The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 490 A Visitor from the Attendant's Room

On September 10, He Wei was handling corps business in his office.

Recently, the Assault Corps, the First Supplementary Soldier Training Department and the General Affairs Department have been extremely busy with the so-called combat readiness tasks because of the transfer to Guangxi to participate in the war, which has not yet been decided.

Increasingly rigorous and high-intensity combat training, the production and storage of winter bedding, the training of sanitary services, the storage of medicines, and the promotion of various combat readiness operations have made the atmosphere in the assault corps camp increasingly tense.

However, despite the hustle and bustle here at the Assault Corps, in fact, there is no war atmosphere at all in the county where the Assault Corps is stationed. There has been no movement from the Japanese airborne attacks until now, although the Japanese bombings on the temporary capital are frequent.

However, the focus of the Japanese bombing was on the urban areas of the temporary capital. For example, Ba County, where the Assault Corps was stationed, and the two counties of Fuling, which also served as the source of troops for the Assault Corps, were suburban counties that had no military value in the eyes of the Japanese and were hardly bombed at all.

Therefore, the live-fire training and various combat readiness work carried out by the Assault Corps, the First Supplementary Soldier Training Department and the General Affairs Department of the Assault Corps seemed extremely abrupt against the backdrop of the peaceful state around the garrison. In the past, the training of the Assault Corps was also fierce, but that was just a high intensity of training.
But now the Assault Corps is carrying out all-round war preparations from troop training to the storage of combat supplies. Under this approach, the camp of the Assault Corps is full of gunpowder and a strong war atmosphere, while the county where it is stationed is a peaceful scene. The contrast is really huge.

However, although all these combat readiness tasks were implemented, He Wei did not tell his subordinates what had happened. None of He Wei's subordinates knew that the assault corps might go to Guangxi to fight, and no one knew that He Wei had written a strategic proposal with important content and submitted it to Principal Chang.

Everyone just thought that He Wei had once again raised the combat readiness requirements for the troops. After all, He Wei has always had high standards and strict requirements for the troops, and the training intensity of the troops has always been extremely high, and many people have become accustomed to it.

Of course, He Wei also had many meticulous subordinates, who, based on He Wei's special requirements in this war preparation, also noticed something unusual.

For example, the content of the war preparedness report just submitted by the General Staff Office, which He Wei is currently holding in his hand, evokes particularly different ideas.

This report mainly details three aspects. The first aspect is the overview and experience summary of the recent strengthening of mountain marching and mountain combat training by various troops. This is also what He Wei specifically requested. In his view, there are many mountains near Guangxi. Once the assault corps goes to Guangxi to fight, it will inevitably have to fight against the Japanese army in the mountainous terrain. For example, the Kunlun Pass Victory in history was a large-scale offensive operation carried out in mountainous terrain.

Fundamentally speaking, the assault corps is actually a heavily armed force to some extent, with many heavy weapons, artillery, and automatic weapons. The units at all levels are extremely large, and their daily combat training is carried out in accordance with the principles of large-scale combat in plain areas. Now that they may have to fight in mountainous terrain such as Guangxi, He Wei naturally has to appropriately add mountain warfare training subjects to the troops.

However, if possible, He Wei still hopes to avoid fighting in mountainous terrain so that the assault corps' fierce artillery firepower and the recently greatly enhanced automobile motorization advantages can be maximized.

Of course, He Wei is not afraid if the Assault Corps is really pulled into the mountains to fight. You know, the submachine guns and 60mm mortars equipped by the Assault Corps' infantry units are powerful weapons for mountain warfare. What He Wei has to do now is to appropriately strengthen the troops' mountain combat training in preparation for future emergencies after they are sent to Guangxi to fight.

The second aspect is the procurement and storage of food and fodder for wartime. During the previous combat training, the Assault Corps and the First Retraining Department purchased all the necessary supplies and fodder locally, and they were purchased as needed. There were basically no large reserves of military food and fodder. Now that there was a possibility of going to Guangxi to participate in the war, He Wei naturally had to make some preparations in advance.

Therefore, he asked Ding Lunshi to start purchasing large quantities of grain, dried meat, biscuits, canned food and other rations in preparation for wartime needs. Due to the emergency procurement during this period, a considerable amount of grain and fodder had been reserved.

