As the saying goes, there are three fires for a new official to take office, and the newly appointed commander of the North China Front, Sugiyama Moto, is no exception. As soon as he arrived in North China, his butt was not yet hot, so he clamored to restore the Pinghan Line and set foot in Pingjizhong. He also took the initiative to ask Zheng Weiguo for a battle, demanding that the two armies fight a "fair decisive battle" in Baoding City.

Zheng Weiguo casually threw the "war book" aside, and laughed: "Only when your brain is broken will you fight the devil!" Inform all troops to attack and harass according to the plan, I want the little devils to occupy the Pinghan line and the train will not be passed! ”

In the face of the heavy advance of the Japanese North China Front, Jizhong did not dispatch the main force to fight hard, but used local troops and militia to join forces with various units of the Eighth Route Army to attack and harass in turn. The main force was hidden behind the flanks of the local troops, and once the Japanese counterattacked, they would suddenly attack. After several times in a row, the Japanese army was also frightened, and the small troops did not dare to go out in peacetime.

Sugiyama Yuan was annoyed, and concentrated his forces to carry out several "assaults", trying to "capture" the main force in Jizhong. However, the intelligence network in Jizhong was very timely, and the Japanese army pounced on it every time. Moreover, the Japanese army concentrated its forces in one place, and the rest of the area was bound to be empty, so new fighters appeared. The troops in central Hebei constantly adopted this kind of tactics of criticizing and making false mistakes, and repeatedly hit the weak links of the Japanese army's defense, causing the Japanese army to cry for their fathers and mothers, and they were miserable.

After more than a month of fierce fighting, the Japanese army reluctantly occupied the Pinghan line, but the railway traffic could not be restored for a long time, and even the road transportation was enough.

Lixian, General Headquarters of the 41st Group Army. Zheng Weiguo was sitting in front of the map studying the situation of friend and foe, when he heard someone coming, he hurriedly looked up. But it was Political Commissar Cheng who came in a hurry, and his face was happy.

"Commander!" Political Commissar Cheng greeted warmly.

Zheng Weiguo got up and poured him a cup of hot water, and quipped: "Lao Cheng, why are you so good today?" What did my sister-in-law get you to eat last night? ”

Political Commissar Cheng smiled and said, "What good things are more enjoyable to eat than to win a battle?" This makes people feel refreshed at happy events! As he spoke, he handed Zheng Weiguo a document and explained: "The Ranzhuang militia company secretly attacked the construction site of the little devil this morning, killing more than 30 Japanese soldiers, seizing more than 30 rifles, and rescuing more than 200 laborers!" ”

Zheng Weiguo took it and looked at it, and found that although the scale of this battle was small. But it was a beautiful fight. It can be described as a model of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.

At that time, a team of Japanese engineers was repairing the roadbed of the railway with more than 200 laborers. These laborers were all coolies captured by the Japanese army from all over the country. Specially caught to work. The militia of Ranzhuang observed for a few days, and quietly blended in while the Japanese puppet army was not paying attention.

There were so many people on the construction site, and the Japanese army didn't pay attention. The coolies could see it, but no one would be stupid enough to report it to the Japanese army. The militiamen pretended to work. While secretly surrounding the Japanese army.

Finally. The team leader notices that something is wrong. Exclaimed: "Hey, stand still, whatever!" ”

The militia company commander roared: "Grandpa wants your life!" "I took out a pistol from my body and shot it. The rest of the militia and laborers also pounced on them with hoes and shovels. The sappers have to work. In addition, the vigilance is not high, and the guns are gathered and set up on the side of the road. When this was fatal, where did I have time to get it, but I was chased and killed by everyone.

By the time the Japanese patrol heard the gunshots, the militiamen had already fled with the coolies. In addition, the explosives used by the Japanese army for blasting were also ignited, making the roadbed even more dilapidated.

After reading it, Zheng Weiguo said happily: "This battle is really enjoyable!" I think we can give an independent company a number, and the militia company commander who leads the team should also be given a special commendation. Lao Cheng, what is your opinion? ”

Political Commissar Cheng smiled: "This is also what our Political Department means. Commander, there are also the records and performances of the various units that participated in the war some time ago. Among them, there are several like the Ranzhuang militia company, please give instructions from the commander! ”

Zheng Weiguo took it and looked at it, and found that they were basically above excellent, so he couldn't help but smile and said: "If you continue to fight like this, all the local troops and militia units will have to change their numbers." ”

Political Commissar Cheng smiled: "This is a good thing!" When the local troops and militias grow up, the main forces will be able to fight a war of movement with their hands and feet. ”

The troops of the Jizhong Military Region can be roughly divided into three parts: the first is the main force, which is composed of various armies, divisions, brigades, and regiments under the jurisdiction of the 41st Group Army; the second is the local troops, which are composed of independent brigades, independent regiments, and regional teams of the four military divisions; The third is the militia, which is composed of county brigades, district squads, and village militia companies.

