Chapter 1 The Xuzhou Detachment

　　Yamabo Jiro's Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment was in full swing preparing for departure when Lin Fan, far away in Tianjia'an, received intelligence: the North China Front Army had formed the Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment to rescue the besieged Fukagawa Brigade on Huangtu Ridge and to sweep the Lunan base area.

　　Lin Fan immediately forwarded this information to Regiment Commander Gu Xiuming, who was already at the foot of Huangtu Ridge.

　　Gu Xiuming, after annihilating the Japanese puppet troops who had set out from Xuzhou to rescue the Fukagawa Brigade, sent planes to scout everywhere, but found no signs of the Japanese sending reinforcements again. In this situation, there was no point in keeping these Japanese troops on Huangtu Ridge.

　　He had already arrived here with four regiments, ready to launch a general offensive against the Fukagawa Brigade the next day.

　　Before the general offensive of the Lunan Detachment could begin, paper airplanes flew down from Huangtu Ridge one after another.

　　These paper airplanes were written with the same content: "A solemn warning to the Lunan Detachment, the Imperial North China Front Army has dispatched two infantry battalions from Beiping, traveling day and night to Huangtu Ridge. If you know what's good for you, quickly abandon the encirclement and flee!"

　　Gu Xiuming looked at the more than twenty paper airplanes collected, all written with the same content, and said with a smile, "The Japanese are already afraid. They are afraid of our attack, so they are deliberately reporting to us that reinforcements are coming, so that we can prepare to fight the reinforcements.

　　Don't attack them; the Fukagawa Brigade's attitude of struggling to survive is very firm!

　　However, is this news true or false?"

　　The other five regiment commanders under Huangtu Ridge all laughed. They didn't believe the news was true; they only thought it was a delaying tactic by the Japanese.

　　Gu Xiuming continued to prepare for the next day's offensive plan. At this moment, Lin Fan's telegram arrived.

　　Seeing the message in the telegram, Gu Xiuming was shocked: the Japanese had indeed formed a Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment, and the force was not the two infantry battalions revealed by the Fukagawa Brigade, but two infantry brigades plus a cavalry brigade.

　　"The Japanese are coming in large numbers this time!"

　　After reading this telegram, the five regiment commanders were all excited: so many Japanese troops; they could have a good fight.

　　Especially Regiment Commander Song Guo'an of the Feixian Security First Regiment. This time, his regiment was the first to arrive at the battlefield, but it was unable to replace as many heavy machine guns and cannons as the Sishui First Regiment.

　　Now, hearing that three brigades of Japanese troops were coming, his first thought was that this time, he must replace the equipment of the entire regiment.

　　Two independent mixed infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade; with so many Japanese troops, the weapons they sent would at least be enough to replace the weapons of his regiment.

　　Gu Xiuming looked at the excited faces of his regiment commanders, knowing that they didn't understand how many troops were in these three Japanese brigades, nor did they understand the strength of these Japanese troops.

　　Even ordinary three brigades are at least a division and a half, with at least 30,000 Japanese troops.

　　Since it was a Japanese independent mixed infantry brigade, it should have more troops than an ordinary brigade. Calculated in this way, it was almost 40,000 Japanese troops.

　　The Lunan Detachment now had only five regular infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, with a total of less than 13,000 people.

　　There were quite a few security regiments formed in various places. If all of them were mobilized, they could gather fifty security regiments.

　　However, most of these security regiments had never been on the battlefield. Even when suppressing bandits, only a few security regiments had participated.

　　With such a force of over ten thousand, Gu Xiuming was still a little unsure of being able to fight the 40,000 elite Japanese troops head-on.

　　He sent all his concerns to Lin Fan, requesting instructions.

　　When Lin Fan forwarded the received telegram to Gu Xiuming, he was already discussing with Chen Sichuan in the headquarters how to fight this battle of the Lunan Detachment.

　　"A direct confrontation is definitely not possible," Chen Sichuan said from the start.

　　"The Lunan Detachment has far fewer regular troops than the Japanese. Although they have a large number of security regiments, quantity cannot replace quality.

　　Such a large security regiment needs to be led by a considerable number of elite troops to achieve a result greater than the sum of its parts.

　　Otherwise, the more teams that participate, the more uncontrollable the situation will become if there is a slight setback.

