Chapter 102 Japanese Morale Collapses

The Japanese 10th Infantry Brigade's 22nd Regiment was under constant aerial attack from the planes piloted by Xiao Jianying, He Haiqing, and Zhu Qingmao.

The entire regiment finally collapsed.

Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen hid in a shell crater, sorrowfully watching the Japanese soldiers near and far struggling amidst the machine gun fire.

These grenades, which had just inflicted heavy casualties on the entire 22nd Infantry Regiment,

had now become prime real estate for all the Japanese soldiers.

Hiding in a crater more than a meter deep could indeed effectively avoid the machine gun fire from above.

When they had just endured the artillery bombardment, they had feared too many shells would fall.

Now, the Japanese soldiers of the 22nd Infantry Regiment only regretted that the Ninth Regiment had not fired more shells.

There simply weren't enough craters to go around.

Several Japanese soldiers were crammed into each crater.

Even so, some Japanese soldiers couldn't squeeze in and anxiously crawled on the ground,

waiting for the machine gun fire to pass before immediately standing up and running away into the distance.

They no longer cared which direction they were fleeing.

Corporal Tanaka 43 was one of them.

His squad of Japanese soldiers had not managed to seize a crater and could not hide in place.

They could only patiently wait on the ground for the planes to finish their strafing run,

and then, after the planes had passed, quickly dash out of the battlefield.

They just wanted to quickly leave this place that was repeatedly under attack.

When the entire Tanaka squad had come down from General Mountain, there had been forty-three Japanese soldiers.

When they had just arrived here, some had joked that the corporal should be called Tanaka 54.

That way, the entire squad could retreat from General Mountain without losing a single man.

It was a beautiful wish!

Corporal Tanaka 43 knew that even if his squad had remained at forty-three, it would still be considered lightly wounded.

After the artillery bombardment and aerial strafing,

his squad was now reduced to only twenty-three Japanese soldiers.

These soldiers closely followed their corporal, sprinting quickly into the distance.

Corporal Tanaka 43's squad wasn't the only one with this idea.

Many Japanese soldiers throughout the 22nd Infantry Regiment were doing the same thing.

However, most of those fleeing Japanese soldiers had already abandoned their units.

Each Japanese soldier ran around like a headless fly,

just running and rushing aimlessly.

When they saw a plane, or heard one approaching,

they would quickly crawl on the ground, trying to avoid the strafing.

Li Zhize's 10th Regiment was now advancing rapidly towards the edge of the battlefield in company-sized units.

The interior of the battlefield was temporarily left to the three planes in the air.

The Japanese regiment within this area was completely suppressed by the three planes.

They wanted to resist, but they couldn't hit anything.

Could they just endure this? They couldn't stand it.

The edge of the battlefield would be cleared by the 10th Regiment.

Corporal Tanaka 43 led his men out.

They hadn't been strafed by planes for a while. Corporal Tanaka 43 heard the roar of the plane's engine

and the sound of machine gun fire.

But those sounds were some distance away. He looked back.

The three planes were still sweeping across the battlefield, but they had spared this small group of Japanese soldiers.

This was the result Corporal Tanaka 43 had wanted to achieve.

He counted the squad, and only fifteen Japanese soldiers remained.

Corporal Tanaka 43 found this result somewhat unacceptable.

But the surviving soldiers thought it was excellent.

Now they could stand on the edge and watch the Japanese soldiers crammed into the craters continue to endure the machine gun fire.

It was as if they felt a great sense of relief: "You guys took all the craters earlier.

Now it's our turn to watch you suffer!"

This wasn't just the Tanaka 43 squad's thinking.

The Japanese soldiers who had escaped in another direction with Company Commander Fujino Yoshita felt the same way.

Less than fifty Japanese soldiers had rushed to the edge of the battlefield with Company Commander Fujino Yoshita.

The mood of these Japanese soldiers was different from those who couldn't get a crater.

They no longer felt abandoned.

But their feeling of relief was short-lived.

The sound of heavy machine gun fire coming from not far away frightened Company Commander Fujino Yoshita, and he quickly crawled to the ground.

