Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

After all, if the mortar modification was successful, it would greatly enhance the Eighth Route Army's offensive capabilities. This would be a significant boost to the Eighth Route Army's overall combat effectiveness. Li Yong asked his best gunner to operate the modified mortar.

Everyone is very nervous.

After the weapon was launched, everyone was very surprised. The leaders of the columns that came this time were all veterans who had fought on the battlefield for more than ten years. They immediately saw the benefits of this thing.

It can be said that the transformation of the mortar was a huge success.

After testing in the artillery regiment, the modified mortar received high praise. Although the mortar was not as good as infantry guns or field guns, it had many advantages that infantry guns and field guns did not have.

The biggest advantage is that the Eighth Route Army has a lot of mortars.

While not as well-equipped as the Japanese and Nationalist armies, many regular main force regiments possessed their own mortars. This was especially true after two years of combat, when a significant number of mortars were captured. Furthermore, compared to the scarce supply of infantry artillery shells, each military region and unit had a substantial reserve of mortar shells. This advantage alone was worth any form of praise for mortar modification.

Of course, such a good thing cannot be hidden.

With the Japanese army currently implementing a "cage policy" and many bases having limited options for dealing with Japanese bunkers, sharing this valuable resource was a must. Wei Hongjun knew, in particular, that the Eighth Route Army would launch the Hundred Regiments Campaign in a few months. During this campaign, the main Eighth Route Army units would possess modified mortars, making removing bunkers a significant undertaking.

However, the two did not go directly to the military area.

Instead, he immediately brought his belongings to the First Division to see his old leader, Yang Quanwu. One reason was that the Eighth Column was passing through the First Division on its way to the military region. Another reason was that Wei Hongjun still wanted to discuss something with Yang Quanwu.

To be honest, Yang Quanwu was very satisfied.

Although he wasn't a petty person, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were his old subordinates. If they became the commander and political commissar of the military sub-district, he would be hurt even if he didn't say it.

Now the two of them are still as friendly as ever with him, which makes Yang Quanwu very happy.

"Old leader, how about this?"

"Good, really good. It will be much easier to attack Japanese bunkers in the future. With this thing, ordinary Japanese bunkers can be destroyed with one shot. If we concentrate our troops and attack them by surprise, we can easily eliminate dozens of Japanese bunkers in one night. The Japanese and puppet troops thought that the bunkers were safe and could suppress our Eighth Route Army. But with this powerful weapon, the bunkers will become a burden to the Japanese and puppet troops and their burial place."

Yang Quanwu was full of praise.

He even quickly thought of how to break through the Japanese fort in the future.

The Japanese and puppet troops took advantage of the Eighth Route Army's lack of heavy weapons and built so many bunkers. However, if used properly, these bunkers would have become the Japanese and puppet troops' weaknesses.

Yang Quanwu spoke as he touched the modified mortar. The more he looked at it, the happier he became. The Japanese army currently used the Taisho Type 11 70mm mortar, the Type 90 90mm light mortar, and the Type mm mortar, all of which had astonishing explosive power.

The Type 97 mortar, in particular, was able to destroy even Japanese tanks.

This type of mortar was converted into a flat-firing cannon, and ordinary bunkers were really unable to stop it. It can even be said that in North China, there were basically few bunkers that could withstand mortar fire.

"Old leader, it's not just about relocating the fort. In the future, when attacking a city, we can concentrate more than ten mortars and use them as infantry artillery.

Aside from a few important cities in North China, the walls of ordinary county towns are simply no match for this type of mortar. Blast open a city gate or tear a hole in a wall in a few hits. Unfortunately, we currently lack Type 97 mortars. If we had a large number of them, we could easily attack even large cities.

Although the Eighth Route Army also had some Type 97 mortars, their number was small.

Because the Type 97 mortar was primarily used by the Japanese army in central China and southern China to mop up the New Fourth Army. However, even if it wasn't the Type 97, the Type 94 light mortar was still incredibly powerful. It was also very effective in taking out Japanese and puppet army bunkers.

"How did you come up with this?"

"Old leader, we are implementing the 'merit commendation campaign' in the Chadong detachment."

Wei Hongjun introduced to him the "merit commendation movement" of the 8th Column.

Hearing this, Yang Quanwu nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes. This is a good initiative. You have a flexible mind, and your methods of managing the army are one after another. So this was thought up by the soldiers of the Chadong Detachment and reported to your column.

