Despite the current composition of the troops, in addition to some of the recruits mobilized from the liberated areas, the main source of replenishment is already the liberation fighters composed of prisoners liberated on the battlefield. Even a considerable number of squad and platoon leaders were born as liberation fighters. More than half of the soldiers in Li Ziyuan's department are from liberation fighters.

This is not a unique characteristic of Li Ziyuan's department, but a common phenomenon in the major field armies at present. At present, the troops have been transferred to the movement of large corps to fight, and many times they are fighting in the old liberated areas, and it is sometimes difficult to replenish their own soldiers. Even if we rely on the old liberated areas to fight, we must also consider the bearing capacity of each base area.

At present, the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are basically from the peasants who have turned over. As the battle grew, so did the casualty figures. In various base areas, it is becoming more and more difficult to recruit soldiers. In particular, after the completion of the land reform, all the peasants were allocated land. When the ideals of wives, children, and hot kang have been realized, more and more people are unwilling to join the army.

Especially during the war years, being a soldier also means that you can sacrifice at any time. In all liberated areas, the phenomenon of self-harm and even desertion in order to avoid being a soldier has already appeared. At the same time, as the scale of the battle grew, more and more soldiers were captured. In the case of not being able to settle on its own, putting it back can only allow the other side to quickly recover its strength.

Taking into account the bearing capacity of the various base areas and the overall need for replenishment of troops, all field armies have greatly increased the number of captured soldiers to join the army. Even many troops have been able to make up for them as soon as they are captured. That is, it quickly restored the strength of the troops, and also weakened the speed of the reformation of the annihilated troops there.

After all, it takes a lot of time for a recruit to train from joining the army to fully forming combat effectiveness. The training of captured personnel and their integration into their own units became a quick means. Especially the more ace army prisoners over there, the more popular this side is.

It's not just the PLA that's doing it, it's doing the same thing over there. It's just that the People's Liberation Army, which is relatively good at political work, has a pitiful low conversion rate of prisoners over there. During the Battle of Jinzhong, Li Ziyuan encountered an incident. When outflanking the enemy's rear road, a battalion that was cut off by the enemy came to the battlefield to surrender.

Surrendered directly to his own side, allowing himself to bypass the opponent's broken rear troops and go straight into the enemy's marching sequence. It was only when some of these people hugged their own people and wept bitterly that they realized that these people were all people who had been captured in several battles. One of the instructors, who did not reveal his identity after being captured, not only returned to his unit with the captured personnel.

He also persuaded the battalion commander who was left behind to surrender to Li Ziyuan's headquarters. And such examples are not uncommon in all major field armies. Whether it is to listen to the Central Plains after the breakout, transferred to the Jinnan to rest the Central Plains troops. He was still transferred back to work in the military region, and the cadres of the field army have mentioned similar things.

Compared to the captured personnel on that side who did not even change their military uniforms after being captured, they went into the battlefield and performed well. The conversion rate over there was very low, and even many senior officers repeatedly reminded PLA prisoners that it was better to be discharged on the spot in addition to serving as coolies. Otherwise, not only their factors of danger on the battlefield, but also easily cause a chain reaction.

It's just that at the moment, the liberation fighters have basically occupied more than half of the troops. However, Li Ziyuan has five platoons in his hands, and he is actually responsible for the teaching team and mobile reserve of the whole brigade. The platoon commander and the principal and deputy squad leaders are all the backbone of Li Ziyuan's transfer from various regiments.

The squad and platoon cadres used the American Thomson* obtained by Li Ziyuan before the end of the Anti-Japanese War. The infantry companies are all Chinese formal rifles, and the Soviet-style turntable light machine guns imitated by the Taiyuan Arsenal. The company also had six 60 guns, six Li Ziyuan and four 92 heavy machine guns, and American-made Bazooka rocket launchers exchanged from the Taiyue Military Region, plus two 92 heavy machine guns.

It can be said that it is a guard company armed to the teeth, but it is not a liberation fighter, and they are all from the backbone militia of the old Ludong base area. Every time there were casualties in the battle, Li Ziyuan sent people to the Ludong Army Division to recruit soldiers. And the Ludong Military Division, which is the place where Li Ziyuan started, has always been fully cooperative.

When the local people heard that Commander Li had come to recruit soldiers, they were quite enthusiastic about signing up. This guard company has always been in constant need of additional soldiers. This is actually only a platoon, and the guard company that undertakes the task of guarding is a sharp knife in Li Ziyuan's hand, and it has always been where it is needed.

This time, he was ordered to counterattack the No. 5 position, and he also hit the mountains and rivers changing color. If one counterattack fails, a second counterattack is immediately organized. And the defending enemy in front of him is also desperately intercepting. Rifle machine guns, *, mortars, with fire support from depth, hit the counterattacking forces.

Position No. 5, together with several palm-sized positions in the flanks and rear, is less than a square kilometer. However, on this palm-sized territory, the offensive and defensive sides fought a battlefield with casualties and intensity, far exceeding that of any other company-sized battlefield.

Before the guard company went up, He Sanliang issued four more pieces * to each soldier. Although they suffered some losses in infantry firepower, the six Soviet-style rotary machine guns relied on a large cartridge of 47 rounds to suppress the * light machine gun with only 20 rounds of ammunition on the opposite side, and even partially suppressed the * on the opposite side.

