My client Li Yunlong

"General."

Shimen.

North China Front Army Headquarters.

Staff Office.

A communications staff officer reported the bad news.

"The Yamazaki Battalion position south of Ze County was attacked by a large number of enemy tanks."

"The enemy deployed more than 30 tanks, including a large number of new and advanced tanks with extremely powerful firepower."

"Although the Yamazaki Battalion, the Officers Observation Group, and the Hetian Battalion responsible for the escort fought desperately, they were ultimately outnumbered and all of them, including the Officers Observation Group, were killed."

The staff officer's report is full of linguistic mystery.

The tragic process is ignored and the emphasis is placed on the process.

"understood!"

Da Song nodded.

Over thirty tanks.

Perhaps more than 30 tanks are not many for the enemy, but for the Locust Army, this is already the number of tanks of a tank brigade.

A huge number.

The enemy's tanks have always been advanced, and this time they have deployed even more advanced tanks, which has taken their strength to a new level.

Although the Yamazaki Battalion was the pride of the empire and the elite of the North China Front Army, and the battalion escorting the observation group was also an elite battalion, there were only two battalions facing a brigade-level tank attack.

Can't stop normal.

It is natural that the observation group was completely wiped out.

"I will report to the commander."

Chief of Staff Omatsu picked up the report urgently drafted by the staff and walked to the operations meeting room.

Where is Ningji Okamura?

···
"The entire observation group was destroyed?"

After hearing the report from Chief of Staff Omatsu, Ningji Okamura's expression was beyond everyone's expectations.
Very peaceful.

It was not the brief calm before a volcanic eruption, but a calm from beginning to end, as if it were just a trivial matter.

But that is clearly not the case.

The observation group consisted of more than one hundred elite officers.

Including three brigade commanders, five regiment commanders, twenty battalion commanders, more than seventy squadron commanders, and more than thirty platoon leaders, the core officer corps of a division is just this size.

Moreover, all of these officers are elite non-commissioned officers who have received medals bestowed by the Heavenly Locust.

He is an elite Bushido practitioner.

They are the elite among the elite of the Imperial Locust Army.

Even for the North China Front Army a year ago, losing so many officers would have been seriously damaged and weakened.

What's more, now?
You know, although the North China Front Army is not short of reinforcements, the more than 50,000 reinforcements arriving from the country every month are enough to make up for the losses on the front line, and there are even some surplus.

However, due to the losses in the war and the secret transfer of elite troops and officers from the rear using the wounded, the shortage of officers became increasingly serious.

It is equally easy for a soldier and an officer to die, but training the latter is a hundred times more difficult than the former.

The loss of more than one hundred elite officers at this time was not just a broken bone or severe damage to vitality, but a bloody mess that penetrated deep into the bone marrow.

Da Song was puzzled.

Why is the commander so calm?

Is there a solution?

"It seems that our locust army's intelligence confidentiality work..."

After a moment of calm, Gangcun sighed silently.

All along, or in other words, during the four months of fighting, the Eighth Route Army's attacks on the positions of the Yamazaki Battalion south of Ze County were sporadic and small-scale.

Three or four tanks were deployed at a time, accompanied by two or three hundred infantrymen.

At most, five or six vehicles will be dispatched, and the number of infantry will remain the same.

Advance steadily and slowly, step by step, with a very clear goal, to minimize casualties, hone tank tactics, and train tank crews - actual combat, or to be more precise, low-intensity actual combat, is the best training ground for new recruits.

The locust army is actually also training new recruits.

Unfortunately, for the Eighth Route Army, the fighting in North China was of low intensity, and they could retreat calmly, but for the Locust Army, it was hell, purgatory, and the most brutal battlefield they had ever experienced.

Every month, 20,000 people die in battle and 50,000 people are injured or killed.

Even Nogi Maresuke couldn't compare to him back then.

But the soldiers who crawled out of hell are the elite among the elite. They can often gain the effects of one or two years of actual combat and training in just one or two months.

And on the day when the observation group arrived, there were more than 30 tanks... maybe there were not more than 30 tanks, no, there were definitely not 30 tanks.

Ningji Okamura was well aware of the power of tanks.

Let alone thirty tanks, even if there were a dozen tanks, the Yamazaki Battalion and the battalion escorting the officers' observation group would not be able to stop them. There was no possibility of stopping them at all.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for the Eighth Route Army to come up with more than 30 tanks.

