Peiping.

Inside the headquarters of the North China Front.

Okamura Ninji looked at the battle report jointly submitted by Yoshimoto Sadachi and Yamamoto Kazuki on the table, and his brows furrowed deeply.

"In just one month, the imperial army that confronted the independent regiment in the area of Ping'an County suffered a total of more than 4,000 casualties, and 2,700 jade shatters, and the casualties were so large·····"

"The Independent Regiment is still expanding rapidly, with a total strength estimated at more than 20,000 ······"

"There are more than twenty tanks ······"

"The firepower of the Separate Regiment on the front line is very strong, and the firepower of machine guns and small-caliber mortars is more than twice that of the Imperial Army."

Reading them one by one, Okamura Ninji's tone was filled with horror.

After the chief of staff of the Great City Household Sanji, Yusha, Gangcun Ningji also began to pay attention to Li Yunlong and his independent regiment, knowing the situation of the previous independent regiment, he naturally knew the current means of the First Army to deal with the independent regiment.

Now it seems that the Independent Regiment is even more difficult to deal with than he expected.

Once Li Yunlong opens the passage to the plain area, 20,000 people will pour out, and the Zhengtai Railway will be in danger, and even the security of the entire North China region will be very severe, and it may also affect the No. 1 operation!

"Although most of the soldiers in Ping'an County are new recruits and lack combat experience, the more than 4,000 casualties are indeed too large·····

Next to Gangmura Ningji, Yoshio Shinozuka's tone was also shocked.

The new chief of staff has not yet arrived, and it is to deal with Li Yunlong, so Gangmura Ningji pulled Yoshio Shinozuka over to discuss together.

According to the estimation in Shinozuka Yoshio's heart, with a strength of 20,000 troops, Li Yunlong and his independent regiment are definitely more than that, and it is estimated that including new recruits, it should be more than 25,000.

As for the presence of tanks, this is normal, maybe more than detected.

There is no evidence of him, but based on previous experience, the independent regiment will always show only a part.

"General."

Yoshio Shinozuka reminded:

"General, we have to support the First Army, once Li Yunlong's troops get the passage, the situation in North China will be very serious."

"I know that."

Gangmura nodded his head, and then sighed:

"I've also read Yoshimoto-kun's battle plan, and I agree with it, the problem is that the estimate of the strength of the independent regiment is obviously wrong, and it takes reinforcements from two wings to solve the current trouble."

"It's just that where are the troops that can be mobilized now?

"At present, the entire North China region is not peaceful, the guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army are fighting more and more fiercely, and even anti-erosion has been carried out in some areas, the area occupied by the imperial army is gradually shrinking, North China needs troops to maintain law and order, and the base camp is constantly sending elite troops to Southeast Asia to participate in the war, and there is also the No. 1 operation that is being prepared, and the strength of a small team cannot be drawn."

"It is already the limit that the army stationed in Mongolia can draw a wing."

"Unless the Kwantung Army can be mobilized, but this requires an order from the base camp, and there are not many over there..."

At present, Gangcun is only the commander of the North China Front.

Yoshio Shinozuka looked at the map of the entire North China Front's sphere of influence hanging on the wall, and looked at the various markings on it, showing that the imperial army's forces were distributed along the lines of communication such as railways and highways, and spread around the lines of communication.

But the rest of the place, the vast mountainous countryside, basically represents the territory of the Eighth Route Army.

The entire Imperial Army was surrounded by a state of encirclement.

"The dirt road is getting stronger and stronger."

Yoshio Shinozuka's tone was steady, and this was also expected by him:

"Their Taihang Mountain base area has built its own arsenal, and it has been able to manufacture rifles, machine gun grenades, and bullets by itself, and the number can also meet its small-scale frontal battles with the imperial army, coupled with the disadvantage of the imperial army's numbers, the territory is too large, the troops are scattered, and the main force has been transferred to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, and it is normal for the terrain in the edge of the mountainous areas not to be dominant."

"At the end of the day, the Empire is seriously underarmed."

"Do you have any good advice from Shinozuka-kun?"

Okamura Ninji looked at Yoshio Shinozuka.

"General."

The corners of Yoshio Shinozuka's mouth hooked, and he paused for a moment before continuing, his tone with a strong confidence:

"The problem of troop strength is actually very easy to solve."

"How?"

Gangcun Ningji immediately became interested.

The problem of troop strength has always been the biggest problem that has plagued him, and it is getting worse.

