Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"Commander, Commander, the comrade called and said you need to..." The communications officer rushed over to report the situation.

Before he could finish speaking, Li Yunlong immediately ran towards the communications room. Zhao Gang followed suit, leaving the communications officer stunned for a moment.

Soon, Li Yunlong arrived at the communications room, picked up the phone, and began to speak.

"Sir, do you have any instructions?!"

"Li Yunlong, the time for the operation has been set, it's the 20th!" The commander's voice came through the phone.

"Understood!" Li Yunlong nodded hurriedly, feeling somewhat excited. He had been preparing for this great battle for a long time and couldn't wait any longer.

"Don't be too happy yet, kid. When you meet up with Li Jin, you must follow Li Jin's orders completely, understand?" the commander instructed sternly.

"Don't worry, Commander, I will definitely follow his orders!" Li Yunlong said. If it were Blind Cheng in command, he would naturally be dissatisfied, but he would not object to Li Jin's orders.

After all, he knew Li Jin's abilities best; Li Jin was indeed much better at commanding than him, and they had been in the same regiment before, so they had a very good relationship.

"Well, you guys should also make some preparations. Li Jin should be calling you to set off around this time." The commander nodded. Actually, he was just giving instructions, telling Li Yunlong to follow Li Jin's orders.

Even if he didn't say it, Li Yunlong would still carry out Li Jin's plan.

"The New First Regiment is ready and waiting to set off!" Li Yunlong said. The soldiers of the New First Regiment had already gathered here. Several battalions of soldiers had set up camp near the regimental headquarters, just in case they had to waste time waiting for the troops to assemble before setting off.

"That's good. Just wait for news." The commander hung up the phone.

"Damn it, great news!" Li Yunlong put down the phone, a smile spreading across his face.

"Old Li, what did the commander say?!" Zhao Gang walked in at this moment and asked.

"Old Zhao, the date for the big operation has been set for the 20th!" Li Yunlong announced.

"That's great!!" Zhao Gang was also very happy to hear this. He had guessed it when he came over, and he didn't expect it to be true.

"There aren't many days left until the 20th. By the time we get there to meet up with Li Jin, it should be almost time," Zhao Gang continued.

"Yes, once Li Jin gets the news, he'll probably notify us to set off." Li Yunlong nodded.

It will take them quite some time to set off and meet up with Li Jin.

.........

In the conference room of the Tianli Mountains, Li Jin sat at the table, smoking and studying the map. The plans were basically finalized.

Once Li Yunlong and Kong Jie arrive, we can go over the plan with them again, and then there won't be any problems.

"Commander, a telegram has arrived from the higher-ups." The telegraph operator ran in and handed a telegram to Li Jin.

After seeing the contents of the telegram, Li Jin took out paper and pen and wrote down the contents of a telegram.

"Send this telegram to the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment immediately." Li Jin handed the telegram to the telegraph operator.

"Yes!" The telegraph operator took the telegraph and turned to leave.

The telegram from the commander specified the exact time of the operation, just as Li Jin remembered: Operation Twenty.

This great battle involved hundreds of regiments and hundreds of thousands of people, and Li Jin was very happy to be able to participate in such a battle.

.........

After receiving Li Jin's telegram, Li Yunlong and Kong Jie quickly assembled their troops and set off for Xuanming Mountain.

This is also the place Chu Yunfei and his group are going to.

Zhao Gang, while on his journey, couldn't help but feel puzzled and asked Li Yunlong about it.

"Old Li, why is Li Jin telling us to meet at Xuanming Mountain?! Isn't that going the long way around?!" Zhao Gang asked, puzzled.

He felt that the place where they should meet up with Li Jin should be even closer.

"That's a bit strange. Now that we've set off, the 358th Regiment should have set off as well, right?!" Li Yunlong frowned, then remembered something and said.

“That’s right. The time it takes to get from the 358th Regiment’s base to Xuanming Mountain is actually about the same as ours!” Zhao Gang replied.

"That's not surprising. The reason Li Jin is like this is because he's worried that the Jin-Sui Army might guess the direction of his base."

"If someone were to reveal their location to the Japanese, the consequences would be unimaginable." Li Yunlong immediately understood why Li Jin had done this.

