Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

As Li Yunlong was speaking, he led the chief of staff towards the back mountain. Li Yunlong did not mention the copper mine in the telegram because he was very clear about the Japanese's telegram deciphering ability. If the Japanese knew that there was a copper mine here, the poor Japanese would definitely send a large number of troops to attack.

"Indeed!"

The Chief of Staff looked at the surrounding terrain and was quite satisfied with it. "But the mountain roads here are difficult to travel on, so transporting equipment here is a bit difficult. It will also be difficult for other troops to come here to get supplies in the future!"

The arsenal of the 129th Division serves the entire division. Many troops are eagerly waiting for supplies of ammunition produced by the arsenal. Heiyun Mountain is hidden enough, but it is very troublesome to come here to exchange supplies.

"I've already considered these issues. There's a cliff on the back mountain. I plan to build a zipline between there and the bottom of the mountain to facilitate the transportation of supplies, as for raw materials!"

Li Yunlong smiled and led the chief of staff into the mine in the back mountain. "There is a chalcopyrite mine here, as well as associated ores. We have no shortage of raw materials, but we lack manpower!"

After hearing this, the Chief of Staff stared at the mine in front of him with wide eyes. He picked up a piece of ore and looked at it carefully: "Copper mine?"

"Chalcopyrite!"

Li Yunlong nodded vigorously. In fact, Li Yunlong also knew the location of a copper mine with huge reserves nearby, but Li Yunlong's current strength was not enough to defend it. He needed to wait for two years of development before he could take it over.

Otherwise, if the Japanese find out about the premature mining, the consequences will be unimaginable.

The chief of staff followed Li Yunlong to the cliff at the back of the mountain, which was where Xie Baoqing escaped. The mines here had been cleared, and a group of soldiers were setting up a winch. In the future, not only could they use the zipline to send supplies to the foot of the mountain, but they could also use the winch to pull supplies up from the foot of the mountain.

"You kid, report it when you're ready. I'm telling you, there's no problem building an arsenal here, but you can't use it as your independent column's private arsenal!"

Li Yunlong laughed when he heard this and said, "How could that be? Don't worry, Chief of Staff. My independent column has no shortage of these things. This time, we've gained a lot from suppressing bandits. I'll show you!"

After saying that, he took the chief of staff to the warehouse. In fact, Li Yunlong did not want to show off the seizure, but wanted to use this incident to tell the headquarters that there are piles of supplies around us.

"More than 300,000 kilograms of grain?"

Looking at the warehouse full of food, the chief of staff pushed his glasses in surprise.

"Well, these bandits are basically doing all kinds of evil. They have hidden a lot of goodies and a lot of money in the stronghold. If we can wipe out all the bandits in our jurisdiction, it will ease our logistical pressure!"

The Chief of Staff paced back and forth and said, "Show me what you've gained this time."

Li Yunlong immediately handed over the list of supplies. The chief of staff couldn't help but take a breath after reading it. After the Eighth Route Army arrived in Shanxi, they had been busy fighting the devils and mediating with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. They did not carry out large-scale bandit suppression and did not know how rich the bandits in Shanxi were.

There used to be bandits in the rear base, but the rear base was originally a remote and poor area, and the bandits didn’t make much money, so it is not yet realized how rich these bandits are.

In fact, it was not until our army won the victory and began a large-scale crackdown on bandits that we discovered the massive wealth hidden by these bandits, which just made up for the very tense domestic economy at that time.

"Chief of Staff, the main reason these bandits get along with us peacefully is because we are too poor and they look down on us. But this group of people are not soft-hearted towards the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and ordinary people!"

"By suppressing the bandits now, we can not only obtain sufficient supplies, but also stabilize the people's hearts in our base. Moreover, some bandits and the devils are collaborating. If we don't clean them up, one day they might suddenly..."

The chief of staff took Li Yunlong's words to heart. In fact, when the chief of staff saw the supplies Li Yunlong had seized this time, he was already tempted. With these supplies, the team could grow stronger, and the soldiers would not have to starve while fighting the Japanese.

However, the chief of staff had no intention of taking the reserves in Li Yunlong's warehouse. This was why Li Yunlong asked the chief of staff to come over but did not contact the brigade commander. Even though the brigade commander and he no longer had a direct leadership relationship as superiors and subordinates, if the brigade commander came, he would definitely have to send out some of the supplies in his warehouse.

"So, Chief of Staff, where is this arsenal located?"

"It's settled here with you, but Li Yunlong, I want to remind you that this arsenal is the lifeblood of our 129th Division. You must keep a close eye on them!"