He nervously looked ahead: a team of Special Brigade soldiers was blocking their way.

Just feeling the firepower of the heavy machine guns heading their way,

Company Commander Fujino Yoshita gave up the idea of charging straight ahead.

Behind them was machine gun fire from the air, and in front of them was machine gun fire from the ground.

Company Commander Fujino Yoshita felt that this battlefield was too unfriendly to him.

Fortunately, there were directions to go other than forward and backward.

Company Commander Fujino Yoshita randomly pointed in one direction: "Breakthrough! Breakthrough in this direction!"

He wasn't going to designate any Japanese soldiers to stay behind and cover their retreat.

He was directly leading all the Japanese soldiers to run. Whoever ran slowly would be left behind.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers weren't thinking about outrunning the Special Brigade soldiers chasing behind them.

They just needed to outrun the Japanese soldiers next to them.

Blocking them here was the Second Company of the 10th Regiment.

Second Company Commander Fu Mingcheng used to be the best mortarman.

Now these Japanese soldiers wanted to run, and they weren't leaving any forces to cover their escape.

Of course, he couldn't let them go: "Chase!"

After issuing the order, Company Commander Fu Mingcheng operated the mortar, bombarding the Japanese soldiers of Company Commander Fujino Yoshita who were still gathered together.

This Japanese force still had combat power. Even after their escape, they were still able to gather more than forty Japanese soldiers.

Of course, Company Commander Fu Mingcheng couldn't let them continue like this.

Mortar shells exploded continuously in the midst of Company Commander Fujino Yoshita's fleeing troops.

One after another, Japanese soldiers fell.

"Scatter! Spread out!" Company Commander Fujino Yoshita ordered loudly.

They were being bombarded again, and although it was only small artillery fire,

these Japanese soldiers couldn't withstand it.

In order to escape, they could only separate.

Now it was time for the Second Company soldiers to perform.

They trained every day. Lin Fan had said on the first day they joined the Special Brigade: when advancing, you must be able to catch up with the Japanese.

When retreating, you must be able to outrun the Japanese.

Today was the day for them to catch up with the Japanese.

Company Commander Fujino Yoshita, fleeing in front, thought sadly: "Being chased by Special Brigade soldiers like this.

If we don't meet a force to help us, the Japanese soldiers who can survive in my force

will probably only be a few who slip through the net."

At this time, he was still hoping that seeds of the Fujino Yoshita Company would be left behind.

Company Commander Fu Mingcheng looked at the fleeing Japanese soldiers and ordered loudly: "Chase after them! Don't let a single Japanese soldier escape."

His company was at full strength with one hundred and fifty men. If more than forty Japanese soldiers escaped,

Company Commander Fu would feel ashamed!

Corporal Tanaka 43 also encountered trouble at this time.

Deadly trouble. A force suddenly rushed out in front of their escape route.

It was the Special Brigade soldiers who had driven the entire Amagu Tsugiro Brigade down from General Mountain.

This would cost the entire Tanaka 43 squad their lives.

The number of Japanese soldiers in their squad had been reduced again and again, and now there were only eleven Japanese soldiers left.

The people rushing over were obviously formidable.

What could they do?

Corporal Tanaka 43 issued only one word: "Run!"

They didn't dare turn back and run towards the middle of the battlefield. They could only run to the left and right.

Blocking them in the distance was the Fourth Company of the 10th Regiment. Company Commander Guo Kangde was a sharpshooter himself.

He stood and fired, holding his Type 38 rifle with both hands, aiming at the fastest running Japanese soldier.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out.

Corporal Tanaka 43 watched as Sergeant Major Tsushima Ryota, who was running the fastest and leading him by more than twenty meters, fell headfirst.

He never got up again.

"Bang!" Another gunshot rang out, and Sergeant Major Chimata Daiki, who was following Sergeant Major Tsushima Ryota, also fell headfirst.

Their actions proved that this road was impassable.

The remaining Japanese soldiers had no choice but to turn around and run towards the middle of the battlefield where the planes were strafing.