As for the third aspect, it is the construction and reorganization of the special forces under the General Staff. After the Assault Corps was formed, He Wei used the captured Japanese troops to set up a special forces team under the General Staff. He appointed Nishi Kanjiro (later given the Chinese name Liu Lu by He Wei), a former Japanese Army second lieutenant who helped him kill the Japanese royal family in Nanjing, as the team leader. The team was responsible for wartime espionage, infiltration and deception operations.

These Japanese prisoners of war who were already wholeheartedly serving He Wei were really useful. These traitors, or Japanese spies, played a role in the war that, if used well, could even be equivalent to an infantry battalion or even more troops on the battlefield. And this time they might have to fight in Guangxi, so He Wei naturally had to continue to make great use of them. Therefore, he ordered the General Staff to expand and reorganize the commandos.

According to the content of the report in hand, the General Staff Office had completed the reorganization of the special forces in the previous two days. In the Battle of Wuhan, the assault corps captured nearly 30 prisoners of the Japanese combat troops and seriously wounded soldiers, and captured more than 50 Japanese drivers with basically no combat ability. The General Staff Office selected 30 available people through strict screening. After asking them to leave a letter of surrender (that is, signing a "rebellion" agreement to serve China and no longer be loyal to Japan, and leaving photos of them making various insulting gestures such as stepping on and tearing up the Japanese emperor and the Japanese flag), all of them were incorporated into the special forces team led by Liu Lu, expanding the special forces team of the assault corps to more than 50 people.

In addition, in order to prevent these Japanese prisoners of war from doing anything fishy in private, the General Staff also transferred two Japanese-speaking graduates of the 13th Whampoa Military Academy and 20 veterans of the Assault Corps into the Rangers. The two Whampoa graduates served as deputy captains, and the 20 veterans served as Chinese members of the Rangers. In wartime, these people could not only cooperate with the Japanese members of the Rangers in combat, but also play a surveillance role, which maximized the guarantee of the combat effectiveness and loyalty of the Rangers. Through past combat experience, He Wei can be very sure that this Rangers will play a greater role in the future operations of the Assault Corps.

As for those Japanese prisoners of war who were not incorporated into the special forces, the Assault Corps did not let them idle. After all, He Wei did not keep idle people under his command. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for these Japanese prisoners of war who were not selected for the special forces to eat and drink for free and eat free meals under He Wei.

Since most of these people were Japanese drivers captured by the Assault Corps on the battlefield, and the Assault Corps had a batch of captured Japanese trucks, all the Japanese prisoners with driving skills were asked for by Ding Lunshi, the General Affairs Director of the Assault Corps. After being forced to leave a letter of surrender, they all became drivers responsible for transportation tasks of the General Affairs Department of the Assault Corps. Their usual task was to drive the car, under the supervision of personnel sent by the General Affairs Department, and be responsible for the transportation business of a series of rear-line agencies under the General Affairs Department. This was regarded as serving He Wei in another way.

Those Japanese prisoners of war who were not drivers but came from Japanese combat units but were not recruited into the commandos were sent to the First Replacement Soldier Training Department to serve as human teaching aids. They were responsible for cooperating with the First Replacement Soldier Training Department in training. For example, they demonstrated various offensive and defensive tactics, assassinations, bombings and other tactical actions of the Japanese army to the First Replacement Training Department, in order to strengthen the understanding of the Japanese army by those officers and soldiers of the First Replacement Training Department who had never been on the battlefield and fought against the Japanese army.

At the same time, the existence of these Japanese prisoners of war itself is a morale boost for the officers and soldiers of the First Retraining Department. Nowadays, Chinese people are suffering from Japanophobia, and the new recruits in the First Retraining Department are somewhat scared of the Japanese army. But when the new recruits saw with their own eyes that the legendary ferocious Japanese army was as obedient as docile sheep, demonstrating various training subjects for them, cooperating with them in training, and treating Chinese officers and soldiers with the utmost obedience and awe, the new recruits' fear of the Japanese army, which they had never encountered before, was gradually eliminated imperceptibly, and was replaced by the idea that "the devils are just like that."

