This dilemma made Wang Xuexin a little crazy. He even wanted to change his strategic direction and capture Taiyuan first.
The reason why he wanted to capture Taiyuan first was because Wang Xuexin thought that Taiyuan had an arsenal that could produce artillery... That was the arsenal left by the Jinsui Army, which could produce the 88MM caliber Jinzao 18 field artillery and the 105MM caliber Jinzao 16
Type mountain cannon, and can also produce matching shells.
Although the Jinsui Army had already moved some equipment and even blew up some when the Japanese occupied Taiyuan, the Japanese brought equipment and parts from China to repair the production lines of these two types of artillery and continued production. The artillery produced was
Continuous supply to the front line.
If we can get these arsenals, we can perfectly solve the problem of the Eighth Route Army's artillery.
But Wang Xuexin thought about it for a while and finally gave up this tempting idea.
First of all, the terrain of Taiyuan is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Let’s not talk about Taiyuan City. As the most important city in Shanxi and also the production base of the Japanese, there are artillery towers, bunkers and partition rivers (artificially dug rivers) everywhere outside the city.
If the Eighth Route Army wanted to capture such a city by force, it might not be enough to pile in a dozen main regiments plus a few mechanized regiments.
Taiyuan City is nothing. To the west is Luliang Mountain, to the east is Taihang Mountain, to the north is Yanmen Pass, and to the south is Zhongtiao Mountain... Although these mountains are the base areas of the Eighth Route Army, Yanmen Pass is also in the hands of the Eighth Route Army.
However, the base areas are only places for guerrilla warfare and do not mean they are controlled by the Eighth Route Army, especially the Taihang Mountains.
What's more important is that Yanmen Pass is located in these mountains. The mechanized troops of the Eighth Route Army can't even think about passing through it, and Yanmen Pass is no exception... Although Yanmen Pass is in the hands of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese have set up a line of defense south of Yanmen Pass to surround it watertight.
.
How will the Eighth Route Army's mechanized troops and supplies be handled by then?
From Yanmen Pass, go forward bit by bit, or go over the Luliang Mountains, which is 80 to 120 kilometers wide, and send them to the front line?
You must know that these 80 to 120 kilometers are only the linear width of the Luliang Mountains. To cross them, you have to cross mountains and crisscross mountains and rivers. The supply team may not be able to arrive in several months... and probably never.
Because the transport team itself also needed food, the result was that all the supplies were consumed on the road before they could be transported to the front line.
To take a step back, even if the Eighth Route Army could capture Taiyuan with divine help, would the Japanese still be able to leave Taiyuan's arsenal to the Eighth Route Army?
Think too much!
On the other hand, considering the strategic direction, it is not suitable to attack Taiyuan.
Wang Xuexin has always been creating an illusion for the Japanese to attack Taiyuan, including now.
This caused the Japanese to urgently mobilize troops and generals from various places during this period to strengthen Taiyuan's defense and strength. Under such circumstances, if the Eighth Route Army really went to attack Taiyuan... then it would be causing trouble for itself!
But what can we do now?
Wang Xuexin thought for a while and immediately eliminated the possibility of self-produced artillery.
Even if we want to self-produce, we will wait until we have the opportunity to conquer Taiyuan in the future before considering self-production. It is still too early to think about this now.
Then there are only imports.
Imported artillery...perhaps it is more appropriate to import artillery from Mao Xiong. Not only is Mao Xiong closer to China, its troops stationed on the northern border to confront the Japanese can directly provide artillery and artillery shells to the Eighth Route Army.
But it is still unrealistic to need enough artillery shells for the Eighth Route Army to use on the battlefield. After all, Mao Xiong is also very nervous at this time... He is fighting with Hans in Stalingrad, and here they are confronting the Japanese with a weak force.
It was also a time when artillery shells were urgently needed, and there was not much ability to consider the combat needs of the Eighth Route Army.
(Note: Because Mao Xiong concluded that the Japanese would not launch an attack from the Far East, he transferred his troops back to Moscow to fight against Hans)
Just when Wang Xuexin was in trouble, Su Liguo knocked on the door and came in.
As soon as he entered the door, he excitedly handed the information in his hand to Wang Xuexin and said: "Captain, I have successfully reduced the size of the electron tube! Look at this..."
As he spoke, Su Liguo took out a few electronic tubes from his pocket and carefully placed them in Wang Xuexin's hands.
Wang Xuexin took it and saw that it was much smaller than the previous one... The previous one was the size of a strawberry and shaped like a strawberry, but now it has become a regular cylindrical shape as thick as a pencil.
The cylindrical shape is obviously more conducive to saving space, because they can be placed side by side.
"Very good!" Wang Xuexin praised: "Mr. Su must have put a lot of effort into miniaturizing it so quickly. However, if possible, it should continue to be miniaturized!"
"Of course!" Su Liguo responded: "The smaller it is, the lighter it is, and the smaller the radio will be, so it will be easier for soldiers to carry it on the battlefield!"
At this time, Su Liguo still thought that Wang Xuexin was doing this for the radio station... but this reason was enough. After all, going to the battlefield was related to the lives of soldiers and troop communications. Considering this reason from Su Liguo's perspective, it was enough for him to pay.
"Captain!" Su Liguo continued: "Aren't we also producing radar? Do you think we can also use this reduced tube in radar? It can also reduce the size..."
Wang Xuexin thought about it and asked: "Mr. Su, how is the research on radar going?"
"I took apart the proximity fuze and looked at it!" Su Liguo said: "We can completely produce it ourselves. It's not very complicated. It's just a small radar plus a voltage-controlled detonation device..."
This was the task that Wang Xuexin had given Su Liguo before, but that was not what Wang Xuexin was concerned about at this time. He said, "What about the radar called Mark 3? How big a target can it detect?"
Su Liguo couldn't help but sigh: "The things made by Yingjiang are amazing. I tried it and it can detect things the size of a washbasin ten kilometers away. It is no problem to detect airplanes dozens of kilometers away!"
Wang Xuexin said "Oh" and then asked: "So... what if I use this thing to detect artillery shells?"
"Detecting artillery shells?" Su Liguo looked confused: "The regiment leader wants to detect artillery shells?"
After being stunned for a moment, Su Liguo explained: "Yingjiang uses this kind of radar not to detect artillery shells, they are used to detect water splashes caused by artillery shells!"
Wang Xuexin said "Oh" to signal Su Liguo to continue.
Su Liguo said: "It's like this. Yingjiang installed this radar on a warship. After the warship fires, the shells will be fired at the enemy warship. If it misses, a splash of water will explode on the sea. The radar will detect the position of the splash.
, you will know whether the shell hit close or far away, and the next shot will be adjusted based on this data!"
Wang Xuexin understood clearly that Yingjiang used this radar to adjust the trajectory, and Su Liguo thought Wang Xuexin wanted to do the same.
But Wang Xuexin replied: "No, Mr. Su! What I want to detect is not the trajectory of my own artillery shells, but the enemy's artillery shells!"
"Enemy's artillery shells?" Su Liguo looked surprised. As far as he knew, no one had ever done this before...