Chapter 21: The Calm Before the Storm (New Book Seeking Attention)

  On June 18th, Old Master Chen Bing finally returned to Xinghe, bringing with him over thirty cars of cash and a large stack of loan certificates. This greatly improved the mood of Chen Feng, who had just received a disappointing reward. It's no wonder that Chen Feng was so troubled - the system reward for June was really terrible, only increasing his spiritual power by 2 times. Apart from feeling that his reactions had become much faster, Chen Feng didn't feel anything else, which left Commander Chen feeling very depressed.

  This time, Old Master Chen reaped a rich harvest, borrowing a total of 4.8 million silver dollars from six foreign banks, and another 2.6 million francs from the Central Bank of the National Government. After converting all the borrowed francs into current silver dollars, Old Master Chen then pledged these funds back to Xinghe.

  When he returned to see Chen Feng, the first thing Old Man Chen said was: "I hope that just as you young man predicted, the war will erupt in full force; otherwise, our Chen family will really go bankrupt. The interest on these loans alone is enough to drain our Chen family dry."

  But in Chen Feng's view, if he could exchange the entire Chen family for China's safety and security, he would be more than happy to do so. However, that was impossible, and war would definitely break out on that day, a fact that no one could change.

  For a whole month, under Chen Feng's supervision, the defensive fortifications of Xinghe County were fully overhauled. According to Chen Feng's deployment, a large number of concrete pillboxes were built outside the east and west gates of Xinghe County. The structure of these pillboxes was semi-underground, and according to design requirements, they could withstand attacks from 1,000-pound aerial bombs.

  On the 25th, outside Xinghe County, two thousand eight hundred shabbily dressed bandits stood neatly at the city gate. Chen Feng rode a tall horse and jumped over everyone, standing in front of the troops, saying slowly: "It's been a whole month, it's time to take out the mules and horses for a run. Today is the official assessment, with 4 items to be assessed. The first item is load-bearing cross-country, carrying 30 kilograms, distance 50 kilometers, limited to 10 hours. Those who complete this assessment will get 10 points each, those who exceed the time limit will be eliminated, and the top 200 people to reach the finish line will receive an additional 10 points."

  After announcing the route of march, Chen Feng gave the order to start.

  Although Chen Feng didn't say what would happen to those who were eliminated, everyone remembered his previous words that failing the assessment would result in being shot, so no one dared to slack off. As soon as the order was given, they all started running forward.

  50 kilometers in 10 hours, an average of 5 kilometers per hour. This speed and distance are actually not unreasonable. Chen Feng believes that most people can reach this standard, after all, the time spent training is not wasted, and running 30 kilometers cross-country every week is not just for fun.

  However, the final result was still a bit surprising for Chen Feng, all 2,833 soldiers reached the standard, and not one person was eliminated.

  The second item of assessment - live ammunition shooting was conducted in the afternoon of the second day.

  Still 10 rounds per person, at a distance of 100 meters, with a score of 70 or above considered qualified. A bullseye scores an additional five points.

  This time the gap was revealed, although the vast majority of people reached the standard, but still more than 700 soldiers scored below 70 points.

  However, what delighted Chen Feng was that a batch of sharpshooters emerged from the troops. Four soldiers had achieved scores of 10 rings with their Mauser rifles, and there were many more who scored nine rings. These were all good candidates for snipers.

  Afternoon is hand-to-hand combat assessment, requiring bare-handed to persist for two minutes under the attack of special forces soldiers to be considered qualified. Two hundred team members take turns to confront more than three thousand eight hundred troops.

  Not many people passed this assessment, nearly a thousand were eliminated. Those who could withstand the special forces' attack for two minutes are not many. However, there were surprises, several of whom had practiced martial arts before, not only withstood the special forces' attack but also counterattacked and knocked down the special forces members assessing them. Chen Feng gave extra points to such masters.

  On the third day, the fourth assessment was conducted, mountain rapid march. Everyone carried standard combat equipment and then marched 15 kilometers in the mountains, requiring arrival within five hours. Those who qualified scored ten points, with the top two hundred adding another ten points.

  After the assessment, a score of 40 or more is considered qualified, and those below 40 are eliminated. Soon, the scores of each soldier were counted, and Chen Feng was delighted to find that among the 2,800 people, only over 300 had scored below 40, while the rest had comprehensive results above the passing line.

  There are many people who, although unqualified in one aspect, have made a decent showing in other areas and received extra points, barely passing.

  "I now announce the list of soldiers who ranked in the top 126, First place: Li Yifeng, total score 120 points; Second place: Xu Caifu, total score 115; Third place: Wang Jiming, total score 110; Fourth place: Li Qiang, total score 110; Fifth place Liu Haoqiang..."

  "I hereby announce the appointment of security third team officers: Deputy Commander Li Yifeng, Chief of Staff Xu Caifu, First Battalion Commander Wang Jiming, Second Battalion Commander Liu Haoliang, Third Battalion Commander Ma Xiong, Machine Gun Battalion Commander Ao Rigela..."

  "I hereby announce the decision on the treatment of eliminated personnel. All 377 eliminated personnel will form a suicide squad, serving as vanguards for the troops when necessary. As long as they complete one mission and return alive, they will be converted to regular soldiers immediately." Chen Feng loudly declared the order.

  According to the previous arrangement, these bandits were supposed to be taken out and shot. However, with the outbreak of war, every soldier is precious. These men are part of China's defense forces, even if they have to die, they should die on the battlefield, not in front of a firing squad.

