Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Zhao Gang has recently become a time teller. The first thing he does every day is to find Li Yunlong and report to Li Yunlong how many people have come that day and where the farthest one is from.

This time, Li Yunlong intuitively felt the benefits brought by the recovery of Ping'an County. After the newspapers were distributed in large quantities, within nearly a month, people from all over the country came to Ping'an County to join the army.

The first people to arrive were those from Shanxi Province. Every day, people crossed mountains and rivers to come to Ping'an County to join the army. At first, there were a dozen or dozens of people, and later the number grew to hundreds or even tens of thousands of people.

Old Zhao would find Li Yunlong with a smile almost every day to report on the recruitment situation today. The original gap of more than 3,000 people has been filled, and the soldiers under Li Yunlong's command are already full according to the establishment.

The farthest among these people were patriotic overseas Chinese who returned from abroad to fight against Japan, followed by aspiring young people who came all the way from Hainan Island to Ping'an County, but the largest number of people were young people from the four northeastern provinces.

Compared with people of other identities, these young people had more vicissitudes of life on their faces. When Li Yunlong met them for the first time, he could see a tenacity of not giving up on their faces.

The first question these young men from the four eastern provinces asked Li Yunlong was: "Commander Li, will your troops counterattack the four eastern provinces?"

Looking at this group of young people from the four eastern provinces who are only in their twenties but have experienced many vicissitudes of life, their eyes are full of expectations, as well as worries and a hint of numbness. They may have asked this question to many people many times, but most people cannot give them the answer they want.

Since the fall of the four northeastern provinces in 1931, these young people from the four northeastern provinces have dreamed of counterattacking them, but they became more disappointed and even desperate every year. The establishment of the puppet Manchukuo, the continuous defeats on the front line, and the insults and ridicule from their fellow countrymen led to their downfall.

One incompetent general killed thousands of soldiers, and thousands of miles of territory were lost. He hid in the apartment and didn't dare to ask about the seasons. He hugged a woman, smoked opium, and talked about love and romance.

They see no hope. These young people who left their homes and did not want to become slaves of a conquered nation may have been just children when their country was lost, but they dream of returning to the black land in their memories.

So these young men from the four eastern provinces rushed around, looking for a glimmer of hope. When they saw in the newspaper that Li Yunlong had successfully recaptured Ping'an County, it was a ray of hope they saw in their despair. Finally, someone had recaptured the land in the occupied area, even if it was just a small county town.

"I can assure you that we will definitely enter the four eastern provinces in four years. I can also tell you clearly that we will win this battle, and at the latest, I will send a troop into the four eastern provinces by the year after next. This is the promise I can make!"

Li Yunlong looked at the group of young people from the four eastern provinces in front of him and spoke slowly.

As soon as these words were spoken, many young people from the four eastern provinces burst into tears.

Among this group of people, a strong man wiped his eyes with his hands, then slowly squatted down with his head in his hands and began to cry bitterly. This was the first general who said that he would send troops to the East Four Provinces since he left the East Four Provinces.

A tall and thin young man next to him looked at the strong man crying, and finally reached out and patted him gently on the back.

"Don't touch me, you jinx! I'm telling you, when we get back to Northeast China, I'll be the first one to chop off your head and sacrifice it to those gentlemen you killed..."

The tall and thin man didn't say anything, but just stood quietly by the side. Finally, he said, "I don't want to go south anymore. The further I go, the more impossible it will be to fight back. I want to fight back!"

This time the strong man did not refute, but stood up and followed the crowd towards the draft registration office.

At that moment, at the registration office, a short man who looked like a child was introducing himself: "I am really an adult. I have been a soldier for two years..."

"Really? I used to be a soldier in the newly formed 51st Division..."

Seeing that the recruiters didn't believe her, Gu Xiaomai immediately became anxious. When the recruiting officer heard what Gu Xiaomai said, he looked at her carefully and knew that this unit should not be a scam. Although her face was a little childish, her body was not thin and she was barely qualified.

"Okay, you stay!"

"Write down your place of origin and name here. If you can't write, I'll write it for you. But recruits must learn to read after completing training. Remember!"

"Yes! Sir, my name is Gu Xiaomai..."

"Don't call me sir from now on, just call me comrade!"

"Yes!"

After Gu Xiaomai left, dozens of people lined up, and finally it was the turn of the strong man who had been crying just now.

Seeing the strong man in front of him, the recruiting officer's eyes lit up. What a good seedling, a good seedling for a machine gunner.

"Hello fellow, are you going to join the army?"

"Sir, I want to be a soldier!"

"Have you ever been a soldier?"

