Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Big pots were set up, and each miner was asked to get clothes, take a hot shower, and finally prepare hot meals.

This series of actions is more useful than any words Li Yunlong says.

"We'll count them after they finish their meal. Those who want to go home can go home, and we'll give each of them some food and money for travel expenses. Those who don't want to go home can stay. Hasn't that damn Master Tang been caught yet?"

Li Yunlong needed someone who was familiar with the Heiyunzhai mine to introduce the situation of the mine. As a result, Master Tang ran away, and the bandits who were guarded by Zhang Dabiao were probably killed. The remaining bandits guarding the mine were also shot dead. Now only these numb miners are left.

Fortunately, Li Yunlong had some knowledge about copper mines. After all, he studied mechanical engineering and had some experience with materials.

The copper mine in the back mountain of Heiyun Village belongs to chalcopyrite. It can be seen that the scale of the ore deposit in the mined area is not small. More than a dozen mine pits have been dug and continue to extend into the mountain.

This situation is rare. Most copper mines are open-pit mines. The current situation can only mean that the copper reserves in Heiyun Mountain are not large, and it is even possible that it is a by-product of other mines.

However, looking at the scale of Black Cloud Mountain in front of us, it should be enough for the current Eighth Route Army.

"Is there any smelted copper?"

"Yes, in the warehouse!"

A soldier immediately took Li Yunlong to the warehouse. At that time, the warehouse was piled with some smelted copper ingots, which were placed in the corner of the warehouse.

"What a surprise! I'll never be short of bullets again!"

Looking at the group of copper ingots in front of him, Li Yunlong breathed a sigh of relief. The military factory now had the raw materials to produce bullets.

In fact, the Eighth Route Army's military factories have always been able to hand-roll bullets, but due to problems such as lack of raw materials, they can only reload the bullets. That is, after shooting, the shells are picked up and handed in. The bullets are made by melting some shells that cannot be reloaded or the bullets swept from the battlefield.

Yes, the bullets cleaned up from the battlefield. Our army's battlefield cleaning is not as simple as burying the bodies and taking away the weapons, taking the remains of comrades as the lead. If there is enough time, all the bullets on the battlefield will be dug out.

There is no other way because we are too poor. After digging up these bullets and sending them back to the rear for melting, they can be recast into bullets and used to destroy the enemy again.

Now that we have this copper mine, the military factory's bullet production capacity can at least be increased a lot.

After inspecting the warehouse, Li Yunlong looked at the copper smelting area outside the mine. Heiyun Village used a primitive method to build a blast furnace to smelt copper ore, and the smelting was done at night, which was more concealed.

Two old miners who had changed their clothes stood beside Li Yunlong somewhat stiffly, waiting for Li Yunlong to ask questions.

"How much copper can this mine produce in a day?"

The two looked at each other, then stretched out three fingers and pointed at the blast furnace behind them.

"Three furnaces?"

Li Yunlong roughly estimated the output of this blast furnace. Three furnaces can have a production capacity of about 300 kilograms. So this group of miners will have to dig out at least three tons of ore every day.

"Damn bandits!"

Looking at the two men in front of him who were timid and submissive, Li Yunlong couldn't help but sigh. A living person was abused like this by the bandits. It was definitely a bargain for them that they didn't skin and drain the tendons of the bandits from Heiyun Village.

It took Li Yunlong a day to roughly estimate the maximum daily production capacity of the copper mine. He also planned to move the headquarters of the independent column to Heiyun Mountain, and the arsenal would also be moved to Heiyun Mountain.

However, the relocation of the arsenal to Heiyun Mountain still requires the approval of the headquarters.

Two days later, the independent column had completed its move, and Zhao Gang and others led their troops to Heiyun Mountain.

“How many people are willing to go back?”

The plaque of the original Juyi Hall in Heiyun Village has been removed, and after the tables, chairs and benches were rearranged, this place became the headquarters of Li Yunlong's Independent Column.

"A total of 126 people are willing to go back."

Li Yunlong thought for a moment and said, "How much money was seized from the Black Cloud Village?"

"There are more than 60,000 yuan in total, and some..."

"Give each person ten dollars and twenty kilograms of food and let them return home."

"Yes!"

"Why are the remaining people unwilling to leave?"

Zhao Gang couldn't help but sigh and said, "The rest of the people have no homes. They were all killed by the bandits. As for the more than one hundred women who were rescued, most of them don't want to go home and want to stay."