　　But the Lunan Detachment now has only five infantry regiments. One regular regiment leads a security regiment to fight, and the total force is only 20,000.

　　It is only half the number of the Japanese troops; this battle cannot be fought head-on."

　　Lin Fan quietly listened to Chen Sichuan's analysis. He had to admit: Chen Sichuan's analysis was correct.

　　In the current situation, the Lunan Detachment's strength was indeed insufficient if it wanted to directly confront the three brigades of Japanese troops at once.

　　Lin Fan and Chen Sichuan looked at the map sent by the Lunan base area. This was the Special Operations Brigade's practice: every time they went to a place, they had to survey and map the local area.

　　When there was no map available, they used the military maps captured from the Japanese or the Nationalist army. These were completely unusable. Many rivers and roads were not drawn on them, and they were completely like rough maps drawn a hundred years ago.

　　Lin Fan pointed to Huangtu Ridge and said, "This location is very good! It is far away from the main transportation routes. The nearest railway is more than a hundred *li* (Chinese mile) away.

　　If the Lunan Detachment wants to take action, they can only focus on the roads."

　　Chen Sichuan said with a smile, "Unless the Lunan Detachment can divide the Japanese troops and form a superior force in a local area, annihilating the Japanese troops piece by piece with overwhelming force."

　　Lin Fan pointed to the railway from Beiping to Xuzhou: "It is impossible for 50,000 Japanese troops to arrive from Beiping to Xuzhou in one or two days.

　　It is also impossible for so many Japanese troops to stick together and act simultaneously.

　　As long as there is a gap in the middle of the Japanese troops, there is an opportunity to divide them.

　　This requires accurate intelligence, quick response, and a fast-moving team."

　　Chen Sichuan said, "There is another way: annihilate the Japanese troops on Huangtu Ridge now, and the Lunan Detachment will disperse into smaller units, so that the Japanese troops cannot find anyone.

　　They will sweep through the base area. These places are inconvenient to access, and large Japanese corps cannot stay for long.

　　When the Japanese troops leave, the Lunan Detachment will fight back.

　　In this way, the Lunan Detachment will basically not suffer any losses."

　　Lin Fan shook his head: "The people of the base area chose us, and we also chose to protect them.

　　The Lunan Detachment cannot just hide behind the people at this time and let the Japanese troops wreak havoc in the base area. This does not conform to the Special Operations Brigade's purpose.

　　We would rather suffer and shed some blood than let the people lose faith in us.

　　Let the Jiangbei Aviation Second Detachment go to Lunan to support their operations."

　　Chen Sichuan said in surprise, "Brigade Commander! We are holding back the Japanese Second Army in front of Liu'an Huoshan, and Qianshan and Tongcheng are facing Okamura Neiji's Eleventh Army, and Chaohu is facing the Central China Expeditionary Army.

　　We are surrounded by enemies here in Jiangbei! If we transfer the Aviation Second Detachment away, our air power will be reduced by half!"

　　Lin Fan nodded and said, "Yes! The Jiangbei base area is difficult, but we have ten main regiments in Jiangbei, and they are all the old core of the Special Operations Brigade. Adding the newly established Tang You Regiment, we have eleven main regiments here, with nearly 30,000 combat personnel.

　　This is three times the number of the Lunan Detachment, and most of the five infantry regiments of the Lunan Detachment were expanded in May. They have fought too few major battles, and their experience is not enough.

　　Their weapons and equipment do not have anti-aircraft machine guns and rocket launchers, which seriously affects their firepower.

　　Therefore, we must strengthen their air power."

　　Listening to Lin Fan's analysis, Chen Sichuan did not speak. He knew that the most powerful combat force of the Special Operations Brigade was now in Jiangbei.

　　The old teams left in Jurong now only had the Fifth Regiment, Seventh Regiment, and Ninth Regiment. Although they had now converted the security regiments of various counties into regular regiments for training, they had not yet experienced the battles of blood and fire.

　　The combat effectiveness of a team that had not been tested could only be known on the battlefield, no matter how well-trained they were in peacetime.

　　Thinking of this, he sighed, "Brigade Commander! We have spread ourselves too thin."

　　Lin Fan smiled: "It is that our development is too slow to adapt to the new situation. As long as the Lunan Detachment perseveres this time, the participating security regiments can also be converted into regular regiments.

