Chapter 167

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

"Sigh, I've suggested several times to invest in expanding Wei Yue's tank factory, so your Armored Corps can procure 38T tanks produced by Wei Yue—why are they still just small potatoes!"

Chen Cheng was somewhat disappointed; if he had never seen Lv Muzhi's tanks and armored vehicles, he would have been quite excited by the dozens of tanks Du Yuming brought.

Unfortunately, Lv Muzhi's armored forces were beyond his reach; once he had seen something good, his heart could never return.

Du Yuming naturally knew the 38T was good, but he was just a troop commander and had little autonomy in procurement; besides, importing foreign tanks meant certain people could skim a lot of oil and water going in and out......

Like the Air Force not importing Hawk IIIs from outside for line-filling, but instead procuring Hawk IIIs produced by Lv Muzhi, which made Lv Muzhi establish a large number of enemies.

No way, Lv Muzhi's prices were too transparent, so certain people had no oil and water to skim, but this also added quite a few fighters to the Air Force, enough to be consumed for a while, not all gone at once.

"Commander Chen, no need to worry; my Armored Corps' current tank combat capability is quite impressive, with many tanks, enough to fight the devils' tanks!"

Du Yuming's Armored Corps brought three companies this time,

the First Company had 20 Vickers 6-ton Light Tanks,

the Second Company had 16 Vickers 3.5-ton Amphibious Tanks,

the Third Company had 16 Type 1 Tanks weighing 5.4 tons, a large number, and a big investment.

He brought a total of 52 tanks, of which only the First Company's 20 tanks were equipped with tank cannons; the tanks of the Second and Third Companies were equipped with 7.7mm machine guns, equivalent to being used as armored vehicles.

Chen Cheng said: "I heard Wei Yue say the devils have a Type 89 Medium Tank, which seems a bit stronger than your tanks."

After speaking, Chen Cheng asked Lv Muzhi to connect a phone call.

Lv Muzhi was distributing gas masks to the Ninth and Twenty-first Group Armies of the Center Army; the Guangxi clique's Twenty-first Group Army had not used gas masks, and Lv Muzhi was arranging personnel to train them.

"Report to Commander Lu, Commander Chen is on the phone."

Lv Muzhi picked up the phone and heard Chen Cheng coming over with kind words asking for support, mainly requesting some tank cars:

"Muzi, Du Yuming brought quite a few tanks, but I always feel his tanks are lacking something compared to yours; can you spare a company to come support me?"

Lv Muzhi thought for a moment; currently Zhou Weiguo's Armored Tank Regiment had three Type 38 Light Tank Companies, one Type 3 Medium Tank Company, one Tank Destroyer Company, and one Anti-Aircraft Vehicle Company, twelve tanks per company, seventy-two tanks in the six companies' establishment.

Of course, besides these six tank companies, the Armored Tank Regiment also had units such as repair, logistics, and infantry.

"That's no problem, Commander Chen; on the Songhu battlefield we share honor and disgrace together; I'll transfer the Tank Destroyer Company to you, just right to test its power."

Chen Cheng was very happy: "Great, not to mention on the Songhu battlefield, even off the battlefield we share honor and disgrace!"

"Haha, Commander Chen, remember to remind Du Yuming that the Armored Corps had best get a few light anti-tank guns for coordinated operations, the effect will be better; also, the troops within your jurisdiction should be equipped with as many gas masks as possible; I see the devils, cornered, are going to use poison gas shells."

Chen Cheng nodded on the other end of the phone: "I remember; I've already sent a telegram to Commander He, and a batch of gas masks will be issued to my defense zone today."

Lv Muzhi wasn't too worried about the devils' tank forces; now it seemed the devils' tanks were like a docile little cat before the Youth Army, of course not quite that docile......

What he worried about was the Navy's naval guns and the Army's heavy artillery, as well as the Japanese poison gas shells.

The entire Ninth Group Army was equipped with gas masks; for the Twenty-first Group Army, Lv Muzhi also supplied them with a large number of gas masks, and the bullets and rations transported from the Southwest were also supplied in abundance.

After all, they came from afar to support the war of resistance; we can't let friendly troops feel chilled.

Twenty-first Group Army Commander Liao Lei came to see Lv Muzhi; before Zhu Shaoliang took office as Commander-in-Chief of the Center Army, Lv Muzhi had existed as everyone's temporary superior.

"Thank you, Commander Lu, for supporting us with ammunition, gas masks, and so on; I've been rushing along the road for so long, it warms my heart."

"Did you adapt to coming by train?"

"What's there not to adapt to? It's certainly much better than walking; I reckon it would take me two months to reach Songhu on foot; thanks to your coordination of the Canton-Hankou Railway and the steamers on the Yangtze, we were able to arrive so quickly; as soon as I came, you prepared a gift for my Twenty-first Group Army."

Lv Muzhi smiled, then said honestly: "The devils' all-out offensive is imminent; by then troop losses will be great; I must give a preventive shot in advance here."

"Sacrifice is something we Guangxi Army brothers knew before setting out on expedition; during conscription, young and strong men across the province responded enthusiastically; that grand scene, I'm seeing it for the first time!"

Liao Lei recalled the scene of conscription for the war of resistance, and was full of spirit, very proud.

"Good, everyone's enthusiasm for resisting Japan is high; we officials must be even more united; Commander Liao, rest assured, with me, I will do my best to treat everyone equally and not betray the enthusiasm of the eight Guangxi brothers!"

The two were chatting enthusiastically when news came from the frontline that the Japanese were launching a major offensive against the Jiangwan area, with great momentum.

At the same time, the Japanese fleet sailed to the vicinity of Huishan Wharf, using artillery fire superiority to cover part of the Eleventh Division's troops landing at Huishan Wharf.

That is to say, within Lv Muzhi's defense zone, the Japanese offensive was refined into two parts: one part was the struggle for Jiangwan Town, and the other was using Huishan Wharf as a pivot to assault toward Hongkou.

At Huishan Wharf, most berths were blocked by sunken ships and cargo; the Eleventh Division's troops were brought by naval ships to the middle of the Huangpu River, then transferred to small boats to go ashore.

Assaulting north from Huishan Wharf toward Zhabei was the idea of Eleventh Division Commander Lieutenant General Yamamuro Sōbu.

"Yoisho, using the main force of two divisions to attract the enemy's attention at Jiangwan Town, my Tenth Brigade's two infantry regiments land at the flank's Huishan Wharf, attack Hongkou, cut off the rear of Chu Yunfei's and Sun Yuanlang's forces at Jiangwan Town—excellent!" said the Tenth Brigade's Tani Valley Major General Brigade Commander proudly on the warship.

For this flank landing, Major General Tani Valley brought out two infantry regiments, accompanied by an artillery unit and an armored vehicle squadron, precisely to cut off the rear of Chu Yunfei and Sun Yuanlang at Jiangwan Town at Hongkou.

"General, I feel something seems fishy?" said a staff officer of the brigade headquarters somewhat doubtfully.

"Why was our landing unobstructed? The enemy didn't even come to Huishan Wharf to organize a counter-landing operation?"

Major General Tani Valley smiled: "Cunning Lv Muzhi, don't think I don't know; this is to avoid naval gunfire; tell all units, after entering Huishan Wharf, don't rush to act; disperse and prepare for artillery defense; the enemy is surely waiting for us deep inland!"