Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 317 First Merit
Taiyuan First Army Headquarters
"Commander, something terrible has happened."

A staff officer rushed to Yoshio Shinotsuka like a man on fire, yelling like a pig being slaughtered: "The arsenal can't hold out anymore! The Jin-Sui Army is about to break in! The arsenal has sent an urgent telegram asking you whether to immediately blow up all the equipment at the Taiyuan arsenal!"

Under normal circumstances, whenever the battle situation turned unfavorable, the Japanese army would try its best to destroy everything that could be destroyed, such as destroying guns, cannons, and ammunition and supplies.

This can prevent the enemy from seizing it.

But this is the Taiyuan Arsenal. Although most of the equipment has been transported back to the mainland, the remaining equipment is still very important.

Even the director of the Taiyuan Arsenal did not dare to make the decision to blow it all up without authorization.

That's why they hurriedly sent a telegram to inquire about Yoshio Shinozuka's opinion.

Upon hearing this, Yoshio Shinotsuka slammed his fist on the table and angrily rebuked, "Damn it! Those rats from the Jin-Sui Army couldn't even stop them with the remaining half of the poison gas bombs. I'm so angry!"

The brigade troops from the First War Zone will arrive in half a day.

Otherwise, with this brigade reinforcing the Taiyuan Arsenal, the Jin-Sui Army wouldn't have been able to break through.

It's only half a day left, you idiot!

"Commander, you need to make a decision quickly. If you hesitate any longer, you'll miss your chance," the staff officer reminded him.

Yoshio Shinotsuka was in a state of turmoil; how could he bear to blow up the equipment at the Taiyuan Arsenal?

If it's blown up, it's gone. But what about the ammunition supply from the First Theater of War to the Second Theater? Wouldn't that cause problems?
Even some of the ammunition for the North China Expeditionary Army was supplied by the Taiyuan Arsenal.

However, if we don't destroy it, the Jin-Sui Army will definitely recapture the equipment, which is unacceptable.

Just as Yoshio Shinozuka was struggling with his decision, Miyano Michiichi came over and said to Yoshio Shinozuka, "General, I suggest we don't bomb it."

Miyano Michiichi then said, "The equipment was seized by the Jin-Sui Army, and it will take them time to unload it. The equipment is a hindrance to them. Our brigade can arrive in half a day, intercept the Jin-Sui Army, and take the equipment back. I think that should be no problem."

Miyano Michiichi meant that at worst, the equipment could be handled by the Jin-Sui Army, and then we could take it back.

If we destroy it now, we'll have no chance.

Yoshio Shinotsuka listened, pondered for a moment, and nodded: "Yes, let's do it that way. Have the guards at the Taiyuan Arsenal withdraw. Don't fight the Jin-Sui Army head-on. Conserve some troops for now. Once the brigade reinforcements arrive, we'll attack again immediately."

"Yes, Commander..." The staff officer hurriedly went to relay the order.

"Wait a minute." Miyano Michiichi called out to him, and then Miyano Michiichi reminded Shinotsuka Yoshio: "After the Eighth Route Army attacked our airport, the Jin-Sui Army attacked the Taiyuan Arsenal, and they haven't shown up since. I think we have to be wary of the Eighth Route Army."

"You mean, could it be that the Eighth Route Army might launch a surprise attack on Taiyuan City?" Yoshio Shinotsuka asked suspiciously. "That's probably impossible. If the Eighth Route Army wanted to attack Taiyuan City, now would be the best opportunity, but they haven't come to attack."

"I judge that the Eighth Route Army's intention is most likely still to target the equipment at the Taiyuan Arsenal," Miyano Michiichi replied.

"If the Eighth Route Army was eyeing the equipment at the Taiyuan Arsenal, why didn't they join the Jin-Sui Army in attacking the Taiyuan Arsenal?" Yoshio Shinotsuka questioned.

"I don't know the specifics either, but maybe they thought they were outnumbered and couldn't compete with the Jin-Sui Army," Miyano Michiichi analyzed.

“Even if they have fewer men, wouldn’t it be faster for them to take over the Taiyuan Arsenal by joining forces with the Jin-Sui Army? They can always divide the spoils later…” Yoshio Shinotsuka stopped abruptly, “Oh, that’s impossible. There are many internal conflicts among the Chinese. The Jin-Sui Army would rather the Eighth Route Army fend for itself. When it comes to dividing the spoils, the Jin-Sui Army will definitely not keep its promises. So the Eighth Route Army doesn’t plan to work with them. But now that the equipment is in the hands of the Jin-Sui Army, it seems the Eighth Route Army has no chance to get its hands on it. What exactly is the Eighth Route Army up to?”

"No matter what the Eighth Route Army is up to, I think we still need to be on guard," said Miyano Michiichi. "We can keep the equipment and not destroy it, but we should extract the key components. It would be best if we could take the equipment back. If we lose the equipment in the end, it won't be able to function properly, whether it falls into the hands of the Jin-Sui Army or the Eighth Route Army."

“Yes, that makes sense. Miyano-kun is right at crucial moments.” Yoshio Shinozuka nodded and said to the staff officer, “Go and have the Taiyuan Arsenal immediately remove the important and critical parts of the equipment and evacuate them quickly.”

"Hai." The staff officer nodded and went to relay the order.

After the staff officer left, Miyano Michiichi took out another urgent telegram and handed it to Shinotsuka Yoshio: "Commander, take a look at this. This is an urgent telegram sent to me by the Kumamoto Division Commander."

