Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 90 Kong Erlengzi is still somewhat salvageable
386th Brigade Independent Regiment
"Old Ding, why are you taking so long?"

When Li Yunlong saw Ding Wei arrive, although he said that, he showed no negative emotions whatsoever.

Li Yunlong quickly pulled Ding Wei down to sit, pointing to the map in front of him: "Old Ding, you strategist, hurry up and give us your advice, what do you think of our plan?"

"Li Yunlong, I knew you'd call me over here in a panic, you must be up to something again," Ding Wei cursed as he sat down to look at the map in front of him.

Originally, Ding Wei thought the map would show a plan to clear the roads for the transport team, but he didn't expect that the target was a Japanese concentration camp.

Ding Wei couldn't help but look at Li Yunlong: "Li Yunlong, the brigade commander told us to prepare to clear the road for the transport team, why did you change the target again without authorization?"

"Old Ding, clear the road for the transport team. Once the Hell Cannon's shells arrive, these outposts and sentries are nothing to worry about." Li Yunlong curled his lip, indicating that if it weren't for the brigade commander's order, he wouldn't even bother with these small fry; they'd all be yours, Old Ding.

"Even so, you can't..." Ding Wei didn't finish his sentence.

Li Yunlong interrupted, "Do you want to recruit more soldiers?"

Replenishing troops?

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei immediately blurted out, "Isn't that obvious? After following you, Li Yunlong, in several battles for the county town, my New First Regiment now only has a little over six hundred soldiers capable of fighting."

Despite the significant gains achieved in these attacks on county towns, the troops also suffered considerable casualties.

Li Yunlong also said, "My Independent Regiment can barely muster about four hundred soldiers who are capable of fighting. Look, with your two regiments and mine combined, we can barely make up one regiment. The brigade commander gave us the main attack mission on the Zhengtai Railway, so our forces are still a bit small."

"So, you're thinking of getting reinforcements from the Japanese concentration camps?" Ding Wei's gaze fell on the map again.

The line that Li Yunlong left on the map is really well done.

The troops quietly took over the Japanese concentration camp, and on their way back, they swept away the outposts and sentry posts. Clearing the roads for the transport convoy was no problem at all.

They not only completed the tasks assigned by the brigade commander, but the troops could also take the opportunity to reinforce their ranks... No, this is not right!
Ding Wei immediately questioned Li Yunlong: "This concentration camp doesn't hold our people, it holds people from the Jin-Sui Army or our own faction. We rescued them, but they probably wouldn't want to join our Eighth Route Army, would they?"

Whether it's the Jin-Sui Army or the elite troops, they all look down on our Eighth Route Army.

Especially the elite troops, who were Chiang Kai-shek's elite forces, fed by the emperor and equipped with standard weapons.

They wouldn't even bat an eye at us Eighth Route Army soldiers.

“Yes, you’re right. The Jin-Sui Army and the elite troops do indeed look down on our Eighth Route Army. Even if we save them, they might not be willing to join us. But…” Li Yunlong paused here, then continued, “Have you heard of the elite 27th Division and the elite 72nd Division?”

“Of course I’ve heard about it.” Ding Wei nodded. “In the Battle of Xinkou, the Sakata Brigade managed to defeat two divisions, namely the 27th Division and the 72nd Division.”

"Wei Dayong, come here for a second," Li Yunlong shouted outside.

Wei Dayong hurriedly walked in: "Commander, you called me?"

"Tell Commander Ding which unit you originally belonged to?" Li Yunlong said to Wei Dayong.

Wei Dayong replied to Ding Wei, "Commander Ding, I used to be from the 72nd Division, a direct subordinate unit."

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei asked with suspicion, "Then why did you choose to join the Eighth Route Army?"

"Because the regimental commander routed the Sakata Regiment in the Battle of Cangyunling, even killing the regimental commander himself," Wei Dayong said admiringly. "I heard about it when I was in the concentration camp. Many people were talking about it, saying that if they had the chance to get out, they would definitely follow Regimental Commander Li to fight the Japanese." "Hahaha," Li Yunlong laughed, turning to Ding Wei: "Old Ding, most of the prisoners of war in that concentration camp were from the 72nd and 27th Divisions, so you understand now, right?"

"Old Li, that was a really clever move of yours," Ding Wei said, full of admiration.

If we replenish the troops using the old methods, then we can only rely on the logistics department to recruit new soldiers, or select them from the militia of district squads and county brigades.

Needless to say, logistics are needed to replenish new recruits. New recruits need to be trained, and after training, they still have to fight on the battlefield. The time required for integration is too long.

As for selecting soldiers from the militia of district squads and county brigades, that's not really appropriate either.

Because the Independent Regiment and the New First Regiment were the backbone regiments, the best soldiers in the district squads and county brigades were given priority to be selected by the main force regiments with established positions, and only the backbone regiments could get the remaining soldiers.

In other words, even if we select the remaining soldiers from the main force regiment, we still need to train them and get them used to battlefield conditions, which will take time.

If we could directly recruit veterans from the battlefield, that would be a shortcut!

The defeat of the 27th and 72nd Divisions of the elite forces at the Battle of Xinkou by the Sakata Regiment, and Li Yunlong's crushing victory over the Sakata Regiment at Cangyun Ridge, naturally had a significant impact on the prisoners of war of the 27th and 72nd Divisions.

If Li Yunlong really went to rescue them, and with a few words of persuasion... cough cough, a few words of stirring up trouble, these prisoners of war might actually become our soldiers.

Once deployed to the battlefield, it can be used immediately.

"That's right, if we don't do something special, are we really going to pick out what Cheng the Blind Man and his gang left over? I can't afford to lose face like that." Li Yunlong said boastfully, then looked at Wei Dayong: "Wei Dayong, tell Ding Wei, how many people are still in that concentration camp?"

“When I was transferred from the concentration camp to the training camp, there were still more than a thousand people there,” Wei Dayong replied.

Wei Dayong and a group of prisoners of war were selected and taken from the concentration camp to Yamamoto Ichiki's special agent training camp. Wei Dayong was an escapee from the training camp.

"My goodness, over a thousand people." Ding Wei's eyes lit up. "Old Li, no doubt about it, we can definitely pull this off."

With the addition of over a thousand people, the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment were now at full strength.

When we attack the Zhengtai Railway again, we will have sufficient troops and a greater chance of success.

"Haha." Li Yunlong laughed heartily, "Old Ding, you damn strategist really know my style, making decisions without hesitation. Once the cannonballs for this hell cannon arrive, we'll start fighting right away..."

Before Li Yunlong could finish speaking, someone ran up to report: "Reporting, Commander, Commander Kong of the New Second Regiment has arrived."

Is Kong Jie here?

Both Li Yunlong and Ding Wei found it very strange.

Li Yunlong asked curiously, "Wasn't this Kong Erlengzi determined to be a coal miner? How did he manage to get out?"

"Could it be that Old Kong knows you really gave me that hell cannon from the brigade commander, so he's not focused on mining coal anymore?" Ding Wei asked suspiciously.

"Hahaha." Li Yunlong laughed. "If that's really the case, then this simpleton might still be salvageable. Let's go take a look."

(End of this chapter)