Behind them were Special Brigade soldiers chasing and killing them. At this time, the machine-gunned battlefield became a relatively safer place.

Now Corporal Tanaka 43 became the leader running in front.

"Bang!" Guo Kangde aimed at Corporal Tanaka 43, who was rushing in the front, and fired a shot.

Corporal Tanaka 43 fell to the ground, and the remaining eight Japanese soldiers were about to cry.

The east was forbidden, the north was forbidden, the south was occupied by the Special Brigade, and the west was suicide.

Which way were they supposed to run?

At this time, they truly hated that there was no door to the ground, no way to heaven.

These eight Japanese soldiers, who had no way out, couldn't even think of resisting with their guns.

The Type 38 rifles in their hands were like fire pokers.

They were completely useless to them now.

Guo Kangde and his men couldn't understand the feeling of these Japanese soldiers having no way out.

The entire Fourth Company was filled with excitement, nothing but excitement.

The soldiers charged extremely fast.

The company commander's continuous shots made the Japanese run east and west.

Finally, they stood still in place.

These Japanese soldiers couldn't escape, and they weren't willing to surrender.

They didn't dare to resist, so they just stood there on the battlefield.

They waited for the soldiers of the Fourth Company to rush up and send them on their way.

Only then were these eight Japanese soldiers truly relieved.

At least they no longer had to struggle with which way to run.

After the Fourth Company annihilated Corporal Tanaka 43's squad, they didn't leave the area.

Isolated Japanese soldiers were always escaping from the battlefield in the distance.

They attacked these escaping Japanese soldiers at the edge of the battlefield.

Japanese 22nd Infantry Regiment Commander Sato Hyogen stayed in the shell crater for a while.

He finally calmed his violently beating heart.

Now he had time to study what to do next.

This battle had come too suddenly, so much so that he still didn't understand what was going on.

Squatting at the bottom of the crater, he began to sort out the situation: descending from General Mountain.

There were gunshots ahead, indicating snipers.

He decided to go towards Heding Bridge, where there were no gunshots.

Along the way, everything was peaceful!

The entire regiment was very happy, and they could return to Nanjing unscathed.

The beautiful road to continue enjoying oppressing the people of Nanjing was right under their feet.

It seemed that at this time, the shells fell.

Then the planes came.

Then he was here.

The crater was still a crater, not a place to stay for long.

Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen finally sorted out the causes and consequences and the current reality.

He couldn't sit still and wait for death; he had to save himself! Squatting in the pit, Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen raised his head and ordered his guards:

"We must rush out! Rush out despite the plane strafing."

Every Japanese soldier understood this.

They had always thought so, but really rushing out at the risk of machine gun fire,

the danger was too great, completely gambling with their lives! Sergeant Major Magosaburo Sakutaro had the lowest status and could only be on the very edge of the crater.

He could see the bodies lying on the ground and the Japanese soldiers crawling on the ground being hit by machine gun bullets.

The scene of flesh and blood flying was really frightening to him.

Only then did Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen issue the order: "Everyone break out!"

In Sergeant Major Magosaburo Sakutaro's position, even if he didn't want to, he had to be the first to rush out.

If he didn't rush, Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen squatting at the bottom of the pit couldn't rush out either.

Not only did he have to rush, but he also had to pass on the regimental commander's order while rushing out.

Those Japanese soldiers crawling on the ground who hadn't found a crater to hide in,

upon hearing the order, also began to stand up and charge.

All four battalions of the entire Sato Hyogen Regiment were concentrated in this area.

Even after the artillery bombardment and machine gun strafing, there were still many survivors.

Now these Japanese soldiers finally began to accept reality after being continuously attacked.

These Japanese soldiers continued to charge towards Heding Bridge.

Xiao Jianying, He Haiqing, and Zhu Qingmao escorted them reluctantly all the way.

The machine gun strafing never stopped.

The 10th Regiment's various companies' layer-by-layer blocking of these Japanese soldiers also never stopped.

The Sixth and Seventh Companies buried directional mines on the Japanese soldiers' advancing road.

