Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 1483 Worker Bee

Hengyang suddenly has 5 new troops, so naturally it cannot waste this huge amount of human resources.

At Tang Dao's suggestion, a civil engineering department was newly established under the command center, with Zhao Junmai personally as the director and Bai Sheng, the battalion commander of the Sihang Regiment's engineering battalion recommended by Tang Dao, as the deputy director, responsible for the planning and construction of fortifications in the entire urban area.

Zhao Jun Michael is not only the mayor, but also a top student of civil engineering. In fact, a few days ago, he had already made a city defense plan for the entire Hengyang city based on the changes in the war situation. It was just that due to the lack of personnel and materials, he had not had time to implement it.

At this time, he already had enough manpower and had obtained permission from his superiors for materials. All public and private properties in Hengyang were requisitioned as military supplies. Government materials could naturally be used at will, but private materials would be compensated by the government at one-third of the current price after the Hengyang war.

After the order to requisition materials was issued, 120 million pieces of wood were donated by timber merchants across the city alone. The workers who stayed at the lime factory worked at full capacity and could produce 20 tons of lime per day based on the existing materials.

That was not all. Under the leadership of Zhao Junmai, more than 30 people came to the Changheng Railway and dug up nearly miles of the railway from Tanzhou to Hengyang. Not to mention the rails and sleepers, even the stones used for the roadbed were dug up clean.

It is said that the American reconnaissance planes conducting reconnaissance in the sky at that time were all confused.

After all, the Japanese vanguards who conducted reconnaissance yesterday were still near Tanzhou, so how come an army of tens of thousands of people arrived in Hengyang today?

After lowering the altitude and observing carefully, we found that it was the Chinese who were digging up the railway.

The American pilots were amazed. Such efficiency and speed of mobilizing tens of thousands of civilians to participate in the labor within a day was probably only feasible in Eastern countries. In the United States, it was impossible.

The railway was so thoroughly stripped that, let alone repairing it during the war and reopening it to traffic, even after the war, it would probably take nearly 10,000 workers and nearly a month to repair it.

All these huge amounts of supplies were moved into Hengyang city by 5 young and strong men like ants moving house. Under the guidance of Zhao Junmai's principle of "military first", all civilian houses with combat value were opened with firing holes and passages dug in preparation for future street fighting.

All the streets and alleys in the city are built with layers of fortifications. If you want to pass through these roads, you can only use the wall-walking trick, unless you run over the fortifications one by one.

Although Bai Sheng, the deputy, is also an old hand, he has also learned a lot of new things from Zhao Junmai, a top student of civil engineering who is well versed in military affairs. That is also one of the reasons why Tang Dao made him the deputy.

Tang Dao knew that in the past, the Battle of Hengyang was able to hold out for 10 days under the repeated attacks of 47 Japanese troops. In addition to the tenacious fighting will of Fang Xianjue and the 10th Army, the perfect fortifications inside and outside the city of Hengyang played an indispensable role. Mayor Zhao was an expert in fortifications.

The Four-Line Regiment mostly fought in the mountains. If mountain warfare fortifications were second to none, no one would dare to claim to be first. However, this kind of city defense battle was extremely rare. Bai Sheng and the Four-Line Regiment needed to learn from them.

Of course, Bai Sheng did not spend all these years on the battlefield in vain. He also put forward some practical suggestions on the various fortification plans set up by Zhao Junmai.

The most drastic suggestion is to set up permanent bunkers on the flanks and rear wings of some fortifications.

These bunkers were hidden in residential houses before the Japanese attack. They were as harmless as ordinary houses unless they were entered for a careful inspection. Only when the Japanese army broke through some fortifications on the streets and began to send troops to continue their advance would they blow up the earthen walls of the houses, push open the shooting holes blocked with blue bricks, and shoot at the Japanese infantry exposed in front of them with light machine guns and submachine guns.

