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

Chapter 36 Report
When Chen Ming was given permission to enter the headquarters conference room, he saw the boss, the brigade commander, and a group of senior executives all staring at him with long faces, and he immediately stood at attention.

This scene is terrifying. These are all future big shots. It would be a lie for Chen Ming to say he wasn't scared.

Chen Ming both respected and feared him.

Besides, he himself made a mistake this time. If things were really taken too seriously, he could be executed.

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, brigade commander, and all other leaders, Chen Ming, commander of the Second Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, is reporting for duty." Chen Ming shouted, his voice trembling slightly.

None of the leaders spoke. The CEO looked at the documents on the table, waited a while, and then spoke:
"You've mobilized troops without authorization and disobeyed orders. Do you even respect me as your superior?"

The boss's tone was very serious, as if he was very angry.

Chen Ming was startled and stood up straight.

"Report, I acted impulsively this time and made a mistake of blind faith. I will never dare to do it again. I will accept whatever punishment you give me."

Chen Ming said that at this moment, only by humbly admitting his mistake could he quell the boss's anger.

Perhaps the boss will give him a lighter punishment because of his good attitude in admitting his mistake.

"You don't dare? I think you're quite bold. You led over 800 men and dared to attack the heavily guarded railway line of the Japanese, attracting tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers to surround and intercept you."

"If I gave you eight thousand men, would you dare to attack Taiyuan?"

Upon hearing his boss's words, Chen Ming continued to admit his mistake: "I wouldn't dare. I will follow orders in all actions. If the boss orders me to attack Taiyuan, I will smash through the city walls of Taiyuan even if I have to use my head."

"So you know you have to follow orders? Huh? Guards, drag Chen Ming out and shoot him for disobeying orders and arbitrarily mobilizing troops!" the commander shouted sternly.

"Oh, it's not that bad, boss. Although this kid made a big mistake this time, he at least achieved great results and eliminated a large number of Japanese soldiers, so he can be considered to have made a contribution. He also showed a good attitude in admitting his mistake, so let's just let him go by firing squad."

Beside him, a refined-looking leader spoke up.

"Yes, sir. The Second Independent Regiment has only recently been reorganized and hasn't yet shaken off the habits of guerrilla warfare. Considering this is their first offense, let's not execute them this time."

The brigade commander also spoke up to persuade the general.

Several other leaders also spoke up to persuade the general.

After much persuasion, the boss relented and said:

"This time, your brigade commander and division commander pleaded for you, so I won't execute you. But if there's a next time, don't blame me for my bullets being merciless."

"Yes, thank you, sir. Thank you, division commander. Thank you, brigade commander. Thank you, all the leaders."

Chen Ming stood ramrod straight, humbly admitting his mistake and thanking them.

"Alright, tell me about the battle."

Having achieved his goal of scaring Chen Ming, the boss began to ask him the questions he was concerned about.

Since headquarters is located in the rear, they certainly don't know the specific details of the battle on the front lines as well as the troops who are personally participating in the fighting.

"Yes."

Chen Ming began to report on the entire process of the battle.

"Before the Second Independent Regiment was reorganized, I led the soldiers of the district squad to attack the Japanese train and captured a Type 92 infantry gun and a large amount of weapons and ammunition."

"At that time, I noticed something was wrong with the Japanese. I guessed that they might start another sweep, so I decided to take two battalions of the reorganized Independent Second Regiment, plus the Railway Guerrilla, a total of more than 800 soldiers, and ambush them near Xiaotangshan along the Zhengtai Railway."

"After lying in ambush for three days, we finally spotted a Japanese train that was quite different from the others. It was escorted by armored vehicles, and there were Japanese reconnaissance planes scouting the area just hours before the battle began."

"So I immediately ordered the troops to ambush the train, and in the end, all the Japanese soldiers on the train were wiped out, and the combat supplies of about a brigade of Japanese soldiers were captured."

"Due to insufficient manpower for transportation and inadequate preparation, a large amount of supplies that could not be taken away were destroyed." "Based on this capture, my guess has been confirmed: the Japanese are about to launch a large-scale mopping-up operation against our base area and have mobilized a large amount of combat supplies in advance."

"In this operation, the Second Independent Regiment and the Railway Guerrilla sacrificed a total of 417 soldiers and annihilated more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers."

"The specific details of the battle have been written in this booklet."

After Chen Ming finished speaking, he placed the completed manual on the conference table, and an advisor handed it to the CEO.

However, the leaders present were not paying attention to the booklet, but rather to what Chen Ming had just said.

They extracted two key pieces of information.

First, the Japanese were about to launch a large-scale mopping-up operation and had mobilized a large amount of combat supplies.

Secondly, Chen Ming captured the combat supplies of a brigade, but had no choice but to blow them up due to insufficient manpower for transportation.

The leaders present were most concerned about the second point.

The combat supplies for a single Japanese brigade consisted of at least several hundred thousand rounds of rifle ammunition, several hundred thousand rounds of machine gun ammunition, and countless other types of grenades and artillery shells.

Even if it's for a sweeping operation, not a direct battlefield operation, and they wouldn't be supplying so many weapons and ammunition, it's still a considerable amount.

When Chen Ming said that those that couldn't be brought back had been blown up, the leaders were so heartbroken they could hardly breathe.

How much ammunition did the entire 129th Division have?

According to statistics, the 129th Division only used a total of more than 72 rounds of ammunition during the Hundred Regiments Offensive.

What a spendthrift! If he had communicated with headquarters beforehand and mobilized manpower and the masses, he could have brought back at least 70-80%, if not all of them.

The leaders wished they could just step forward and kick Chen Ming in the butt.

"How much of all these weapons and ammunition did you bring back?" the boss asked.

"We brought back two Type 92 infantry guns with over 100 shells, eight mortars with over 700 shells."

"Six heavy machine guns, more than thirty light machine guns, thirty-two grenade launchers, and a certain amount of ammunition."

"The Japanese soldiers prepared more than a thousand basic medical kits, which included bandages, sulfonamide powder, painkillers, etc."

"The other bullets that couldn't be taken away or were difficult to destroy, I had people scatter and hide them in the mountains northwest of Shouyang. I don't know exactly how many are left."

"The Second Independent Regiment didn't bring back many rifles; most of them were carried by the guerrilla fighters."

"I've already had the troops deliver the captured supplies to headquarters; they're right outside."

Chen Ming began to report on the spoils of war.

Upon hearing Chen Ming's report on the spoils, the boss nodded, saying it was already quite good.

With so many weapons and ammunition, especially artillery and shells, the commander-in-chief had more confidence in the upcoming large-scale mopping-up operation launched by the Japanese.

"Let's go see my artillery." The boss said, leading the other leaders out of the conference room.

The commander had seen a lot of things, but even so many weapons and ammunition were a considerable fortune for the Eighth Route Army at that time.

After the leaders had all left, Chen Ming hurriedly followed, wiping the cold sweat from his back.

It was terrifying. Although he knew he wouldn't be executed, the boss's anger still overwhelmed Chen Ming.

(End of this chapter)