Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

"On the contrary, the Japanese don't have a large number of troops stationed in Changchun. There is only one division and some puppet troops."

"However, the devils in the four eastern provinces are all new recruits. The main force has been concentrated in areas like Tengda, between the Greater Khingan Range and the Greater Khingan Range. They should be preparing to launch a counterattack against the Russians in the spring!"

Li Yunlong looked at the Japanese troop deployment on the map.

"Is it possible that the Japanese might feint to the east and attack in the west, claiming to attack the Russians, but actually want to take care of us first?"

The brigade commander thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "The intelligence we received and intercepted all indicate that the Japanese are planning a spring offensive, preparing to drive the Russian army west of the Western Sayan Mountains in one fell swoop."

"We still need to be on guard. We are behind the Japanese. If they want to attack us, we will be at a disadvantage if we are not prepared."

Li Yunlong could roughly guess what the Japanese were thinking.

For the Japanese, Li Yunlong was not the main threat. The real threat was the Mao Zedong. In the eyes of the Japanese, as long as they killed the Mao Zedong, they would be trapped.

As long as the Russians are dealt with, the Japanese can attack Li Yunlong's troops from all directions.

In particular, the area currently occupied by Li Yunlong is very suitable for large-scale troop operations and mechanized troop operations.

Now the Japanese have gradually begun to pay attention to tanks and have started to form many tank divisions, which has made the Japanese even more arrogant.

"Does the Japanese arsenal have any detailed information?"

The brigade commander smiled and nodded, then took out a document and shook it. "Based on the information you provided, we contacted Zhang's children. They really don't want to be traitors, and they provided us with some information."

"The Japanese have been expanding the Fengtian Arsenal, Harbin Arsenal, and Changchun Arsenal since last year."

"Fengtian even opened a tank manufacturing bureau dedicated to producing tanks. It's said they can currently produce around 20 tanks a day. Several other arsenals also produce various types of tanks. Currently, the Japanese arsenals in the four northeastern provinces can produce about 30 tanks a day."

"In addition to tanks, the Japanese troops have also begun to re-equip themselves. Previously, they were mostly infantry, but now many troops are equipped with motorcycles and trucks. The Japanese have established vehicle manufacturing plants in Fengtian and Harbin, and their output is not low."

"As for artillery, the Japanese put two more artillery factories into production during the winter..."

Li Yunlong frowned when he heard this number.

The division commander and others also noticed the change in Li Yunlong's expression.

"Li Yunlong, is there something wrong?"

Li Yunlong nodded and said, "A little bit. I accidentally let the devils get too strong!"

Li Yunlong's original plan was just to strengthen the Japanese army slightly, but he did not expect that the Japanese army would win great victories in the Battle of Midway and the Far East Campaign, and their strength expanded rapidly.

Fortunately, the Russian bear consumed a large number of elite troops during the winter counterattack.

However, the Japanese's current tank production forced Li Yunlong to pay attention again.

The Japanese can now produce 30 tanks a day. Although the number is not as high as the 300 or 400 a day when the Americans are at full strength, 30 a day is still very terrifying, and this is the Japanese tank production in the four northeastern provinces.

If the domestic production is included, the Japanese tank production can reach fifty tanks a day or even more.

According to this number, the Japanese can produce more than a thousand tanks in a month. If they are given a few months to develop, they will have four to five thousand tanks.

Although the Japanese may not have so many tankmen and such sufficient logistical support, they should still be taken seriously.

When the number of tanks reaches a certain level, a qualitative change can be achieved.

After hearing the figures, Old Xing rolled his eyes at Li Yunlong and said, "Old Li, you don't think that just because the Japanese can produce thirty tanks a day, nine hundred a month, and ten thousand a year, that it's going to be hard for us to defeat them, do you?"

Without waiting for Li Yunlong to answer, Old Xing waved his hand and said, "If the Japs really build it like this, their logistics will be ruined!"

"We have some Japanese tanks too, but not only do they have a high breakdown rate, they also have a bunch of other issues, and the Japanese logistics can't keep up. Old Li, do you know how many people are in the logistics team behind our 600 tanks?"

Li Yunlong really didn't understand the current logistics situation of his troops. These were all handled by Old Xing and the logistics department. When he came back this time, he invited Zhang Wanhe and Yang Chuan over, and it was Old Xing who kept nagging in his ears every day.