Li Yunlong nodded vigorously and said, "Please rest assured, Chief of Staff. As long as the independent column is still there, the arsenal will definitely be there!"

"Okay, okay, okay, Li Yunlong, I still trust your promise. This is for you."

After the chief of staff finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the guard behind him handed a letter to Li Yunlong.

"This is?"

"A thank you letter from the Shancheng Patriotic Group!"

Li Yunlong couldn't help but be stunned for a moment: "Written for me?"

"Yes, Shancheng has publicized your achievements. I think they want to divert the blame!"

After reading the letter, Li Yunlong smiled.

"Are you happy now? And this!"

After he finished speaking, the chief of staff took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Li Yunlong: "This is for you from the rear."

Then he patted his shoulder vigorously. When Li Yunlong saw the signature, he was stunned, his Adam's apple moving up and down. At this moment, Li Yunlong had an idea in his mind: he had found a life-saving talisman.

Chapter 68: The Japanese Winter Raid, Li Yunlong's Surprise

The Chief of Staff looked at Li Yunlong's excitement and immediately laughed: "Okay, I'll read the letter later. I have two things to explain to you."

Li Yunlong put the letter into his pocket with some trembling. At this time, Li Yunlong was still excited. This was a handwritten letter from the person he admired most in the future. His words about the future inspired Li Yunlong countless times.

The more I get to know him, the more I admire him.

Li Yunlong took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but his heartbeat was still accelerating. He tried hard to breathe in and out, and finally his mood gradually calmed down: "Chief of Staff, please speak."

"The first one is about the submachine gun you designed. After research and approval by headquarters, and after extensive discussion and decision by the weapons research experts at the arsenal, it's officially named!"

At this point, the chief of staff deliberately paused, glanced at Li Yunlong and said, "Yunlong submachine gun!"

"Yunlong submachine gun?"

Although Li Yunlong had thought about naming the submachine gun after himself before, he gave up after some consideration and decided to let the headquarters name it. However, he did not expect that after all the twists and turns, he still named the submachine gun after himself.

In addition to naming the submachine gun after himself, there was another important reason why Li Yunlong was excited. In the future, whenever people saw this gun, the first person they would think of would be Li Yunlong. Li Yunlong's name would gradually spread throughout the army unintentionally. This was definitely a good thing for Li Yunlong. After all, Li Yunlong did not intend to hold the rank of major general in 55.

"Now you know why I placed the arsenal in your Black Cloud Mountain, right?"

Li Yunlong immediately nodded and said, "Please rest assured, Chief of Staff. I will do everything I can to improve production methods, increase output, and strive to ensure that the entire army uses Yunlong submachine guns."

"You boy!"

After the chief of staff finished speaking, he pointed at Li Yunlong and said with a serious expression, "The next thing is the second thing."

Li Yunlong immediately put away his smile and looked at the chief of staff seriously, knowing that he was going to talk about serious matters.

"We've received news that the Japanese are planning to launch a massive sweep during the Spring Festival. The scale of this sweep is unprecedented. You must be prepared to respond!"

Hearing this, Li Yunlong was stunned and then frowned.

The flapping of the wings of this little butterfly caused a butterfly effect.

According to Li Yunlong's memory, the Japanese should have launched a summer sweep in the summer of the next year, also known as the Three Alls Policy. Before that, the Japanese had not made any major moves.

"This time, the Japanese mobilized three divisions, two mixed brigades, and some other troops. The scale is unprecedented since the Battle of Taiyuan!"

"Don't worry, Chief of Staff! If the devils dare to come, I will make sure they never return!"

After finishing speaking, Li Yunlong immediately asked: "Chief of Staff, if you know the number of the devils, can you send it to our column as soon as possible?"

"What are you going to do, kid?"

"I want to see if there are any hard bones. I want to touch them!"

The Chief of Staff shook his head and said, "That shouldn't be possible. This time the Japanese have also deployed radio detection vehicles. At that time, all troops must maintain radio silence, and you are no exception."

Seeing that Li Yunlong didn't seem to take it to heart, the chief of staff reminded him again: "Don't be impulsive this time, kid. The Japanese are making a big move this time. We may have to avoid the sharp edge this time and can't confront the Japanese head-on!"

Li Yunlong nodded after hearing this and said, "Yes, Chief of Staff, don't worry, I will obey the organization's arrangements!"

The chief of staff did not stay in Heiyun Mountain for too long. After discussing the specific location of the arsenal and the mining situation with Li Yunlong, he left in a hurry.

Two days later, the first batch of equipment from the arsenal arrived at the foot of Heiyun Mountain.