Although the prisoners who were not assigned to the commandos had a relatively relaxed and free movement and work, they had no intention of escaping. Not to mention that they had left a letter of surrender that cut off their retreat, even without the letter of surrender, they would not dare to have any evil intentions. He Wei had ordered his subordinates to kill the seriously wounded Japanese soldiers on the battlefield, and he did it in extremely bloody ways such as chopping with knives and burying them alive. The entire process of killing prisoners was carried out under the eyes of those uninjured or slightly injured Japanese prisoners. When interrogating the prisoners, the commando corps also used various extremely brutal and cruel torture methods.

Therefore, these Japanese prisoners of war had a deep-seated fear of He Wei and the Assault Corps, especially He Wei. Due to his brutal and cruel methods against the prisoners and his brilliant achievements in defeating the Japanese army on the battlefield, in the hearts of the Japanese prisoners of war, He Wei had become synonymous with the devil.

Therefore, no matter whether they were Japanese prisoners of war in the commando unit or those driving in the rear, none of them had the slightest intention of escaping or disobeying. In order to protect themselves, they could only serve He Wei and the Assault Corps wholeheartedly in their respective positions.

At this point, He Wei has made full use of these Japanese prisoners of war. These prisoners of war, who have different skills and come from different troops, have been assigned to different positions by He Wei. They can be said to be working from home, each doing their own job.

Each of the several aspects of combat readiness that He Wei requested revealed something unusual, or the smell of war and gunpowder. Many officers under He Wei, and even the veterans who heard the news, actually had doubts in their hearts, and many of them guessed that there might be a war.

However, despite this, these people, whether they were officers, sergeants, or soldiers, all tacitly buried their doubts deep in their hearts. They all knew that He Wei had not revealed a single word, and there must be a reason for He Wei. At this time, the only way to do more is to not ask or say anything.

Just like that, the assault corps, which was actually already in an extreme state of combat readiness and making all kinds of war preparations, did not have a single person mention even a word about possibly going to the front line to fight.

He Wei put down the document he had reviewed, leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. He had been very busy recently, and had made a lot of plans and preparations with his superiors and subordinates. The war preparations of the various departments under his command could be said to have been carried out extremely thoroughly.

But in the final analysis, he was still a little uneasy. Although he was very actively preparing for war and making various preparations for the troops to go to Guangxi to participate in the war, in the final analysis, there was still no result on this matter.

These days, whenever he has free time or time to rest, many questions linger uncontrollably in He Wei's mind. Has Minister Xu submitted the strategic proposal to the Standing Committee Chairman? What is the Standing Committee Chairman's reaction after reading it? Will he agree with the contents of the strategic proposal and adjust the strategic policy according to the suggestions in the strategic proposal?
Even if Principal Chang agreed with his suggestion, would there be an assault corps in the battle sequence of the Central Army troops heading towards Guangxi?
He Wei kept thinking about each of these issues every day. After all, the matter he had dealt with this time was really too big. He was submitting a strategic proposal directly to the Standing Committee Chairman. Moreover, the strategic proposal contained a lot of dangerous content, so he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Oh, I hope it will come true."

He Wei said to himself.

Then, He Wei shifted his attention to the outside of the window, where waves of high-pitched and fierce shouts and faint sounds of gunfire continued to be heard.

Listening to the shouts of officers and soldiers and the sound of gunfire during training, He Wei's anxiety was relieved a lot.

At this moment, only his troops and fellow officers and soldiers can help him ease his emotions and feel a little at ease.

Ding-ling-ling
Suddenly, the phone on the desk rang. He Wei quickly picked up the receiver and said, "Hello, which department is this?"

"Report to the commander-in-chief, this is the guard room at the camp gate of the headquarters."

"Why did you call me directly? What's going on?"

He Wei frowned and asked anxiously.

The guard room in charge of the guard post at the entrance of the assault corps camp was indeed equipped with a telephone leading to his office, but the guard room basically never called him directly. After all, he was very busy as the commander-in-chief. Unless it was an extremely urgent situation, how could the guard post at the entrance of the camp bother He Wei for trivial matters?
Generally, if there is a situation that cannot be handled, we call the General Staff Office or the Combat Readiness Duty Officer.

Now, hearing that it was the guard at the camp gate who called him directly, He Wei's nerves suddenly tensed up. Thinking that something might have happened, he hurried to inquire about the situation.

Soon, the guard sentry replied on the phone: "Captain, there is a convoy outside. They said it was from the attendant room. We haven't received any notification. Do you think we should let them pass?"

(End of this chapter)