  The lucky survivors who escaped with their lives were also very grateful to Chen Feng for giving them this chance to live, and they readily agreed to let Chen Feng join the security team's daredevil squad.

  It's already June 26th, and there are only ten days left until the Lugou Bridge Incident. Not just Chen Feng, many people have smelled the gunpowder of war, and in recent days, many people have fled from Beiping one after another.

  On the 28th, Ye He Lina and Poposha brought back two cavalry regiments to Xinghe County. The cavalry regiment's northern expedition to the Xilingol Grassland was very fruitful. According to Chen Feng's arrangement, they repeatedly attacked Li Shouxin's pseudo-Mongolian army several times, and also dealt a heavy blow to the traitor Wang Ying's forces. In more than two months, the three thousand cavalrymen spread the name of the Sainan Ma Gang throughout the Xilingol Grassland.

  Yelena's cavalry has expanded by a quarter, with a total of over 3,800 people, and their equipment has been replaced. Each person is equipped with a carbine, a saber, and two horses per person.

  After returning to Xinghe, Chen Feng issued two sets of uniform uniforms for each cavalryman, and then sent several reporters and two radio stations to the cavalry unit. Finally, he ordered Poposha to lead the cavalry unit to hide in Saiwusu, the northernmost part of Xinghe County.

  The war is getting closer and closer, and Chen Feng's mood is becoming more and more anxious. After nearly seven months of deployment, he has established a total of three infantry regiments and two cavalry regiments, with a total strength of nearly 14,000 people, equivalent to the organization of a Category A division of the National Government.

  In addition, through his efforts, the security team opened a base in Daqing Mountain, where a small arms factory and a large steel mill were established. The arms factory was run by Chen Feng himself and could only produce ammunition, not guns.

  As for the steel mill, of course, it was built using the Steel Mill Construction Order. When the huge blast furnace suddenly rose in the huge cave overnight, everyone was stunned, including Xu Hu and others, who were shocked to be heavenly people. This is a real miracle, no one can build a large steel mill overnight, but Commander Chen Feng did, which made Xu Hu and others even more determined to follow Chen Feng.

  The Jewish experts from Germany were also amazed when they saw the huge steel mill built in the cave. Even in industrially developed Europe, it was rare to see a steel mill that could produce 500,000 tons of high-quality steel per year, let alone in backward Asia.

  This steel mill, whether in equipment or production technology, is extremely advanced. In the words of military expert William, the production technology of this steel mill is at least 30 years ahead of the world, if not more.

  As it doesn't need a long construction period, the steel mill started production more than ten days ago. However, due to various factors such as raw materials and workers, only one of the four blast furnaces has been fully activated, but not yet at full capacity. The monthly output of high-quality steel is less than 1,000 tons, which is less than 10% of the designed production capacity.

  Although it was only 1,000 tons, it was still extremely important for Chen Feng's role. In June, Chen Feng received a system reward that he had been dreaming of - the Military-Industrial Construction Order. Although it was just one hand grenade production line, for Chen Feng, who relied entirely on purchasing weapons and equipment, it was undoubtedly epoch-making.

  Moreover, this hand grenade production line is quite advanced, and the produced grenades are actually Japanese Type 97 hand grenades. This type of hand grenade was developed by the Imperial Japanese Army in Showa 12 (1937) as a standardized hand grenade. The overall length is 9.8cm, the body diameter is 5cm, the weight is 455g, and the explosive capacity is 65g, making it one of the more advanced hand grenades of this era.

  In addition, the security team stored a large amount of weapons and equipment, medicine, food, and daily necessities in the base on Earth, which was enough for the troops to consume for several years. Moreover, they also hoarded a large amount of money. It can be said that Chen Feng had done everything he could think of.

  But Chen Feng knew that these things alone could not drive away the Japanese. Although his family's possessions looked like a lot, they were far from comparable to those of the Japanese army. At the beginning of the war, the number of people in a single Japanese division was close to 30,000, and his troops were less than half of that.

  In addition, at the beginning of the war, the Japanese army used to be seasoned and elite. The soldiers' quality was extremely high, usually a single infantry battalion could match a Nationalist Party division, and it was not uncommon for a regiment to defeat a National Government army.

  Although Chen Feng was still very confident in the three infantry regiments under his command, after all, they were trained by him using the training methods of special forces in later generations. Although the time was relatively short, their combat effectiveness was not bad.

  Even so, Chen Feng did not dare to be slightly careless. Although his troops' equipment far exceeded the configuration of the Nationalist Party's troops at the same time, even Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army was slightly inferior, and they were not at a disadvantage compared to the Japanese army. However, Chen Feng knew that his security team had a fatal flaw, which was that there were too many new recruits in the army, and the vast majority of soldiers had never been on the battlefield, it was hard to say whether they were mules or horses.

  Another aspect is that Chen Feng is not superior in intelligence, the Japanese have Tokko and Kikka agency and Matsu agency, he has nothing. Although he has consciously let Old Mama Monggen build his own intelligence agency, but Monggen is not a professional military intelligence expert after all, so the effect is not very obvious.

  Within a small range, there are reconnaissance troops patrolling and scouting. Chen Feng is not blind yet, but if the war escalates on a large scale, the security team takes the initiative to attack. If there is no strong support from the intelligence department, this battle will be difficult to fight.