This type of bunker is built with blue bricks mixed with concrete. The outer layer is up to 0.8 meters thick and the inner layer is supported by rails and sleepers. It can not only withstand the blast of explosives such as grenades, but even direct fire from 70mm infantry guns.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from using infantry to blow up the bunker, there are traffic trenches on both sides of the bunker. Soldiers can come out of the bunker at any time and use these trenches to block the approach of Japanese infantry, and mines are buried around the bunker.

It is unknown how much effort and strength the Japanese army would have to put in to remove such a bunker that was almost made of steel and iron.

Of course, the biggest shortcoming of such a bunker is that it will always be isolated outside its own position and will face the crazy revenge attacks of the Japanese invaders. It will basically not get any support from its own infantry, and it will be almost impossible to retreat.

With the current manpower in Hengyang, it is impossible to dig an underground escape passage of hundreds of meters for every bunker.

For the infantry squad stationed in this kind of bunker, once they begin to carry out their mission, their lives are about to come to an end.

"A bunker like this is a suicidal disposable item!" Zhao Junmai was shocked by the completely crazy suggestion of the engineering major of the Fourth Line Regiment, and it took him a long time to give such an evaluation.

He had some idea why the Four-Line Regiment won every battle. Even the engineers were willing to fight to the death. How terrifying is such an army?

  The Japanese value martial arts, but they don’t value death!

However, such a fortress requires too high a willpower of the defenders. Among the more than 2 officers and soldiers stationed in Hengyang, how many would be willing to enter such a fortress?

It is one thing to not fear life and death on the battlefield. After all, even a rabbit will bite when it is cornered. Once people are bloodthirsty, there are many Chinese soldiers who take grenades and explosives and die together with the enemy. But it feels different to tell the officers and soldiers that they will die before the war even starts.

After all, the officers and soldiers had to fight the Japanese to the death in order to survive!

Mayor HY, who stayed behind, also thought so. Zhao Junmai did not want to die, at least not now. He wanted to wait for the victory of the Anti-Japanese War to realize his life ambitions. He hoped that under his leadership, more Chinese people could live and work in peace and get rid of poverty.

In a sense, he is both an idealist and a pragmatist, otherwise he would not choose to follow General Xue closely and ignore the plight of his good friend Fang Xianjue, nor would he decisively choose to follow Zhao Ziling to initiate the city's wartime regulations when the Battle of Hengyang came.

Only those who survive the war have the opportunity to pursue their ideals. This is Zhao Junmai. There is no absolute good or bad, only the interweaving of ideals and practicality.

"I name this fortress Worker Bee." Bai Sheng said in a soft but firm voice.

"There is a kind of bee called a worker bee. Its stinger is usually not exposed, and it will only be exposed when it senses danger. A stinger is equivalent to the life of a worker bee. It is connected to the internal organs of the worker bee. If the stinger comes out, the worker bee dies," Zhao Junmai muttered to himself. "This is indeed heroic, but how many people are willing to be a part of such a dying bee colony?"

"Our commander said yesterday when our entire Fourth Regiment was mobilized: Living towards death might have been possible in previous battlefields, but it is far from enough in the Battle of Hengyang. This time when our regiment arrives in Hengyang, we must be determined to die, only then will we have a 2 to 3 percent chance of keeping the important location in the southwest." Bai Sheng lowered his eyelids and responded in a low voice.

"Even if we fight to the death, there is only a 2 or 3 percent chance of victory? Does your Captain Tang really think so?" Zhao Junmai's eyes showed deep bitterness.

He didn't expect that the famous Tang Dao would be so pessimistic. This was quite different from the confident and determined Tang Datuanzu he had seen.

"Yes, my regimental commander said that only if the entire army is fearless and courageous can there be a possibility of victory. But if we insist on staying alive, it is very likely that there will not even be this 2 or 3 percent chance." Bai Sheng continued.

"Commander Zhao, do you know that the commander did not leave any suicide note or letter to his wife this time? Dean Tan Tai did not leave. She took the initiative to stay and resume her old job as the secretary of the commander and war correspondent."

