Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 132 Security War

After reading the report from the Sakata Corps, Seiji Katsuki was somewhat dissatisfied, but he had no other choice.

For an area as big as Erlang Mountain, it was impossible for him to transfer a brigade there. It was not that he could not transfer so many troops, but that they would not be able to deploy them even if they went there.

Even the Sakata Brigade's attack was launched in stages, and they were unable to attack all at once.

Besides, there are also Eighth Route Army protests in other places. We can't focus all our attention on the new Second Regiment. What about those other places?

"Mr. Okabe, strengthen the monitoring of the New Second Regiment. The intelligence department should develop more intelligence personnel in Dayun Mountain. In addition, we should also strengthen the military strength of the Xiguan stronghold and Nantun Town." Katsuki Seiji put down the battle report and looked up and said.

Dayun Mountain is not far from Taiyuan. After leaving Nantun Town to the east, 25 kilometers south is the outskirts of Taiyuan.

By strengthening the military strength of the Xiguan stronghold, the exit to the east for the New Second Regiment can be blocked, preventing it from harassing Taiyuan.

After all, the guerrilla harassment of the Eighth Route Army is really a headache.

"Ha!" Okabe Naosaburo was also well aware of the importance of the Xiguan stronghold.

Naosaburo Okabe decided to strengthen the artillery squadron in addition to the infantry.

As for the artillery, they were all ready-made. In the previous Battle of Xinkou, they seized a lot of Jin-made Type 13 75mm mountain cannons, which were imitations of the Type 41 mountain cannons.

The performance of the two is basically the same, but the quality of the Jin-made mountain cannon is obviously weaker than that of the Type 41 mountain cannon, so no troops are equipped with this gun.

Now is the right time to use it to strengthen the defense of the Xiguan stronghold.

Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

"Boss, the Sakata Regiment has withdrawn." The Deputy Chief of General Staff said as he looked at the battle report sent by the 129th Division.

The boss casually took the battle report handed over by the deputy chief of general staff.

"The New Second Regiment fought well. Even though the Japs used poison gas bombs, they were still able to achieve a casualty ratio of one thousand to one thousand three hundred." The boss said with satisfaction as he looked at the battle report.

The Sakata Regiment was no pushover, they were known as the elite of the Japanese, and this time they had the assistance of a mountain artillery battalion and aircraft. The fact that the New 2nd Regiment could perform so well was completely beyond the boss's expectations.

"The New Second Regiment has long built Erlang Mountain into an iron tunnel. If it had reinforced concrete, the Sakata Brigade would probably have suffered many more casualties." The Deputy Chief of the General Staff said with a bit of regret.

Most of the casualties of the New Second Regiment this time were caused by the Japanese artillery and aircraft. If there were permanent fortifications, the troops would have been able to kill a large number of Japanese in the bunkers.

"The only people who have some cement are Yan Laoxi and Wei Junru. They will definitely not give it to us." The boss said as he put the battle report he had read on the table.

"I know that, I just feel a little sorry about it." said the Deputy Chief of General Staff.

He knew very well the characters of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the Central Army.

"Should this battle report be forwarded to the Second War Zone?" asked the Deputy Chief of General Staff.

"Turn around." The boss nodded. No matter how you look at it, the results of this battle were not small.

"By the way, since the Japanese will send troops to attack the New Second Regiment's arsenal, they will definitely send a large army to attack the headquarters after knowing the location of the arsenal. We must do a good job of keeping it confidential." The boss added.

"Okay, I'll pass the message to the special forces regiment." said the deputy chief of staff.

The special forces regiment directly under the headquarters is responsible for the security of the headquarters arsenal.

At Kenanpo, Yan Xishan looked at the information in his hand and threw it aside.

"Ask for credit? What credit do you want? Wasn't our position breached by the Japanese army? How can a defeated general talk about bravery?" Yan Xishan said with an unmoved expression.

The Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had been losing battles against the Japanese army, so the more victories the Eighth Route Army won, the more uncomfortable Yan Xishan felt.

Is it that only your Eighth Route Army is capable? Are all the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army useless?

"Sir, what about us?" asked the adjutant at the side.

"Don't worry about him, don't reward him, don't put it in the newspaper, and just pretend you didn't see it." Yan Xishan said.

