Yang Zhen's voice fell. Li Yanping understood that Yang Zhen had already made up his mind to expand the troops this time. As a matter of fact, Li Yanping did not oppose the expansion of the troops, and the shape was different, and the main force of more than 30,000 people in the original three field brigades was obviously not enough to use. Moreover, with the expansion of base areas, it is imperative to expand the number of local troops.

What he was worried about was that according to Yang Zhen's plan, not counting the local troops, the field army alone would have to increase the strength of six brigades at a time. Although according to his plan, the total strength of the two columns, plus the three independent brigades directly under the military region and some directly subordinate troops, is only more than 60,000 people, which is really not much. But according to the population base of Sanjiang Province, it is very large.

With the addition of more than 30,000 local troops, this adds up to nearly 100,000 troops. Equipment is not counted, and it is difficult for a single person to eat a horse and chew one, and it is difficult to support it in three rivers and one province. Even if there are seized materials that can be used for a period of time, it is not realistic to rely on seizures all the time. Moreover, according to the current number of soldiers that can be replenished, there are no more than 20,000 prisoners of the puppet Manchu army who have been taken prisoner and more than 30,000 laborers who have been rescued.

Remove the older ones among the laborers, who are not fit to march and fight. In the puppet Manchurian army, it is necessary to eliminate the Japanese puppet agents, as well as those who are unwell, and the remaining troops can barely be enough to replenish the field troops.

This group of puppet Manchurian soldiers is the first batch of national soldiers recruited by the puppet Manchurians, and they can be said to be carefully selected, and the body absolutely did not say anything. However, in order to ensure the control of this batch of puppet Manchu troops, the Kwantung Army was definitely mixed with spies of the Japanese puppet army. Moreover, it is difficult for these people to directly supplement the army without education, and the little devil's control over the puppet Manchu army is still quite strict.

However, even if these people can be replenished into the army, the expansion of the local army will inevitably require at least 20,000 soldiers from the local area. For Sanjiang Province, which has recruited more than 20,000 people and now has recruited some militia regiments, the pressure can be imagined. It is impossible not to make an impact on the place.

In order to stabilize the shape of Sanjiang Province and ensure agricultural production and the necessary and simple industries in the local area, it is really not advisable to recruit too many soldiers. According to Li Yanping's intentions, it is already the limit to double the size of the field brigade and organize it into six brigades. The divisional troops are still dominated by a basic regiment, and vacancies can be filled by militia regiments that have left their homes.

Looking at Li Yanping's somewhat hesitant face, Yang Zhen shook his head and said, "Political commissar, I also know that too much conscription will affect the locality. But whether or not the Japanese army will launch a winter offensive, one thing is certain, the Japanese army will never sit idly by and watch us become bigger. The lack of troops now does not mean that they will not have enough troops in the future. ”

"I estimate that the next time the Japanese army attacks on all fronts, I'm afraid it won't be one or two divisions. Now that we are in danger of the Kwantung Army, we will be dispatched if we don't get it right. Hundreds of thousands of Kwantung Army and puppet Manchu Army, we didn't prepare early, and when the time came, it was not simply a passive sentence that could be explained. We can't just take troops on the fly and add them to the army with a rifle, right? Then we'll send them to their deaths. ”

"If it weren't for the fact that we had formed part of the independent regiment as a supplementary force before the war, we would not have been able to afford to fight the second phase of the battle, and we would not have the strength to fight. Not to mention taking Jiamusi, if you don't get it, you will be beaten back to the deep mountains and old forests directly. War requires not only well-developed technology and equipment, but also manpower that is the real foundation. ”

"Political commissar, as the saying goes, when playing chess, you have to take one step and see three moves, but when you fight a war, you have to take one step and see five moves. Without soldiers, what do we do to fight? Although the population of Sanjiang and one province is only more than 1 million, we have only collected 40,000 troops before and after, so it should not hurt our muscles and bones. Now recruit new recruits, you can have a considerable amount of training time. When it comes to wartime, you won't be in a hurry. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Zhen turned his head to Guo Bingxun and said, "Old Guo, it's still the old routine." Two teaching groups were formed. One is to train squad leaders and deputy squad leaders. A company that specializes in training officers at all levels and political cadres at all levels. The cadres needed for the newly established units are all selected from among the squad leaders of the whole army. Those who have not been squad leaders are not allowed to be promoted to cadres. ”

