Anhua County, Jinbei Northwest Column Headquarters.

It took Ma Yuan and Chen Mingli two days to finally build the sand table.

By the way, Ma Yuan and Chen Mingli have been transferred from the headquarters to the headquarters of the Northwest Shanxi Column, and have been appointed by the brigade commander as the section chief and deputy section chief of the column combat section respectively.

As for Wang Ye, he has been promoted to director of staff.

However, Wang Ye, the chief of staff of the column, is a typical low-level team.

Generally speaking, the staff directors of the column headquarters are all brigade-level, and at least they must be at the deputy brigade-level. However, the staff director Wang Ye is still only at the regiment level, and is on par with Ma Yuan and Chen Mingli.

But then again, the levels and positions of the Eighth Route Army were not regularized at this time. For example, whether the column belongs to the division level or is between the division level and the brigade level? There is no clear rule whether the detachment is between the brigade level or between the brigade level and the regiment level.

In short, it's quite confusing.

Moreover, our party’s cadres do not pay much attention to this.

"Xiao Ma, Xiao Chen, the sand table is very good." said the brigade commander.

"Commander, this is our job." Ma Yuan said, "If you can't even build a sand table, then we should go home as soon as possible to grow sweet potatoes."

"Hey, you're really panting when you say you're fat?" the brigade commander cursed with a smile.

"That's it." Ma Yuan grinned, "Don't you look at who the commander of our Northwest Shanxi Column is?"

"You little fucking flatter me." The brigade commander laughed and scolded, "I'm not Li Yunlong, I'm not good at this."

"Braft Commander, your words are not objective." Li Yunlong said with a resentful look on his face, "I don't like others flattering you either."

"Okay, I don't know you yet?" The brigade commander smiled and turned his gaze to Wang Ye, saying, "Xiao Wang, let's start, tell me your considerations for the next stage of work."

After several days of rest and celebration, we finally entered the next stage.

"Yes." Wang Ye said, "The next stage of work should be defense deployment."

"Hey, why is it a defense?" Li Yunlong became anxious when he heard this, "Shouldn't he continue to attack?"

After pausing, Li Yunlong said again: "Observation is the best defense. Since we can capture Anhua and wipe out the 69th Division of the Japanese Army, we can continue to capture Taiyuan and wipe out the Taiyuan defenders!"

"I support attacking Taiyuan again." Kong Jie said, "No matter what, Taiyuan has only one wing at this time."

"Attack Taiyuan again?" the brigade commander said angrily, "You are talking easily, what are you going to use to attack Taiyuan?"

"Then you can fight as much as you can, just fight as you should." Li Yunlong said, "However we defeat Anhua, we will fight Taiyuan again according to this method."

The brigade commander asked, "Is the troops strong enough?"

"Military force?" Li Yunlong said, "Although our Northwest Column in Jinxi suffered more than 7,000 casualties in this battle, aren't there still more than 22,000 people? It's enough to fight Taiyuan. As Lao Kong said just now, the Japanese in Taiyuan only have one regiment. We have more than 22,000 people to fight Taiyuan, and we have seven times the strength of the troops. Are you afraid that we can't get it?"

The brigade commander said: "Even if the troops are sufficient, will the ammunition be sufficient?"

"Ammunition?" Li Yunlong was stunned for a moment and said again, "Is there not enough ammunition?"

The brigade commander turned his attention to Xing Zhiguo Highway: "Xing Zhiguo, tell everyone about how much materials are left in the Logistics Department now?"

Xing Zhiguo, who also serves as the logistics minister of the column, nodded and said, "Although our Northwest Shanxi Column achieved unprecedented victory in this battle, he even wiped out a Japanese division in an integrated manner..."

Li Yunlong became impatient and interrupted: "Stop talking nonsense, just say how much ammunition is left?"

Although Xing Zhiguo felt a little embarrassed, he had a rare good temper and did not have an attack.

