Bright Sword: I am an undercover agent in the puppet army

Hikawa Okazaka said with embarrassment: "Brother-in-law, this is difficult to do. After all, there are more than 1000 people in a brigade. It is impossible to develop all of them into confidants, right? I would like to, but they may not be willing.

Besides, Shinozuka Yoshio will provide us with reinforcements. By then, there will be three to four thousand people in a regiment. How can they all listen to me? "

Xu Yang: "This is easy. You just need to develop the key officers into your confidants, and also develop a confidant death squad, the kind that will risk their lives for you at a critical moment, even if they betray Tian Huang."

Hikawa Okazaka added: "There is another problem. The current officers and those who will be added in the future may not be easy to bribe."

Xu Yang shook his head helplessly. His brother-in-law's political acumen was still too poor. It seemed that he could only teach him step by step.

So he said: "If they are disobedient, then promote the obedient ones. As for those disobedient guys, it is even simpler.

In a war, there will always be casualties. Isn't this reasonable?

At that time, you can use any means to kill them, and then you can write a report, and Shinozuka Yoshio will approve it, giving them the status of imperial "martyrs", and they can also receive some pensions from Shinozuka Yoshio. Isn't it a good thing to kill two birds with one stone?
Moreover, this method is not only applicable to disobedient officers, but also to disobedient soldiers.

After screening again and again, in the end, won't everyone become your confidant?"

"That makes sense!" Hikawa Okazaka gave a thumbs up and added, "However, if you want to buy over your confidants, you have to spend money. You need to spend a lot of money."

A problem that can be solved with money is not a problem at all.

Xu Yang raised a smile, what he was least afraid of was spending money, because with the Japanese yen production line, money was no different from waste paper to him.

What he worries about every day now is not that he has too much money and cannot spend it.

At the moment, developing more confidants and letting them spend yen together will be beneficial in hitting Japan's economy.

So he said, "Leave the money to me, just go ahead and do it."

After a pause, Xu Yang reminded again: "By the way, you must start with reliable people first, especially those who are your confidants. If there is anything you don't understand, ask me again."

Hikawa Okazaka: "Now I have a question."

Xu Yang: "You say."

Hikawa Okazaka: "My trusted men are obviously our own people, so why waste money?"

Xu Yang sighed helplessly and said, "That's wrong, my brother-in-law. Just imagine, if your confidants saw you spending a lot of money to win over others, but they didn't get a penny, what would they think?"

After a pause, without waiting for Hikawa Okazaka to speak, Xu Yang asked himself and answered: "At the beginning, they may not think there is any problem, but over time, they will feel that they are being neglected and marginalized.

Then they gradually become dissatisfied with you, or even betray you.”

“But on the other hand, if you treat them doubly well, they will be even more loyal to you. Besides, other people will also take the initiative to surrender to you when they see this.

By then, you won’t even need to develop them, they will take the initiative to become your confidants.”

"Suoga!" Hikawa Okazaka gave a thumbs up again: "It has to be you, brother-in-law!"

……

In stark contrast to the favorable situation in the north, the situation in the south was a one-sided defeat. Even though the radio station of the Zhonghua Society vigorously publicized the great victory of the Hundred Regiments Campaign, which greatly boosted the morale of the National Army soldiers in Zaoyi, the gap in strength between the enemy and us was too great.

In the end, even General Zhang Xiuchen, commander-in-chief of the right-wing army group, died on the battlefield.

The situation was so bad that Principal Chang had to personally come forward to boost the morale of the soldiers on the front line, but even so, the situation on the Zaoyi battlefield continued to deteriorate.

The Wang Puppet Government in Nanjing, which was under construction, seized this opportunity and continued to put forward the idea of ​​saving the country in a roundabout way.

The direct result was that the national army, isolated behind enemy lines in the North China and East China battlefields, began to defect in large numbers and join the Wang Puppet Government in Nanjing. The number of traitors and puppet troops reached an unprecedented level at this time, and the situation of the national war of resistance was bleak.

If it weren't for the victory of the Hundred Regiments Campaign, which gave a powerful shot in the arm to the military and civilians across the country, it would be hard to know to what extent the situation would have deteriorated.

Command Operations Hall.

Principal Chang was in an extremely contradictory mood. As the situation gradually became favorable, he breathed a sigh of relief but was also extremely annoyed.

The reason for his anger was very simple. The only thing to fear was comparison. They were both Chinese armies, but why was the Eighth Route Army, with its poor equipment and serious shortage of ammunition, able to win repeatedly on the battlefield, while their well-equipped Nationalist Army was defeated one after another?

Confused.