Upon hearing the urgent telegram from Commander Kumamoto, Yoshio Shinotsuka instinctively did some mental calculations.

This probably means the Kumamoto Division's army has run out of food; the Kumamoto Division Commander is urgently requesting supplies.

Instead of answering the urgent call, Yoshio Shinotsuka turned to Miyano Michiichi and asked, "Miyano-kun, do you think we should help Commander Kumamoto's side now?"

The railway was sabotaged by those damned Eighth Route Army guerrillas. Even with air escort, the military trains couldn't possibly deliver the supplies. This is absolutely infuriating.

Yoshio Shinotsuka couldn't think of any other way to help Commander Kumamoto the fastest and most efficiently at the moment.

Miyano Michiichi said, "General, the Kumamoto Division Commander said in this urgent telegram that he has urgently resolved the issue of military rations, but he needs poison gas."

Did the Kumamoto Division Commander urgently resolve the military food problem?

Upon hearing this, Yoshio Shinotsuka was stunned: "How was it resolved?"

Could it be that these military rations just fell from the sky? With suspicion, Yoshio Shinotsuka took the urgent telegram and examined it closely.

Upon seeing this content, Yoshio Shinotsuka's pupils contracted, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Yoshio Shinotsuka never expected that the Kumamoto Division Commander would use wounded soldiers from his unit as rations.

He planned to quickly feed his troops and then send them out to join the reinforcements transporting supplies.

In an effort to expedite the process, the division commander of Kumamoto hoped to airdrop poison gas to help his troops break through the encirclement.

Remembering something, Yoshio Shinotsuka said, "Putting aside the fact that poison gas is hard to get, even if we did manage to get it, it would take Kumamoto Division Commander more than a day or two to lead his troops to join the reinforcements transporting supplies. His wounded soldiers probably wouldn't have enough rations."

With tens of thousands of soldiers and over seven thousand corpses, the intense marching and fighting meant that military rations wouldn't last long.

Miyano Michiichi shook his head and said, "Since Division Commander Kumamoto has already used wounded soldiers as rations, there will definitely be more wounded soldiers and corpses in this breakout operation, which will also be sources of rations."

The increased number of corpses and wounded soldiers reduced the size of the army, but it also increased supplies and reduced consumption.

Yoshio Shinotsuka remained silent.

Although the Kumamoto Division Commander did not state this in the urgent telegram, he would definitely do so.

To protect the army and the tungsten ore that had been so hard to reclaim, Commander Kumamoto really went through a lot.

“Matsui-kun from the First War Zone still has some poison gas bombs. I’ll ask him for some.” Yoshio Shinozuka couldn’t very well ask Okamura Neiji for more at this point.

After all, Okamura Neiji had already helped many times.

The loss of Taiyuan Airport also affected Commander Okamura's important battles in the Ninth War Zone of China.

Xue Yue, the Chinese commander of the Ninth War Zone, has taken advantage of the loss of our important air power to launch a counterattack, and Commander Okamura is now under great pressure.

Miyano Michiichi didn't say anything.

He came to see Yoshio Shinotsuka for the same reason.

Although Wei Lihuang of the First War Zone is not easy to deal with, Matsui Iwane has poison gas bombs in his possession for emergency use.

However, given the tens of thousands of troops under Commander Kumamoto's command, they could only put some pressure on Commander Matsui Iwane.

Yoshio Shinozuka picked up the phone: "Connect me to Commander Matsui of the First War Zone."

……

358th Regiment of Jin-Sui Army

"Haha, Regimental Commander, we're about to break through the last line of defense at the Taiyuan Arsenal." Seeing the troops making great progress, Fang Ligong happily said to Regimental Commander Chu Yunfei, "Our regiment will be the first to enter the Taiyuan Arsenal, and we'll be the ones to achieve the greatest merit."

"I'm afraid the Japanese will blow up the Taiyuan Arsenal beforehand," Chu Yunfei said, still very worried.

If the Japanese get desperate and blow up the Taiyuan Arsenal, then we'll have wasted our time.

"No, that won't happen." Fang Ligong shook his head and said, "This last line of defense is about to be breached. If the Japanese wanted to bomb it, they would have done so long ago."

"Hmm, that makes some sense." Chu Yunfei nodded, still suspicious: "Could it be that the Japanese are really willing to hand over the Taiyuan Arsenal to us?"

The reason why our Jin-Sui Army handed over the Taiyuan Arsenal to the Japanese in the past was because we didn't expect them to act so quickly.

Now, no matter how fast we move, we can't outrun the Japanese bombing the Taiyuan Arsenal.

"I reckon the Japanese won't be willing to bomb it. If we take this place, their reinforcements might arrive, and then they'll want to take it back," Fang Ligong guessed.

Taiyuan Airport was bombed by the Eighth Route Army, but there are still traces of airplanes in the sky.

Although the number of planes was small, they were definitely reinforcements that Yoshio Shinotsuka had obtained from other places.

Since Yoshio Shinotsuka was able to secure air support, he must have also requested ground troop support.

"Hmph, once this equipment falls into our hands, those little devils won't be able to take it back!" Chu Yunfei snorted heavily.

Under Chu Yunfei's command, the 358th Regiment ultimately broke through the last line of defense of the Taiyuan Arsenal like a sharp knife.

The Japanese garrison was no match for the enemy and was forced to retreat. The Taiyuan Arsenal was captured by the Jin-Sui Army.

(End of this chapter)