"What? Tan Tai Ming Yue didn't leave? Then what about the son of your captain Tang?" Zhao Junmai couldn't help but widen his eyes. Before Fang Xian Jue came back, the 10th Army, including the officials of Hengyang, had made preparations in advance. Those with families had already taken the train to Guangxi or Kunming in early May. Not to mention their wives and children, even their concubines and lovers had probably left the war zone of Hunan Province long ago.

It is truly a rare story that a man like Tang Dao left his wife and children behind on the battlefield.

"Shanhe and Director Dan Tai are gone. Originally, Director Dan Tai was reluctant to leave. Dean Dan Tai and his younger brother Dan Tai Mingjing are both in the army. How could he, as a father, bear to let them go? But he couldn't resist the commander and his wife who were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy." Bai Sheng's eyes were filled with tears.

"According to Erya's captain who was present at the time, Dean Tan Tai asked her father: If my son Shanhe loses his parents, how can you bear to see him lose his father-in-law? If my mother loses her children and husband, how can she live? I hope you will take care of Shanhe's future education.

  Director Tan Tai asked her with tears in his eyes: Have you ever thought about how your mother and I would survive in this world if all my children were lost?

Dean Tan Tai said: I remember my father once taught me that life is only eighty years long, and he hoped that I could live my life according to my own wishes. Mingyue accompanied my husband to die on the battlefield, which was my wish! I am a selfish daughter, please forgive me, father! "

"Ah!" Zhao Junmai sighed and gave Bai Sheng a thumbs up. "Captain Tang and his wife are truly role models for the entire Chinese army. I, Zhao, am convinced. However, I am afraid that I will never be able to be as good as him in my lifetime."

"Our superior also said that everyone has their own personality traits and their own circumstances. If the world is full of people like him, it would be too boring. It is better to be yourself. But I can only apologize to everyone for the Battle of Hengyang this time. China cannot lose Hengyang, just as the West cannot lose Jerusalem.

Let alone the 5000 people of the Four-Line Regiment, plus the 10 people of the 2th Army, that's 30 people in Hengyang. If it's for Hengyang, they can leave their lives here. Of course, that depends on how many lives the Japanese are going to exchange. For these people, if Hengshan Yong wants to break into the city, he can't do it without hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives. "Bai Sheng put away his tears, replaced by confidence.

That kind of confidence comes from the calculations of the Tang sword and even more from years of battlefield experience.

The total number of Japanese soldiers killed by the Four-Line Regiment so far has already exceeded 100,000. This time, relying on the strong city and equally tenacious friendly forces, what's the harm in killing another 100,000 of them?

"Okay! I believe in your Captain Tang! The bunker has been built." Zhao Junmai also felt a sense of heroism.

If he really had to die here and kill hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers, it would be the first time in the Chinese battlefield in the more than ten years since the War of Resistance. Perhaps the names of most officers and soldiers would not be known to the world, but as the third-ranked figure in the Hengyang garrison, he was destined to go down in history, and it was worth it.

"Sir, the people in this bunker may not necessarily die." Bai Sheng smiled and took out a pen and paper to draw a simple structural diagram.

"We don't have time to dig escape tunnels for more than a hundred bunkers like this, but we can dig shelter rooms for them."

It turns out that this kind of "suicide bunker" designed by Bai Sheng himself has a 15-square-meter basement under each bunker, which is 20 meters deep into the ground and about 15 meters across. The basement has two extremely hidden ventilation pipes leading to the ground, and also stores enough food and clean water for about 10 people for 30 days.

Once the Japanese destroyed the bunker with artillery or infantry blasting, it would be difficult for the bunker to effectively fire at the Japanese troops on the ground. The surviving soldiers could enter the shelter and then use the explosives hidden inside the bunker to carry out a secondary blast inside the bunker, completely destroying the bunker into rubble.

During the war, even if the Japanese army knew about the existence of such shelters, they would not go to great lengths to dig them up, and would certainly choose to wait until after the war.

Similarly, the remnants of the army who entered the shelter had to wait until their colleagues dug them out from underground after the war.

