105: Chapter 105 Heavy-duty synthetic brigade!
"But..."
The Brigade Commander's tone shifted: "The Japs have a force of a hundred thousand this time, so they'll certainly have a significant number of heavy guns."
"75mm mountain guns, 105mm howitzers, and even... 150mm heavy howitzers!"
"If they get close enough for direct fire or have enough numbers to score direct hits, I'm afraid they'll still pose a threat to this 120mm armor."
"Trying to completely block or even crush a hundred thousand enemy troops in field combat or defense relying solely on 80 tanks is still extremely difficult!"
Shen Wang nodded; the Brigade Commander's concerns were practical.
Enough ants can bite an elephant to death, let alone a hundred thousand enemy troops armed to the teeth.
"The Brigade Commander considers things thoroughly!" Shen Wang smiled slightly and continued, "These 80 Type 59 tanks are just the appetizer. This time, I've also brought a Katyusha Battalion!"
"Ka... Katyusha? What kind of thing is that?" Li Yunlong had a look of utter confusion.
Shen Wang explained, "Regimental Commander Li, you can think of it as... an upgraded version of the Type 107 rocket launcher with more power and a faster rate of fire."
"A single Katyusha can fire a salvo of sixteen 132mm rockets at once."
"And a Katyusha Battalion has a full 36 Katyusha launch vehicles!"
"What?"
"132mm rockets?"
"A sixteen-round salvo?"
"36 vehicles?"
The crowd erupted once again!
These specs were even more terrifying than the previous Type 107 rockets (12-tube 107mm)!
A single Katyusha was equivalent to a Japanese artillery regiment, with power to spare!
Zhao Gang did the mental math quickly, his voice changing pitch: "36 vehicles... a single salvo is 576 heavy 132mm rockets!"
"With firepower like this, the Japs' assembly areas, march columns, and artillery positions could all be dealt a devastating blow!"
Everyone present was a veteran of a hundred battles; they knew all too well what heavy artillery meant to infantry clusters!
If the Japanese infantry dared to mass together, a single salvo could cripple a whole regiment!
However, the Brigade Commander calmly raised a key issue again: "Mr. Shen, although the Katyusha is powerful, the supply of rockets... must be extremely difficult, right?"
"How long can the ammunition load for these 36 vehicles last? Facing a long war of attrition against a hundred thousand enemies, I'm afraid..."
This was the heart of the matter—no matter how strong a weapon is, without sufficient ammunition, it's just a fire poker.
Shen Wang looked at the Brigade Commander, the smile at the corners of his mouth deepening as he slowly uttered a number that instantly petrified everyone, leaving their minds blank:
"Ammunition supply is indeed an issue, but you all needn't worry too much!"
"This time, I've brought a total of... eleven thousand 132mm rockets!"
"Enough for the entire Katyusha Battalion to perform 20 full battalion salvos!"
...
Silence.
A deathly silence.
There was only the whistling of the wind across the fields and the low rumble of the tank engines idling in the distance.
"How... how many?"
Li Yunlong was the first to react, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
"Mr. Shen, how many did you just say? E... eleven thousand? Rockets?"
"Twenty... full battalion salvos..." Zhao Gang muttered repeatedly, the notebook in his hand nearly falling to the ground.
He couldn't imagine what eleven thousand 132mm rockets piled together would look like!
Forget ten thousand rockets; before Shen Wang arrived, it was a question whether the Independent Regiment's entire inventory even had ten thousand bullets!
The Brigade Commander also completely lost his composure. He adjusted his glasses, then took them off to wipe them, and put them back on.
"Over ten thousand... 132mm rockets..."
Even if one 132mm rocket weighed 20 kilograms, ten thousand of them... that's over two hundred tons of ammunition?
This figure had completely exceeded his previous understanding of ammunition consumption for a single campaign!
When had the Eighth Route Army ever fought such a wealthy battle?
You couldn't even call this wealthy anymore; it was simply extravagant!
The Second Battalion Commander counted on his fingers, his voice trembling: "One... even if one shot only kills or wounds five Japs... then... then that's..."
That could take fifty or sixty thousand Japs out of the fight!
This simple arithmetic made everyone's breath hitch!
Shen Wang looked at the dumbstruck crowd and asked with a smile, "Well? Do you all still think that hundred-thousand-strong Japanese army is a problem?"
The crowd remained silent.
Suddenly, Li Yunlong burst into earth-shaking laughter.
"Hahaha, good, good, good! Mr. Shen, once you act, you really do tear a hole in the sky!"
In the face of over ten thousand rockets, a hundred thousand Japs didn't seem so scary anymore!
The gravity and worry on the Brigade Commander's face also vanished, replaced by a calculating glint!
His gaze swept over the massive tank cluster and the mountain of rockets he imagined, his mind already rapidly sketching out various bold, even insane, counter-attack plans.
How to maximize the value of these weapons!
Or rather, how to kill the Japs to the greatest extent possible!
Shen Wang also smiled.
A hundred thousand Japs meant a minimum of a hundred thousand military merit points!
He had to take them!
"Ahem."
Shen Wang cleared his throat; he wasn't finished yet.
"Everyone, besides these 80 Type 59 tanks and 36 Katyushas, I've also brought an infantry regiment, an artillery battalion, and an Anti-Aircraft Battalion this time!"
Seeing that they didn't seem to have a clear concept of it, Shen Wang put it another way:
"Uh... that is to say, 18 Type 107 rocket launchers, 70 Type 40 rocket launchers, four 85mm anti-aircraft guns, 12 85mm howitzers, 24 100mm mortars, 12 37mm anti-aircraft guns, over a hundred light and heavy machine guns, and... about 3,000 type 56 submachine guns."
Thud!
A young staff officer nearby had weak knees and sat straight down on the ground.
The Brigade Commander, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, and the others fell into a state of collective bewilderment once again.
An infantry regiment, an artillery battalion, an Anti-Aircraft Battalion?
Then adding the tank regiment and the Katyusha Battalion...
This time, Shen Wang had brought equipment for a full nine battalions!
Although Shen Wang had brought equipment for about seven battalions last time, half of it was Nationalist Army equipment along with some German and American gear.
But this time, it was all brand-new weaponry!
A Type 69 infantry regiment, a Type 79 tank regiment, a Type 79 artillery battalion, a Type 69 anti-aircraft battalion, plus a Type 44 Katyusha rocket launcher battalion...
It encompassed infantry, artillery, tanks, anti-aircraft, rockets...
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a Heavy Combined Arms Brigade for this era!
With such a "Combined Arms Brigade" armed to the teeth with terrifying firepower, relying on the favorable terrain and fortifications of He County, plus the flexible tactics the Eighth Route Army excelled at...
A hundred thousand beasts?
A sharp light exploded in the Brigade Commander's eyes!
All previous assumptions about defense, bitter struggles, and tragic sacrifices were completely overturned.
An incredibly bold, even insane thought began to grow uncontrollably in his heart—
Perhaps, this time, it wasn't just about holding He County.
Perhaps they could... devour these hundred thousand beasts!