Under the cover of machine guns, the infantry rushed forward and threw them wildly, rushing in with their bayonet rifles. If it is played, the tactics will be copied and re-in. It was beaten out again, and it was struck. There was beaten out, and there was nailed and persisted. Weapons are thrown against each other from a distance of several tens of meters *.

At the same time, a reinforced platoon that launched a counterattack from the direction of the 1st regiment, also under the cover of the regiment's mortars, stormed from the flank towards position No. 5. After a hard battle, at the cost of more than half of the casualties, the enemy in position 5 was separated from the other enemy forces in the surrounding area. However, because more than half of the casualties of this reinforced platoon had lost the ability to continue the attack.

And the tenacity of this young military division is the first time that Li Ziyuan has encountered it since the start of the Liberation War. He also understood why it was said that these central military descendants were difficult to gnaw. It's not just that they're well-armed, and it's not that they're better trained than the average ragtag army.

Its will to fight is also quite tenacious. In particular, most of the officers at all levels, who basically graduated from the Central Military Academy, are also quite determined. When fighting against the Jin Sui army, the melee combat and white-knuckle combat that are often decisive do not mean that they are also equally useful in front of these guys.

When the guards rushed forward with bayonets, the ones with bayonets came up with their rifles with bayonets. If you don't have a bayonet*, you won't be able to change the magazine and then you will pick up the handle of the gun. Even the small and delicate * dared to meet him with a bayonet. Even if people are pressed to the place, they are still struggling desperately, refusing to surrender their guns in life or death.

A battle on the scale of a reinforced company was fought, and position No. 5 was restored. But in Li Ziyuan's guard company, there are less than one platoon of people who can stand up. On the palm-sized No. 5 position, corpses were piled up all over the place. The sound of the wounded can be heard from afar.

But before the casualties and embers could take a breath, the guards also saw that this was the enemy at a critical juncture in the next battle, and immediately launched a fierce counterattack. Platoons of soldiers, either with rifles with bayonets or with *, rushed again under the cover of artillery fire.

Dense artillery shells exploded on the No. 5 position again, and the No. 5 position was instantly densely covered by shells. In the face of another strong attack by the counterattacking enemy, the commander of the third regiment no longer bothered to ask for instructions. Directly put the last bit of reserve into the fifth position, and a bloody battle broke out again and again.

In just two hours, the No. 5 position changed hands five times. Recaptured it, and before it could stand its ground, the opponent's counterattack had already pressed over. But in this kind of hard-fought and attritional battle, the three regiments, which were weak in follow-up, were obviously not opponents. When the last position was lost, the three regiments, which had been exhausted, could no longer come up with the strength to recapture it.

During this period, the third regiment commander, who was familiar with Li Ziyuan's character, although he had been gritting his teeth and insisting, had never proposed to Li Ziyuan, asking Dong Ping and his group to replace them to take a breath. Because he knows the temper of his brigade commander, and before the brigade commander thinks, even if there is only one person left, you have to hold on to it for me there.

Since the last loss of the No. 5 position, Li Ziyuan, who had been standing at the observation port to observe the enemy's situation, raised his binoculars and looked at the battlefield in front of him and never let go of his hand again. When the No. 5 position changed hands again, Li Ziyuan turned around and picked up the phone to call the third regiment: "Don't fight back, just use your regimental artillery to control him." ”

"I will also give an explanation, and specially transfer two heavy machine guns to suppress the enemy in position No. 5. You kid is now trying his best to defend the temple towers for me, and I want your head if I lose the temple towers. Don't grind with me, you kid, you can't go up when the reinforcements are not on yet. ”

Putting down the phone in his hand, Li Ziyuan walked to the observation port, raised the telescope again, and observed the battle situation again. And Ma Yongcheng, who had just rushed over with more than 1,000 liberation fighters who had just completed political training, looked at the battle in front of him and said directly: "Lao Li, I brought you back soldiers." ”

"1,600 people, all of whom were liberated fighters in the first phase of the Taiyuan Campaign, are they now directly replenished to the troops? I think that all of them will be replenished to the three regiments, at least so that they can partially restore their positions. They have almost reached the point of desperation now, and it will be difficult to hold the temple without replenishment. ”

Regarding the urgency in Ma Yongcheng's tone, Li Ziyuan shook his head and said: "If you go up now, you can only be killed and injured by the artillery fire of the defenders in vain." As long as the three regiments did not lose the temple tower, it would not be time for them to go up. Except for one formed battalion, all the rest were transferred to Dong Ping. Tell him to merge new and old soldiers as quickly as possible. ”

Li Ziyuan's decision, Ma Yongcheng was slightly stunned. glanced at He Sanliang, who was shaking his head and smiling bitterly on the side, and finally explained to a director of the political department next to him, asking him to immediately follow Li Ziyuan's arrangement. And seize the time to distribute weapons to the 1,600 liberation fighters who brought them.

At present, the situation of Li Ziyuan's department is that the staffing is seriously insufficient, but the number of weapons is definitely overstaffed. And this group of liberation fighters was partially equipped before they drove here. Insufficient weapons, what Li Ziyuan has in his hands is a gun that no one uses. So despite the fact that 1,600 people were replenished at once, the light weapons were able to be shot at one shot.