Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

[Many timelines and place names will be modified, parallel time and space]

October 20, 1937, Changshengkou near Jingxing Coal Mine, Shanxi.

"Old Wang, look, this ancient road leading to the flank of Niangzi Pass is narrow, but the Japanese troops will definitely make a detour and attack the Nationalist troops stationed at Niangzi Pass from here. How about we make a good start?"

Wang Zhuo, Chief of Staff of the 389th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, accompanied Brigade Commander Zeng Jiwen to inspect the terrain of Changshengkou. Zeng Jiwen looked at the long and narrow ancient road and said.

"Well, I think it's possible. The terrain here is narrow. The fighting is fierce at Niangzi Pass right now. The Japanese army has been unable to capture it for a long time. If they go straight to Niangzi Pass from here, the situation of the national army over there will be very dangerous!" Wang Zhuo put down the telescope in his hand and said to Zeng Jiwen.

"Well, it is true, but due to the terrain restrictions, according to the intelligence received, the Japanese army is preparing to dispatch a battalion of troops to attack Walnut Garden from here, preparing to attack from both sides with the Japanese army at Jiuguanguan. Under normal circumstances, they dare not ambush, but now it is dark under the lamp. The main force of the Japanese 20th Division is mostly concentrated on the Niangziguan front. There is only one Japanese regiment stationed in Jingxing. The Japanese reinforcements have not arrived yet. The terrain here is narrow, and at most one battalion can pass through at a time. Moreover, it is impossible for the Japanese army to reinforce two battalions at a time. Otherwise, the rear will be cut off, which will be a big problem." Zeng Jiwen said with a smile.

At this time, the battle of Niangzi Pass was in full swing. Under normal circumstances, even if a Japanese squadron had nearly 200 people, the Chinese army would have to deploy at least a regiment to defeat it. If there was a battalion of devils, it would take at least a division to surround and defeat them, and it would not be a complete annihilation.

But the situation is different for Zeng Jiwen at this time.

As the 389th Brigade directly under the Eighth Route Army, it has three main combat regiments under its jurisdiction, namely 781, 782, and 783. All of them are large-scale main combat regiments with a total number of more than 7000 people. Including the engineering battalion, artillery battalion, logistics battalion, and reconnaissance battalion directly under the brigade, the number of people has exceeded nearly 10,000.

It is said to be a brigade, but its strength is comparable to that of a division of the National Army, and it is definitely a Type A combat brigade.

Normally this situation should not exist, but Zeng Jiwen is not an ordinary person.

As a native of Shaoshan, Hunan in 1910.

He was specially approved to enter the first class of Whampoa Military Academy at the age of 14, and participated in the Northern Expedition at the age of 16. He was brave and courageous, and led the team to save someone more than once. Later, he was sent to study at the Berlin Military School. After that incident, he transferred to the Frunze Military Academy and then returned to China.

Relying on his outstanding military achievements, he saved many people and eventually made it to the north with most of his family members.

Therefore, the 389th Brigade, which did not exist originally, came into being and was directly under the General Headquarters.

When the man from Jinling learned that Zeng Jiwen was to be the commander of the 389th Brigade, he made an unprecedented move and gave him a Type A brigade organization. I don't know how many people in the Ministry of National Defense were blinded by this. They all wondered in their hearts when did the old man become so generous.

But who is Zeng Jiwen? As the commander-in-chief of China's space fleet in the 23rd century, he encountered a small-mass black hole while exploring the radiation belt outside the solar system.

So when Zeng Jiwen woke up, he was already a two or three-year-old child.

When Zeng Jiwen figured out the surrounding situation, he found himself traveling to a parallel time and space when China was still in the Begonia era, during the chaos of the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

As the commander of the Chinese space fleet in the 23rd century, Zeng Jiwen naturally knew all of this, and he also understood that he had encountered a time-travel situation that was commonly seen in 21st century online novels and described in historical culture.

However, after learning about it, Zeng Jiwen decided to contribute his own strength in this new time and space. Hence, the legendary experience mentioned above.

Zeng Jiwen and Chief of Staff Wang Zhuo and his entourage hurried back to the temporary brigade headquarters.

Brigade Headquarters.

At this time, the only troops concentrated around the brigade headquarters were the reconnaissance battalion and guard battalion directly under the brigade headquarters. Other large troops were concentrated in the direction of Ceyu Town, southeast of Xinjiuguan, and scattered in the nearby mountainous areas to prevent being detected by the Japanese army.

"Old Zhou, this is the current situation." Zeng Jiwen told the political commissar Zhou Shi about the situation in Changshengkou.

"Old Zeng, isn't it a bit risky to ambush a field battalion of Japanese troops?" Zhou Xi looked at the map with a worried look on his face.

"If it's a squadron, then there's no problem. But if it's a field battalion of the Japanese, can our 389th Brigade handle it?" Zhou Xi was worried.

Although the 389th Brigade is a standard Type A combat brigade, they are well aware of its basic conditions. Although each person has a gun, the number of heavy weapons and artillery is too small.

On average, each person had only ten rounds of ammunition. A company had only three light machine guns, and a battalion had only three heavy machine guns. The brigade had nearly 10,000 people, but there were many light machine guns, more than 100, and only more than 40 heavy machine guns. There were two mortars in each regiment, and the artillery battalion's mortars were scattered among the regiments, totaling only six, with more than 100 rounds of ammunition.

Even this is much better than the 129th Division next door, at least the weapons are much better than the 129th Division.

