Blood-Red Front

Luyang, 404th Detachment Command Post.

Guan Jianchu walked in carrying a stack of newspapers.

Guan Jianchu couldn't help but complain as he placed the newspaper in front of Lin Zhiyuan.

"Our Minister Chang's linguistic artistry is simply unparalleled."

"Reading through the entire text, there wasn't a single word praising himself, yet the whole thing was about his decisive command and ability to win battles from afar. Our 404th Detachment and the 5th Division didn't even appear once."

"If someone who didn't know better saw this, they would think that he had conquered Moling."

Lin Zhiyuan glanced at the newspaper but didn't pay much attention to it.

"No matter how well Minister Chang writes his article, even if it is the best report in history, the battle report will not record that he defeated the Chu Sheng Army."

"Besides, Minister Chang gave us two infantry regiments and a mountain artillery battalion. You won't even let him brag a little?"

The 511th Regiment, the 512th Regiment, and the Bofors Mountain Artillery Battalion were all extracted from Chang Zhongshi's hands.

If publishing two articles could earn two infantry regiments and a mountain artillery battalion, Lin Zhiyuan could personally draft the report.

Guan Jianchu was still indignant and wanted to say more, but then the phone rang.

Guan Jianchu stepped forward and answered the phone.

"Feed? 404th Detachment. Minister Ren? Okay."

Guan Jianchu reached out and handed the phone to Lin Zhiyuan.

Lin Zhiyuan was somewhat surprised to hear that it was Ren Huasheng.

"Minister Ren, this is Lin Zhiyuan."

"Zhiyuan, did you read today's morning paper?"

"Here he is right in front of me, Minister Chang, your writing is truly remarkable," Lin Zhiyuan said with a smile.

Ren Huasheng laughed too, "Don't pay too much attention to these reports. These are all conservative newspapers. Tonight, the Central Broadcasting Station will broadcast a detailed report on the battle."

"Minister Ren, rest assured, I personally don't care much about this," Lin Zhiyuan said.

"But honors are earned through the blood and sweat of our soldiers. With the Central Committee's broadcast, I think the soldiers will be happy."

Ren Huasheng hummed in agreement.

"The honor should belong to whoever deserves it; the Political Department will not allow certain people to act recklessly."

"Also, while you rest in Luyang, you must remain vigilant, as the Chusheng Army may cross the river and head north at any time," Ren Huasheng instructed.

"I have already taken precautions," Lin Zhiyuan said. "There are defenses deployed from Yuxikou to Hezhou."

"That's good." Ren Huasheng nodded.

"Don't be too lazy. After all, it's wartime now. The Ministry of Military Affairs can't keep up with the losses of the whole army. You have to put in more effort yourself and not just wait for the higher-ups to replenish your ranks."

Lin Zhiyuan immediately understood what Ren Huasheng meant.

"Please rest assured, Minister Ren, I will do my best to avoid troubling my superiors with things I can do myself."

"Okay, that's settled then."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Zhiyuan said, "Chief of Staff Guan, you heard everything. We must do our best to solve the problems our superiors face."

"Yes, sir!" Guan Jianchu stood at attention. "So, should each regiment recruit on its own, or should the brigade headquarters conduct the recruitment?"

"Let the director of the political department coordinate with the local governments so that after the new recruits are recruited, the training department will conduct basic training and then they will be assigned to the various regiments."

"Personnel should be assigned to the 511th and 512th Regiments to command and train them, and they should be reorganized as soon as possible according to the organizational methods of the other three regiments."

"Understood." Guan Jianchu nodded.

"Many company and platoon level officers are unable to command on the front line due to injuries, and I plan to transfer them to the training department to serve as instructors."

"You can arrange this as you see fit," Lin Zhiyuan said.

"However, each unit should convene a battle debriefing meeting as soon as possible, especially the demolition method used in the siege of Moling should be promoted to the entire army."

"We'll inevitably face many siege battles in the future. To minimize casualties, we need to develop a comprehensive set of tactics as soon as possible."

"During the siege, the company was divided into fire support groups, assault groups, demolition groups, and support groups. By using explosives to penetrate walls and through coordinated small-group operations, the enemy's defenses were broken through, thereby achieving encirclement and annihilation of the enemy piecemeal."

"Any suggestions from other soldiers are welcome to be put forward, and the General Staff will compile them into a book."

"yes!"

……

With the tacit approval of the Political Department and the Control Yuan turning a blind eye, the 404th Detachment was quickly replenished.

Especially after the content of the Central Broadcasting was disseminated, the people of the country knew the reputation of the 404th Detachment, and even a large number of young students came from other places to Luyang to join the army.

In less than half a month, the 404th Detachment recruited over 10,000 soldiers, and young people from all over the country continue to flock to the unit.

"Commander, all units are already at full strength, and the training department still has more than two thousand new recruits. What should we do now? The recruitment office has people shouting that they want to join the army every day."

Because there were too many new recruits, the training department only conducted political education and drill and service training for a week, while the remaining military training was left to each regiment to handle independently.

Looking at the stack of documents on the table, Lin Zhiyuan also felt a bit of a headache.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Zhiyuan slammed his hand on the table: "Expand the force!"

"Each infantry regiment was expanded from 3 infantry battalions to 4 infantry battalions."

"The brigade's directly subordinate guard battalion was expanded into a special operations regiment to carry out tasks such as guarding, reconnaissance, infiltration, and supervision."

"The supply battalion was expanded into a logistics support regiment, responsible for material transportation, medical rescue, and equipment maintenance."

"The priesthood's anti-aircraft battalion is being expanded into an anti-aircraft regiment, and a request is being made to add two more anti-aircraft machine gun companies."

"Submit another application to add an anti-tank artillery battalion, to be combined with the two Bofors Mountain artillery battalions into an artillery regiment."

Upon hearing Lin Zhiyuan's series of expansion proposals, Guan Jianchu said, "Expansion is easy to arrange, but light and heavy machine guns and mortars are not so easy to obtain. As for anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-tank guns, they are even more difficult to apply for."

Due to the relocation of factories in Xia State, production was limited, and many newly formed troops were not yet fully equipped with weapons. It would be difficult for the 404th Detachment to ask for more at this time.

Anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-tank guns are now all imported, and in even smaller quantities.

"Ask Minister Ren and my dad for help, they'll definitely have a solution." Lin Zhiyuan waved his hand, passing the trouble away.

The Lin family's seamless steel pipe factory could produce mortars. Although their performance was not as good as that of professional artillery steel, Lin Zhiyuan did not mind at all. These mortars did not fail during the decisive battle in Kyoto.

As for the issue of anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-tank guns, Lin Zhiyuan actually intended to fully meet those needs.

These weapons are still quite valuable at the moment. Lin Zhiyuan would be happy to have a batch of them, but if he didn't have any at all, it wouldn't matter.

However, to Lin Zhiyuan's surprise, Ren Huasheng's support was astonishing.

Not only were all the weapons Lin Zhiyuan wanted provided, but the expanded 404th Detachment was also incorporated into the regular organization, so Lin Zhiyuan no longer needed to worry about military pay and supplies.

In addition, Ren Huasheng added three more psychic to Lin Zhiyuan, bringing the total number of psychic platoons in the 404th Detachment to seven.

The 404th Detachment now has 2.5 personnel on paper, double the previous number, and this number is increasing every day.

……