As soon as the battle in northwestern Shanxi ended, the two columns of the 129th Division heading north immediately withdrew to southeastern Shanxi.
Headquarters.
Commander Liu and Brigadier Chen are reporting gains and losses to the head of the headquarters.
The losses of both columns were very small, and of course the gains were not much. After all, the main task this time was to deter the Japanese.
If you dare to support the 36th Division, then I will beat you. If you don't support northwest Shanxi, then I won't beat you.
Although several battles were fought, the scale was small and the time was relatively short, and they always gained the upper hand.
"The power of this 150mm howitzer is so powerful. It explodes into a large area. The 37th Division was so beaten by us that it cowered in Yangquan and did not dare to come out."
Brigadier Chen pushed up his glasses and sounded happy at first, then sighed: "It's a pity that there are only two guns and not many shells."
As soon as he said this, Commander Liu suddenly became a little unhappy: "Your 386th Brigade still has two large-caliber heavy artillery. I, the division commander, don't even have one large-caliber heavy artillery."
Li Yunlong handed over a total of 21 large-caliber howitzers to the headquarters, and the boss used these large-caliber howitzers to form a heavy artillery regiment.
This heavy artillery regiment is directly under the headquarters and has nothing to do with the division commander.
In addition, Li Yunlong gave the brigade commander two large-caliber heavy artillery pieces, so Li Yunlong only had 19 150mm howitzers in his hands.
This was a gift from Li Yunlong to the brigade commander. Although the division commander was greedy, he couldn't reach out to fight against the autumn wind. After all, Li Yunlong and the brigade commander were no longer superiors and subordinates, and these two large-caliber howitzers were not captured in combat.
The brigade commander said: "Commander, this time you lead the troops north to attack Taiyuan. Didn't the boss give you five large-caliber howitzers?"
"I was given five large-caliber howitzers." The division commander glanced at the boss and said, "The Japanese and puppet army's defense line collapsed before the large-caliber howitzers were put to use. Before the battle was over, the large-caliber howitzers were returned. ”
The brigade commander smiled and said: "That's not bad. This time, division commander, you are commanding five artillery regiments to fight. I, Chen Geng, have never fought such a rich battle in my eight lives."
"Your 386th Brigade is not bad either." The division commander nodded, "There are four artillery regiments, although there are two artillery regiments in northwestern Shanxi."
This time Li Yunlong made a fortune again, and he must have made money from large-caliber heavy artillery.
The division commander thought that it was time to send a telegram to Li Yunlong. It would be unkind for Li Yunlong to send only large-caliber heavy artillery to the brigade commander and not the division commander.
Southeast Shanxi is now completely under the control of the Eighth Route Army.
The Japanese and puppet troops in several counties in southeastern Shanxi were either driven away or annihilated.
The Baijin Railway was almost paralyzed, the Taiyue Military Region and the Taihang Military Region were connected, and the 129th Division became stronger and stronger.
The main force has exceeded 100,000, and the militia and guerrillas also have nearly 100,000 reserves.
Huangyadong Arsenal has opened several branches and has grown to a scale of nearly 10,000 employees.
The chief of staff looked at the division commander: "How many rounds of artillery shells with a caliber above 75 mm did your division consume this time?"
The division commander replied: "There are 180 guns in 5 artillery regiments. Each gun fired an average of 10 rounds, which is 1,800 rounds."
At that time, the division commander wanted to quickly advance to the vicinity of the Fenhe Plain to achieve the strategic purpose of deterring the main force of the Japanese army in Taiyuan.
Therefore, five artillery regiments were directly ordered to bombard the Japanese and puppet army's defense line in clusters.
The effect was also obvious. After a wave of shelling, the infantry rushed forward, and the Japanese and puppet army's defense line collapsed.
The brigade commander also said: "My two artillery regiments also fired 1,000 rounds of artillery shells."
"That's the problem." The chief of staff worried: "We don't have a production line for artillery shells with a caliber above 75 mm. We can't replenish the shells we fired."
The boss nodded and said: "In future battles, try to use the Type 92 infantry artillery. When you are chewing hard bones, use mountain artillery and howitzers to save shells."
Compared with mountain artillery and howitzers, the Type 92 infantry artillery has a complete production line for artillery and shells, and can produce 80 infantry artillery pieces per month.
The division commander sighed: "It would be great if there were production lines for 75mm artillery shells and 105mm caliber artillery shells. Then, we can open up to fight!"
"We can't do it ourselves." The brigade commander shook his head, "We can only see if Li Yunlong can do it."
At this moment, a telegraph operator wearing an Eighth Route Army uniform walked in with a stack of telegrams in his hand and gave a military salute:
"Report to the chief, a new telegram!"
Several leaders looked at the telegraph operator with a change of expression.
"give it to me."
The chief of staff took the telegram from the telegraph operator, and the telegraph operator immediately turned and left.
Then the chief of staff picked up the telegram and read it.
The content of the telegram is exactly the casualties of the new regiment, the killing and capture of the Japanese and puppet troops, and the gains from business.
Our side suffered 3,500 casualties.
More than 13,000 Japanese and puppet troops were killed and captured.
A total of more than 5,000 guns, about 1.8 million rounds of bullets, and about 20,000 grenades were seized (the seizures in northern Shanxi are included here).
The transaction price is 1,292 machine guns, 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition, and 24 150mm howitzers...
The chief of staff read the telegram while reading it.
