The War of Resistance: From Overseas Chinese Mechanics to King of Nanyang

At this point, Gao Jiren and Zheng Tingji exchanged a glance, both of them understanding perfectly.

After going through all this trouble, Huang Zurong has finally revealed his true purpose—to take advantage of the joint operation to get a group of regular officers to help him completely reorganize this ragtag army.

Is this going too far?

Normally, that would be an outrageous demand.

But things are different now. The two of them have just accepted medicine, weapons and provisions from the other party, and they are about to join forces to attack Lashio, a tough nut to crack.

If the battle was lost because of Huang Zurong's troops' lack of training and chaotic command, then no one could afford the consequences.

Thinking about it that way, it makes perfect sense.

Obviously, neither of them wanted to see this scene, but some things still needed to be discussed beforehand.

"Commander Huang, we can lend you the men, and we can help you train them. But there's something I need to make clear beforehand—once the battle is over, these borrowed officers and veterans must be returned to us. And those wounded soldiers, once Lashio is captured and they've recovered, if they want to return to their units, you can't stop them." Gao Jiren coughed lightly, making the unpleasant point clear upfront, otherwise, if they weren't allowed to return, that would be truly ridiculous.

Upon hearing this, Huang Zurong laughed heartily, his face full of confidence: "Both officers can rest assured, as long as they are willing to come back, I will not stop them at all, and I will personally send people to escort them back to the 200th Division."

He spoke sincerely, yet subtly left himself an opening.

He said he wouldn't stop those who wanted to come back, but he didn't guarantee he could persuade everyone to return.

Once Lashio is captured, once the wounded have recovered, and once he has transformed this force into a well-equipped and victorious elite unit, then who stays and who leaves will no longer be up to Gao Jiren and his men.

Moreover, once Lashio is captured, it won't be so easy for the 200th Division to return home safely.

"Okay." Gao Jiren thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. "I'll transfer a company of veterans and officers from the directly subordinate units later. That should be enough for you for a while."

A company was the greatest sincerity he could offer.

To everyone's surprise, Huang Zurong quickly waved his hand, his tone somewhat embarrassed but very firm: "Isn't one company too few? Can we send more? Ideally, a battalion."

"A battalion?!" Gao Jiren was stunned on the spot, his face filled with disbelief, and even Zheng Tingji frowned.

In their minds, a militia like Huang Zurong's, which was formed halfway through, would have at most a thousand or eight hundred members.

Sending a whole company over there, a ratio of one to ten, is already considered a luxury configuration, and you still think it's not enough?

"Commander Huang, what do you need so many people for?" Gao Jiren couldn't help but ask. "How many people does your regiment even have?"

Huang Zurong touched his nose and said with a hint of embarrassment, "To be honest, my regiment... has quite a few people, about four thousand now."

Gao Jiren and Zheng Tingji were instantly petrified.

Four thousand men? That's not a regiment, that's clearly a reinforced brigade, almost as big as a Class B division!

Huang Zurong himself was a little embarrassed. When he set off, he brought more than two thousand men. Later, he recruited many more deserters along the way, so now he should have about four thousand men. He hadn't counted the exact number yet.

"Four thousand people..." The two of them had only one thought in their minds: Just who is this guy?

They have soldiers, guns, cannons, medicine, and food; now they're even hiding their military strength so well.

A force of four thousand men, equipped with the superior gear they had just seen.

If the officers and soldiers of the 200th Division were to reorganize them further, their combat effectiveness would far surpass that of ordinary miscellaneous troops, and even within the Central Army, they would rank quite high.

"Officers? Aren't there a few too few people?" Huang Zurong asked again, seeing that the two men remained silent.

"Cough cough..." Gao Jiren coughed, then took a deep breath to suppress the turmoil in his heart, and said in a deep voice, "Alright, one battalion it is. As long as we can capture Lashio, this number of men is not a problem."

Because Huang Zurong's rescue was very timely, the 200th Division was not like the original timeline, where only about 4,000 people were forced to break out. After deducting the casualties and the wounded, and after absorbing some of the remnants of the newly formed 29th Division, the 200th Division now has about 6,000 people to support a battalion of soldiers, which will not affect their combat effectiveness too much.

"Thank you so much, officers," Huang Zurong said quickly, his tone full of sincere gratitude.

Without further ado, the two men laid out a simple map and, by the dim light of a kerosene lamp, quickly finalized a joint operation plan.

The main offensive, the breakthrough of strongholds, and the core assault were all entrusted to the 200th Division, which had the most combat experience.

Huang Zurong's troops were responsible for flanking maneuvers, perimeter blocking, mopping up scattered Japanese troops and pro-Japanese Burmese collaborators, and protecting the rear.

The division of labor is clear and the responsibilities are well-defined.

Huang Zurong had no objection to this. He was very self-aware—his troops were fine for ambushes, holding positions, and harassing enemy lines, but if they really wanted to take on the Japanese army's strongholds head-on, they would have to rely on the 200th Division, their elite main force.

After the discussion ended, Huang Zurong immediately sent some weapons and equipment.

It included 20 mortars, thousands of shells, as well as heavy machine guns, grenades, explosive charges, and so on.

In addition, a lot of dry food was also sent, including bags of refined dry food, boxes of sealed canned goods, as well as beef jerky, chocolate, fruit candy... In the jungles of Myanmar where people lack food and clothing and can't even get a hot meal, these things are more precious than gold.

The guard handed the completed inventory list to Gao Jiren. He glanced at it and couldn't help but gasp, his voice trembling slightly: "This Commander Huang... is frighteningly generous."

Zheng Tingji squatted down beside him, casually opened a can of beef, and the rich aroma of meat instantly filled the air. Looking at the neatly packaged chocolates and candies, even this battle-hardened commander couldn't help but click his tongue in disbelief.

"Just who is this person? The wealth he casually pulls out is terrifying! Even the British army's food standards aren't this high, let alone our Central Army!"

"I don't know. His accent seems to have a bit of Cantonese. Could it be related to the Fourth War Zone?" Gao Jiren and the others were too busy chatting to ask anything else, so they could only guess.

"It's probably impossible. There are indeed quite a few people with the surname Huang in the Guangdong Army, but there are probably not many who can casually produce this much supplies. Even you and I probably wouldn't be that generous, would we?" Zheng Tingji shook his head. If they eat these supplies sparingly, they can last for several days.

"Forget it, don't think about it too much. Let's distribute the supplies first. The brothers are probably starving." Gao Jiren shook his head and said.