Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

To welcome Commander Zhang, Chu Yunfei prepared a sumptuous meal. Commander Zhang preferred Sichuan and Chongqing cuisine, so Chu Yunfei specially invited a chef who knew how to cook those dishes.

When he saw the table full of his favorite dishes, Commander Zhang smiled.

"Yunfei, you've put your heart into this," Commander Zhang praised.

"Commander." Chu Yunfei stepped forward to help pull the chair out from under the table, gesturing for Commander Zhang to sit down.

"I estimate there are still some risks in this operation, especially since we don't know what Mu Jin's plan is. You have to be careful," Commander Zhang instructed as soon as he sat down.

Actually, he was still a little worried. Mu Jin had never revealed the specific action plan to them, which made him feel uncertain.

"Don't worry, Commander, I will. Besides, we don't really need to be too wary of Mu Jin. If he wanted to attack us, he could have done it long ago. There's no need to wait until now," Chu Yunfei nodded and said.

What he said was indeed true. If Mu Jin wanted to harm them, he would have had many opportunities to inflict heavy losses on them, but Mu Jin did not. Therefore, he would not do so now.

"Yunfei, you can't have this kind of thinking. Mu Jin is not one of us after all, so we still need to be on guard," Commander Zhang said seriously.

Their relationship with Mu Jin is only because they share a common enemy. If they no longer share a common enemy, they might become enemies themselves.

"Understood!" Chu Yunfei nodded, offering no further explanation.

"After this battle is over, I will apply to the commander for your promotion. In any case, you have made many contributions, and we cannot let some trivial matters affect you," Commander Zhang added.

He was quite concerned about Chu Yunfei's promotion. After all, Chu Yunfei was a capable person, and it would be wrong for him to be affected by the suspicion between the higher-ups.

"Commander, I really don't care about the promotion anymore," Chu Yunfei said when his commander brought it up again.

The division commander treated him quite well; the 358th Regiment's success today is inseparable from the division commander's care.

"If you don't care, then don't care. Leave this to me." Commander Zhang ignored what Chu Yunfei said and continued talking to himself.

"Then, I'll have to trouble you, Commander." Chu Yunfei had no choice but to say this.

"You're welcome. We're all on the same side. To be honest, I've always thought you were a talented person, which is why I value you. Don't let me down, kid." Commander Zhang patted Chu Yunfei's shoulder as he spoke.

"Yunfei will certainly not let Commander Zhang down!" Chu Yunfei said hurriedly. To be honest, it was his good fortune to have a superior like Commander Zhang.

If he had encountered a selfish and self-serving superior, his credit would probably have been claimed by the superior long ago, let alone given him the opportunity for promotion.

Although he hasn't been promoted yet, it doesn't diminish his respect for Commander Zhang.

"How are the preparations going for the 358th Regiment?!" Commander Zhang asked with concern, as this operation was, after all, a matter of his life.

If the 358th Regiment is not adequately prepared, his safety may be in danger. Although Mu Jin will send people to protect him, they are still outsiders and he can't trust his own people as much.

"Everything is basically ready. Now we're just waiting for Mu Jin to send the telegram," Chu Yunfei said hurriedly.

"That's good. By the way, I also brought some weapons for the 358th Regiment this time. They should be in your warehouse now." Commander Zhang nodded in satisfaction and added.

"Commander, isn't this inappropriate? The 358th Regiment already has strong firepower. If you bring another batch of weapons, other units will complain, won't they?" Chu Yunfei said after a moment of hesitation.

He didn't expect Commander Zhang to come so suddenly, and even bring a batch of weapons.

"What's wrong with that? The 358th Regiment is the elite of our troops now. What's wrong with them having more weapons?! If they're not happy about it, let them go and kill just as many Japanese devils!" Commander Zhang said with a cold snort.

Some of the officers in their unit, aside from being envious, were actually far inferior to Chu Yunfei in terms of ability.

Since those who are not capable of leading troops to kill more Japanese soldiers should be given more weapons by the 358th Regiment, which is capable of killing more Japanese soldiers.

"Actually, the weapons I brought weren't many. Just twenty light machine guns, ten heavy machine guns, a few mortars, grenade launchers, and the like," Commander Zhang explained the types of weapons he brought.