Most of these equipment were rescued from the ruins of Yixiantian. Although Yixiantian was bombed and a lot of equipment was lost, a batch of them were still rescued. Another batch of those that were destroyed were repaired by the technicians of the arsenal and are now able to operate.

Four days later, the arsenal completed the transfer, and all the equipment was transported to the back mountain of the arsenal through various methods. It has been installed and can be put into production.

On the same day, Li Yunlong received a telegram from headquarters.

"The Japs are serious this time!"

After reading the contents of the telegram, Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes slightly.

In Taiyuan City, generals gathered at Shinozuka Kazuo's combat command center. A group of Japanese major generals sat in a neat row on both sides of a sand table, looking ahead and waiting.

"The general has arrived!"

All the devils immediately stood up and bowed: "General!"

Shinozuka Kazuo pressed his hands. Compared with a month ago, Shinozuka Kazuo looked at least ten years older and looked a little decadent.

The North China Battlefield Observation Group was attacked and Yamamoto Ikki died, which put Shinozuka Kazuo under pressure from all sides during this period. At the same time, Shinozuka Kazuo also knew his final outcome and was dismissed and transferred back to the headquarters.

As for what Kazuo Shinozuka will face when he returns to the base camp, Kazuo Shinozuka doesn't know, and he doesn't care.

Although he already knew his final fate, the headquarters did not issue the dismissal order because his successor had not yet been chosen. However, Shinozuka Kazuo knew very well that he did not have much time left, so he was so anxious to assemble troops to launch a winter mopping-up operation.

Kazuo Shinozuka knew very well that winter was not a good time to launch a mop-up operation, especially to mobilize a large army to conduct a mop-up operation in winter, because it had already started snowing and the roads in various places were covered with heavy snow, and the logistical pressure on the troops was very great.

Although the winter mopping-up operation encountered a lot of opposition, Shinozuka Kazuo finally withstood the pressure and pushed back on the grounds that winter marching was so difficult for the Imperial Army and it would be even more difficult for the Eighth Route Army to move in winter and they would not be able to make full use of their strengths in mobile warfare and ambushes.

Finally, the First Army completed the resolution to carry out this winter sweep, and after more than half a month of preparation, it was ready to launch an attack.

Kazuo Shinozuka walked to his position in the middle and swept his eyes over all the generals in front of him. This time, three divisions, four mixed brigades, and 110,000 Imperial Army troops, a total of 200,000 troops, were mobilized. Kazuo Shinozuka had only one goal, which was to completely destroy the Eighth Route Army's base in Shanxi.

At the same time, the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army must be completely destroyed and Li Yunlong must be killed. This way, after returning to the base camp, the blame suffered by Shinozuka Kazuo will be lessened, and he will have the possibility of making a comeback.

Chapter 69: Three Divisions and Three Brigades Attack

"Everyone is here, tell us about the situation of your respective troops!"

"Hayi!"

The first to stand up was the Sixth Division Commander, Kanda Masatane. He stood up, bowed to Shinozuka Kazuo, and said, "Except for the 3rd Infantry Battalion under the 13th Regiment, which needs to defend against a possible attack from the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, all troops of the Sixth Division have already set out towards Ping'an County and are expected to arrive there in three days!"

Shinozuka Kazuo nodded after hearing this. "The Sixth Division's mission is to blockade Ping'an County from both sides. Once the encirclement is formed, begin advancing towards the heart of the Taihang Mountains. Ensure that no one escapes and annihilate all Eighth Route Army troops you encounter!"

"Hayi!"

After Kanda Masatane sat down, Shinozuka Kazuo turned his gaze to the next division commander. The commander of the 14th Division, Iseki Takamasa, immediately stood up and said, "The 14th Division, including the 2nd Regiment, has fully assembled and is awaiting the general's orders outside Taiyuan City!"

After saying that, he bowed and sat down.

"The 14th Division's mission is to use the Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Railway as a starting point and gradually advance southward to reduce the encirclement. Your mission is also to eliminate all Eighth Route Army and anti-imperial armed forces within the encirclement!"

"Hayi!"

The so-called Shitai Railway is actually the Zhengtai Railway. After the Japanese captured Taiyuan in 1938, they changed the track of the Zhengtai Railway from narrow gauge to standard gauge and renamed it Shitai Railway to demonstrate their rule.

This railway connects Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang, as well as the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and the Tongpu Railway. It is a major artery that the Japanese in the entire Shanxi area value most.

Finally, Kazuo Shinozuka turned his gaze to Lieutenant General Ichiro Shichida, the commander of the last division.

"Report to the General, the 20th Division has assembled. However, General, with such a large-scale assembly, there may be some changes in our defense zone!"