"Yes!"

Although Yan Xishan pretended not to see the battle between the New Second Regiment and the Sakata Regiment at Erlang Mountain, it attracted considerable attention in Shanxi.

Whether it was the Battle of Xinkou or the Battle of Niangziguan, the offensive power of the Japanese army's regiment-level organization was obvious to all.

Even if the New Second Regiment was making use of fortifications that had been prepared for a long time, this was enough to show the combat effectiveness of the New Second Regiment.

Inside the headquarters of the 358th Regiment, Chu Yunfei looked at the location of Erlang Mountain on the map and said, "Brother Ligong, the combat effectiveness of this new Second Regiment is truly impressive."

"With the strength of a regiment, they were able to hold off a five-day fierce attack by a Japanese regiment! And their own casualties were less than those of the Japanese army." Chu Yunfei's tone was full of admiration.

"Commander, the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the geographical location and the fortifications that had been built over many days. During the Battle of Xinkou, our regiment also blocked the repeated attacks of an entire Japanese regiment. If it really came to a field battle, I'm afraid it would be a different situation," said Fang Ligong.

At this time, Fang Ligong never mentioned the number and equipment of the 358th Regiment.

"Haha. Brother Ligong, this New Second Regiment is not a field unit of the Eighth Route Army. During the Xinkou Campaign, this regiment was probably just an ordinary regiment of more than a thousand people. But now it can fight head-on with the Sakata Regiment. This is worthy of our vigilance."

Chu Yunfei did not look down on the Eighth Route Army's peasants like Fang Ligong did. Instead, Chu Yunfei saw how terrifying they were.

"Brother Ligong, who is the commander of this new second regiment? Which military academy is he from?" Chu Yunfei asked.

"The commander of the New Second Regiment is called Chen Chengxing. We are not very clear about his exact background, but we only know that he participated in the Long March," said Fang Ligong.

As for the commanders at all levels of the Eighth Route Army, they could only confirm the cadres who had served as division commanders during the Red Army period. The commanders of ragtag regiments such as Chen Chengxing and Li Yunlong were not within the scope of the Kuomintang's intelligence collection at all.

After all, the Kuomintang’s funds were not sufficient, and everyone from top to bottom had to make money. They simply did not have enough manpower to pay attention to the commander of each regiment of the Eighth Route Army, and it was good enough to have a name.

"Chen Chengxing? Why haven't I heard of him? There is definitely no such person in the first five classes of Huangpu. Could it be the Baoding Military Academy? Or some military academy?" Chu Yunfei asked with some confusion.

"Commander, there are only a few division commanders and brigade commanders on the Eighth Route Army who went to military academies. I guess this Chen Chengxing is just another peasant." Fang Ligong said casually.

Fang Ligong, who came from a powerful landlord family in Shanxi, never looked down on these peasants.

"A peasant? If he really is a peasant, I'd like to meet him carefully. This guy's tactical command ability is extraordinary." Chu Yunfei exclaimed.

As a favorite of Commander Yan, Chu Yunfei had seen the battle report. The New 2nd Regiment responded very quickly to the attack by the Sakata Regiment.

Often, as soon as the Sakata Regiment made a move, the New Second Regiment could respond quickly, and sometimes even make a prediction.

This means that Chen Chengxing's command ability exceeds that of Sakata Nobutsu, otherwise this would not be the case.

Fang Ligong did not say much about Chu Yunfei's statement, even though he still had some misunderstandings about the Eighth Route Army in his heart, but after all, Chu Yunfei was the commander of the 358th Regiment and he was just a chief of staff.

With Fang Ligong's shrewdness, it is absolutely impossible for him to find fault with his superiors.

Because of the fierce battle with the Sakata Regiment, the New Second Regiment suffered heavy casualties.

Although the casualties between the New 1nd Regiment and the Sakata Regiment were 1.3:, the actual front-line infantry casualties on both sides were similar. The extra casualties of the Sakata Regiment were basically engineers and artillery.

The casualties of one thousand infantrymen were not a serious blow to the New Second Regiment, but it could definitely be said to be heavy.

The front-line combat force of the New Second Regiment, even with the infantry artillery company and the field artillery platoon, is only about 1 people, and 1 people is almost 3/.