"Yes. They proposed various methods to remove the bunkers, totaling over a hundred. I summarized the more likely ones, especially those that could be adopted across the entire army. After screening, we ultimately chose two methods. One was to convert the mortars into flat-fire cannons, and the other was to modify the mortar shells by adding a highly irritating substance like chili powder to them, forcing the Japanese out of the bunkers. Many of these methods were devised by the local troops and militia of the Chadong Detachment during their battles with the Japanese. I then compiled these ideas and discussed them with the technicians at our arsenal. This is the result."

"We must pool our wisdom and strength. The creativity of the people is limitless."

Yang Quanwu is a person with a very sensitive sense of smell.

I got the point right away.

He said, "Please record the 'merit commendation campaign' of your Chadong detachment in detail. Then send a copy to the military district and give me one. I plan to try it in our first division as well."

"Yes."

“And you two, take this and come with me to the military area.

The entire military region is currently experiencing a headache due to the Japanese bunker problem. Commander Nie just returned from a meeting at headquarters. If he saw this weapon, he would be very happy. Even headquarters would be delighted to hear this news.

The Japanese army's "cage policy" left many bases helpless.

This is because the Japanese army learned from previous lessons.

In previous raids, the Japanese army failed to capture the main force of the Eighth Route Army. Their logistics were frequently ambushed by Eighth Route Army troops. Even the troops of the First Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Region had killed five Japanese generals so far.

Some powerful military divisions of the Eighth Route Army were already strong enough to concentrate their forces to completely wipe out the Japanese battalions. During the Japanese mopping-up operations, and even during the Japanese attacks on the Nationalist army, the battalions were independent combat units.

Now the Eighth Route Army can frequently annihilate even large Japanese battalions, which is really a huge blow to the North China Front Army.

So now the North China Front Army has changed its fighting style.

A force of one to two thousand men would march only five to ten miles a day, then set up camp. This was because they had to build forts and establish strongholds. Once the strongholds were completed, the troops would march again, also five to ten miles.

The Japanese army did not look for the main force of the Eighth Route Army.

In this way, step by step, they built bunkers to divide the Eighth Route Army base. How to break the Japanese army's "bunker network" is what the Eighth Route Army headquarters is thinking about most.

"Old leader, don't worry. We have something else to discuss with you."

Chapter 323 Good news keeps coming

"Anything else?"

"We've recently established a relationship with a high-ranking member of the North China Security Army. He currently possesses a considerable amount of arms, especially ammunition. We've already completed two transactions with him, purchasing nearly 500,000 rounds of ammunition.

"Five hundred thousand rounds?"

Yang Quanwu was stunned.

For the Eighth Route Army, which was extremely short of ammunition, 500,000 rounds was an astronomical number. When the Eighth Route Army crossed the Yellow River after the July 7 Incident, the ammunition of the three divisions combined was only this amount.

Although the Eighth Route Army had captured a considerable amount of ammunition during these years of fighting, few of the sub-districts under the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region could actually draw upon their reserves. With the exception of the First Sub-district, the ammunition reserves of the other sub-districts in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region were estimated to be less than 100,000 rounds.

Now the Eighth Column is doing business with the Imperial Army and has purchased 500,000 rounds of ammunition.

It's really amazing.

"So many bullets? How much did it cost?"

"It cost more than 30,000 yuan."

"so cheap?"

Yang Quanwu couldn't imagine it at all.

These bullets were surprisingly cheap. If you bought them on the black market, not only would they be scarce, but they would also be incredibly expensive. Five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition wouldn't be possible without shelling out three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, or six hundred thousand dollars.

Thirty thousand dollars is one tenth or one twentieth of the black market price.

Wei Hongjun nodded.

"Old leader, there are so many good things over there. Not only ammunition, but also Japanese-made and Northeastern-made grenades, and no shortage of guns. They have Type 38 rifles, Zhongzheng rifles, and Hanyang rifles. I think there are some light and heavy machine guns as well. Our Eighth Column is planning to purchase another batch of weapons, but the quantity won't be too large. After all, guns are much more expensive than bullets, and we in the Eighth Column still have too little money. Of course, we should ask the old leader about this matter first."

The Eighth Column has no shortage of weapons, but Wei Hongjun will not think that there are too many weapons.

Being able to buy weapons with money is, of course, the best thing. However, weapons are much more expensive than ammunition. A heavy machine gun can sell for tens of thousands of silver dollars on the black market. Even if Huang Peng is cheaper, it still costs thousands of silver dollars.

Other rifles and light machine guns are not cheap either.