"Maintaining our 600 tanks requires 10,000 people. Basically, one logistics team is responsible for one tank, and they also need training. Not everyone can serve as a logistics soldier for a tank!"

"so many people?"

For the first time, Li Yunlong felt that maintaining a tank unit was so labor-intensive.

"This is the case when nothing goes wrong. If there are problems with major components like the engine, even more people will be needed. So with the Japanese army's strength, maintaining 2,000 tanks is almost the limit. Unless the Japanese army gives up the logistics of other units, it will be impossible."

"If it's a long-distance raid, the early preparations will be even more complicated!"

"In addition to tanks, there are infantry, cars, airplanes, artillery, war horses, etc. If the Japanese dare to build 10,000 tanks, 8,000 of them will definitely be left to gather dust, otherwise the rest of their arms will be just for show."

After listening to Lao Xing's explanation, Li Yunlong had a rough idea in his mind.

"But even so, it's still a threat to us. Once the Japanese take over the Eastern Sayan Mountains and the Western Sayan Mountains, our access to supplies from the Russians and Americans will be cut off."

"We will have to face the Japanese tank troops then!"

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he stared at the map. Everyone's eyes turned to Li Yunlong, waiting for him to make a decision.

"It seems that our counterattack plan needs to be advanced. When the Japanese and the Russians fight in the spring of this year, we will seize the opportunity to seize the entire four northeastern provinces and take back these arsenals. This way, we will be more confident when facing the Russians in the future."

"A year in advance?"

The division and brigade commanders thought for a moment and said, "Isn't it too hasty? We are not ready yet."

"Originally we had a year to prepare, but the situation changed and we had to act earlier. Although the preparation time was a bit rushed, we were not prepared, and the Japanese were even less prepared!"

"If we wait until the Japanese have completely driven the Russians away and let them prepare before we take action, the price we have to pay may be much greater than it is now!"

Chapter 541 Counterattack Plan

"Are we going to recapture the four eastern provinces in one go? Will we have insufficient troops?"

The Chief of Staff expressed his concerns.

"We currently have around 300,000 troops. The Japanese still have around 400,000 in the four northeastern provinces, and they're still recruiting. Adding the puppet troops, the total could reach 800,000. We..."

"We don't have enough troops, so we need someone to cover us."

Li Yunlong pointed to the garrison troops in Mengjiang, and then to the three provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Henan.

"Due to the severe drought last year, our Shanxi Province military has expanded rapidly. The number of troops has reached about 600,000. Together with the troops in Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, the total number is about 800,000."

"We need to launch a counterattack similar to the Hundred Regiments Campaign to strike back at the Japanese invaders in Hebei, Shandong, and Henan."

"This is especially true in Hebei Province, where the Japanese North China Expeditionary Force is headquartered. Currently, the entire North China Expeditionary Force has only a little over 100,000 troops, and lacks armored units and even a limited number of aircraft."

"We will send a group of fighter planes to bomb the Japanese airfields in North China, and then launch a counterattack, with our main targets being the three cities of Sijiucheng, Jinan, and Tianjin!"

"The Japanese will definitely not give up these three cities and will definitely mobilize troops to reinforce them. The Japanese East China Expeditionary Force and the Central China Expeditionary Force are both blocked by the Yellow River flood area and cannot provide rapid support. Only the Kwantung Army is capable of providing support."

"The main force of the Kwantung Army is in a decisive battle with the Russians. If they split up and march south, this is our chance!"

Li Yunlong walked to the front of the map and pointed to the map of the four eastern provinces.

"We will first destroy the enemy's airports in the four northeastern provinces, primarily those in Harbin, Changchun, and Shenyang."

"Then we'll start from Baicheng. The flat terrain here is perfect for armored forces to move quickly and capture Changchun. This way, we can split the four eastern provinces into two."

"Go south first to eat up the devils in Fengtian, capture Jinzhou, and prevent the devils outside the Great Wall from coming back to support us."

"As long as we can penetrate the four eastern provinces, we will definitely not be short of soldiers!"

Li Yunlong was very confident that as long as his troops entered the four eastern provinces, a large number of people from the four eastern provinces would sign up to join the army. No matter how Shancheng had previously discredited our army, as long as they could counterattack the four eastern provinces, the passionate young people from the four eastern provinces would enthusiastically join the army.

