Chapter 21: Expansion of the Troops

  The 26th Division Headquarters, all officers became serious.

  The commander of the regiment, Officer Jun, has appeared in front of the officers accompanied by Infantry Regiment Commander Kuroda Shigekata.

  The officers quickly stood at attention and began to salute.

  Hou Guan Chun nodded and signaled for everyone to sit down.

  The officers quickly sat down on their chairs, waiting for the command of Lieutenant General Akira Ono.

  "Gentlemen, I suppose you are all aware of the situation with the 11th Independent Infantry Regiment. We have now confirmed that the entire regiment has been annihilated. However, this news must be kept strictly confidential and not leaked out." Officer Chun's face was extremely displeased as he sternly spoke to the crowd.

  The officers' faces were already extremely shocked, although they had also received the news, but in their hearts, there was still some disbelief. Now that the division commander had said so, everyone now had a look of shock on their faces. In their minds, unless there were several Chinese elite divisions, it would be impossible for the Chinese troops to devour one of their own infantry regiments, and the Chinese army clearly did not have this capability.

  The current situation has already shown that Chahar must be hiding a powerful opponent, and this opponent is beginning to wreak havoc.

  "Intelligence from various sources suggests that the enemy has more than 5,000 troops. The force surrounding and annihilating the Independent Infantry 11th Regiment should be over 10,000 strong. The security situation here is extremely bad, to the point where even women dare to resist our troops." Kuroda Jūtoku said with a displeased tone as he saw everyone start discussing among themselves.

  The entire conference room fell silent, and the officers began waiting for their superior's orders.

  Hou Guan Chun seemed to have no intention of expressing any opinion, his eyes fixed on the map in front of him.

  Every officer understands his own situation, after all, those who can become high-ranking officers in the Japanese army are not fools.

  The whole of Chahar now has only one division and five reserve brigades, the whole area of Chahar is not a city, but a very vast region.

  Apart from the necessary defense, there was no surplus troops to participate in the siege.

  Hou Guan Chun was no fool either, he knew that his current troops didn't have the strength to surround and annihilate that guerrilla force.

  According to their strength, they should go to at least two divisions or more to participate in the siege, but what about the defense here? The troops of the Second War Zone are eyeing this place covetously. If we're not careful, we'll lose it, and Officer Chun and his 26th Division will become a laughing stock for the entire Japanese army.

  "Commander Shitō, I actually have a plan." Just as everyone was at a loss, the chief of staff of the 26th Division, Shirane Heiji, stood up and said to Gotō Fumio.

  The rest of the officers looked over and were extremely surprised.

  As the chief of staff of the division, Hakugin Rei's position was not high. He was only a lieutenant colonel and in the entire 26th Division, he was even inferior to the chief of staff of the brigade. This time is his chance to show off.

  "Speak quickly, what plan do you have?" Kuroda Jūtei seemed somewhat anxious and hastily asked.

  Bai Yin's mouth curled up with a barely perceptible smile as he pointed to the map and said, "Commander, why don't we just let them slaughter each other?"

  Hou Guan Chun looked at the heavy silver ingots and became interested, asking: "What's going on with this mutual slaughter?"

  "Let the Mongolian army and the Chinese guerrillas kill each other, we'll reap the benefits. Judging from the situation above, it's highly likely that they will soon dispatch the troops mixed with the 2nd Independent Brigade to our location. When that happens, won't we be able to take care of this Chinese force in one fell swoop?" Shirogane Jūji revealed a smile and said to Gotō Jun.

  "The Chief of Staff means that for now, let the Mongolian army and the Chinese guerrilla troops slaughter each other. Once the Independent Mixed Brigade arrives, we'll send in our troops to clean up the already wounded units, and by then, all of Chahar will be ours?" Infantry Regiment Commander Kuroda Shigetoku asked with a smile.

  Bai Yin nodded heavily and waited for the opinion of his master, Hou Chun.

  "I will immediately send a telegram to Commander Ren Gunpei, asking for his opinion." Officer Chun also thought this was not a bad idea. At least it could temporarily suppress the activity of Chinese troops, and besides, the Mongolian army seemed to have some disrespect here, so it would be good to take this opportunity to teach them a lesson.

  Yang Junran in the mountains is now eating and drinking extravagantly.

  Yang Commander now seems to have forgotten his identity, facing the food on the table without any politeness.

  Fortunately, Zhou Yulan and others did not eat with them, otherwise Commander Yang would have lost face.

  "Ji Quan, you little rascal, don't fight with me over that braised meat, isn't the roasted chicken right in front of you?"

  "My god, Jin Mingcheng, I didn't expect that you could eat so much, you've already finished three bowls of meat."

  "Commander, don't talk about us, take a look at yourself, your face is all greasy from eating, and you're still a commander, can't even pay attention to your image."

  Meng Yumei couldn't help but laugh as she listened to the conversation of a few people outside.

  "They're still eating?" Zhou Yulan had changed into a new set of clothes and walked over to say.

  Meng Yumei nodded slightly and smiled secretly, then walked towards the back.

  Zhou Yulan looked at Meng Yumei's figure, and was somewhat surprised. Since meeting Yang Junran, this serious Meng Yumei seemed to have changed into a different person.