These Japanese soldiers were peeled layer by layer as they charged past.

Even so, the entire Japanese 22nd Infantry Regiment continued to charge towards Heding Bridge.

With Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen's command, these Japanese soldiers seemed to have a backbone.

They all broke through in one direction.

The 10th Regiment's nine companies ambushed on all sides, also ambushing layer by layer on the road the Japanese soldiers passed through.

Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen led more than twenty Japanese soldiers through an unknown number of Special Brigade blocking battles.

Finally, they rushed across Heding Bridge.

Brigade Commander Sasaki Taro, who had been at the Heding Bridge headquarters, had never imagined:

that Japanese soldiers from the 11th Division would rush from another direction towards his direction.

When he sent Japanese soldiers to notify Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen that Heding Bridge was not safe either,

and that they needed to continue retreating to Gaoding Bridge,

Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen followed his advice and immediately accepted the proposal.

At this time, he had gathered more than one hundred Japanese soldiers around him.

Brigade Commander Sasaki Taro, seeing that Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen had only one hundred soldiers left,

suddenly felt balanced in his heart.

Although he didn't know what the situation was with the 11th Division now,

judging from Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen's current situation, it would be a great blessing if this regiment had one thousand Japanese soldiers alive.

Calculated in this way, the entire 11th Division could now have at most a regiment's worth of troops left.

Very good!

There was no harm without comparison! Compared with the 11th Division's current situation, some casualties and losses in his brigade had become less conspicuous.

In fact, Brigade Commander Sasaki Taro had overestimated the 11th Division's ability to survive.

Sergeant Major Magosaburo Sakutaro ran and shouted: "Regimental Commander's order, everyone charge.

Charge forward!"

As he shouted, more and more Japanese soldiers followed him.

This made his force very conspicuous and eye-catching.

It was like a pig suddenly appearing in the middle of a pile of ants on the ground.

It immediately attracted Xiao Jianying's attention. The plane only paid a little attention to this pig.

In an instant, it dispersed the Japanese soldiers gathered by Sergeant Major Magosaburo Sakutaro.

This pile of Japanese soldiers immediately suffered more than half of their casualties, and Magosaburo Sakutaro also fell in a pool of blood.

He could no longer climb up, and he could no longer shout and convey orders.

Such scenes were everywhere on the battlefield.

There were always clever Japanese soldiers on the battlefield. They quietly walked alone on the battlefield.

They didn't join forces with any Japanese soldiers and intentionally kept a distance from the large and small units of Japanese soldiers.

Such Japanese soldiers had the greatest chance of walking out of this area alive.

Regimental Commander Sato Hyogen stayed by Heding Bridge to collect the remnants and stragglers, and brought back more than two hundred more.

This was the last batch of Japanese soldiers.

They could already see that the attack planes circling in the air had disappeared.

The sound of gunfire in the distance also gradually subsided.

Regiment Commander Li Zhize ordered the soldiers to quickly clean up the battlefield. Their mission was at Moling Pass.

Although these Japanese soldiers were also chased over from that direction,

the 10th Regiment still had to return quickly.

The 14th Regiment's Wu Yuan Regiment took over the battlefield cleanup work here.

The 10th Regiment quickly withdrew from the position, flying in the direction they had come.

The appearance of these soldiers didn't look like they had just fought a big battle chasing the Japanese soldiers.

The soldiers seemed tireless and were returning to camp.

They fought two battles in three days, and both were so beautiful.

The morale of these soldiers had soared to the sky.

Lin Fan listened to the battlefield report today: the three Japanese armies that came out of Nanjing

had now all retreated backward.

More than one thousand Japanese soldiers who attacked Moling Pass retreated to Yuhuatai.

Less than five hundred Japanese soldiers retreated through Heding Bridge.

The specific number of casualties of the Japanese soldiers who attacked Chunhua was not clear.

However, the entire Japanese artillery position was completely preserved intact.

Those cannons and shells were all intact.

They were being quickly transferred by the Fifth Regiment.

The spoils of war had to be recovered as soon as possible, to avoid complications.