Principal Chang tapped the conference table with the joints of his right index and middle fingers. The senior generals and officials of the National Army, who were originally in an intense conversation and were happy about the victory of the Hundred Regiments Campaign, immediately shut up and turned to look at Principal Chang.

Then I heard Principal Chang say: "Everyone, there is a question that has been bothering me for a long time. I have always wanted to ask it, but I have always been embarrassed.

But today, I have to get to the bottom of it.”

Everyone present was an experienced person. They all felt that this question would be difficult to answer and they couldn't help but look at each other.

After a pause, Principal Chang continued, "I have never understood why the Eighth Route Army rarely suffered defeats on the battlefield, while our national army suffered continuous defeats on the battlefield, even though they were both Chinese armies."

As soon as he finished speaking, a senior general immediately began to flatter him, saying, "Commissioner, this problem is actually very simple. It is because the Eighth Route Army roams around but does not fight. They never fight the Japanese army head-on. Whenever there is a slight disturbance, they will hide in the deep mountains and forests.

Then they would pick on the weak ones, either by ambushing some of the Japanese and puppet army's transport units, or by attacking a few weakly defended artillery towers, and then prying open a few sections of railroad tracks.

If you do this, you will certainly not lose the battle.

If our Central Army did this, we would not be defeated either, but we couldn't. If we ran away, wouldn't we hand over the territory to the Japanese devils? What would happen to the people in the defense zone? What's the difference between us and traitors?
Therefore, we had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight the elite Japanese troops again and again, and failure was inevitable. "

Principal Chang was very satisfied with what he said. He could not help but nod his head slightly. Moreover, the situation was indeed similar to what he said. The Japanese army had always regarded their national army as its biggest opponent.

However, soon some upright people began to refute: “I’m afraid that’s not entirely true?

I won't talk about other battles, but just talk about the battle on the Zhengtai Railway. The 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, with the strength of a brigade, won victory after victory. First, it captured dozens of small Japanese strongholds, and then captured 6 large strongholds including Niangzi Pass.

Finally, they annihilated the 22nd Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army one after another, captured the counties of Yangquan and Shouyang, and killed more than enemies in total!
And they are all tough battles!

Please forgive me for being frank, but I am afraid that such a unit cannot be found in the battle sequence that is full of national army.”

"Can such a brilliant record be achieved by a troop that roams without attacking?"

The two Japanese infantry regiments could not be defeated, let alone a brigade, even a division or even an army of the Nationalist Army, let alone be completely wiped out.

Hearing this, Principal Chang's face suddenly darkened again.

But soon, the flatterer retorted: "This is all the Communist Party's propaganda. According to the intelligence provided by the Japanese, the Pingxingguan victory only lost more than a hundred people in the baggage troops, of which only dozens were killed.

But the palace lanterns were able to publicize such a trivial victory as a great victory in which more than a thousand enemies were killed."

At this point, the faces of all the senior generals and officials present became strange, and even Principal Chang's face became extremely unnatural.

Because they love to boast and make false reports of victory, this is their specialty of the National Army, and they have always done this. When Principal Chang publicized the Pingxingguan victory, he directly multiplied the victory of the Eighth Route Army by ten times.

There is nothing wrong with doing this to boost morale, and their national army often does this. Some do it to boost morale, while others simply do it to get promoted or make money.

Originally this was just an unspoken rule that everyone knew about, but now this guy has put it out in the open and brought up this matter, which is like flattering the horse without paying any attention to it.

One can easily imagine how Principal Chang feels.

However, this guy still didn't realize it, and continued: "So, you can imagine how much water the actual results of the Eighth Route Army on the Zhengtai Railway, Baijin Line, Tongpu Line, Pinghan Line and Longhai Line are!"

As soon as the words fell, someone else refuted: "If the Communist Party's words are not trustworthy, can the Japanese's words be trusted? Would you rather believe the Japanese than your own friendly forces?"

"The problem is that the Eighth Route Army is only a friendly force in theory!"

"Then our own intelligence personnel can be trusted, right? Could it be that the news they sent back from Shanxi is also false?"

The senior generals present were divided into two factions. They argued fiercely and it was as noisy as a vegetable market, but no one could convince anyone else.

Principal Chang's confusion was not answered, and now his head was about to explode from all the noise...

Taiyuan City.

Japanese 1st Army Headquarters.

While the top leaders of the National Army were arguing fiercely, the commander of the Japanese 1st Army, Yoshio Shinozuka, was in an extremely bad mood.

He asked the Chief of Staff Kusunokichi Hideyoshi beside him: "Kusansu-kun, where is the Osaka Division now?"

Kusunokichi bowed his head and said, "According to the latest news, the Osaka Division just arrived in Baoding this morning."