Some people would say that the four northeastern provinces did not contribute much during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Those who say this completely lack understanding of the history of the four northeastern provinces during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. A certain young marshal ordered no resistance, but the Northeast Army did not fail to resist.

After entering the Pass, the Northeast Army had been thinking about counterattacking the four eastern provinces. Later, due to the Double 12 sales event of the Republic of China, the Northeast Army was completely distrusted and then disbanded and incorporated into other troops.

The Northeast Army was active in every battle and on every battlefield. It participated in the January 28th Incident, the Battle of the Great Wall, the Battle of Shanghai, and the Battle of Wuhan. The most famous were the 51st and 57th Armies.

In addition to the Northeastern Army that entered the Great Wall, the people in the four eastern provinces also did not give up resistance. In addition to the more famous Anti-Japanese United Army, there were also various volunteer armies, national salvation armies, and hundreds of armed forces of all sizes.

Most of these armed forces fought the Japanese in harsh environments, and many organizations fought to the last man and the last bullet.

The weakness of some people does not represent the people of the four eastern provinces. As the first area to fall, they did not give up resistance and continued to fight.

Therefore, Li Yunlong was confident that his troops would be able to be replenished after arriving in the four eastern provinces.

"Li Yunlong, I understand what you mean, but these people are all new recruits, and they were even ordinary civilians before. Letting them go to the battlefield..."

"We don't need them to go to the battlefield. Leave the battlefield to our main force. They just need to train and be responsible for public security!"

"There will be some opportunists who will infiltrate this group. We can ignore these matters for now. We will strengthen military discipline and clean up these people after we take back the four eastern provinces."

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he looked at Lao Zhao and said, "Lao Zhao, you have a heavy workload in the next few months. We will need to mobilize a large number of personnel to carry out ideological work and ensure military discipline. This matter will be handed over to you!"

Li Yunlong then turned his gaze to Kong Jie, who was currently taking notes in a notebook. "Old Kong, your previous responsibility for military discipline was only a temporary measure. I plan to hand this over to the deputy division commander. You can focus on leading the troops from now on. Is that okay?"

Kong Jie pushed his glasses and nodded, "No problem!"

It was only at this time that Li Yunlong noticed that Kong Jie was wearing glasses.

"Lao Kong, when did you put on glasses?"

Kong Jie said a little embarrassedly: "I have been reading a lot recently and I am a little nearsighted, so I got a pair of glasses, but I still feel a little dizzy."

"The prescription is wrong. Don't wear it randomly. Let's go to the hospital after the meeting."

Then Li Yunlong glanced at Kong Jie's notebook and confirmed that there was no pig's head drawn on Kong Jie's notebook. Instead, a smile appeared on his face after he took notes seriously.

Lao Kong has also become fond of learning, which is a good thing.

Learning is a good thing in any era, and if you don't learn, you will easily fall behind. Especially in Li Yunlong's army, if you don't learn new tactics, you will soon find that you have no way to command the troops.

Because the firepower of the troops has undergone earth-shaking changes, things like Zhang Dabiao throwing off his hat and charging into battle will no longer happen.

A battalion commander must learn how to establish fire points, disperse firepower to avoid overlapping machine gun firing ranges, use the three-three infantry system and infantry-artillery coordination during attacks, call for fire support, etc.

"This is just a preliminary battle plan for now. Everyone, please give us your opinions and add to it!"

After a rough introduction to the battle plan, the next step is discussion.

The division commander, brigade commander, chief of staff, Gu Ying and others all put forward their own opinions, such as the deployment of the vanguard troops, logistical support, and what to do if the attack encountered difficulties or various unexpected situations that might arise.

After learning about the situation in Arshan, the deputy division commander returned to Hailar and also participated.

After seven days of discussion in the conference room, a battle plan for a counterattack on the four eastern provinces gradually took shape.

Finally, this battle plan was signed by Li Yunlong, division commander, deputy division commander, Gu Ying, chief of staff, brigade commander, Zhao Gang, Lao Xing, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie, and then sent to the rear headquarters.

After getting approval.

Li Yunlong's troops began to enter a state of combat readiness.

First of all, the arsenals in Arshan, Heiyunshan, and Yixiantian are all working at full capacity to produce various types of weapons and ammunition.

At the same time, the 115th Division also launched a counterattack against the Mengjiang garrison to ensure the smooth flow of supplies.

In addition, various troops in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan also received some orders and began to assemble on a small scale.