Then they made a clear investigation into the background of the Japanese and puppet troops in the three counties where the New Regiment was stationed.
Of course, the new group had just arrived and had not yet had time to plant informants in the county.
The reason why the Sharp Sword Squadron was able to obtain information so quickly was mainly because of the help of comrades from the local government and county committee.
In every county, there are underground party activities of the Eighth Route Army. The troops of the 120th Division were previously stationed in the county. There are even members of the Eighth Route Army among the puppet troops.
However, in order to ensure safety, the members of the Sword Squadron are very cautious.
Under Lu Yingjun's order, they all acted separately, and for the time being they did not tell local comrades about the upcoming attack on the county town.
Three nights later, in the inner room of the regiment headquarters.
Lu Yingjun reported to Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, and Wang Dehou.
Xing Zhiguo, on the other hand, continued to direct the construction of the airport, so he did not participate in Lu Yingjun's report.
Lu Yingjun said: "Report to the head of the delegation, the political commissar, and the chief of staff to find out clearly the defense situation of the three counties of Anhua, Ping'an and Heyuan."
"Tell me more about it."
Li Yunlong glanced at the map on the kang table.
"Yes!" Lu Yingjun pointed at the map and reported:
"The two county towns of Anhua and Ping'an have similar defensive forces. The defense forces in these two counties and their surrounding areas consist of a Japanese infantry squadron, a Japanese gendarmerie, and a puppet battalion, with a strength of about 800."
"The Japs guarding the county town are basically third-rate troops among the Japs, and their combat effectiveness is not very good."
"The combat effectiveness of the puppet army is even weaker. It was formerly a unit of the former Kuomintang security corps, and it is also a third-rate unit in the battle sequence of the national army."
Li Yunlong suddenly showed disdain.
The New Regiment did not even know how much the Japanese first-rate troops did, let alone a mere third-rate garrison.
In addition, the Kuomintang security group is also called the army?
In other words, the local militiamen of the Eighth Route Army were seriously short of weapons and ammunition. Otherwise, the local militiamen could have wiped out this group of puppet troops.
Of course, the combat capabilities of the third-rate Japanese troops and the third-rate national army are also very different.
Without heavy weapons, it would be difficult for the Eighth Route Army to capture a well-fortified county defended by third-rate Japanese troops and third-rate National Army troops.
However, the new group happened to have heavy weapons for attacking fortresses, and they were quite powerful.
"Where is Heyuan County?" Li Yunlong nodded and asked.
Lu Yingjun replied: "Heyuan County has more defensive troops. There are 2 Japanese squadrons, 1 Japanese gendarmerie, and a puppet army brigade, totaling more than 1,200 people."
Li Yunlong nodded. The geographical location of Heyuan County is relatively important, so the Japanese have more defensive troops. This is expected.
Next, Lu Yingjun reported some details about the defense of the Japanese and puppet troops, and drew the plan of each county wall and the streets and alleys in the city.
"Have you got the list of all the traitors in the county?" Li Yunlong then asked.
"We've got it." Lu Yingjun nodded and took out a stack of paper from his pocket, "The local guerrillas have formed an anti-traitor team. Here is a list of the traitors who have harmed the people in the county."
"Good work!" Li Yunlong took it and looked at it, nodded with satisfaction, and then handed the paper to Zhao Gang.
Zhao Gang took it and looked at it. Every piece of paper was filled with the names of traitors from various counties. Even the addresses were clearly written. After reading, he carefully put them away.
Those who betray the country for glory and work as lackeys for the Japanese will be killed without mercy.
Naturally, the money and food of the traitors must also be confiscated.
Then, Lu Yingjun took out several boxes of cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang and Wang Dehou respectively.
Zhao Gang immediately asked: "Lu Yingjun, you have thick eyebrows and big eyes, you also learned to smoke?"
Lu Yingjun smiled slightly: "I don't smoke, so I brought it to you specially."
He used to smoke a few occasionally, but since he became the captain of the Sword Squadron, he rarely smokes anymore.
"I won't smoke either." Zhao Gang said, "Give it to the regiment leader and Chief of Staff Wang."
However, Li Yunlong and Wang Dehou's eyes lit up slightly, and they immediately divided up the 6 boxes of cigarettes that Lu Yingjun took out.
Then Li Yunlong lit a match, lit one, took two puffs, and inhaled the smoke into his lungs. After a while, two streams of smoke spurted out from his nose, and he tasted it carefully.
"This cigarette tastes pretty good." Li Yunlong looked at Lu Yingjun and said, "Your pocket is like a small warehouse. Is there anything good left?"
"Captain, your vision is really accurate."
Lu Yingjun grinned and took out 2 bottles of wine from his pocket and placed them on the table:
"These cigarettes and wine are produced by cigarette factories and wineries in Heyuan County, and they taste pretty good."