After two counterattack operations on the Jinpu Road and the Pinghan Road some time ago, the combat effectiveness of the main force has basically taken shape, but the performance of the local troops and militia is not satisfactory. Lack of training and equipment is one aspect, but more importantly is the lack of combat experience. Therefore, the subsequent raids and harassment operations were mainly carried out by local troops and militias, and the main forces only played the role of "nannies".

In order to motivate these troops, Zheng Weiguo continued the experience of the Jinpu Road counterattack and ordered the Political Department to count the performance and achievements of the various units participating in the war. Those who perform well and have outstanding combat results will be awarded the titles of "Independent Company of XX Village or XX District" by the militia company and district squad of the village, and "Independent Battalion of XX County" and "Independent Regiment of XX County" by the county brigade. Priority is given to replenishing weapons and equipment, and command rights are given when cooperating with friendly forces of the same level.

In the local units, the regional teams that performed well were upgraded to independent regiments, the independent regiments were promoted to the backbone regiments, the backbone regiments were promoted to the main regiments, and the main regiments were increased in strength and heavy weapons. Now that we have been fighting for more than a month, many troops have changed their names to new names. The performance is not good, and the troops that have not been replaced are also secretly cheering up, striving to fight a turnaround battle as soon as possible!

But when it comes to the main force, Zheng Weiguo is bitter. It's still an old problem, and the logistics can't keep up. Although the first two counterattacks were remarkable, the material consumption was too great, and the old books that had been accumulated with great difficulty were almost used up, so that the equipment department complained to him every day. Seeing that Political Commissar Cheng mentioned the sports war again, Zheng Weiguo smiled bitterly: "Then you have to have ammunition to be able to move!" I don't have ammo and I still exercise a fart, and it's almost the same as being a rogue. ”

Political Commissar Cheng didn't expect the logistics to be so tight, and said in surprise: "Isn't it possible to reload bullets?" ”

Zheng Weiguo said regretfully: "The output is not high, and the quality is not good!" It can only be used for troop training. ”

It's actually not that hard to reload bullets. The difficulty lies in the quality. At first, everyone was happy that the arsenal had the first reloaded bullets, but during the target test, it was found that most of the reloaded bullets could not hit the target, and even if they did, they were horizontal bombs. At that time, the conditions were limited, and these problem ammunition had to be used, and as a result, the problems exposed by the distribution to the troops were even more.

At that time, the soldiers joked that there were two major problems with this reloading bullet, one was neurosis, there was a problem with the head, shaking the head and somersaulting, and it could not hit the target; The second is that there is a problem with the buttocks. Smoke leaking and farting. Spitting fire hurts. That's not all, what warhead rupture, dumb fire or even exploding the chamber is simply a problem.

Later, through continuous improvement of the process, such as changing the tail section of the warhead to the shape of a boat. Make the warhead pop shape as a whole. The knife was expanded at the bottom of the cartridge case. Keep the diameter of the socket consistent with the height of the primer. So as to solve the problems of bottom fire smoke leakage.

After this hard work, the quality has come up, but on the whole it still can't be compared with the original ammunition. And the production capacity has not been able to be raised for a long time. Because there are several steps in the middle, such as annealing and correcting the primer, it takes a long time to train a journeyman.

When Political Commissar Cheng heard this, he couldn't help but be a little anxious, and said, "What can I do about this?" ”

Zheng Weiguo said helplessly: "I can only wait for the Germans to come, I don't believe that the mustache is not interested in the oil field." As he spoke, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the door, and the two of them hurriedly stopped talking and looked out.

"Headquarters!" said that Cao Cao Cao arrived, the Minister of Equipment, Yu Lao Gen'er, and the deputy army Lu Zhan suddenly rushed together, and when they saw that Political Commissar Cheng was also there, they hurriedly greeted him and said, "Yo, Deputy Commander Cheng is also here!" ”

Political Commissar Cheng waved the document in his hand and said with a smile: "Well, I annihilated a few more squads of devils and reported to the troops!" He quipped again: "What is the matter of labor, and the two ministers of your equipment department come to the door together?" Shouldn't it be looking for the commander to cry poor again! ”

Yu Lao Gen'er waved his hand and said excitedly: "Hey, the days of crying poor are gone and there is no turning back, I and Vice Minister Lu are here to give good news!" ”

