Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 357: A Lot of Aid! The Battle of Xinkou, Huang Baitao Plans the Strategy (Subscribe)
"Mr. Jiang said a lot of nice things, but it's probably hard to do in reality. If we want to conquer Longcheng within half a year, we need too many favorable conditions. Even if we transfer the command of Fan Hanjie's troops to us, I'm afraid it will be difficult to win this battle."

Fang Ligong did not stay in the mountain city for long.

The next day we took a bus back to Changzhi.

The journey took two days.

After many twists and turns, I finally returned to Changzhi.

The first thing I did after returning to Changzhi was to convey Chang Ruiyuan's promise.

And discussed the specific situation with Wang Shihe and reported it.

Don’t even think about restoring the weapons on the weapons list.

There would be no problem in arming four more basic regiments.

How is this possible?
Chu Yunfei was skeptical about this.

Based on Chu Yunfei's previous understanding of Chang Ruiyuan.

This is his biggest problem.

Many times, it’s just statements and empty promises.

But in reality he couldn't do it.

He just made a rough estimate.

The value of these combat supplies amounted to as much as four million US dollars.

Even though it’s only May 39.

There is a high probability that T.V. Soong could not afford this budget.

Fang Ligong asked worriedly, "If we wait for the Northwest Manufacturing Bureau to produce weapons and ammunition, it will take at least eight months. Even with the existing supplies, it will still be a long way from restoring the system."

"So we have to think of other ways to see if the Song family is willing to support us."

Chu Yunfei touched his chin and felt a little uncertain.

The Song family's base was the petty bourgeoisie in the south, mainly in the wealthy areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

Nowadays, due to the war, most of it has been lost.

The one who is really rich is the former Finance Minister Kong Yongzhi.

"I wonder if Finance Minister Song has cleared out all the people left behind by that old man after half a year."

While the two were discussing.

Zhang Dayun walked over quickly with a cigarette in his mouth, a smile on his face, and handed the telegram in his hand to Fang Ligong.

"I really gave it to you"

"This"

Chu Yunfei was surprised.

Where did Chang Ruiyuan get so many weapons and equipment?
Spending hundreds of millions of national currency is by no means a small amount.

Could it be the military expenditure left over from previous disarmament?

It is not impossible.

The 12 million national currency funds were just used to import supplies and weapons.

However, this money could not be used to pay the salaries of existing troops.

On the contrary, the issue of misappropriation was still difficult to handle in 39.

"After this batch of weapons and equipment arrives, we can completely advance our combat plan."

"The recruits have already started training, and the several thousand additional soldiers are currently heading to Jincheng. As the newly recruited 11th batch of soldiers from northern Sichuan are added to the combat troops, the training ground will be freed up."

"What about the expansion of the original training?" Zhang Dayun's eyes lit up.

Chu Yunfei pondered for a moment, then continued: "This batch of budget has indeed not been used yet, the amount is not much."

"It only costs 700,000 national currency, less than 230,000 US dollars, which can't buy much." Fang Ligong made his own suggestion: "The training ground still needs to be expanded. The training cycle for subsequent reinforcements may be extended a lot. A lot of high-quality reserve troops were consumed in the war."

In general, the trend is not much different from the declining quality of soldiers during the Republic of China period.

Because of Lien Chan.

The decline in the quality of the soldiers is even faster than Chu Yunfei remembered.

The decline in the quality of soldiers in southeastern Shanxi was step-by-step, rather than a smooth curve like that in the Republic of China.

"The work of absorbing refugees needs to be accelerated. By the end of the year, at least 500,000 new jobs will be needed in southeastern Shanxi."

The three of them discussed their main future work.

Zhao Pengcheng walked over quickly: "Commander Chu, a secret message from Shancheng."

Chu Yunfei nodded, took the telegram and glanced at it.

After seeing the content, he was slightly surprised: "Madam is coming to Southeast Shanxi, let us do a good job of security. The chairman hopes to send the most elite troops to ensure safety."

Chu Yunfei waved his hand and refused: "My assault regiment is not the internal guard of his Jiang family."