This group of Japanese soldiers had already retreated past Gaoqiao Gate.

This position was a buffer zone between the Special Brigade and the Japanese soldiers.

Usually, the Special Brigade's troops would not cross this line during training.

The Japanese soldiers did not dare to cross this line either.

They had retreated back.

The Japanese soldiers attacking Tangshan were the earliest to retreat, staying in Qilin Gate.

There was no further action.

At this time, the most difficult task was Zhen Danxiao's and Wu Yuan's two regiments.

They had a wide battlefield area to clean up, and there were too many Japanese bodies on this battlefield.

There were Japanese bodies everywhere.

Here were most of the bodies of the Japanese 11th Division's 10th Brigade's 22nd Regiment.

Less than five hundred soldiers of this regiment returned alive.

Most of the Japanese soldiers died here.

The Japanese soldiers were killed by the 10th Regiment, the 9th Regiment, and the planes.

However, the 14th Regiment was responsible for cleaning up the battlefield.

There were also most of the bodies of the Japanese 16th Division's 30th Brigade's 38th Regiment.

These Japanese soldiers were killed by the 9th Regiment, the 5th Regiment, the 14th Regiment, and the planes.

Whoever killed them was responsible for cleaning up the battlefield.

The Japanese soldiers had left at least eight thousand bodies on this battlefield, and so many bodies needed to be cleaned up as soon as possible.

It was really embarrassing for the Fifth Regiment and the Fourteenth Regiment.

The Fifth Regiment's main focus now was to transport back the equipment left by the Japanese Field Artillery Regiment.

Today, the benefits of the Special Brigade's local organization could be seen.

Chunhua Town Mayor Xiao Wende was a cadre that Lin Fan had airlifted from northern Shaanxi.

He had come to the Special Brigade to strengthen local construction.

After the battle began, Xiao Wende had been organizing the people to transport ammunition to the front line.

Now that the Japanese soldiers had all run away, the battlefield was full of materials collected by the Special Brigade soldiers.

Xiao Wende immediately organized a transportation team of five hundred people.

The carts and mules were all from the Fifth Regiment and the Fourteenth Regiment.

These carts and mules were all seized by the Special Brigade in the battles these days.

These days, Xiao Wende and the others went to every village to learn in detail what the people still lacked and were short of for the upcoming spring plowing?

He knew that many people had not had time to take away their large livestock when the Japanese soldiers came, and they had all been robbed by the Japanese soldiers when they ran to the mountains to escape.

They were afraid that they would have some difficulties during the spring plowing this year.

Spring plowing was racing against time with God. If it was planted after the time had passed, the harvest would be much worse.

This year, it wasn't just one or two families whose plowing cattle had been robbed by the Japanese soldiers, from Anji to Guangde, and then to Jurong and Chunhua along the way.

All the places where the Japanese soldiers had marched were disaster areas for all the people.

After the Special Brigade recovered these places, various places gradually became peaceful.

The people also began to return home to prepare for the spring plowing, so the price of plowing cattle soared.

Some large households and merchants took this opportunity to hoard plowing cattle and greatly increased prices.

The price of a three-year-old strong ox had risen from six yuan last year to twenty yuan now.

And no one was willing to sell.

Those merchants and large households were also promoting:

When the spring plowing really came, the price of plowing cattle would rise even more.

Xiao Wende and the others promoted to those ordinary people in response to this situation:

As long as they supported the Special Brigade and actively participated in the projects they organized,

they could not only get wages, but also borrow plowing cattle from the Special Brigade during the spring plowing.

It was borrowing, not renting!

Whether what they said would be fulfilled or not, at least doing a few days of work wouldn't kill anyone.

The thoughts of ordinary people were very simple.

Moreover, the Special Brigade also provided meals when building the road between Jurong and Moling.

These people who had just gone to work thought: at most, they wouldn't receive wages.

When they finished the first day and received their wages on the same day,

Xiao Wende and the others' reputation among the people of Chunhua was established.

