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

Chapter 179 Headquarters: We'll support you even if we have to sell our pots and pans!
After receiving the telegram from headquarters, Chen Ming reported the specific situation of the armored company of the independent detachment.

At the same time, the application for the establishment of an armored company by the independent detachment was submitted.

Armored companies are a special type of military unit that Chen Ming can't just set up whenever he wants; he needs the approval of headquarters.

If headquarters' approval is obtained, the independent detachment will have its first and only armored company, a feat that was previously unthinkable.

Of course, if headquarters disagrees or has other plans, Chen Ming will firmly support them.

However, this is unlikely, after all, Chen Ming is now the favorite general of the brigade commander, division commander, and even the general, who dotes on him too much.

If the armored company were given to other units, would they be able to handle it?

As expected, after reading Chen Ming's explanation and application, the headquarters leader thought about it for a moment and then agreed.

"We can tighten our belts and get through the tough times, but we can't let talent development suffer. We'll apply to the rear later and coordinate to supply this armored company with some fuel."

"The remaining fuel will have to be figured out by the independent detachment itself, since our resources are limited."

The Eighth Route Army had oil; there was a small oil field in Yanchang County, northern Shaanxi.

This oil field was discovered during the Song Dynasty, but it was not developed until 1904.

Its output cannot compare to that of the Yumen Oilfield, which is controlled by the mountain city and has an annual output of over 30,000 tons.

Current technology allows for an annual production of just over a thousand tons, but there is still some left.

This was one of the few things in northern Shaanxi that could be exchanged for money, and could be traded with the Jin-Sui Army and the mountain city for supplies.

Now that we have our own armored company, we can squeeze in some support for it.

After all, there were only six tanks, and this armored company was used as a surprise force with limited opportunities, so it wouldn't consume much fuel.

“I think that’s a good idea. We can do some research in various military units and see if there are any people who can drive tanks. We can send them to Chen Ming as well.”

“Let’s apply to the rear again to transfer a few officers who can drive tanks to the independent detachment. We can’t have just one instructor in the newly formed armored unit of the independent detachment,” another commander said.

There were officers in the rear who knew how to drive tanks, but due to a lack of tank equipment, they could only receive theoretical instruction.

Without tanks, what can you learn from training alone? It's much better to go to the independent detachment and train them directly using training tanks. That's far better than just talking about it on paper.

"Reply to the independent detachment that headquarters supports him, encourages him to try boldly and work with confidence, to open up a path we have never taken before and accumulate valuable experience," the boss said.

"I'll take the order with me when I go to the Independent Detachment. I'm going to launch a surprise attack to see what Chen Ming is hiding."

"An armored company appeared out of nowhere without a word, without any warning. They hid it really well; they fooled me completely," the brigade commander said with a smile.

Receiving 5,000 miners is something the brigade commander could choose to do or not, but now that Chen Ming has given him such a big surprise, he might as well go and take a look.

"Sure, when you get there, give him a piece of your mind. He's always pulling these surprises, catching us completely off guard," the boss said with a smile.

Independent Detachment Command Post.

Chen Ming was overjoyed when he received the telegram from headquarters.

The fuel problem that had been bothering him for so long finally had a solution.

Thinking about it, Chen Ming went to check on his armored company again.

"These are all good stuff, they feel so good," Chen Ming exclaimed.

Although in the past, when people talked about the Japanese tanks, they said they were thin-skinned tanks, iron coffins, and little beans, and could not be considered tanks at all. They could only say that the engine was covered with a layer of iron and some weapons were added.

Compared to tanks from other countries at the same time, these tanks were simply not good enough.

But now that these tanks belong to him, Chen Ming no longer complains.

Something is better than nothing. The Tiger tank of the German Third Army was very strong, and the Sherman tank was also quite good, but what does that have to do with us?
What you have in your own hands is truly yours.

"Old Chen, the local government comrades are here," Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze called out to Chen Ming, who was watching the tank soldiers train next to the tank.

"We're here, let's go right now." Chen Ming responded and went to the political commissar's side.

This is a meeting to be held before the start of spring plowing. Spring plowing and autumn harvest are both of the most important things, and Chen Ming must attend!

Logically speaking, Chen Ming, as a military cadre, should not have been involved in organizing grain production, as this was the responsibility of the local government or administrative office.

However, Chen Ming established a production and construction brigade last year, which reclaimed a large amount of wasteland and has rich experience.

In addition, since the Production and Construction Detachment was under the dual jurisdiction of the Fourth District and the Administrative Office, there was no problem for Chen Ming to participate in these tasks.

Upon arriving at the meeting place, Chen Ming greeted each of the delegates and waited for the meeting to begin.

