The more Zhou Cheng listened, the more satisfied he became.

The weapons and ammunition produced by the arsenal overtime over the past month far exceeded his expectations. In addition to the equipment he had just obtained from the Japanese, he would definitely give his superiors a considerable support and immediately ordered it.

"The arsenal continues to maintain its current production speed, concentrates all manpower and material resources to produce ammunition and repair weapons, the more the better. Let the comrades work hard for another half a month, and in half a month the arsenal will resume its previous normal production status!"

"If we continue to produce this way, not only will people not be able to bear it, but machines will not be able to bear it, and we will not be able to supply the various raw materials needed by the arsenal."

"As for the weapons and ammunition in the warehouse, someone will come and transport them away in the latest three days, so you can do it with confidence and boldness, and don't worry about the weapons and ammunition they have made!"

The division command headquarters, the division commander has received news from his superiors that he asked the Eighth Route Army units to launch a large-scale raid behind enemy lines.

After the Eighth Route Army went to the battlefield, it tried to avoid head-on confrontation with the Japanese and puppet troops. It usually used guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to deal with the Japanese and puppet troops, and rarely fought big battles.

After a long time, the statement that the Eighth Route Army was wandering behind enemy lines without attack began to spread in the country.

Some people say that the Eighth Route Army secretly developed troops under the pretext of fighting the Japanese; some people say that the Eighth Route Army was fake in fighting the Japanese and the development of troops was real; some people say that in order to win over people, the Eighth Route Army reported its military achievements, guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare were not as powerful as they said, and they were all bragging...

The purpose of spreading these rumors is to discredit the Eighth Route Army.

In order to change the Chinese people's view of the Eighth Route Army and prevent them from being fooled by rumors, the headquarters decided to take the initiative to launch a large-scale attack in North China, and use the results to show the Eighth Route Army's determination and courage to fight the Japanese and puppet troops.

Faced with the increasingly approaching large counterattack, the division commander was most worried about the serious shortage of weapons and ammunition in the army, especially the serious shortage of heavy weapons.

Over the past two years, the troops have expanded very quickly.

An infantry company that went to the enemy's back was developing slowly, and now it has become an infantry regiment. The faster-developing infantry company has even expanded into an independent brigade, with a force of twenty or thirty times more than before...

But the troops' equipment and ammunition did not increase proportionally.

The Eighth Route Army has few sources of equipment, unlike other Chinese troops, which will be allocated more or less in the war zone and Chongqing.

The Eighth Route Army rarely obtains weapons allocated by superiors. The troops' existing equipment was either captured on the battlefield or collected by the people, and some of the weapons were purchased from outside at a high price...

Due to the limited number and the expansion of the troops was too fast, many newly established independent regiments and newly formed regiments in the base area had only three or four hundred rifles. The remaining soldiers were either equipped with earth guns and cannons, or equipped with big swords and spears...

There are even fewer light and heavy machine guns. A new regiment can be equipped with two or three heavy machine guns, which is enough for the regiment commander to brag about to others for a long time.

Except for a small number of main groups with complete equipment and capable of fighting against the Japanese, other troops can only fight mobile warfare and use guerrilla warfare to attack the enemy...

On the other hand, the Japanese did not think that the Eighth Route Army was traveling in their occupied areas without attacking them.

They suffered the most losses in the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare. In two or three years, many troops have suffered losses in the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Therefore, their emphasis on the Eighth Route Army is no less than that of other Chinese troops on the front battlefield.

In order to ensure that the railway lines and major transportation routes are not encroached by the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese and puppet troops continued to increase troops on the transportation route, built artillery towers and strongholds on the transportation route, and even equipped the railway garrison with armored trains.

Ensure that after any artillery tower or stronghold along the railway is attacked, the armored train can reinforce the battlefield within half an hour.

The artillery tower and stronghold were built with bricks and stones of Japanese and puppet military. Some important places were also made of steel bars and cement, which was very strong.

Ordinary machine gun bullets hit the exterior wall of the artillery tower, leaving at most a white dot.

Even if the heavy machine gun bullets hit the outer wall of the artillery tower, at most a small pit will be left, which will not hurt the Japanese and puppet troops hiding inside. Unless the attacking troops use artillery and have to fire artillery directly, a large hole can be blown up on the third floor. Otherwise, the attacking troops can only fight against the Japanese and use grenades and explosives to destroy the artillery tower at close range.

The Eighth Route Army launched this raid battle with the goal of strongholds and county towns along the railway, and various tough battles are indispensable.

However, the troops' equipment is too poor, especially direct-fired artillery that can be used to attack. Many main groups do not have one, let alone newly formed independent regiments and newly formed regiments.

This means that if they want to capture the artillery towers and strongholds, they can only use the most conventional blasting to destroy enemy fortifications, which will definitely be very expensive.

This is the ending that the division commander least wants to see. He has been studying the map for several days and wants to analyze a way to avoid fighting a tough battle with the Japanese and puppet troops.