Xing Zhiguo said: "As of now, there is probably a base ammunition left in the US equipment. Japanese equipment has slightly more, but it will not exceed two bases. For various types of ammunition, the number may vary, but generally there are only one or two base ammunition left. By the way, there will be a little more shells."

"What? Only one or two base ammunition left?" Li Yunlong was stunned.

Kong Jie and the others were also surprised. They didn't expect that this little ammunition was left. Before the war started, they had enough ammunition of five to ten bases.

After a while, Li Yunlong said, "Lao Xing, you can't make a mistake, are you?"

"No." Xing Zhiguo shook his head, "I have counted it many times."

"No, I must have made a mistake." Kong Jie also said, "How could it be consumed so much?"

The brigade commander said: "Is it strange to consume a lot? This is an offensive battle. Don't use the previous sparrow war and guerrilla warfare to measure the consumption of large-scale offensive battles like the Northwest Shanxi Battle. If the ammunition consumption of offensive battles is not that large, will the Japanese be unable to fight for less than two years?"

Li Yunlong and Kong Jie immediately fell down like deflated balls.

If only one or two base ammunition is left, it will really not be able to hit Taiyuan.

The brigade commander said again: "Even if we have sufficient ammunition, we can't attack Taiyuan, because the Taiyue Military Region and Taihang Military Region are no longer able to fight another blocking for us."

Li Yunlong said sternly: "Brig Commander, are the Taihang Military Region and Taiyue Military Regions consume a lot?"

"What do you think?" asked the brigade commander, "Taiyue Military Region and Taihang Military Region have delayed the two main divisions of the Japanese army for three days and nights, and the pressure will not be much smaller than our Northwest Shanxi Column."

"If there were no Taiyue Military Region and Taihang Military Region's desperate attack, there would be no victory this time."

Speaking of this, the brigade commander said again: "Li Yunlong, now you still have to oppose handing over some of the seized weapons and equipment to the Taihang Military Region?"

"Brig Commander, I was wrong." Li Yunlong hurriedly said, "It's because I'm a little bit smaller."

After a pause, Li Yunlong said again: "In order to express his gratitude to the brothers of Taihang Military Region and Taiyue Military Region, I have no objection to handing over our American equipment."

"Really?" asked the brigade commander, "Are you really willing to hand over American equipment?"

"Really, I really have no objection." Li Yunlong said, "It's not always said that gold can shine anywhere. Our Northwest Shanxi Column will also fight the Japanese with a fire stick, and will never be timid."

"Okay, you said this, don't regret it." After saying that, the brigade commander turned his head and looked at Wang Ye.

Li Yunlong's heart suddenly jumped when he heard this, no? No? The brigade commander wouldn't really hand over American equipment, right? I just said casually, why are you taking it seriously?

Li Yunlong was so anxious that he scratched his ears and his forehead, but he was embarrassed to regret it.

The brigade commander ignored Li Yunlong and said to Wang Ye: "Xiao Wang, continue."

"Yes." Wang Ye responded and said, "The main work of the next stage is defense deployment, and this defense deployment is essentially different from the previous defense deployment."

"The essential difference?" Kong Jie asked, "What's the difference?"

Wang Ye said: "The previous defense deployment was to protect the people and preserve the vitality as much as possible. However, this time, the defense deployment ranked first and the people were still to protect the people, but the second place was no longer to preserve the vitality, but to ensure the safety of the Wanmadu Industrial Zone!

"Ah?" Kong Jie said, "Isn't that a passive defense?"

"Yes, passive defense is not possible." Li Yunlong said, "The Chairman said that if you lose people, people and land will be lost. If you lose people, people and land will be lost. If you lose people, people and land will be preserved, and your life will be preserved. It is much more important to preserve your life power than to defend a city and a land. Xiao Wang, we are the Eighth Route Army, and we cannot make mistakes of the Kuomintang army. That is stupid, and we cannot do stupid things."

