When Li Yunlong returned to Zhaojiayu Village, he called Xing Zhiguo and Zhao Gang to learn about the construction progress of the airport, grain depot and highway.
Xing Zhiguo said: "The construction period of the airport is coming to an end. During this period, Boss Chen came to inspect it personally and even airdropped camouflage lawns."
Zhaojiayu Village Airport is built to be larger than Yangcun Airport.
With the engineering company led by Xing Zhiguo and the hard work of thousands of militiamen and ordinary people, it took more than half a month to finally repair the airport.
Li Yunlong looked satisfied. When doing business with Brother Chen, he was open and honest, and the after-sales service was also excellent.
Zhao Gang continued: "One grain depot has been built, and the second one is being built. Each large grain depot can hold 500 tons of grain, and each small grain depot can hold 100 tons of grain. It is expected to build five large grain depots and 10 small grain depots.”
"What about the road between the airport and the grain depot?" Li Yunlong asked, "When will it be repaired?"
"It will take at least half a month." Zhao Gang said.
"Roads and airports must be repaired as soon as possible." Li Yunlong said, "When the food is put into the warehouse, the stone in my heart will be settled. In addition, the 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition can be delivered to your door as soon as possible."
"That's right." Li Yunlong asked Zhao Gang, "Did Brother Chen give you enough materials?"
"It's enough for now." Zhao Gang nodded and replied, "Not only cement was given, but also steel bars and other materials were given. There are sufficient materials for repairing the grain depot."
These materials were all discussed with Chen Feng before Li Yunlong went out to do his side business and got them on credit from Chen Feng.
Chen Feng continued to arrange airdrops these days, and Zhao Gang organized manpower to build a grain warehouse using these materials.
During this period, cement and steel were strategic materials, and even the Japanese were in short supply.
Li Yunlong said: "Also, the villages where we have troops stationed must build air-raid shelters as soon as possible."
At present, the air raid shelters for 12 heavy artillery pieces at the shooting range in the back mountain of Zhaojiayu Village have been repaired, and all the heavy artillery pieces have been moved in.
But the human bomb shelters have not yet been repaired.
On the contrary, the militiamen and ordinary people dug some tunnels in the village, but Li Yunlong looked at those tunnels and found that it was still difficult to withstand aerial bombs.
What Li Yunlong wants to build is the kind of tunnel that can withstand aerial bombs. It needs to be built with cement and steel bars.
"Okay!" Zhao Gang nodded, "I will implement this as soon as possible. Each village will organize militiamen and ordinary people to build air-raid shelters."
Although the Japs' aerial bombs are very precious, the current threat posed by the New Regiment to the Japs is still high.
If the Japs were allowed to obtain the village where the headquarters of the new regiment and battalion or above was located, the Japs would most likely send out fighter jets and bombers to wipe the village off the map.
At this time, the existence of air raid shelters is very important.
Li Yunlong added: "In addition, the work of recruiting troops can begin. I will personally handle this task."
At present, the Eighth Route Army's reputation in northwest Shanxi is completely established.
The common people all know that the newly arrived Eighth Route Army is a team capable of winning battles.
At this time, we should strike while the iron is hot and launch a recruitment campaign, otherwise we will have to start over again when the people's freshness wears off.
Zhao Gang, Xing Zhiguo and Wang Dehou all looked happy.
The new group is finally about to expand!
The expansion of the new group this time is different from the past.
In the past, the maximum number of expansions was 2,000 people. Although the expansions were all militia, the expansions each time were not too many.
Of course, even if the number of troops is not too large, it is all relative.
In other units of the Eighth Route Army, many regiment-level units do not even have 2,000 men, while the new regiment can be expanded to as few as 1,000 men or as many as 2,000 men each time.
This time, the number of people will be expanded to 15,000.
The airport is about to be repaired, and the weapons and ammunition are about to be in place. We can start recruiting troops first.
Xing Zhiguo asked excitedly: "Captain, how do you plan to expand?"
With the expansion of 15,000 men, the total strength of the new regiment will exceed 20,000.
Li Yunlong pointed at the map and said: "Our current territory is mainly concentrated in the three counties of Heyuan County, Anhua County and Ping'an County, and we have just conquered these three counties, making our territory connected into one, so I plan to The original county brigade was changed to the new regiment teaching camp, and the newly recruited 15,000 troops were temporarily divided into seven divisions according to the territory, with about 2,000 people in each division, so as to facilitate management. "
Zhao Gang revealed his eyes and said in thought: "In this way, each division is at the regiment level, but to expand the strength of seven regiments at once, in addition to the seven chief officers and instructors, a large number of company, platoon, and squad officers are also needed."
The regiment level he mentioned refers to the size, not the actual expansion of seven regiments.
Because the new regiment is at the regiment level, the expanded division naturally cannot be at the regiment level. Although the number of troops exceeds that of the regiment, it can only reach the battalion level at the highest.
"Company, platoon and squad officers were removed from the main battalions." Li Yunlong tapped his fingers on the kang table and said.
Li Yunlong had previously established a county brigade, which was the instructor of the new regiment that was about to be established, so that the new regiment had a steady stream of talents.
The soldiers in the main battalion are all experienced in many battles. If you take any soldier out and put him in the divisional unit, he can be qualified to serve as a squad leader.
The squad leader can be qualified as the platoon leader, the platoon leader can be qualified as the company commander, and the company commander can be qualified as the battalion commander.
Li Yunlong at company level and below can be directly appointed, but the candidates for chief officers and instructors need to be reported to their superiors for approval.
"What about the candidates for the division chief and instructor?" Xing Zhiguo asked.
