Bright Sword: I am an undercover agent in the puppet army

Chapter 79 Brigade Commander: With Xu Yang as our insider, we can indeed set bigger strategic goals!
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For a long time.

The brigade commander did not speak, but the chief of staff could not help but say, "Staff Officer Lone Wolf, do you know what you are talking about?"

"Of course I know." Xu Yang said, "I think our brigade should be bolder and expand the combat objectives to capture Yangquan County, Pingding County, and all the strongholds to Niangzi Pass!
Not to mention those strongholds, there are many local tyrants and evil gentry in Pingding County and Yangquan County alone.

Take Bai Jingxuan, chairman of the Yangquan Maintenance Association, for example. He sold opium on a large scale, causing harm to the country and the people, and amassed at least hundreds of thousands of silver dollars in wealth.

There are still many local tyrants and evil gentry like him in Yangquan County. As long as we take down Yangquan County, our brigade can get at least one million silver dollars!"

When they heard that they could have such a big harvest, everyone's hearts suddenly lifted up again, and they all looked excited.

The conditions of the Eighth Route Army were really too difficult. If they could get such a large sum of money, their conditions would definitely be greatly improved.

Although the Eighth Route Army currently has a yen production line that can produce yen continuously, it is not easy to spend yen after all.

In contrast, silver dollars were the national currency and would not attract the attention of the Japanese when spent.

The chief of staff shook his head: "How easy is that!"

"In the area from Yangquan to Niangziguan, there is a reorganized infantry regiment of the Japanese army. In addition, there are tens of thousands of puppet troops."

"Although our 386th Brigade has a large number of troops participating in the battle, its weapons and equipment are outdated, especially the lack of heavy weapons for attacking strongholds.

If we were just attacking a small enemy stronghold, it wouldn't be difficult to destroy a few sections of railway.

But wanting to attack the county towns that were heavily guarded by the Japanese and puppet troops, especially Yangquan County, was a pipe dream.

Moreover, the time left to us is limited. We can only launch the attack at night. Once it is delayed until daytime, the enemy's planes can take off and fight.

If we just keep on attacking, even if we get hurt and bleed, it will be hard to achieve any results. "

Xu Yang smiled and said, "What if we can capture the Japanese armored train in advance?"

The chief of staff was stunned and said, "The Japanese armored train is equipped with four 4mm howitzers and more than a dozen Type 105 heavy machine guns. Its firepower is no less than that of a reorganized infantry regiment.

The most critical thing is its mobility. Although its movements are restricted by the range of railways, it can also quickly deploy support through railways.

Before this, our army's raiding troops suffered a great loss at its hands!

If we can capture it, our success rate will indeed be greatly improved.

But it is not easy to capture it."

Xu Yang: "You can leave this task to me."

Seeing Xu Yang's firm attitude, the chief of staff said: "If you can really seize the Japanese armored train, our combat objectives can be expanded, but we should also focus on attacking large Japanese strongholds, not county towns."

Xu Yang glanced at the brigade commander, and after receiving his nod of approval, he continued, "Okay, then let's not discuss the issue of attacking the county town for now."

"The Japanese strongholds can be roughly divided into three levels according to the strength of the troops."

"The first level is the county town, such as Yangquan County, where the Japanese army deployed a full infantry battalion, in addition to the military police and a security regiment, with a total force of more than 3000 people.

Of course, in addition to guarding Yangquan County, this infantry battalion also shoulders the responsibility of being the general reserve force of the Yangquan area.

The number of troops stationed in Pingding County is slightly smaller, less than half of that in Yangquan."

"The second level is the Japanese strongholds with squadron-sized or larger units, such as Taohe Stronghold, Heishuihe Stronghold, etc. There are a total of 6 such strongholds in the Yangquan to Niangziguan section, all of which are garrisoned by more than 500 Japanese and puppet troops, and all have built complete defensive fortifications."

"Facing such large strongholds, each main regiment can directly use the flying thunder cannon to launch a saturation attack. Although the accuracy of the flying thunder cannon is not high, if the loss of shells is not taken into account and a saturation attack is adopted, it should not be too difficult to blow up the enemy's bunkers." "The rest are small strongholds with less than 100 people. There are more than 10 such strongholds scattered throughout the 15 to 80 kilometer area along the Zhengtai Railway."

"Such small strongholds usually only had a small group of Japanese soldiers stationed there, and some even had no Japanese soldiers at all, only puppet troops.

It shouldn't be difficult for the main regiments to eliminate such a small stronghold. Even a company of soldiers and a flying thunder cannon would be enough."

“I have already handed over the specific troop deployment of these strongholds to the head of the brigade. Of course, this is the data from one month ago.

However, in the past month, except for the Taohe stronghold and the Heishuihe stronghold, there has not been much change in the troop deployment in other strongholds.

In other words, the Japanese and puppet troops’ manpower and firepower have remained roughly the same compared to a month ago.”

Everyone nodded.

The chief of staff asked again: "Staff Officer Lone Wolf, but I don't know how you plan to capture the Japanese armored train?"

Xu Yang raised his lips and said, "This armored train will be replenished with coal and water at Taohe stronghold at 8 o'clock every night. This is our chance!"

The chief of staff instantly remembered Xu Yang's identity and the 386 veterans of their 600th Brigade lurking in the Taohe stronghold.

The biggest challenge in taking down the Japanese armored train is how to get close to it!

As long as we can get close to this armored train and board it, it won't be difficult to capture it...

In fact, the brigade commander was also a very adventurous person, otherwise he would not have used Li Yunlong so much even though he knew that he was always getting into trouble.

I saw that Xu Yang had almost finished telling me the intelligence on the Japanese army.

The brigade commander cleared his throat and said, "Whether the Lone Wolf can capture the Japanese armored train or not, our initial combat objectives will not change."

After that, the brigade commander stood up, picked up a baton, walked to the map, pointed at the map and explained: "The entire combat operation is mainly divided into three phases."

"In the first phase, we will clear the perimeter and mobilize all our forces to eliminate all small Japanese strongholds along the Zhengtai Railway in the shortest possible time, while also cutting off all telephone lines."

"The main purpose of the first phase of combat operations is to clear obstacles for the subsequent two phases."

"After all the small strongholds were eliminated, the six large strongholds and the two county towns of Yangquan and Pingding became deaf and blind, and the initiative on the battlefield fell into the hands of our army."

"More than 80 small strongholds were attacked at the same time, and it was impossible to carry out rescue operations with only one mobile brigade in Yangquan County.

Because even if we wanted to save them, we couldn't. We can't divide more than 1000 people into dozens of small teams, right? "

"As for the Japanese and puppet troops in the other six large strongholds, they dare not act rashly. They will only hide in the strongholds to prevent further attacks from our army."

“So I dare to conclude that the Japanese commander will be frightened by the exposed strength of our army at the first moment, and then decisively give up the rescue.

He also ordered the Japanese and puppet troops in the small strongholds to either continue to defend or retreat to several large strongholds nearby or to the county town in order to prepare for a counterattack! "

"Therefore, our army's first phase of action must be fast, accurate and ruthless!"

"Before the battle begins, each regiment must engage the enemy as covertly as possible, strive to start the battle at the same time, and annihilate all enemies at the same time, without giving the enemy any chance to react! And we must not let the enemies in the small strongholds retreat to the large strongholds."

"Otherwise, it will cause serious interference to our army's subsequent second phase of combat operations. This must be avoided at all costs!"

……

(End of this chapter)