"What? Baoding?" Shinozuka Yoshio said angrily, "It's been more than a week, and the Osaka Division has only walked more than 100 kilometers. Are they turtles? Even if they crawled, they couldn't have crawled more than 100 kilometers, right?"

"Hi!" Kusunokichi bowed his head again and said, "According to the news, after the Osaka Division set out from Peking, the problem of acclimatization has worsened. At least more than 70% of the people have more or less health problems."

Shinozuka Yoshio: "At this rate, doesn't that mean it will take them at least 10 days to get from Baoding to Taiyuan?"

"Hi!" Kusunokichi bowed his head, but he thought in his heart that this might not be the case. According to the current situation, the acclimatization problem will surely continue to worsen, and the marching speed will become slower and slower.

……

This is the Eighth Route Army.

As hundreds of Japanese strongholds of various sizes were captured one after another, only some tough nuts to crack were left, namely some important large strongholds.

Considering the consumption of ammunition and the increase in casualties, there was no benefit in continuing the fight. Moreover, the strategic goal had been achieved and even exceeded expectations.

The Hundred Regiments Campaign thus entered its second phase, which was the transition from active attack to passive defense.

These days, with the increase in production capacity, the Eighth Route Army Arsenal has produced thousands of M1 Garand rifles.

Because Li Yunlong's independent regiment performed particularly well in the Hundred Regiments Campaign, and the fact that the crying baby gets the milk, they could not resist Li Yunlong's persistent nagging.

Li Yunlong's independent regiment also became the first unit in the Eighth Route Army and even the entire National Revolutionary Army to be equipped with semi-automatic rifles.

In addition, during the Battle of Yangquan, Li Yunlong also seized four 4mm cannons and four 105mm howitzers.

The brigade commander gave the four 4mm cannons to Dashen, but the remaining four 105mm field guns were left to Li Yunlong.

Li Yunlong's artillery company also transformed and expanded into an artillery battalion.

With the addition of a machine gun battalion, the independent regiment has now expanded into a super-reinforced regiment with 5 infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, one machine gun battalion, one direct cavalry company, one direct special service company, and one direct guard company, with a total strength of more than 4000 people.

At the training ground, three-three training was also carried out with the 386th Brigade as a pilot.

Li Yunlong tried shooting for a while, then looked at the M1 Garand rifle in his hand and said lovingly, "Oh my, this is a really good gun!

Equipped with this thing, the combat power of one of our platoons is now equal to that of a company before.

If it was this independent regiment that encountered the Bantian regiment in Cangyun Ridge, I would have beaten the shit out of them, and they would have done it well!"

Zhao Gang: "This rifle is undoubtedly a groundbreaking piece of equipment for our army, and the three-three system tactics are an amazing tactic that is particularly suitable for our army.

Once our army is fully equipped with M1 Garand rifles and the three-three system tactics are fully trained, then our army will be able to confront the Japanese head-on and even launch a counterattack. "

After a pause, Zhao Gang changed the subject and continued, "However, in my opinion, penicillin is still the most valuable.

If we had not had penicillin, our casualties in this battle would have increased by at least 30%. "

Li Yunlong put away the smile on his face, nodded in agreement and said: "Yes, this time with penicillin, our army has almost no wounded soldiers with wound infections.

Moreover, it is summer now and the temperature is rising, which was unthinkable before.”

"This is all thanks to the Lone Wolf Staff!"

"How do you know that these things were obtained by the Lone Wolf Staff Officer?" Zhao Gang looked puzzled, because his superiors had classified the sources of the M1 Garand rifle production line and the penicillin production line as top secret, so he had no idea where these things came from.

Li Yunlong smiled and asked, "Who provided the technology to make high explosives from fertilizer powder?"

"Lone Wolf Chief of Staff." Zhao Gang spoke subconsciously.

Li Yunlong asked again: "Who provided the production materials and manufacturing technology of the Flying Thunder Cannon?"

Zhao Gang: "Lone Wolf Advisor."

Li Yunlong: "Who provided the Japanese yen production line, the copper-clad steel bullet production line, and the Type 38 rifle production line?"

"He is also a lone wolf adviser." At this point, Zhao Gang had realized something.

Li Yunlong: "That's it. Lone Wolf Staff has brought so many advanced gadgets to our army, such as the M1 Garand rifle and penicillin. I can't think of anyone else who could have gotten them except Lone Wolf Staff."

Zhao Gang: "Hearing you say that, it seems to be true. If that's true, the Lone Wolf Staff Officer alone can at least be worth five divisions of the devil!"

After a pause, Zhao Gang changed the subject and continued, "Old Li, this matter only needs to be known between you and me, and you must not publicize it to anyone else!"

Li Yunlong: "Don't worry, I'm not stupid."

...(End of chapter)