"If the chairman knew about this, he might be unhappy." Fang Ligong reminded quietly: "After all, Madam had previously..."

"What others do is none of our business. I still say that the assault regiment is a heroic unit, a heroic unit, not the Jiang family's internal guard."

Chu Yunfei insisted on his own ideas and opinions.

He was unwilling to flatter Chang Ruiyuan.

It is even more impossible to use such a heroic force to protect Chang Ruiyuan’s wife.

Chu Yunfei paused, then added: "What's more, the chairman has been assassinated so many times, but his wife has never been targeted. This is enough to explain the problem."

"If I were to write an article, I wouldn't choose to write about my wife."

Fang Ligong nodded: "Yes, each of those two has considerable energy."

"Pengcheng, you and Wu Dadan will dispatch the guard regiment to take charge of this matter. There is no need to notify the 14th Army. We have nothing to do with them. If we notify them rashly, problems may arise. Not everyone wants to see us move closer to the mountain city."

"Yes."

After Zhao Pengcheng turned and left.

Zhang Dayun was a little confused. He looked at Chu Yunfei and asked, "Why is this lady coming to Southeast Shanxi all of a sudden?"

Chu Yunfei spoke slowly: "I guess it's probably because of Miss Wenying's matter."

"Speaking of which, there is a drama troupe coming to Changzhi City recently. Would you like to make an appointment with Miss Wenying?" Zhang Dayun raised his eyebrows.

"Makes sense."

Chu Yunfei nodded: "I remember there is a temple fair tomorrow?"

"Yes." Zhang Dayun nodded without hesitation: "It just so happened that the troupe was invited by the boss of Chunming Pavilion."

There is now basically no risk of bombing in the Changzhi area, and with the liberation of more areas.

The industry and commerce here are developing very rapidly.

Even the urban area has expanded a lot.

Many new gadgets have emerged.

Many of them were transmitted from big cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin.

Chunming Pavilion’s theater model is just one of the business models.

It is not uncommon in Taiyuan City, but it is still a rare thing in Changzhi area.

There were not many entertainment options during this period, and most people were struggling to make ends meet.

Except for a few cities where there are places like movie theaters.

Basically there are no other entertainment options.

Even if Chu Yunfei wanted to invite Song Wenying, he would need to consider it carefully.

It’s not like he’s never been in a relationship or pursued girls.

But in this era, if you want to pursue a woman
There really aren’t too many tricks.

In most areas, marriages are still basically arranged by parents and matchmakers.

What matters is a match between two families of equal social status.

The Chu family is considered a large and powerful family in the village below Mount Wutai.

But compared to the Song family, it is tantamount to marrying up.

It was only because of Chu Yunfei himself and the officers and soldiers under his command.

This made this marriage possible.

"Hello, this is Chu Yunfei, I'm calling from Changzhi Newspaper Office, looking for Miss Song Wenying."

Inside Changzhi Newspaper Office.

"President, Commander Chu is looking for you~!"

Song Wenying, who was reviewing the contents of a newspaper, put down her work after hearing her assistant's call.

He immediately picked up the phone: "Hello, Chief Chu, what's going on?"

"Miss Wenying, there is a theatre troupe coming to Changzhi City recently. They will be performing at Chunming Pavilion tomorrow. I would like to invite you to go with me tomorrow. I wonder if you are free."

Song Wenying was stunned and felt a little uncomfortable.

"tomorrow?"

"Correct."

Chu Yunfei's voice came from the microphone, still so firm.

"Yes." Song Wenying's voice became softer. "Okay, I'll pick you up at the newspaper office around 11 o'clock in the morning."

"it is good."

Song Wenying's voice became smaller and smaller, as thin as a mosquito's foot and almost inaudible.

Chu Yunfei hung up the phone.

Fang Ligong and Zhang Dayun looked at each other and laughed.

"My personal problem has been solved this time." Chu Yunfei rubbed his nose and then said, "You should also pay attention. If you need an introduction, I remember that Commander Yan has a niece who is also at the age to get married. I heard about it before.

She is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is a lady from a noble family.

Just a little bit older.