The strong man nodded. "I did, but then the army was defeated and fled all the way from the four eastern provinces to the interior of the country. Then I got separated from the army and ended up here."

After hearing this, the conscription officer immediately said, "Don't worry. Sooner or later, we will fight our way back to the four eastern provinces. Tell me your name and place of origin so I can register them."

"Zhang Milong..."

"Li Liansheng, from Jinzhou..."

By the end of April, Li Yunlong looked at the troop roster and found that the number of people in the entire Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Independent Column had reached more than 16,700.

"so many people?"

Li Yunlong flipped through the roster in amazement. It had only been half a month since the troops were divided into defense zones. Previously, it was fully staffed, but now it was directly overstaffed by more than 4,000 people.

"Old Li, these are the ones left over. We didn't accept some of those who didn't meet the requirements, were not of the required age or health, and we arranged them to do some simple work in the rear, or gave them some travel expenses to let them go back."

Li Yunlong touched his head. This development speed exceeded Li Yunlong's expectations. When the Ping'an County battle started, Li Yunlong, the independent regiment, and the county brigade and district squad had only more than 4,000 people. Now there are more than 16,000 people.

In one month, the number of people increased several times.

"These are all new recruits. They must be trained well. A soldier's combat qualities are basically cultivated from the time they are new recruits. If they are not trained well during the new recruit period, they will be distorted from the root, and it will be very difficult to correct them."

"Don't worry, Zhang Dabiao, Shen Quan, Sun Desheng and others will keep an eye on them one by one. They will take turns to be responsible for the training of the new recruits!"

Li Yunlong nodded after hearing this. These people are good at training new recruits and have strong military qualities. Moreover, they have no bad practices and will not bring any unhealthy trends into the new recruit camp.

At this moment, a messenger entered Li Yunlong's office: "Report, Commander, a telegram has been sent from Heiyun Mountain."

"Black Cloud Mountain?"

Li Yunlong took the telegram, glanced at it, and immediately said, "Old Zhao, I'm going to Black Cloud Mountain. You guys are in charge here."

Old Zhao looked at Li Yunlong's impulsive look and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Jia Ji sent a telegram saying it was a success!"

Chapter 169 Katyusha is gone, 107 rocket launcher comes out

"Success?"

In the Heiyunshan Arsenal, Li Yunlong rushed over overnight. The first thing he asked when he saw Jia Ji was whether the Katyusha rocket test was successful.

Jia Ji nodded and said, "It was successful, but it hasn't been tested yet. We're waiting for the commander to come and inspect it. However, commander, the caliber may be smaller than you designed."

"Take me to have a look."

Li Yunlong followed Jia Ji directly to the warehouse in Heiyun Mountain. In this separately built warehouse, there was a launch pad, which was roughly similar to the launch pad of Katyusha in later generations. "This is the launch pad, which can be installed on a truck. This is a rocket!"

Jia Ji brought Li Yunlong to the rocket as if he was presenting a treasure.

The structure is similar to the rockets that Li Yunlong saw in later generations. After all, it was manufactured according to the design drawings given by Li Yunlong, so there will be no significant difference in appearance.

It was only slightly smaller than the Katyusha rocket designed by Li Yunlong. "I'm afraid this one doesn't even have a caliber of 100 millimeters, right?"

Li Yunlong could tell at a glance that this Katyusha had shrunk a lot.

"Commander, a 132mm rocket requires too much metal and is too heavy. It requires at least three people to lift. We can produce it with our current technology, but it would consume a lot of materials. Moreover, because the warhead is too heavy, the propellant is twice as much as the current 88mm. Therefore, I have reduced the caliber a bit, and the cost is more than half of the original design."

"Besides, the base is in the Taihang Mountains, which are mountainous, so trucks are not very convenient to move around..."

Jia Ji lowered his voice as he spoke, fearing that he would upset Li Yunlong. However, Li Yunlong suddenly slapped his head and said, "I forgot about this matter. You guys have considered it carefully. I was only concerned about the power and didn't think about the production cost and the terrain!"

Li Yunlong looked at the mini version of Katyusha in front of him, then thought for a while and said, "Take apart this launch pad. You guys follow me and build a new one!"

At this moment, Li Yunlong suddenly remembered one of the three great weapons of the guerrillas in later generations, the 107mm rocket launcher.

When Li Yunlong was designing weapons, he was thinking of weapons from around World War II, and also of powerful weapons. After all, every Chinese person has a serious fear of insufficient firepower, and they forgot about the 107 rocket launcher that was only introduced in the s.

