Bright Sword: Infinite Logistics

The exercise was originally planned to last about two or three days, but after the first day of the exercise ended, Chu Yunfei urgently notified the New 1st Regiment to suspend the exercise.

Outside a house in a nearby village, the guards of the 358th Regiment were on guard, with more than a dozen submachine guns loaded. This was Chu Yunfei's temporary regiment headquarters, and several high-ranking members of the 358th Regiment were sitting together to discuss today's affairs.

"Qian Bojun, how many people have this idea now?"

Chu Yunfei took off his gloves and threw them on the table, then raised his hand and touched his head. He felt that he had been losing more and more hair recently, and if this continued, he was afraid that his hairstyle would be the same as the principal's.

"A little more than one company. The platoon that Zhao Daqing is in is the one that took part in the exercise with the Eighth Route Army. Even the platoon leader wants to join the Eighth Route Army." Qian Bojun lowered his head, and his voice became smaller and smaller.

Chu Yunfei took a deep breath and said, "Li Yunlong, I thought he just wanted to show off his muscles, but it turns out he wanted to cut my flesh!"

"Commander, I will give the order immediately. Let the kitchen staff prepare their own meals tomorrow. No one is allowed to go to the Eighth Route Army's base to eat! If it is not necessary, try not to talk to the Eighth Route Army!"

"Not only that." Chu Yunfei shook his head: "Tomorrow you have to take out the good things stored in your warehouse so that your soldiers can have something good to eat. Otherwise, they will only think that the Eighth Route Army is better!"

Chu Yunfei didn't embezzle much of the materials, but Qian Bojun did have his own small treasury. It was just that he was really good and very sensible, and he would hand over a portion of it to Chu Yunfei every time, so he was not held accountable.

There was nothing that could be done about it. The situation in the government was like this. "Justice without money" would never get anything done. Chu Yunfei was not some god sent from heaven, and he did not have the ability to change the environment. If he wanted to get things done, he had to make some compromises.

Qian Bojun was startled and stood up: "The commander is right."

"Sit down, I'm not angry with you." Chu Yunfei waved his hand, Qian Bojun breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in his seat. The entire regiment fell into silence.

No one in the 358th Regiment expected Li Yunlong to do this directly. In fact, the two sides were nominally friendly forces, and they had cooperated a lot in the past. They had also tried to poach people from the other team countless times, but the effect had never been so good.

As for why the effect was so good this time, several people already had the answer in their hearts. The reasons were nothing more than the changes: the new regiment's material conditions suddenly became richer, and the recent tense situation in Jindi.

Many people were unwilling to join the Eighth Route Army because they heard that the Eighth Route Army was poor and had stricter military discipline. They could still fight against the Japanese in the Shanxi Army, and they would have more freedom. Why would they want to suffer in the Eighth Route Army? Now, the Shanxi Army took the lead in attacking the Eighth Route Army, which was a friendly army, and the Eighth Route Army suddenly had sufficient supplies.

The Shanxi Army’s anti-Japanese attitude was not so resolute, but following the Eighth Route Army meant they could get something for their money… those strict military disciplines suddenly became less annoying.

If Chu Yunfei had not done a good job and had not enjoyed considerable prestige among the soldiers, many of them would probably have gone directly to report to the New 1st Regiment today.

"Brother Ligong, don't you have anything to say?" Chu Yunfei looked at Chief of Staff Fang.

Fang Ligong moved his lips and spoke after a long while: "Commander, I think we should immediately stop the exercise and withdraw the troops back to Qin County, as far away from the Eighth Route Army as possible. This Li Yunlong has obviously been prepared for us. If we continue to stay here as it is now, it will do us more harm than good." Chu Yunfei looked at Fang Ligong with a blank expression. Qian Bojun and Sun Mingze turned their heads away. They thought he could analyze something, but it turned out that he was just talking nonsense.

Fang Ligong's position was no secret. The whole regiment knew that he disliked the Eighth Route Army and had even been trying to persuade the regiment commander to take action against the New First Regiment. But this man's attitude towards the Eighth Route Army changed so drastically in one day... It seemed that he finally realized how big a bomb was under the 358th Regiment.

Today, Li Yunlong just lit a match and took two steps closer, and he admitted his mistake.

"Brother Ligong, don't worry. The Eighth Route Army is the most reasonable and will not resort to force first." Chu Yunfei soothed him and then took the initiative to change the subject: "Since you don't want to talk about it, let's talk about this exercise. What did everyone gain? You can talk about the military strengths and weaknesses of both sides."

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed. Chu Yunfei rubbed his forehead, and it was just as he expected: no matter how serious a problem is, as long as people don't mention it, they can still maintain the appearance that nothing has happened.

"Captain, let me tell you about the characteristics of the Eighth Route Army." Qian Bojun spoke first.

"Based on the situation of this exercise and the information I sent people to investigate, the weapons and equipment of this new regiment are very interesting. They focus on the popularization of automatic firepower. There are a lot of self-propelled and light machine guns, but they are not equipped with heavy machine guns."

"It's the same with artillery. The mortars they use are only 60mm in caliber, so one soldier can easily carry a whole gun. The squads are equipped with lighter rifle grenades, which is good both in terms of the number of ammunition and the timeliness of support."

"They have done their best in terms of 'lightness', and the enhanced equipment has not affected the mobility of the troops. And from the exercise, they have formed a new style of play based on their equipment, which is extremely aggressive."

Qian Bojun frowned when he said this, but Fang Ligong on the side immediately asked: "If we encounter such an opponent, what can we do?"

"Commander Yan only gives us more people but not more equipment. Other troops may be able to call for artillery support, but we have no good solution. We can only strengthen our positions and dig more anti-artillery holes." Qian Bojun replied.

In fact, it was because he thought about the situation in the group that Qian Bojun stopped speaking and frowned.

Fang Ligong asked again: "I saw that during the drill this afternoon, the Eighth Route Army buried a lot of mines when they were setting up their positions. Since the minefield is effective against the Japanese, it must be effective against the Eighth Route Army as well, right?"

The atmosphere suddenly became strange. After a long while, Sun Ming, who could no longer bear it, said softly, "Chief of Staff Fang, perhaps you should first understand the production capacity of the rear military factory and the material reserves of the regiment's warehouse."

Why do people think of the Eighth Route Army when they mention mine warfare? The reason is simple. Only the Eighth Route Army mobilized the masses to produce a large number of mines, while the Guo Army's mine production was always insufficient. They only had a few mines, so it was good enough to use them occasionally.

Sun Ming's reminder made Fang Ligong awkward on the spot. But he was lucky, a messenger knocked on the door and rescued Chief of Staff Fang.

"Report to the regiment commander. Someone from the 8th Independent Brigade has come to inform us that they are going to pass through our regiment's defense zone." (End of this chapter)