Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"However, we really can't let the Japanese figure it out. Although we're not afraid, the Nationalist army is still not as good as us," Li Jin added.

Unlike them, the Nationalist army doesn't have gas masks for protection, so if you encounter them, it would indeed be a problem.

If they were to use tear gas, it would certainly be only if they could annihilate the Japanese troops.

After everyone had eaten, they continued their journey towards the floating city.

Around 5:30 p.m., Li Jin and his group arrived in the woods, which were about several hundred meters away from the north gate of Fucheng.

"Lu Changgong, send a telegram to Chu Yunfei and tell him that we have arrived outside the North Gate," Li Jin immediately ordered.

"Yes." Lü Changgong nodded and immediately went to send a telegram.

.........

In the Floating City military camp, Chu Yunfei arrived at the drill ground and watched the soldiers training in bayonet fighting. They were all very young, and the training made them sweat profusely. Every now and then, they would shout "Kill the scarecrow in front of you!"

This scene looks incredibly imposing; even if they were facing not scarecrows but Japanese soldiers, they would still dare to fight.

Seeing this, Chu Yunfei nodded in satisfaction. Since the army had more supplies, the soldiers' training volume had also increased significantly.

The soldiers' combat effectiveness is also increasing at a visible rate.

At the same time, Chu Yunfei also specially selected those with strong combat capabilities from the veterans, totaling dozens of people, to form an elite force, aiming to create a highly effective fighting force similar to Mu Jin's.

He named this unit the "Spearhead Platoon," hoping that this spearhead company could tear through the enemy's defenses like a sharp blade and annihilate the enemy.

To train this elite platoon, Chu Yunfei used up a lot of resources. The food was the best, the ammunition was the most abundant, and of course, the training workload was also the heaviest.

Despite expending a great deal of resources, the elite platoon's combat effectiveness has increased significantly. He believes that if they were to fight against the Japanese with equal numbers, the elite platoon would be able to completely annihilate them.

At the same time, Chu Yunfei also realized that Mu Jin's troops were so strong that the resources they consumed must be enormous.

He has only trained a few dozen people so far, and they are already feeling some pressure. He can't imagine how Mu Jin's thousands of people managed to hold on.

"Commander, Mu Jin sent a telegram saying they've reached the woods outside the North Gate." Fang Ligong, holding a telegram, jogged up to Chu Yunfei to report.

"What?! They've already arrived?! Quick, prepare the car, come with me to pick them up." Upon hearing this, Chu Yunfei immediately gave the order.

"I've already told the driver, he'll be here soon," Fang Ligong replied. He had given the driver the instructions as soon as he saw the contents of the telegram.

After all, it was Mu Jin who was coming, so Chu Yunfei would definitely go to pick him up personally.

Soon, a military vehicle stopped in front of Chu Yunfei. Without saying a word, he took Fang Ligong and got into the vehicle, leaving the military camp.

Qian Bojun, who was training soldiers on the parade ground, was also taken aback when he saw this.

"Battalion Commander, what's the Regiment Commander doing in such a hurry?!" The deputy battalion commander asked in confusion, looking at Chu Yunfei's demeanor as he left, as if something important had happened.

"I don't know. Maybe there's an urgent matter above us, or maybe the regimental commander is going to pick up someone important." Qian Bojun shook his head and offered two guesses.

"I think they've gone to pick someone up, but who could it be?! It can't be the commander-in-chief, can it?" The deputy battalion commander also started speculating.

"It can't be him. Even if the division commander came, the regimental commander wouldn't be in such a hurry. It's more likely that Mu Jin has come!" Qian Bojun thought of Mu Jin as he spoke, because only Mu Jin's arrival would make Chu Yunfei so anxious.

"Mu Jin is here again?! Is he going to drag us to fight the Japanese again? It's only been a little over a month since the last battle, and he's already trying to cause trouble again. Can't he just behave himself?" The deputy battalion commander said helplessly, with a hint of disdain in his voice.

If it weren't for Mu Jin, they wouldn't have needed to train their soldiers so hard, and they wouldn't have had time to slack off. The regimental commander was also supervising the training every day, so they dared not slack off at all.

"Calm down, it's just fighting the Japanese. Our 358th Regiment has grown to more than 5,000 men. This is all thanks to Tuomu Jin, otherwise our development wouldn't have been so fast," Qian Bojun said calmly.

