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The Battle of Majiazhai was the longest, most geographically extensive, and most heavily-trooped battle for the 176th Division since it left Kang.

The number of troops directly participating in the war exceeded 5, the number of indirect participants and temporarily conscripted men reached 8, with a total number of more than 13.

Six county towns were directly affected by the war, and more than 6 towns were indirectly affected.

From the beginning of the first Majiazhai battle on November 11 to the end of the second one, it took more than 12 days. The main fighting time was actually only a few days. Some days were used to rescue Zhu Zhaolan's tank platoon, and some days were spent by Xu Le waiting!

He was waiting for the signal from Commander Yan and Commander Wei, which was a key signal that depended on the attitudes of both sides in the future!

Just as the troops entered the counties to restore law and order and celebrate the victory, Xu Le and Jiang Feng remained silent in the office for a long time!

Jiang Feng is an old smoker. He is fine on weekdays, but when he encounters something troublesome, he smokes one cigarette after another.

At this moment, the ashtray in front of him was full of cigarette butts, and some of the cigarettes could not fit in and had fallen onto the table.

But Jiang Feng ignored it and continued smoking.

Sometimes he takes a deep puff, and sometimes he doesn't smoke for a long time, letting the cigarette burn out on its own.

Jiang Feng looked at the ashtray with no place to put the cigarette butt, so he simply threw the cigarette in his hand on the ground, then lit another one, then looked at Xu Le and said:

"Young Marshal, although we have won the war, our situation has become worse!"

Xu Le also liked smoking in his previous life. He couldn't control the urge to smoke when it came. He just traveled through time and space and inherited this body. The original owner didn't smoke, so he didn't have the urge to smoke.

Until now, he has never smoked a cigarette.

He sighed and said, "Yes! I am not afraid of how many troops the devils have, or how strong their firepower is, I am just afraid of a fire in my own backyard! That's why the Political Department was established, just to reorganize the troops and make them united!

I just didn't expect that the hearts of our Tang army were not together, and they were still scheming against each other. I can't do anything about it!"

Xu Le knew that the Tang Dynasty before him was not the Tang Dynasty of his previous life, but there were many similarities.

His knowledge is unmatched by anyone else in this world. He knows so much, and some things are evolving just as he remembers.

He looked up at Jiang Feng. The other party was also worried sick and seemed to have aged a little in the past few days!

At that time, Xu Xiao led the main force of the Xu family army out of Kang to fight the enemy, and handed over everything in the Acropolis to Jiang Feng.

It is no exaggeration to say that Jiang Feng is the regent minister!

It can even be said that Jiang Feng cares more about the fate of the 176th Division than Xu Le!

"Young Marshal, you should not have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others! Shouldn't we make long-term plans for the future? At least we have to ensure that our rear area is safe and sound!"

Xu Le shook his head: "Our troops have achieved full motorization, but are still a little short of complete mechanization! Even so, we already have a huge advantage over the Japs, and our combat efficiency has greatly increased!

For this reason, I was afraid that Commander Wei and Commander Yan would not have enough time to deploy, so I took the risk of delaying the battle just to give them a chance to choose!

I thought we were all from the same Tang army and we knew each other, but I didn’t expect this to be the outcome!”

Jiang Feng: "Young Marshal, after this battle, our troop structure and firepower have been completely exposed! Especially the artillery and armored regiments. We don't have to worry about others coveting our equipment at this time, and the Military Commission will definitely expand us. The number of the 88th Army will be issued soon!

But this is what I am worried about. We are the independent 176th Division and we can make our own decisions on all actions!

But I am afraid that the Military Commission will take the opportunity of expansion to cancel our independent organization. Then, we will have to obey the orders of the Military Commission!

Moreover, since the traffic in southwestern Shanxi was opened up last time to welcome the new recruits, the Military Commission can also extend its hand!

I am afraid that our actions will be constrained in the future!"

Xu Le waved his hand and said, "Don't worry too much about this. Regardless of whether it is expanded or not, our 176th Division is a local army after all and has certain autonomy. This was the agreement reached when the National Guard reorganized all local troops. Otherwise, no one would be willing to hand over the power they have worked so hard to cultivate.