"Commander, this is already a lot." Chu Yunfei was overjoyed. Thirty light and heavy machine guns would already be enough to boost the firepower of the 358th Regiment to another level, not to mention the mortars and grenade launchers.

"It's nothing special. Speaking of which, this batch of weapons was taken from the weapons you surrendered last time you fought the Japanese," Commander Zhang waved his hand and said.

He had to ask the commander several times before the commander agreed to let him send these weapons over; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get them.

"I suddenly remembered that you mentioned before that the 358th Regiment also wanted to train a powerful unit. How's that going?!" Commander Zhang asked, changing the subject. Chu Yunfei had applied, and he had agreed at the time, but he didn't know how things were progressing!

"They've already been trained; there are about a hundred of them. They're all elite soldiers I selected from among the veterans."

"Then we increased their training intensity, so their strength improved rapidly." Chu Yunfei didn't hide anything and told them directly.

"You're quite something, kid. You got it done so quickly. How does your unit compare to Mu Jin's unit?!" Commander Zhang was very pleased to hear this and asked again.

He still hoped that Chu Yunfei could train a force similar to Mu Jin's.

"There's no comparison at all. After all, I have no idea about Mu Jin's training methods. So, although this unit is quite strong, it's still far inferior to Mu Jin's unit," Chu Yunfei said helplessly.

Does he not want to train a powerful army? There's no way around it. Just training a hundred people has consumed a lot of resources for the 358th Regiment.

However, their strength is incomparable to that of the Northeast Army led by Mu Jin.

In fact, he felt that Mu Jin must have a training method to improve marksmanship. Otherwise, even with Mu Jin's large family and wealth, he couldn't afford to use bullets to train marksmanship.

"If Mu Jin's troops can achieve a 1:6 kill ratio against ordinary Japanese soldiers, then I can only manage a draw," Chu Yunfei said, making an analogy.

"A one-to-one casualty ratio is still very strong," Commander Zhang replied. Currently, their casualty ratio with the Japanese is still at a level of one to four or one to five.

Chu Yunfei trained a unit that could achieve a 1:1 kill ratio with the Japanese, which was already quite remarkable—the elite of the elite!

"As for Mu Jin's training methods, let's not even think about it. He's unlikely to teach us, and besides, it's questionable whether what he teaches us is even good or bad," Commander Zhang added.

He told Chu Yunfei to stop thinking about Mu Jin's training methods; that wasn't something they should be thinking about.

"Yes!" Chu Yunfei nodded. "Come on, let's eat first, let's not talk so much!" Commander Zhang picked up his food and started eating. If they didn't eat now, they wouldn't have a chance to eat later when they went to fight the Japanese.

.........

Tianli Mountain Range, base area.

Xu Qingfeng went to Li Jin's residence and found Li Jin.

"Commander, I think I should personally go to deliver the tear gas to the 129th Regiment and also discuss any potential future cooperation," Xu Qingfeng said. He had originally planned to have Liu Changshun handle the negotiations, but after thinking about it, he felt that it wouldn't be serious enough, so he decided it would be better for him to go in person.

"Okay, then you can go. Also, take some weapons with you to the 129th Regiment. They've recruited quite a few people there, but they lack heavy weapons." Li Jin nodded in agreement and gave the instructions.

The task of sabotaging the railway was not that difficult, but the subsequent assault was still very dangerous. Although there was tear gas, heavy firepower was still needed to suppress the enemy when attacking the pillboxes, so as to create opportunities for the bombardiers.

Therefore, in this situation, having even one more machine gun would provide suppression.

"Then what do you think about sending them twenty light machine guns and twelve heavy machine guns?! And also send some ammunition for the Hanyang Type 38 rifles, what do you think?!" Xu Qingfeng thought for a moment and said.

The 129th Regiment doesn't have a particularly large number of people, so sending these weapons over should be enough.

"That's settled then. Remember to tell them that these weapons must be returned as soon as the war is over." Li Jin agreed, then added a reminder.
He wasn't in a hurry to get the guns he had lent to the 129th Regiment before, since he hadn't taken those machine guns and rifles seriously. But this time it was different; there were quite a few light and heavy machine guns.

Therefore, it is still necessary to retrieve them as soon as possible.