Li Yunlong flicked the cigarette ashes skillfully with his fingers and narrowed his eyes: "Are these cigarette factories and wineries Chinese or Japanese?"
The base area was very poor, so it was time to develop some side businesses.
In addition, agriculture must be developed as soon as possible, and field hospitals and firearms repair shops must be established as soon as possible. In the future, high-end industries such as steel plants and arsenals will also be developed.
Lu Yingjun had already guessed that Li Yunlong would be interested in cigarette factories and wineries, so he had already investigated clearly.
"It is run and managed by the Chinese, but it is under the name of the Japs. Within a radius of one or two hundred kilometers, the cigarette factory and the winery are the only ones. The Japs will definitely not give up such huge profits to others."
"That's enough." Li Yunlong said with a happy expression: "After we capture Heyuan County, we will move the cigarette factory and winery back to the base area."
Then Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang offered a few words of encouragement, and Lu Yingjun saluted several people and left the regiment headquarters.
After Lu Yingjun left, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang and Wang Dehou began to formulate a combat plan overnight based on the intelligence provided by Lu Yingjun.
Early the next morning.
The battalion commanders and direct company commanders of the new regiment were urgently called to the regiment headquarters for a meeting.
Seeing this formation, all the battalion and company commanders guessed that there was probably going to be another war, and the smiles on their faces were just like the Chinese New Year.
The door to the outer room of the regiment is closed.
Martial law is enforced within ten meters around the regiment headquarters, and no one is allowed to approach.
Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang and Wang Dehou opened the door curtain and walked out of the inner room of the regiment headquarters one after another.
Li Yunlong glanced at everyone, and all the battalion and company commanders suddenly looked stern. They immediately put away the smiles on their faces and stopped talking to each other.
"The commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka, was killed by us."
"In addition, the regiment headquarters has received reliable information that Commander Tada Shun of the North China Front will soon be ordered to retire."
Li Yunlong glanced at everyone and then spoke.
Everyone knows that Yoshio Shinozuka was shot to death. After all, everyone has seen with their own eyes the corpse that was shaped like a jar and was beaten into a sieve.
Shun Tada was about to be ordered to retire from the Japanese army base camp, but no one knew that this was the latest news sent by Chen Feng.
Li Yunlong expected that Shun Tada would step down, but he did not expect it to be so soon.
"Captain, our target for this battle is that old devil Tada Shun?" Sun Desheng asked tentatively.
Except for the several main infantry battalion commanders, the other battalion and company commanders couldn't help but their eyes gleamed, but they shook their heads after thinking carefully.
Li Yunlong glared at Sun Desheng angrily and said: "What are you thinking about, you boy? To Jun Tada, how far is it from our place to Peiping? How long will the emergency march take? How many Japanese and puppet troops are there on the way?"
Sun Desheng lay on the map and studied it for a while, then twitched the corner of his mouth and said angrily: "The straight-line distance alone is more than 400 kilometers. Excuse me."
Li Yunlong continued: "This is a good opportunity to regain the surrounding counties. Both the Japanese First Army and the Japanese North China Front will be in a leaderless situation in a short period of time. If we attack the county, there will be no Japanese reinforcements.
This is a condition for victory. Taking advantage of this opportunity, according to the instructions of the head of the headquarters, the regiment party committee unanimously decided that the new regiment will launch attacks on the nine counties occupied by the Japanese army in northern Shanxi."
While speaking, Li Yunlong drew circles with his fingers on the territory of the New First Regiment, the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment respectively.
Each circle encloses three county towns, as if enclosing territory.
"Should we also attack the counties where the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment belong?" Zhang Dabiao asked.
"That's right, otherwise where would the nine county towns come from?" Li Yunlong nodded, "I have already discussed it with Ding Wei and Kong Jie."
“Next, let’s invite the political commissar to speak, and everyone will applaud and welcome.”
Everyone looked at political commissar Zhao Gang, and at the same time they burst into applause.
Zhao Gang pressed his hand, and everyone stopped applauding and said: "Just now, comrade the regiment leader analyzed the battle situation and talked about the conditions for victory of our new regiment."
"I mainly talk about why this war is fought and how to fight it well."
"Why are we fighting this battle?"
"First of all, this is the instruction from the head of the headquarters. We also have the conditions for victory, and the war situation is also conducive to us."
"Secondly, the liberation of the nine counties in northwestern Shanxi is of great significance to the Anti-Japanese War in Shanxi and even the Anti-Japanese War in China."
"Also, since we are new here, we need to make a name for ourselves and liberate nine counties so that the people can look at our Eighth Route Army with admiration."
"Whether it's recruiting soldiers or other work, it will be much easier in the future."
