Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

Since such a good product was made by Li Jin, it was certain that it wouldn't be withheld from the New First Regiment. Therefore, the commander naturally didn't distribute it to them.

In contrast, other units would really need to use it, since they don't have that kind of combat power and can't take down the bunker as easily as the special operations regiment.

"That makes sense." Li Yunlong nodded in agreement; his commander had considered things quite thoroughly.

"Cough cough, damn it, how did Li Jin come up with such a powerful thing? If it stays in the smoke for too long, it will definitely kill someone." Chief of Staff Zhong coughed twice more.

Although tear gas canisters don't explode like hand grenades, one canister is as powerful as many hand grenades, especially in terms of lethality!
"Who knows how he came up with this idea? But one thing is for sure: this big operation will definitely kill more Japanese soldiers and capture more spoils." Li Yunlong didn't care about all that. In his opinion, it wouldn't be surprising what kind of weapons Li Jin could make.

If the other side can manufacture new types of guns, it's not surprising that they can manufacture powerful tear gas. Even if Li Jin later manufactures airplanes and cannons, he would still think it's normal.

“Indeed, without tear gas, attacking a pillbox would be no easy task for ordinary troops,” Zhao Gang nodded and said.

.........

386th Brigade, Conference Room.

"Commander, Li Yunlong's side has completely completed the troop rotation. In order to avoid alerting the Japanese, Li Yunlong also left their flag behind as instructed." The political commissar walked in and reported the matter to the commander.

"Yes, everything has been taken care of, so there's no problem. Now all we have to do is wait." The leader nodded.

They have made all the necessary preparations, and now, as soon as the time is right, it will be time to act. This large-scale operation will definitely shock the Japanese.

"Understood," the political commissar replied.

.........

The next morning, several battalion commanders from the 772nd Regiment came to the conference room of the new 1st Regiment's headquarters.

Blind Cheng and Political Commissar He were already waiting here.

"Regimental Commander, Political Commissar!" Several battalion commanders quickly saluted the two men.

"No need for formalities, please sit down." Blind Cheng gestured for everyone to take their seats.

"This map was given to us by Li Yunlong. It marks the watchtowers built in several counties and the locations of checkpoints." Blind Cheng took out a map, pinned it to the blackboard, and made sure everyone could see it clearly.

"Among them, Qingyun County, which is closest to our base, has about 1,500 Japanese soldiers and over a thousand puppet troops, making it the strongest of the several counties."

When the time comes, we'll start by taking down the Japanese in Qingyun County. First, we'll eliminate the checkpoints and watchtowers outside the county, and then we'll see if there's an opportunity to attack the county!
If not, then destroy the Japanese railways and highways as soon as possible. In short, we must not allow the Japanese to have a single intact railway! Blind Cheng began to formulate the next steps of the plan.

"Understood!" everyone responded.

"Commander, judging from the map, the Japanese have at least thirty or forty pillboxes in these counties. Adding the checkpoints, we need to attack at least fifty or sixty Japanese positions," the battalion commander said with a serious expression.

"Hmm, there are indeed a lot more. What, is there a problem?!" Cheng the Blind Man said, glancing at the map. He wasn't blind; he had studied the map carefully as soon as he got it, so he naturally knew how many checkpoints and pillboxes the Japanese had.

"Commander, this is indeed a serious problem. There are at least twenty or thirty Japanese soldiers in one of the pillboxes, plus the puppet troops, that makes at least fifty or sixty of them."
They occupy advantageous terrain, and while the checkpoints are manageable, the watchtowers are easy to defend and difficult to attack. Taking on so many locations would likely be quite challenging.
"Our firepower is limited, and we lack heavy assault weapons. Taking action against so many locations won't be a simple task," the battalion commander expressed his concerns.

Attacking a pillbox is no easy task. Although the number of Japanese soldiers inside the pillbox is small, they occupy advantageous terrain and do not even have heavy weapons for assault.

To capture a Japanese pillbox, they would need at least two or three hundred men, along with enough machine guns for suppressive fire, to allow their men to reach the pillbox.