The telegram only contained statistics on casualties, kills and captures. As for the specific battle details, they were too long and could only be written by the staff of the new regiment and then sent to the headquarters by the communications corps.
Listening to the chief of staff's words, the eyes of several leaders became a little hot.
"This kid Li Yunlong has really made a fortune this time!"
After the chief of staff finished reading, the brigade commander smiled, but he felt it was a pity in his heart that I couldn't congratulate this boy on getting rich.
Apart from anything else, what is the concept of these nearly 1,300 machine guns?
At the beginning, Chiang Kai-shek spent a lot of money to buy 200 20mm machine guns from Germany. Because of the victory at Pingxingguan, he only allocated 20 machine guns to the Eighth Route Army.
If Lao Jiang knew about this, Lao Jiang would be jealous!
Of course, the brigade commander knew in his heart that machine guns were just a quantitative word, and could also be replaced by the same number of 82 mortars, bazookas and other weapons.
However, this number is already terrifying, and it is a strategic weapon that can change the situation of the war.
"Li Yunlong really made a lot of money in this battle." The division commander also felt a pity that he could not defeat Li Yunlong's autumn wind.
The boss laughed and said: "It seems that I want to congratulate Li Yunlong on getting rich!"
The chief of staff also crossed his arms and nodded and said: "I have to say that this battle was really beautiful. Although the Japanese 36th Division was not completely wiped out, the 36th Division was basically destroyed."
"But..." Immediately afterwards, the chief of staff said with a worried tone, "Li Yunlong severely damaged a Japanese division this time and killed another Japanese lieutenant general. I am afraid that the Japanese army will not give up. Next, they will definitely mobilize heavy troops to carry out the raids. Northwest Shanxi."
Speaking of this, the boss, division commander and brigade commander all stopped smiling.
The very real problem is that although the new regiment won the battle, they captured a lot of money in this battle and made a lot of money in business.
But the gap between the entire Eighth Route Army and the entire Japanese army is still like a chasm.
Next, the base area in northern Shanxi will definitely suffer crazy revenge from the Japanese army.
The boss snorted and said: "The little Japs want to eat Li Yunlong and Xin Yituan, I'm afraid they don't have good teeth yet!"
"The Japanese army wants to get a new regiment." The division commander expressed his position. "First, you have to ask me, the 129th Division, if I will agree!"
The brigade commander also said: "Our 386th Brigade will never agree!"
The division commander looked at the brigade commander: "Isn't your 386th Brigade a troop of our 129th Division?"
"Commander, this is not important." The brigade commander said fiercely, "The Japanese army dares to gather heavy troops to sweep northwestern Shanxi, then we will lead the army north to attack Taiyuan, or simply lead the army to northwestern Shanxi to help Li Yunlong relieve the siege."
The boss nodded: "Now Li Yunlong is the God of Wealth of our entire Eighth Route Army. Anyone can get into trouble, but Li Yunlong can't get into trouble!"
"I suggest." The chief of staff crossed his arms and said while looking thoughtful, "On the one hand, we can ask Li Yunlong to hand over less weapons and ammunition for the seizure and business this time, leaving it to the New Regiment and the Independent Group. regiment and the New Second Regiment, ordering them to step up preparations to deal with the Japanese retaliation. On the other hand, our main force in southeastern Shanxi increased the harassment of Zhengtai Road to slow down the Japanese army's mobilization of combat supplies and troops. At the same time, our main force in northwest Shanxi Troops also stepped up their raids on the Tongpu Railway, and troops from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region stepped up their raids on the Pingsui Railway."
The boss nodded in agreement: "The 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition do not need to be handed over to the headquarters. Let Li Yunlong replace all of them with American equipment. Half of them will be given to the main force of the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment. Half of the machine guns and large-caliber howitzers will still be handed over. To the headquarters, as for attacking the Japs’ railways… I think we shouldn’t make small fuss, and simply carry out a major attack to completely paralyze the Japs’ railway transportation lines.”
…
New regiment headquarters.
The Eight Immortals' table is filled with good wine and delicious food.
Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong Jie, Zhao Gang, Xing Zhiguo and Wang Dehou were sitting around the Eight Immortals table.
Today the army held a celebration banquet, and Zhao Gang also gave Li Yunlong permission to drink some wine, but not too much.
After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.
Ding Wei then said: "Old Li, this time we killed another lieutenant general division commander and severely damaged the Japanese 36th Division. The Japanese army will definitely retaliate against us wildly. Do you have any plans?"
"That's right, maybe the Japanese army will send out the Class A division to deal with us." Kong Jie said in a worried tone, "We have to prepare early!"
The combat effectiveness of the Japanese A-type divisions is not comparable to that of second-line divisions like the 36th Division.
When the Japanese army attacked Shanxi, it only used half of the 5th Division's main force of more than 20,000 Japanese troops to penetrate almost the entire Shanxi.
Speaking of the Japanese Army's Class A Division, Li Yunlong rarely cursed and despised the Japanese, but spoke solemnly: "Before attacking the 36th Division, I had already thought about this. We Lao Li killed 4 major generals and 4 Japanese generals. Among them, Lieutenant General, the Japs will probably mobilize their ace troops to deal with us."
"But..." Li Yunlong sneered and said, "Don't tell me yet, we, Old Li, really want to have a try with the little devil's Class A division to see whether the little devil's bushido is better or our sword-sharp spirit and American equipment is tougher.”
(End of chapter)