"There is one last reason. The regiment leader and I have already negotiated a business deal with Boss Chen. For every county we conquer, we will receive a deposit of 100 new submachine guns, two 150mm howitzers, two 37mm anti-aircraft guns and 200 tons of grain.
"
Zhao Gang emphasized the last sentence a little more.
As soon as these last words came out, the eyes of all the battalion and company commanders suddenly became hot.
Especially the two artillery battalion commanders Wang Chengzhu and Li Changsheng, their eyes were as bright as light bulbs.
Zhao Gang's political mobilization is very good, but for the battalion and company commanders, the 150mm heavy artillery is obviously more attractive.
After all, everyone had only witnessed the terrifying power of the 150mm heavy artillery a few days ago.
Capture two 150mm heavy artillery pieces in a county town and make a fortune!
Zhang Dabiao licked the corner of his mouth and thought to himself, why not simply sweep the counties in northeastern Shanxi that were occupied by the Japanese, as well as Datong?
Next, Zhao Gang talked about how to fight this battle successfully.
Zhao Gang didn't say much about this point, because the commanders and fighters present here already have considerable experience in fighting county towns.
"Now, let me ask Comrade Commander to deploy the combat mission." Finally, Zhao Gang said, "Everyone applauds."
Zhao Gang took the lead in applauding, and everyone else followed suit.
Bang bang bang.
Li Yunlong's expression was serious, and he pressed his hand down, and the applause suddenly stopped.
"Our first phase of combat mission is to attack the three counties of Heyuan, Anhua and Ping'an."
"This time our three counties are blooming at the same time."
"The Japs and puppet troops in Anhua County and Ping'an County each have about 800 soldiers. Both have a configuration of 300 Japs and more than 500 puppet troops."
"The total number of Japs and puppet troops in Heyuan County is more than 1,200. There are almost 500 Japs and more than 700 puppet troops."
"Now I make the following combat arrangements. The first and second battalions are commanded by me to attack Heyuan County. The third and fourth battalions are commanded by Political Commissar Zhao to attack Ping'an County. The county brigade and cavalry battalion are commanded by Chief of Staff Wang to attack Anhua County.
."
The lost troops of each main infantry battalion were replaced by the county brigade.
Although the main infantry battalion has been fully replenished, the county brigade has only had time to replenish more than 300 troops.
Before the attack on Taiyuan, the county brigade had more than 2,000 people, but now it only has more than 1,300 people.
However, coupled with the more than 600 men in the cavalry battalion, the strength was enough to reach 2,000.
In the original drama Ping'an Battle, Li Yunlong had more than 8,000 men, but only 5,000 participated in the siege, and the other 3,000 were sent for reinforcements.
At the moment, there is no need for reinforcements. There are only two main infantry battalions with a total of more than 2,000 troops attacking each county.
Although the number of people attacking each county is not as good as in the original drama, both the individual firepower and the artillery support are more than ten times stronger than the siege troops in the original drama.
Li Yunlong continued: "The 6 artillery batteries of the 1st Artillery Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Battalion, with 2 artillery batteries as a unit, cooperated to attack the city."
"The first, second and third companies of the heavy machine gun battalion and machine gun battalion cooperated to attack the three counties of Heyuan, Anhua and Ping'an respectively."
"The departure time is tomorrow evening. The local militia and county brigade will organize manpower to provide us with logistical support."
"Are you all aware of your respective tasks?"
After finishing speaking, Li Yunlong's eyes swept across everyone's faces.
"It's clear!" everyone shouted in unison.
"Then are there any problems?"
Li Yunlong nodded, very satisfied with the performance of this group of guys.
"Captain," Zhang Dabiao said, "I have a question."
"Say." Li Yunlong glanced at Zhang Dabiao.
Zhang Dabiao then said: "If you ask me, just wipe out the counties in northeastern Shanxi that were occupied by the Japs, and knock down Datong together. Datong is a military town, and it should be worth at least five heavy artillery pieces, right?"
Li Yunlong smiled and said: "Your kid's appetite is really big."
"Don't you always educate us?" Zhang Dabiao said, "In this war, we have to hunt rabbits with grass and take advantage of the enemy's illness to kill him. I learned this from you."
"Okay, the counties in northeastern Shanxi and Datong will not be considered for the time being." Li Yunlong said, "These nine counties in northwest Shanxi are enough for us to work on, but what Da Biao said is somewhat true. Sooner or later, northeastern Shanxi and Datong will be our new cities.
A lump of belly meat."
"If there are no other problems, we will disband."
Immediately, the battalion company commanders received orders and dispersed.
…
(My body is not feeling well yet, so I will update 4,000 words a day for the time being, and then resume updating 6,000 words once my body recovers.)