As the sun dipped below the horizon.
The soldiers of the New First Regiment, busy for one day, returned to the base area.
This battle was a success, and the New First Regiment could be said to have reaped considerable rewards.
They destroyed sixteen blockhouses of various sizes and two Japanese devil strongholds.
They also eliminated nearly three hundred Japanese devils and killed or captured nearly a thousand puppet troops.
Later on, many puppet troops directly killed the devils in the blockhouses and surrendered to the Eighth Route Army.
It could be foreseen that the New First Regiment would experience significant development in the coming period.
After a day of high-intensity combat, even Qin Yangming's top-tier human physical fitness was starting to falter.
Qin Yangming leaned on his bed, drinking the meat soup stewed for him by the cookhouse squad, while reviewing his gains for the day.
"Killed 138 ordinary Japanese devil infantry, gained 1380 points."
"Killed 223 ordinary puppet troop infantry, gained 1115 points."
"Killed 49 Japanese devil sergeants, gained 980 points."
"Killed 53 puppet army non-commissioned officers, gained 530 points."
"Killed 7 puppet army second lieutenants, gained 350 points."
"Killed 3 puppet army lieutenants, gained 500 points."
"Killed 2 puppet army captains, gained 1000 points."
"Killed 1 puppet army major, gained 2500 points."
"Detected that the host personally killed 32 Japanese devils. Personal kill count reached 130, rewarded with a 128-kill gift package."
"The next kill reward will be: 198 kills."
"Current host points: 17655 points."
Looking at the system's prompts, especially the personal kill count, Qin Yangming finally sensed something was amiss.
"First kill, six kills, thirty kills, sixty-eight kills, ninety-eight kills, one hundred and twenty-eight kills, these are exactly the amounts for topping up in a game!"
Although he had some complaints about the system's kill rewards, he had no objections.
Since it was killing Japanese devils, he wished he could kill even more.
With that thought, Qin Yangming opened the gift package, wanting to see what the system would give him this time.
"Congratulations to the host for obtaining six Krupp 105mm howitzers, 3000 rounds of 105mm high-explosive shells, and 1200 incendiary shells."
"Holy crap!"
Looking at the contents of the system's gift package, Qin Yangming jumped up in excitement.
He had originally been thinking of exchanging for some artillery, but the system had directly given him a big surprise.
However, Qin Yangming soon became worried.
The 105mm howitzers were good, but the artillery was too heavy, weighing about two tons, and required a truck for towing.
But all the trucks Qin Yangming had captured had been driven to ruin, so there were no trucks left.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army was not engaged in positional warfare; they were primarily focused on guerrilla warfare.
It was impossible to march with such a large piece of equipment.
"Alas, it seems I'll have to wait until we have a fixed base area before I can bring out this big fellow."
Because he was extremely tired, Qin Yangming, after opening the gift package,
and glancing at the exchange list, ate a little something and then went to rest.
The next morning, after waking up, Qin Yangming led his men on horseback, rushing towards the regimental headquarters.
Today was the day for dividing the spoils of war, so Qin Yangming naturally had to be proactive.
Although he had the system to exchange for weapons and equipment, it didn't mean he wasn't lacking.
He had looked at the exchange list last night, and good heavens, the prices of those heavy weapons had truly startled him.
The exchange price for one Type 92 Infantry Gun was 1500 points.
A 70mm howitzer shell cost 60 points.
The Type 20 (Min) 82mm mortar cost 1200 points.
Artillery shells also cost 50 points.
The Type 41 mountain gun cost a whopping 3000 points.
A 75mm howitzer shell cost 100 points.
Most importantly, for artillery, only brand-new versions were available for exchange, no second-hand ones!
In other words, firing one Type 41 mountain gun would cost a nearly new ZB vz. 26 light machine gun.
And this was even with the system's prices being lower than market prices.
As expected, artillery was something the poor simply couldn't afford.
The saying "When cannons roar, gold is spent like water" was not just for show.
Of course, there were also cheaper artillery pieces, such as the Shanghai-made Krupp 75mm mountain gun.
It only cost 1000 points.
The shells also cost 100 points.
However, this type of artillery was heavy, its extreme range was only four thousand meters, and its operation was difficult.
Qin Yangming had no intention of exchanging for this kind of artillery.
His unit also needed expansion, and to save some points for exchanging for shells and cannons, Qin Yangming had to come and get some captured weapons and equipment.