In order to restore combat effectiveness as soon as possible, Chen Chengxing drew a large number of personnel from the guerrillas.

In addition to the backbone of each guerrilla unit, Chen Chengxing also removed a small portion of the veterans who had fought in many battles. The guerrillas could only start by drawing people from the county brigades, and the county brigades drew people from the militiamen who had never left their jobs. With this level of drawing people, the combat effectiveness of each unit declined, but it was not serious and would not affect the combat effectiveness.

Chen Chengxing also tasted the sweetness.

The benefits of this system of selecting troops at each level far exceed the system of replenishment through replenishment battalions.

Therefore, after discussing with Luo Ping, Chen Chengxing reorganized the supplementary battalion into the 4th Battalion, and the reinforcements for the new nd Regiment would be directly drawn from the guerrillas.

The newly formed 4th Battalion was headed by Qin Sheng as acting battalion commander and Kong Hanwen as political instructor.

The machine gun company and artillery company were formed by drawing a platoon of troops from the other three battalions, and the rest were composed of personnel selected by the 4th Battalion itself.

The mortar is very easy to operate. As long as you learn the jump eye method to confirm the distance, the rest can be done step by step.

当然，陈成兴一开始只是给4营的各步兵连配了1门60毫米迫击炮，4营的炮连也是只配了一门82毫米迫击炮。

This is mainly to allow them to learn and train first, and the subsequent equipment can only be produced slowly by the arsenal.

In mid-March, after Luo Ping returned from a meeting at the brigade headquarters, he immediately found Chen Chengxing, who was watching the potato planting in the field at the time.

If you plant it now, you can plant another crop in the fall.

However, potatoes can no longer be planted on this land next year. After all, the New Second Regiment has no chemical fertilizers, and the fertilizer powder bought will be used to make explosives.

Although high-yield potatoes have high yields, they also require fertility.

Chen Chengxing has already made plans to plant soybeans next year, which will increase the nitrogen content in the soil.

Soybeans can also be used to extract oil, which can be used to produce nitroglycerin. The bean cakes left over from the oil extraction can be used to feed horses or to make tofu.

"Old Chen, Old Chen, just leave these things to your comrades. You don't have to keep an eye on them yourself." Luo Ping said after finding Chen Chengxing.

Now that everyone knows the potato yield situation, no one will waste any spores.

Luo Ping took Chen Chengxing and prepared to return to the regiment headquarters.

"What happened that made you rush to see me?" Chen Chengxing asked as he walked back with Luo Ping.

"I just came back from the brigade headquarters. The brigade commander said that the Japanese have begun to implement a 'public security rectification plan' and have raided several bases, especially in the Jizhong Plain area, causing a large number of casualties among the people." Luo Ping said angrily.

"Ji Zhong Plain? Didn't the boss send them the minutes of the tunnel warfare?" Chen Chengxing asked curiously.

"It was delivered, but it's impossible to dig the tunnels so quickly. Now the tunnels in the villages of the Ji-Zhong Military Region are not yet complete. Currently, each household still has its own independent cellar. Once they are discovered by the Japanese, the people will have nowhere to escape." Luo Ping explained.

The reason why the tunnel digging in Dayun Mountain progressed so quickly was not only because the New Second Regiment sent troops to assist, but more because there were not many villages that needed to dig tunnels. Most of the villages had mountains to hide in, so these villages did not need tunnels. Even if they wanted tunnels, they could dig them slowly without rushing.

The Ji-Zhong Military Region is much larger than Dayun Mountain. The Eighth Route Army simply does not have enough troops to dig in all the villages at the same time, and the common people still have to work and cannot focus on this all day.

This resulted in many villages not having time to react when the Japanese launched a rapid attack, and were suddenly surrounded by the Japanese.

"What instructions does the brigade commander have?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"According to intelligence, the devils are now stepping up the expansion of their puppet army, puppet organizations, and puppet regimes, and are wantonly recruiting bandits, stragglers, and feudal armed forces.

At the same time, the Japs are also expanding and strengthening the organizations of traitors and spies. Each county now has detective teams, plainclothes teams, and spy teams, and their main target is the Eighth Route Army guerrillas.