After seeing the mini version of Katyusha designed by Jia Ji today, I immediately thought of the 107 rocket launcher.

The 107 rocket launcher is good. Its maximum range can reach about eight kilometers. It is powerful, low-cost, light-weight, and can be disassembled. Without cars or mules or horses for transportation, soldiers can carry it away by holding a gun barrel.

Moreover, this thing does not have any technical difficulties. If you can make Katyusha, you can also make 107 rocket launcher. The most important thing is that this thing is much cheaper than Katyusha, and no one stipulates that the 107mm rocket launcher must be of 107mm caliber. It can also be an 88mm rocket launcher.

To fight the Japanese, an 88mm caliber rocket launcher is enough, and the cost and weight can be further reduced.

Li Yunlong quickly drew a blueprint. Compared with Katyusha's slide rail, the 107 rocket launcher uses a gun barrel. However, there is actually not much difference between this thing with or without a gun barrel. It can even be launched with just a shell and a power supply device.

Some guerrillas in later generations dug several holes in the wall of a building, which could be used as the barrels of 107 rocket launchers.

"You don't need to build all of them. Just make a gun barrel first. These gun barrels and gun carriages are designed with a mortise and tenon structure. The gun barrel can be stuck on the gun carriage with a simple turn. It can also be easily disassembled and assembled, and conveniently transported!"

When Jia Ji and the others saw this, their eyes lit up: "Commander Li, you are truly a genius. Let's do it now. It will be quick!"

Taking advantage of this time, Li Yunlong took a break. By the afternoon, Jia Ji and others had already made a rough version of the gun barrel and a simple gun mount. Although it was a bit hasty due to the temporary rush, it was already usable.

"The tail of the rocket also needs to be modified. The previous idea has always been to rely on the tail fins to fix it. After all, large calibers require more considerations. For the 88mm caliber, we don't need to consider too much. We use the turbine rotation method for propulsion, and at the same time deflect the center of the rocket at an angle, and then open a few jet holes at the tail, relying on..."

Li Yunlong quickly summarized the technical characteristics of the 107 rocket launcher, and then began to work on the modification of the 88mm rocket in front of him. The warhead did not need to be changed for the time being, only the thruster design at the tail needed to be changed. However, two unfilled cartridge cases had already been produced, so only the design of this cartridge case needed to be changed.

By the next day, the modified 88mm rockets had been completed.

"preparation!"

This time the test firing was carried out on the edge of a cliff. Someone was specially assigned to carry the gun barrel, gun carriage and walked about two kilometers along a mountain road. The target was a hill on the opposite side.

Immediately, a soldier placed the shell into the barrel of the rocket and waited for Li Yunlong's order.

"put!"

Jia Ji from the laboratory participated personally and immediately pressed the controller after hearing the order.

"call out!"

As flames spurted out of the tail of the barrel, the 88mm rocket launcher flew towards the distant hill.

"boom!"

There was an explosion, and the landing point of the shell was slightly different from the aimed position.

However, Li Yunlong was quite satisfied with the result. "The bullet's deflection position is a bit too high, and the spray holes need to be more evenly distributed. It just so happens that a few math and physics majors have recently joined the army. I'll transfer them over to work with you on this!"

The shells failed to hit the target accurately, and Jia Ji and others were a little frustrated.

"Don't be discouraged. The lab had to make some last-minute changes this time, so you guys scrambled to build it in two days. The fact that you were able to successfully test-fire it is already quite remarkable!"

After hearing these words, Jia Ji and others gradually recovered their mood.

"The focus of our future work will be researching 107mm and mm rocket launchers. However, the weight of the rockets must be kept below kilograms to ensure that a single soldier can carry a single rocket on their own during the march!"

"Yes!"

Hearing that Li Yunlong not only did not blame them but assigned more tasks to them, Jia Ji and others couldn't help but become excited.

Li Yunlong glanced at this group of students. In more than a month, many of the students who originally had fair skin have now become darker and their skin has become rougher. The environment of Heiyun Mountain is not good, but this group of students has no complaints.

"Everyone, on behalf of the more than 10,000 soldiers of the Independent Column, I thank you, on behalf of the Eighth Route Army, and on behalf of the people of this country, I thank you. With the weapons you designed, I believe we will soon be able to drive the Japanese out of China!"

All the students were startled by Li Yunlong's bow. After listening to Li Yunlong's words, all the complaints in their hearts disappeared. Now they only wanted to develop more weapons to help Li Yunlong as soon as possible.

Li Yunlong was not in a hurry to leave Heiyun Mountain, but stayed with the group of students to improve the 88mm rocket launcher and 107mm rocket launcher.