　　From this point of view, it is a good thing that the Japanese have sent out three brigades to sweep the area this time.

　　Pressure is sometimes also a driving force, forcing us to accelerate our development."

　　Lin Fan had made a decision, so what could Chen Sichuan do?

　　Lin Fan continued, "I will leave the battlefield in Jiangbei entirely to you to command. I will go to Lunan.

　　As for the Flying Corps, let Jurong squeeze out another batch of planes to replenish them.

　　As long as the Battle of Wuhan has not ended, the Japanese will not take major action against the Jiangbei base area.

　　We only need to continue to develop along the railway towards Xuzhou.

　　If the speed of advancement in Jiangbei is fast enough, I believe that the newly formed Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment of the Japanese will not dare to fully invest in sweeping the Lunan base area."

　　When Chen Sichuan heard that Lin Fan was going to the Lunan base area again, he could only remind him, "Brigade Commander! Are you going to inform Jurong about your trip to Lunan?"

　　Lin Fan smiled: "Of course! I also want to ask Li Xian for twenty rocket launchers and ten thousand rockets."

　　Chen Sichuan also smiled: "This will make Political Commissar Li anxious."

　　Li Xian, who was extremely busy in Jurong, received a telegram from Lin Fan. When he saw that the Japanese had established the Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment, gathering 50,000 troops to sweep the Lunan base area,

　　his heart tightened. Although he now had little control over military affairs, he was paying attention to every move on the front line.

　　After all, all the logistical supplies of the Special Operations Brigade had to go through his hands.

　　Li Xian certainly knew what kind of pressure 50,000 Japanese troops would put on the Lunan Detachment.

　　Seeing that Lin Fan had decided to personally lead a team to Lunan and requested Jurong to prepare twenty rocket launchers and ten thousand shells,

　　Lin Fan was also taking twenty ground-attack aircraft and forty rocket launcher gunners with him.

　　At the same time, Lin Fan also asked Jurong to replenish the twenty ground-attack aircraft sent to Lunan to the Jiangbei base area.

　　Li Xian had always treated Lin Fan's requests as orders, and he only sent a one-word telegram in reply: "Okay!"

　　After receiving the reply, Lin Fan immediately ordered the First Regiment to transfer two rocket launcher gunners from the rocket launcher company, and also issued the same order to the various infantry regiments in Jiangbei.

　　All the transferred personnel immediately gathered in Hefei and went to Lunan with him to support the Lunan Detachment in fighting the Japanese.

　　Commander Yamabo Jiro had no idea that the Special Operations Brigade had already prepared planes and cannons for his troops before they even set off from Beiping.

　　Gu Xiuming received a reply from Lin Fan: in order to help the Lunan Detachment fight the Japanese, twenty ground-attack aircraft were transferred from the Jiangbei base area, twenty rocket launchers were urgently issued to the Lunan Detachment, and twenty rocket launcher gunners were transferred from the main regiments in Jiangbei to train the soldiers.

　　Finally, he also added a sentence: "I'm coming to Lunan!"

　　Whether it was ground-attack aircraft or rocket launchers, these were all things that Gu Xiuming had wanted for a long time, but the Jiangbei base area was newly built, and the surrounding Japanese troops were eyeing it covetously. All weapons and equipment could only be used by Jiangbei first.

　　This time, the Japanese troops were pressing down on the border, and the Lunan base area was about to be swept. In order to help Lunan resist the war, the Brigade Commander not only sent people, weapons, and shells, but even sent himself.

　　How could Gu Xiuming not be happy? He said with a smile to the regiment commanders present, "The Brigade Commander has decided to come and command the battle in person, and he has also brought us twenty ground-attack aircraft and twenty rocket launchers."

　　Shan Huacan asked, "Regiment Commander! We don't know how to use rocket launchers!"

　　"The Brigade Commander has brought people over. We'll learn while fighting on the battlefield. That's how we'll learn quickly."

　　Song Guo'an asked, "Regiment Commander! Are we still going to attack the Japanese troops on the mountain tomorrow?"

　　Gu Xiuming smiled and flicked the paper airplane that the Fukagawa Brigade had flown down. "They want to live so much, so let them live a few more days.

　　After we have wiped out the newly formed Xuzhou Special Operations Detachment of the Japanese, we will deal with them again."