After the meeting began, the representatives started to report on the farmland situation, farming equipment and other related information in their respective regions.

"This year's harvest is still not good. Only a thin layer of snow has fallen, and I don't expect much rain," one of the representatives said.

“Yes, your county is a bit better off. In our county, the wells are almost dry, and the riverbeds are cracked. If it doesn’t rain soon, the grain yield this autumn may be even lower than last year,” another representative said.

"."

"Fortunately, last year the military and our local authorities worked together to build some water conservancy facilities, otherwise the situation this year would be even worse," said the representative from Wuzhai County.

As an important grain-producing area in northwestern Shanxi, efforts are being made to cope with the damage caused by drought.

Last year, during the off-season for farming, the production and construction team, together with local organizations, mobilized manpower to excavate and build water conservancy facilities to ensure grain production in important grain-producing areas.

"The severe drought is accompanied by a locust plague, so we must do a good job in drought and locust prevention." After everyone finished speaking, Chen Ming said.

Chen Ming recalls that during the Great Famine of 42, in addition to drought, locust plagues were also a significant contributing factor.

Although Shanxi Province was not as severely affected as Henan Province, which was swarmed by locusts that blotted out the sun, resulting in widespread crop failure.

However, the locust plague crisis remains, and early prevention and preparation are necessary.

“Our county has already sent people to turn over the soil in winter, turning over all the places where locusts might lay eggs, which should reduce the number of locusts.”

"Our county is the same. We also organized a propaganda team to educate the people about the habits of locusts and dispel their superstitions."

"Our county is similar. We've set up patrol teams, and once we find locust larvae, we immediately organize people to kill them, ensuring that those damned locusts don't eat our crops."

The representatives spoke enthusiastically, reporting on their county's locust prevention and control efforts.

In addition to manual control, some areas have also raised chickens and ducks to kill locusts and their larvae.

At the same time, it also prohibits ordinary people from killing the natural enemies of locusts and strengthens biological control efforts.

“That’s right. Food is the most important thing for the people, and grain production is of paramount importance. We cadres must fulfill our responsibilities,” Chen Ming said.

"."

After the meeting, Chen Ming convened another meeting with the military officers of the Independent Detachment.

Defense zones were assigned to each unit, and they were instructed to strengthen defenses during the spring plowing season to ensure that the Japanese could not disrupt the smooth progress of spring plowing.

The Japanese invaders were no good; they deliberately chose to launch their offensives during the spring planting and autumn harvest seasons. They would disrupt production in the base areas during spring planting and plunder grain during the autumn harvest, creating famine and weakening the resistance forces.

At the same time, the dispersed nature of farmers' labor can be utilized to amplify the effect of military deterrence.

Therefore, during the spring plowing season, the troops must fulfill their duty to defend the base area and ensure the smooth progress of spring plowing.

However, what Chen Ming didn't know was that Iwasatsu, the commander of the Japanese First Army, didn't actually have this idea.

He no longer wants to provoke the Independent Detachment.

When the Independent Detachment made such a big commotion in the territory of the Mongolian army, Yansong was even somewhat gloating.

The Independent Detachment's attention finally turned to the neighboring Mongolian troops; it was no longer their First Army that was getting beaten up.

What if we let him cause trouble for the Independent Detachment now, and what if we divert the Independent Detachment's attention from the Mongolian Army back to the First Army?
Yansong knew his own capabilities and wasn't very confident in fighting the Independent Detachment unless more troops were transferred from other places.

However, the main force of the Eighth Route Army was in southern and southeastern Shanxi.

If troops were transferred out, the Eighth Route Army in those areas could wreak havoc on the Japanese defense zones and directly influence the situation in Shanxi Province.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Yansong would not transfer too many troops from southern and southeastern Shanxi, leaving those troops to confront the Eighth Route Army.

"If the Independent Detachment fights a few more times, that guy Noon Saburo will probably commit seppuku by now," Iwamatsu thought to himself.

His relationship with the commander of the Mongolian army, Noon Saburo, was very poor, and there were obvious strategic differences and conflicts between the two sides.

The essence of the relationship between the two parties is competitive cooperation.

Yansong's core mission was to disintegrate the anti-Japanese forces in Shanxi Province, with particular emphasis on inducing Yan, the commander of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, to surrender and implement his "Bo Plan".

However, Noon Saburo was quite dismissive of Iwamatsu's plan to induce surrender and even publicly criticized him for being tricked by the Jin-Sui Army.

Both sides suffered repeated defeats due to insufficient coordination, and the North China Area Army even favored Noon Saburo's strategy.

Where does this leave Yansong's face?