After hearing this, Li Yunlong couldn't help but sigh.

"If you're willing to stay, we'll arrange jobs for you. The women will do some logistical support work, and we'll set up a simple clothing factory. We can also reclaim some wasteland at the foot of the mountain and grow some crops."

After hearing this, Zhao Gang nodded and said, "This is the only arrangement for now."

"As for the miners, if they are willing to work as miners, they can continue to do so. However, we will provide them with wages and food, and we will also recruit workers from the surrounding villages. We are short of miners, so if they do not want to be miners, we will mobilize them and ask them to join the army. If they really do not want to join the army, we can let them farm."

Li Yunlong now feels a little regretful. He should have killed all the bandits. Otherwise, it would have been better to keep them alive and let them mine, so that they could experience the life of the miners who were exploited by them, rather than killing them directly.

However, Li Yunlong soon let it go. They were just a group of bandits. He could just kill them. At most, he could keep some prisoners for himself. He could leave no Japanese prisoners, but he could keep more puppet soldiers.

Chapter 66: Taking Stock of the Harvest, Li Yunlong Gets Rich

A day later, the last batch of troops sent out to suppress the bandits returned to Heiyun Village.

"Why did it take so long?" Li Yunlong looked at Staff Officer Wang who looked tired. If it weren't for the communication soldier, Li Yunlong would have worried that something might have happened to Staff Officer Wang along the way.

"Don't mention it. We went to the bandit's lair in Wild Boar Ridge, but the bandits had already left, leaving only a few minions guarding the house. We waited until they came back yesterday before we completely wiped them out. We counted the spoils of war that day and rushed back overnight."

After hearing Staff Officer Wang's explanation, Li Yunlong couldn't help but laugh. This was really lucky. The bandits were not at home when he went out to suppress them.

"Alright, let's gather everyone for a meeting and review the results of the battle!"

Soon, the leaders of the other six teams sent by Li Yunlong all came to the command center.

"Old Zhao, first tell me about your experience suppressing bandits in Shijia Town."

Zhao Gang nodded and said, "This time, we wiped out three bandit groups near Shijia Town, killing 127 bandits, confiscating 96 guns, a mortar, and over 36,000 kilograms of grain and silver..."

After Zhao Gang finished his introduction, he continued, "However, a portion of the grain was distributed to the nearby people, and the rest has all been handed over!"

After Zhao Gang finished speaking, Li Yunlong looked at Lao Xing again and waited until everyone had finished introducing themselves.

After a brief count, Li Yunlong couldn't help but widen his eyes. "Old Zhao, let me confirm again. We are now an independent column. We don't need to hand in the captured items, right?"

Li Yunlong was promoted from the commander of the New 1st Regiment to the commander of the Independent Column. Although it was still a regimental-level column, the biggest difference was that the New 1st Regiment had to hand over the spoils after the battle according to a certain ratio, but the Independent Column did not need to do so.

The independent column is directly led by the headquarters. The headquarters does not need to provide supplies to the independent column when it develops independently. Similarly, the independent column does not need to hand over supplies to the headquarters. Only large-scale transfers and personnel appointments and dismissals at the battalion level and above require headquarters confirmation.

"Yes, no need!"

Li Yunlong immediately smiled: "I've made a fortune. This time I'm really rich. I don't need to hide it like before!"

As Li Yunlong spoke, he said, "This time we eliminated more than 1,200 bandits and obtained 210,000 kilograms of various grains, 867 guns, more than 40,000 rounds of bullets, four mortars, one infantry gun, and 43 artillery shells!"

Li Yunlong paused when he said this: "More than 167,632 yuan, 120-size small yellow croakers, and several boxes of antiques and jewelry!"

Everyone was stunned after hearing the entire data. They didn't expect that they could make so much money from this bandit suppression.

In fact, except for Li Yunlong, the other six groups' seizures were not very exaggerated. The main spoils were all in Heiyun Village. For example, the bulk of the food was in Heiyun Village, and 200,000 kilograms of various food were piled up in the warehouse.

These were all carried up the mountain bit by bit by the bandits from Heiyun Village, but now they have all become Li Yunlong's spoils of war.

"Captain, what about us later?"

Zhang Dabiao spoke first, staring at Li Yunlong with sharp eyes. Everyone was jealous of the supplies obtained from the bandit suppression.

"Our main target is still the devils, but we can't neglect the bandits either!"

