Chapter 471

  Jinzhou is the throat of western Liaoning corridor, connected to Shanhai Pass in the south, it's a narrow coastal corridor and also the connection between the western Liaoning troops and the inside of the pass, which is the rear of the defending army.

  As long as Jinzhou can be held, not only can the full-scale invasion of China by Japan in the future be stopped, but also at any time to counterattack Shenyang and recover the entire Northeast. Therefore, Jinzhou is a must-defend, no matter how great the casualties are, Jinzhou must be defended.

  For such an important position, Li Bin was naturally not dare to slack off. After consulting with Huang Xiansheng, he decided to personally arrange the defensive fortifications. At this time, the guard at the door suddenly came to report to Huang Xiansheng: "Report to the chief, the Northeast Army's Chief of Staff Rong Jun has arrived in Jinzhou!"

  When he heard that this man had arrived in Jinzhou, Li Bin was secretly shocked. During the September 18th Incident, it was this man who resolutely executed the non-resistance order, completely disregarding Wang Yizhe's bitter pleas, and refused to open the arsenal to distribute guns and ammunition! But today, what is he doing here again? It must not be anything good.

  The people of the League of Nations have also arrived, and Li Bin has no good impression of those British and French people at all. Those people are just a group of robbers! Will they really help China? No! Li Bin simply didn't want to pay attention to the representatives sent by the powers, he just followed Huang Xiansheng to walk in front of Rong Zhen.

  "Welcome, you've arrived!" Huang Xiancheng said, holding onto Rong Zhen's hand.

  "Good news, you have been officially appointed by the Central Government as a Major General of the National Revolutionary Army! You will take on the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Volunteer Army. In addition, I bring with me the 20th Division, the 3rd Cavalry Division, and an armored train."

  "That's great! With these, we can hold off the Japanese bandits in Jinzhou!" Huang Xian declared, his voice slightly excited.

  However, Rong Jun's reply soon disappointed Huang Xianzhi: "But according to General Shao's orders, our regular army is not very convenient to contact the Japanese devils. Your volunteer army, General Shao is also unwilling to give a formal number."

  "This is why?" Huang Xian Sheng asked with great indignation.

  "Sorry, I'm just following orders from above." Rong Zhen said helplessly.

  Only Li Bin was clear in his heart that at the time, the young marshal was still afraid of the Japanese. On one hand, he did not want to lose Manchuria, so he sent Rong Jun with two divisions and an armored train to join the "Dare-to-Die Corps" to help defend Jinzhou. On the other hand, he also did not want to give Japan a pretext for launching a full-scale attack by allowing regular Chinese troops to engage in battle with Japanese forces. In short, on one hand, he was afraid of Japan; on the other hand, he was also suffocated by various unequal treaties.

  In fact, whether Zhang Xueliang and Chiang Kai-shek's approach was right or wrong, there are still various versions of the story. Some say that not resisting at the time was correct, otherwise Japan would have launched a full-scale invasion of China earlier, which would have brought even greater disaster to China; others say that not resisting was the biggest mistake, otherwise Japan would not have occupied Northeast China and would not have had such great power to launch a full-scale invasion of China.

  Although Rong Zong was an "opium general", the two divisions and one armored train he brought were a force that could not be ignored.

  Li Bin bowed to Rong Jun, who looked at the young man highly recommended by Huang Xiansheng with great surprise. He felt unbelievable and after a long time, he let his deputy take out a document from the briefcase: "Congratulations to Mr. Li on his promotion to lieutenant colonel of the National Revolutionary Army and appointment as Chief of Staff of the Northeast Volunteer Army!"

  Li Bin gave a standard military salute.

  Rong Zhen returned a courtesy and smiled: "You're indeed a top student from West Point Military Academy! I've long admired you!"

  With the letter of appointment given by Chiang Kai-shek, Li Bin brought Hong Biao to be promoted to lieutenant colonel, Wang Zihao was promoted to captain, and even Wu Congyu became a junior officer from an ordinary soldier.

  However, Li Bin was not interested in these military ranks at all. He said to Huang Xiansheng and Rong Jun: "Commander, participant, I, Li Bin, must personally go to arrange the city defense works outside the city, especially the key points of Gou Bangzi, Tianzhuangtai, Dawo, Panshan and Hujiawopu. In addition, the Tianxing River defense line in Jinzhou is also something that I must personally arrange!"

  Before going to Yingkou, Li Bin had already drawn a detailed map of the attack and defense and handed it over to Huang Xiansheng. This time, hearing that he was going to personally arrange the front line, Rong Jun stopped him: "Director Li doesn't have to go in person, those things can be handled by the engineering battalion and the logistics battalion, and there are so many infantrymen. Moreover, it's close to the Japanese puppet army on that side, if they encounter sniper fire or artillery bombardment, if something happens to Captain Li, it would be a great loss for the Northeast Army."

  "No, the defensive works concern the life and death of Jinzhou! Concerns the life and death of the three northeastern provinces! Concerns the life and death of our Chinese nation! I must go there in person!" Li Bin said resolutely, "What's the fear for my own life or death? Since I came here, I've never thought about leaving the Northeast alive!"