If Commander Jiang dares to interfere too much in my affairs, not only will I not agree, the other local troops will not agree either, because this loophole cannot be opened. If I am the first one to fall, they will not be far behind!

As for the independent number, even if it is gone, the Military Commission will at most classify us as a war zone! From the perspective of our jurisdiction, it is nothing more than Commander Yan's Second War Zone and Commander Wei's First War Zone!

I have no fear of these two people, they dare not touch me!"

Xu Le did not dare to say the rest. With the 176th Division now having a strength of over 2 and the firepower of 20 divisions, he was not afraid of anyone making trouble. At worst, he could just rise up in rebellion. Sooner or later, he would have to go down that path anyway!

What he was worried about was that the foreign enemies had not retreated and the Tang Dynasty was in chaos again!

In the previous life, 300 million soldiers were killed or injured because of this!

They were all good men of the Tang Dynasty, but they aimed their guns at each other and fell at the hands of their own compatriots!

Xu Le doesn't want to interfere too much in the future development of the Tang Dynasty. He just wants to be an outsider and fight against the criminals who invade the Tang Dynasty!

With another sigh, Xu Le said softly: "Forget it, there is no point in thinking too much. I need to think carefully about the specific development. Take this opportunity to spread the intelligence department's network. We need to control all the information of Jin Province."

Until this moment, Xu Le was still unwilling to give up Commander Wei and Commander Yan. After all, these were not the two people in his previous life. He hoped that the ending of this life would be different!

Jiang Feng also understood Xu Le’s meaning and just nodded to confirm!

"Most of the people from the Political Department were sent out to carry out anti-Japanese propaganda in various towns, and the people from the General Staff Department were also recruiting soldiers in various places. In addition to the necessary defense work, most of the garrison troops in various places also participated in post-war reconstruction~!

The Military Transportation Department of the Logistics Department is also actively recruiting able-bodied men to repair and rebuild the main transportation routes. As long as these roads are repaired, our vehicles will be able to travel much faster and our mobility will be greatly enhanced!"

In fact, when the armored regiment was attacking with all its might, many of the enemy's firepower points had been deserted, and most of the tanks spent most of their time clearing roads.

If the other generals of the Tang Dynasty army saw Xu Le using tanks as road-building vehicles, they would definitely say that he was a prodigal. Such a good thing should be held in the palm of your hand, how could you use it to constantly crash into rocks and trees!

What if it gets damaged?

Xu Le nodded: "Well, the original road has been repaired once by the devils. Except for some special sections, our troops are still quite passable. But we still have to repair it. Even if it's not for ourselves, it can be regarded as a gift to the Tang Dynasty!

By the way, how are the prisoners of war dealt with?"

Jiang Feng: "They have been detained in Yan County for the past few days. In this battle, more than 2300 devils were captured and are under the custody of Guo Tietie's 664th Regiment!"

Xu Le: "In this way, we can directly build a prisoner-of-war camp near Majiazhai and let them be responsible for the mining of iron ore! Guo Di Tie has the most contact with the devils, and he knows some Japanese, so he will be in charge of the management temporarily!"

These prisoners all surrendered voluntarily during the battle. Xu Le once stipulated that even if they were Japanese soldiers, they would not be killed as long as they surrendered voluntarily!

Moreover, the soldiers who captured the Japanese also received corresponding military merits according to their military ranks, which were even higher than those who killed them!

In the past, Xu Le wanted to kill the officers himself after bringing back the captives, but since the policy of equal treatment was implemented, these tasks were done by the guards.

Now he didn't want to kill the Japanese soldiers anymore, because he understood a truth: living a life worse than death is more torturous than dying easily.

So he wanted to keep these Japanese prisoners as labor, as the construction sites were short of manpower, so they could be put to good use!

Don't be too cruel. You have to give people a piece of clothing to keep them warm in the middle of winter. After all, it's November, and the temperature is only a few degrees during the day and several degrees below zero at night!

We can't let them starve, otherwise how can they work? At least we have to make sure two people have steamed buns every day, it doesn't matter whether they are cold or hot!

You can't overexploit people either. Work 18 hours a day and leave 6 hours for sleep. Only with a good sleep can you have the energy to work!