Moreover, the devils used the Japanese puppet peripheral organizations and feudal superstitious secret societies to spread rumors and undermine the anti-Japanese work and the anti-Japanese united front.

"The brigade commander asked all units to intensify their crackdown on these traitors and running dogs, so that the traitors would know the consequences of working for the Japanese." Luo Ping said.

During this period, the Japanese traitors not only continued to raid the various bases, but also imposed an economic blockade on the bases, strictly prohibiting the transportation of daily necessities and military supplies into the anti-Japanese bases.

That is to say, Dayunshan had previously vigorously developed light industry and handicrafts, and now it can achieve basic self-sufficiency.

However, even though the new Second Group has developed well, there are some things that they still cannot produce on their own.

For example, salt.

Dayun Mountain does not produce salt, so if you want salt, you have to transport it from outside.

The Japanese were few in number and could not complete the blockade on their own. They relied more on traitors to set up checkpoints along the way.

Although these traitors were unable to deal with the Eighth Route Army, they were able to deal with the unarmed merchants and ordinary people.

"Since the brigade commander has made the request, let the guerrilla team 8 move eastward and operate near Zhangdian, cooperating with the fourth and fifth teams to crack down on the traitors and running dogs in Wuyi County. Then let the first, second and sixth teams work together to crack down on the traitors in Ping'an County, Anqiu and Luyang areas." Chen Chengxing said.

There are only a few important county towns around the Zhongyun Mountains. As long as a few roads are opened around these county towns, the daily necessities in circulation will be sufficient for the people in the Zhongyun Mountain area.

The Japanese raids and blockades were mainly aimed at the base areas, which were what the Japanese called non-security areas.

Although the Zhongyun Mountain area has a population of over a million, there are less than 20 people in the mountainous area in total, so a few trade routes are enough.

As for the security areas, the Japs adopted the "cleansing the countryside" operation, mainly to consolidate their rule.

For non-security areas, that is, guerrilla areas, the Japanese mainly adopted the "nibbling" strategy, that is, constantly compressing and dividing them to transform them into security areas.

The Japanese also blockaded these places, but ordinary people could still buy things if they wanted to.

Just as Chen Chengxing was about to send the communications squad to pass on the message, Luo Ping suddenly spoke up again: "By the way, the brigade commander also asked about the situation of the New Second Regiment, and asked us to be ready to assemble. We may be ordered to move out at any time."

After knowing that the New Second Regiment had restored its basic combat effectiveness with the help of the guerrillas' forces, the brigade commander decided to report to the headquarters and confirmed to include the New Second Regiment in the mission.

After all, for the Eighth Route Army, only by fighting can they develop faster.

After hearing what Luo Ping said, Chen Chengxing stopped for a moment: "Departure? When? Isn't the New Second Regiment developing in a fixed base? Where are we going?"

Normally, the New Second Regiment has already taken root and cannot be easily transferred without special circumstances.

The mobile forces of the 129th Division are mainly the 386nd Regiment, the New 772st Regiment and the Independent Regiment of the th Brigade. The other units have already taken root.

"The specific time and plan are still unclear. It probably hasn't been finalized yet. The brigade commander said that this was a general appointed by the general himself." Luo Ping didn't quite understand it either.

"But the brigade commander also said that the new second regiment does not need to be mobilized in full force. It only needs to prepare its forces according to the standard regiment." Luo Ping added.

If the entire New Second Regiment is mobilized, then the base in Dayun Mountain will be lost.

Even if there are guerrillas, a main force must be left in the base.

"We don't know what it is yet, so we want all the battalions to be prepared and see how the situation develops," said Chen Chengxing.

When Chen Chengxing heard that it was the general who was appointed by the boss himself, he knew that it was definitely not a matter of northwest Shanxi.

If the operation was in northwest Shanxi, the order was most likely given by the division commander.

After arranging to pass the message to the guerrillas, Chen Chengxing no longer went to plant potatoes, but chose to go to the arsenal.

Now the Erlangdong Arsenal has resumed production.

The troops may be dispatched at any time, so the production of bullets and artillery shells must be stepped up.

In the previous battle with the Sakata Regiment, the artillery shells had been almost used up, so they had to speed up the production of a new batch before setting off.

(End of this chapter)