Although spring plowing had not yet arrived, these ordinary people already deeply believed that they would be able to borrow plowing cattle.

Today, he wanted to organize a group of people to help the Special Brigade, although it was a bit dangerous.

After all, it was a battle. In the past,

as long as there was a battle, these ordinary people would immediately flee to the mountains in the distance.

Today, not only did they not escape, but they were also organized to deliver ammunition.

Now, Xiao Wende had organized even more people.

These ordinary people drove these large carts, came to the battlefield,

loaded the gathered weapons and ammunition onto the carts, and transported them to Chunhua Town.

First transport weapons and ammunition, this was the first priority.

Then transport helmets, ammunition bags, and protective gear.

Then, clothes, pants, and leather shoes stripped from the Japanese soldiers.

It was too late to bury these Japanese soldiers today.

First gather the spoils of war.

According to the Special Brigade's current habits, a scavenging team would appear on the battlefield tomorrow.

All the shrapnel and shell casings on the entire battlefield had to be recycled.

Xiao Wende would assign some people to come and clean up with magnets.

All the scrap iron and copper picked up could only be sold to the Special Brigade's scrap recycling points.

The money obtained would be used to pay wages, and the rest would be the public funds for Xiao Wende's town.

Lin Fan was working hard to make the entire Special Brigade sustainable.

He knew that this war could not be ended in a year or two.

The geographical location of the Special Brigade and the route the Special Brigade was taking

could only rely on itself in the future years of the Anti-Japanese War.

Therefore, he had always had a special liking for recovering these materials from the battlefield.

Today's battle had shot down dozens of Japanese planes.

Those plane wrecks were all spoils of war, and they all had to be picked up and reused.

After breaking out of Nanjing, the Special Brigade made iron pellets for directional mines.

They were all made by melting the shell fragments recovered from the battlefield.

The fragments of those shells were the best steel for making kitchen knives, hoes, and other agricultural tools.

This was also what Lin Fan had been vigorously promoting recently. He was encouraging the locals in Jurong to rely on the Special Brigade's resources to create a local cutlery industry.

In today's battle, Town Mayor Xiao Wende of Chunhua Town made the most money.

Just the iron and plane wrecks collected from the battlefield could be sold for at least several thousand yuan.

Today's battle results were very gratifying, completely crushing the Japanese offensive.

Especially this time, the battle command basically had nothing to do with Lin Fan.

This was what made Lin Fan the happiest.

In Lin Fan's heart, he hoped that every regiment under his command could fight independently.

If the entire Special Brigade could not do without him at any time, then it would not be a truly combat-effective force.

In fact, Lin Fan wanted to build the Special Brigade into a force that had the same combat effectiveness whether he commanded it or not.

Although the Japanese soldiers had temporarily retreated, the Special Brigade still did not relax.

The three regiments that were temporarily transferred to Tangshan, Chunhua, and Moling to strengthen their strength continued to be stationed in place.

Waiting for new orders.

After Lin Fan learned about the current situation of the battlefield in detail, he was completely relieved.

He immediately reported the great victory just now. Request more, report frequently!

The Special Brigade could not do the former, build itself, do its own construction.

It also had to fight its own battles. Lin Fan was afraid of leaking secrets by asking for too many instructions.

But the latter could still be done. After the battle was over, report to the Fifth War Zone.

At least let Commander Li Zongren know that the decision he gave out for this organization was not wrong.

When Lin Fan sent the Special Brigade's great victory to the headquarters of the Fifth War Zone,

the entire Fifth War Zone headquarters immediately boiled over.

They had been worried about the Special Brigade a lot these days.

After all, the Japanese soldiers' offensive was serious, and the troops they sent were also powerful.

And the location of the Special Brigade now was also very easy for the Japanese soldiers to attack.

They did not expect that in just two days, the Special Brigade had beaten the Japanese soldiers so badly that they had no temper.

They also made the Japanese soldiers take the initiative to retreat back to their original defense line.

Commander Li Zongren looked at the report of victory sent by the Special Brigade.

