kingnovel Chapter 1048 The formalities were completed.
Chapter 1048 The formalities were completed.
“Commander Li is right. I’m risking my life to fight the Japanese for a garrison brigade. I’m leaving the island city in such danger. If something happens, our commander-in-chief will execute me. Commander Li, you should hurry up and mobilize the troops. I can only hold them off for three to five days at most. If there are no troops after three to five days, I really can’t hold them off.”
Ma Leizi chewed his gum as he spoke, "Are you kidding me? I have so many brothers ready to fight to the death, and you're only giving me a provincial capital garrison brigade?"
If that's the case, then let's just forget about it. We're not people who've never seen money before, and our brothers' lives aren't that cheap.
"With the nation in peril, we must prioritize the overall situation. Here's a good idea: in addition to the provincial capital's garrison brigade, we should also establish a garrison brigade in Dezhou to the north."
Commander Li of the Guangxi clique also realized that Ma Leizi wouldn't work unless he was fed. Right now, apart from him, there really wasn't any other army to be found on the Shandong battlefield. Even if you could find some, the question was whether they could reach the Shandong battlefield so quickly.
Even if you could plunder them and send them to the Shandong battlefield as quickly as possible, the real question is whether they could withstand the Japanese attack. This is a southward-bound army group led by the Isogai Division and the Itagaki Division.
If the main force of the Fifth War Zone were to face these two divisions, it would be impossible to stop them.
“Dezhou has been occupied by the Japanese, and it’s really difficult to set up a garrison brigade. I can’t possibly recruit soldiers in Japanese territory. I think Liaocheng in the west and Tai’an in the south are not bad. Otherwise, you can approve four garrison brigades for me in total. I will hold out for you for at least a month in this provincial capital. If it is lost, I will offer my head to you.”
Having said all that, Ma Leizi was no longer willing to dawdle and asked for four garrison brigades.
With so many of our troops having to withstand two elite Japanese divisions, and with a large number of Japanese troops following up, if we don't ask for a high price, they'll think we're not getting paid.
"Let's leave it at that for now! I will then dispatch the 131st Infantry Division northward to cooperate with you as soon as possible."
Commander-in-Chief Li remembered another matter: this area cannot be entirely populated by the 72nd Army. We also need to send an army under the Fifth War Zone, otherwise who will be the boss here?
"No problem, I'll hang up now. I'll have someone handle the follow-up matters. You're a busy person, so I won't bother you any longer. Also, our Commander-in-Chief said that since we'll be living closer to each other in the future, your safety is of utmost importance. So he's sent someone to airlift 500 submachine guns and all the necessary ammunition to the theater command."
During wartime, people would be happy with even fifty submachine guns, let alone five hundred. So after hearing what Ma Lai said, Commander Li still had something to say to him. If you take five hundred submachine guns and then keep criticizing him, then you don't know how to handle things.
"Okay, thank you, thank you."
Commander Li was a man of the world, but this was, after all, wartime, and the value of five hundred submachine guns was more than ten times that before the war began.
Moreover, the theater command's defenses were indeed too weak; with these 500 submachine guns, two guard companies could be formed.
After hanging up the phone, Ma Leizi's face also showed a ferocious expression.
Now that all the formalities have been completed, I'll have to hold off these Japanese devils around the provincial capital, no matter which army they belong to.
Where have our troops advanced to?
Ma Leizi turned around, and several operations staff officers were already ready to report.
The Penglai security force has arrived on the opposite bank of the Yellow River, northeast of the provincial capital.
The Laiyang Security Regiment arrived at the east side of the provincial capital, and it was only 12 kilometers away from making contact with the Qingzhou Garrison Regiment.
The Wulian Security Regiment is advancing westward along the Taishan mountain range and is currently one day away from the provincial capital.
"Commander, you also have the security regiments from Gaomi and Shouguang here."
This time, Ma Leizi mobilized a total of eight security regiments, totaling nearly 20,000 people.
In his view, what could two elite Japanese divisions do? His security regiment was trained according to the standards of a regular army, and it hadn't been idle during this time.
There were so many bandits, big and small, on the Shandong Peninsula, but my security force wiped them all out.
Besides those who remained in Qingdao, a portion of the regular troops were transported to Huangpu. In Ma Leizi's memory, this security regiment was enough to give the Japanese a run for their money.
"Mobilize the three security regiments of Zhaoyuan, Laizhou, and Haiyang to arrive in Qingzhou within five days and stand by. The two security regiments of Wendeng and Rushan to arrive in Qingzhou within eight days and stand by. The security regiments of Gaomi and Shouguang will accompany the mayor to the provincial capital to wipe out the Japanese devils inside and outside the provincial capital. All troops shall proceed to the provincial capital quickly."
With the orders from above and the benefits of victory, we need to act quickly. We can't dawdle like the old lady. Everyone has seen how fast the Japanese are moving. It only took them a few days to go from Beiping to the provincial capital.
Of course, this is also related to the long retreat of the Third Army. If they had been able to set up positions and fight for a while along the way, the Japanese would not have been able to run so fast. Of course, it's no use talking about that now. Could we drag them to the positions?
After Ma Leizi issued his orders, the Zhoucun Security Regiment and the Qingzhou Garrison Regiment had already engaged the Japanese in firefights in the southern mountainous area of the provincial capital.
The 8th Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Isogai Division was the first to enter the provincial capital.
The Zhoucun Security Regiment and the Qingzhou Garrison Regiment were a step too slow and could only set up a defensive line in the southern part of the provincial capital.
The aggressive 8th Infantry Brigade didn't even look at the enemy before ordering its 40th Regiment to charge.
As expected of an elite Japanese division, an infantry regiment's attack brought out dozens of artillery pieces, creating a small-scale artillery barrage on our positions.
Of course, this was only for the first ten minutes. After those ten minutes, twelve Stuka bombers came over from the sky. These bombers roared and bombed the Japanese positions one after another, especially the Japanese artillery positions.
We were fighting so hard just now, but now we'll show you how tough it is. Eighteen 75mm infantry guns were destroyed, and two 105mm howitzers were also destroyed.
Japanese divisions rarely had 105mm howitzers, but some divisions were exceptions. For example, the Isogai Division, which was considered elite, was equipped with twelve 105mm howitzers, which was considered luxurious in the Japanese army.