The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Observing the soldiers' condition, Xue Geming nodded secretly, marveling at the combined use of these two methods. It seemed that this approach could both overcome the soldiers' fear of battle and teach them the rules of survival on the battlefield, making it worthy of widespread promotion. Little did he know that this method would later be widely adopted by these people without him even needing to remind them, eventually becoming one of the most important training methods in many units.

Bayonet fighting is an essential condition for an army to become an ironclad force. Xue Geming spared no effort in training his soldiers in bayonet fighting. He himself wasn't very good at it originally, but fortunately, he had practiced it when he was in the special operations brigade, and Yun Tiansheng also had some experience in it. In the end, the two of them combined their skills, along with several other key personnel brought by Xue Geming, and together they studied and practiced, managing to develop a concise yet practical bayonet fighting method. Just three or five simple movements, including blocking, parrying, thrusting, stabbing, twisting, and retracting, yet their power was immense.

Of course, Xue Geming wasn't foolish enough to plan for his soldiers to engage in one-on-one bayonet fighting. He'd heard that the casualty ratio in such battles was roughly one to one. He didn't want to do that. Therefore, from the beginning, he planned to use a "numerical attack against one" strategy. Some might say this method of using numbers to fight a smaller enemy would be laughable, but in his view, that was utter nonsense. Let people laugh if they wanted; what he cared about was the final result. As long as the enemy was killed, who cared how many of his own soldiers were fighting against one enemy? Therefore, he specifically had his soldiers practice a formation he had "researched":

Three-man formation! This means that during bayonet fighting, three soldiers form a group: one is responsible for thrusting, and two provide cover; or two are responsible for thrusting, and one guards against attacks from behind. This allows for localized superior numbers and maximizes enemy kills, while making it extremely difficult for the enemy to harm their own men!

Of course, while training the three-man formation, Xue Geming also refused to give up on improving the soldiers' individual bayonet fighting skills, and continued to train them ruthlessly.

During this bayonet practice, Xue Geming remembered the three-spear bayonet drill his division commander had taught him. He wanted to equip the troops with these, but unfortunately, the quality of the pig iron available was poor. Ultimately, only a portion was produced: according to Xue Geming's orders, all except the special service company were equipped; all officers were also equipped; and the remaining 100 bayonets were distributed to the best performers!

Knowing that the brigade leader would personally award bayonets, everyone began training frantically, forcing Xue Geming to intensify his training. In the end, excluding the uniformly assigned troops and officers, he managed to award 142 bayonets to outstanding soldiers. Because those who met his requirements, excluding the pre-determined assigned troops, numbered far more than 100—142! This number continued to rise, but Xue Geming was powerless to stop it and could only postpone the awarding.

This, of course, reminded him, and he ultimately tasked He Xiaoshan with ensuring that his troops had their own ironworks, integrated into Liu Laohan's weapons research institute, specifically for supplying ironware to the army. Because he was currently financially well-off, He Xiaoshan quickly accomplished this. He directly persuaded four blacksmiths in the Hubei area to join him, forming the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Independent Brigade Ironworks Bureau. Led by Wang Hanzhong, the most senior blacksmith among them, the bureau moved with the army, setting up branch factories in caves deep in the Mangshan Mountains. Excess ironware from the surrounding areas was purchased and used as raw material reserves. He Xiaoshan also sent people to secretly purchase scrap iron from surrounding counties and cities, stockpiling as much raw material as possible.

Fortunately, there are still some mineral resources in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui region, with reserves of coal and iron. Because Xue Geming was cunning and unprepared, large quantities of coal and iron were secretly transported into the mountains and hidden in caves. Of course, these are only reserves; currently, except for a very small number of police units, everyone is training. However, even the police units undergo rotation training, approximately every 15 days.

While practicing with homemade explosives, another nerve in Xue Geming's mind was suddenly struck. His thoughts clicked, and he was overjoyed, knowing he had gained another weapon.

You see, he was a hunter by trade, and he knew how to make homemade bombs to kill large prey like bears and wild boars. This suddenly reminded him of how to make homemade landmines and grenades, so he quickly gathered Yang Guisheng, Yun Tiansheng, and a few others, and together they went to Old Man Liu to discuss the landmine-making project. Old Man Liu's eldest son, Liu Eyun, wasn't particularly interested, but his second son, Liu Chuyun, was quite keen. With the technical support of the three hunters, Xue Geming, Yang Guisheng, and Yun Tiansheng, and guidance from his father, Old Man Liu, plus his own prior knowledge, he managed to make a landmine in just one day. The test results were quite good. The group was overjoyed and put Liu Chuyun in charge of the project. As for the homemade grenades, the hunters, including Xue Geming, could also provide some technical assistance, as they also needed to make small "flying grenades"—hunting weapons that exploded after being thrown—and these could certainly be used as models. Xue Geming and 16 others came from Jiangnan. Each of them had two standard hand grenades. Xue Geming donated two of them to make a model so that Liu Chuyun could try to make one based on the model.

Unexpectedly, Liu Chuyun acted quickly and soon achieved results.

On the third day, Liu Chuyun made two homemade grenades. They were tested and the results were decent, but further improvements were needed.

On the fifth day, when Xue Geming went to test it again, although it still did not achieve the effect of the standard hand grenade, it far exceeded Xue Geming's expectations, so Xue Geming was overjoyed. He immediately rewarded the weapons research institute with 2000 silver dollars, and found some skillful soldiers to join in and help, working in three shifts to assist in the production of landmines and homemade hand grenades.

That wasn't all. Almost simultaneously, following Xue Geming's orders, He Changgong, He Xiaoshan, Cai Zhongshan, and several others persuaded several local craftsmen skilled in making homemade explosives to join Liu Laohan's weapons research institute, primarily responsible for explosive production. The raw materials for making explosives were purchased and procured, not only for immediate use but also in large quantities. Xue Geming had considerable experience with stockpiling. As a child, his family was poor at managing money, practically living paycheck to paycheck, which severely hampered his finances—a lesson he learned the hard way. Therefore, he remembered it well.

It's worth mentioning that while making these landmines, those bottles and jars suddenly touched Xue Geming's heartstrings again. He remembered his commander's words. As a result, a mixture of gasoline, sugar, and other substances was put into a bottle, and the opening was plugged with rags, thus creating the simplest Molotov cocktail.

With these weapons, two more branches of the military came into Xue Geming's view: grenadiers and engineers. The former were mainly responsible for throwing grenades, including hand grenades and Molotov cocktails; the latter were mainly responsible for laying landmines.