Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 382 Expand again!

"Commander, according to the telegram from the 54th Flight Squadron."

"We have wiped out three artillery regiments and one tank regiment of the Eighth Route Army."

"The three artillery regiments are the mountain artillery regiment, the heavy mortar regiment, and the howitzer regiment."

Mutaguchi Ren'ya bowed his head and reported to Shinozuka Yoshio.

"Yoshi."

Shinozuka Yoshio nodded with satisfaction:
"It seems that the artillery unit under Li Yunlong has the strength of an artillery regiment at most."

He also didn't expect that the situation in northwest Shanxi would suddenly improve.

With only a few planes and pilots lost, three artillery regiments and one tank regiment of Li Yunlong were destroyed.

Although it is a small loss, it is acceptable.

"Yes, based on the artillery firepower displayed by Li Yunlong's troops in many battles, he now has at most one regiment of artillery firepower, or even no more than a regiment of artillery firepower."

"but……"

"But what?"

"I wonder if His Excellency the Commander has noticed something strange. In the past, the New 1st Regiment was very cautious in using artillery and tanks. They would immediately go into hiding after firing. When the Locust Army aviation unit arrived, they couldn't find the Eighth Route Army artillery unit at all."

"But recently, the Eighth Route Army's artillery units have been targeted by the Locust Army's aviation units one after another, and then destroyed by aerial bombs. They have already lost three artillery regiments and one tank regiment."

"It's a bit weird indeed."

Shinozuka Yoshio nodded, appearing thoughtful, but actually observing Mutaguchi's every word and action:
"Could it be that the leader of the New 1st Regiment, Li Yunlong, has been replaced?"

In order to cooperate with the performance of the number one spy suspect of the First Army Command, Yoshio Shinozuka had to play along with Mutaguchi Ren'ya.

However, Yoshio Shinozuka has not found any flaws at the moment.

After hearing that the Eighth Route Army suffered heavy losses, this person's happy expression did not seem to be fake.

"It's not impossible," Mutaguchi Ren'ya said, "The New 1st Regiment's recent combat style doesn't seem like it's under Li Yunlong's command."

"But no matter what," Shinozuka Yoshio said, "the losses of the Eighth Route Army are an ironclad fact. Mutaguchi-kun, draft a telegram for me immediately."

"Hey." Mutaguchi Ren'ya lowered his head, then asked, "Commander, to whom was the plaintext telegram sent?"

Shinozuka Yoshio sneered and said, "Let's report it clearly. Let's say that the First Army's Locust Army Aviation Unit has wiped out five artillery regiments and two tank regiments of Li Yunlong's Eighth Route Army in the past two months of combat. Thank you, Li Yunlong, for this military achievement."

"Hi."

Mutaguchi Renya quickly wrote down the contents of the telegram and flattered him:
"Your Excellency, Commander, is wise. I admire you. The outside world doesn't know how many Eighth Route Army troops our First Locust Army has destroyed. Furthermore, the 54th Flying Squadron has photos of the annihilation of Eighth Route Army artillery units. I suggest you send them to the North China Front Army Headquarters as soon as possible and put them on the front page of the newspaper. That's what we call pictures, not facts."

"Yes." Shinozuka Yoshio nodded and said happily, "Mutaguchi-kun, I'll leave this matter to you. The destruction of the Eighth Route Army's artillery and tank units must be fully publicized."

Mutaguchi Renya lowered his head and said, "Hi."

……

Two days later, the Japanese 26th Division retook Heyuan County.

There were no Eighth Route Army fortifications around Heyuan County, and given the "heavy losses" suffered by the New 26st Regiment, everything made sense. After capturing Heyuan County, the main force of the th Division returned to Datong, and the First Army transferred a squadron and a battalion of puppet troops from a nearby county to garrison.

After all, the 26th Division belonged to the battle sequence of the Mongolian Army, not the battle sequence of the First Army.

"Hahaha…"

Inside the regiment headquarters, Zhao Gang smiled broadly after listening to Zhang Dabiao's report on the results and losses.

"This battle yielded great results. Not only did we shoot down 12 Japanese planes and capture 58 mountain artillery pieces, we also recaptured a county town and obtained 1000 tons of grain."

A total of 10 planes were shot down on the battlefield, but two damaged planes crashed on the way back to the airport. This deal was naturally attributed to the New 5st Regiment. One bomber, including two pilots, was worth five mountain cannons.

Zhang Dabiao nodded and said, "At this moment, the Japanese probably think we have suffered heavy losses!"

Only Captain Li felt a little overwhelmed: "Damn, too many cannons are also a problem. We have more artillery than infantry now. I don't really want cannons."

Li Yunlong was telling the truth. The new regiment now has one mountain artillery battalion, one 1mm howitzer battalion, one 1mm howitzer battalion, two anti-aircraft battalions, one heavy mortar battalion, and machine gun companies under each infantry battalion.

There are only five infantry battalions, more than 7,000 people, but the artillery has a total of more than 10,000 people.

Of course, not all of these more than 10,000 people are artillerymen who can fire artillery. Most of them are transport personnel responsible for transporting artillery shells.

"How about handing over all these mountain artillery pieces to headquarters?"

"These are two mountain artillery regiments."

"The head of headquarters will surely be very pleased. He might even reward you greatly and give you another great achievement."

Zhao Gang said to Li Yunlong.

Li Yunlong said, "Commissar Zhao, why are you always so reckless? You want me to hand over all the mountain artillery. This is two mountain artillery regiments. The headquarters gave me 1500 veterans, which is more than enough."

"Old Li," Zhao Gang said seriously, "We don't have that much artillery."

"Are there so many artillery units at the headquarters?" Li Yunlong asked back. He always handed over half of them. The headquarters had as many artillery units as the Northwest Shanxi Iron Triangle.

Zhao Gang was suddenly speechless. He thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case.

Excluding anti-aircraft firepower and 82mm and 60mm mortars, the iron triangle of northwest Shanxi plus the Jinzhong base area, Li Yunlong has four artillery battalions, Xing Zhiguo has two artillery battalions, Ding Wei and Kong Jie each have two artillery battalions, totaling almost 2 artillery regiment-sized artillery units.

The headquarters has firepower at the level of about 10 artillery regiments, and there is also a shortage of artillery at the headquarters.

"What should we do then?" Zhao Gang asked. "If we don't hand it in, all those mountain artillery pieces will just gather dust in the warehouse."

"It will just be a waste if we hand it over." Li Yunlong thought for a while and said, "Why not talk to Boss Lin and let us hand over one of our mountain artillery regiments, and then we can exchange the other one for infantry weapons to make up for the shortage of infantry in this battle."

A mountain artillery regiment can at least exchange for weapons and ammunition for a main infantry regiment of 3000 people. In addition to weapons and ammunition, Boss Lin will also provide each infantryman with uniforms, bedding, gas masks and other individual equipment.

Zhao Gang said, "According to Boss Lin's intelligence, the Japanese will launch an attack in a month at the latest. It's definitely too late for us to recruit soldiers now."

"There's still time," Li Yunlong said. "We can recruit the guerrillas from the surrounding counties and make them our main force."

"Captain, this is a good idea." Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)