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he spread out a map and said, "This is the defense zone assigned to us by headquarters."

"Our main task during this period is to train our troops. Monk Wei, how are the skills of the group of people I asked you to train now?"

Hearing Li Yunlong calling him, Monk Wei was stunned for a moment, then touched his head and said, "I think it's okay. You can fight me for twenty or thirty moves!"

After Wei Heshang and Yu Zhigan defected to Li Yunlong, Li Yunlong put them in charge of the training of the guard company.

In addition to the daily 400-meter shuttle run and the three-three infantry system, the guard company's training tasks also include live-fire shooting, rock climbing and combat training every day. Basically, Li Yunlong treated them as a simplified version of the special forces training of later generations.

"Well, it's almost time to pull it out and give it a try!"

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he drew a circle on the map and said, "Monk Wei, I have a mission for you. No matter what method you use, clear out all the bandits on these four hills!"

When Monk Wei heard this, his eyes lit up immediately: "Leave it to me, Captain, I will definitely complete the task!"

"Okay, I'm waiting for your good news!"

Monk Wei nodded vigorously, then turned and left. Li Yunlong calculated the time. After Wei Heshang completed his mission and wiped out the bandits in the defense zone, it would be almost the New Year, and he could give the Japanese a New Year gift.

"Staff Officer Wang, is there any way to turn these oceans into supplies?"

Staff Officer Wang thought for a moment and said, "The medicine is a bit of a problem, but everything else is fine."

“Can I buy the machinery?”

Hearing Li Yunlong's words, Staff Officer Wang was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Captain, I need to go to the black market to confirm this."

"Okay, take some time to send someone to inquire about it. If they have it, buy it directly. In addition, we also need to buy two large-caliber artillery pieces. We are currently short of heavy weapons!"

The so-called black market is actually a term for underground transactions. There is no fixed trading location, but there are contacts. These people specialize in reselling various supplies, such as arms, food and other items.

Within the Jin area, the Jinsui Army was the one that resold the most supplies. In the logistics of the Jinsui Army, people would often take out some guns and ammunition to sell, and most of these supplies eventually went to our army.

There are also the Nationalist Army. Most of the Nationalist Army in Shanxi are concentrated in the Zhongtiao Mountain area. Their reselling of supplies is even worse than that of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Many soldiers in the army even do not have guns. In order to deal with the inspections of their superiors, they even use wooden guns to fool people.

It was because of the large-scale sale of supplies that the Zhongtiaoshan troops were seriously short of guns and ammunition, which laid the groundwork for the principal's most humiliating defeat later.

Apart from the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and the National Army, there were also the Japanese and puppet troops.

The puppet army also resold a large amount of supplies. This group of people became traitors just to get promoted and make money, so the reselling of supplies was also rampant. Most of the heavy weapons that could be bought on the black market were sold by the puppet army.

The number of cases of the Japanese devils reselling supplies in Shanxi is not very large, but it does happen frequently. They are mainly scarce resources such as medicines. However, in places like Shanghai, the Japanese devils are the main suppliers of the black market. Mr. Dai's smuggling business is done in partnership with the Japanese devils.

Just as Li Yunlong was arranging the tasks, the Japanese army began to gradually gather, preparing to carry out a large-scale sweep during the Spring Festival.

Chapter 67 Li Yunlong: I have a life-saving talisman

"Chief of Staff, you are here!"

At the foot of Heiyun Mountain, Li Yunlong saw the chief of staff and immediately greeted him with a smile on his face. Three days ago, Li Yunlong reported the situation of Heiyun Mountain and wanted the headquarters to move the arsenal to the back mountain of Heiyun Mountain. Today, the chief of staff came to explore the terrain.

"You kid, just as you have a little autonomy, you go out and attack everywhere. What are the casualties of the troops?"

Li Yunlong knew what the chief of staff was talking about and immediately laughed, "There weren't any casualties. They were just bandits with no fighting power. They might be able to bully the common people, but when facing our regular army, they are just a mob."

After saying that, he smiled and walked towards Black Cloud Mountain with the chief of staff.

The chief of staff had been observing the terrain of Heiyun Mountain all the way. When passing the big stone bridge, he looked around and nodded with satisfaction. The terrain of Heiyun Mountain was indeed as Li Yunlong said, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and very difficult to detect.

"Black Cloud Mountain and the surrounding hills all look similar. Even if the Japanese bombers wanted to, they wouldn't be able to tell them apart. And there's a surprise here!"