Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 167 Returning to the Base Area, Planning for Great Harmony
After his trip to the mountain city, Chen Ming returned to Shanxi Province.

Instead of returning directly to the Independent Detachment's base, Chen Ming, led by the comrade responsible for meeting him, went directly to the rear to report.

Although our party's office in the mountain city had sent the process to the rear via telegram, the information that the telegram could report was not as detailed and specific as the report that Chen Ming personally went to the rear to give.

"We're finally back! The delicious food in this mountain city is making me so hungry I can barely move," Wang Dabiao said, rubbing his belly.

His ten-plus-day trip to the mountain city exposed him to its corruption and extravagance.

Even though the soldiers on the front lines couldn't even get basic food supplies, the mountain city was still able to serve them big meals of fish and meat every day, and even their three meals a day were never the same.

During this period, Wang Dabiao, with the mentality of "if you don't eat it, you'll be wasting it," coupled with the harsh conditions of the Eighth Route Army and his craving for meat and oil, ate to his heart's content every day.

In just over ten days, my face became oily and I gained at least several pounds.

"Look at you, so pathetic. In the future, don't even mention being my soldier when you're out in the world. I can't bear the shame." Chen Ming said with a laugh.

"Hehe, although the big fish and meat dishes in the mountain city are delicious, it's only when we're back on our own land that we feel truly at ease," Wang Dabiao said, scratching the back of his head.

“Yes, there’s no place like home. It’s not pleasant to live under someone else’s roof. One day we will make the people the masters of this land,” Chen Ming said with a smile.

"Captain, your words are insightful."

"Stop flattering me, let's go." Chen Ming kicked Da Biao and walked straight ahead.

Despite being kicked by Chen Ming, Wang Dabiao still had a smile on his face, patted his butt, and followed.

Three days later, Chen Ming and his party finally arrived in Yan'an.

It took me two days to report on this process.

The general content is as follows: the Allied forces will transport the agreed-upon supplies and technology to Kunming via the Burma Road, which is still in operation, and then from Kunming to Yan'an.

The Allied forces will also send technical teams to dismantle, pack up, and remove the Japanese planes currently parked at Yan'an Airport.

After giving their report, Chen Ming and his group resumed their journey back.

After several more days of trekking, the group finally returned to northwestern Shanxi.

The whole process went incredibly smoothly, since they were traveling through the base area the whole way, and the Japanese strongholds and county towns had all been lost, so there was no way to stop them.

As for the other bandits and robbers, they were all either killed or fled under the previous iron fist crackdown.

They were lucky if the Eighth Route Army didn't bother them; how could they dare to go looking for the Eighth Route Army?

Upon returning to the Independent Detachment's base in Ping'an County, Chen Ming immediately convened a brief meeting with all the officers of the Independent Detachment.

"During my absence, nothing unexpected happened, right?" Chen Ming asked in the conference room.

"No problems have arisen. All units are steadily advancing their tasks according to your previous instructions," Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze said.

"During this period, we used our superior forces to further compress the space for the Japanese troops in Datong and drove them to the area north of the Sanggan River, where they faced off across the river."

"However, the Japanese are now going crazy. They have captured a large number of laborers to dig a lot of deep trenches in the area around Datong and built a lot of machine gun bunkers, turning Datong into a tortoise shell."

The Japanese had also laid barbed wire and minefields around the perimeter. Several of our soldiers accidentally triggered mines while on reconnaissance and were all killed.

At this point, Zhang Zhengze's tone became somewhat somber.

"The Japanese are planning to stay cowards forever," Chen Ming remarked.

Datong's defense system was already very strong, and the Japanese further strengthened Datong's defenses by coercing a large number of civilians into working as forced laborers.

With its sturdy city walls and fortified fortifications, Datong was transformed into a spiky iron shell.

Even if Chen Ming committed all of his independent detachment's troops, it would be difficult to defeat the enemy.

The Japanese were prepared to defend to the death, waiting for the Independent Detachment to attack so they could take the opportunity to severely damage the main force of the Independent Detachment and defeat them in front of the fortified city of Datong.

"Yes, the Japanese are very resilient and adept at building fortifications. Even if there are only three thousand Japanese soldiers in Datong now, we still can't take Datong," Chief of Staff Wang Dafei said.

He actually wanted to take advantage of the Japanese army's current weakness to seize Datong and capture this important military stronghold.

When the Japanese lose the resources of Datong, it will have a huge impact on the entire anti-Japanese war battlefield and will deal a heavy blow to the Japanese.

