Anti-Japanese War, weapons designer at Fengtian Arsenal

Li Weiguo ordered people to throw the corpses of the Japanese soldiers to a place where they were not in the sight, and he made the order to cook. The weather in the Northeast was extremely cold, and the soldiers' activities consumed a lot of energy. The soldiers had to eat 1.5 or even twice the usual amount of food.

Fortunately, the Punishment Army has modified a trailer specifically for cooking. The stove in the trailer is always burning, so they can cook whenever they stop.

One trailer can provide meals for more than 20 people at a time and can also boil hot water. There is a long queue beside the logistics trailers. The soldiers who come to get meals put a large spoonful of pork and potato paste into the lunch boxes. The soldiers must finish eating it immediately, otherwise it will soon freeze into ice lumps.

After eating, the soldiers have to rest. It is a problem to station a large army in winter. Anyone who has experienced the winter in Northeast China knows that temperatures of minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius are normal. If you cannot go indoors after dark, you might really freeze to death.

When Li Weiguo occupied this village, there were originally more than 200 households. Later, the Japanese came and the village was managed well. The kangs were still warm. The punitive army soldiers squeezed in and slept on the floor, and could accommodate 700 to 800 people. The rest of the people had to find other villages for resettlement.

Fortunately, in this era, villages are connected to each other. Villages are attached to the land. A village like this with one or two hundred young and strong people can cultivate one or two miles of land at most. You can find other villages one or two miles away by following the road.

After asking Cao Yongqiang, Li Weiguo pointed out four villages within five miles on the map. They were large and small, but they were sure to be able to accommodate the 3000 punitive troops.

These villages were occupied by the Japanese pioneer groups. The Japanese government is very ambitious. China has developed a village system for thousands of years, and the Japanese now want to replace it seamlessly.

Li Weiguo immediately sent people to liberate these villages and use the houses to stay overnight.

Li Weiguo sighed in his heart, no wonder they say soldiers are like bandits, they have to rely on civilians' houses just to spend the night. It can be said that every village is a resource point and settlement point in the eyes of soldiers. What can soldiers who are willing to risk their lives to walk into civilians' homes get?

Fortunately, the Japanese have now occupied the Northeast and have moved in with the pioneer group. The punitive army's combat operations have the attributes of combat in an enemy country. They can disregard their local reputation and plunder the supplies of the Japanese pioneer group's villages as supplies for the army, just like riding and hacking to burn other countries' villages to obtain supplies.

The second and third battalions of the punitive army were dispersed to control the distant villages. Half an hour later, fierce gunfire was heard. After it was completely dark, the radio station of Li Weiguo's command received a report that the second and third battalions had completed their deployment.

Li Weiguo and several staff officers walked out of the command center and began a night inspection. As they walked in the snow, they couldn't help but shrink their necks because it was too cold.

He came into the house and saw the soldiers inside wrapped in thick cold-proof clothes, some lying on the kang, or breaking up the table and making a bed on the floor next to the kang. Each of them was wrapped in a thick sleeping bag, snoring, and sleeping very peacefully.

Li Weiguo nodded with satisfaction and walked towards the secret sentry post at the edge of the village. The secret sentry post was an inflatable rubber tent that could accommodate three people and had a small heating stove.

When the tent is inflated, it looks like a thermos bottle. A small stove is buried underground with a sunshade. The smoke exhaust duct has many holes, similar to the design of a smokeless duct. After the tent is arranged, a light machine gun is mounted on it and the soldiers are asked to wear the thickest cold-proof clothing. It becomes a firepower outpost that can be on duty in the coldest areas.

Li Weiguo walked around all the duty posts, confirmed that all the inflatable tents were functioning properly, and then planned to go back. After a while, he felt his bones aching from the cold.

Several people rushed to the headquarters. Li Weiguo exhaled a breath of white air, looked up at the dark night with heavy snow, and suddenly thought of something. He asked the staff officer: "Do you think that the Japanese can run 30 miles to attack us in such a snowy night?"

Several staff officers shook their heads in unison, and one of them replied: "No matter how tough the Japanese are, they can't run a long distance in minus 20 degrees Celsius. They will freeze into ice sculptures on the way. This is an objective law that cannot be overcome by human will."

Li Weiguo agreed and asked, "What do you think of my punitive army? Can they fight on a snowy night like this?"

Another staff officer replied, "We can rely on the main body's portal. If we don't rely on the portal, we can unload the supplies from our trucks. There are stoves in the carriages, and the soldiers can spend the night in the carriages. We can then rush and fight."

Li Weiguo's eyes flashed with brilliance. He found a huge opportunity. The heavy snow turned the Japanese invaders in various places into isolated islands, and the Punishment Army was an elite force that could march in the snow. This was a huge opportunity!

The next day, before dawn, the sound of military whistles rang out throughout the village, and the disciplinary soldiers quickly got up, packed up, ate, and formed up.

While the infantry were busy with these tasks, the engineering bulldozer had already set off. Yesterday, the snow on the ground was only above the soles of the feet, but after one night, the snow was up to the knees, and a bulldozer had to be used to clear the way.

The motor soldiers and tank soldiers were also preparing to set off. They did not sleep well last night. In this weather, the gasoline in the car would freeze to death. They had to keep the car started all night and drive outside for a circle every half an hour. The tanks also had to turn the turret from time to time, otherwise they would freeze to death and be gone this morning.

At around eight o'clock in the morning, the second and third battalions joined the first battalion and quickly rushed towards Zhoujiatun, 30 miles away. Because there was a bulldozer leading the way in front, their movements were not slow.

Around 4 p.m., the warmest time of the day, the main force of the Punishment Army finally arrived at Zhoujiatun. Li Weiguo set up camp three miles away, sent out scouts to conduct reconnaissance, and then ordered tanks and infantry to deploy and prepare to launch an attack.

Half an hour later, the investigation results were sent back. Surprisingly, Zhoujiatun was now a huge construction site with nearly 10,000 people active there!

Li Weiguo felt something was wrong and immediately drove to the front line. He lay in the snow and observed Zhoujiatun through a telescope.

Zhoujiatun was originally a village with more than 300 households, but now it is like a town. Wooden houses of all sizes are built along the railway, and countless Japanese soldiers and pioneer militia are active there.

Li Weiguo saw a large building built on the railway, which should be a train station platform. There was also a large factory building with railways on the ground. It should be a garage for parking trains. He could also see a large crane.

"What are the devils doing?"

Li Weiguo was puzzled. Zhoujiatun was not a strategic location, so why did the Japanese want to build a large railway station here? Moreover, since the railway station was about to be completed, why did they rush to build it? What was the purpose?

Li Weiguo ordered the soldiers around him: "Go and catch a tongue and ask about the situation."