However, in an encirclement and annihilation battle, a standard Japanese field battalion was equipped with 556 rifles, 36 light machine guns, 36 grenade launchers, 12 heavy machine guns, and 2 infantry guns.

It seems that it is insufficient compared to the 389th Brigade, but the Japanese army has sufficient ammunition. Now it is wartime and they may strengthen the configuration of light and heavy machine guns and artillery. It is hard to say what the specific situation will be in the battle.

"Lao Zhou, Lao Wang and I just went to Changshengkou to check it out. The mountain roads on both sides are steep, and only the canyon in the middle is passable. It is difficult for the Japanese army's heavy firepower to reach the mountain. We have a great advantage from a high position, and the front and back passes are dangerous. It only takes a small force to stop the enemy reinforcements, and it will be enough to stop them for three hours." Zeng Jiwen thought for a while and said.

"That's fine, it's up to you to decide how to fight!" Zhou Xi said.

"No doubt, we will defeat this group of Japanese troops as the first battle of our 389th Brigade entering Shanxi!" Zeng Jiwen slammed the table.

"Old Huang, this time I plan to cut the Japanese army into three parts, and encircle and annihilate them one by one with three regiments to prevent them from merging into one place. In addition, I will send the reconnaissance battalion to ambush in Banqiao Village to slow down the enemy's reinforcement speed. We will be on the top of the mountain, concentrating our firepower to first destroy his machine gun squadron and artillery squadron, and let those with good marksmanship take out the Japanese commander, and the rest will be easy." Zeng Jiwen said to the deputy brigade commander Huang Hanjia.

"Well, I think it's possible. Although the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun has a high firing angle, as long as we occupy a steep position and eliminate their heavy firepower, the rest will be sitting ducks. We can definitely hit this terrain." Huang Hanjia said happily, lying on the map on the table.

"But we have to fight quickly and decisively, we can't drag it out!" said the second deputy brigade commander Wu Lin.

Then Wu Lin looked at Zeng Jiwen and said, "According to the feedback from our brother troops before, if we don't beat these devils down immediately, by the time they react, their shooting skills will be very accurate, so the first round of attack must first kill the enemy's active forces."

"Yes, Lao Wu is right," said Deputy Political Commissar Deng Xie.

Zeng Jiwen thought for a moment and said to Deputy Chief of Staff Zhu Guosheng:

"So, Lao Zhu, you, Cai Xu and Lao Wang will go to each regiment, organize those with good marksmanship, and specifically arrange for machine gunners and sergeants to target the Japanese. Try to kill them in the first round. When charging, kill any Japanese who counterattack." Zeng Jiwen said.

After all, compared with other troops, Zeng Jiwen conducted targeted training against the Japanese army when reorganizing the troops. Bayonet fighting was a very rigorous training, and he also specially selected those with good marksmanship.

He gritted his teeth and took out half of the bullets. He picked out 100 people with good marksmanship from the entire brigade and other troops. He trained them with a total of 10 rounds of ammunition, which means 1000 rounds per person on average.

The ones who suffered the most were the ones with good marksmanship, as the new recruits could not withstand such attacks at all. Many people at that time did not understand and expressed opposition, believing that this went against our army's tradition. In the end, the instructors and the commander-in-chief overcame all opposition and allowed only the 389th Brigade to conduct a pilot project, and to get their own ammunition, with neither support nor opposition.

Later, when the brother troops ambushed Pingxingguan, they found that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army's logistics troops was also strong, and their shooting skills were very accurate. Then they remembered that Zeng Jiwen had previously conducted targeted training to deal with this situation of the Japanese army.

Afterwards, the brother troops began to learn from Zeng Jiwen to kill and counterattack the enemy during the charge. The actual effect was obvious in the subsequent ambushes, which greatly reduced the casualties of the troops.

"Okay, no problem. We will make arrangements for each regiment later. Now we need to arrange the ambush positions for each regiment." Deputy Chief of Staff Zhu Guosheng said.

Afterwards, Zeng Jiwen began to deploy combat arrangements. According to the intelligence obtained, the Japanese army planned to start reinforcements on the 21st, and then launch a surprise attack on Walnut Garden at night. They would be near Changshengkou around noon, which was still in time for the 389th Brigade to ambush the Japanese army.

Therefore, the first deputy brigade commander Huang Hanjia, political commissar Zhou Shi, and first deputy chief of staff Zhu Guosheng led the 781st Regiment to ambush the enemy's vanguard in Qiheng Village, not far from Ceyu Village.

He took the first deputy political commissar Deng Xie, the second deputy chief of staff Cai Xu and the 782nd Regiment to set up an ambush on the hillside of Changshengkou.

The second deputy brigade commander Wu Lin, the chief of staff Wang Zhuo, and the second deputy political commissar Liu Ming led the 783rd Regiment to ambush the enemy's machine guns, artillery and baggage train at Banqiao Village near Changshengkou.

After drafting the command and deployment order, it was sent to the Eighth Route Army Front Command and the home headquarters via radio.

After receiving the telegram, the command center immediately replied and ordered Zeng Jiwen's troops to issue combat orders according to the deployment.

At the same time, my family called back and said that this was the first time that the Eighth Route Army had ambushed and annihilated a Japanese field battalion. All officers and soldiers of the 389th Brigade should carry forward the never-give-up spirit of the Long March and display the style of the Eighth Route Army in the anti-Japanese war.