Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

Xiangyang County.

The Japanese gendarmerie.

After Ono Jiro withdrew his troops and returned to the county town, he immediately called the headquarters far away in Taiyuan. He knew that he had to give a reasonable reason, otherwise the consequences would be serious for him.

The phone was connected, and the next second, a hoarse yet somewhat majestic voice came: "Ono-kun, regarding the failure of this operation, I think you should give me a reasonable explanation."

There was no obvious dissatisfaction in his words, but from his tone, Ono could sense the commander's suppressed anger and hurriedly explained, "Commander, I believe this operation was a clear success. The rebel forces surrounding the county have been fully suppressed by our troops. Through this operation, the stability of the area surrounding the county has been further consolidated."

On the other end of the line, Commander Yoshio Shinozuka of the Japanese Taiyuan Headquarters' tone darkened again as he demanded, "Then how do you explain the failure of your joint attack on the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army with the Inoue Regiment?"

"Commander, I..."

"Shut up!"

Shinozuka Yoshio could no longer suppress his inner rage and shouted, "Do you know that because of your defeat in this war, resistance has surged in various stable regions? Because of your failure, the entire Imperial Legion has been disgraced!"

"Give me an explanation as to why you launched a large-scale attack on the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's base?"

Jiro Ono was suddenly speechless and didn't know how to answer.

At the beginning, his purpose was only to encircle and suppress the possible main forces of the Eighth Route Army, and he had no idea of what would happen later.

Shinozuka Yoshio's voice rang out again, this time no longer a question, but a direct insult: "Do you have a pig's brain? Or were the orders I gave not clear enough?"

"Your orders are very clear."

Ono Jiro said, suppressing the humiliation in his heart: "Commander, I have no explanation for this failure. I just hope you will listen to my reasons before making a final decision."

Shinozuka Yoshio spoke calmly, as if he had given up on Ono, and said, "Go ahead."

This calm and concise answer made Ono feel uneasy, but he could only hope that after his explanation, the commander would understand him. "In the early stages of the operation, I was acting according to the plan until a small team I sent out lost contact, completely disrupting the plan."

"I later sent another detachment to search for them, but the intelligence they sent back was that both detachments of Imperial warriors had been annihilated. The entire battle lasted no more than fifteen minutes. I had reason to suspect it was the main force of the Eighth Route Army, so I changed my plan and joined forces with Inoue-kun's unit to encircle and eliminate any remaining Eighth Route Army main force."

Having said this, Ono stopped talking. What happened afterwards had already been reported to the headquarters, and saying more would only cause him more trouble.

On the other end of the phone, Yoshio Shinozuka remained silent for a long time after listening.

A few breaths later, Shinozuka Yoshio's voice came through the phone again: "The possible existence of the main force of the Eighth Route Army? Ono-kun, what are you thinking? The last large-scale mopping-up operation was very effective. The main force of the Eighth Route Army hid in the mountains. How could you possibly encounter them again?"

"This is not a reason for you to wage war against the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army!"

Without waiting for Ono to speak, Shinozuka Yoshio continued, "You must resolve the misunderstanding with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army yourself. On the East China battlefield, we're currently negotiating with some of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. I don't want this misunderstanding to lead to the failure of the entire plan. Also, if you want to maintain your position in the county, you'd better be firm in your reasons."

How could Ono Jiro not react to such an obvious hint? He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Hey! Thank you for your understanding, Commander!"

Immediately afterwards, Shinozuka Yoshio gave him an order: "Regardless of whether the main force of the Eighth Route Army you are pursuing exists or not, they have already affected us. You must continue this pursuit. You must resolve the misunderstanding with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army as quickly as possible and eliminate the Eighth Route Army troops that caused the imperial warriors to die!"

"Hi!"

The moment the phone was hung up and Ono put down the receiver, his heart finally settled down in his stomach.

After a lull in the situation, Ono Jiro called over a few intelligence officers and issued an order: "Your department must find the main force of the Eighth Route Army we are pursuing as quickly as possible. In addition, a reward is being offered to all the towns and villages surrounding the county. Anyone who can provide clues to the Eighth Route Army will be generously rewarded!"

