Chapter 22: Ample Supplies and Renewed Recruitment

Braving heavy artillery fire and gunfire, Ichiro Sawada led his remaining Japanese soldiers in a frantic retreat. The terrain of Shanxi is rugged, and the Pingliao Highway winds through it; relying on their extensive training, the Japanese soldiers managed to find enough cover to avoid being completely wiped out during their withdrawal.

As they neared their vehicle convoy, a series of whistling sounds followed by deafening explosions erupted as over a dozen mortar shells slammed into the area, quickly destroying five military trucks.

The three remaining vehicles, seeing the dire situation, accelerated toward Xiyang County. However, one of them was soon struck by a mortar shell, transforming into a ball of fire. Ultimately, only two military vehicles managed to escape the range of the mortars and came to a stop in the distance.

Watching the burning vehicles, Ichiro Sawada was livid, his face distorted with rage. Yet, he managed to regain his composure and led the remnants of his Japanese unit toward Xiyang County, barely managing to break through the bombardment zone.

By the time they regrouped, the entire 3rd Platoon, the machine gun squad, and the military police unit—a force of over 70 men—had been reduced to fewer than 30 survivors. As for the squadron's staff officer, Maru Matsushita, he had perished in the intense shelling moments earlier.

The collaborationist troops fared little better, with only about 70 men remaining. Many had abandoned their weapons and ammunition in the bombardment zone, and all of them were trembling like frightened quails. They were terrified not only of the Eighth Route Army’s formidable firepower but also of the punishment or military execution they might face at the hands of the Japanese.

Sawada, conversely, felt a strange sense of calm. After all, having encountered the main force of the Eighth Route Army, his culpability for losing the stronghold was significantly lessened. His heart was filled with a mixture of rage, fear, and the relief of having survived a brush with death.

He ordered some of the Japanese soldiers to escort the collaborationists back to the county seat on foot, while he and a dozen others sped back by vehicle to report to their superiors and request instructions. Currently, the Japanese only equipped infantry battalions with radios; field squadrons were not provided with them, but every county seat had a communications room equipped with specialized radio sets.

On the defensive position, the gunfire gradually subsided. As the soldiers watched the Japanese retreat, bursts of cheers erupted.

Zhang Yun then arranged for the 1st Squad leader, Dabao, to lead a team to sweep the battlefield, though he anticipated that little of value would remain after such intense shelling.

However, he was quite satisfied with the bonus equipment gained through his system's "kill-to-loot" mechanic.

Since the kills were confirmed, and the enemy's heavy machine gunners had likely been killed by mortar shrapnel first, the bonus machine guns were in pristine condition. Together with the 0.5 unit bonus from the stronghold, he now had two Type 92 heavy machine guns waiting to be materialized. Additionally, this battle yielded a substantial amount of rifle and machine gun ammunition, dozens of rifles, one grenade launcher, three damaged trucks, 0.5 of a light machine gun, and various other supplies. Overall, he was very satisfied.

After some thought, he materialized the two heavy machine guns, 30 Type 13 Liao rifles, and 5,000 rounds of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, placing them at the heavy machine gun position. After all, the number of Japanese and collaborationist troops had been significant, and no one could say for sure exactly how many machine guns the Japanese had brought or how many rifles the collaborationists had discarded.

After a while, Dabao and the 1st Squad returned from sweeping the battlefield, bringing back three intact heavy machine guns (the two brought by the Japanese had been destroyed by shells), one Type 11 light machine gun, over a hundred functional rifles, and about 13,000 rounds of machine gun and rifle ammunition. Naturally, they also brought back some damaged weapons and equipment, which were not discarded.

Seeing such a massive haul, everyone felt somewhat numb with shock.

Qin Sheng said to Old Hu, "Old Hu, pinch me and see if I'm dreaming. How have we won so many victories today? How did we manage to capture so much weaponry and equipment?"

Indeed, their new recruit platoon had fought three battles today and won all three. In the morning, they marched to Liujia Town and wiped out over 50 Japanese and 50 collaborationist troops. In the afternoon, they broke the Xiaohuo Village stronghold, seizing large quantities of grain and ammunition. Finally, they successfully intercepted the enemy with artillery, killing fifty or sixty Japanese and collaborationist soldiers while capturing three heavy machine guns and over a hundred rifles.

In a single day, the amount of weapons, equipment, and supplies captured by the new recruit platoon had reached a level that left them speechless.

