Bright Sword: Follow Kong's fun and build the strongest military industry

Sure enough, by the evening, the enemy's First Army Commander Yoshio Shinozuka received battle reports from various places, indicating that a large number of their strongholds had suffered large-scale attacks by the Eighth Route Army.

As a last resort, he found Yamamoto Kazuki to discuss countermeasures.

The intelligence chief of the First Army reported today's losses to the two people present:

"Today, large-scale battles broke out in all areas under the jurisdiction of our First Army. So far, we have lost more than 720 artillery towers, including 103 medium-sized strongholds with more than three artillery towers. The rest are all small strongholds with one artillery tower, and all of them are strongholds close to the Eighth Route Army base."

"As for the number of casualties, we haven't yet fully calculated them, but at least we lost more than 4,000 garrison soldiers and more than 6,000 Imperial Army soldiers."

"The losses in weapons and ammunition were even more severe. According to the Eighth Route Army's combat habits, once we take back the artillery towers they destroyed, I guess they won't even leave us the red bricks."

I have to say that the Japanese's intelligence in this regard was extremely accurate. When the people in our base heard that the main force had destroyed a large number of the Japanese's artillery towers, all the young and middle-aged men went out to help the large force carry things.

Over the years, everyone has had enough of the humiliation of the Japanese artillery towers. When the enemy was at its most exaggerated, they built a artillery tower every few villages. Many people went out happily during the day, but came back as corpses at night.

Many times, if we did not follow the route set by the enemy, we would be shot and killed for no reason by the Japanese. Because the enemies were hiding in the sturdy artillery towers, we could do nothing to them.

Even later, the Japanese artillery towers have evolved into road signs. For example, if an outsider asks for directions, the locals will answer like this:

"Go along this road for about two miles. You will see the Japanese artillery tower at Lijiadian. Then turn left and walk about three miles. When you come across the Japanese stronghold at Xiejialing, walk another three miles forward and you will arrive."

Thinking about it now is a great sadness, but this is the current reality. If you are not as strong as others and fall behind, you will be beaten. This is an eternal truth.

Now, all the artillery towers in a large area around have been captured by the main force of the Eighth Route Army, which immediately caused a commotion in the surrounding area.

Our troops were also quite generous. We gave some food to everyone who came to help, about two kilograms per person per day. In addition, many things that were difficult to transport were also given to the enthusiastic people who came to help, such as pots, pans, some soy sauce, firewood, etc., which are also things that ordinary people need in their daily lives.

It was okay at the beginning, as we were basically responsible for carrying some valuable things to the main force. But after the main force withdrew, there were still many tables, chairs and benches in the Japanese artillery tower, including the gate and stairs, which were made of good wood. Even the red bricks used to build the artillery tower were good things and could be used to build houses after being transported home.

What happened next was interesting. Under the leadership of the village heads, all the men, women, young and old in the village went out together. Those who had carts used them, and those who didn't had them carried the things in backpacks, shoulder poles, or wheelbarrows. Even some little kids as young as twelve or thirteen carried two red bricks and rushed home.

The elderly who are too old to do heavy work also went to the artillery tower to cheer and encourage their young people.

Of course, everyone reached a tacit understanding that the artillery tower belongs to the village to which it belongs, and no one else can cross the border to take things.

This also led to the Japanese being scolded again. In the past, it was the enemy who built artillery towers in their own villages and was scolded by the people. Now it was the turn of the people in those villages who did not have artillery towers to be scolded.

The bricks, tiles and wood transported back from the artillery tower were basically used by each family to build ancestral halls, which was a symbol of honor.

As the saying goes: "The most important affairs of state are sacrifice and war."

The Chinese are most particular about this: "When the king's army conquers the Central Plains in the north, do not forget to inform your father during the family sacrifice."

Now our troops have won such a great victory, sweeping away all the surrounding artillery towers and destroying countless enemies. This is a very important event, and everyone has participated in it. We must tell our ancestors that our unworthy descendants have not brought shame to them.

On the day when the ancestral hall was repaired, all the clan members gathered in the hall under the leadership of the family heads. They stood on the red bricks brought back from the Japanese artillery tower. The offerings on the table were broken helmets, broken command swords of the enemy, bloody fragments of military uniforms and some shoulder straps of the enemy's military ranks.

For the ancestors of each family and the sages of China, this is the best sacrifice. I think the ancestors must feel very gratified after receiving it.

Only at this moment did the morale of the people in the base area reach its peak. Countless Chinese heroic sons and daughters walked out of their homes and joined the army to fight against the enemy's invasion and defend their country.

But these are all later stories, let’s leave it at that for now and return to Yoshio Shinozuka.

When this old Japanese heard that his First Army had lost an entire regiment of troops in one day, he was immediately heartbroken. As for the more than 6,000 Imperial Army, he basically ignored them.

After all, they are just cannon fodder. If they are lost, you can just recruit them from other places. They are just consumables anyway.

So he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Ono, why are our losses so heavy? And haven't we already formulated relevant measures? Once the base is attacked, there will be a corresponding mobile force to go to the scene to provide support."

"This set of tactics has been implemented for more than a year, and the results have been very good. How come such a big mistake happened this time?"

"Commander, our losses are not limited to this. In fact, when the battle for the stronghold began, we sent a large number of reinforcements, but the Eighth Route Army seemed to have been prepared for this."

"Most of our reinforcements were ambushed by the superior forces of the Eighth Route Army on the way. The enemy had plenty of ammunition and was equipped with a lot of mortars, which completely suppressed our grenade launchers."

"And from the intelligence of the front-line troops, we learned that the Eighth Route Army troops were also equipped with a lot of grenade launchers and corresponding grenades. Our soldiers didn't pay attention when they first came into contact, and lost a lot of light and heavy machine guns."

"So far, the troops that went to support have suffered about 3,000 casualties, and have now all withdrawn to the county town with strong fortifications."

Upon hearing that another regiment had been lost, Yoshio Shinozuka was on the verge of being exposed. His First Army had only more than 100,000 people, but was defending a large area. The already stretched manpower made it even more difficult now.

The Japanese First Army had already been badly damaged in the previous battle with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and was still in the stage of replenishment and rest. Now it had suffered another heavy blow and was seeing stars.