Although they suffered many casualties in their several collaborations with Mu Jin, they also gained a lot. The 358th Regiment grew stronger and more powerful than before. Therefore, cooperating with Mu Jin was beneficial to them.

"That's true, but why hasn't the regimental commander been promoted despite making so many contributions?! I don't understand, do the higher-ups not see our efforts?!" the deputy battalion commander complained.

If the regimental commander were to be promoted, they would certainly rise in rank as well. However, there was no sign of the regimental commander being promoted at all, which made him suspect that someone above had appropriated the regimental commander's credit for themselves.

So, some people were indeed promoted, but it wasn't their regimental commander who was promoted.

"Don't ask too much about this. It's not a matter of what we should do. What the higher-ups think is their business. What we need to do is just do our job well." Qian Bojun said this, but in reality, he was also dissatisfied with the higher-ups.

Not rewarding merit is disheartening. Besides, Chu Yunfei remembers that the merits were quite significant. In other units, they would probably have been promoted to brigade commander at the very least, and some might even have been promoted to division commander.

…………

Inside the military vehicle, Chu Yunfei sat in the back row, with Fang Ligong sitting next to him.

"Mu Jin came here this time probably to ask us to take him to see the commander, but I don't know if the commander will agree to this major battle," Fang Ligong said.

He knew that Commander Yan was a very cautious person. Although he had cooperated with Mu Jin several times, it was only under duress.

If Mu Jin did not have the ability to force Commander Yan to join the war, given Commander Yan's cautious nature, he would never have agreed to take such a great risk to fight the Japanese.

"It's hard to say, the probability of them disagreeing is quite high," Chu Yunfei said, knowing that the probability of Commander Yan agreeing was very small.

"If the commander doesn't agree, will Mu Jin threaten him again?" Fang Ligong said, recalling their last collaboration. Mu Jin had used this method to persuade Commander Yan to agree to the cooperation.

There was no other way. Mu Jin had drawn up a detailed map of the Jin-Sui Army's defenses. If they disagreed, and Mu Jin were to draw up another map of their defenses and send it to the Japanese, they would be in big trouble.

"Probably not. Mu Jin has already done it once. Last time, his explanation was that he didn't want to become enemies with the Jin-Sui Army. So, he probably won't threaten us this time. After all, he's worried about offending Commander Yan. Our enemy is the Japanese, not our own people. Mu Jin is very clear about that." Chu Yunfei shook his head and said.

He did not believe that Mu Jin would threaten Commander Yan again.

"I think it's hard to say. Mu Jin has never really respected us, otherwise he wouldn't have kept forcing us to cooperate and fight such risky battles!" Fang Ligong disagreed.

They felt that Mu Jin had never taken their Jin-Sui Army seriously, even though they were numerous.

Perhaps in their eyes, their numbers were no match for a single Japanese division.

"He did do that, but don't you think it's a sign of disappointment and frustration?! We were indeed not as proactive as the Eighth Route Army in fighting the Japanese."
Don't forget, the Eighth Route Army was inferior to us in both numbers and equipment, yet they were no less formidable in fighting the Japanese.

Although they fought when they could win and retreated when they couldn't, without achieving particularly great results, they fought the Japanese many times more times than we did, and inflicted far more casualties on the Japanese than we did! Chu Yunfei said with a serious expression.

The reason Mu Jin was somewhat hostile towards them was because he felt they weren't proactive enough in fighting the Japanese. In fact, Chu Yunfei felt the same way, but since Commander Yan was his superior, he couldn't blame Commander Yan no matter what.

"But his approach was unfriendly. He couldn't just talk things out; he had to force us to cooperate," Fang Ligong said. This feeling of being forced into the war did make him uncomfortable.

"He probably knew that Commander Yan wouldn't agree if he tried to reason with him, so he had no choice but to use this method," Chu Yunfei said.

Judging from what Mu Jin did, the other party actually understood Commander Yan quite well, which is why they did this, leaving Commander Yan with no excuse to refuse.

Fang Ligong fell silent. He wanted to say that if they talked things out properly, there was a chance for cooperation, but he himself didn't believe it.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Later, when I go to headquarters with Mu Jin, I'll try to persuade the commander to agree to cooperate."
"Of course, the premise is that Mu Jinti's operation is indeed beneficial to us, and not that we are made to be suckers," Chu Yunfei said.