"Shut up." said the brigade commander, "Can you let Xiao Wang finish his words?"

Li Yunlong and Kong Jie stopped talking and waited for Wang Ye to say the reason.

Wang Ye continued: "Because after the Wanmadu Industrial Zone is completed, it will be able to continuously produce 7.92mm and 7.62mm Mauser rifle bullets, as well as 11.4mm Thomson submachine gun bullets, then the American equipment of our Northwest Shanxi Column will not become a decoration."

“And as long as the technicians are in place,”

"It is possible to expand two more production lines of 6.5mm and 7.7mm Arisaka rifle bullets."

"In the later stage, several shell production lines of 50mm caliber grenades, 70mm caliber grenades and 75mm caliber grenades can be expanded. In this way, not only our Northwest Shanxi Column, but also the entire 129th Division and even the Eighth Route Army in North China will no longer have to worry about no ammunition available."

Hearing this, everyone was immediately excited.

Wang Ye had actually said this a long time ago, but no one cared about it.

Because Li Yunlong and the others felt that it was too far away, but today they suddenly realized that the arsenal seemed to be within reach and they could really start building an arsenal.

If this arsenal is built, the doomsday of the Japanese will almost come.

Ding Wei said: "Xiao Wang, if such a large arsenal is built, then our northwestern base in Shanxi will really become the Japanese army in North China."

"That's for sure," Wang Ye said, "but it is worth the appropriate sacrifice to build an arsenal that is enough to reverse the entire anti-Japanese war situation."

Hearing this, the brigade commander frowned.

Appropriate sacrifice? The question is how much sacrifice is considered appropriate?

Wang Ye quickly revealed the answer: "You must be able to withstand the attack of the four Japanese divisions for at least one month!"

"What? Four divisions have an attack in a month?" Not only the brigade commander, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei and Kong Jie and others all felt a sudden sank when they heard this. This task was really difficult.

Wang Ye pointed to the sand table and said, "Please look here, this is Wanma Du."

"If the Japanese army wants to destroy the industrial park in Wanmadu, there are only two options. They either send small troops to cross Wohu Mountain or Jiugong Mountain into northwest Shanxi. However, if the Japanese army does this, they are purely seeking death. Therefore, it is possible for them to send small troops to harass them. As a real offensive tactic, it is extremely impossible, unless they are crazy."

"The second choice of the Japanese army is to advance along the highway, so there are four routes."

"The Japanese army can launch a centripetal attack on our northwest base from Taiyuan to the south, Datong to the northeast, water springs to the northeast, and Yangquan to the southeast at the same time."

"Considering the restrictions on the terrain, the forces in North China, and the current international situation, I think the Japanese army will only mobilize at most four divisions to attack us, and the time is likely to be no more than one month."

"If more troops are mobilized, or lasting for more than a month, the entire North China will be shaken."

After a pause, Wang Ye said again: "So our defense deployment must ensure that it can withstand the attack of the four Japanese divisions for one month. If we cannot do this, it will not be suitable for building an arsenal, because it will be a waste of construction."

The brigade commander said: "But the problem is that the top Japanese troops may once again increase troops to the Shanxi battlefield."

The head of the headquarters made a clear judgment on this point, and the brigade commander also mentioned it again.

Wang Ye said: "If this happens, it will inevitably have a great impact on the entire strategic planning of the Japanese army, and in turn affect the situation on the Pacific battlefield and even the entire Asian battlefield. If this effect can be achieved, let alone the arsenal, it will be completely worth it even if it is a compensation for the entire Northwest Shanxi detachment."

"Well, this is the truth." The brigade commander agreed.

After a pause, the brigade commander said again: "Then talk about your defensive deployment idea."

Wang Ye said: "Considering that the Japanese army has a large amount of heavy equipment and must use the help of highway maneuvers, we just need to firmly hold the highway."

“I chose four key nodes.”
To be continued...