Li Yunlong is a resolute character.
But he was in a tangle at the moment.
What Commander Li was struggling with was that an air support consisted of a fleet of 30 bombers and 10 fighter jets.
The advantage is that if used properly, it can kill a Japs regiment at a time, and it can also kill a Japs brigade at a minimum.
The disadvantage is that it is disposable and is gone after use.
The last time air support was called was during the NSW campaign in late August.
At present, the new regiment has another chance to call for air support, which will be more than two months later.
If exchanged for four 203mm heavy howitzers, the disadvantage is that the quantity is a bit small, and there is a high probability that two more will have to be handed over to the headquarters.
If the price is 12 203mm heavy howitzers, Li Yunlong would choose the 203mm heavy howitzers without hesitation.
The advantage of exchanging the 203mm heavy howitzer is that it can continue to fight, and even if the heavy howitzer is destroyed by the enemy during combat, Boss Chen will reimburse it.
Therefore, the disadvantage of redeeming air support is one-time, but the benefits are huge.
The advantages and disadvantages of exchanging heavy howitzers are the small quantity and small short-term benefits, but the benefits are sustainable. In the long term, the benefits are not small and stable.
"Tell me, if we kill Major General Saburo Miura, should we replace it with air support or four howitzers?"
Li Yunlong, who had always been decisive, didn't know what to choose at this time, so he looked at Zhao Gang, Wang Dehou and Xing Zhiguo and asked:
"Let's all discuss it and speak freely. Our Eighth Route Army values military democracy."
When he said this, Li Yunlong's face did not turn red, and his heart did not beat. He even picked up the bowl and took a sip of water.
Zhao Gang, Wang Dehou and Xing Zhiguo smiled slightly. They all knew that Li Yunlong must be in trouble. If he wanted to exchange something, he would just decide it himself. Why would he ask the three of them for their opinions?
Zhao Gang said: "My opinion is that in exchange for 4 B4 heavy howitzers, don't we have another air support? How about replacing 4 heavy howitzers this time?"
Wang Dehou nodded and said: "I agree with Political Commissar Zhao's opinion."
Li Yunlong nodded, then looked at Xing Zhiguo and asked, "Old Xing, what's your opinion?"
"I agree with the opinions of Political Commissar Zhao and Chief of Staff Wang." Xing Zhiguo said, "However, since you are confused about what to choose, Commander, I have a way to get the best of both worlds."
Li Yunlong hurriedly asked: "What can we do?"
Even Zhao Gang and Chief of Staff Wang looked at Xing Zhiguo with expectation.
"Captain, don't you want to fight Datong?"
Xing Zhiguo smiled slightly and said:
"The ones stationed in Datong are the remnants of the Japanese 3rd Brigade. Although the 3rd Brigade has been crippled by us, the leader of the 3rd Brigade still has the rank of major general."
"As long as we kill the commander of the 3rd Brigade, won't we have one more option?"
"At that time, regimental commander, whether you want to choose 8 heavy howitzers or two air supports, or 4 heavy howitzers and one air support, it will be no problem."
When Li Yunlong heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up slightly.
Yes, there is a major general in Datong. If you kill him, won't you have one more option?
Li Yunlong then asked: "Is the commander of the 3rd Brigade still the same Japanese named Masao Miyazaki?"
"It's not him anymore," Wang Dehou said. "After the battle at Baozi Mountain, the old devil Miyazaki Masao was dismissed from his post. He is now the deputy chief of staff of the First Army."
Li Yunlong asked again: "Who is the leader of the 3rd Brigade now?"
After defeating the 36th Division, Li Yunlong led his troops to rescue Chu Yunfei and wiped out the 3rd Brigade. Li Yunlong no longer paid attention to the 3rd Brigade.
Wang Dehou replied: "It seems to be called meeting Yin Sanxiong again. I don't know where he was transferred from."
"I remember." Li Yunlong's eyes revealed a look of reminiscence, "Back when I led my troops from Heyuan County to rescue Chu Yunfei, I fought against the old devil Zhongjian Yin Sanxiong."
Speaking of this, Wang Dehou, Zhao Gang and Xing Zhiguo all laughed.
Li Yunlong never made a loss-making business, and that battle was no exception.
Not only did they defeat the 3rd Brigade, they also captured a mountain artillery brigade, a large amount of supplies, and more than 200 mule carts.
Made a small fortune.
And if Li Yunlong hadn't arrived in time, the 358th Regiment of the Jinsui Army would have been in danger and might have been eaten by the 3rd Brigade.
After finishing speaking, Li Yunlong's eyes showed a fierce light and he said in a serious voice: "I have to decide whether to see Yin Sanxiong's head again, even if Amaterasu comes, it won't work."
Let’s kill this Japanese major general first. As for whether we want to change to B4 heavy howitzer or air support, we will wait until the goods are received.
But first, they had to wait for the Sword Squadron to send back the information and then formulate a battle plan before they could attack Datong.
After a pause, Li Yunlong added: "Everyone happens to be here today, and we happen to be holding a party committee discussion meeting."
"What's the discussion?"
Zhao Gang, Xing Zhiguo and Wang Dehou were sitting on the Kang or on stools.
Li Yunlong said: "Let's discuss the future development of the New Regiment and the construction of the northern Shanxi base area."
"Let's talk about the development of the new group first."
"This time we defeated the 10th Division and forced the 10th Division to retreat, which led to the failure of the Japanese army's raid on our base in northwestern Shanxi."
"A total of 2,000 tons of weapons and ammunition and 2,000 tons of food were obtained."
