Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

The last days of the Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade 4 were not pleasant. On the eve of being upgraded to a division, they were surrounded and beaten by the Beishan Detachment and several main regiments. They lost five counties and more than 5 regular troops. It can be said that they were seriously injured and basically disabled!

The key point is that the brigade commander was killed, which is the matter of life and death! After all, the highest commander is still there, so even if it is merged into a division, it has its own dominant position, rather than a vassal relationship. Of course, this has nothing to do with the comrades of the Kitayama Detachment. It is Okamura Yasuji and others who should worry about this matter.

Gangcun has not looked good in recent days! Even though Yangquan, Shouyang and Yuxian have been reoccupied and the Niangzi Pass line has been unblocked, Gangcun still looks bad!
For three days, three full days, Gangcun didn't want to pay attention to the telegram sent by the headquarters! But he had to read it, after all, it was sent by the headquarters! Although there was no word of accusation in the telegram from the headquarters, it just asked him to focus on stability in the future, but Gangcun understood that this meant that the headquarters had doubts about his military ability.

Gangcun sometimes thought that if the situation on the Pacific Front had not been tense and the senior officers had not had important tasks, his transfer order would probably have been on his desk!

The key point is that some of his former colleagues and political enemies have sent him a lot of telegrams through various channels these days. Some are concerned, some are sarcastic, and some are ostensibly concerned but actually sarcastic... In short, the failure of Yangquan, especially after the Eighth Route Army sent the telegram in clear code, made Gangcun lose face for the entire Japanese army in North China. As the highest commander, he was slapped in the face.

Fortunately, Gangcun was calm and knew that the more it was at this time, the more he could not be impatient, and the more he had to keep calm and cool-headed! Because only in this way could he analyze various news one by one and then find the weaknesses of the Eighth Route Army. Gangcun did not think that the Eighth Route Army was very strong, because if the Eighth Route Army was really strong, it would not still stay around the city and take the countryside as its main development direction.

But Gangcun had to admit that the Eighth Route Army was really good at fighting. They could always find some mistakes in their own army, and then attack and expand the results. Of course, Gangcun also knew that the Eighth Route Army had its own secret arsenal, and had grenade launchers that were no less powerful than the Type 89 grenade launchers, heavy mortars, and submachine guns...

But even if he knew this, how could he deal with it? He had reported to the headquarters many times about the weapons, but the response he received was to accuse him of poor command ability, blaming the army for not having the spirit of Bushido and always wanting to win by weapons instead of force...

Gangcun would basically not show any expression when seeing such a reply! In his opinion, this is all bullshit, just to cover up the incompetence of the military industry department! Apart from other things, the light machine guns that the Eighth Route Army jokingly called crooked handles, how bad are they? The pistols that the Eighth Route Army called Turtle Boxes, even suicide can break down! And that Type 100 submachine gun...

Of course, there is another reason, which is lack of money! Yes, lack of money, lack of resources, the military industry department can't afford the demand for millions of troops to replace their equipment, so they can only use this method to get by.

Otherwise, why didn't the German allies produce the complete set of MG series gun drawings sent by them? The key is the lack of money and resources, which can't support the consumption of war.

Gangcun sometimes envies China, because China has a vast territory, complex terrain, a large enough population, and abundant resources... and these are the decisive factors that can support a battle. China's strategic depth is too great, so great that even if it loses a thousand miles of territory, there are still thousands of miles of territory behind, and it is large enough to dilute millions of troops. Gangcun, who was very annoyed, suddenly reached out and pulled out a book from the drawer of the desk, intending to read it carefully. And looking at the name of the book, it was "On Protracted War"

Similarly, in Liangjia Village, Li Yuexuan was also reading the book On Protracted War. Speaking of which, this book was obtained when he was studying at the headquarters arsenal. Li Yuexuan always carried it with him and read it when he had nothing to do. It must be said that this book can be read repeatedly, because every time you read it, you will gain something new.

Li Yuexuan is in the mood and has the time to read here, but Zhao Danian and others who are also in the leadership of the Beishan Branch do not have the "leisure" like Li Yuexuan!

Why? First of all, the battle was won this time, and the Beishan Detachment needed to "express" gratitude to the troops that came to help! Of course, this was not a bad thing, nor was it an unspoken rule. The main reason was that Minister Zhang was very aware of the production capacity of the Liangjia Village Arsenal, so he gave Beishan a task to replenish the equipment for the troops that came to help.

The key point is that Minister Zhang only gave a general direction, but the specific amount and what to give required Zhao Danian to have a heated debate with those group leaders!

Listen to the equipment they want to replenish. First, the 120mm heavy mortars. The 385th Brigade asked for 22 more. Then 82 36 mortars, light machine guns, assault rifles... and finally submachine guns. They said they wanted to form an assault company and needed a large number of submachine guns...

This is obviously a huge price! Therefore, Zhao Danian and Zhu Xingyu could only discuss with these old comrades and old leaders to come up with a number that both parties could accept.

Well, the Eighth Route Army was lucky to have an arsenal and to be able to receive equipment directly from the factory. Even if they had to argue and exchange some captured equipment and raw materials, they were still happy! As for the arguments, they were just happy troubles!
After solving the equipment replenishment problem with the brother troops who came to help, Zhao Danian and his men could not rest! That's right, the captured materials, especially those moved from Yangquan later, needed to be counted and stored, and those that needed to be stored separately had to find a place. Some coal, pig iron, rails, train axles, etc. also needed to be sent to the forging workshop.

Not to mention anything else, these things took tens of thousands of people three days and three nights to transport. How many were there?
After the inventory of these materials is completed, they still need to be returned to units such as the Independent Regiment, Pingdong District Committee, Pingxi District Committee, etc. This will also take a long time...

In short, after a war is over, the troops involved may have some free time, but officers like Zhao Danian and Zhu Xingyu will be very busy during this period. (End of this chapter)