"Hi!"

Several Japanese soldiers left the room and hurried back to make plans and deployments, fearing that they would be blamed by the regiment commander if they were slow.

Then, he called several majors under his command to discuss another order given to him by the commander, which was how to deal with the conflict with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

After a long chatter, Ono finally came up with a plan: "Mobilize the county maintenance association to speed up the plan to incorporate Qian Bojun's troops of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Have the people in the maintenance association tell him that I will meet with him in person in a few days to discuss the details."

…………

After a period of familiarity, Lin Qiang had a more detailed understanding of Heiyun Village and no longer worried about being surrounded by the Japanese and trapped to death in the mountains.

In addition to the main road in front, there is also a small path in the back mountain that can go around and down the mountain, which is also the route Xie Baoqing used to escape.

Now that the worries have been resolved, the next step is to consider the issue of sustainable development.

There is no shortage of food at the moment. The only good thing the bandits in Heiyun Village did was to stockpile a large amount of food for the first row.

A large number of potatoes and sweet potatoes are stored in several cellars.

In addition, several bosses had a lot of silver dollars and jewelry, which could be pawned to buy a lot of food.

Just when Lin Qiang was thinking about what else he had not considered, Zhao Dezhu, who was in charge of logistics, knocked on the door and walked in with a worried look on his face.

Seeing this, Lin Qiang asked, "Zhu Zi, why do you look like you've eaten a dead fly?"

"Platoon leader, I have something very important to report to you."

At Lin Qiang's signal, Zhao Dezhu sat down on a stool, placed his hands on the table, and said, "Platoon Leader, we have enough food and other things now. The only thing we lack is winter clothes."

Lin Qiang slapped himself on the forehead. Oops! How could I have forgotten such an important thing?

Defensive deployment, retreat routes, etc. were all taken into consideration, but the only thing not considered was winter supplies.

The winter in the north is freezing. If the soldiers only wear thin clothes during the winter, let alone fighting, they probably won't even want to get out of bed.

Of course, once a war breaks out, the soldiers will definitely not be afraid of the severe cold. Even if the wind is biting, they will pick up their guns without hesitation and join the battle.

But Lin Qiang doesn't want this to happen, nor will he let it happen.

After thinking for a moment, he asked Zhao Dezhu, "What about the village? Is there no extra cotton?"

"No."

Zhao Dezhu shook his head and said, "I've brought everyone to search everywhere and gathered everything we could find, but even so, it's not enough to make winter clothes for half of the people."

This problem seemed to be an insurmountable wall, and Lin Qiang couldn't find the best solution for a while.

The team is in the stage of independent development, and even if we return to the regiment headquarters, there may not be extra cotton clothes.

Instead of pinning our hopes on the regiment headquarters, we should find a way to seize it from the devils.

Lin Qiang patted Zhao Dezhu on the shoulder and said, "Whatever we need, we can get it from the devils. If there is really no other way, we can always buy it with money."

It's easy to say, but it's not that easy to sell.

There is no need to say much about supplies such as medicines, guns and ammunition. The Japanese have always strictly controlled supplies such as food and cotton.

Under the eyes of the Japanese, no one dared to risk their life to purchase these supplies in large quantities.

"Go, call Hu Zi and the others."

After hearing Lin Qiang's words, Zhao Dezhu got up and left the house without asking why.

After a while, four people walked into the room at the same time. Qiangzi was the first to ask, "Platoon Leader, did you call us here for a mission?"

Lin Qiang nodded and said, "The next direction for the team to develop is to expand its forces. This task will be completed by the two of you, Qiangzi and Huzi."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Lin Qiang looked at Zhang Yuntian again and said, "You are definitely more familiar with this area than we are. I need you to find out the details of the Japanese supply transport team. When do they come? What are they transporting? How many troops are there to escort them? What are their weapons and equipment? You need to find out everything."

Zhang Yuntian stood at attention and saluted, saying, "I guarantee to complete the mission!"

"Remember, safety first."