Spy Wars: I have space, but I choose to work alone

The more he looked, the uglier Ma Liang's expression became.

No wonder the Lawu Town, which was originally defended by two divisions, could not even hold out for a day when facing the attack of an isolated Japanese division deep in the territory.

The defense of Li Longting's new 28th Division was quite decent. At least the positions had been repaired and the infantry were all on the positions.

The only drawback is that the defense line is too scattered. An infantry division of 8,000 people is forcibly divided into hundreds of different positions, with the intention of ensuring that every inch of Lawu Town is not lost. The troops and firepower are extremely dispersed. Once attacked by the Japanese army, each position will be trapped in the desperate situation of fighting on its own.

However, compared with the defense work of the new 29th Division, this can be regarded as a perfect operation!

Because there are two infantry divisions, the New 29th Division and the New 28th Division, with more than people, plus Lawu Town as the logistics supply base of the expeditionary force. All the units fighting on the front line have left behind rear personnel and logistics agencies such as field hospitals, with a total number of at least several thousand people.

However, the new 29th Division, which is the main defending division, now has only two battalions of troops in Lawu Town, and the vast majority of the rest of the troops are still within the country and have not crossed the border.

Only then did Ma Liang confirm that the information that later generations had read, whose authenticity was unknown, was actually true.

It turned out that most of the troops of the new 29th Division were not on the front line, so when the Japanese army attacked Lawu Town, they had to adopt the tactic of adding fuel to the fire. They attacked in batches, but were defeated one by one by the Japanese army. The defeated troops following the two division commanders almost broke through the border.

The two divisions suffered so many casualties that the new 29th Division was directly disbanded by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs after the war.

Looking at this extremely poor defense, Ma Liang suppressed his anger and led his men back to the command room.

Looking at the officers who were used to a life of luxury as senior officers, and who were in such a miserable state when they were led by him to climb up to so many positions to observe in person, he saw them.

Li Longting and his men were all experienced people who had been in the officialdom for many years. They could see that Ma Liang was dissatisfied. When they thought that Ma Liang would be furious, he unexpectedly said:

"Our expeditionary force has inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese army on many occasions on the battlefield, winning numerous honors for our country in the world and greatly enhancing the prestige of our army."

"In order to maximize this rare opportunity to expand our country's international status, our superiors have spent huge resources to organize a large group of reporters to interview our heroic expeditionary force and showcase the heroic spirit of our expeditionary warriors."

"But considering that the expeditionary force is currently confronting the Japanese army on the front line, and there are many special forces of the Japanese army, in order to ensure the safety of the foreign friends of the press group, the higher-ups decided to let a certain unit of the expeditionary force on the second line accept the interview. After much effort and at a great cost, the headquarters finally gave us this job."

"As a result, look at this position. Is it suitable for public viewing, especially in front of foreign friends who have seen big scenes? Isn't this a disgrace to our expeditionary force?"

"The American allies also specially approved a batch of US dollar cash rewards for the expeditionary forces who accepted the interviews, 20 US dollars per person, regardless of whether they were officers or soldiers, in recognition of our rescue of their expatriates on the battlefield." (The expeditionary forces rescued 7000 British troops, including a large number of foreign journalists, missionaries, expatriates, etc., of course, it is unclear how many of them were intelligence personnel)

Ma Liang's words made all the senior officers present lower their heads. This broken position was really not presentable.

However, when officers and soldiers heard Ma Liang's words about the $20 cash reward, almost everyone's eyes lit up.

US dollars!

Hard currency!

The senior officers looked at each other and their eyes immediately lit up. Li Longting, as a representative, was even more outspoken:

"Sixth Brother, is this true? Twenty dollars per person?"

"Ah!"

"You're being petty, aren't you? Twenty dollars per person is a lot of money for us, but for the American allies, it's just a drop in the bucket. New recruits get 50 dollars a month, so this amount of money is nothing!"

"But I warn you in advance, don't play tricks in front of foreign allies. You should get more money based on how many people and soldiers you have. Otherwise, if you lose face in front of your allies, no one will be able to protect you."

After hearing what Ma Liang said, everyone believed it.

"Sixth brother, you are the only one among our group who has received foreign education. How to deal with the foreign journalists still depends on you to take charge. We will all listen to your orders." Li Longting naturally followed Ma Liang's lead.

Ma Liang nodded with satisfaction and waved to Liu Gongfeng who was standing beside him.

Liu Gongfeng immediately took out the defense map from the briefcase he was carrying and placed it respectfully on the table.

This was the defense map that Ma Liang had prepared early on for this operation.

Senior military officers have all attended military academies and can at least understand maps.

This map abandoned some unimportant points outside Lawu Town and concentrated the defense focus on the key high ground around the warehouses containing strategic materials in Lawu Town, as well as transportation hubs. Even some small warehouses were abandoned.

Looking at the symbols on the defense map, they all gasped. The densely packed semi-buried reinforced concrete bunkers, the three functional scientific lines staggered on the positions, and the high-level defense positions built with wooden stakes as thick as bowls were all under the cover.

In front of the position, there are densely packed reinforced concrete anti-tank triangles and steel-built anti-tank cones.

Anti-tank triangle

Steel

After reading Ma Liang's defense map, all the senior officers present opened their mouths wide and dared not speak.

After a while, Li Longting smiled bitterly and said:

"Sixth brother, I admit that your defense map is truly magnificent and will definitely greatly enhance the prestige of our expeditionary army. However, our military budget is limited and we cannot afford to build such a high-level defense position."

Yes, it’s not that the Kuomintang generals couldn’t think of this kind of high-level defense method, but that the country’s weak national strength couldn’t do it. They could only build relatively simple, cost-saving, but not life-saving civil engineering works to fight the Japanese.

But! This refers to other battlefields, but in Lawu Town, the conditions are different.

Ma Liang chuckled and pointed to the densely packed semi-underground warehouses on the map and said to everyone:

"Who said that? If it were anywhere else, it would be true, but this is Lawu Town! Tens of thousands of tons of strategic materials are concentrated here, including steel, cement, and imported machine guns and artillery. They are enough to equip hundreds of thousands of people. What does it matter if we just build a few small positions?"

"The materials stored in Lawu Town are all strategic materials. Any troops that dare to use them without authorization will be brought to court-martial unless ordered by the Ministry of Military Affairs!"

When Li Longting heard that Ma Liang was going to move the strategic materials, he immediately tried to dissuade him. This was no small matter and could lead to a huge uproar.

Ma Liang sighed and cursed:

"You are so stubborn! We are using these materials for the defense of Lawu Town, to entertain foreign friends and to show the might of our expeditionary army. I am not using these materials for personal use. They are all used for legitimate purposes. How can this happen? After the mission is over, the weapons, equipment and other materials must be returned!"