Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 139 Directly Subordinate Independent Cavalry Regiment

Although this battle eliminated a considerable number of Japanese soldiers, the actual spoils were not much.

Because blocking warfare is different from annihilation warfare, blocking warfare involves a small number of troops conducting defensive operations, so the Japanese soldiers' weapons and equipment would not be captured in large quantities.

Furthermore, it requires a large amount of ammunition, while annihilation battles can obtain all the equipment that the Japanese did not have time to destroy.

The hundred tons of ammunition that Wang Gensheng brought this time were enough to make up for the ammunition consumption of the troops participating in the blocking battle.

While Wang Gensheng was waiting for the headquarters' decision on his punishment, the headquarters was holding a meeting to summarize the operation.

The deputy commander then said with a smile:
"So many troops, including the Jin-Sui Army, the Zhong-Yang Army, and local armed forces, have all gotten involved. Some are besieging the points, others are fighting off reinforcements. They're all busy as bees, and even after the fighting is over, they still don't know what happened! Even I, the deputy commander, was kept in the dark! Sigh! What do you all think about this?"

Upon hearing the deputy commander's words, a military staff officer smiled and said:
"Well done! To dare to directly attack a heavily fortified and heavily defended county town with only a regiment of troops and local armed forces is an unprecedented feat and has accumulated valuable experience for our army in urban assault. From a tactical point of view alone, this is simply a classic example!"

Right after this military staff officer finished speaking, another military staff officer also said:
"I've been to Li Yunlong's regiment. I felt that this unit was very special. From the regimental commander to the soldiers, they all had a certain temperament! Unruly and fiery. To put it this way, the whole unit was like a pile of dry firewood. It was inconspicuous when it was piled up, but as long as there was a spark, it would suddenly burst into a raging fire. The person who could ignite this fire was Li Yunlong. Often, when it came to battle, a few words from Li Yunlong would rouse the whole regiment to charge forward with a roar. Such a unit is usually very powerful!"

Just as this military staff officer finished speaking, the first military staff officer to speak continued:

"To say that Li Yunlong mobilized tens of thousands of people to participate in the battle without asking for permission, showing a lack of organization and discipline, especially attacking the county town for his wife and causing some casualties, which had a bit of a personal vendetta flavor, it wouldn't be too much to execute him for that alone. But in terms of actual results, this chaotic battle caused heavy losses to the Japanese in Jinxibei, and the participating units achieved great success. Some small anti-Japanese base areas were even unintentionally turned into a whole. Its combat effect was no less than launching a major campaign!"

Clearly, while this military staff officer was seemingly pointing out Li Yunlong's faults and mistakes, what was more important was that he was also mentioning Li Yunlong's merits.

The deputy commander ultimately decided to offset Li Yunlong's merits and demerits. However, with Li Yunlong's problem resolved, the next issue to address was Wang Gensheng's persistent orders.

At this moment, a military staff officer said:
"Regarding the issue of the 129th Lion Cavalry Regiment's two acts of disobedience, I don't think it's a big deal. It's unprecedented that these two acts of disobedience could yield such huge gains. We all know that the main reason Li Yunlong attacked Ping'an County was because the Japanese special forces attacked the Independent Regiment's headquarters, leading to the collapse of the Independent Regiment's political leadership and the sacrifice of a group of officers and hundreds of civilians. That's why Li Yunlong was willing to do anything to eliminate this special Japanese special forces unit."

Moreover, as far as I know, this Japanese special forces unit has always aimed to destroy our military command. In 1940, they tried to attack our command, but they encountered the Independent Regiment and were exposed in advance, so they had to retreat. Of course, the Independent Regiment also suffered heavy losses. Wang Gensheng came from the Independent Regiment and experienced that battle. So Wang Gensheng always wanted to form a special forces team similar to the Japanese to raid the Japanese command. Unexpectedly, he succeeded this time.

Not only did they capture Yoshio Shinotsuka, the commander of the Japanese First Army, alive, but they also seized hundreds of tons of ammunition. Therefore, I think they should not only not be punished but should be rewarded.”

No sooner had this military staff officer finished speaking than another military staff officer said:

"But we can't let the matter of disobeying orders go unpunished. Otherwise, how can we lead and manage this team if everyone keeps disobeying orders? Back then, Li Yunlong disobeyed orders on the battlefield and killed the commander of the Sakata Regiment, but didn't he end up becoming the director of the clothing factory?"

But no sooner had he finished speaking than the staff officer who acknowledged Wang Gensheng's achievements immediately said:

"Can the two be compared? It's true that Li Yunlong killed Regiment Commander Sakata, but look at the casualties of his New First Regiment in that battle. Apart from the merit of killing Regiment Commander Sakata, he didn't gain any other benefits! But look at Wang Gensheng this time. He not only captured Army Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka alive, but also brought back over a hundred tons of ammunition! And he himself suffered almost no casualties. If he has to be punished for this, wouldn't that discourage the other soldiers?" The staff officer's words touched everyone. What he said was true. Li Yunlong did indeed suffer considerable casualties that time and didn't gain any substantial benefits.

Wang Chengzhu, the sharpshooter of the New First Regiment, was killed, and even Zhang Dabiao almost died. So, although the command of the Sakata Regiment was wiped out in that battle, the New First Regiment suffered heavy casualties. More importantly, breaking out meant that there was no time to plunder the Japanese equipment and ammunition.

So that battle naturally involved the New First Regiment's entire strength.

After much deliberation, the deputy commander finally spoke:

"Disobeying orders is a fact, but so is the huge amount of spoils captured. I think we should do this: Wang Gensheng should be treated the same as Li Yunlong, neither promoted nor demoted. However, since the capture of a hundred tons of ammunition is a huge gain, I think we should upgrade the cavalry regiment to a directly subordinate independent cavalry regiment. This will give him more autonomy and allow him to adapt to the changing situation on the battlefield."

No one objected to the deputy commander's decision, which upgraded the cavalry regiment from a directly subordinate unit of the Lion Army to a directly subordinate unit of the Army.

Although he was still in a cavalry regiment, Wang Gensheng had not been promoted and remained the commander of a cavalry regiment.

But in reality, it was still an upgrade. Only the Eighth Route Army didn't have military ranks. If they had, Wang Gensheng would have had to be at least a junior officer.

This is similar to the principle that the rank of the company commander of a regiment-level directly subordinate company is higher than that of a regular company commander.

Some of the company commanders of directly subordinate companies are basically at the deputy battalion level.

Of course, Wang Gensheng's transformation from the Lion Cavalry Regiment to the Army's Independent Cavalry Regiment gave him a more flexible operational range.

For example, if Wang Gensheng had been a member of the Lion's Direct Cavalry Regiment, he could have freely roamed the territory of the 129th Lion.

However, now that it is an independent cavalry regiment directly under the army, Lion can no longer issue combat orders to it.

Moreover, they can freely engage in combat with the other two lions.

"By the way, Commander, the headquarters also said that if you have time, you can make a trip there!"

Wang Gensheng wasn't stupid, so he immediately told Du Yiman to send a message to the command center informing them that they would arrive within three days.

(End of this chapter)