I'm almost 23 years old now, if you have any ideas, you can tell me. "

Zhang Dayun and Fang Ligong looked at each other and shook their heads: "We should wait for Chief Yan to arrange this matter. Besides, we have no intention of getting married."

North of Xinkou Town.

In a ditch.

Wu Sizhong raised the telescope in his hand and carefully observed the Japanese army's defensive deployment.

The information obtained is basically consistent with previous ones.

Xinkou Town has no strategic location to defend and the terrain is open and flat.

Relatively speaking, it is easy to attack but difficult to defend.

"Captain, given the Japanese's shooting skills, if we attack them forcefully, I don't know how many soldiers will be sacrificed."

Wu Sizhong still held up the telescope in his hand and continued to observe: "More than a thousand people are scattered in three villages and a market town. The main defense direction of the fortifications is due north. We need to change the direction of attack."

"Due east? But we don't even have any cover over there, how can we fight?"

"Dig!" Wu Sizhong gave his own idea: "I looked at the map. These three villages are mutually supporting. They seem to be able to support each other, but in fact, the distance between them is more than four kilometers."

"The Japanese dare not move easily and will most likely choose to hold their ground. We adopt earthwork methods, digging at night and then launching attacks. In this way, even without shelter, we can still reduce our own casualties."

Frontier headquarters.

As the commander of the attack on Xinkou Town, Huang Baitao was worried.

Chu Yunfei chose to abandon the friendly forces and attack alone, which would easily cause dissatisfaction among the friendly forces.

It is true that the unit he belongs to is highly combat-effective.

It is also a fact that the combat effectiveness of friendly forces is poor.

But if we continue to fight like this, it will seem that all the commanders of the friendly forces are useless.

This is a bit inappropriate.

Huang Baitao proposed to launch an attack together with the 14th Army Group in order to share the credit of this operation.

But Chu Yunfei rejected his proposal immediately.

Originally, Huang Baitao thought that Chu Yunfei would arrange for the Sixth Army's friendly forces to cooperate in the battle.

But Chu Yunfei didn't even bring the Jin army with him.

This magical operation made Huang Baitao confused for a while.

Judging from the rumors he had heard, there was no way Chu Yunfei was a commander who was ignorant of the ways of the world.

Otherwise, he would not have made such a sensation at the Kaifeng combat conference.

Then why is Chu Yunfei unwilling to lead the current 14th Army and the 6th Army to gain military merit?

Huang Baitao conducted a very detailed analysis of the commanders of the two army groups.

First is the 14th Army Group.

The acting commander-in-chief is Bai Jiansheng.

During previous communication processes, Chu Yunfei had repeatedly expressed doubts about Bai Jiansheng's command ability, and even lacked basic respect for him.

When mentioning Li Zongren, his attitude was relatively conservative and his tone was relatively mild. He simply felt that Li Zongren had made several mistakes in command in the later period of the Battle of Xuzhou.

As a result, the level of trust in it among the combat troops in the five war zones is actually not very high.

Huang Baitao could intuitively feel that Chu Yunfei had no objection to the New Guangxi Clique.

It was simply a lack of trust in Bai Jiansheng's character and command ability.

Chu Yunfei seemed to have changed his previous attitude towards the 14th Army and was very likely to avoid cooperating in combat with it.

This was particularly evident during the Battle of Shanxi.

This was a change from the attitude he had during the Shota Battle and the Changzhi Battle.

Could it be that he was speaking up for Deputy Commander-in-Chief Guo?

But there is absolutely no need to offend Bai Jiansheng because of such a thing.

The war situation has calmed down and the plan of the central army entering Shanxi has failed.

How long can this generation of commander-in-chief stay in the Second World War?

After returning to the Military Commission, Bai Jiansheng will be able to influence the decision-making of the command.

As for the Sixth Army.

Chu Yunfei was originally from the Jin Army and was the successor that Yan Laoxi valued the most.

Huang Baitao could feel this clearly.

I don't shy away from talking about this topic in front of him.

The Sixth Army should have been a boost to the newly formed Eleventh Army.