Of course, there are only two possible outcomes for them: if the Japanese win, they will die, and if the Chinese win, they will live! But there is always a choice, which is much better than being killed by the Japanese army without any help.

"As long as there is a way to survive, it will be fine. Anyway, as long as we stay in Hengyang City, we have to fight the damn Japs. I have approved this bunker. After it is built, it will be handed over to Commander Zhou of the 3rd Division. He has a main regiment to deploy defense in the city." Zhao Junmai made the decision.

The two men at this time had no idea that it was this kind of "suicide bunker" from which there was almost no return that caused unimaginable damage to the Japanese army.

这种在战前被命名为‘工蜂2号’的地堡，每个地堡里有一个步兵班驻守，装备一挺M1919A4中型机枪和4杆M3冲锋枪以及4杆步枪、2把手枪。

原本以第10军在第9战区的地位，这种新进口到中国不久的发射7.62毫米口径子弹的米国中型机枪是轮不到他们装备的，不过这次方显绝的狮子大开口反而是让那位有了信心，干脆将刚由滇缅运抵桂省的1000挺M1919A4机枪中的400挺划给了衡阳守军。

Fang Xianjue, who suddenly became rich in light machine guns, was naturally not stingy and directly gave these latest machine guns to the infantry squads entering the Jedi.

The bunker with fierce firepower not only killed the Japanese soldiers from behind, but also did not suffer any losses in the exchange of fire with the Japanese.

Having 6 firing holes gives them a wide enough field of view, the 1919-kilogram body of the M14 machine gun is enough to ensure a certain degree of mobility, and the 4 M4 submachine guns provide stable auxiliary firepower, which can fully ensure the continuity of firepower.

Moreover, there is a walkie-talkie in the bunker, so no matter how fierce the artillery fire is, the bunker can request artillery support from the mortar position in the rear.

With radio equipment that can report at any time, the tactical nature of the "Worker Bee No. 2" fortress will be even stronger.

The Japanese army deployed a large number of troops to besiege the important place, and immediately launched a request for artillery support in the bunker. The mortar shells as big as raindrops were enough to make the Japanese infantrymen who had few cover areas cry.

Some commanders even thought it was great and simply deployed five or six mortars to do nothing but wait for the request for artillery support from the "Worker Bee No. 2" fortress.

Bai Sheng originally intended to launch a "suicidal" attack on the flanks and rear wing of the Japanese infantry, but during the battle in the city, commanders at all levels adapted the situation to local conditions and turned it into a powerful weapon for "counter-siege and attacking reinforcements."

Although most of the "troublemaker-style" Worker Bee No. 2 forts were eventually destroyed or blown up by the Japanese army's infantry artillery, there were still two Worker Bee No. 2 forts that held out until after the Battle of Hengyang.

The infantry squads in the two fortresses, without exception, had used up all their machine gun bullets, submachine gun bullets and even rifle bullets. In the last two days, they were even using only Japanese equipment. Those were the guns and bullets they had picked up from the corpses that the Japanese soldiers had not had time to drag away on the battlefield under the cover of darkness.

You know, in order to ensure sufficient firepower output, each fortress stores 1 machine gun bullets and 3000 submachine gun bullets.

With so much ammunition, each fortress was like a porcupine covered with thorns. Even if a lion wanted to eat them, it would have to pay a heavy price.

According to the 11th Army's battle report that was later declassified, the most brutal battle in the attack on these strong fortresses was the loss of 470 infantrymen alone, which was half an infantry battalion, not to mention the engineers, armored troops and artillerymen who were killed by artillery shells.

Bai Sheng, who proposed this fortification proposal, was awarded a fifth-level Baoding Medal. Mayor Zhao also took advantage of the situation and got a Qingtian Medal. Mayor Zhao, who was lying in the hospital, was almost grinning from ear to ear.

The third in command in Hengyang City had 15 wounds on his body. If it weren't for the helpful doctors and nurses in the underground field hospital, and the complete supplies of medicines such as penicillin, he would have been doomed if he had been in any other place.