Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

After handing over the disheveled and shaken Wang Yaowu and his entourage to the professional receiving and management personnel sent by the headquarters, Zhao Ping'an no longer paid any attention to them.

He made a special trip to personally participate in the interception, with the sole purpose of leaving an impression on this former deputy commander of the "Suppression Headquarters".

If it ever comes in handy in the future, it's always better to place things with "acquaintances" than strangers.

Having accomplished their mission, Zhao Ping'an and Xu Yuanshan were preparing to depart as planned for the Central Plains Field Army's base to "collect" another batch of military supplies when the communications officer of Commander No. 502 arrived on horseback with an urgent notice: "Commander Zhao and Political Commissar Xu are requested to proceed to the forward command post immediately to attend the expanded post-battle summary meeting of the Jinan Campaign."

The two exchanged a glance, immediately changed direction, and headed towards the East China Field Army's front-line command post located near the former Kuomintang Shandong Provincial Government.

The conference room, originally a large meeting hall of the provincial government, was now full of people.

Besides Su Yu and other key leaders of the East China Field Army, the commanders and political commissars of each column (army), the main division-level commanders, and the heads of important departments of the headquarters were all present. The meeting had obviously been going on for some time, and the air was filled with the smell of tobacco and an atmosphere of serious discussion.

A large map of the Jinan Campaign's situation was hanging on the blackboard, densely covered with red and blue pencil marks.

When Zhao Pingan and Xu Yuanshan arrived, they wanted to report, but seeing the staff officer on the stage speaking, they could only quietly find seats in the back row.

However, their arrival attracted the attention of some people, with many eyes falling on Zhao Ping'an, filled with curiosity, inquiry, and undisguised admiration.

The enormous role played by the unprecedented equipment and the new tactics it gave rise to during the Jinan Campaign had already spread among senior commanders.

502 was listening to a report from an operations staff officer when he saw Zhao Ping'an and the other person enter, so he raised his hand to signal the report to stop.

His gaze shifted to Zhao Ping'an.

"Comrade Ping'an, Comrade Yuanshan, you've come at the perfect time." The voice from 502 rang out clearly in the slightly noisy conference room.

"The battle of Jinan was fought quickly and well, with casualties much lower than expected. The weapons and equipment you brought, as well as your new ideas and training methods, have made invaluable contributions."

Then, the tone shifted:

"After the battle is over, we need to summarize. The new things are useful, but they also exposed some problems that we hadn't thought of before, or rather, they showed us areas that can be further improved and strengthened."

Today's meeting is partly about discussing these issues and seeing if there are any solutions.

502 gestured for the staff officer who had just spoken to continue.

The staff officer stood up and first highly praised the performance of the heavy artillery units in the campaign, especially their unprecedented accuracy and reaction speed, as well as the observation-computation-communication system that Zhao Ping'an helped establish, which proved to greatly improve the effectiveness of the artillery and truly achieve "point and shoot".

"Based on the experience of this battle, the headquarters initially proposed to adjust the artillery firepower configuration." The staff officer pointed to the organizational diagram on the blackboard, "It is recommended that 155mm and above heavy artillery be concentrated and organized as the core support firepower at the column level, for attacking fortifications, countering fortifications, and suppressing enemy artillery."

"The 122mm howitzer serves as the main support firepower at the division level, balancing mobility and firepower."

"The existing and captured 105mm and 76mm mountain guns and field guns will be assigned to divisions or main force regiments for direct support of infantry assault and anti-tank missions."

At this point, the staff officer paused and looked in Zhao Ping'an's direction:

"However, at the battalion and company level, especially in urban warfare, mountain warfare, and rapid assaults, we have found that existing weapons are unable to eliminate fortified firing positions at close to medium range in a timely and effective manner, thus failing to provide infantry with continuous and powerful accompanying fire. Therefore, the command hopes that Comrade Ping An can provide a batch of larger caliber and more powerful mortars, such as 60mm and 85mm mortars, as 'small heavy artillery' for the battalion level to enhance its independent combat and assault capabilities."

Zhao Pingan immediately jotted down in his notebook: "Requirement for battalion-level large-caliber mortars - 85mm and above."

Before Zhao Pingan could even search for it in the system store,

Immediately afterwards, another staff officer responsible for liaison between armored and assault troops stood up.

He focused his report on the use of the Type 59 tank in the campaign, and in addition to affirming its protection, firepower, and value as a spearhead of the attack, he specifically mentioned one detail:

"We discovered in the battle that the 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun on top of the tank, in its horizontal firing mode, has an amazing destructive effect on earthworks, brick and stone firing positions, and even light vehicles at close to medium range."

In many cases, this machine gun can solve the problem, saving precious heavy artillery shells and avoiding the waiting time of calling in rear artillery fire.

He looked at the infantry commanders present, and many of them nodded in agreement.

In urban warfare, those machine gun nests that suddenly appear from windows and street corners are indeed a nightmare for infantry.

"Therefore, we have an idea," the staff officer continued.

"Could we deploy such large-caliber heavy machine guns, or weapons of similar power, to battalions or even elite companies? We don't need complex platforms like tanks; even simple tripods or vehicle-mounted systems would suffice."

In this way, when our infantry units encounter fortified firing positions, they will have a timely, effective, and relatively economical means of countermeasure, instead of being forced to passively take hits or wait for superior fire support that may take time.

Even with walkie-talkies now, calling for fire support still requires procedures and time, and on the battlefield, a delay of just a few minutes can mean more casualties.

Zhao Pingan picked up his pen again to record: "Requirements for battalion and company-level large-caliber heavy machine guns - 12.7mm or equivalent power, which need to be easy to move (tripper/vehicle-mounted)."

This requirement is very specific and reasonable. A 12.7mm heavy machine gun, while not exactly cheap within the system, is certainly not expensive either.

Providing a batch to infantry, whether for reinforcing firepower points or accompanying assaults, can greatly enhance the combat flexibility of grassroots units.

The last to speak was a burly, loud-voiced army commander.

He first joked with a smile: "I heard that General Lin of Dongye has already started using the 'special treatment' that Comrade Ping An got, including homemade guns and life-saving medicine (penicillin)."

Before, we could only admire them, but now that our East China Field Army has tasted the sweetness of the new equipment, our appetite has been whetted!

A burst of good-natured laughter filled the meeting room, lightening the atmosphere somewhat.

The army commander's expression turned serious, and he said, "Jokes aside, let's get serious. Although we controlled our casualties well in this battle, the absolute number is still considerable, and the pressure of treating the wounded is enormous."

Our field hospitals are constantly short of medical supplies and medicine. The Northeast Field Army can produce some firearms and crucial penicillin themselves; this is not only a matter of logistical support, but also a matter of stabilizing morale! Therefore, on behalf of our frontline troops, I would like to make a request that may seem a bit excessive—”

He turned to look at Chief No. 502 and then at Zhao Ping'an: "Could we also set up some similar 'small-scale industries' here?"