Zheng Weiguo said: "Oh? Could it be that there has been a major breakthrough in the production capacity of the arsenal? ”

Yu Laogen'er twisted his hand and said with a smile: "Hehe, you can't hide anything from the commander-in-chief." When our arsenal reloaded the bullets, we figured out a new way. Xiao Lu, you report to the general seat specifically. ”

Lu Zhan hurriedly explained: "The general seat, Deputy Commander Cheng, is like this. When reloading bullets, a worker in the arsenal unexpectedly found that the primer of the American-style bullet was very different from the European-style bullet, and the American-style bullet was quite easy to reload, and the damage to the bullet case was small. The arsenal has adopted this new type of reloading ammunition, and the production capacity has indeed been greatly increased. ”

It turned out that with the widespread popularity of metal fixed ammunition, two types of primers also appeared: the Boxer primer and the Berdan primer. The Bourdan primer is a common type in China, and its primer anvil is connected to the subcartridge, which is forged as a whole and has a low production cost, but it is troublesome when it is reloaded. If the anvil is accidentally damaged, the bullet casing is scrapped.

The Bocksai primer is mainly in the United States, because Americans like DIY reloads. The anvil of this primer is independent, although there is an additional process during production, it is very convenient to reassemble, just change a primer directly. In fact, the Bokesai primer appeared very early, and the production was very simple, but the arsenal behind enemy lines was too backward, and it was not until 46 years when it came into contact with American bullets that this "new technique" was mastered. If it weren't for Feng Kun's acquisition of some American-style rifles from Tianjin, maybe the arsenal would have opened this trick when it wouldn't have been.

Zheng Weiguo patted his head, in fact, he also knew this technique, but he didn't even think about it. So he hurriedly asked: "How many bullets can be reloaded per day after changing to a Boke Primer?" ”

Lu Zhan replied: "If the raw materials are sufficient, 100,000 rounds can be reloaded every day!" He also explained: "If you want to expand production, you just need to add a reassembly shop!" ”

Zheng Weiguo immediately said: "Well, I approved this, wait for you to go to the logistics department to receive funds, and strive to reload 1 million rounds a day!" If one reassembly workshop is not enough, open several more workshops. Also, the worker who found the bottom fire of the Bokesai was to be rewarded heavily. Well, it will be rewarded according to the special contribution award of the arsenal. ”

Lu Zhan nodded and said, "Yes, Boss!" He was a little embarrassed and said, "Boss, the standard of 1 million rounds per day you set is too high." Our arsenal is too remote, and logistical supply is very difficult, and we can't support too many workers. Moreover, too many newly recruited workers also make it easy to expose the arsenal. ”

Political Commissar Cheng thought for a moment and asked, "Is this reassembly method difficult in the process?" Do you need a big machine? ”

Lu Zhan shook his head and said, "It's not difficult. It is more convenient to have a machine, and it is also possible to manually reassemble without a machine. Our skilled workers in the arsenal can reload thousands of rounds a day. ”

Political Commissar Cheng had never been in contact with the military industry before, and said in surprise: "So fast? ”

Lu Zhan explained: "The shell, primer, charge, and warhead are all ready, and the workers only need to assemble them, and each person is responsible for a process, so the speed is very fast!" ”

Political Commissar Cheng turned around and said to Zheng Weiguo: "Commander, I have a suggestion, don't put the reloaded bullets in western Hebei in the future. First, the transfer of materials is troublesome. Second, it is easy to expose the location of the arsenal. It is better to put it directly in our Jizhong, which is also convenient for the troops to replenish in time. ”

Previously, due to concerns about the safety of Jizhong, the arsenal had not dared to move over. The few repair shops that do so can only make some simple repairs to weapons.

Zheng Weiguo nodded and said, "Well, Lao Cheng, you're right. This is long overdue! In addition to reloading bullets. Like grenades and improvised mines, they have to be transferred to Jizhong. It's more troublesome. For example, the production of artillery shells can also be divided into two parts, with parts and components produced in western Hebei, and then transported to central Hebei for assembly. ”

A few people were having a good discussion. Chief of Staff Zhou suddenly hurried over and said with a regretful face: "General Seat, everyone, Wuhan has fallen!" ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and they didn't say anything for a long time.

In the blink of an eye, in late November, Wuhan still fell. From the night of 11 June, when the Botian detachment took advantage of the rainy night, to the end of the newly formed Taiwan brigade on 27 November, when it entered Wuhan, the Chinese army resisted for five and a half months. The battlefield spread across the four provinces of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, and Hubei, and hundreds of battles broke out on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River.