  "Cough, cough." Zhou Yulan lightly coughed and walked inside.

  Yang Junran held a piece of chicken leg in his left hand and a piece of barbecue in his right hand, turning back to glance at him without hesitation.

  "Hmph." Zhou Yulan smiled after seeing Yang Junran and walked out towards the outside.

  Yang Junran looked at his two subordinates who were still eating voraciously with a puzzled expression and asked, "What's wrong, is my appearance very funny?"

  The two nodded and continued eating.

  Yang Junran walked towards the mirror and couldn't help but laugh at himself.

  Now his face is all greasy, and with the food in his hands, he looks just like a beggar.

  The next morning, Yang Junran ate and slept beautifully after that, and then led the troops to withdraw back to their own garrison.

  As for the captured weapons, due to replication reasons, it was half and half, no one lost out.

  However, the large vehicle of the transportation team of the Qianli Zhengxiong United Team was handed over to Yang Junran for transporting weapons.

  With this thing, the stuff of mortar battalion and machine gun battalion has a place to put, and the marching speed of the whole troops also starts to increase a lot.

  All the way, there was no situation at all, except for encountering civilians, and basically did not encounter any attacks.

  This made Yang Junran very happy, thinking that there were no longer any troops around him that could pose a threat to him.

  Within the county town, Yang Junran could have a kind of refreshed feeling.

  The warriors around have withdrawn to the outside of the county town except for necessary posts.

  Moreover, inside the county town, there were quite a few newly built houses, which made Yang Junran very suspicious.

  After returning to his own headquarters, Yang Junran didn't say a word and immediately let his chief of staff Xia Ke upload the victory report.

  "Hurry up, Xia Ke, we've annihilated a Japanese regiment! Quickly send a telegram to the Second War Zone. Even if they just send a congratulatory message, it's not bad." Yang Junran said to his chief of staff, Xia Ke, looking at the unchanged command center.

  "Commander, I'll go send the telegram right away." Xia Ke looked at the anxious commander and quickly ran outside.

  Yang Junran picked up a document and began to review it as he looked around the empty command center.

  "My god, I'm going to get rich!" Yang Junran couldn't help but shout out loud when he saw the first page.

  The troops had as many as fifty light machine guns and a considerable number of artillery pieces.

  "Commander, you're back. I heard you won a great victory." Fang Hanqin said, walking over with several documents in hand.

  Yang Junran put down the file and said to Han Qin: "Where did you get so many weapons?"

  "It's all a captured regiment, and there's still plenty of food, but these were counted last night, now it should be more. Within the surrounding counties, except for the Mongolian army, there is no Japanese military force left. The resistance will of these Mongolian troops is very weak, often they have already run away before the battle even starts." Fang Hanqin put the document on the table and said to him.

  "We've struck it rich, this time we're going to make a big business out of it. We'll recruit soldiers right away, and if that doesn't work, we'll pick from the captives." Yang Junran was very confident, with his replication function, these weapons could become even more numerous.

  "No need, recently we have broken into the county town, and many people have joined our troops, mostly Han people, but also a small number of other ethnic groups. I've gathered them all together and let Deng Ziyong, the regiment commander, be in charge of training." Fang Hanchen said with a smile to Yang Junran.

  Yang Junran heard such good news and couldn't stay idle, quickly running out towards the outside.

  He wanted to take a look at these troops and see the captured equipment.

  It wasn't until evening that Yang Junran returned.

  After returning, Yang Junran did not idle around and drafted a new compilation.

  Now our own troops are strong and powerful, we must reorganize them well, only in this way can we enhance our combat effectiveness.

  In no time at all, a new organizational chart was drawn up.

  The guerrilla column has three detachments under its command.

  Each brigade has three regiments, one machine gun regiment (ten Type 92 heavy machine guns), and one mortar regiment (eight Type 94 90mm mortars).

  Each battalion has three infantry companies (each company with 150 rifles, five light machine guns and ten grenade launchers), one machine gun company (three Type 92 heavy machine guns, three Type 92 infantry guns)

  Each column has three thousand people.

  A battalion commander Kang Yanqin, deputy battalion commander Jin Mingcheng (management battalion machine gun company, mortar company), under the 1st, 2nd and 3rd companies.

  Deputy commander Qin Litian, deputy commander Yunqiao Han (in charge of the machine gun battalion and mortar battalion), under the command of the 4th, 5th and 6th battalions.

  Deputy battalion commander Deng Ziyong, deputy battalion commander Ouyang Jian (in charge of the battalion's machine gun regiment and mortar regiment), subordinates 7th, 8th and 9th regiments.

  Directly under:

  Fire Support Group: Liang Fei

  A heavy machine gun battalion: Fifteen 92-style heavy machine guns.

  A light machine gun company: Fifteen Type 81 light machine guns.

  A mortar battalion: ten Type 97 150mm mortars.

  Artillery Support Unit: Dragon Flame

  Mountain Gun Battalion: 41-style 75mm mountain gun 12 doors

  Mountain Gun Battalion: 94-type 75mm mountain gun 12 doors

  Transport team: three hundred people.

  Guerrilla Column Commander: Yang Junran. Chief of Staff: Fang Hanqin. Staff Officer: Xia Ke.