Li Yunlong's eyes revealed as he pondered: "District commanders and instructors...we will choose a few from our own troops. For other candidates, we can request support from the headquarters."
After all, we have to manage more than 2,000 people, and ordinary cadres are not good enough. We need cadres with strong capabilities.
With the headquarters' support for the new regiment, and the 9 heavy artillery pieces and 9 anti-aircraft guns that Li Yunlong is about to hand over, the headquarters should not refuse.
Li Yunlong can provide food and guns, but he needs these troops to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible to counter the upcoming Japanese revenge raids.
However, the advantage of the new regiment is that the Japanese only know that there is only one regiment in this area.
When the Japanese moved out to eliminate the strength of one regiment and sweep away the base area of the new regiment, more than 20,000 elite Eighth Route Army troops suddenly appeared in the new regiment's territory.
That scene must be exciting.
…
Taiyuan.
Over Wusu Airport.
An L2D transport plane emerged from the clouds, its nose sank, and flew towards Wusu Airport.
Not long after, the L2D transport plane slowly stopped on the runway of Wusu Airport.
Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Kazuki Yamamoto and others, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly stepped forward to greet them.
Several Japanese airport ground staff set up a ladder at the door of the plane.
The hatch opened with a clang, and a figure wearing the rank of lieutenant general appeared at the hatch of the transport plane.
He is Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu, who succeeded Yoshio Shinozuka as commander of the First Army.
Yoshio Iwamatsu has a Chinese character face, with a delicate beard under his chin and nose. His expression and eyes reveal the usual coldness of senior Japanese military officers.
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However, this is just the appearance of Yoshio Iwamatsu.
In fact, he was very panicked now.
Originally, due to Yoshio Shinozuka's poor command, the Japanese First Army suffered heavy losses. The base camp asked him to succeed Yoshio Shinozuka as the commander of the First Army.
But Yoshio Shinozuka is unwilling to retire in disgrace and wants to make a big splash before retiring.
You said you wanted to engage the Eighth Route Army. Going to engage the Central Army in Zhongtiao Mountain gave the Eighth Route Army the opportunity to attack Taiyuan.
The Eighth Route Army also took this opportunity to capture Taiyuan and killed the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka.
Because of this incident, the base camp was outraged. Commander Tada Shun of the North China Front was also implicated and ordered to retire. The person who succeeded Tada Shun as the commander of the North China Front was none other than Okamura Neiji, who had just been promoted to general.
Iwamatsu Yoshio came to Taiyuan to take over the post of commander of the First Army after several conversations with Okamura Neiji in the Iron Lion Alley of Peking.
"Your Excellency, Commander, I am Tadashi Kuribayashi, commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Mongolian Army!"
"Your Excellency, Commander, I am Agent Captain Yamamoto Kazuki!"
As soon as Iwamatsu Yoshio's feet touched the ground, Yamamoto Kazuki and Kuribayashi Tadamichi stepped forward and introduced themselves.
Behind Yoshio Iwamatsu, a group of close staff members, including Chief of Staff Hanatani Masayoshi of the First Army, also followed him and walked off the plane.
"Kuribayashi-kun, Yamamoto-kun!"
Yoshio Iwamatsu nodded.
"Your Excellency, Commander, please return to the headquarters!"
Yamamoto Kazuki raised his hands and said: "The Yamamoto Special Agent Team will provide you with protection throughout the entire process!"
"Yamamoto-kun, thank you for your hard work!"
Yoshio Iwamatsu and a group of staff members got into the car under the protection of Yamamoto's special agent team, and then headed towards the inner city of Taiyuan.
Although most of the original headquarters was damaged in the battle, the Japanese headquarters was rebuilt after the Japanese came to Taiyuan.
Seeing Kazuki Yamamoto's enthusiasm, Kuribayashi Tadamichi looked a little sideways. In his impression, Yamamoto Kazuki didn't seem like someone who liked to curry favor with his superiors.
However, Tadamichi Kuribayashi had no intention of being jealous of Kazuki Yamamoto. He and his First Cavalry Brigade were not originally affiliated with the First Army, and there was no need to please the new commander Yoshio Iwamatsu.
Yoshio Iwamatsu, who returned to the headquarters, asked Yamamoto Kazuki: "Yamamoto-kun, how many imperial troops are there in Taiyuan now?"
"General!" Kazuki Yamamoto replied respectfully, "Now there is the Yamamoto special agent team and the 1st Cavalry Brigade in Taiyuan, with a total of more than 5,700 imperial troops!"
"Nani? There are only more than 5,700 imperial troops in Taiyuan?"
Yoshio Iwamatsu's face darkened slightly. Taiyuan only had this few troops, and he felt very insecure.
You know, when Yoshio Shinozuka was in Taiyuan some time ago, the Japanese and puppet troops totaled more than 10,000 people, but the Eighth Route Army captured Taiyuan, and the commander of the First Army was killed.
Yoshio Iwamatsu does not want to follow in the footsteps of Yoshio Shinozuka.
"Hi!" Yamamoto Kazuki paused.
After Yoshio Shinozuka was killed and before Yoshio Iwamatsu took office, the First Army was in disarray.
Although there are still several divisions with troops, they are all in southern Shanxi. No one of those divisions dared to leave their respective stations easily without receiving transfer orders.
"Jun Huagu, immediately order the 41st Division, 14th Brigade and 18th Brigade of southern Shanxi to garrison in Taiyuan!"
Yoshio Iwamatsu ordered to Chief of Staff Hanatani Masaru.
Just after he took office in Taiyuan, Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu suffered from a phobia of insufficient troops.