　　Song Guo'an quickly said, "Regiment Commander! This time when we fight the Japanese, we should let our regiment go to the front line, right?"

　　Gu Xiuming pointed to the Japanese troops on the mountain: "Isn't your regiment always on the front line?"

　　"What kind of front line is this? We're just surrounding the Japanese troops, not letting them attack, and only able to fire potshots. These Japanese troops are so timid that they simply haven't shown their faces in the past two days. There's nothing to fight.

　　Our regiment is asking to go to the front line, like the Second Regiment, and at least capture dozens of heavy machine guns, so that each platoon in each company has two heavy machine guns. That's more like it!"

　　Gu Xiuming thought for a while: "Okay! When the security regiments in the rear come up this time, we'll let you go up."

　　He also took into consideration that in this operation, one main regiment would act with one security regiment. Since the Feixian Security First Regiment had already fought one battle, he would let them continue to fight, accumulate more experience in fighting the Japanese, and make it easier for them to be converted into a regular army in the future.

　　Thinking of this, he sent a telegram to Lin Fan: requesting the replenishment of heavy machine gun carts for five regiments.

　　The heavy machine gun carts of the Special Operations Brigade were now custom-made in Jurong. Compared to the rough-made carts they had made themselves in the past, they were not only lighter and faster, but also had much stronger protection.

　　Gu Xiuming wanted to equip these carts for the five auxiliary security regiments before the war began.

　　Lin Fan immediately agreed after receiving Gu Xiuming's telegram.

　　At the same time, he also sent a telegram back: the establishment of five auxiliary regiments should be decided now, and the Lunan Detachment should add the Seventh to Eleventh Five Infantry Regiments.

　　In this operation, each newly added infantry regiment would act with an old infantry regiment.

　　Gu Xiuming immediately began to take action after receiving the telegram.

　　He began to issue orders to the Lunan base area: "Five new infantry regiments are added: Song Guo'an, the Seventh Regiment Commander, Zhang Xiuru, the Eighth Regiment Commander, Tian Huacai, the Ninth Regiment Commander, Zhao Zheng, the Tenth Regiment Commander, and Qian Gui, the Eleventh Regiment Commander.

　　At the same time, he ordered each county to organize two security regiments to be responsible for local defense and maintain local security."

　　All of a sudden, the entire base area was active. In the Lunan base area, there were not actually many locals in the various security regiments.

　　Most of them were refugees who had been taken in by the base area in the past few months. The gratitude of these people to the Lunan Detachment was beyond words.

　　It could be said that the Lunan Detachment had saved their lives. They had drifted to the Lunan base area, where they not only had food to eat and clothes to wear, but now they had even built their houses and opened up their fields.

　　They were just waiting to plant wheat next. At this time, when they heard that the Japanese were coming to sweep the area, these reclamation corps members were all indignant. They were all members of the security regiment, and they were usually training.

　　However, this time Gu Xiuming only issued a partial mobilization order, only allowing the Security First Regiment and Security Second Regiment of each county to carry out the mission.

　　The remaining regiments still did the same as usual, working and farming, only concentrating on training bayonet skills every morning, and concentrating on training once a week.

　　This time, the security regiment commanders of various counties heard that the Security First Regiment and Security Second Regiment of Feixian and Sishui had all been converted into regular regiments.

　　They all became excited at once. The security regiment commanders of more than a dozen counties applied to their respective county heads: they were also security regiments, not stepchildren, and they also wanted to be converted into regular regiments.

　　They did not ask to have two security regiments converted into regular regiments like Feixian and Sishui, but at least one security regiment should be converted into a regular regiment!

　　Gu Xiuming did not expect that his reorganization of five security regiments would cause such great objections from the security regiments that had not been reorganized.

　　This was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and he could only ask Lin Fan for instructions.

　　Lin Fan also did not expect that the mass base in the Lunan base area was so good. The people were using their eyes to see and their hearts to experience.

　　They felt that the Lunan Detachment was fighting the Japanese and was good to the people, so of course they were willing to follow such a team and defend their homeland.

　　Lin Fan sent a telegram back: "According to the requests of the various counties, reorganize the Security First Regiment of each county into the ranks of regular regiments."

