After lunch and a short nap, the headquarters leaders locked Li Yunlong in the conference room to discuss matters.
"Li Yunlong, tell the truth, how many troops does your new regiment have now?" the chief of staff asked.
Every once in a while, the troops below will report their establishment to their superiors.
However, some units are relatively far away, and the Eighth Route Army's communication methods are backward, so the establishment of some units cannot be reported in time.
For example, in the Hundred Regiment War, statistics at the end of the battle revealed that the Eighth Route Army's troops participating in the battle actually had one regiment.
The New Regiment is the fastest-growing unit in the history of the Eighth Route Army, and it basically needs to be expanded every few months.
That is to say, the new regiment often fights and wins battles. Only by expanding in this way can it maintain its combat effectiveness. If other troops expand in this way, the average combat effectiveness of the troops will become very low.
"The veterans plus new recruits now total more than 10,000 people. When the next wave of expansion is completed, the main force should be close to 10,000 people."
When asked by the chief of staff, Li Yunlong answered truthfully:
"Our new regiment is still expanding the militia team. If we add the militia, I'm afraid there will be 70,000 to 80,000 people."
In other words, the New Regiment has not been in northwestern Shanxi for a long time, and the number of militiamen it has developed is not very large.
In the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, the number of militiamen even exceeds the main force.
It is also relatively simple to develop a militia. Just issue a few obsolete rifles and dozens of bullets to a village, and you can form a militia team of dozens or hundreds of people.
However, Li Yunlong did not want to develop this kind of militia team. He chose only young and middle-aged people, and every two or three militiamen were equipped with a 38-meter cap, ensuring that each militiaman had a gun and could shoot live ammunition at ordinary times.
Because in the future, when the new regiment expands its main force, it will have to recruit from the militia.
The chief of staff and commander, as well as the division commander and brigade commander looked at each other, and they all saw deep surprise in each other's eyes.
The development speed of Xinyi Tuan is too fast.
In late May last year, the main force of the Japanese First Army attacked Zhongtiao Mountain, and Li Yunlong led the main force of the Eighth Route Army north to attack Taiyuan. At that time, the New Regiment only had six to seven thousand men.
In just over half a year, the new regiment has expanded nearly eight times, and the combat effectiveness of the expanded unit has been guaranteed!
"Hehe, I can be considered a successful completion of the task assigned to me by the head of the headquarters."
With a smile, Li Yunlong asked.
In the original drama, the Iron Triangle had no choice but to break through to the northwest of Shanxi in the face of the Japanese encirclement.
But now, the head of the headquarters sent Li Yunlong to lead the New First Regiment, as well as the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment to northwest Shanxi.
They took a fancy to the development potential of Li Yunlong and the New First Regiment, and took the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment with them.
After the three regiments developed and grew, they were at odds with the main division in southeastern Shanxi, and together they threatened the Taiyuan and Zhengtai Railways.
"You have not completed your mission satisfactorily," the chief said.
Li Yunlong was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself, I have not completed the task successfully, so how can I complete the task satisfactorily?
Immediately afterwards, the chief laughed again and said: "You have exceeded the task and deserve a commendation!"
The commander's expression was extremely satisfied. Even without relying on the main force of the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi, the strength of the Iron Triangle in northwest Shanxi is now fully capable of threatening the First Army of the Little Devils.
In fact, the Northern Shanxi Iron Triangle already has the strength to attack Taiyuan.
When the expansion of the new regiment is completed, the main force of the new regiment will be nearly 10,000 people, and the independent regiment and the new second regiment will each have 10,000 people, for a total main force of 10,000 people.
The same number of Japanese second-line divisions were no match for the Shanxi North Iron Triangle.
Only the same number of Japanese front-line divisions, that is, at least one Category A division, can compete with the North Shanxi Iron Triangle.
The Shanxi North Iron Triangle has good weapons and equipment and strong firepower. The strength of an army is mainly reflected in its strong firepower.
Li Yunlong chuckled and said: "Chief, then our new regiment will expand to nearly 10,000 troops, and we lack grassroots officers..."
"No problem." The leader waved his hand, "I will give you the best grassroots officers, many of whom are officers who graduated from the Anti-Japanese University. I will give you as much as you want."
Nowadays, the Eighth Route Army is developing rapidly, and all major first-level and second-level military regions lack officers who can lead troops at the grassroots level.
If an experienced company and platoon-level officer is placed among the masses, he can lead a company in less than a month without using a single gun or a grain of food.
Many local units of the Eighth Route Army developed in this way.
But the head of the headquarters sent outstanding officers to the new regiment, and the heads of other military regions did not dare to say anything.
There is no way, who allows Li Yunlong to fight, and every time he hands over the weapons and ammunition to the headquarters, it is a big deal.
For the tons of combat supplies handed over last time and the weapons, ammunition and equipment for ten thousand people handed over this time, the head of the headquarters had to meet all the conditions of the new regiment.
Li Yunlong looked overjoyed and thanked him quickly: "Thank you, chief, thank you, chief."
"You're welcome." The chief of staff smiled, "This is what your new regiment deserves. The organization is very satisfied with your performance. How many grassroots officers does your regiment need?"
Li Yunlong was not polite and directly asked the head of the headquarters for a number of junior officers.
Most of them are company and platoon-level officers, and most of them are outstanding company- and platoon-level officers who graduated from the Anti-Japanese University.
These officers were originally the best who were transferred from various units to study at the Anti-Japanese University, and they were very rich in both combat and combat experience.
After arriving at the new regiment, the new recruits can become combat effective as soon as possible. Li Yunlong secretly said that it would not be a bad trip back to the headquarters.
Next, Li Yunlong mentioned to the head of the headquarters that schools should be built to focus on education and an arsenal should be established in northwestern Shanxi.
Regarding these two things, if Northwestern Shanxi wants to start them as soon as possible, it still needs the support of the headquarters.
I want to ask the head of the headquarters if he supports it.
The head of the headquarters must support it, and he will do his best to support it.
Establishing schools and focusing on education is a great thing that benefits the country and the people, and creating arsenals is even more necessary to strengthen the army.
After some thought, the head of the headquarters agreed to Li Yunlong, sending intellectuals as teachers to northwestern Shanxi and sending more arsenal technicians.
The headquarters is also in urgent need of technicians at the arsenal, so the headquarters will negotiate with the commander of the second theater, Yan Xishan, to see if they can find a way to get the technicians he has from Yan Laoxi.
The end of the meeting.
Li Yunlong proposed the most important counterattack plan to the head of the headquarters.
About half a year later, after the Eighth Route Army had aircraft, it could launch a full-scale counterattack against the First Army in Shanxi.
Of course, once a full-scale war breaks out between the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi and the Japanese army, the entire North China will be reduced to a mess.
The head of the headquarters carefully considered Li Yunlong's suggestion and felt that there was no big problem with the timing of the counterattack.
If there is really going to be a fight, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters must start preparations from now on: reserve supplies, gather intelligence, conduct actual and non-actual combat training, formulate combat plans, etc.
According to Li Yunlong's envisioned plan, when the time comes, all he needs to do is close the gates of Shanxi, the Iron Triangle in northwest Shanxi and the main force of the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi, and then they can shut the door on the Japanese First Army.
If the battle goes smoothly, not a single Japanese in the First Army will be able to escape Shanxi!