But Chu Yunfei was very reluctant to fight a joint battle with Yang Aiyuen's troops.

They were even unwilling to let the Sixth Army of the Shanxi Army take on the offensive mission.
I thought about it for a long time.

Huang Baitao tends to favor the greatest possibility.

It seems that he simply felt that his colleagues in the Jin army lacked command ability and would only hinder them on the battlefield.
This time, Huang Baitao was required to fight independently.

This more indirectly proves the logic behind Chu Yunfei's behavior.

While thinking, Wu Sizhong quickly returned to the frontline headquarters: "General, the situation is not very optimistic. If we want to take it down, we will probably suffer a lot of casualties."

"If we use smoke bombs to block our sight and then blast at close range, will it be easier to fight?"

"Yes, but the terrain around Xinkou Town is too open."

"If the attack fails to connect, the previous sacrifices and efforts will be basically in vain. When organizing the attack, we must break through the Japanese army's vitality blockade again."

Wu Sizhong smiled and said, "The only good news is that because the battlefield is too open, we can deploy at least six companies of troops in one attack. Our firepower can hold down the Japanese."

"I suggest that we conduct preliminary earthworks, approach the attack line, conduct 15 to 25 minutes of artillery preparation, use smoke bombs to block the Japanese army's vision, and then launch the infantry attack."

As a regimental commander, he picked up the baton in front of the army commander Huang Baitao and gestured on the battle map.

Zhang Dongkai, who was standing aside, had his eyes flickering and was extremely shocked.

No matter how capable Wu Sizhong is, he is just a regiment leader.

It is naturally not an easy thing to be able to express your opinions in front of a military commander.

Wu Sizhong was from the 197th Army Training Corps and was the battalion commander of the main battalion in .

He still has some special skills.

Huang Baitao quickly understood his battle plan and said at the same time: "I can't provide you with artillery support."

Wu Sizhong was stunned for a moment: "What?"

"The 75st Mountain Artillery Regiment cannot participate in this battle. Their mm mountain artillery shells are almost all used up."

"The 105mm howitzers of the th Artillery Regiment will be used in the battle to capture Longcheng."

Wu Sizhong just felt a little bit like a muggle: "Those bunkers are made of steel and concrete, and it's hard to have a good effect even if they are blasted at close range."

"Before approaching, our soldiers need to cross a two-kilometer minefield, cut through three barbed wire fences, and break through the Japanese fire blockade before they can reach the main defenses of the Japanese army."

Wu Sizhong paused and said: "Without artillery support, our casualties would increase exponentially."

Zhang Dongkai was shocked: "If we want to kill these more than a thousand Japanese soldiers, we will suffer at least twice as many casualties. Is it necessary to fight this battle?"

Huang Baitao nodded expressionlessly, his mind moving very quickly: "It is necessary, very necessary."

"I was also thinking about this question before Captain Wu came back."

"The defense system of Xinkou Town is quite similar to that of the area surrounding Longcheng. This is actually a further accumulation of experience in offensive and defensive operations, especially for a fortress city like Longcheng."

Huang Baitao analyzed leisurely, with a calm expression on his face: "Admittedly, with the existing weapons and equipment, it is difficult to take Xinkou Town."

"But Commander Chu is not unprepared."

"A new batch of 45mm direct-fire artillery arrived at Yangon Port some time ago and is currently being transported to China. After arrival, it can be used directly for offensive operations. These artillery pieces are much more powerful than the 37mm direct-fire artillery we used before, so I think they will perform well."

Huang Baitao's strategic planning gave Wu Sizhong a great shock.

He murmured, "It's really like that."

"like what?"

Wu Sizhong's eyes were slightly flustered: "The way you planned and planned just now was very similar to Commander Chu..."

Huang Baitao laughed, showing no dissatisfaction with such comments: "Is it really similar?"

Wu Sizhong nodded slightly.

Huang Baitao continued, "Captain Wu, the geotechnical excavation method you just mentioned is a very good idea. We should carry out pre-war preparations in this way. We are not in a hurry. The Japanese should be the ones who should be in a hurry. So we actually have a great advantage in this battle."

(End of this chapter)