Chapter 37: Massive Spoils Seized from the County Seat

Zhang Yun’s watch slowly ticked to 2:30 AM. All the soldiers were focused, waiting for the order to attack.

As the second hand crossed the mark, Zhang Yun gave a low command to the artillery team: "Begin the attack."

Wang Chengzhu and Li Tianduo’s expressions turned solemn as they shoved mortar shells into the barrels. On the perimeter wall, the two mortars quickly fired 82mm high-explosive shells toward the enemy barracks. *Thump, thump, thump, thump*—four shells were launched in a matter of seconds. Following this, the two expert gunners maintained a steady rhythm, firing one round every two seconds.

Seconds later, the Japanese barracks inside the county town erupted in fire and explosions. At the same time, fierce blasts rocked the north and south gates as infantry guns and a third mortar opened fire.

Most of the Japanese soldiers were still fast asleep, and even those on guard duty were dazed. By the time the shells detonated in the barracks, many soldiers were still unconscious before the blasts collapsed roofs upon them, burying them in the ruins. Soon, the Japanese command post was also struck, shaking violently as smoke filled the air.

"Baka! Where are those shells coming from? Take cover! Take cover!" a staff officer on duty shouted in a rage, but it was to no avail. The Japanese were either buried in the rubble or thrown into complete chaos.

Shell after shell continued to rain down, engulfing the barracks in smoke and flames. Then, a high-explosive mortar shell detonated at the entrance of the command post, blowing two sentries away; when they landed, their bodies were riddled with bloody holes. Shrapnel struck the staff officer, who collapsed in agony, his uniform quickly soaking through with blood before he went silent.

Fire, explosions, shrapnel, and flying stone turned the Japanese barracks into a purgatory of steel and blood!

One minute later, the shelling stopped abruptly!

Immediately, the recruit platoon, which had been lying in ambush in nearby streets, surged toward the enemy command post and barracks. Old Zhang and five other scouts led dozens of soldiers in a direct sprint toward the enemy arsenal. Their goal was to secure the munitions as quickly as possible to prevent the enemy from detonating them.

Because the arsenal was located deep within the barracks, the Japanese had not set up heavy defenses around it. With the machine-gun positions and key defenses destroyed by the bombardment, the defenses of the command post and arsenal were essentially broken.

Although some surviving Japanese soldiers tried to resist with rifles and machine guns, they were quickly gunned down by the suppressive fire from the eleven machine guns and six rapid-fire pistols wielded by Liu Changqing, Old Zhang, and their men.

The soldiers stormed into the barracks, command post, and arsenal, beginning the mop-up of the remaining enemy!

Everything went smoothly. After all, there were fewer than a hundred Japanese troops in the county, and only about sixty in the barracks, command post, and arsenal. Faced with a midnight surprise attack by the recruit platoon, a sudden mortar strike, concentrated fire from thirteen machine guns, and a rapid charge by over two hundred men, their defenses melted away like snow in boiling water, failing to make even a ripple.

The squad leaders organized the soldiers to pull the Japanese out of the ruins one by one, counting the bodies and clearing the area. Old Zhang led a team to guard the arsenal and conduct a preliminary count.

Meanwhile, Deputy Platoon Leader Liu Changqing was in the enemy command post examining a rare piece of equipment: a radio!

Although radios seemed common during World War II, the Eighth Route Army had a very low distribution rate; even main force units were only equipped at the brigade level. Units like Li Yunlong’s New First Regiment, Kong Jie’s Independent Regiment, and the 771st and 772nd Regiments lacked such equipment.

By comparison, the Kuomintang Central Army was generally equipped at the regimental level, with a radio density five to seven times that of the Eighth Route Army. The Japanese were equipped at the battalion level, with a density twice that of the Central Army. European countries were equipped at the battalion or even special company level, with a density two to three times that of the Japanese. As for the United States, they had already deployed individual radios down to the company level, and some special units even down to the squad level, with a density four to five times that of Europe! (This includes short-range individual walkie-talkies.)

One can see the vast gap in national strength and the sheer difficulty of the Eighth Route Army’s resistance!

But enough of that!

The device Liu Changqing and his men seized was a Japanese Type 94 radio, a high-power model specifically used for inter-county communication. Such equipment was extremely hard to capture during the war because it was only assigned to battalion-level or higher headquarters and was delicate and easily damaged. The Japanese were also fond of destroying machine guns, artillery, and radios before being wiped out, which was another reason these items were rarely captured.

Liu Changqing, not a trained specialist, didn't understand the finer details. After tinkering with it and confirming it was intact, he had his men store it away carefully.

