Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 221 Too Much Firepower
"Damn it, those Japanese planes are so annoying."

To avoid detection by Japanese aircraft, Li Yunlong and Ding Wei's troops found a place to hide along the way.

It wasn't until dark that we hurriedly headed to the meeting point.

"Old Li, at worst we can just lie low and rest during the day and fight at night." Ding Wei was quite open-minded; after all, night fighting was one of their specialties.

"Damn it!" Li Yunlong cursed again, "Once we get to Taiyuan, I'm going to take over the airport for those little devils."

“The airport can only solve the problem temporarily. To solve it completely, we still need to rely on air defense weapons,” Ding Wei pointed out. “I just don’t know if Director Li can make air defense weapons for us.”

Even if the Japanese take over the airport, they can still continue to repair it.

“Of course, Brother Li can definitely do it,” Li Yunlong said immediately. “So, when we get to Taiyuan, we should try to get a batch of machinery from the Taiyuan Arsenal. Maybe then Brother Li can make anti-aircraft weapons for us.”

“See? Given the opportunity, I think working on the machines at the Taiyuan Arsenal is more important than working on the airport.” Ding Wei nodded.

……

Li Yunlong and Ding Wei chatted all the way to the meeting point.

Here, Gao Liujin, Gao Xigang, Liu Weidong, and Cheng Xiazi were all present.

The four men each brought their respective county brigade and district squads; under the moonlight, it was impossible to see exactly how many troops they had.

Seeing Ding Wei and Li Yunlong approaching, Gao Liujin exclaimed, "You two, are you old folks? Why are you walking so slowly!"

Li Yunlong cursed, "You think I don't want to get here faster? But with Japanese planes flying overhead, I can't just expose myself to get here faster."

Upon hearing this, Gao Liujin also cursed, "Once we get to Taiyuan, we must destroy the Japanese airport."

Liu Weidong spoke up, saying, "Now that everyone's here, let's get started."

Li Yunlong said arrogantly, "When we came out, you all had no objections to me being the commander-in-chief, right?"

Gao Liujin immediately said, "As long as you can find a way to make a mess of the Japanese rear and break their counter-sweeping operation, we can make a big profit. I have no objection."

"If you don't give bad advice, then of course I have no objection," Liu Weidong stated calmly.

In this operation, Liu Weidong and Ding Wei served as deputy commanders, essentially acting as staff officers.

Li Yunlong is too prone to overstepping his bounds in battle; the two of them must keep a close eye on him.

“Alright, our mission now is simple: break out of the encirclement quickly, then split into two groups. One group will first sweep through Kuroshima Morita's base and take care of the horse feed. If all goes well, take care of Kuroshima Morita as well. The other group will rush to the 21st Brigade's base and take over the Yanzhen Arsenal as quickly as possible.” Li Yunlong said succinctly, “Once we get the equipment from the arsenal, don't bury it. Quickly bring it back to our border region arsenal, and then we'll break out of the encirclement and go behind enemy lines.”

As soon as Li Yunlong finished speaking, Ding Wei immediately said, "Old Li, the brigade commander said that after we take over that large arsenal, it's best to hide the equipment on the spot. If we come back and then go out again, all this back and forth might make it easy for the Japanese encirclement and suppression army to come directly to us. Once we're caught in their crossfire, it will be difficult to cause trouble behind Japanese lines again."

Liu Weidong also said, "During the day, Japanese planes are hovering overhead, so we must avoid fighting during the day. In other words, we only have one night. If you keep going back and forth like this, we probably won't have enough time."

Li Yunlong said, "The ultimate goal of our mission is to buy enough time for our border region arsenal."

"As long as we can lure the Japanese army here, it will be equivalent to diverting their focus of the mopping-up operation, and the pressure on our headquarters, divisions, and arsenals will be greatly reduced."

"Moreover, the sooner this machinery and equipment is delivered to the border region's arsenal, the sooner Director Li can produce the new rockets for us."