“That’s right. I had someone scout out the defenses in Datong before. The defenses are very tight. In addition to the three thousand Japanese soldiers, there are more than seven thousand puppet troops, making a total of more than ten thousand.”

"Given our current troop strength and firepower, a direct assault would be almost impossible," He Jianxin said.

After everyone had spoken, Chen Ming spoke up.

"We now have three options in front of us. One is to send an elite special operations team to infiltrate the city, find out the specific deployment of the Japanese troops, and take the opportunity to assassinate the Japanese commander of the Mongolian army, Noon Saburo."

"If there is a suitable opportunity to disrupt the Japanese command system, perhaps an opportunity will arise."

"The second strategy is to use the rural areas surrounding Datong to encircle the city, with some troops in a standoff while the rest of the main force infiltrates in other directions."

"To sabotage the Ping-Sui Railway line, force the Japanese out of their shells, and at the same time support the war in Suiyuan."

"The third option is still Datong, using tunnel blasting to blow up the Japanese's strong defensive fortifications, but this is very risky."

Chen Ming listed three possible action plans.

Option 1 poses a significant risk to the special operations team soldiers carrying out the mission, but if successful, the results will be equally substantial.

Option two avoids sacrificing lives to attack Datong. Instead, it utilizes the Eighth Route Army's preferred combat tactics to lure the Japanese troops out of Datong, allowing the main force of the Independent Detachment to seize the opportunity for a decisive battle.

Option three is also a feasible option, with successful examples in the War of Liberation. However, there are ways to deal with this option in ancient times, and if it is discovered, the losses will not be small.

After listening to Chen Ming explain the three options, the officers of the Independent Detachment fell into deep thought.

"I support the second option. We don't need to fight the Japanese to the death right now. We should take advantage of the Japanese's despicable acts that have angered both heaven and man in the Datong area, mobilize the persecuted people to help us, trap the Japanese in the city, and overwhelm them with the sea of ​​people," Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze said.

This opening statement alone shows that the political commissar truly lives up to his title, possessing a high level of political awareness.

"I also support the second option. The first and third options are very risky. The current situation in Datong is that the Japanese dare not fight a decisive battle with us."

"We must take advantage of our strengths and use mobile warfare, guerrilla warfare, and sniper and artillery warfare to wear down the Japanese army's manpower little by little, and destroy the Japanese army's production and logistics capabilities in the area surrounding Datong."

"Even if the Japanese are made of iron, they won't be able to withstand so many steel nails from our Independent Detachment!" He Jianxin said. As a cadre personally trained by Chen Ming, He Jianxin inherited Chen Ming's style of seeking victory while maintaining stability, but also daring to fight at crucial moments.

By employing an open and aboveboard strategy, even if the Japanese knew about the Independent Detachment's plans, they would be powerless to stop it.

"I agree with the second plan. After using our advantages to block the Japanese in Datong, we should sabotage the Japanese Ping-Sui Railway and take the opportunity to attack north and northeast to expand our gains," Ding Wei said.

Ding Wei is a brilliant strategist with a broad perspective; he knows that attacking Datong now is definitely not a good decision.

Even if they could capture it, the main force of the entire independent detachment would be wiped out, and they wouldn't be able to hold it afterward.

Objectively speaking, the Japanese soldiers were tenacious and very skilled at setting up defensive fortifications. The Eighth Route Army learned a great deal from the Japanese soldiers' experience in setting up many defensive fortifications.

It would be better to destroy the Ping-Sui Railway, the lifeline of the troops stationed in Mongolia, cut off the communication between the various units of the troops stationed in Mongolia, and send troops north to eliminate the northern flank of the troops stationed in Mongolia, which is mainly composed of puppet Mongolian troops.

At that time, Mongolia, Chahar, Suiyuan, and even the Xinganling region could become targets for the independent detachment, and they could even touch the beard of the Japanese Kwantung Army in Northeast China.

The officers of the Independent Detachment spoke enthusiastically, expressing their views and pooling their collective wisdom to discuss how to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese.

As for Kong Jie, one of the three main forces of the Independent Detachment, he did not speak. His troops were deployed in northwestern Shanxi to protect important facilities such as arsenals, hospitals, and schools within the base area.

In short, he only said one thing: whatever the command ordered, he would do; that was all.

"It seems we all think alike," Chen Ming said with a smile.

"That's settled then. All units, follow the plan and fight freely. Actively search for Japanese and puppet troops and eliminate the enemy's manpower," Chen Ming ordered.

