12dz Chapter 247: The Battle of Mandalay (4): The Desire of the Migrant Workers' Support Team
Chapter 247: The Battle of Mandalay (4): The Desire of the Migrant Workers' Support Team
Although the old devil Tanaka Shinichi had a bit of a mental breakdown, the main force defending the city of Mandalay, the 18th Division, had been fighting the entire battle since 37.
Even though the 18th Division was initially a three-unit ad hoc division formed to protect the flanks and rear, after years of fighting, its junior officers were top-notch in both tactical skills and fighting spirit.
Of course, it can also be said that these Japanese veterans have become numb after years of fighting.
Major General Hiroo Maekawa, who replaced General Tanaka Shinichi to take battlefield command, deployed the main infantry forces in echelons, resisted step by step, and broke up the artillery units into small units to reduce losses. He used this tactic of trading space for time and actually withstood the attack of the Anmin Army.
Of course, one of the reasons was that Zhang Chi wanted to surround and attack the reinforcements, lure the last of the Japanese troops out from Rangoon in the south and annihilate them halfway.
But no matter what, the precarious city of Mandalay seems unlikely to be lost anytime soon.
And Kimura Heitaro really took advantage of this opportunity to send out the last reinforcements - the 2nd Division, the 105th Independent Mixed Brigade, the 19th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, the 31st Field Artillery Regiment, and the 17th and 23rd Tank Regiments.
Together with additional logistics, engineering, and search units, and with troops drawn from garrisons throughout the country, a massive force of nearly 5 devils was assembled to reinforce the north.
It's not that Heitaro Kimura didn't know that he should hold on to Rangoon and wait for reinforcements, it's really that money can tempt people.
Although more than 300 tons of silver are only worth 4 or 5 million dollars, this money can be put in his own pocket. With such a sum of money, even if the Japanese are defeated in the end, Kimura Heitaro has nowhere to go.
So the biggest and final battle of this campaign is about to break out.
-----
On the other hand, as an emerging force, Zhang Chi's will can easily penetrate the entire army, and the Anmin Army will naturally not create a situation where "the front is tight and the rear is tight".
In ancient times, it would take at least one million civilians to transport food and fodder for 300,000 soldiers.
Although the People's Army now has no shortage of trucks, planes, and inland ships, the consumption of supplies on the front line is endless.
Even if Zhang Chi has the system space, it is impossible for him to be a nanny for his troops every day. It is okay for him to run around and act as a porter in an emergency once or twice, but if he does it every day, why does he need to support so many people?
Therefore, in addition to the logistics department headed by Kang Huojian continuously transporting supplies to the front line, Zhang Chi also instructed Zhang Guangsong to organize a large number of civilian workers to support the front and fill the transportation gap.
Although a large number of people on the Internet later pretended to be a famous writer from the Republic of China, saying that he had said a certain famous saying, in fact he never said it.
But he probably did say, "There are no roads in the world, but when more people walk on it, it becomes a road."
Although the writer originally intended to use walking as a metaphor for doing things, he wanted to warn the people of the Republic of China that if they wanted to create a better new life, they had to be brave enough to try and find a "new path".
But in Bago, this sentence now reflects its most basic meaning - the civilian workers who supported the front really forged a new road from Myitkyina to Mandalay.
In the midday sun, a fleet of donkeys and horses stretching as far as the eye can see is traveling on the dirt road beside the highway.
On the road that had been urgently leveled by the Construction Corps, various types of trucks with canvas coverings on their cargo beds kept rushing to the front line carrying important military supplies.
And below the highway, the mobilized Qian people were looking at the trucks that were running farther and farther away with longing eyes.
They were currently standing on land next to the roadbed, but due to the frequent passage of donkey carts, ox carts, and human-powered tricycles (riding donkeys upside down) by the migrant workers who supported the front, the land had long been trampled and flattened, becoming a new road.
"Gee, gee..." The old driver skillfully steered the donkey cart while looking at his grandson who was playing with a wooden toy tank beside him. A long-lost smile appeared on his wrinkled face.
"Old man Chen, where did your eldest son go with the army?"
On another ox cart not far away, a villager from the same village shouted a question to the old driver.