Both publicly and privately, he should have stood on the side of the Jin-Sui Army. However, if we broaden our perspective, he was standing on the side of national righteousness.

As long as it is confirmed that Mu Jin's plan can eliminate more Japanese soldiers without causing them heavy losses, he will help Commander Yan.

As for whether Commander Yan would agree, he couldn't guarantee it!

"Commander, you seem to trust Mu Jin more and more these days. If one day he asks you to join them, you won't agree, will you?!" Fang Ligong suddenly changed the subject and asked.

"Of course not! I have my own principles and I won't betray myself easily!" Chu Yunfei replied without hesitation.

"I hope you can do that," Fang Ligong said, and then said no more.

A dozen minutes later, the car stopped outside the woods.

Chu Yunfei and Fang Ligong entered the woods together, while the two guards stayed behind. Although they wanted to follow, Chu Yunfei refused.

Chu Yunfei knew very well that if Mu Jin wanted to kill him, he wouldn't need to go to such great lengths, so bringing people along was meaningless.

The two quickly arrived at the center of the woods, where they saw Mu Jin already waiting.

"Brother Yunfei, Chief of Staff Fang, it's been a long time." Li Jin greeted them with a smile.

"Brother Mu, you didn't come here to catch up with me, did you?" Chu Yunfei asked directly.

"Brother Yunfei is a smart man. I came to see you because I want you to take me to your headquarters. I want to discuss a cooperation with Commander Yan."

"A major cooperation to fight the Japanese, I'm sure you know something about it, right?" Li Jin asked rhetorically, feeling that Chu Yunfei must have gotten some information from Commander Yan.

"Yes, the Eighth Route Army sent a telegram to the commander before, inviting our Jin-Sui Army to participate in a battle."
"But I don't know the specifics of the battle plan." Chu Yunfei didn't hide anything, nodding in admission.

Although he only knew a little bit, he could roughly guess that the Eighth Route Army was going to launch a major attack on the Japanese this time.

And they must have already talked to Mu Jin, so they sent Mu Jin to act as a mediator.

“I know the plan. All I can say is that this operation covers a wide area. If the Jin-Sui Army can cooperate, we can definitely expand the results and inflict heavy losses on the Japanese!” Li Jin said with a serious expression.

He still hoped that the Jin-Sui Army could join the war. If the Jin-Sui Army took action, they might have a chance to attack Taiyuan.

"Commander Mu, you're exaggerating a bit. The only fighting forces you can boast over there are the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment."
As for the other regiments, they're probably just so-so. What's the use of a large area if their combat strength can't keep up? How many Japanese soldiers can they kill?!" Fang Ligong didn't think so.

In his view, although they had developed for two or three years, their combat strength was definitely inferior to theirs, and how many people could they have developed in those two years?

Of course, with you here, we can definitely kill a lot of Japanese soldiers, but don't forget, the Japanese now have three Class A divisions.

Moreover, it's highly likely they're targeting you. Even if the Japanese didn't send three Class A divisions to attack you, just one Class A division would probably be too much for you to handle." Fang Ligong quickly added.

The fact that the Japanese specifically transferred the 6th Division shows that they were determined to take action against Mu Jin's Northeast Army.

"Chief of Staff Fang, it seems you don't know much about that side, and you don't know me well either. It's alright, you'll find out later." Li Jin smiled upon hearing this, then said calmly.

"Commander Mu, do you know the specific situation on the Eighth Route Army's side?!" Fang Ligong asked suspiciously.

"I know a little bit, but I can't go into specifics. However, I can tell you that the Eighth Route Army today is far stronger than before."
In short, you will definitely regret it if you don't participate in this great battle." Li Jin deliberately kept everyone in suspense; in fact, he didn't know exactly how far the Eighth Route Army had developed.

However, one thing is certain: the Eighth Route Army is very strong now, and it will unleash even more terrifying power in large-scale battles. Of course, this will make both the Japanese and the Nationalist army aware of the Eighth Route Army's strength.

But there was no other way. From a strategic perspective, this battle was necessary. They couldn't just watch the Japanese completely blockade them.

(End of this chapter)