"Hasn't the artillery training regiment all completed its training? In addition to dividing the artillery that had already been trained by the artillery training regiment, the field artillery regiment of the General District distributed more than 30 75 mountain field artillery guns captured at the mouth of the Lianjiang River to the newly formed brigades to form field artillery battalions. ”

"The 12 105 field guns and the 100-millimeter Austrian light howitzers will be captured from the Lianjiang Estuary and mixed into two columns of artillery directly under the army. With the captured 150 howitzers, 105 cannons, and 150 howitzers in our stockpile, a heavy artillery regiment directly under the military region was formed. ”

"As for the 30 tanks and armored vehicles captured, plus the 300 vehicles captured plus the cavalry battalion directly under the command, the four infantry battalions, the captured 4 105 heavy mountain guns, 6 mountain guns, 12 150 heavy mortars and some anti-aircraft guns to form a mechanized brigade."

"The arsenal has now solved the problem of the quality of the fuse of the shells. Although because it has just started production, the production is not high. However, with the expansion of production capacity, the output will gradually increase. Zhang Zhenhua assured me that by the end of this year at the latest, we will be able to produce 20,000 rounds of 75-mm artillery shells for the mountains, 3,000 rounds of 3,000 rounds of 37 flat-fire artillery shells, and more than 1,000 rounds of 100-mm grenades. It's just that heavy artillery shells of more than 100 mm cannot be produced for a while. ”

"Lao Guo, you take the time to find Chen Long and ask him to select some instructors for you from among the Japanese prisoners of war. I think that for the Osaka soldiers of the Fourth Division, the life of working as coolies in the coal mines is easier to find than receiving allowances, and I think it is easier to find artillery instructors and armored instructors. ”

"For this part of the instructors, we must not only use it boldly, but also strictly control it. The money, just from the funds of the Ministry of Intelligence. Give them some good treatment for the time being to solve the current situation of our shortage of technical talents. But there is one thing, which should be kept strictly confidential. What they shouldn't know must not be known. ”

"Next week, the second batch of more than 300 cadres and more than 100 military workers transferred by the central authorities from various base areas in the Guannai will arrive. A considerable number of them were transferred from Xinjiang. Among these people are several pilots who have learned to fly in Xinjiang, a number of navigation talents, and some artillery specialties. ”

"If the commander-in-chief can negotiate with Jiangbei this time and open up an air route from Luobei to Yan'an via Jiangbei and Outer Mongolia, at least we can open up air links with the central government. In this way, it will be much more convenient for us to deploy cadres. ”

Guo Bingxun nodded when he heard this: "Yes, Ma Qichang told me yesterday that he would teach mountain artillery with his little ability, and he was really a little powerless with so many heavy artillery." With the talents selected by the central government, we can solve many problems. However, there are not many artillery personnel selected by the central authorities, and they cannot solve all the problems. ”

"It's good to be able to select a group of instructors from among the Japanese soldiers we captured on the front line at the mouth of the Lianjiang River. But isn't that something wrong? If these people play any tricks, not to mention delaying our precious time, they will also miss a big thing on the battlefield. Did the commander-in-chief come forward and hire a group of artillery instructors from Jiangbei? ”

Yang Zhen shook his head and said: "Jiangbei pays more attention to the number of artillery in the battle, and is not very good at artillery technology. I have seen the interrogation records of Japanese prisoners of war who participated in the battle of Normenheim by the intelligence forces. In the Normenhan operation, the Soviets paid more attention to cluster fire coverage, the accuracy of single artillery shooting was very poor, and the artillery preparation time was very long. ”

"And for the construction of artillery fortifications, they did not pay much attention to air defense. They have a huge number of aviation, and we do not have this condition. Artillery bunkers should not only be protected against artillery, but also anti-aircraft. ”

"Also, apart from a small number of Franco-German artillery we have on hand, most of them are Japanese-style artillery. Compared with Jiangbei, it would be more suitable for our current situation to find a way to select some of the Japanese prisoners of war for our use. At least in terms of the versatility of the artillery, it will be better. ”

"We don't have as many shells as Jiangbei, and we can't afford their way of playing. The 100,000 shells captured on the front line of Qunce Mountain were exhausted, and our artillery was almost dumbfounded. Although the little devil's style of play is a little stingy, it is still more suitable for our current situation. ”

"And I'm not reassured about them either. We have to deal not only with the intelligence services of the Kwantung Army, but also with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Army and the GRU, and we must also pay attention to them. I don't want another Chen Shaobin in my troops. The matter of the former commander-in-chief of the Third Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Union must not appear in our troops. ”