Therefore, it was indeed very difficult for them to capture the watchtower.

"Don't panic. Before I came to the new regiment, the commander gave us a batch of new weapons. With these, attacking the blockhouse will definitely not be a problem!" Cheng the Blind said with a smile.

"What?! Another new weapon?!" Everyone was shocked to hear this. They hadn't expected the commander to be so efficient, producing a new weapon so quickly.

"Commander, is this new weapon a siege weapon?! Can it easily destroy the Japanese pillboxes?!" The Second Battalion Commander hurriedly asked, his tone tinged with excitement.

"I still miss the batch of Type 56 semi-automatic rifles that the commander assigned to us last time," the third battalion commander said.

He still remembered when the commander sent someone to deliver the new rifles to their regiment. They only had a few hundred of these new rifles, but they were already very satisfied.

"It can be considered a weapon for attacking fortified positions, but it's not powerful enough to blow up a Japanese pillbox," Blind Cheng said helplessly. To destroy a Japanese pillbox with a single shot would probably require a howitzer, or at least an infantry gun, but they don't have such a powerful weapon.

"What is this new weapon?! Take us to the warehouse to see it quickly!" The battalion commander urged impatiently, eager to see what the weapon looked like.

"No need to go to the warehouse, I've already brought it." After saying that, Blind Cheng took out the tear gas canisters before anyone could react.

"Huh?! This thing is a grenade, right? It looks pretty big. How powerful is it?!" The battalion commander frowned upon seeing it. He had thought the new weapon would be a cannon or something, but he never expected it to be a grenade.

"What grenade? It's called tear gas. The commander said it can make it easy for us to take down the pillbox!" Blind Cheng said irritably. He knew everyone would have this disbelieving look on their faces.

"Commander, let's see its power. Hearing about it is useless; we have to see it with our own eyes," the battalion commander continued, though he had already given up hope.
"Okay, that's fine." Blind Cheng nodded, and then the group left the meeting room and went to the village entrance. They found an open space and began their experiment.

As they coughed incessantly from the tear gas, they were completely convinced.

"Commander, it was my mistake to doubt the destructive power of this thing before. This propellant-equipped contraption is truly formidable!" The battalion commander also praised it. This was the first time he had encountered such a weapon, and it felt like it was pushing them to their physical limits, something that ordinary people simply couldn't withstand.

"My goodness, I almost choked to death. No wonder the commander dared to say that we could easily take down the Japanese pillboxes. It wasn't a joke. Although it was impressive."

"Commander, how many tear gas canisters did the commander give us?!"

Others chimed in, some even asking how many of these things were available, since with them, attacking a fortified tower would be a very easy task.

"The commander didn't give us many, only a hundred or so, but I think that's enough," said Blind Cheng.

"Only a hundred? That's too few. It's a bit stingy." The battalion commander felt a little disappointed upon hearing this. With so few, how could they possibly take down more Japanese pillboxes?

"What are you talking about? This is already a lot. Do you think the tear gas the commander used was all prepared for us?"
"We'll definitely prepare some for others too; we already have a lot of these tear gas canisters." Blind Cheng said with a serious expression.

After witnessing the power of tear gas, he realized that there couldn't possibly be many of these things; with so many troops distributed among them, not many could be allocated.

"Uh...that seems to be true. It's my problem, my problem." Upon hearing this, the battalion commander was stunned for a moment, then quickly apologized.

"It's a minor issue. We just need to have someone keep a close eye on the Japanese side. We'll be taking the initiative to attack later." Blind Cheng didn't take it too seriously and changed the subject instead.

"Commander, don't worry. With these tear gas canisters, I guarantee we can take down more of the Japanese pillboxes," the battalion commander replied confidently, and the others nodded in agreement.

If it weren't for the tear gas used to attack the Japanese pillboxes, this mission would have been incredibly difficult. He just hadn't expected that the commander would have created such a powerful device.

"That would be best. The commander prepared so many tear gas canisters for us, actually hoping to reduce the pressure on us and help us withstand the Japanese counterattack, thus creating an opportunity for the New First Regiment." Blind Cheng understood their mission perfectly: to provide cover for the New First Regiment.