"With the new rockets, even if the Japanese army surrounds us again from behind, we don't need to worry too much."

"Because it's a mountain, the Japanese artillery can't hit it effectively, while our main force in the rear has rocket launchers. If the border region's arsenal can produce new rockets, why worry about not being able to break through the Japanese mopping-up operations?"

Cheng the Blind and Gao Xigang remained silent. Ding Wei and Liu Weidong's words made sense; now that the Japanese army had caught up with us, it would be difficult for us to go back to the Japanese rear.

But Li Yunlong's words also made sense. If the Japanese army was coming towards us, even if we couldn't cause trouble behind enemy lines, we could lead them in circles, which would indirectly buy time for the border region's arsenal. The two of them didn't know what to do.

Gao Liujin shouted, "How about this? Let's split into two regiments. One will escort the spoils from the Kuroshima Morita base and the equipment from the large arsenal back, while the other four regiments will continue to the Japanese rear."

Li Yunlong looked at Gao Liujin and said, "I think this suggestion is good. So, Gao Liujin, you can be the escort..."

Before Li Yunlong could finish speaking, Gao Liujin immediately interrupted: "Why should I? I'm going to the Japanese rear, so I won't bring anything back."

"Because I am the commander-in-chief!" Li Yunlong declared righteously.

"Hmph, I told you, if I can't go behind the Japanese lines and make a killing, then your position as commander-in-chief is nothing but a fart in my eyes!" Gao Liujin snorted.

"Gao Liujin, you son of a bitch..." Li Yunlong was about to jump up.

Liu Weidong spoke up: "How about this, each of you give me half a battalion to make a regiment. I'll take back the fodder from the Kuroshima Morita base and the equipment from the Japanese large arsenal. I won't go to the Japanese rear."

Then, Liu Weidong continued, "If you manage to recruit the Japanese army, then the encirclement of our main force will be temporarily lifted. I will then request some more troops from headquarters to lurk behind the Japanese army and see if there is an opportunity to attack their logistics and supplies. As long as the Japanese attack their logistics and supplies, this counter-offensive will basically be over."

"Look at Gao Liujin, look at that scholar, he's much more sensible than you in a critical moment." Li Yunlong immediately found Liu Weidong much more agreeable after he volunteered to help carry the goods back.

Moreover, Liu Weidong was secretly targeting the Japanese army's logistics supplies from behind. If this move succeeded, its significance would be far more profound than it appears on the surface.

Once the Japanese encirclement and suppression army loses its logistical support, its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. If we manage things well and bring in the Jin-Sui Army and our elite troops, the effect will be no less than winning a large-scale battle.

With the Japanese army in such dire straits, we'll have complete control over Taiyuan City, the Taiyuan Arsenal, and the Taiyuan Airport!

"Liu Weidong, you are a person who puts the big picture first. I will definitely learn from you in the future." Gao Liujin immediately praised Liu Weidong as well.

Gao Liujin admired Liu Weidong's methods for managing the Japanese logistics. Having read more books, he seemed genuinely more capable than a roughneck like Gao Liujin.

Ding Wei looked at Liu Weidong: "Commander Liu, we'll each give you half a battalion, is that enough?"

Once the Japanese large-scale arsenal is looted, the Japanese encirclement and suppression army will definitely rush over.

Two regiments simply couldn't hold out.

Liu Weidong said confidently, "Commander Ding, don't forget, the Japanese encirclement and suppression army is not fully in place yet, only the vanguard. What we are going to do is target the Japanese large-scale arsenal, which must have produced weapons and artillery. My troops, the troops you assigned, and the district and county militia are all armed to the teeth. Once it's done, we'll just push back with artillery fire. The Japanese vanguard won't be able to stop me."

Then, Liu Weidong continued, "You're going to cause trouble behind enemy lines, so we can't spare too many troops. Give each of you half a battalion; that should be enough."

"Let's see how much weaponry and ammunition this Japanese large-scale arsenal has first." Ding Wei nodded. If Liu Weidong could get sufficient supplies from the Japanese large-scale arsenal, breaking through the Japanese vanguard and taking the supplies back would not be a problem.