Twenty will be enough.

The Germans proved one thing on the Eastern Front: the more tanks concentrated, the stronger the combat effectiveness.

Of course, this is not a problem.

The issue is,
Why did the enemy launch a large-scale attack as soon as the observation group arrived, occupying the positions south of Ze County in one fell swoop and annihilating the Yamazaki Battalion?

obviously.

The Eighth Route Army knew from the beginning that the observation group was coming. Faced with more than one hundred elite officers, the other side sent out a large number of tanks in order to annihilate these one hundred imperial officers.

"Want to investigate?"

Chief of Staff Omatsu asked this question.

As soon as the officers' observation group arrived at the battlefield, the enemy launched a large-scale attack. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that there was something wrong.

"no need."

Okamura Neji shook his head.

Is there a problem with the confidentiality of the internal intelligence of the Imperial Locust Army? There are Eighth Route Army inside the Locust Army.

Or was it a technical problem? Was it the enemy's advanced reconnaissance technology that led to the discovery of the strictly confidential officers' observation group?
No one knows.

No one can investigate.

Due to the emergence of the Business Department and the Economics Department, the situation in the North China Front Army is now extremely complicated. Although Suzuki Banji and Otoko Tomo are colonels and major generals respectively in terms of military rank, they both belong only to the headquarters and are directly responsible to the prime minister.

It's not something he can control.

and!

The Empire is frantically trying to gain profits here, even at the cost of the lives of the Empire's soldiers and officers. Naturally, problems within the Locust Army are inevitable.

Who... would be completely loyal to an empire that would sell out itself and its people in exchange for profit?
If the other side had not given him no chance at all, he was sure that many people inside the imperial army and the puppet government would have surrendered to the enemy long ago.

"Hi."

Although he was puzzled, Chief of Staff Omatsu still nodded his head.

He is a staff officer, responsible for specific execution, and the decision-making power belongs to the commander-in-chief.

After Chief of Staff Omatsu left,
Gangcun Ningcun looked at the casualty report in front of him, the list of more than one hundred elite imperial officers who had died in battle, and the casualty figures of as many as 180,000 casualties in four months, with 70,000 deaths in battle.

He sighed silently:
"When will this war end?"

In April, there were less than 10,000 suicides, but by July, the number had reached 20,000, and in August, within just one week, the number of suicides reached 8,000.

With more than seven million citizens and more than eight million soldiers of military age, how long can the empire last?
"The empire won't last much longer."

At the side, Ishiwara Kanji, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke:

"almost."

"The Empire has no oil."

"Have you noticed? America has never provided the Empire with oil equipment and technology." "Even if the Empire can take over the oil facilities in Southeast Asia, even if they are not destroyed, the Empire does not have enough refining capacity and technology."

"Even the crude oil transportation capacity is insufficient."

“Anti-submarine capabilities are also seriously inadequate.”

Ishiwara Kanji saw the empire's weakest point.

oil!

Although the industrial power on the other side of the strait has been doing business with the empire and has greatly improved the empire's industrial level, it has never provided the fuel that is most needed for the war.

They have always refused to provide either refining capacity or refining technology.

And we only sell finished oil.

Obviously,

The other party has another trick up his sleeve.

And always be on guard against the empire.

···
August.

Everything is changing for the better.

The base obtained more food, which not only filled the large number of newly built grain warehouses, but also increased the base's grain reserves to one million tons, meeting the needs of the people in the base.

It even met the food needs of the preserved fruit controlled area.

With the beginning of highway construction and the expansion of transport teams, a large amount of cheap grain, very cheap grain, was transported to areas south of southern Hebei and north of northwestern Shanxi.

These are the areas where famine occurred.

Although they are just millet and sorghum, they are also staple foods and can fill people up and won’t starve them to death.

There was food, but in those disaster-stricken areas where the soldiers had swept through, the common people even lacked pots to cook with and firewood to keep warm. Many people were worth just an old quilt.

Especially in the north of northwest Shanxi, there are many people but a lack of firewood. After August, winter is about to come and heating problems are serious. Although there are several large garment factories in the base, they were built not long ago and the production of cotton clothes is seriously insufficient. It is impossible to meet the needs of all the victims in just a few months.

So, Li Yunlong waved his hand and purchased more than 100,000 fuel stoves from outside and distributed them to the victims for heating.

And opened up the sale of diesel at low prices.