"Understood!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Then they returned to the conference room, where Blind Cheng continued to deploy the subsequent plans, arranging combat operations for all four battalions.

After the plan was completed, Blind Cheng led everyone to the warehouse to distribute the weapons left by Li Yunlong, as well as the number of tear gas canisters allocated to each battalion.

When they saw the infantry guns that Li Yunlong had left for them, they were all incredibly excited.

"Commander, did Commander Li leave this infantry gun for us?!" The battalion commander asked excitedly in the warehouse.

"Hmm." Blind Cheng nodded.

"Great! Our 772nd Regiment will have infantry guns now!" The battalion commander was so happy he almost jumped for joy.

The power of this infantry gun is much greater than that of a mortar. Even on the Japanese side, a regiment could only be equipped with two infantry guns. This shows that this thing is indeed very powerful, and it is also very expensive.

"What are you thinking? This was lent to us by Li Yunlong. We have to return it to Li Yunlong as soon as this major operation is over." Upon hearing this, Blind Cheng immediately realized that everyone had misunderstood and quickly explained.

"Ah?! It was borrowed. I thought it was for us. What a disappointment." The battalion commander hung his head, somewhat helpless. He knew it. How could Regiment Commander Li be so generous as to give them the infantry gun? It turned out it was borrowed.

"That's fine too. At least with infantry guns, our firepower is much stronger. We can kill more Japanese soldiers and capture more supplies. Maybe we can even capture howitzers or something." The second battalion commander was quite optimistic.

Since it wasn't theirs, they decided to acquire their own infantry guns and make their troops stronger.

"That's right, what belongs to others will always belong to others!" Political Commissar He was also very pleased to hear this. Everyone's ideological awareness was actually quite good, as they had all been tested.

"After you've taken your weapons, head back to your bases. I'll let you know when it's time to move out," said Blind Cheng, waving his hand.

"Yes!" Everyone nodded in response.

Blind Cheng also left the warehouse, choosing to leave with Political Commissar He and give the space to the others so they could start moving the weapons.

"Commander, it seems everyone really likes the weapons Commander Li gave us," Political Commissar He said with a smile as they walked.

"Isn't that normal? Even I want to keep the weapons for myself, let alone them," said Blind Cheng. He felt a pang of heartache at the thought of having to return all these good things to Li Yunlong.

"Haha, don't even think about it. Li Yunlong would definitely come after you to your death." Political Commissar He laughed. If Blind Cheng really dared to take Li Yunlong's gun for himself, then given Li Yunlong's personality, he would definitely come after Blind Cheng to his death.

"I was just saying. The item belongs to Li Yunlong after all. He wouldn't do something so despicable," Blind Cheng quickly said.

He and Li Yunlong were old comrades-in-arms, how could he do something so unscrupulous?

"I was just joking, don't take it too seriously." Political Commissar He knew, of course, that what Blind Cheng said was true. They had worked together for quite a while and knew each other quite well.

"Old He, what do you think of the Special Operations Regiment?!" Blind Cheng changed the subject. Actually, he was very interested in the Special Operations Regiment, but he didn't elaborate.

"Well, how should I put it? Commander Li isn't the type to easily admire others, but this special operations regiment commands his attention so much. That means this regiment is absolutely formidable, far surpassing the New First Regiment. Otherwise, Li Yunlong would never have placed such importance on it."
"Not to mention the commander, even you secretly admire him." Political Commissar He fell silent at the end of his sentence.

"Yes, I heard that the commander of the special operations regiment was originally a platoon leader in the New First Regiment. Later, as things developed, the commanders took notice of Li Jin, and now he's become the commander of the special operations regiment. It's not unusual for a regimental commander in his twenties."
"What's most amazing is that he's only been in the army for a little over two years, yet he's already killed so many Japanese soldiers and risen all the way to the position of regimental commander. This guy is truly remarkable," Blind Cheng said slowly.

The leader is a big shot; he's seen all kinds of people, but the number of people he values ​​so highly can be counted on one hand.

(End of this chapter)