They gathered around, tinkering with the Type 92 heavy machine guns and discussing the events with excitement. Everyone was filled with confidence in their victory.

Deputy Platoon Leader Liu Changqing took out a small notebook and made some careful calculations before happily finding Zhang Yun. "Platoon Leader, I’ve made a rough estimate. Our new recruit platoon now possesses nearly 400 rifles, 13 light machine guns, 4 heavy machine guns, and 3 mortars, along with 100,000 rounds of ammunition. With this much firepower, we could rival a battalion, and our ammunition reserves could rival half a division."

At present, the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army were at full strength—for instance, the 129th Division had over 13,000 men, and a main force regiment could reach about 2,500 men, with each battalion consisting of roughly 500 to 700 soldiers. Even so, not everyone had a firearm. During the later periods of rapid expansion, newly formed base regiments would only have about 1,000 men with 300 to 500 rifles. In the most difficult times, the ratio of men to guns reached 6:1, with most people carrying only broadswords and spears.

Zhang Yun smiled with satisfaction. In a month and a half, he had grown his force from fifteen or sixteen men to 171, and from a dozen rifles to over 400 guns. Now, it was time for another major expansion.

"Changqing, it's time for us to recruit! Since the Japanese occupied Shanxi months ago, they have committed countless atrocities, and the people of the Sanjin land are seething with hatred. Just now, when the villagers of Xiaohuo saw us break the stronghold, many came out to bring us food and water. This is where the people's hearts and the cause of justice lie."

"Taking advantage of the prestige brought by our victory, we will recruit and distribute grain in Xiaohuo Village and its surrounding areas tonight. At the same time, we will hold a public trial for those in the village who have defected to the Japanese and committed bloody crimes. This will not only strike a blow to the arrogance of the traitors but also provide an opportunity to develop our organization."

Zhang Yun took a sip of water and said earnestly to the deputy platoon leader, "Changqing, you and the 1st Squad leader go handle this now. Tomorrow, I will arrange for Old Tang and the others to recruit in Liujia Town and Yujiakou Town. By tomorrow night, I want to have recruited 200 more men!"

Hearing the order, the deputy platoon leader did not hesitate, nodded in agreement, and then called for Dabao and the soldiers of the 1st Squad to head back to Xiaohuo Village.

Zhang Yun continued to defend the position with the 2nd Squad to prevent any enemy return. Although he judged that there would be no more enemies tonight, one could never be too cautious in war.

...

As night fell, the road remained silent and still. Zhang Yun concluded that the Japanese would not return tonight. He instructed Old Hu to remain vigilant and ordered scouts to extend to the flanks before returning to Xiaohuo Village with his communications officer.

Although it was dark, Xiaohuo Village was bustling with activity. Deputy Platoon Leader Liu Changqing and the 1st Squad were busy promoting the policies of the Party and the army, while suppressing the local bullies and traitors who had served the Japanese. Having suffered greatly under the Japanese, the villagers of Xiaohuo showed immense support and enthusiasm for joining the army.

Seeing Zhang Yun arrive, Liu Changqing happily reported that they had already recruited over 20 new soldiers in just two hours.

Xiaohuo Village was one of the few wealthy towns under Xiyang County jurisdiction. It was vast, with over 20 subordinate villages, all of which were defaulted by the system as nodes of Xiaohuo Village.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese had not yet reoccupied the area, Zhang Yun immediately arranged for the 1st Squad leader to take the 20 veterans and the 20 new recruits to the surrounding villages to promote their policies and conduct further recruitment. Although it was already night and work would be difficult, Zhang Yun did not expect to recruit a large number of troops, but he did want to confirm the "occupation" of these villages.

With so many villages, Zhang Yun estimated he would once again gain massive amounts of grain, cloth, gold, silver, metal, and perhaps even some firearms, ammunition, medicine, and equipment. After all, Shanxi was a region with a developed coal and iron industry; many villages had small coal mines and metallurgy workshops, possessing workshop-grade equipment like crushers, rollers, and powder sifters.

By accumulating these small gains and using the system to upgrade them, Zhang Yun would slowly gather important small-scale industrial equipment, laying a solid foundation for developing small military and civilian factories in the future.

Although Zhang Yun was already a "local tycoon," the anti-Japanese situation would only grow more severe. While the Japanese had not yet established a firm foothold, Zhang Yun intended to accelerate the accumulation of his material reserves, aiming to first stockpile tens of thousands of tons of grain, thousands of firearms, and dozens of artillery pieces.