"Hello, Commander, the 2nd Battalion, the 2nd Company of the Cavalry Battalion, and the 3rd Company of the Cavalry Battalion have successfully completed their mission and requested to return to the team." Liu Yutian first saluted Li Hao and then reported with excitement.
Li Hao smiled and responded: "I can see it."
"The team is at least twice as long as when we set out. We must have brought back a lot of good things."
"Tell us quickly how much benefit you got from this trip."
Liu Yutian quickly replied: "Captain, today we fought seven battles during the day. Some were fought by cavalry independently, and some were coordinated by infantry and cavalry. In total, we killed more than 600 little Japs and more than 700 puppet troops, and captured 514 of them.
"
"Rescued 1,743 prisoners of the Jinsui Army, including a regiment commander, 2 deputy regiment commanders, 4 battalion commanders, 16 company commanders and deputy battalion commanders, and 84 officers at the deputy company and platoon levels."
"In addition, we also seized 59 mules and horses, 4 mountain guns, 19 mortars, 18 heavy machine guns, 57 light machine guns, more than 3,200 rifles, various bullets, and 106 boxes of artillery shells."
"I made some statistics and found that except for the heavy machine guns and mortars, which were mostly captured from the Japanese and puppet troops, most of the rifle machine guns were captured by the Japs from the Jinsui Army and then fell into our hands."
The smile on Li Hao's face became even wider.
Those weapons and ammunition are real gains and can be used when you return to the base area. Even if you don't use them yourself, you can support other Eighth Route Army troops.
The same goes for those captured puppet soldiers. Change their thinking and encourage them to join the Eighth Route Army. These people will become the best supplementary soldiers for the garrison, making up for the losses of the garrison in this war.
As for the prisoners of the Jinsui Army who were rescued, Li Hao was also of great use.
The Jinsui Army must have suffered very heavy losses in this siege. In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, in addition to recruiting new soldiers, there is another indispensable problem.
Provide enough veterans and low-level officers to the army.
They are the real backbone of the army. Whether a unit is strong in combat effectiveness, the proportion of veterans and the excellent occupancy of lower-level officers play a vital role.
Among those brought back by the 23rd Battalion this evening and those rescued by the latent troops last night, there must be more than 300 platoon officers.
If they are added to the army, there will be low-level officers of the two divisions.
There are also thousands of ordinary soldiers and squad leaders. They are all veterans who have fought in the war. They are the backbone of the supplementary troops.
If the Jinsui Army knew of the existence of these people, they would definitely try their best to go back and make up for their losses in the battle of Datong.
In order to rescue them, the garrison lost a lot of troops and also consumed a lot of weapons and ammunition.
There is no problem in returning these people to the Jinsui Army, but at least the legwork fees and compensation must not be less, otherwise I will have many reasons to keep them.
Thinking of this, the smile on Li Hao's face became even wider.
He made a decisive decision immediately: "Chief of Staff, send someone immediately to send the prisoners and the Jinsui Army we rescued back to the base area."
"All the officers above the platoon level of the Jinsui Army are taken out and managed separately. Then political cadres are sent to publicize among ordinary soldiers to encourage them to join the Eighth Route Army. We can recruit as many people as we can to join our Eighth Route Army."
"But we must remember that it is better to be deficient than to overdo it."
"Joining our Jinsui Army must be voluntary, have no bad deeds, and must pass our review."
"As for the remaining soldiers, they will all be returned to the Jinsui Army in exchange for benefits."
Hong Linfeng is very aware of the leader's character of only taking advantage and never losing.
Judging from the confident look on the leader's face, Hong Linfeng seemed to have seen the Jinsui Army bleeding heavily in exchange for these prisoners.
With a smile on his lips, he answered understandingly: "Don't worry, leader, we will definitely choose only the best."
Two hours later, the Third Battalion also arrived at Caoziling.
The number of prisoners of war brought back, captured and rescued by the Jinsui Army was on par with that of the Second Battalion.
It wasn't until eight o'clock the next morning that the Caoziling position, which had been bustling all night, calmed down.
Li Hao did not rest, but was brewing a bigger conspiracy.
The Jinsui Army collapsed outside Datong City twice, which not only allowed Li Hao to see the strength of the Japanese and puppet Datong defenders, but also allowed him to see the importance the Japanese army attached to Datong.
It is certain that after this battle, the Japanese army will run Datong City more carefully.
The more the Japanese army attaches importance to Datong City and the longer they operate here, the more benefits there will be in Datong City.
If nothing else, the funds alone can make the garrison make a fortune.
As an important coal mining base for the Japanese army in Shanxi, there must be many chaebols in Japan setting up mines in Datong.
These chaebols have very strong financial resources and will definitely store a large amount of liquidity in Datong.
If the garrison can capture Datong City, then these funds will belong to the Eighth Route Army.
"We must capture Datong!"
Thinking of this, Li Hao punched the table made of ammunition boxes in front of him and said decisively.
"Why take Datong!"
Hong Linfeng was shocked by Li Hao's behavior. He looked at him and asked inexplicably.
"Of course it was our garrison that took down Datong City?" Li Hao replied.
Hong Linfeng was frightened on the spot.
He opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to react.
"Captain, are you crazy? This is Datong City, not an ordinary county town."
"The Jinsui Army failed to capture tens of thousands of people. Our garrison only has a few thousand people. How can we fight!"
"I don't agree. Even if Datong City is short of troops now, we will die if we kill them now."
Seeing Hong Linfeng's reaction, Li Hao quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, Chief of Staff, I am not talking about taking Datong City now."
"Currently I only have a preliminary idea. It's still very early before it can be realized. Don't worry."
"If that day comes, I will definitely be fully prepared."
"We will never let our comrades die."
The leader is a person who takes action when he thinks. Hong Linfeng knows this very well.
Since he already has the idea of attacking Datong, he will definitely work hard for this goal.
And Hong Linfeng also slowly calmed down from the initial shock.
Because the garrison had the experience of taking down Datong City once.
So what the Jinsui Army couldn't do doesn't mean that the Eighth Route Army couldn't do it.
With this idea in mind, Hong Linfeng began to look forward to the regiment leader's proposal to capture Datong City, and immediately asked: "Captain, what are you going to do?"
Li Hao thought for a moment and replied: "We have limited troops. If we want to capture Datong City, which is heavily defended by the Japanese and puppet troops, it will definitely not happen overnight."
"I'm only thinking about the first step now."
"Taking advantage of the insufficient strength of the Japanese and puppet troops in Datong, we left a force, built several guerrilla zones, and developed an armed force of our own in the belly of the little devil."
"If we really want to attack Datong in the future, we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort if we have an army to act as internal support."
Hong Linfeng's eyes lit up: "What a good idea. Anyway, we got a sufficient amount of weapons and ammunition from this battle. Just keep some to form our own team in the heart of the Japanese!"
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