Just then, a young soldier ran over to report, stammering with excitement: "Deputy Platoon Leader! The arsenal—the arsenal has so much ammunition! It’s all bullets and shells!"

Seeing the soldier’s agitation, Liu Changqing knew the haul must be massive. The previous capture at the Xiaohuozhuang stronghold had already opened their eyes, and the soldier wouldn't act like this unless the quantity was staggering.

"About how much?"

"I don't know! Several large rooms are filled with crates of bullets and shells. Comrade Old Zhang says there are at least three hundred thousand rounds of ammunition and nearly a thousand shells. There isn't much else!"

Before Liu Changqing could respond, Kong Jie walked into the Japanese command post with a dozen soldiers. He had just finished deploying most of the Independent Regiment’s men on the road 400 meters outside the south gate to establish a perimeter defense against any sudden enemy attacks. He had come specifically to check on the situation, only to overhear the report. He was stunned and quickly asked:

"How much ammunition? 300,000 rounds! My God, our Independent Regiment has struck it rich again!"

Liu Changqing saluted and welcomed the regimental commander in.

"Commander Kong, we have truly struck it rich! We’ll split it half and half!"

Kong Jie laughed heartily, saying, "Even half is a fortune! The brigade commander will surely be shocked!"

"Capturing this much ammunition is probably the biggest haul since the start of the counter-offensive against the Nine-Route Encirclement in Southeast Shanxi!"

"Over the last half-month, our Eighth Route Army units have fought many hard battles. Our losses have been significant and our ammunition consumption enormous, and we haven't been able to make up for it. I never expected we’d sneak into Heshun and take the county town to get such a haul!"

"Our Platoon Leader Zhang is truly a tactical genius. Every time he leads us, we get such a haul—he is simply our 'Master of Spoils'!"

***

Meanwhile, Zhang Yun was slowly making his way to the command post with the artillery squad.

He had been calculating the kills and spoils along the way. Because the recruit platoon’s attack was so successful, all the Japanese were eliminated, and the artillery had helped the Independent Regiment take out the heavy machine gun nests and other firing points at the city gates. As a result, the haul was quite rich: about 30 rifles, one heavy machine gun, one light machine gun, over 14,000 rounds of ammunition, four grenade launchers, and a number of hand grenades.

However, he no longer cared for such small pickings. He was looking forward to the spoils of occupying the county town, which, according to his judgment, would be astronomical.

Finally, as the Independent Regiment soldiers withdrew from the town, the system confirmed the "Occupation" of Heshun County. The loot bonus system began to refresh:

**Battle Spoils (Occupation of Heshun County):**

**Weapons and Equipment:** 24 Liao Type 13 rifles, 4 Mauser automatic pistols, 188,734 rounds of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, 4,032 rounds of 7.63mm pistol ammunition, 3 ZB vz. 26 light machine guns, 2,302 hand grenades, 9 grenade launchers, 360 infantry gun shells, 400 Type 41 mountain gun shells...

**Currency:** 243kg of gold, 12.56 tons of silver, 2,404 Japanese Yen, 2,341 military notes, 223,452 Fapi...

**Food:** 1,704 tons of flour, 249 tons of meat, 14.6 tons of leafy vegetables...

**Metals:** 24.64 tons of copper, 652 tons of iron, 4.56 tons of lead...

**Construction Materials:** 42 tons of cement, 63,492 cubic meters of lumber...

**Others:** 0.5 Type 94 radios, 4,534 bolts of cloth, 829 pieces of workshop machinery, 590 spinning wheels...

The massive quantity of supplies brought a smile to Zhang Yun’s face. These were the assets he needed for rapid expansion.

And the cumulative, uncollected spoils were even greater!

**Cumulative Uncollected Spoils:**

**Weapons and Equipment:** 402 Liao Type 13 rifles, 15 Mauser automatic pistols, 286,579 rounds of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, 6,145 rounds of 7.63mm pistol ammunition, 4 ZB vz. 26 light machine guns, 1 heavy machine gun, 2,604 Gong-style hand grenades, 14.5 grenade launchers, 580 infantry gun shells, 540 Type 41 mountain gun shells...

**Currency:** 290kg of gold, 13.43 tons of silver, 2,404 Japanese Yen, 2,341 military notes, 224,509 Fapi...

**Food:** 1,880 tons of flour, 306 tons of meat...

**Metals:** 26.65 tons of copper, 698 tons of iron, 4.99 tons of lead...

**Construction Materials:** 44 tons of cement, 63,780 cubic meters of lumber...

**Others:** 4,907 bolts of cloth, 1,022 pieces of workshop machinery, 670 spinning wheels...