The latter's son had already joined the Anmin Army and followed Marshal Zhang south to fight the Japanese.
According to the lame veteran who is in charge of the village, this time Marshal Zhang wants to liberate the entire Pegu in one go.
"Hey, I'm just a farmer, how would I know?" Old Chen took out his pipe, took out a match, lit it, took two puffs, and shouted back, "Pegu is huge. Who knows where the army has reached?"
Although Old Man Chen didn't know the exact size of Bago, he heard from others that it was nearly four times the size of his hometown, Henan Province. (Bago covers an area of 660,000 square kilometers, while Henan Province covers an area of 167,000 square kilometers.)
In the opinion of Old Man Chen, although there are more mountains in Bago, the fertility of the land is top-notch.
Unlike the land in the plains of Henan Province, which had been cultivated for thousands of years and had long been infertile, the land newly allocated to Zhang Dashuai after his family fled to Pegu was full of fertile soil.
Not to mention that Marshal Zhang also distributed "fertilizer powder" to every household in advance, although the money for this "fertilizer powder" had to be offset by the proceeds from selling the grain when the grain was harvested.
But after a simple calculation, Old Man Chen knew that this business was not a loss. The value of the extra grain far exceeded the money spent on buying "fertilizer powder".
Old Man Chen was unsure whether the price of this "Feitianfen" could remain so cheap.
After all, in the country of Qian, this "fertilizer powder" is all imported, very expensive, and there are purchase restrictions.
Although the agricultural technicians and retired soldiers stationed in the village said that this Pangu brand "fertilizer powder" was produced by the company under Marshal Zhang, Old Man Chen still felt uneasy.
As an old farmer, the only thing he could do was to use his strength to support Marshal Zhang.
In fact, with the technology and loan from White Eagle, Nanhua Chemical Group not only developed a proposed production line for napalm bombs, but also quickly established an industrial production line for three acids and two alkalis.
With three acids and two alkalis, Nanhua Chemical Group established a number of fertilizer production lines while launching various smokeless gunpowders and nitro explosives.
The North Bago region is rich in minerals and has abundant reserves of raw materials needed for fertilizer production, including coal, phosphate rock, potash, and sulfur.
The only problem restricting fertilizer production now is the shortage of skilled chemical workers.
Therefore, Old Man Chen's worries were completely unnecessary.
The support team was filled with various animal-drawn carts, which moved slowly compared to trucks, but fortunately they were not transporting any urgently needed supplies.
Even though there was sufficient transport capacity in trucks, steamers and trains, Zhang Chi still organized a civilian support team mainly to ensure his organizational power over the people of Pegu and to find a reason to provide welfare to these people.
Therefore, the security army team that assisted in the escort did not urge the people, and the support team moved forward slowly amid the chatting of villagers and the roar of cattle and horses.
"I say, if we win this time, can we get more land?" the villager behind Old Man Chen asked again.
Old man Chen smoked his pipe, frowned and said nothing.
He thought to himself: You have three sons, but you didn't want to send any of them to join the army. If we really win the war, will your family benefit? It's a nice thought.
As for Old Man Chen, since his eldest son joined the Anmin Army, he not only received an extra 5 mu of food-producing land, but Marshal Zhang also gave him extra oil, meat, salt and tobacco as subsidies during festivals.
He was thinking of Marshal Zhang's kindness, so this time, even if there was no extra benefit, he was willing to come with his family.
Not to mention that Zhang Chi also prepared a large number of iron tools as a reward for this support.
Iron axes, iron saw blades, iron hoes, iron shovels, and iron pickaxes, which are common iron tools in later generations, can be regarded as treasures in rural areas of that era.
Since the output of pig iron in the Republic of China has always been low, the output of high-quality tool steel is naturally even lower. Not to mention poor provinces like Shaanxi and Gansu, even in relatively wealthy provinces like Henan and Shanxi, farmers still mainly use wooden hoes and wooden shovels.
Thanks to the fact that Zhang Chi’s main sources of weapons are systems and eagle aid, without tanks, artillery, warships and other major steel-consuming industries, Zhang Chi can invest more steel production in the people’s livelihood sector.