Looking at the telegrams from the various teams in the Fifth War Zone on the front line fighting with the Japanese soldiers requesting support,

they were all local teams, how could the gap be so big?

Logically speaking, Lin Fan's Special Brigade was only recently established.

The soldiers in the team were all transferred from various troops, and most of them were converted from puppet troops.

Or they were teams gathered from deserters and defeated soldiers on the battlefield.

How could they win battles again and again?

Since entering February, battles between the Fifth War Zone around Xuzhou and the Japanese soldiers had been taking place every day.

The soldiers' fighting consciousness was also very firm, but no team could be like the Special Brigade.

They could carry out a large-scale offensive against the Japanese soldiers, or cause thousands of casualties to the Japanese soldiers at one time.

They often used a life-for-life tactic of losing a thousand to injure eight hundred.

Li Zongren was already thinking about whether to transfer a team from the Special Brigade.

These days, the various local troops he had gathered had all shown the greatest sincerity on the battlefield.

They had fought many moving and bloody battles, but all of this had not changed the fact that the National Army was retreating steadily.

The whole country wanted to fight another big battle with the Japanese soldiers in Xuzhou.

The Fifth War Zone could not avoid fighting at this time.

Xuzhou had always been a battleground for military strategists. What's more, if they gave up Xuzhou like this,

the Japanese soldiers would completely open up the Jinpu Railway, connecting the north and south, which would be very beneficial for the Japanese soldiers' next war.

What was beneficial for the Japanese soldiers was of course very detrimental to the National Army.

In any case, Xuzhou was a must-defend place.

Lin Fan didn't know all of this. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to Xuzhou.

It was really difficult to cross the river!

Moreover, after crossing the river, the Special Brigade needed to break through the heavy resistance of the Japanese soldiers before they could reach the battlefield.

Lin Fan knew that the Special Brigade's current combat effectiveness had not reached the point where it could push the Japanese army across the board.

The Special Brigade's equipment needed to have good logistical support. After arriving in Jiangbei, there would be no logistics.

This was also why roads and airports were constantly being built on the Special Brigade's occupied territory.

At this time, the requirements for the take-off site of the planes were not high, which made it easier for the Special Brigade to build simple airports in various places.

Throughout the occupied area, the Special Brigade's large-scale infrastructure construction required a lot of manpower.

It also allowed ordinary people in the occupied area to have incomes that were much higher than before the war.

At night, Lin Fan was fighting at night again. He had to continue writing the novel.

This was a career that needed to be persevered in for a long time.

During today's battle report, he thought of another thing:

These days, he had only been thinking about big weapons and ignored the soldiers' individual weapons.

Although the Special Brigade's current conditions could not manufacture guns or bullets in batches,

it could still manufacture grenades.

After all, the manufacture of grenades was relatively simple: casing, explosives, detonating device, firing device, safety device.

For Lin Fan, he had a perspective that led this era.

He would add a small iron pellet bag to the grenade he designed.

This would ensure that each grenade produced at least three hundred and fifty fragments when it exploded.

Lin Fan had already drawn the structural diagram of the grenade on his novel manuscript paper.

The weight should be kept within one catty, without a wooden handle.

Strictly speaking, this was a hand grenade.

When the casing of the first hand grenade was cast,

Lin Fan took it over, and his hand still had some temperature that had not completely cooled down.

Looking at the unevenness of the surface of the hand grenade, this was deliberately made.

It was to allow it to crack along these sunken places when it exploded, producing more fragments.

Lin Fan stretched out his finger, and when he explored the inside of the hand grenade, it was smooth.

He thought for a while and said to the technician who made the mold:

"There should also be lines and lines here, like the outside, so that more fragments can be produced."

He pointed to the lines on the outside of the casing: "The lines inside should be staggered from the lines outside, so that more fragments can be produced."

When Lin Fan said this, people understood.

They immediately began to improve it.

Lin Fan knew that at this time, the grenades used by the Sichuan Army were the kind that exploded into two halves, at most six pieces.

In fact, the principle of wanting the casing to split into more fragments was very simple: just make some parts of the casing thinner in advance.