"Our relationship with them, apart from using each other, is only normal economic and trade exchanges. These people turn their faces faster than they turn a book, and they will not hesitate to betray us if we endanger the interests of their so-called Soviets. Again, it is necessary to use it and prevent it. ”

Regarding Yang Zhen's words, Guo Bingxun pondered for a while and said: "It's okay, I asked Chen Long to try his best to find a way to select some people from the Japanese prisoners of war who can serve us." But commander, are you thinking about the creation of a mechanized brigade? Those tanks, which I came into contact with in France, were extremely structurally complex. Not to mention that they are all oil tigers, and the loss of quite one component is also large. ”

"We don't have the capacity to produce the lost parts ourselves. The oil required is all dependent on seizures, and the source channels are extremely limited. Most of the Japanese tanks used diesel fuel, and unless we purchased them from Jiangbei, we would not be able to complete even the most basic driving training by relying on the part of diesel fuel we had captured. ”

"If we rely on outsourcing all of them, it is equivalent to sending our necks to others, not to mention, according to our current financial resources, we will not be able to support it for long. Commander, mechanized units are not out of the question, and the German Army's attack on Poland in September has already shown that the pattern of future warfare has changed dramatically. The chariot is a weapon that will become the main weapon of the army's decisive battle. ”

"Commander, you want to use captured Japanese tanks to develop our own armored forces, this idea is good. But you have to think about our own shortcomings. Not to mention the whole vehicle, that is, there is no way to produce the required parts. We can't produce even a liter of oil for the huge amount of oil needed by these oil tigers, and we rely on seizures or purchases. ”

"Without our own hematopoietic capacity and extremely limited financial resources, we have no ability or conditions to feed a mechanized army. Instead of creating a mechanized force that can drag down all our resources, it is better to focus on the development of anti-tank weapons. The cost-effectiveness ratio is much higher, and we can afford it. ”

"The most important thing is that we don't have air supremacy. Once the Japanese army sent a large number of planes against our mechanized troops, we would not even be able to fight back. Without air cover, no amount of chariots is just a piece of meat delivered to someone's door. ”

"These tanks, we can use them as reserves for the time being, as well as to train the necessary personnel. As for the rest, when the conditions are ripe, let's talk about it. The formation of mechanized troops will also have to wait at least until we are able to produce some of the vulnerable parts ourselves. ”

"Otherwise, if even one part is broken and not replaced, the tank will become a pile of scrap metal. The rice still has to be eaten in one bite. Also, according to your ideas, the Type 99 heavy mountain artillery incorporated into the mechanized brigade is a mule and horse traction type, can this kind of artillery keep up with the speed of mechanized marching? Even if you can train in peacetime, but what about in wartime? ”

"The most important thing is that we don't have the talent to do that. Even if technical talents can be cultivated, but what about command talents? Personnel of this kind of combined combat of combat vehicles, vehicle-mounted infantry, cavalry, and artillery must not only be proficient in general infantry and artillery coordination tactics, but also proficient in the technical performance of combat vehicles. And to cultivate this kind of talent, it is difficult to be competent without a certain cultural quality. ”

"It's hard for us to imagine what kind of result it would be to let a big man who doesn't know a big word learn the starting principle and structure of a diesel engine? How long will it take him to figure it out? Drivers are easy to train, and we can also train maintenance personnel, but this kind of professional command personnel does need a long time. ”

"Not to mention that we lack a regular military academy background, even I, a so-called person who graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France, and have drunk foreign ink, it is difficult for me to understand this kind of thing at once. The armored corps itself was a new branch of the army that only appeared in World War I, and the tactic of using chariots as the main means of assault only appeared during the German invasion of Poland. ”

"We are not a German army, we have a high-level army of officers, and we also have strong national strength to support. We lack everything, equipment, talent, and even the financial resources to maintain such an army. After so many years of industrialization in Japan, the number of combat vehicles in the entire army is no more than 1,000. ”

"Our current strength is no longer comparable to that of the old black top secret camp, but the comprehensive strength is far from being comparable with the Japanese army. Not to mention material and financial resources, let's just talk about manpower, we are far from being able to compare with the Japanese army. Apart from a small arsenal, there is hardly any modern industry. At this time, it is really inappropriate to organize a mechanized army that can be described as a gold-swallowing beast. ”