At the New First Regiment Headquarters, Li Yunlong looked at the sand table placed in the center of the hall and sighed.
"My goodness, as expected of young people, their minds work so well. This thing is much better than looking at a map."
"I've only seen this sand table thing in the Commander's headquarters. Even the Brigade Commander doesn't have one."
Zhong Zhicheng, standing beside him, looked at Li Yunlong with some doubt. "Regiment Commander, you've been looking at this for a whole morning. Where do you want to attack?"
"The Majiazhen stronghold?"
Zhong Zhicheng pointed to a stronghold on the sand table, the closest one to the New First Regiment's base area, and asked curiously.
"Hmph, the Majiazhen stronghold? It only has about a hundred Japanese devils and three hundred puppet troops. If I, Old Li, wanted to attack it, would I need to look at a sand table for so long?"
"For this one stronghold, let alone main force battalions like the First and Second Battalions, even the Fourth Battalion could take it down!"
"My target is this!"
Li Yunlong's bamboo stick pointed at a fortress on the sand table representing a county town. He looked up at Zhong Zhicheng and said.
"Either we don't attack, or we attack a big one."
Li Yunlong took a newspaper from the side and handed it to Zhong Zhicheng.
"Don't be fooled by the pretty words in the newspaper, like the great victory at Kunlun Pass. In reality, the Southern Guangxi campaign is likely to be lost."
"I can guarantee that once the fighting in the south ends, the Japanese devils will immediately shift their focus back to the north."
"At most two months, that is, before the New Year in December, the outcome in the south will be decided.
Given the nature of the Japanese devils, if we expand wildly here, we will definitely face large-scale retaliation after the New Year."
"I heard that the commander of the Japanese devils' North China Area Army, Tada Shun, that son of a bitch, is implementing the Three Alls Policy in northern and central Shanxi,
to deter the Anti-Japanese Forces."
"This guy is a radical. He absolutely cannot tolerate our Eighth Route Army expanding so much."
"So, we need to collect enough supplies before the New Year to prepare for the subsequent large-scale sweep."
"If we occupy a county town, even though it's a small county town, the supplies are incomparable to those in villages or townships."
"If we occupy a county town, we can not only meet the needs of our troops but also provide support to friendly neighboring troops."
Zhong Zhicheng was stunned listening to Li Yunlong's analysis. He was originally from a political background.
He wasn't very good at combat.
However, he also knew his own capabilities in combat, so he basically did whatever Li Yunlong said.
As long as it didn't violate discipline, he wouldn't object.
Basically, as Li Yunlong said, he was responsible for combat, and Zhong Zhicheng was responsible for life and logistics.
But at this moment, hearing Li Yunlong talk about attacking a county town, Zhong Zhicheng was still a little worried.
"Regiment Commander, the Japanese devils in the county town have another battalion, about eight hundred men, and a regiment of puppet troops. Should we report this to the brigade headquarters?"
"This way, we can also ask for support from friendly neighboring troops."
"Our pressure will also be significantly reduced."
Listening to Zhong Zhicheng's words, Li Yunlong chuckled and said, "My dear Political Commissar, I, Old Li, would also like to ask the Brigade Commander for instructions.
But don't we not have a radio?
The three radios that the little rascal brought back last time, the Brigade Commander said they were large military radios, not something a regiment would need, and took them directly to Headquarters.
If we had a radio, I would definitely contact the Brigade Commander.
Now the Brigade Commander is over two hundred kilometers away. By the time the instructions come back, the daylily will be cold.
As for friendly neighboring troops,
tell them that I, Old Li, can't stand hardship and am preparing to go to the county town to eat well and drink heartily.
If they also want to drink and eat meat, they should listen to me, Old Li."
"Trust me, the Brigade Commander won't blame us when he finds out. Do you think the Brigade Commander hasn't noticed?"
"The reason the Brigade Commander left our side
was actually to lead the 771st Regiment to develop.
It also implies our next move."
"As long as we take down the county town and our losses are not significant, the Brigade Commander will definitely not blame us."