They simply didn't trust the people there and were worried that they would be attacked in the future, which is why they chose this place to meet.

"I see. It seems Li Jin has considered quite a lot." Zhao Gang suddenly realized why Li Jin would specifically choose such a meeting place.

"Of course, Li Jin is always steady and reliable in his work, and he rarely misses anything," Li Yunlong praised.

"Old Li, from what you're saying, it seems you quite admire Li Jin," Zhao Gang said with a smile.

"Of course! Let's not even talk about me, just look at yourself! Don't you admire me?!" Li Yunlong retorted at the end.

"I admire him, I truly admire him. I think Li Jin is really amazing. He's a few years younger than us, but his abilities far surpass ours."

"He knows a lot. Not to mention training troops and fighting, he can also research and develop powerful new weapons. Tell me, is there another person in our army who is as versatile as him?" Zhao Gang said seriously.

Sometimes he wondered how Li Jin's head was structured, and why he knew so much.

"You know what, I really can't find one like that." Li Yunlong shook his head and said. Although there were indeed many talented people in their unit, there were very few who were as versatile as him.

.........

Meanwhile, Xu Qingfeng also led his men to the base of the 129th Regiment, Liujia Village.

Before arriving, Xu Qingfeng had contacted Wu Meng, the person in charge of the base area, via walkie-talkie. So, as soon as he arrived at the village entrance, he saw Wu Meng waiting for him. "Political Commissar Xu, it's been a long time!" Wu Meng greeted him warmly.

"Old Wu, long time no see." Xu Qingfeng greeted him with a smile.

"Your special operations regiment really stole the show this time! You actually killed the commander of a Class A division and crippled an entire Japanese division," Wu Meng praised.

He knew quite a bit about this matter. Although the Yan'an newspapers reported on the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment, he knew with his toes that the Special Operations Regiment was definitely involved as well. They just didn't report on the Special Operations Regiment to avoid revealing its identity.

"This is the result of everyone's joint efforts; the special operations regiment alone could not have accomplished this," Xu Qingfeng said.

"Political Commissar Xu, don't be modest. Others may not know about the Special Operations Regiment, but do you think I don't know it?" Wu Meng said with a smile.

He had fought alongside Li Jin and his men against the Japanese, first seizing their transport trucks, then attacking mines and plundering their armories. So he knew very well how terrifying this regiment's fighting power was; it was simply beyond the capabilities of ordinary Japanese soldiers.

Moreover, I've heard that the special operations regiment has at least five or six thousand members, which is even more terrifying. Even if these people aren't trained the same way as before, they must still be very powerful.

Judging from the fact that they managed to cripple a Japanese Class B division and kill a Class A division commander, it's clear that the key point is that this Class A division commander was probably protected by a regiment. Under such circumstances, the fact that Li Jin and his men were able to kill the Japanese division commander speaks volumes.

"Haha, that's true." Xu Qingfeng laughed out loud upon hearing this, as he was still used to being modest.

"I heard you came here to bring some good stuff to our trip. What is it?!" Wu Meng asked bluntly.

He was genuinely curious about what kind of wonderful thing Xu Qingfeng had to personally deliver.

"Old Wu, this time I brought you not only new weapons, but also a batch of machine guns. Of course, these machine guns have to be returned after the war!" Xu Qingfeng said.

In the past, when they borrowed machine guns from the 129th Regiment, they weren't in a hurry to take them back. But this time, they had to take them back as soon as the battle was over. After all, they weren't landlords or rich people who could lend out a bunch of machine guns at will and not take them back.

"We don't need machine guns, our regiment has some basic skills! We're not too bad, and besides, we haven't even returned the machine guns you lent us last time," Wu Meng quickly said.

He still remembered the matter of borrowing the machine gun.

"No need for that. This operation is not that simple. Without sufficient firepower, we might lose a lot of people. So, you must take it!" Xu Qingfeng said with a serious expression.

“This…” Wu Meng fell silent upon hearing this. Xu Qingfeng’s words made sense. In fact, the regimental commander and the others had also been feeling somewhat worried about this matter recently.

Their regiment's firepower was actually not bad compared to other units, but in this operation, they were indeed more formidable.

