"Captain, Captain Xiao reported that there have been a lot of spies near the pharmaceutical factory recently, some from Japs and some from Chongqing." Zhou Liang handed the telegram to Li Hao and reported with a serious face.
"They learned from the captured prisoners that Chongqing had begun to suspect that the pharmaceutical factory was run by our Eighth Route Army. It was said that the Japanese leaked the news to them."
"There are also rumors: Our pharmaceutical factory produces penicillin on the surface, but secretly it is an arsenal of the Eighth Route Army, with a large amount of weapons and ammunition stored in it..."
After Li Hao was silent for a few seconds, he frowned and replied: "This must be the fault of the little devil!"
"Sneak attacks, stormings, bombings, and kidnappings... we used all possible means, but we couldn't get the production formula of penicillin from us, so we turned to Chongqing and wanted to use Chongqing to get rid of it.
We and they like to fish for profit."
Speaking of this, Li Hao fell silent again.
He thought of the Eighth Route Army's ongoing Hundred Regiments Campaign.
After the battle, everyone was shocked by the powerful fighting power unleashed by the Eighth Route Army, and regained confidence in whether China could defeat the Japanese.
At the same time, its strong strength also made Chongqing increasingly fearful of the Eighth Route Army.
It was also at the beginning of this year that Chongqing completely cut off the Eighth Route Army's military pay due to the large-scale expansion of the Eighth Route Army's troops.
Under such circumstances, the pharmaceutical factory cannot stay in Chongqing forever.
Staying for one more day will increase the risk.
"It's time to consider transferring!" Li Hao replied with a long sigh.
"Our goal of keeping the pharmaceutical factory in Chongqing has been achieved, and it's time to retire."
"Call Xiao Yuan back: I will return to Chongqing within half a month and organize everyone to evacuate Chongqing in an orderly manner."
"Before I returned to Chongqing, he was responsible for handling the spies operating near the pharmaceutical factory. If anyone wanted to investigate the pharmaceutical factory, he should go directly to the Americans and ask them to stop him."
"With so much money from us every month, we must make some contributions to the pharmaceutical factory."
"Delay me at all costs until I return to Chongqing."
As soon as Zhou Liang left with the order signed by Li Hao, Hong Linfeng rushed in with an excited look on his face.
"Captain, good news."
"The repair shop just sent someone over to report that the little Japanese tank we captured on the battlefield has been half repaired."
After several counter-mops, the garrison regiment captured more than 30 tanks and armored vehicles. Because the battlefield was damaged by bombing, they were all lying in the woods like scrap metal.
The arsenal wanted to dismantle these tanks several times and recycle them as scrap metal to make guns and cannons, but Li Hao stopped them every time.
These tanks were only damaged, not scrapped, so they must be repairable.
Although Li Hao despised these iron chariots, they were still powerful weapons on the Chinese battlefield where heavy weapons were lacking.
So as soon as the battle ended, Li Hao personally went to the arsenal to mobilize manpower and set up a base repair shop to repair these tanks and bombed cars.
They did not disappoint themselves and repaired half of the battlefield in just half a month.
"Let's go to the repair shop now!" Li Hao grabbed his hat and armed belt and rushed out of the headquarters with a smile on his face.
Less than twenty minutes after riding, the repair shop hidden in the woods came into view.
Li Hao rushed all the way to the door before stopping, jumped off his horse and walked inside, very anxious.
"Hello, Captain!" The director of the repair shop, who was covered in oil and stains, did not expect that Li Hao would come in person and hurriedly greeted him.
"Don't do those nonsense, tell me about your results." Li Hao waved his hand and interrupted, then his eyes were attracted by a row of tanks covered with camouflage nets not far away, and he strode towards those tanks.
.
"This is the tank we repaired, a total of three medium tanks, three light tanks, and five armored vehicles!" the factory director pointed at the tank and reported with excitement.
"There is also an armored vehicle that will be fully repaired in one day."
Li Hao patted the cold body of the tank and asked with satisfaction: "How was it repaired?"
"It's the same as when we repair weapons in the arsenal. The same tanks were built by demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall to create these twelve tanks." The factory director quickly replied.
"The remaining tanks were all dismantled into parts, and the intact ones were kept as spares. The broken ones were sent to the arsenal for repairs or rebuilding."
"If the arsenal can repair those parts, we can assemble five or six tanks."
"Great!" The smile on Li Hao's face became even wider.
"With these tanks, our garrison has become even more powerful."
"But there is a problem. Except for these three medium tanks, the protective armor of light tanks and armored vehicles is too thin. Not only can anti-aircraft machine guns easily penetrate them, but if the shooting angle is adjusted well, heavy machine guns can also penetrate them at close range."
"Director Wang, please think about it. You can use the armor removed from other tanks to add a layer of armor to the light tank."
"I do not require that the entire vehicle body be retrofitted. I only require that the front side, which is most vulnerable to attack, be welded with a layer of armor to increase the tank's battlefield survivability probability."
Factory Manager Wang thought for a while and replied: "If you just add a layer on the front, the weight of the car will only increase by a few hundred kilograms, and it will have little impact on power and maneuverability. I think it is okay."
"Then let's do it!" Li Hao made a decision immediately.
Back at the headquarters, Li Hao was still immersed in the good news.
Because of these dozen chariots, I have another trump card in my hand. If I use them well on the battlefield, they will definitely be a weapon to defeat the little devils.
"Chief of Staff, I have decided to transfer manpower from the entire regiment to form a tank company, which will be directly under the regiment headquarters."
"We will start training as soon as the repair shop comes out with the equipment. We will initially form combat effectiveness within three months, and we will fully form combat effectiveness and participate in battles after half a year."
Hong Linfeng had already thought of this day, but he still couldn't restrain his excitement.
The Eighth Route Army has poor equipment and insufficient ammunition. This is a fact, otherwise it would not be called the Eighth Route Army by outsiders.
As a member of the Eighth Route Army, Hong Linfeng never imagined that one day he would own heavy artillery and tanks.
After a long time, he slowly calmed down his excited heart and stared at Li Hao and asked.
"How to set it up? Captain, I have never been in contact with a tank unit before. I guess I can't find anyone in the whole group who knows how to tinker with tanks."
"My eyes are completely blank, I don't know anything."
"Even if you put a tank in front of me, I wouldn't know where to start."
Hong Linfeng was not exaggerating at all. Almost all the soldiers in the garrison were from ordinary people. They were poor people and could not even recognize a few characters in Dou Da, let alone drive a tank. Many of them had never seen what a tank looked like in their entire lives.
Sample.
Li Hao frowned, writing and drawing in his notebook while thinking.
It took five minutes before he spoke: "A tank needs a commander, a tank driver, a machine gunner, and a gunner, a total of four people."
"So you need to select soldiers from the entire regiment who can drive, then select a dozen squad platoon leaders to serve as vehicle commanders, and then select some gunners and machine gunners."
"In addition, these people must be the most powerful warriors in the whole group."
"I have a feeling that as long as the tank company develops combat effectiveness, it will definitely become an elite ace in our hands."
Hong Linfeng was thoughtful and continued to ask: "Then who will be the company commander?"
"Tao Yongbo, commander of the supply company, is the only company and above cadre in the regiment who can drive a car and knows a little bit about it. He has read books and learns things quickly."
"I will go to Chongqing in a few days and try to get some books about tanks back, so that the tank company can learn and practice at the same time."
