Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Everyone knew about this matter. At that time, they could only say that Zeng Jiwen dared to think of it. However, they did not expect that he would organize ten new regiments more than a month after arriving in Shanxi. Thinking of this, they couldn't help but give Zeng Jiwen a thumbs up.

"Brigade Commander, go ahead and tell me. Since you've brought it up, it means you have an idea!" Zhou Xi responded.

"My thinking is this: these local regiments haven't had to participate in major battles in the past year. They usually operate in their respective areas, mainly engaging in guerrilla warfare. Once a major battle breaks out, they will follow the main force and provide logistical support."

"Old Wang, Old Zhou, each of your districts will form a new main force regiment based on three local regiments. Then, draw some personnel from the battalions under the regiments directly under the brigade headquarters. This winter, you can train and practice with the small groups of Japanese troops around you. By the beginning of next year, you can join the original three main force regiments in combat."

"As for me, I will transfer the third battalion back and form a main force regiment. I will also draw some troops from the local regiments to form another main force regiment. In this way, we will have 7 regiments of troops in March next year. When the Japanese army attacks Changzhi, we can definitely surprise them."

"Well, I think it's okay." The political commissar agreed.

"Yes, many of the local regiments are composed of local people. They certainly cannot directly participate in the battle with their families. Some of them are even the breadwinners of their families. The villagers support us, and we cannot make things more difficult for them." The chief of staff nodded.

"In this case, our main task this winter will be to train the newly formed troops. We can also try our hand at the surrounding puppet troops." Cai Xu agreed, but then showed an angry expression. "These bastards are simply not Chinese. As soon as the front line retreated, these former Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and local militia surrendered to the Japanese army and became traitors."

"Yes, these traitors can be used as training for new recruits. At the same time, some of the Central Army of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army that was defeated nearby have fled to the mountains and become bandits. We need to clean out all these scum in our defense zone." Zeng Jiwen said fiercely.

As for these guys who had become bandits, the solution given by northern Shaanxi before was to unite them if possible, but Zeng Jiwen opposed it on the spot, saying that these people were of mixed quality and that they must not be absorbed into the anti-Japanese team before finding out what they had done in the past, to avoid a bad apple spoiling the whole barrel. This led to many people criticizing him at the time.

Zeng Jiwen, though young, was also very knowledgeable, and many people supported the idea, ultimately stating that the decision should be made based on actual circumstances. Therefore, in the past month, Zeng Jiwen had been busy with various matters related to the military and local development, and had not paid much attention to these matters. But now that it had been brought up, it was time to begin clearing out the bandits within the jurisdiction.

No one had any objections. After all, these bandits were the kings of the mountains and bullied the people in normal times. Once they colluded with the Japanese army during wartime, they would be a time bomb. So it was time to clear out these bandits. At the same time, clearing out the bandits could also gain the support of the local people and facilitate local construction.

"But how do we determine the number and local organization in detail, Brigade Commander?" the political commissar asked Zeng Jiwen.

"Here's what I'm thinking. Our brigade already has three regiments. These are the combat regiments directly under the brigade headquarters. Each regiment will have a strength of around 2,300 to 2,500 men, as it currently does. If there are any more combat regiments directly under the brigade headquarters in the future, they will all follow this organization."

"The other newly expanded units will be organized according to the regular system. The squad, company, platoon, and battalion will be organized in threes, with 12 men per squad. Light machine guns will be equipped to the squads. A battalion will have three infantry companies and one machine gun company. The machine gun company will have six heavy machine guns and two mortars. Together with the guard company and the artillery company, the total number of troops in the regiment will be over 1800. It doesn't matter if the light and heavy firepower are not fully equipped at the moment. We can lure the Japanese into ambushes on a small scale and slowly capture them."