Having a batch of weapons would certainly give us more confidence to deal with the situation.

"Old Wu, we're already acquaintances, so let's not say anything more. I've brought the machine gun; whether you use it or not is up to you. I'll take it back after the battle is over," Xu Qingfeng said directly, not giving Wu Meng a chance to think it over.

"Political Commissar Xu, thank you very much!" Wu Meng said. Since Xu Qingfeng had already said so, it would be too ungrateful of him to still hesitate.

“That’s right. Besides, the reason I came here this time is because I think we might have a chance to fight the Japanese with you later. When that happens, your regiment should remember to come and help.” Xu Qingfeng smiled and then brought up the matter.

“We’ll definitely come, but I’m afraid we’ll be a burden to you.” Wu Meng nodded, then hesitated. It wasn’t that he was afraid of dying, but he was afraid of holding Li Jin and the others back.

Compared to the special operations regiment, their regiment's combat effectiveness was significantly inferior.

"Old Wu, what are you saying? We're all on the same side. Don't talk about being a burden. It's our honor that you can help us," Xu Qingfeng said.

Li Jin was probably worried that something unexpected might happen to the subsequent plans, so he wanted to get another insurance policy.

"Besides, your regiment's combat strength is not bad at all, it's stronger than many other units, so don't underestimate your regiment," Xu Qingfeng added, affirming the 129th Regiment's combat strength.

"The main reason is that the gap between us is too big," Wu Meng said with a wry smile.

"It's alright, it's nothing. By the way, this new weapon is called tear gas; it's specifically designed to attack Japanese pillboxes."

All we have to do is throw them into the Japanese pillbox, and those Japanese soldiers won't be able to hold on any longer and will come out.
Because tear gas releases an extremely pungent odor and smoke, it can cause people to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Don't even mention the Japanese devils, our soldiers are having trouble holding on. As long as the Japanese devils come out of the pillbox, how can we not kill them?" Xu Qingfeng explained the power of the weapons.

"Political Commissar Xu, is it really that serious?! The Japanese devils really couldn't hold out and ran out of the pillbox?!" Wu Meng was somewhat skeptical upon hearing this.

"Of course it's true. You'll know once you test it. But don't test it for too long, it can be very harmful to your body, and it could be permanent. So be careful when you test it, and it's best to have a few criminals test it!" Xu Qingfeng instructed.

The power of tear gas is quite frightening; prolonged exposure can cause irreversible harm to the human body.

"This sounds incredibly powerful," Wu Meng exclaimed in surprise.

"What do you think? Otherwise, why would it be a new type of weapon? Anyway, your regiment will keep a portion, and the rest will be sent to your brigade headquarters for your brigade commander to distribute."
"Remember, don't deploy too many of the same bunkers, lest we run out of supplies. Also, when you go in to clean up the battlefield, be sure to wear a gas mask!" Xu Qingfeng added.

The smell of tear gas can linger for quite a while, so it's still advisable to wear a gas mask before entering.

“Okay, I’ve got it.” Wu Meng nodded.

"Alright, I won't say any more. Remember to tell your commander about the alliance. I won't see him anymore; I need to get back quickly," Xu Qingfeng said.

"Hey, don't rush. Our regimental commander might be back at headquarters soon. You should talk to him about the cooperation yourself," Wu Meng said quickly. Their regimental commander, deputy commander, political commissar, and chief of staff were all at the brigade headquarters for a meeting, so they weren't in the village.

"It's alright, it's the same as you relaying the message anyway. I'm leaving now." Xu Qingfeng waved his hand, had the things put down, and then turned and left.

"Have a safe journey." Wu Meng watched Xu Qingfeng and his group leave until their figures were no longer visible before turning his gaze away.

"Go, call the soldiers over and move the things back to the warehouse," Wu Meng instructed the soldiers beside him.

"Yes." The soldier nodded and ran away.

Wu Meng looked at the wooden crates on the ground, then thought for a moment, found a crowbar, and opened a crate containing tear gas canisters.

When he saw the tear gas canisters inside, he picked one up and examined it.

"Should we try it now?!" Wu Meng thought to himself. He still had some doubts about the power of the tear gas, feeling that it probably wasn't as powerful as they claimed.

(End of this chapter)