  Li Bin first came to Gou Bangzi, which is the intersection of Beining Railway and Gouying Railway, a very important location.

  According to Li Bin's request, the warriors dug three trenches. The first trench was unexpectedly a large trench with a width of 3 meters and a depth of 2 meters! Standing behind Li Bin, Hong Biao felt puzzled: "Commander, why do we need to dig such a wide and deep trench? It's so wide that it can't be protected from enemy bombs and shells. And it's so deep, how can our people shoot from inside?"

  Li Bin smiled and replied: "This, wait until we start fighting and you'll naturally know!"

  Then Li Bin came to the second ditch that was being dug, this second ditch, about thirty meters away from the first one. He looked at the soldiers lined up on the ground in a straight line preparing to dig the ditch and shouted: "Brothers, stop! Listen to me finish before working!"

  All the warriors stopped their work, only to hear Li Bin walk to the position of the trench and draw a pattern on the ground with his foot: "You dig trenches, how can you dig a straight line? According to my requirements, it must be a snake-shaped trench! Every two meters must have an arc-shaped bend! Otherwise, a heavy shell falls in, isn't it going to wipe out half of our company?! All according to my requirements, re-draw the line!"

  Li Bin's words are very reasonable. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist army did not understand how to adopt segmented defense and arc-shaped trenches, so they suffered greatly in front of the Japanese who had heavy weapons.

  Li Bin took out the drawings, squatted on the ground, and while looking at the drawings, he gnawed on a dry and hard steamed bun. After a while, he stood up and said: "Brothers, take a look here! We need to set up a machine gun firing point, this is a fan-shaped shooting angle, which corresponds to the firing point on the opposite side and can form a crossfire! Between the second and third trenches, we will set up a communication trench, and also set up some individual foxholes!"

  Hong Biao followed Li Bin, who was holding the blueprint, as they walked around. Suddenly, he discovered some extremely small bunkers and estimated that each bunker could only hold one person. He asked in confusion: "Sir, why are these bunkers so small?"

  "This is a single-person bunker, we only use one person to bring in a Czech machine gun or an assault rifle. After the firepower point is exposed, it will be bombarded by the Japanese artillery, and only lose one person. This can reduce our losses!" Li Bin replied.

  According to Li Bin's excellent defensive tactics brought from the later generations, he set up a dense and crisscrossing defensive formation like a spider web in Goubangzi. These defensive works will make the Japanese pay a terrible price for every step forward!

  After leaving Goubangzi, Li Bin came to the Daling River defense line to observe the terrain. Here is the second line of defense. Once the defensive line from Panshan to Goubangzi falls, the Daling River will become a natural barrier blocking the Japanese army's attack.

  According to his knowledge of history, the Japanese would launch an attack at the end of December. By then, the Taer River had frozen over, and the Japanese would cross the river on the ice. As for this move by the Japanese, he had long thought out a way to counter it: when mid-December arrived, he would lead his engineering battalion to blast open holes in the ice at night and lay down large quantities of explosives. When the Japanese crossed the river, they would detonate the explosives, sending a large number of devils to the icy bottom of the river!

  Li Bin called the commander of the engineering battalion: "You set up defensive fortifications along the river, according to my drawings!"

  "General, why are we not setting up defensive fortifications along the riverbank, but instead placing them 300 meters away from the river?"

  "Are we deployed on the riverbank? Do we have an advantage in the air? Are our heavy guns superior to those of the enemy? If we are deployed on the riverbank, the enemy will immediately break through our defense line as soon as they launch an attack! As I said, deploying the defense line far away from the riverbank can effectively utilize depth, deploy multiple layers of fortifications, disperse personnel, and concentrate firepower at a reasonable angle! In this way, when we are attacked by the enemy, losses can be minimized!" Li Bin explained.

  The commander of the engineering battalion was suddenly enlightened, but for this new and novel deployment method, he had indeed never heard of it before.

  Of course, the Dalinhe defense line is also based on the Gou Bangzi to Panshan defense line, with multiple fortifications. Here, Li Bin prepared four defensive lines. The first was still a deep and wide trench; the second was a curved narrow and deep trench, where each soldier entered the trench with a wooden board. Between the second and third trenches, there were communication trenches and numerous scattered pits and single-soldier hidden bunkers, aiming to inflict maximum damage on the invading enemy. Behind the third trench, there was a fourth defensive line, which consisted of underground fortifications hiding snipers and heavy machine guns. Through the crisscrossing communication trenches, they could reach various defense points to intercept the invading enemy with the most tenacious resistance.

  The Japanese advantage was heavy firepower, but their heavy weapons would lose their due power in front of Li Bin's scientific defensive fortifications.

  The Japanese infantry excelled at grenadiers, and the large number of snipers and sharpshooters that Li Bin was training were their natural enemies!

  Li Bin's approach is quietly changing the course of that period of history, and at that time, the Battle of Jinzhou will become a slaughter machine for the Japanese!