What made Zheng Weiguo feel relieved was that because of his appearance, the national army lasted a month longer than in history, and wiped out at least 20,000 more Japanese troops. Although this is a bit insignificant in the 14-year-long War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression with tens of millions of casualties, it is good news after all.

The Japanese won the battle, but their strategic purpose, to force the Nationalist government to surrender, failed. The Nationalist Government lost its division and lost great losses, but it did not give in, but chose to withdraw to Chongqing to continue the war of resistance. The war had to continue, which annoyed Japan, which had suffered huge losses.

In order to win the war, Japan almost emptied the country's material reserves. According to the history of the Japanese war, at the time of the "77" incident, Japan's "gold reserves, including the reserve for the issuance of banknotes, were only 1.35 billion yen." In order to sustain the war of aggression against China, "the total amount of military supplies imported from overseas in 1937 reached 960 million yen." By June of the following year, in order to carry out the Battle of Wuhan, "even the rifles used by school instructors were withdrawn." War Minister Seishiro Itagaki once lamented: "The portrayal of our country today is a portrayal of foreign strength and middle cadres, and it will not be able to maintain it for a long time." ”

At the beginning of the war, the Japanese army arrogantly declared that it would "solve the Chinese incident in one fell swoop," but now it has been dragged into the quagmire of war, and victory is far away. Japanese Prime Minister Fumima Konoe, who was vigorously fighting the war, had no choice but to adjust his China policy and put forward the famous "Three Principles of Konoe," that is, "goodwill and friendship, joint defense against communism, and economic cooperation." The strategy of attacking the Kuomintang government was changed to political inducement and military attack, and the Kuomintang was lured to surrender under slogans such as "joint defense against communism" and "building a new order in East Asia."

At the same time, the Japanese army adjusted the main combat object to the base area behind enemy lines. Instead of conducting frontal operations with the main force on the frontal battlefield, it has changed to transferring troops to conduct "law and order" operations in the battlefield behind enemy lines. This policy adjustment has put unprecedented pressure on the base areas behind enemy lines.

Of course, the soldiers and civilians in the base area of this pressure cannot be felt for the time being, but directly on the hearts of Zheng Weiguo and others. Everyone present felt a heavy heart, and even a little out of breath.

Zheng Weiguo looked at Yu Laogen'er and Lu Zhan, and said: "You all know the situation, and you must pay close attention to the matter of reloading bullets." It's not just bullets, grenades, mines, and shells that have to keep up. ”

Political Commissar Cheng also said: "There are also mortars, build a batch and transport a batch, and send them to the base area as soon as possible!" ”

Zheng Weiguo nodded in agreement, and urged: "The captured artillery must be repaired as much as possible, and all of them will be useful." The renovation of the artillery carriage of the Japanese artillery should also be accelerated, and efforts should be made to replace it with a new artillery mount before the next battle. ”

As mentioned earlier, the artillery mounts of Japanese artillery were very backward, and they were basically at the level of World War I. Even the improved gun carriage was a lot of problems, and later in order to save costs, Japan simply did not even produce the improved gun mount, and directly built the old-fashioned single gun mount. The number of artillery in Jizhong is not large, and of course it is necessary to keep improving. Relatively speaking, cost is not so important. As long as there is improvement, it will often be done at any cost.

Chief of Staff Zhou also admonished, saying: "The previous battles have shown that the Japanese grenadiers pose a very great threat to our stragglers and machine guns. The grenadiers of our army were not skilled, the number of guns and grenades was small, and the models were chaotic, which made it difficult to suppress the Japanese army. You must finalize production as soon as possible so that the needs of the troops can be met at an early date. ”

Political Commissar Cheng also said: "It is not enough to suppress grenadiers with guns and grenades, but also with 60 mortars. This production capacity must be raised, and efforts must be made to equip each company with two or three doors. ”

Seeing several chiefs increasing their weights, Yu Lao Gen'er and Lu Zhan couldn't help but look at each other and smile bitterly. Originally, I came to report the good news, but now it's good, and it's become troublesome. Zheng Weiguo and the others only cared about the needs of the army, and they said a lot of things, and after the end, they realized that it was difficult to complete, and they couldn't help laughing awkwardly.

Zheng Weiguo suggested: "In this case, we should ask the General Staff Department to make a unified plan and plan." Picking up our most scarce and useful equipment production, I think the Japanese army will soon launch a new sweep, and strive to complete the logistics supply as soon as possible. ”

The crowd nodded in agreement and dispersed. Only Chief of Staff Zhou deliberately fell behind the most, and when he saw that there was no one around, he said in a low voice: "General seat, the German secret envoy has arrived!" (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you very much for the lonely footprints reward, the mountain people have nothing to repay, continue to code words, and strive to be more early tomorrow!