"What the empire lacks is experienced and combat-ready elite soldiers, and it also lacks sufficient weapons and equipment, as for the new soldiers, there is no shortage of new soldiers."

Yoshio Shinozuka stated first.

Gangmura nodded in agreement.

The empire has a reserve system, after lowering the standard, the domestic conscription speed is very fast, the army combat force has exceeded 3.5 million people, and it is increasing rapidly, but the number of troops who can go to the battlefield is seriously insufficient, these newly recruited recruits need a period of training, and even the empire's extreme industry can not even equip these newly recruited troops with enough weapons.

Yoshio Shinozuka continued, his tone grim:

"Since this is the case, then we will train our troops in actual combat."

"Contact the base camp, transport the new recruits who have just been built in the country and the peninsula, as well as the wounded soldiers in the past, and issue them a rifle, some grenades, those old-fashioned ones in the inventory are enough, the ammunition is in person, and the ability of the Northeast Arsenal is also involved in the fierce mountain battle against Li Yunlong."

"While putting pressure on Li Yunlong, you can speed up the training of the troops, eliminate the unqualified, and the one who survives in the end will be an elite."

"Now in Ping'an County, although the losses are huge, the surviving imperial troops are all elite, not weaker than the elite second-line divisions."

Gangcun Ningji didn't speak, his expression was slightly hesitant.

A large number of recruits, untrained recruits, can be supported in North China, the basic guns are sufficient, and the ammunition production in Northeast China is also okay, but in this way, there will be a large number of casualties.

Tens of thousands of casualties.

Of course, this will also allow the North China Front to have a large number of troops capable of fighting, which will greatly alleviate the current shortage of troops.

"General."

Seeing Okamura Ninji hesitate, Yoshio Shinozuka continued:

"The empire has been investigating, how did Li Yunlong's materials get in, I suspect that the answer is hidden in their so-called base area."

"Before Li Yunlong fled from Shou County, he obtained very few materials, at most to meet the needs of one wing, but after coming to the mountainous area in the northwest of Shanxi, the materials, weapons and ammunition he obtained reached tens of thousands, food and even hundreds of thousands of people, and there were also cars and tanks of a large scale."

"It's very likely that there's a very large warehouse hidden here, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to explain how so many supplies came to be."

"Even that group of dirt eight roads, there is a good little arsenal here, as well as a machine factory."

Hearing this, Okamura Ninji no longer hesitated:

"Okay."

The Pacific and Southeast Asia are tight, and Operation No. 1 is about to take place, and now he wants to form a trained unit, and the troops that can fight, the base camp will ignore him, but he wants new recruits, and he has not even formed a good unit, saying that he will train and solve the supply problem by himself, and the base camp will definitely send it over in large quantities.

Not to mention one or two wings, even a few divisions and regiments can get it, on the local side, on the peninsula side, there are more recruits who don't even have weapons, there are more than a million, and those people on the peninsula can also be sent over to consume the strength of the independent regiment and Li Yunlong.

And regardless of whether there is a so-called ammunition depot or not, there is a good industry in the mountainous area of Ping'an County, and there is a huge amount of grain stocks, as long as you get it, it will not be a loss, anyway, what is lost is only some inferior recruits.

These people are of no use to the Empire.

"In addition, I suggest that the 105 long-range cannon also add a few to Ping'an County, increase it to eight, and appropriately strengthen the long-range firepower of the imperial army, which is our only advantage at present."

Yoshio Shinozuka continued.

At the same time, he muttered in his heart, although it was not clear how long this advantage would last.

"Hmm."

Gangmura Ninji nodded.

The First Army itself has four gates, and he still has no problem reinforcing them.

·······

Same.

Nighttime.

Zhao Jiayu.

Wang Gensheng, who was dressed in civilian clothes, came back.

"Roots."

Zhang Dabiao came out to answer and took Wang Gensheng to the regiment headquarters together.

"Regimental commander, political commissar."

Walking into the regiment headquarters, Wang Gensheng put down the package on his body, took out a camera, and a large roll of film.

The camera and film were naturally changed from Boss Chen's side, and there was also a set of photo processing equipment in the group, as well as consumables needed to develop the photos.

"Well, is there a chance?"

Li Yunlong asked.

The purpose of Wang Gensheng's expedition this time was to go to the coastal side to find out if there was an opportunity to attack the devil's navy ships.