Before even entering the regimental headquarters, Qin Yangming could hear the noisy arguments inside.
"Zhang Dabiao, don't push it too far. You want to take one of the two Type 92 Infantry Guns just like that, what's the justification?"
"Exactly, exactly. Don't think that just because one cannon was captured by you, you can make all the decisions."
"If it weren't for Company Commander Qin, where would you have captured this cannon?"
"That's right, most of the equipment for your First Battalion was obtained by Company Commander Qin."
"If Company Commander Qin hadn't given you so much equipment, you still think you could have taken strongholds?"
"Taking down one blockhouse would have been good enough."
"Give that equipment to our Second Battalion, and our Second Battalion can still take down strongholds!"
Qin Yangming, who had reached the doorway, heard the topic shift to himself and quickly stopped his hand, which was about to push open the door.
"Oh, Little Qin, what are you doing at the door?"
"Why aren't you coming in?"
Zhong Zhicheng, who had spent the night inventorying the captured goods, saw Qin Yangming standing at the regimental headquarters' entrance and pulled him inside.
As Zhong Zhicheng entered, Li Yunlong, sitting in the main seat with a smile, also stood up.
"Stop arguing, everyone. Let's first hear what our Political Commissar has to say about how many good things we've captured this time."
Zhong Zhicheng looked at the eager gazes of everyone and didn't keep them waiting, directly taking out a document and beginning to read.
As for letting these guys read the document themselves.
Heh, Li Yunlong, the Regiment Commander, couldn't even recognize a handful of characters, let alone the company and platoon leaders.
Qin Yangming's literacy level in this life could easily surpass everyone in the New First Regiment.
"Our main captures this time are Shanxi-made Type 65 rifles and Type 38 rifles manufactured by Yan Laoxi's Taiyuan Arsenal."
Among them, there are 1123 Type 65 rifles.
412 Type 38 rifles,
22 Type 11 light machine guns,
11 Shanxi-made Type 65 light machine guns,
12 Type 92 heavy machine guns,
27 grenade launchers,
5 60mm mortars,
2 Type 92 Infantry Guns,
Adding the one that Company Commander Qin sent over, we have a total of three Type 92 Infantry Guns.
We also have 542 artillery shells.
Excluding Company Commander Qin's Vanguard Company, our regiment
alone has over 60 light machine guns and nearly 20 Type 92 heavy machine guns."
Li Yunlong nodded as he listened to Zhong Zhicheng's figures, then looked at Qin Yangming: "Qin Yangming made the greatest contribution in this battle.
Does anyone have any objections?"
"No objections."
"No problem."
..
"In that case, Qin Yangming will get to choose the equipment first."
"Little Qin, see what you want. I won't give you any machine guns; you probably have as many as I do."
"Heh heh, Regiment Commander, how could that be."
"Regiment Commander, I just want two hundred Type 38 rifles, with two hundred rounds of ammunition for each rifle,
and then five hundred of those Japanese melon hand grenades.
I don't want anything else."
"Alright, Old Zhong, have someone pick out two hundred excellent Type 38 rifles and give them to the little rascal."
"Zhang Dabiao, your First Battalion already took three hundred Type 38 rifles before the battle this time.
The remaining Type 38 rifles will all be given to you.
Replace all the rifles in the First Battalion with Type 38 rifles."
"As for the remaining Type 65 rifles, the Second and Third Battalions will each take four hundred.
The remaining two hundred will be used by me to form the Fourth Battalion and the regiment's direct guard company."
The Third Battalion Commander asked with some confusion, "Regiment Commander, don't we still have a batch of Hanyang-made and Old Barrel rifles that were replaced?
Why not use these old guns to form the Fourth Battalion?
Let the new recruits practice with the old guns first, and then re-equip them when we capture new ones."
"Did you get kicked in the head by a donkey?
Our regiment is playing this big this time, and we even killed a Major Battalion Commander.
Don't I have to go to the Brigade Commander to claim credit?
If I'm going to the Brigade Commander to claim credit, and we've captured so many spoils of war, wouldn't it be appropriate to send some to the brigade headquarters?"
Li Yunlong's mind was quite sharp. He knew that what he had done this time would surely not be hidden from the nearby brigade headquarters.
Rather than waiting for the Brigade Commander to come and take a cut, it was better to bleed a little himself first.