Coupled with the basic equipment from the steel mill in the base, although it will take some time to produce high-quality steel, weapon-grade high-quality steel, there will be no problem in producing pots for ordinary people.

then!

Hundreds of thousands of oil-burning stoves and hundreds of thousands of large and small pots flooded the market.

At the same time, there are barrels of fuel.

Diesel and petrol are available.

"Is that enough?"

Zhao Gang was a little worried.

It's just a pilot now.

Small-scale pilot, winter has not yet arrived.

But the stove wasn't the problem.

Not to mention importing, the base can also produce it ourselves. If that doesn't work, just have fuel.

Heating is simple.

You can keep warm by piling up a pile of firewood in the tent, building a mud chimney, and pouring diesel on it.

But the question is, is there enough fuel to supply such heavy consumption?
"enough."

Li Yunlong was able to take out a piece of information.

Obtained fuel information in August.

Eight hundred Taihang heavy trucks consume a maximum of one hundred tons of fuel per day. In thirty days a month, a total of 2.4 million tons of fuel is obtained - which is actually almost enough.

According to calculations, a household only needs to consume a maximum of three tons of fuel oil in a winter, which is about the same as coal, to ensure adequate heating and prevent anyone from freezing to death.

Zhao Gang nodded immediately.

"As I recall, the Americans produce 200 million tons of crude oil a year?"

But Li Yunlong was obviously not satisfied with this number.

He asked a question.

"Correct."

Zhao Gang nodded and said:
"The United States accounts for more than 70 percent of the world's crude oil production and more than 75 percent of the world's refining capacity. Last year alone, it produced 210 million tons of crude oil."

"Two hundred and ten million tons."

Li Yunlong frowned.

A lot more than he expected.

After thinking about it, Captain Li took out an application form.

Winter is coming.

Due to the expulsion of the Japanese invaders, the attraction of the base to people, and the improvement of medical technology, there are a large number of ordinary people in the controlled areas around the base - as many as tens of millions.

Eating is not a problem.

Millions of tons of sorghum every month are enough to meet people's food needs.

Not eating well.

But it's definitely filling.

But heating is a problem.

Using firewood for heating, although Brother Lu provides several million cubic meters of wood every month, it is not enough, not to mention the inconvenience of transportation - wood consumption is very high for heating.

The winters in recent years have been very cold, and this year is expected to be a very cold winter.

The army’s slogan is not to let anyone freeze to death or starve to death.

Starvation to death was achieved, but to prevent anyone from freezing to death, some resources were needed - more fuel.

So, he applied to Brother Lu for fuel assistance, citing the needs of a large number of disaster victims. Diesel would be fine, heavy oil would be fine, and gasoline would actually be fine too. Gasoline is not that volatile in winter and can be used for heating for the people.

Gasoline and diesel can burn more durable than the same weight of firewood. In any case, imported diesel and gasoline stoves are very simple.

···
end of August.

Shimen,

Economics Office.

Suzuki Banji looked anxious.

In August, the price of silver in the market fell sharply, reaching 20 cents per ounce, a further drop of 50%. As a result, his profit from silver trading was only a pitiful 8 million US dollars.
It has fallen eightfold from its peak.

no way.

Since the Eighth Route Army began to exchange silver dollars with foreign countries without limit, even ordinary people are no longer accepting silver dollars.

Everyone knows that this thing is worthless.

Even the Eighth Route Army directly pegged the Ji'nan currency to the U.S. dollar.

For this reason, the headquarters became increasingly dissatisfied with the economics class, because, although the total revenue of the business department next door in August had not yet come out, in the first three weeks, the total amount of US dollars earned for the empire was more than 120 million US dollars.

This group of people even purchased hundreds of thousands of oil stoves and made a fortune, earning several times the cost.

Fuel...
Thinking of this, Suzuki Banji's heart moved.

If Ishiwara Kanji could discover the imperial crisis, Suzuki Banji could certainly discover it.

The empire lacks fuel.

Although it is still possible to purchase fuel from the United States and the Netherlands, the amount of high-quality gasoline, diesel and heavy oil is still insufficient.

The empire is in urgent need.

That group of people purchased oil stoves, even hundreds of thousands of them, it couldn't have been for that little bit of steel, it must have been for heating, etc.

That is to say...
That group of people in North China has a huge amount of fuel?

If he could get a lot of fuel, if the economics department could get a lot of fuel that the empire desperately needs... (End of this chapter)