It was like drawing lines one by one. When they exploded, they would naturally separate according to these pre-prepared positions.

This was a pre-made fragment.

The second mold was quickly made.

Now it was just an experiment, using sand molds, and he didn't wait for the mold to dry completely.

He immediately poured it.

When he took this new mold again, there was no difference from the previous one on the outside.

When he touched the inside of the casing with his finger, he could immediately feel the difference.

Lin Fan said with a smile: "That's it, try it first!"

The iron pellets were prepared. After putting them in, separate them with kraft paper.

Then put in the explosives, and install the various devices one by one.

In less than ten minutes, a new type of hand grenade was made.

Lin Fan pointed to the test site specifically for testing and ordered: erect some wooden stakes at the position of the impact point.

Erect them from a distance of half a meter to ten meters.

At the position of the impact point, a large-eyed bamboo basket was specially set up.

The hand grenade was to be thrown into it.

Lin Fan threw it in casually, and in less than two seconds.

The bamboo basket was blown to pieces.

Everyone who participated in the experiment went closer to see.

On the five wooden sticks erected at a distance of ten meters in radius, only two had two fragments and four iron pellets embedded in them.

They were embedded very deeply. If a human body was here, it would definitely be injured.

Lin Fan led this group of people to check layer by layer towards the inside.

When he reached seven meters away from the explosion point, all the five randomly arranged wooden sticks were distributed with fragments after the explosion of the hand grenade.

There were a few with as few as a dozen, and many with more than thirty.

In this case, if a real person was in this position, there would definitely be no life left.

Walking further inside, the more holes in the wooden sticks that were set up.

At the four-meter position, the wooden stick of the same thickness had already been penetrated by fragments.

Going further inside, some wooden sticks were broken into two pieces.

Lin Fan was very satisfied with this power.

He said with a smile: "Not bad! Not bad! Effective killing distance is seven meters.

Produce according to this standard.

We will mass-produce and use this kind of thing on the battlefield in the future.

See if the mold can be made of steel.

Be sure to pay attention, this is batch production, and the required quantity must be large."

Various equipment had not arrived yet, and Lin Fan could only conduct preliminary research for the time being.

Weapons such as fighters and helicopters were not as easy to develop as the planes Xiao Jianying and the others had been driving these days.

The only idea Lin Fan could provide was the appearance.

The internal power needed for the engine and the arrangement of various lines required professional personnel.

The Dragon Teng No. 1 attack aircraft was different. It only carried one purpose of Lin Fan: it could fly!

This type of aircraft had only one role on the battlefield: to strike enemy infantry.

Lin Fan had no requirements for its maneuverability and flexibility.

This determined that when this type of attack aircraft encountered Japanese fighters on the battlefield,

it could only become a target for others.

But this kind of aircraft was the king on the battlefield where Lin Fan was.

Lin Fan could clear the air and shoot down all the Japanese planes in the air.

Give the Dragon Teng No. 1 a chance to give full play to its strengths.

No matter how many shortcomings the Dragon Teng No. 1 had, Lin Fan had let it continue to be produced. This was the only successful model that the Special Brigade could produce now.

The fighter was also being test-flown now, and Lin Fan was also designing weapons. He wanted to install machine guns on the fighter.

This way, he could occupy a greater advantage in combat with the Japanese soldiers.

The design came first, and trial production would have to wait until the American equipment was delivered before it could begin.

The jet engine was the mainstream of future aircraft. Someone in the world had already put forward this concept.

But no one knew its feasibility.

Lin Fan was the only one who knew that this was one hundred percent successful.

Now he wanted to recruit people to develop this.

As long as there was a jet engine, the entire sky would be the Special Brigade's world.

Lin Fan knew the power of weapons like "Little Boy" and also knew its detonating device.

But he didn't have the corresponding scientific research strength and equipment to do experiments, so he had to think about it silently.

If he could, he wanted to cooperate with the Americans.

Learn from each other, help each other, and improve together.

People said that cultivation needed wealth, companionship, law, and location.

Lin Fan felt that he also needed