Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Chapter 461 I, Chu Yunfei, will never leave without firing a single shot. I must help the place befo

Shentouling, the headquarters of the 358th Regiment.

"Captain Chu, this is the urgent intelligence just sent by our superiors. The Japanese will mobilize 358 troops to launch an encirclement and suppression operation against the entire northwest Shanxi region. The target is Li Yunlong's independent regiment and our th Regiment. This intelligence is different from what we got before. The Japanese have reinforced their troops again!" Chief of Staff Fang Ligong reported anxiously.

Chu Yunfei took the telegram and read the contents carefully, the expression on his face turned from gloomy to bright. He did not expect that the Japanese would actually send more troops. This was completely beyond his expectations. The situation was more serious than he had previously estimated. He even planned to evacuate Shentouling.

"Brother Ligong, send this information to the independent regiment immediately and let Li Yunlong and his men prepare in advance. The Japanese are coming with such force and their purpose is so clear. I'm afraid there will be a fierce battle in the next few months. Our 358th Regiment really needs to avoid the enemy's front this time. We can't give up Shentouling. We have to stay here for half a month before leaving to reduce the defensive pressure on Li Yunlong from the flank. This is the only thing I can do at the moment."

Chief of Staff Fang Ligong was about to speak, but was stopped by Chu Yunfei's words: "Brother Ligong, it is very difficult for the two armored companies of our 358th Regiment to retreat to the rear. The rugged roads are very difficult to travel. If we don't teach the Japs a lesson, they will definitely send heavy troops to pursue our 358th Regiment. Only when we hurt and scare them will they let us go."

"As for the two fighter squadrons, you don't have to worry too much. We have built three temporary airports in the rear, which can fully meet the needs of fighter planes! The reason why I want to fight this battle is also related to military morale. Our 358th Regiment has been expanded twice, and the number of people has reached 7600, which is equivalent to the strength of a reinforced brigade."

"The number of people seems to be quite large, but more than half of them are new recruits with no combat experience at all. They are fine in a favorable battle, but once they encounter an unfavorable battle, it is easy to suffer a large-scale defeat."

"That's what made me determined to fight the devils at Shentouling. Shentouling is a place with many rocks and mountains, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even if we can't defeat the devils in the end, we can still retreat from the mountains calmly. I don't intend to miss such a good opportunity."

"I, Chu Yunfei, will never run away without firing a single shot. I, Chu Yunfei, will never do such a thing. Brother Ligong, immediately convey my order and tell the brothers to prepare for a big battle with the devils. Fight as hard as you can. We have plenty of ammunition, enough to fight the devils 2 to 3 times!"

Chu Yunfei was now confident. The weapons and ammunition he had exchanged with the independent regiment gave him the confidence to say this. Fang Ligong did not object. He also felt that they should have a small fight with the devils to prove that the 358th Regiment was not a deserter.

Zhaojiayuyu is the location of the independent regiment’s headquarters.

Li Yunlong held the telegram sent by Chu Yunfei in his hand and said solemnly: "The Japanese have mobilized 80,000 troops this time to carry out a large-scale sweep of the northwest region of Shanxi. This is not much different from our previous estimate."

"The difference in troop strength between the enemy and us is about 2 to 1, but I don't think it's anything to be afraid of. The weapons and equipment in our hands are more advanced than those of the Japanese. If a fight really breaks out, the chances of winning this battle can reach %. I am fully confident of this!"

The atmosphere in the conference room was not as solemn as before. They had previously thought that the Japanese would mobilize 13 troops to attack the base, but now it seemed that the Japanese would at most mobilize troops to attack the base. This dispelled a lot of worries in everyone's hearts.

"Haha, what Lao Li said just now is encouraging. We are much stronger now than we were half a year ago. We still have hundreds of fighter planes that can provide us with air fire support, and more than a dozen fortress cannons that can pose a huge threat to the devils, not to mention the hundreds of artillery batteries, which are also very tough bones to chew."

"These days I have had the artillery position reinforced for the second time. It can definitely withstand the Japanese's 250-kilogram aerial bombs, and even two or three 500-kilogram aerial bombs. It's not as difficult to defend the base as we imagined." Lin Zhenhua continued with a relaxed look on his face.

The worry on Zhao Gang's face was relieved a lot, but he still reminded in a serious tone: "Everyone, we can despise the enemy strategically, but we must take the enemy seriously tactically. We are on the defensive side, and it is not easy for the Japanese to break through our defensive positions, but there is no fortress in the world that can never be broken. If the Japanese are really determined to launch an offensive against our fortress, we can still take it down at a certain price."