"Huzi, go notify all battalion, company, and platoon commanders to return to their units quickly. Tell them there's an important military action!"
After making the decision, Li Yunlong acted quickly.
He immediately ordered his guard, Huzi, to have the Signal Platoon send people to notify all battalions and platoons to return to their units quickly.
Due to the large number of people, the New First Regiment's battalions had already been dispersed.
If Lin Yuan County were divided into four areas: east, west, north, and south.
The New First Regiment Headquarters and the Fifth Battalion, along with various Directly Affiliated Units, were located in the west.
The First and Fourth Battalions were located south of Lin Yuan County.
The Second and Third Battalions were located to the north.
The Vanguard Battalion was located to the east.
The entire regiment formed a huge encirclement, surrounding Lin Yuan County.
However, the Eighth Route Army was mostly active in various villages, at most in some townships.
The Japanese devils had not discovered this situation.
Under Li Yunlong's orders, the main officers of each battalion and company quickly led their troops back to the regimental headquarters.
Qin Yangming, who was leading his troops in attacking strongholds and training soldiers, heard the information sent by the communicator and was also guessing what the other party intended to do.
"Ask me to bring the Vanguard Battalion back to the unit?"
"Hiss, could the Regiment Commander be planning to attack the county town?"
"I think it's possible."
Listening to Qin Yangming's muttering, the political instructor Zhang Ye, standing beside him, chimed in with agreement.
Originally, Zhang Ye was a deputy director in the political department of the brigade headquarters. He was somewhat unwilling to be sent to a core regiment's battalion as a political instructor.
He knew very well what a core regiment entailed.
When he first arrived, he had already prepared himself for hardship.
However, upon arriving at this so-called Vanguard Battalion, he was truly shocked.
One battalion had three thousand men, and an artillery company that was even more formidable than the brigade headquarters' artillery company.
In order to keep the Vanguard Battalion, he cooperated with Qin Yangming's work with all his might.
Ensuring that other trivial matters would absolutely not disturb him or interfere with his work.
He wanted Qin Yangming to feel his capabilities and never think that his abilities were insufficient and request the brigade headquarters to change personnel.
Under Zhang Ye's diligent work, the entire Vanguard Battalion was managed in an orderly fashion.
Even Sun Zhigang happily handed over all the logistics work to Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye was indeed a master at handling these matters.
At least in terms of logistics, Qin Yangming, who used to get a headache just looking at the entry and exit records and account books, now found them easy.
While serving as battalion commander and directing operations, he also had to shoulder some of the logistics work. He was so busy that he lost two pounds.
After Zhang Ye arrived, all this work was handed over to him. Qin Yangming no longer had to worry about the rations for his soldiers.
He could also devote all his energy to commanding the troops in battle.
"Heh heh, it seems our Regiment Commander has thought of the same thing as me."
Qin Yangming had originally planned to discuss attacking the county town with Li Yunlong in a few days.
Unlike Li Yunlong, who discovered intelligence from newspapers, Qin Yangming relied on his memories from his previous life.
However, unlike Li Yunlong, who wanted to obtain supplies, Qin Yangming's goal was straightforward: to fight the Japanese devils using the county town.
It was impossible for the troops to survive such a large-scale sweep completely unscathed.
Now the troops were not just one or two thousand men. If they hid in the mountains, the Japanese devils would have no way to deal with them.
Now the troops numbered nearly eight thousand men. Such a large force,
hiding in the mountains was simply unrealistic.
So many people, the daily consumption of grain alone was not a small amount.
If the Japanese devils adopted a long-term siege strategy, the New First Regiment would either starve to death or be trapped to death.
Since they couldn't hide, they could only fight.
Occupying a county town and fighting relying on the various defensive works within the county town area would be better than fighting in the open field.
And they wouldn't necessarily lose!
With the current strength of the New First Regiment, at least they wouldn't be crippled by the Sakata Regiment as in "Drawing Sword."
They might even be able to swallow the Sakata Regiment whole!