If the large arsenal doesn't have enough weapons and ammunition by then... Ding Wei believes that possibility is very low.

The Japanese army was about to launch a large-scale encirclement and suppression campaign, so their large arsenals must have produced and stockpiled a large number of weapons and ammunition in advance.

"Alright, let's do it this way." Li Yunlong finalized the plan, and the others also expressed no objections.

The troops quickly reached the Japanese encirclement.

For the time being, only the Japanese vanguard 29th Brigade and the puppet army's 1st Division were present here.

Although this vanguard force consisted of a brigade and a puppet army division, the encirclement dispersed its forces.

At this point in the encirclement, the Japanese forces consisted of only one battalion.

The hell cannons and infantry guns roared down, the light and heavy machine guns provided further suppression, and the grenade launchers and mortars swept across the battlefield. This battalion of Japanese soldiers couldn't hold on at all and retreated in disarray. Li Yunlong and his troops easily broke through.

The news quickly reached Major General Kawashima, commander of the 29th Brigade: "Brigade Commander, a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers broke through our encirclement under the cover of night."

"Have they already broken through?" Major General Kawashima was still somewhat stunned. Although encirclement would disperse the troops, the Eighth Route Army breaking through would at least face the defense of a large battalion.

"Yes, they've already broken through. Their firepower is too intense; we can't hold them off," the man replied.

"So what about the Eighth Route Army troops that broke through?" Major General Kawashima quickly composed himself.

The Eighth Route Army broke through the encirclement at such a fast speed that they were most likely combat troops, not logistics troops.

As long as the Eighth Route Army's so-called headquarters and logistics department remain within the encirclement, it's a case of "the monk may run away, but the temple cannot."

"Under the cover of darkness, it's hard to see clearly, but I estimate it's only one or two regiments," the man replied.

"One or two regiments are not a problem. We've repaired the encirclement," Major General Kawashima said. "By tomorrow afternoon, when the rest of our forces are in place and the encirclement is completely secure, we won't have to worry about the Eighth Route Army getting out so easily anymore."

"What about the one or two regiments of Eighth Route Army that ran out?"

"Send men to keep an eye on their movements, and once the main force arrives, quickly wipe them out," Major General Kawashima ordered.

Major General Kawashima cannot spare troops to fight these Eighth Route Army soldiers right now.

This is not to say that Major General Kawashima could not defeat the enemy. With the entire 29th Brigade pressing forward, there was no reason why they could not win.

The main problem is that he can't withdraw too many troops from this encirclement, otherwise more Eighth Route Army soldiers will escape ahead of time.

If the Eighth Route Army had slipped away beforehand, the purpose of the encirclement and suppression would have been lost.

He remained still to trap more Eighth Route Army soldiers.

"Yes, brigade commander."

……

After Li Yunlong and his men quickly came out, they did not stop and immediately split into two groups. One group went to the base of Kuroshima Morita, and the other group went to the base of the 21st Brigade.

Major General Kawashima's tail, which was being followed in two directions, was discovered by the Eighth Route Army scouts covering the rear.

The entire tail was cut off.

Gao Xigang and Cheng Xiazi swept away all obstacles along the way as if they were in an empty land, and stormed into the base of Kuroshima Morita.

As expected, a large quantity of horse feed was indeed stored at Kuroshima Morita's residence.

In addition, there are a large quantity of daily necessities, and these are all high-end goods, such as beef, canned food, coffee, milk, eggs, etc.

After all, these were cavalrymen, and the rations for cavalrymen were much better than those for Japanese infantrymen.

Cheng the Blind and Gao Xigang were overjoyed. They swept through the entire loot of the Black Island Morita camp like a whirlwind, and also seized several hundred military horses.

It's a bit of a shame that Kuroshima Morita isn't at the base for some reason.

Let this little devil escape a disaster.

(End of this chapter)