Given the Eighth Column's strength, the quantity it could purchase was limited. But such a good deal certainly couldn't be monopolized by the Eighth Column.

“Does he really have good stuff over there?

“Yes, and definitely quite a lot.”

"Our Division 1 will spend 50,000 dollars. Let me think about what to buy specifically. But we definitely have to buy ammunition. We have many troops in Division 1, and we fight a lot, so the consumption is high. Big..."

"Old leader, last year you wiped out nearly 20,000 puppet troops and seized so many valuable items, but you still don't have enough bullets?

During the Japanese army's summer mopping-up operation in 1939, the First Division swept through Laishui and Zhuoxian, defeating more than North China Security Forces in one battle.

Over 8,000 rifles and short rifles alone were seized. At the end of the year, Yang Quanwu led a divisional force that once again swept through two Japanese armies, seizing over 5,000 rifles and short rifles of all types. It wasn't just rifles and short rifles; the seizures were staggering, as were a variety of artillery, light and heavy machine guns. Of course, these weren't all Imperial Army weapons and ammunition; they also included the Japanese arsenals they were guarding.

If we talk about the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Sub-district now, which one has the strongest ammunition reserves is definitely the First Sub-district.

At present, there is no shortage of guns or bullets in the first division.

The weapons and equipment are very good.

Furthermore, the First Division currently receives over a third of the ammunition produced by the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's arsenal. This is because the First Division currently boasts over ten main force regiments. The military region distributes supplies based on the main force regiments. This is why each military division hopes to have more main force regiments with designated military region designations. With such main force regiments, the division will have a share in the future distribution of cadres and supplies.

Yang Quanwu smiled and said, "Who can have too much of a good thing? And you don't have to worry about the money. I'll tell you something good. The overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia donated 1200 million to our Eighth Route Army through Mr. Chen Jiageng. We in Jin-Cha-Ji have already received 300 million from Yan'an, and our First Division and your Eighth Column will both receive a share."

"Old leader, did the military district really receive 300 million?"

"Correct."

Wei Hongjun was very shocked.

For the national army, 300 million may not be a large number.

But for the impoverished Eighth Route Army, 300 million yuan was no small sum. For example, Wei Hongjun, commander and political commissar of the th Military Division, only received a monthly allowance of yuan.

And you may not be able to get it every month.

The cadres of the Eighth Column are all the same.

Although there are allowances, when the column is in financial difficulties, the allowances will naturally be reduced or even not issued.

300 million was almost enough to feed the Jin-Cha-Ji troops for a year. With this money, Jin-Cha-Ji could do anything. They could purchase the necessary supplies from the Kuomintang-controlled areas and the Japanese-controlled areas.

It can greatly alleviate the current shortage of supplies for the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei troops.

Wei Hongjun did not expect that overseas Chinese would donate so much to Yan'an.

Wei Hongjun certainly didn't know that Chen Jiageng only stayed in Yan'an for less than ten days during his visit. However, within these short ten days, his views on Yan'an and Chongqing completely changed.

Not only did he personally donate 200 million yuan to Yan'an, but after returning to Southeast Asia, he publicly stated that China's future lay in Yan'an. He told overseas Chinese about the difficult conditions under which the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army fought against the Japanese, hoping that they would donate to Yan'an. Although many people still distrusted Yan'an, donations were far less than those from Chongqing. However, many still trusted Chen Jiageng and donated to Yan'an. Ultimately, donations exceeded 1000 million yuan, which were sent to Yan'an in various ways.

For Yan'an, this 1000 million yuan was really a timely help.

Thanks to this donation, the entire Eighth Route Army would have significantly more funds within the year. With this money, many units could even purchase needed supplies through various channels. The North China Security Army was able to sell arms to the Eighth Route Army, and Nationalist troops surrounding the Eighth Route Army base also did business with the Eighth Route Army. Despite the increasing friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, many Nationalist troops were not averse to doing business when it came to real money, especially those of the state-run, miscellaneous armies.

They are not as good as the Central Army, whose military rations are high and paid on time.

The salaries of the miscellaneous troops were much lower than those of the central army, only half or one-third. Even with such a full salary, the government still did not pay them properly.

So I have to think of other ways to make money.

Doing business with the Eighth Route Army was also a good idea. As long as the Eighth Route Army had money, they would sell things to them. Fighting was one thing, and business was another. What the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia like Chen Jiageng didn't know was that the money they donated could greatly enhance the Eighth Route Army's strength.