"1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition are to be handed over to the headquarters. There is nothing to say about this."
Everyone nodded. The main force of the 129th Division has been operating in the southeastern Shanxi base area for several years. The southeastern Shanxi base area is relatively stable.
Moreover, starting after the battle at Cangyunling last year, the Japanese raids on the base areas in southeastern Shanxi have not been successful. Instead, the Eighth Route Army has regained those counties in southeastern Shanxi that were occupied by the Japanese.
The stability of the base area means stable grain production, so the headquarters hardly needs to ask Li Yunlong to hand over grain to the headquarters.
Although the main force of the 129th Division in southeast Shanxi also needs food, in comparison, the New Regiment and northwest Shanxi need food more.
"Of the other 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition, I decided to take out 500 tons and distribute them to the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment."
"What do you think?"
After this battle, Li Yunlong really felt that the new group was somewhat wealthy.
The spare weapons of the new regiment are the equipment of 3,000 infantrymen, plus the 500 tons of weapons and ammunition earned from the business of defeating the Japanese 36th Division, which have not yet been equipped to the troops.
This means that there are currently about 10,000 American firearms in the Xinyi Regiment's warehouse, including spare weapons and the 500 tons of weapons and ammunition earned last time.
The spare weapons of 3,000 guns are not used for the time being. Even if Ding Wei and Kong Jie are given a total of 500 tons of weapons and ammunition, Li Yunlong still has 1,000 tons of American weapons to expand the army.
1,000 tons of American equipment can expand the main force to 15,000 men.
Zhao Gang said happily: "Old Li, I found that your ideological problem of standardism has disappeared under my ideological and political education. I have no objection to giving weapons and ammunition to the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment."
"I have no objection either."
"I have no objection either."
Xing Zhiguo and Wang Dehou also expressed their opinions.
"What do you mean by that?" Li Yunlong felt a little unhappy when he heard it. "When did we, Mr. Li, have egoistic ideas? Have you forgotten how I criticized you when you first joined the new regiment?"
"Let's get back to business. Now our new regiment has about 20,000 troops. Boss Chen will reimburse us for weapons and ammunition, so that we can return to the pre-war scale of more than 25,000 people." Zhao Gang did not want to compete with Li Yunlong in terms of sectionalism. No more nonsense, you, Li Yunlong, don’t have a sense of individualism, don’t you have no idea in your heart?
Zhao Gang continued: "This time, 500 tons of weapons and ammunition were given to the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment. The only weapons and ammunition we can expand are 1,000 tons, which is enough weapons and ammunition to expand the main force of 15,000."
"Then the main force of our new regiment will reach... 40,000 people."
Speaking of this, Zhao Gang couldn't help but his breathing became stagnant, and his eyes gradually became fiery.
The ones whose eyes also turned fiery were Xing Zhiguo, Wang Dehou, and Captain Li Da, who was sitting cross-legged on the kang.
"Oh my God, 40,000 people!" Wang Dehou couldn't help but exclaimed.
A main reinforcement group of the Eighth Route Army only has more than 2,000 people.
The size of the regiment is as large as the 358th Regiment of the Jinsui Army, with a total of more than 5,000 personnel.
In the original drama, the independent regiment led by Li Yunlong had a total of tens of thousands of main troops and militiamen at the peak of their attack on Ping'an County.
In fact, some of the Eighth Route Army units, the more powerful units, had grown to tens of thousands of soldiers in the late stages of the Anti-Japanese War.
For example, an old Red Army veteran named Liao Rongbiao was sent to Shandong behind enemy lines. He recruited 60 student soldiers in one month, and the team had 6,000 soldiers in three months, and he also fought many beautiful battles.
It’s okay not to accept it.
Boss Chen's support, if it weren't for Li Yunlong's support for the brothers' troops, the new regiment would have exceeded 100,000 people, with nearly 20 artillery regiments.
As we all know, the more troops a new regiment has, the stronger its combat effectiveness will be.
Maybe the new group now has a size of hundreds of thousands.
Xing Zhiguo also had a smile on his face: "Based on the fact that there are three divisions in an army, and a full division is about 10,000 people, and an army is only 30,000 people, our regiment has more troops than an elite army of the national army!"
Above the army, there are also formations such as legions, front armies and group armies.
Li Yunlong smiled slightly: "Although our designation is still the same regiment, the army is also a regiment."
Zhao Gang quickly regained his composure: "We will expand the main force to more than 15,000 people at once. There is a serious shortage of company and battalion-level officers and grassroots officers. If we expand blindly, I am afraid it will affect the combat effectiveness of the army."
From 1937 to 1940, the Eighth Route Army followed the highest instructions, entered the mountains and sneaked into the plains, and united the masses to launch guerrilla warfare against the Japanese.
】
In just a few years, the army has rapidly grown from tens of thousands to more than 400,000.
However, due to the rapid development of the Eighth Route Army's troops and the shortage of weapons and ammunition, many soldiers have not even received decent shooting training, which is not conducive to the improvement of the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness.
Of course, after the new regiment expands, there will be no shortage of weapons and ammunition, and there will also be enough training ammunition.
What Zhao Gang is worried about is that due to the lack of experienced officers, the combat effectiveness of the troops has not been improved, and problems of one kind or another have even occurred.
"I will ask the headquarters for instructions on officer matters." Li Yunlong raised his head and said: "We handed over 1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition, a tank battalion and 4 heavy howitzers, and the head of the headquarters is still not allowed to assign officers to me. It's still hard to do this these days. Are you going to let others pass?"