Everyone stood up, some with smiles on their faces.

This time, Chen Ming did not assign detailed combat tasks, but only roughly divided the combat area and ordered them to actively search for the Japanese and puppet troops and eliminate the enemy's manpower.

Some astute cadres understood the subtext: without the constraints of rules and regulations, they were given the opportunity to exercise their initiative and make contributions.

After the meeting, the officers returned to their units and began to plan the operations for the next period of time.

Chen Ming, on the other hand, remained at the command post and did not move it to the vicinity of Datong.

The current strategy is to use the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside to trap the Japanese troops in Datong, while the remaining troops will use their advantages in guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to eliminate the Japanese and puppet troops.

This kind of guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare is considered conventional combat. It's not time for a decisive battle yet, so there's no need for Chen Ming to directly move the command post to the front line.

This trip to the mountain city, including the return trip to report to the rear, took almost a month, and it was already mid-February.

There were still a lot of things waiting for Chen Ming to handle within the base.

Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze, along with other non-military officers in the Independent Detachment, were exhausted during this period.

The Independent Detachment captured so many areas and rescued a large number of miners and civilians oppressed by the Japanese.

According to the internal propaganda, disaster relief, personnel statistics, material coordination and other matters need to be handled.

The issues being dealt with were still those in areas long occupied by the Japanese, which were more difficult and complex, and consumed a great deal of time and energy.

However, the officers of the independent detachment, though working hard, also enjoyed it.

The troops developed better and better, the base areas expanded, more and more people supported them, and the Japanese became weaker and weaker.

All of this is excellent news; it's a case of being tired but happy, with work enthusiasm at an all-time high.

Five days later, after finishing the last document, Chen Ming stretched and relaxed his stiff body.

"Just the affairs of an independent detachment and several county bases are so numerous. I really don't know how tired the leaders must be every day," Chen Ming sighed.

After finishing his work, it was already noon. Chen Ming decided to go out for lunch to fill his empty stomach.

"Report, Director Wang from the Women's Salvation Association is here." Wang Dabiao knocked on Chen Ming's office door and walked in, saying.

The Director Wang of the Women's Salvation Association that Wang Dabiao mentioned was naturally Wang Yumei, a survivor from Lijia Village.

Since joining the organization, Comrade Wang Yumei has actively participated in women's work in the organization's base areas, and is now the director of the Women's Salvation Association of the Fourth District.

Women hold up half the sky, a fact truly demonstrated by our Party through concrete actions.

The soldiers on the front lines were able to stay warm, have clothes and shoes to wear, thanks to the women who supported them from the rear.

Men, women, and children in the base area all pitched in, contributing their share of warmth and light, playing their part and contributing to the cause of the War of Resistance against Japan.

Chen Ming also became Wang Yumei's introducer to the Party last year.

Comrade Wang Yumei is no longer the woman from Lijia Village who needed the army's help, but a glorious revolutionary fighter.

"Comrade Yumei, is there any difficulty at work that you need me to coordinate?" Chen Ming asked Wang Yumei, who had suddenly come to see him.

"No, no, Captain Chen, it's just that I have a personal matter I'd like to ask you for help with," Wang Yumei said.

"Really? If there's anything I can handle, as long as it doesn't violate my principles, I'll definitely help," Chen Ming said with a smile.

"No violation, absolutely no violation. I just want to invite you to Dog's twelfth birthday party and have a meal at my house."

Wang Yumei quickly said that the usually energetic and efficient director of the Women's Salvation Association was now somewhat hesitant.

Chen Ming already has so many things to deal with every day, and now she's bothering him with her personal matters. Wang Yumei feels really bad about it, but she has certain reasons for doing so.

"What do you mean? No problem, I'm eating right now too, so I'll make it in time for lunch," Chen Ming said with a smile.

Wang Yumei and Gou'er were survivors rescued from the cellar during the first operation led by Chen Ming's district squad.

Besides, Wang Yumei is still his comrade. It's just a birthday party and a meal. He needs to eat anyway, so it doesn't matter where he eats.

"Comrade Wang Dabiao, come along with me," Wang Yumei said to Wang Dabiao.

Wang Dabiao was also a member of the district team back then, and he was also a benefactor to Wang Yumei.

At the same time, to avoid suspicion, it would be better to invite Wang Dabiao along.

P.S.: I had some things to take care of today, but since I promised my readers I'd be updating a lot, I'll definitely keep my word. I'll stay up all night to finish the next chapter, and you'll be able to read it when you wake up tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)