However, the artillery towers and strongholds built by the Japanese and puppet troops along the railway were too dense, and there were many county towns nearby that could send troops to reinforce. If the troops wanted to break the railway line, they had to take down these strongholds and artillery towers first.

"Report to Chief, we just received a secret telegram!" The communications officer suddenly ran over and interrupted.

The commander was very focused, as if he had not heard the communications consultant, and he frowned and continued to study the map.

The political commissar quickly received the telegram.

There is no trivial matter for the secret power, otherwise the other party would not be so troublesome.

Take out the codebook and translate the secret letter with the Chief of Staff...

At the beginning, the political commissar's expression was very serious, and he was also worried about the upcoming counterattack of the troops.

Halfway through the translation of the secret telegram, the serious expression on his face began to soothe.

When the secret information was translated, the serious expression on his face had completely disappeared, and a smile was still on the corner of his mouth.

He looked at the commander and said happily: "Teacher, it is good news. Although this secret message cannot solve all the problems we are worried about, it can greatly alleviate our current pressure!"

"The secret telegram was sent by Comrade Zhou Cheng. I promise you will be as happy as me after reading it!"

Hearing this, the teacher's gaze finally retracted from the map, and he received the telegram with a puzzled look on his face.

"Okay!" The commander's reaction was not beyond the political commissar's expectations. He couldn't help but sigh after seeing it halfway.

Facing the political commissar's gaze, he couldn't help but sigh: "We decided to believe Zhou Cheng at the beginning, and supporting Zhou Cheng to act with the Japanese was too correct. I didn't expect that they had reserved so many weapons and ammunition during the period when the Japanese stopped attacking them."

"This secret message is a timely help, and it came too timely!"

"With the weapons and ammunition that Zhou Cheng promised in the secret telegram, many independent regiments and new regiments can be fully equipped with a rifle, and they can even be equipped with heavy machine guns and mortars."

The political commissar added with a smile: "In addition to rifles, light and heavy machine guns, and mortars, what I value most are mountain cannons, infantry cannons, and ammunition on the list."

"Although there are not many five mountain cannons and three infantry cannons, if we divide them, it means that we will have eight regiments with attacking artillery that can attack the Japanese artillery towers and strongholds head-on."

"Not to mention the importance of ammunition. If more than one million bullets are all gone, it will be enough for the main attacking troops to fight several tough battles with the Japanese and puppet troops."

"There are those shells. In the past two years, we have seized a lot of artillery from the Japanese, but because the number of shells seized is very small, one less one shot is fired. Many main forces dare not use them casually even if they seize artillery from the Japanese. They must nod the regiment commander if they use a shell."

"Zhou Cheng sent us three or four thousand shells at once, and there were nearly one thousand mountain cannons and infantry cannon shells inside. We used five mountain cannon shells to destroy a gun tower. These shells were enough for us to destroy a Japanese tower one or two hundred gun towers!"

"Teacher, I suggest that we make a plan immediately, and use the fastest speed to transport all the weapons and ammunition that Zhou Cheng promised us."

"With these weapons and ammunition as support, we will be more confident in breaking the attack and the losses of the troops can also be reduced!"

The division commander immediately ordered: "Political Commissar, come to arrange this matter, and be sure to keep it confidential!"

"All weapons and ammunition are distributed nearby and must be delivered to the troops who need it the most!"

The chief of staff on the side suddenly suggested: "Terminal Commander, after these few months of rest, the National Salvation Army must have recovered its combat effectiveness. Their equipment is very good, and they have specially formed an artillery battalion to equip a large number of siege artillery."

"If they are involved in the next raid war, the Yangquan section and the Pingding section of the Zhengtai Railway will definitely be completely destroyed by them, and the artillery towers and strongholds built by the Japanese and puppet troops on the railway line will be named one by one by one, greatly reducing our combat pressure."

"I think we can send a telegram to Zhou Cheng so that the National Salvation Army can also participate?"

"No, they don't move!" The commander refused without hesitation.

Yang Yang explained after a secret telegram in his hand: "The above content shows that the decision of the National Salvation Army to develop according to Zhou Cheng's plan is correct, and it is much faster than the development speed according to the rules. Therefore, we must not intervene when the plan is halfway through, which will affect Comrade Zhou Cheng's layout and judgment."

"As for the next attack, it doesn't have to send troops to participate!"

The political commissar understood the gods: "The division commander is right. I think the National Salvation Army has participated in this attack battle and has played a very important role!"

"There is no worse strength to help us with so many weapons and ammunition at once than they directly sent troops to attack the railway line!"

"As for whether the National Salvation Army will send troops to break the railway in the end, we don't care and don't ask."

"After the battle begins, you can forward the orders given to us by your superiors to them. As for how the National Salvation Army does it, Zhou Cheng decides everything himself."
Chapter completed!