Chapter 17: The Beginning of Azure Cloud Ridge

After newly acquiring two arsenals outside the maps, Zhang Qian used these two arsenals to fully produce various models of bullets and two types of grenades.

Because the friction between the current troops and the Japanese is becoming increasingly serious, Zhang Qian suggested to headquarters to prioritize equipping the 129th Division.

(As per the old rule, let me explain the algorithm province that you guys find confusing: a military factory's basic production capacity is 4.25 per day, the unit of 4.25 is an infantry squad, so monthly capacity is 1275 infantry equipment. Since I didn't let Zhang Qian use the system's scientific research infantry equipment, now we can only produce bullets and grenades; the grenade was made in chapter 10, but it's 404. After France's surrender, with the production line and drawings, we can produce French infantry equipment. One military factory's monthly 1275 infantry equipment is really not much; the Huangya Cave arsenal could equip 16 main regiments in a year.)

The 386th Brigade, as the main force of the 129th Division, naturally took the front line.

Black clouds press the city, the city seems about to fall; the armored light faces the sun, the golden qilin opens.

On the eve of the impending great battle, a solemn and lethal atmosphere filled the entire base. Both the frontline soldiers and the logistics comrades had made preparations.

The soldiers received newly supplemented weapons and ammunition from headquarters; if it were peacetime, they would surely be happy as if they had struck riches, but now everyone knows a fierce battle is coming. All the regiment chiefs are busy inspecting troops, plugging gaps, and boosting morale.

The logistics department has prepared to quickly dismantle production equipment at any time and move together with the division command and the field hospital.

The logistics department and field hospital did not transfer in advance because the troops cannot do without the assistance of these two departments unless absolutely necessary; pulling one thread moves the whole body.

During this period, both the deputy commander and the division commander messaged Zhang Qian, telling him that when necessary, personnel safety must be prioritized; as long as the green mountains remain, there is no fear of lacking firewood.

In February 1940, the Japanese army's commander-in-chief stationed in Shanxi, Shinozuka Yoshio, issued a new phase order: demanding that the various regiments stationed in Shanxi jointly encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army forces entrenched in central Shanxi.

Soon the Japanese movements were detected by the division headquarters; after analyzing the strengths of both sides, according to our army's current operational policy, the division headquarters decided to temporarily avoid the enemy's sharp edge, after all, the troops currently lack the capability to engage in a positional battle against the Japanese head-on.

Although the entire division had prepared for relocation, due to the Japanese prison‑camp policy and because they had reinforced garrisons at the mountain passes and blockhouses for this sweep, setting up layer after layer of checkpoints, the withdrawal speed was highly unsatisfactory.

Facing the Japanese blockade, the logistics department could only transfer under the cover of moonlight. Fortunately, the logistics department had no large equipment; the sole important chemical plant, merely made by primitive methods, had completely withdrawn to the safe area in less than two nights.

However, the transfer of the division headquarters and the field hospital was not so smooth. The equipment in the field hospital was hard‑won, and these items greatly affected the speed of transfer. Moreover, due to a shortage of medicine, the field hospital has long housed seriously wounded personnel; our army has always refused to abandon or give up any comrade.

When approaching the vicinity of Azure Cloud Ridge, a reconnaissance squad of a Japanese regiment discovered a retreating Eighth Route Army unit. Furthermore, based on subsequent observation, through equipment, casualties, and uniforms, it was judged that the unit necessarily contained a field hospital of the Eighth Route Army in the process of transfer.

The regiment commander, Sakata Nobutetsu, like a shark that has smelled blood, decisively ordered an attack. Although he did not have the numerical advantage, past experience told him that the Eighth Route Army's weapons and equipment were far inferior to those of the Nationalist forces, and the Nationalist forces' casualty ratio against the locust army was six to one.

He regarded this armed force of peasants with utter contempt; in his mind, the Eighth Route Army's field hospital was already an easy merit to seize. This locust army's flower had risen to his present position step by step through battlefield achievements.

From the start of this encirclement operation to now, the Eighth Route Army has been avoiding battle; Sakata Nobutetsu has become convinced that his regiment can completely crush this group of peasants lacking heavy weapons in a frontal assault.

Thus the Sakata Regiment pursued relentlessly, tenaciously clinging to a retreating Eighth Route Army unit.

To cover the transfer of the division headquarters and the field hospital, the Eighth Route Army's 386th Brigade stayed behind as a rearguard.

All units immediately acted to seize the high ground of Azure Cloud Ridge, intending to rely on advantageous terrain and numerical superiority to hold their ground and block the Japanese regiment behind them.

On the strangely shaped Azure Cloud Ridge, the importance of the high ground goes without saying. Although Sakata Nobutetsu, as an experienced Japanese commander, would not simply allow the Eighth Route Army to seize the advantage, due to the pressing time, he ultimately let the three regiments of the 386th Brigade take the initiative.

On the three hilltops of the Azure Cloud Ridge main position, Li Yunlong's New 1st Regiment's main force swiftly deployed, hurriedly constructing fortifications and preparing for battle. His flanks were respectively Cheng Xiazi's 2nd Regiment and 1st Regiment, the three units forming a pincer formation.

Although he failed to seize the high ground, the already overinflated Sakata Nobutetsu did not cease his pursuit; he believed these peasants lacked any combat capability, and even occupying favorable terrain would be shattered at the first touch.

The facts quickly slapped him in the face; the attack on the Azure Cloud Ridge main position was not smooth, and although it did not reach the level of breaking bones and tendons, it still dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Sakata Regiment.

The defensive works constructed by the three regiments of the 386th Brigade on the hilltops made this main position easy to defend but hard to attack; the Sakata Regiment's artillery advantage could not play a decisive role due to the terrain. The Eighth Route Army, holding the high ground, repeatedly repelled several Japanese assaults, engaging in fierce combat with over three thousand Japanese troops on the Azure Cloud Ridge position, launching thirteen consecutive attacks and fighting a brutal close‑quarters battle with the Japanese.

Seeing that repeated charges still failed to take the position, Sakata Nobutetsu felt both angry and admiring of the enemy troops' fighting spirit. He never imagined that those peasants he had looked down upon would cause his regiment to lose over a hundred of his country's warriors. If he could not promptly crush the enemy forces ahead, thereby allowing the Eighth Route Army's field hospital to withdraw smoothly, he would become the disgrace of the entire Shanxi garrison.

Sakata Nobutetsu's command ability was not affected by his anger; the battle‑experienced he issued the following order:

Under the cover of artillery, part of the troops feigned an attack from the front, while the main force split into two parts to outflank from the two weakest points in the enemy's troop deployment, pinching the main position of Azure Cloud Ridge.

Hey, actually the Japanese tactics are really stupid, purely just bullying the Eighth Route Army for lacking heavy firepower; this tactic, whether fighting the Russians or the Americans, is earnestly sending them to their doom.

Sakata Nobutetsu wanted to use these Eighth Route Army troops to avenge his shame, and to tell everyone how his title as the locust army's flower came about.