　　Gu Xiuming was a little surprised: "Brigade Commander! We now have twenty-one counties in our base area. If we expand twenty-three regiments at once like this, isn't the step too big?

　　And does the Lunan base area have the financial resources to support the teams of twenty-nine regiments?"

　　Lin Fan sent a telegram back: "Look further ahead. With the teams of twenty-nine regiments, we can develop the base area to forty or fifty counties.

　　Don't worry about the finances and logistics of the base area. Behind the Lunan base area, there are also the Jurong base area and the Jiangbei base area."

　　Since the Brigade Commander had said so, what else could Gu Xiuming say? He immediately began to work on the reorganization of the new teams.

　　Gu Xiuming was also happy that the Lunan base area could have twenty-nine regular regiments. In this way, among the three base areas, the Lunan base area already had the most troops.

　　Even the Jurong base area now only had twenty regiments of standing troops. Although they had a lot of reserve troops, they only used twenty regiments of regular troops.

　　Lin Fan was also discussing with Chen Sichuan in the headquarters: "The Lunan base area has developed to twenty-nine regiments. How should they develop next?"

　　Chen Sichuan pointed to Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei hanging on the wall and said, "Such a vast territory is far from enough for twenty-nine regiments.

　　When we are united with the Lunan base area, we should at least organize a hundred regiments and take back all these enemy-occupied areas."

　　Lin Fan said with a smile, "It's coming soon! The Lunan base area has been expanded to twenty-nine regiments. Jurong is our main base area. The twenty regiments after the last expansion have officially entered various places to garrison.

　　It's time to expand again. While the Japanese are in Wuhan and have no time to take care of other places, we should also expand our troops in Jurong again."

　　Chen Sichuan absolutely agreed, and he said, "We already have tens of millions of people in Jurong, and only less than 50,000 troops are stationed there. The troops are really too few.

　　We should at least expand to a standing army of 100,000 people."

　　Lin Fan thought for a while: "We are implementing a policy of universal conscription in Jurong. Every eligible person must participate in military training.

　　When it is really needed, we can immediately organize an army of millions. It is enough to expand to about 100,000 people.

　　However, the military training for ordinary people still needs to be taken seriously. We must ensure that each of them consumes 100 rounds of ammunition every year."

　　While the two of them were just discussing in the headquarters, Li Xian in Jurong had already begun to issue orders, mobilize supplies, and prepare planes.

　　These days, Jurong has been developing better and better.

　　With the money that Lin Fan had retrieved from the Japanese banks last time, all the infrastructure in Jurong was done well by the Special Operations Brigade.

　　The bosses who came from other places to build factories only needed to bring money and technology, design the blueprints in the designated place, and hand them over to the construction company here in Jurong.

　　The Special Operations Brigade guaranteed both parties: if there were any problems with the quality of the construction company, the Special Operations Brigade would compensate first. After the repaired factory buildings were accepted and qualified, the money that the boss had deposited in the Special Operations Brigade in advance would be fully settled immediately.

　　In Jurong, the Special Operations Brigade strictly prohibited triangular debt. If a merchant was short of money, they could mortgage a loan from the bank established by the Special Operations Brigade, and the interest rate was half that of other places in the country.

　　There was only one restriction on these loans: they could only be used within Jurong.

　　Now Jurong has a large population, and foreigners are pouring in from the docks every day, and they are being recruited by various factories.

　　The anti-aircraft guns that Li Xian imported from abroad were originally intended to be distributed to the Lunan Detachment and the Jiangbei base area.

　　Now, the Jurong base area is developing too fast, and there are too many enterprises that need protection. The newly imported 100 anti-aircraft guns are completely insufficient.

　　There were simply no extra anti-aircraft guns to send down. Li Xian tried to continue to import these anti-aircraft guns, but this time he was rejected.

　　It was not that they were not selling, but that he was asking for too much. The Special Operations Brigade was importing too many cannons today, which seriously affected the equipment of their own country's army.

　　Therefore, the other party proposed that they could buy them, but they would have to deliver the goods in June next year.

　　After Li Xian reported this situation to Lin Fan, Lin Fan flatly rejected the proposal. The Special Operations Brigade proposed: since the goods would not be available until next year, then they would talk about it next year.

　　The current international situation is changing rapidly, and the Special Operations Brigade is only doing spot transactions and not futures at all.