"Okay, by the way, when do you plan to notify Chu Yunfei to meet up with them?!" Xu Qingfeng asked, since Chu Yunfei's 358th Regiment was still in Fucheng.

"No rush. I'll notify them to set off once the commander sends the specific combat time, so as not to keep them waiting too long," Li Jin said.

If they weren't familiar with each other before, he might have made Chu Yunfei and the others wait, but now that they're somewhat familiar, it's not appropriate!
"Alright, then I'll head out first." Xu Qingfeng said no more and turned to leave Li Jin's room.

.........

On the other side, Li Yunlong did not go to the headquarters of the 772nd Regiment immediately, but instead headed to the headquarters of the 771st Regiment, since the two regiments were not too far apart.

Now that the 771st Regiment's garrison has become the Independent Regiment's garrison, Li Yunlong's trip is to meet with Kong Jie and discuss combat matters!

Kong Jie was delighted to learn of Li Yunlong's arrival and came to the village entrance to greet him.

"Old Li, has the rotation of the new regiment been settled?" Kong Jie asked.

"It was just settled the day before yesterday, and I'm heading to the 772nd Regiment now," Li Yunlong replied.

"Your efficiency is a bit slow. I finished it a few days earlier," Kong Jie said with a smile.

"Damn it, it's because the New First Regiment has too many people, and the rotation takes too long. If the New First Regiment had the same number of people as the Independent Regiment, I would have taken care of it long ago," Li Yunlong retorted. He wasn't one to suffer a loss.

“Anyone can brag,” Kong Jie laughed.

"You two shouldn't stand at the village entrance anymore. You should go to the meeting room first. It's not a good look," Political Commissar Li Wenying said helplessly. These two bickering lovers never seem to stop arguing whenever they meet.

A few minutes later, the group arrived at the conference room.

"Old Kong, did you leave any weapons for the 771st Regiment?!" Li Yunlong asked as soon as he sat down.

"Do you think I'm that rich?! I brought all the weapons I could carry with me this time, there's no spare." Kong Jie said helplessly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to stay, but that his strength wouldn't allow him to. Although their independent regiment had considerable firepower, they weren't wealthy enough to keep heavy weapons at will.

"Besides, didn't the commander approve a batch of weapons for them? What does that have to do with me?" Kong Jie added.

"Old Kong, you're being a bit stingy. I left Cheng the Blind Man with light and heavy machine guns and mortars. You should learn from me." Li Yunlong said with a hint of smugness.

"Study?! You?!" Kong Jie sized up Li Yunlong a few times, then looked away, indicating that he couldn't bear to look at him.

"Fine, fine, I'm not going to argue with someone like you!" Li Yunlong shook his head helplessly.

“Who’s being stubborn?” Kong Jie immediately objected.

"Alright, alright, let's get down to business, let's get down to business." Zhao Gang quickly spoke up to stop the two of them, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get to the important stuff today and would just end up arguing.

"Old Kong, this operation will mainly revolve around the Zhengtai Railway, but the specific timing hasn't been set yet. I estimate it will be soon," Li Yunlong said seriously, no longer joking around.

Although he was usually carefree, Li Yunlong would take the matter of war seriously, because war was not child's play and people could die.

“Indeed, I’m wondering when that kid Li Jin plans to send us a telegram!” Kong Jie nodded in agreement and added.

Their rotation is now complete, and Li Jin is aware of it. Now all that's left is to wait for their departure time.

"That goes without saying, we'll definitely wait for the commander to confirm the date of the operation," Li Yunlong said with certainty.

“That’s true. If we don’t know the timing of the operation, setting off too early could actually cause problems!” Kong Jie nodded. Ideally, they should meet up the day before the operation to ensure a smooth rendezvous.

.........

Taiyuan, inside the Japanese army camp.

Seishiro Itagata was studying the sand table in the operations room, where Ichiki Yamamoto and the others were also present.

"Division Commander, the Sixth Division has arrived at the designated location as planned. Now we are just waiting for the Northeast Army to discover the Sixth Division's whereabouts!" Yamamoto Ichiki said slowly.

To convince the Northeast Army that there was no trickery involved, the 6th Division deliberately chose to operate at night, creating the illusion of concealing their tracks.

(End of this chapter)