"We have three fortresses in total. The Independent Regiment defends Fortress No. 5000, the New First Regiment defends Fortress No. , and the New Second Regiment defends Fortress No. . Each fortress has people deployed. If we encounter a concentrated attack by the Japanese, it will be very difficult to defend it."

"I think we should move our armored forces. Just like what the college student said before, we should send all the armored forces out to cut off the enemy's logistics and transportation lines, so that the enemy can't besiege our base for a long time and force them to withdraw early. This is what we should do."

Ding Wei, the dog-headed military advisor, tapped the table lightly to attract everyone's attention, and said in a serious tone: "Old Zhao's idea is very bold, but the key issue is whether our armored forces can complete the task of cutting off the enemy's transportation line. This requires a big question mark!"

"In recent combat operations, we found that the armored forces' marching speed was not as fast as we imagined. They needed to replace the engine every 500 kilometers. If it weren't for the help of transport aircraft, we would not be able to complete the engine replacement and would have to abandon the tanks and armored vehicles. This is not impossible, but it will definitely happen."

"Armored units have very high requirements for logistics maintenance. Our current armored vehicles have a stable marching distance of 128 kilometers. Beyond this distance, the failure rate of armored vehicles will become very high, and there is even an embarrassing situation where they need to be repaired every three hours."

"These are just medium tanks and light armored vehicles. Now we have two new heavy tanks and six medium armored vehicles. The failure rate is even higher. They need to be repaired every half an hour. The stable march distance has been reduced to 76 kilometers. This is the real data obtained after actual combat training."

"Armored units are fine for short-distance combat, but if they go deep into the enemy's territory to attack the enemy's transportation lines, it will become extremely difficult and they may be trapped in the enemy's encirclement. The final result may be that they lose more than they gain."

"According to my latest calculations, the combat radius of our armored forces is only 68 kilometers. Beyond this distance, we must increase the transport team, which is a matter of domino effect. There is only one solution before us, either to increase the size of the transport team or to reduce the size of the armored forces. There is no other solution!"

"As for the combat radius of our fighter jets, it is not very large, only about 600 kilometers, and this is when two auxiliary fuel tanks are added. If we engage in a long-term air battle with the Japanese, the combat radius of our fighter jets will only be about 360 kilometers, which can be said to be short-legged. This seriously affects our expansion of the results of the battle and prevents us from launching a surprise attack on Taiyuan Airport."

"A bomber group without fighter escort is a completely suicidal act. We really can't beat the Japanese in terms of consumption. After all, the Japanese are an industrial powerhouse with great strength. The strength of our arsenal is not even comparable to that of the Fengtian Arsenal. The weapons and equipment we produce each year are only enough to equip 2 to 3 divisions. We really can't produce more than that."

"We have produced a large number of weapons and ammunition these days, but their performance is far inferior to that of the original factory, only about 60% of the original factory level. All this is to save man-hours. Now we have only solved some problems, but not the quality problems. If we want to reach or even exceed the original factory level, there is still a long way to go."

Kong Jie interrupted Ding Wei before he finished speaking, "What Old Ding said makes a lot of sense. Take the Mauser rifle we are equipped with as an example. The barrel life of the original Third Reich is more than a thousand rounds, while the life of the lead barrel we imitated is only about 700 rounds. The difference between the two is still very obvious."

"The same is true for other gun barrels. This is why our weapons have a very high damage rate. The heavy artillery we produced did not solve this problem. Although college students used new technologies and added some rare metals, I only reached 7.5% of the original factory level. The gap is still very large."

"The only thing we have successfully copied is the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun, which has reached about 90% of the Japanese's performance. As for the mortar, it is only 80% of the original, mainly due to our lack of rare metals. In order to obtain rare metals, we have spent a huge price, but it still cannot meet our current needs. The only way is to compromise and reduce the performance of the weapon."

"In this regard, we really can't blame the college students. After all, a good cook cannot cook without rice. Without white flour, you can't make white steamed buns. If you use other flours to steam, you can only make black steamed buns."

"I think what Lao Zhao said before is very true. We should not think that we are stronger than the Japanese just because our weapons and equipment have a slight advantage. Our previous arrogance and complacency made the Japanese attack on the 9th Battalion a success, and our transportation was cut off for two days. This is a very profound lesson. We must learn from our mistakes and not fall on the same stone twice!"