The devil's warship is a real big fish, and the sailors are all technical arms, all of which are priceless, and even the smallest warship is heavier than a train, so the price is naturally higher.

Now that the ammunition consumption of the Independent Regiment is huge, and the goal of 15,000 is still far away, Li Yunlong has to find a way to get more ammunition.

"Yes."

Wang Gensheng said and took out a map, which was a coastal map, and he pointed to the dots on it and said:

"There are two devil warships at the mouth of the Huangpu River, one is an old-fashioned destroyer, and the other is a gunboat, which is estimated to be several hundred tons, and the two should weigh more than 1,000 tons together, and the sailors are estimated to have 200."

"The two warships will patrol regularly."

More than a thousand tons, two hundred sailors····· Zhao Gang, Li Yunlong, and Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up together.

Although Boss Chen did not give the price code of the sailor, it will definitely not be low.

"There are lightning nets under the water around the anchorage of the two warships, but people can get into them, the devil's defense is not strict, and you can install bombs on the warship with diving equipment, but the port is not deep, even if it is dozens of kilograms of explosives, it can only open a hole for the devil warship."

"It's easy."

Zhang Dabiao raised his head:

"First install the explosives on the bottom of the boat, and when the devil goes out to sea, blow him up in the depths, anyway, there is a remote fuse."

"I've thought about it, this one won't work."

Wang Gensheng shook his head:

"It's okay to have a bomb on the bottom of the ship, but the remote-controlled fuse can't be used in the water, and the antenna will be detected by the devil, the little devil has been bombed by the government before, and he is very vigilant, and he checks around the boat every time he goes out to sea."

"Then it's a ticking time bomb."

Zhang Dabiao continued without a pause:

"Observe the rules of the devil's patrolling at sea, set the detonation time in advance after loading the bomb, and blow him up directly when the devil goes out."

Now that there is technology in the regiment, problems can be easily solved. Before it was released, a single detonation method could make everyone bald.

"Also, the more explosives, the better, it's better to blow up and sink directly, don't give the little devils a chance to save people, and let those devils and navy all meet their emperor." Zhang Dabiao's tone was gloomy.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Grand Master Li's laughter showed that he was very satisfied, and then he waved his hand:

"The specific plan should be discussed by the two of you, and the technical problems will go to the machinery factory, where is the master master, and the deputy factory director."

"Yes."

Wang Gensheng and Zhang Dabiao saluted and left.

After the two left, Li Yunlong took out a list of tanks, and said to Zhao Gang:

"Lao Zhao, you take a moment to select a group of good seedlings from the troops, preferably with a better level of cultural knowledge, and we have expanded the scale of our artillery."

"At this rate, five thousand is fast."

"The new cannon is almost here."

Speaking of this, Grand Master Li's tone was full of surprise.

He didn't expect that the devils would cooperate so much, and when the firepower was obviously weak, they carried out night infiltration and counter-infiltration for a month, and sent a large number of recruits.

"It's better to increase the body cannon crew to 100 groups."

Li Yunlong exhaled:

"I'm going to exchange a hundred Bofors mountain guns to join forces, anyway, this cannon is light in weight and light in shells."

"One hundred groups..."

Political Commissar Zhao first took a breath of cool air.

100 mountain cannons!

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Looking at Lao Zhao's tone, Li Yunlong smiled:

"What's so surprising about this, it's only a hundred, if it weren't for the small amount, I even planned to change it to two hundred, anyway, the ammunition consumption is doubled by Brother Chen's guarantee, even if you are a novice, you can directly feed it into an elite gunner with shells."

Li Yunlong's tone then was a little regretful:

"It's a pity, when you kill 15,000 devils, it will be at least March or April next year, and now you can only meet the strength of 60 small cannons and bullets, and the rest will not work."

"Recently, the devils have stopped sending planes to bomb."

"I just don't know how much weapons and ammunition I can get from this bombing of the devil warship."

The huge ammunition consumption on the front line almost frightened Commander Li Da Da by surprise, even if there were only bullets and 60 mortar shells, and a small number of 82 mortar shells, several Sakata in more than a day, almost made him issue an order to reduce ammunition consumption at the front.

But reducing ammunition consumption will increase casualties, fortunately, there are many technicians among the devil recruits, and there are also some gains in the rest of the devil's artillery towers and railways, as well as enough stocks, the ammunition depot really can't bear it.

"There will definitely be no less, but sailors are all technical arms."

Zhao Gang speculated.