Seeing that the regiment leader was silent, the operator continued to report: "The political commissar also reported that the superiors assigned our garrison 18 anti-aircraft machine guns and 9,000 rounds of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets, and the chief of staff has been safely brought back to the base."
"Whether the army uses these weapons to expand the air defense company into an air defense battalion!"
"This is a good thing!" Li Hao looked at the telegram and replied happily.
Although there are 500 anti-aircraft machine guns, which may seem like a lot, they are still too much for the ever-expanding Eighth Route Army.
The idea at the time was that only brigade-level troops and above could be assigned, and garrison regiments were definitely not eligible.
Unexpectedly, the head of the headquarters thought so highly of the garrison that he directly took out the equipment and ammunition of an air defense battalion. This was something Li Hao did not expect.
What Li Hao didn't expect was that although the garrison regiment still bore the name of a regiment, it was because the garrison regiment was a formal establishment recognized by the Ministry of Military Affairs and could not expand the army.
In the eyes of the commander, the garrison regiment has long reached brigade-level standards in terms of strength and equipment.
When superiors arranged tasks, they had already arranged the garrison regiments as brigades.
Of course, if Li Hao was given the choice, he would definitely be willing to continue to make a fortune in silence under the name of the garrison.
Because once the garrison is expanded into a brigade, its reputation and influence will be greatly increased, and the attention of the Japanese army will also increase.
Correspondingly, the combat pressure faced by the garrison regiment from the Japanese and puppet troops will be greatly increased, which will definitely be detrimental to the future development of the garrison regiment.
And one more thing.
If I remember correctly, a large-scale drought will break out in North China in more than half a year.
The Japanese and puppet troops will also intensify their blockade of the Eighth Route Army due to the arrival of Neji Okamura.
Faced with problems such as lack of supplies and food shortages, the Eighth Route Army base areas had to carry out self-rescue through production, streamline their troops and streamline their administration, so as to reduce the pressure and burden on the people.
Although I started preparing for this drought two years ago and stockpiled food on a large scale.
But the current base area of the garrison is too large.
Especially in the past year, it has developed like a blowout, and its scale has expanded several times.
If that amount of food had been stored more than a year ago, when the base area was only Lingqiu County, it would definitely have helped everyone survive this severe drought and ensure that the main force would not be reduced in strength.
But not anymore.
Today, the base area has expanded more than five times, and the number of civilians has increased seven to eight times. The main force and local troops that are completely out of production have also increased several times. The little food is definitely a drop in the bucket.
This means that when a drought strikes, the garrison must also respond to the call from its superiors, streamline its troops and streamline its administration, produce and save itself, and reduce the burden on the people in the base area.
The main force of the Don't Watch Garrison Regiment is recovering its strength, and its total strength is also moving step by step towards 6,000 people, which is more than one brigade of many main force units.
After the campaign to streamline the army and streamline administration begins, it will be reduced by at least half.
If the garrison is expanded into a brigade now, it will be a brigade with nothing but appearance.
Apart from provoking more fierce raids and attacks by the Japanese and puppet troops, there is no other benefit.
Seeing Li Hao's expression changing constantly, sometimes serious, sometimes solemn, but not speaking, the operator quickly reminded: "Captain, do you want to call the political commissar back?"
"Of course I want to go back." Li Hao quickly responded.
"It is agreed that the air defense company will expand the air defense battalion and have three air defense companies under its jurisdiction. Each air defense company is equipped with six anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns and three home-mounted heavy machine guns. The two machine guns fire in conjunction with each other to form a medium and low-altitude air defense firepower network.
Attack enemy aircraft."
"Also, I would like to add that after the air defense battalion is established, the troops should be organized to fight as soon as possible."
"Knocking out a few enemy planes can not only boost morale, but also destroy the arrogance of the little Japanese planes."
"Didn't the Japanese army always worry about our heavy artillery battalion, looking for it every day and trying to destroy it?"
"The troops can use the heavy artillery battalion as bait to attract Japanese planes to bomb, and then organize the air defense battalion to lay a dragnet for them at the bombing point."
"As long as planes dare to come, we will eat them."
"Knock down a few planes and let the little devil feel the pain, so he won't be as arrogant as before."
"They bullied us into not discharging their weapons, and they were conducting unscrupulous reconnaissance over our base area, wishing they could fly right above our heads."
At the headquarters of the garrison regiment, communications platoon leader Zhou Liang rushed in with excitement.
"The political commissar, chief of staff, and regimental commander have called us back."
Hong Linfeng took the telegram first, scanned it quickly and handed it to Wang Hong, with an eager expression on his face.
"The political commissar and the head of the regiment agree with our expansion idea and propose that we fight a war. I completely agree with this idea."
"After the last counter-mopping operation, because they were worried about the heavy artillery in our hands, the Japanese infantry retreated across the board and acted like cowards."
"But the aircraft's arrogance was not affected."
"From the end of the counter-sweep to now, as long as weather conditions permit, at least one aircraft conducts reconnaissance and patrols over our base every day."
"In order not to be targeted by planes and bombed, the troops did not dare to move during the day, and they did not even dare to make much noise during training. It was really frustrating."
"Now that we have air-launching weapons, we can just take them out to practice and rub off their arrogance."
Wang Hong made a decisive decision: "We must fight!"
"The commander's orders must be implemented, and I have great faith in the commander's judgment and vision."
"If you use the heavy artillery battalion as bait, the little devils will definitely fall for it."
"Then use the air defense battalion to set up a dragnet, which will definitely blow up the enemy planes."
"Chief of Staff, immediately organize the personnel to select the battlefield and formulate a battle plan."
"Leave the expansion task to me. Within two days at most, a brand new air defense battalion will be formed to participate in the battle."
"This battle was proposed by the regiment leader. Now that the regiment leader is away, we must fight well and live up to his trust."
Hong Linfeng's eyes began to shine at that moment, and he answered confidently: "Don't worry, political commissar, we will definitely not let the regiment leader down and fight this battle well."
Fifteen kilometers east of Laiyuan City.
The winding road follows the mountain and passes through the foot of the mountain.
On both sides are mountains with an altitude of more than a thousand meters, one after another, stretching endlessly.
"Hurry up and make sure to get to the station before dark and take cover." A voice suddenly sounded in the darkness at the end of the road, and the voice was particularly loud.
Anyone who is familiar with the cadres of the garrison regiment and above will know at first glance that he is Yuan Qingfeng, the commander of the heavy artillery battalion that was recently reorganized into the garrison regiment.
Soon, a large number of people appeared at the end of the road.
Large artillery pieces appeared one after another, and a group of four horses pulled one artillery piece forward and retreated forward with great difficulty.
There were more than a dozen gunners scattered around, some leading horses, some pushing cannons, some commanding... in an orderly manner.
They have practiced this series of actions for nearly two months and are very familiar with it. They know what to do next with their eyes closed.
Half a minute later, a second artillery group appeared at the end of the road.
The same horses, the same artillery, the same gunners.
Battalion Commander Yuan Qingfeng walked in the middle of the team, constantly urging everyone to speed up.
