bookbashuk #169 - Offense and defense change
#169 - Offense and defense change
Heyuan.
Zhang Dabiao's Independent Guerrilla First Detachment had grown to over 2,000 men.
Even during the fiercest battles, Ren Chong's Heyuan Arsenal maintained a sense of tranquility, focusing on full production. The Japanese troops stationed in Heyuan City were weak and isolated, with no external reinforcements. Hirata Ichiro hid in the city, feigning death, while racking his brains to deal with his superiors, concealing the worsening situation in Heyuan.
Not only did the number of soldiers increase, but the weapons and equipment were now the envy of the Independent Regiment's main force battalions. Each company had heavy weaponry consisting of nine machine guns, three grenade launchers, and two mortars, along with the formidable firepower of thirty Type 56 semi-automatic rifles.
A bold idea gradually formed in his mind.
"Brother Yunfei, this time, if we capture Anping City, the city is yours. I only want the captured weapons and ammunition. What do you think? I'm being generous, right? Capturing a county seat this time will surely make you a great hero and a favorite of the higher-ups. Maybe you'll even get promoted to division commander."
Li Yunlong, accompanied by Wei Heshang, infiltrated the 358th Regiment and vigorously tried to persuade Chu Yunfei.
"Look, Brother Yunfei, you have an artillery battalion. It won't be a problem to blast open the city gate. Our Independent Regiment only needs you to open a breach in the city gate. We'll take care of the rest, cleaning up all the Japanese devils in the city. When the time comes, you can directly lead your troops to garrison it."
Chu Yunfei looked at Li Yunlong, who was spraying spittle as he spoke, and couldn't help but feel strange. He had heard that Li Yunlong was an iron rooster who wouldn't pluck a single feather. Why was he being so generous this time, giving away the fruits of victory to him?
However, Anping was dozens of miles away from his garrison. What medicine was Li Yunlong selling in his gourd, trying to trick him into attacking it?
"Brother Yunlong, if we're talking about capturing a county seat, I think it would be better to take Heyuan. If you and I join forces, taking Heyuan would be as easy as turning our hands. Why should we abandon what's near and seek what's far?" Chu Yunfei said with a smile.
Li Yunlong cursed inwardly. This Chu Yunfei seemed difficult to deceive. "There's nothing to gain in Heyuan. There aren't many Japanese devils there, and it would be a waste of our strength. If we attack Anping, we'll not only reclaim a transportation hub, but Anping's output is also several times that of Heyuan."
Li Yunlong cursed inwardly, but his face was full of smiles as he said.
"After we seize Anping, we can at least cut off the Japanese devils' transportation line within a hundred miles. We can advance to threaten the Japanese devils in three counties, and retreat, we're close to the mountains. We can enter the mountains after a few miles. If the main force of the Japanese devils comes, we'll go into the mountains and drag them to their deaths. If the main force of the Japanese devils doesn't come, with the current conditions, wouldn't a Japanese devil battalion be easy prey for you and me?"
Of course, Li Yunlong wasn't being so kind.
He had his eyes on Chu Yunfei's artillery battalion. With those mountain guns from the artillery battalion, the city gate of Anping couldn't withstand the attack of the cannons at all.
If he could convince Chu Yunfei to lend his artillery battalion for this battle, he naturally wouldn't let him suffer a loss.
After all, cities are much more complex and solid than strongholds. Without heavy weapons like mountain guns and field guns to knock on the door, it would be too difficult for the Independent Regiment to capture a city.
In this timeline, the Second Battalion Commander didn't have the chance to acquire any Italian cannons.
The First and Second Battalions had been fighting alongside Li Yunlong all the way, and the Third Battalion had been wiped out. The only siege weapons they could currently bring out were the flying thunder cannons. 82mm mortars were good for positional warfare, but they were ineffective for siege warfare.
They weren't as powerful as the flying thunder cannons, and couldn't cause much damage to the solid city walls.
Otherwise, why would Li Yunlong come to find Chu Yunfei?
The second aspect was Li Yunlong's greater expectation, to pull the 358th Regiment to the county seat and use them as a barrier for his rebuilding of the Yangcun base.
The 358th Regiment was strong and well-equipped. Even after suffering casualties in the war, Chu Yunfei had completed the replenishment of personnel and weapons and ammunition through complaining, and was fully revived.
The 358th Regiment, with as many as 5,000 people, could be regarded as a brigade, and its weaponry and equipment were far superior to those of ordinary troops. Who would equip an ordinary brigade with a mountain gun artillery battalion? But Chu Yunfei had an artillery battalion with 12 mountain guns!
Such favored treatment was something others couldn't get even if they were anxious.
"Brother Yunlong, my garrison is hundreds of miles away from Anping," Chu Yunfei said with a smile. "Such a long and arduous expedition, without the order of the war zone commander, even if I, Chu, were to capture the county seat, I'm afraid it would be more of a misfortune than a blessing."
"Brother Yunfei, you're wrong. What time is it now? It's a time when the army has just suffered a defeat and urgently needs to boost its morale. If you capture a county seat, it's no less than eliminating a Japanese brigade. The higher-ups will be too busy rewarding you to blame you. Moreover, you have connections with both the Second War Zone and the higher-ups. How can such a small matter as cross-regional operations be worth mentioning?"
"Look, once Anping is captured, Heyuan will become a turtle in a jar, easily captured. There are two other counties nearby that we can attack or defend. Moreover, there are still many Guofu troops in the Taihang Mountains who urgently need us to show our strength so that they can follow suit and capture some of the mountain counties occupied by the Japanese devils, and cause an upheaval in the Taihang Mountains."
Li Yunlong said half-truths.
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For Chu Yunfei, he agreed with most of what Li Yunlong said. So he didn't completely reject it outright.
Instead, he carefully considered the possibility.
The last time the two sides joined forces in an attack, although it was a coincidence, the two sides cooperated very well, suppressing the Japanese devils in the south of Hongdong County, daring not to move. They forcibly cut off the Tongpu Railway for 7 days. Speaking of which, this was the most ruthless combination for sabotaging the railway. In seven days, Li Yunlong pulled up more than a hundred rails.
The 358th Regiment's mountain gun battalion made Li Yunlong drool.
Three days later, after a deafening roar of artillery fire, the west gate tower of Anping City was instantly blown to pieces by artillery shells. As the city gate was blasted open by several shells, Li Yunlong led his troops and sounded the horn of attack. The main force of the Independent Regiment charged in with a burst of energy, using their close-range firepower advantage to annihilate the Japanese military police and force the puppet troops to surrender. They immediately seized enough new equipment for three battalions, and then successfully retreated, allowing the 358th Regiment to take over Anping County.
Due to the sensitive timing, this battle seemed somewhat confusing to all parties. In the eyes of the Guofu superiors, the 358th Regiment's move was to prevent the county seat from being occupied by the Eighth Route Army, so they were credited with taking over.
In the eyes of the brigade commander, this was Li Yunlong's first step in returning to Yangcun, knowing that Li Yunlong had found himself a backer, making the defense of Yangcun more secure. Therefore, the brigade commander pretended not to see Li Yunlong's battle, allowing Li Yunlong to lead the First and Second Battalions back to Yangcun and begin the work of rebuilding the Third Battalion.
He began to rebuild Yangcun step by step, which had been destroyed by the Japanese devils.
Third update