His First Army was a field army with a strength of 70,000 to 80,000, while the Mongolian Garrison was a defensive army with a strength of only 20,000 to 30,000.

In this situation, seeing Noon Saburo suffer misfortune while he himself was no longer unlucky, Iwamatsu secretly began to feel happy.

Now he hopes that even if the Independent Detachment wants to cause trouble, it should do so within the territory of the Mongolian Army, and not in the territory of his First Army.

After Noon Saburo commits seppuku due to defeat, a new general who can cooperate with him will be appointed.

However, Yansong's smile soon faded.

Inside a residential house in Guoxian County, several soldiers were digging hard under the floorboards of the house.

The one leading the group was Wu Youdao.

Chen Ming gave them a month to dig a tunnel leading directly to the northwest city wall of Guoxian County, which would be used to plant explosives to blast open the city wall.

This gave them plenty of time to dig slowly, preventing the Japanese from monitoring and discovering the Eighth Route Army's tunnel-digging facilities.

"Comrade Youdao, this tunnel is well dug, even better than the ones dug by our Jizhong guerrillas, and smoother than the tunnels dug by the tomb raiders behind my house."

A soldier who was transferred from the central Hebei region and was an expert in tunnel warfare spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Wu Youdao scratched the back of his head.

Is it that obvious? You can tell at a glance that he comes from a family with a strong academic background.

The soldiers didn't know his identity, so Wu Youdao wasn't nervous about being mistakenly identified.

"Of course, otherwise why would the commander have me lead such an important mission?" Wu Youdao said with a smile.

"You really are a leader, I admire your skills. Could you teach me too? I'll pass on those skills to the other soldiers when I'm transferred back," the soldier continued.

Upon hearing this, Wu Youdao wiped his face somewhat embarrassed.

Oh, are you teaching me tomb raiding techniques? What's so interesting about that?!
“Okay, I’ll definitely teach you if you want to learn,” Wu Youdao said.

"Then it's settled. I'll treat you to roasted sweet potatoes later."

"."

While spring plowing is underway, the tunnel blasting team led by Wu Youdao is also making very good progress.

In one month, they successfully dug the tunnel under the city wall.

Based on the experience he learned from his father, Wu Youdao confirmed that the direction was correct and then reported the situation to Chen Ming.

"Great job, he's really talented, and he actually made it happen," Chen Ming said with a smile.

"How much explosives did we transport into Guoxian County?" Chen Ming asked Chief of Staff Wang Dafei.

"It should weigh 1,500 jin, right?" Wang Dafei replied.

During this month, with the help of underground party comrades in Guoxian County, the Independent Detachment transported more than 1,500 kilograms of explosives into the county town in small batches of a few kilograms at a time.

"Is that enough?" Chen Ming asked.

"I'm not sure, since we don't have any experience in this area before," Wang Dafei replied.

Everyone is feeling their way across the river, and no one can give a precise figure for how much is needed.

"Let's add another 500 jin to ensure everything goes perfectly. This is our experimental battle, and we need to gain some experience," Chen Ming said.

He has a "fear of insufficient firepower," always feeling that the amount of explosives is not safe enough, so he decided to add more explosives.

Since it's a test site before attacking Datong, it's safer to use more explosives.

Even if you use too much, it's fine; the breach will be bigger, and the soldiers will be able to attack more smoothly.

Otherwise, if they blew open even a small hole, the Japanese could set up a machine gun, and the casualties would be much greater.

“Okay, I’ll arrange it in a bit,” Wang Dafei nodded and said.

"By the way, did the special operations team infiltrate the county town?" Chen Ming continued to ask.

The special operations brigade played a crucial role in this operation, and Chen Ming instructed them to take control of the Japanese heavy artillery company immediately after the battle began.

To ensure that the artillery is not destroyed by the Japanese, so that the troops entering the city can capture the Japanese heavy artillery intact.

Since Chen Ming plans to breach the city walls and attack the county town, the troops will be able to enter the county town very quickly.

Therefore, the special operations battalion only needs to hold off the Japanese heavy artillery reinforcements for fifteen minutes before reinforcements arrive in the city.

"They've already infiltrated and are now lying in wait for orders," Wang Dafei replied.

"Alright, the final offensive will be scheduled for April 1st, to get off to a good start in April!" Chen Ming gave the order.

P.S.: I can't catch any fish with a hand rod, so I plan to try casting tomorrow. That'll be a good time to write; three or four thousand words shouldn't be a problem. Adding another four or five thousand when I get home tonight, that'll be about eight or nine thousand. If I write a little more at midnight, I'll reach ten thousand a day!
(End of this chapter)