Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 147 The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics
And most importantly, this is his troop strength after the Battle of Ping'an County. If you, Kong Jie, knew that Li Yunlong had tens of thousands of troops before the Battle of Ping'an, wouldn't you be insanely jealous?
At that time, Li Yunlong mobilized his troops and launched a fierce attack, wiping out Ping'an County and making a fortune. However, the attack on Ping'an County also caused heavy losses to Li Yunlong's troops. But how many soldiers did Li Yunlong lose in the attack on the county?

It's important to know that before attacking Ping'an County, Li Yunlong conducted a headcount of his troops. He calculated that the entire Independent Regiment, combined with local armed forces, had a strength of over ten thousand men, which demonstrates just how powerful the Independent Regiment was. After all, with so many troops, it's remarkable. However, in the ensuing battles, Li Yunlong's troops suffered significant losses. In particular, in the drama, a reinforced company of the Independent Regiment held off an attack by a Japanese regiment, and the entire company was wiped out. These losses should also be taken into account.

Now Li Yunlong tells Ding Wei and Kong Jie that his Independent Regiment now has an organization of eight battalions. In addition, the Independent Regiment also has a regimental direct subordinate company, a cavalry company, a reconnaissance company, a guard company, and so on. So, considering the previous Independent Regiment of tens of thousands of men and the current number of troops, it can be explained how many men the Independent Regiment has lost.

First, the personnel strength of a battalion is calculated based on a full-strength reinforced battalion of 500 people. Therefore, the strength of eight battalions means that Li Yunlong's eight battalions have a total of 4,000 people. Considering that Li Yunlong also has some other companies under the management of the regimental headquarters, each of which is calculated based on a reinforced company of 200 people, the strength of the four directly subordinate companies is 800 people. So the current strength of Li Yunlong's entire regiment is about 5,000 people. Considering that before the war, the Independent Regiment had tens of thousands of people.

This means that Li Yunlong lost at least half a regiment, about 5,000 soldiers, in the attack on Ping'an County, but the calculation cannot be based solely on this.

Because the Eighth Route Army's personnel structure may have been severely overstaffed in the later stages as the troops expanded, with some battalions even having 600 to 700 men, the casualty rate was not very high.

Furthermore, another thing was overlooked: Li Yunlong's independent regiment, in addition to its regular staff, also had other staff.

There were also some militia-like units, such as district squads and county brigades, which were included in the initial troop numbers, but Li Yunlong's regular forces were not. If all of them were included, Li Yunlong's losses would be considerable. After all, other units were also involved in the attack on Ping'an County, and the Yamamoto Special Forces defending the county were no joke. Therefore, Li Yunlong's losses in the attack on the county were at least around three thousand men.

There was nothing that could be done about it, since Li Yunlong's path was not the same as Wang Gensheng's, which focused on elite troops.

Instead of focusing on elite troops, the only option in combat is to let the best survive.

However, there are advantages to not taking the elite troops route, namely that it allows for rapid replenishment of manpower.

For example, without much training, just learning to aim and fire, and then doing some basic drills in formation, they can quickly develop a certain level of combat capability in less than a month.

This is much better than Wang Gensheng's special forces cavalry battalion, since the special forces cavalry battalion requires long-term training.

Training is required in tactical skills such as horseback riding, shooting, skiing, and climbing, which are no simpler than shooting.

More importantly, Wang Gensheng himself understood that he was only capable of conducting surprise attacks, night raids, and small-scale tactical operations with fewer than a thousand men.

If it comes to strategic command and control operations involving tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people, Wang Gensheng finds this kind of long-range command and control somewhat beyond his capabilities.

After all, Wang Gensheng isn't some micro-management master who gives orders without understanding the situation, let alone claiming that the advantage is on his side.

It's not about Han Xin, nor does it involve any of Han Xin's skills in leading more troops.

Wang Gensheng's only skill is the ability to increase physical strength as a reward for personally killing enemies.

Therefore, Wang Gensheng's strength lies in conducting tactical operations as an individual soldier or in the form of a tactical squad, such as decapitation strikes, destroying enemy armories, and sabotage operations behind enemy lines, such as blowing up bridges and roads.

Both strategy and tactics involve planning and guidance, but strategy refers to the overall, long-term, and critical planning and guidance for an organization or group over a longer period, while tactics are localized, short-term, and specific planning and guidance for the short term. Take Li Yunlong's attack on Ping'an County as an example. Initially, Li Yunlong's opinion clashed with that of Deputy Commander Xing. Li Yunlong, with his superior numbers, wanted to completely surround the county, attacking all four walls simultaneously.

However, Deputy Commander Xing thought they should launch a feint attack on three sides while launching a main attack on the other. Li Yunlong rejected Deputy Commander Xing's battle plan because it would become a piecemeal tactic. It should be noted that with the advent of machine guns, when attacking a city, more troops are not necessarily better. More troops will only become sitting ducks for machine guns.

Therefore, attacking from all sides, but in a dispersed manner, is the best way to make the most of the numerical advantage.

This is strategic guidance. As for the specific steps of how to attack Ping'an County, those are determined by each company and platoon, such as where to place machine gun positions to suppress enemy fire.

This is the specific difference between strategy and tactics.

After Ding Wei gave Li Yunlong some advice and promised to cooperate with Li Yunlong in dealing with Chu Yunfei's troops, the three of them left Li Yunlong's regiment.

Of course, Chu Yunfei's supplies were given to Li Yunlong by Kong Jie.

He also said that when Chu Yunfei asked, he would make an excuse that Li Yunlong had taken it.

After returning with Kong Jie, Wang Gensheng said:

"Is the old commander really not going to take Taiyuan City?"

Regarding Wang Gensheng's request, Kong Jie stated:
"You little brat, did you think you could take Taiyuan City seriously after you raided it once before?!"

Wang Gensheng then bluffed:

"Old Commander, look at that! Li Yunlong dared to attack Ping'an County with only eight battalions. You must have quite a few troops now, right? I wouldn't say ten battalions, but you must have eight or nine!"

"Can they be compared? Ping'an County had low walls and thin walls, but Li Yunlong still managed to take it by breaking a lot of his teeth. But Taiyuan City! Not only are its walls high and thick, but there's also a regiment of Japanese soldiers stationed inside! You should thank Li Yunlong for getting in before, otherwise, could your No. 1000 Special Cavalry Regiment have dealt with tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers!"

Kong Jie's words clearly indicate that he was unwilling to go on a crazy attack on Taiyuan with Wang Gensheng.

Wang Gensheng had no choice but to wait for a perfect opportunity to take Taiyuan City in one fell swoop.

Although the Japanese had strategically retreated, many Japanese troops were still stationed in certain counties. However, the troop strength stationed in the counties had changed from a battalion to a regiment.

Therefore, it is natural to prioritize abandoning those county towns that are not in a very important location.

(End of this chapter)