Among the transportation lines in North China, the Zhengtai-Taiwan Railway occupies a very important position. This line starts from Shimen City in the east and ends in Taiyuan in the west. Not only does it cross the Taihang Mountains, but it is also the link connecting the Pinghan and Tongpu railways.
Because it connects two resource-rich provinces and the area it passes through is rich in coal, iron and other strategic materials, it has become one of the important strategic transportation lines.
In order to improve the efficiency of plundering resources, the Japanese also renovated and built some road sections.
Once Zhengtai Road is destroyed, it will be extremely difficult for the First Army in Shanxi to replenish supplies and plunder strategic materials.
In order to ensure that this lifeline can remain healthy, many arrangements have been made in Xiaoli. In addition to the railway patrol, a large number of gun towers and bunkers were also built in the surrounding area.
There are also heavy troops stationed at the stations along the line and they are heavily guarded.
However, even with such a dangerous railway, the straight-line distance from Liujia Village, where the New Second Regiment is currently based, is only over 70 kilometers.
Even because of the cage policy, the Japanese have been steadily advancing to expand their occupied areas based on the railway. As a result, the situation around the New Second Regiment has been very bad recently. The nearest squadron is now less than thirty kilometers away.
If it weren't for Li Yunlong knowing that he couldn't mess around on the eve of the war, and the headquarters also issued a clear order for all units to stop all non-essential military activities.
Otherwise, with his character of not taking any chances, he would have been unable to resist taking a battalion of soldiers to meet these new Japs for a while.
After receiving detailed campaign instructions, Commander Li couldn't help but be a little shocked by the headquarters' determination and generosity.
Not only were multiple forces launching an attack at the same time, but there was also the slogan "Leave not a single rail, not a single sleeper, not a single bridge."
In order not to delay the headquarters' plan, after completing the reconnaissance and investigation mission, the New Second Regiment immediately began intensive training.
The soldiers' focus was mainly on attacking fortresses and breaking roads. After all, the regiment had only been established for less than two months. For new recruits, this type of combat has never been experienced before.
Just as the soldiers were training in a hurry, a brigade correspondent on horseback came from a distance. As he approached the village entrance, the comrade announced his home address.
It is worth mentioning that he did not dismount at the entrance of the village like the previous correspondents. Instead, while ensuring safety, he ran all the way towards the command room of the New Second Regiment.
Li Yunlong, who heard the commotion, walked out of the regimental command room. The correspondent dismounted in front of him and handed Li Yunlong a document package.
Before the confused Captain Li could ask his question, the correspondent turned back to his horse and said to him: "Captain Li! This is the confidential document that the brigade commander asked me to hand over to you! I still have official business to attend to. I won’t talk to you anymore, take care of yourself!”
After he returned to the command room, Zhao Gang immediately came over, his face full of curiosity.
"What kind of thing is this? It's such a big move. The comrade just now didn't even take a sip of water, so he was in such a hurry."
Although he hasn't opened the package of documents yet, Lao Li, who is experienced in conducting, already had his own guess. As he opened the package, he said to his partner:
"The operation is about to begin. I think this is most likely a newly drawn map by the headquarters. For such a large operation, it would be more or less unstable if our group's self-made map is used."
"Based on my understanding of the vice president, he must have sent someone to do this when he was making preliminary arrangements."
This time Li Yunlong's experience was still very powerful, and his guess was absolutely correct.
In order to improve combat efficiency, the vice president ordered the surveying and mapping office at the headquarters to produce a new map during the mission formulation stage.
The comrades put a lot of effort into this. Based on the intelligence obtained by the enemy's engineering department, they first drew a sketch of the enemy's situation by hand.
Then, based on the sketch, the information provided by the Military Region Intelligence Office was repeatedly verified. They even have to risk their lives and go to individual areas for on-the-spot inspections.
After half a month of hard work, they completed the task perfectly and provided these three maps to the headquarters.
In order to allow all troops in the military region to effectively grasp the enemy's situation, the mapping office used the printing shop of the Logistics Department to color-print the two maps, marking the distribution of the Japanese in obvious red.
After opening the document package, Li Yunlong took out a kraft paper bag. Inside the bag were a "Map of the Military Equipment of the Surrounding Enemy Forces", an "Enemy Situation Map" and a contour map.
The printing unit marked on the left side of the map is "Produced by the Mapping Office of the Staff Office of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army, General Bureau of Land Survey, General Staff Headquarters"
Commander Li sighed when he saw such an exquisite military map, and was even reluctant to touch it with his hands.
The "Map of Military Equipment of the Surrounding Enemy Forces" labels the airports, automobile factories, repair shops, tank warehouses, hospitals, power plants, coal mines, and iron mines of the First Army stationed in Shanxi.
The "Enemy Situation Map" annotated the distribution of Japanese troops, ranging from large regiments to small detachments. Of course, the puppet troops were not left behind, and some cities even marked the number of expatriates.
The contour map has been updated on the original basis to prevent the situation of seeing mountains as rivers.
Zhao Gang on the side looked at Li Yunlong who was almost crying, and he shook his head helplessly.
"These maps are indeed excellent, but you're not so hopeless, right? I've told you many times that you can learn how to draw maps with me when you have time."
Cartography has always been a technical job, requiring a high level of geographical knowledge on the part of the producer.
Originally this job was to be left to the regimental staff, but now the chief of staff of the new second regiment is still Zhang Dabiao. Those five big and three thick looks don't look like someone who can draw a map.
At present, the division headquarters is not rich enough to assign a staff officer with drawing ability to each regiment. And the Eighth Route Army, unlike the Japanese or the Preserved Fruit Army, can take a photo.
Before Zhao Gang arrived, the maps of the New Second Regiment were all transferred from the brigade headquarters.
Although Captain Li Da is a genius at reading pictures and can understand any picture without any foundation, his only ability is somewhat poor.
It was as if the brain and the hands were not of the same person, and the drawings would be messed up every time, but he could still understand it.
Zhao Gang complained many times, but Li Yunlong retorted every time:
"The division's staff is only at this level. It doesn't matter whether it's a white cat or a black cat. If it can catch mice, it's a good cat. It's my ability to understand and learn to draw! I'll do it next time!"
In response to his partner's teasing, Captain Li waved his hand indifferently. He pointed at several locations on the map with his fingers and said:
"This mission is really not easy. It is comparable to the most difficult operations I have ever participated in."
Zhao Gang nodded. He felt a little unsure. After all, it was his first time to experience a mission involving more than 20 regiments. So the two called three battalion commanders and had a heated discussion in the conference room.
Near 12 noon, everyone came out of the command room and went to the cooking class to have lunch. Before going out, Li Yunlong looked back at the map and said with emotion:
"The map issued by our headquarters is not inferior to the Japanese military map! We are so much stronger this time, we must smash the Japanese blockade!"
It’s a good day today, I’m still writing
(End of chapter)
