy.

······
Day two.

Zhao Jiayu.

After morning training.

A recruit about 30 years old walked up to the company commander and lowered his tone:
"Company commander, I found a guy who is suspected of being a devil's spy."

　As soon as the water is posted, a chapter will be added on the [-]th day...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)