152: Chapter 152 The CEOs are in trouble!

1941. Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

The Deputy Commander, the Chief of Staff, the Division Commander, as well as several Leaders in charge of logistics and political work sat around a simple wooden table. In front of each person sat a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, yet no one had the heart to touch it.

On the wall, the huge operational map, with the "Southeast Shanxi" region newly painted in red, no longer looked like a symbol of victory in everyone's eyes, but rather like a heavy, scorching branding iron placed on a fire.

"Okamura, that Old Devil, the retaliation has come," the Deputy Commander's voice broke the oppressive silence. "And it's… more venomous and more insidious than we expected!"

The retaliation had indeed arrived.

It was just that the method was somewhat unexpected.

The Japanese had dispatched a large number of bombers, which was within expectations.

But these bombers did not, as they usually did, frantically bomb the newly liberated county towns.

"According to urgent reports from various places," the Chief of Staff pointed to the green areas marked for emphasis on the map of the Southeast Shanxi plains, his fingers trembling slightly.

"The Japanese bomber groups are specifically targeting the most fertile and concentrated grain-producing areas of our new liberated zones!"

"The banks of the Fen River, the Qin River Valley, the Changzhi Basin… they are dropping bombs like scattering beans!"

"They aren't bombing houses, they are specifically bombing farmland!"

"Irrigation canals, wheat fields that have just headed, paddy fields ready for rice transplanting… all have become their targets!"

A Leader responsible for local work clenched his fists until they creaked, his eyes turning red: "Animals! A bunch of animals! They are trying to wipe us out!"

"It's already nearing May, the wheat will be ready to harvest in a little over a month, and the rice seedlings have just been planted!"

"With this bombing… there's no time to replant! Even if we barely manage to replant some late autumn crops, the harvest will be cut by at least half!"

"Okamura is forcing us in Southeast Shanxi to… have zero harvest this year!"

The four words "zero harvest" hit everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

The new liberated zone of Southeast Shanxi, densely populated and with fertile land, was originally an important future granary and base for manpower.

But now… if there is really a large-scale crop failure, the consequences will be unimaginable!

"It's not just the bombing!" The Division Commander's face turned livid. "The Japanese are even conducting a war of public opinion by dropping leaflets from the air!"

"They say that as long as our Eighth Route Army withdraws from Southeast Shanxi, they will immediately stop the bombing and 'return the land to the people'!"

"Otherwise, they will make the entire Southeast Shanxi 'a land of desolation for a thousand miles, with starving people everywhere'!"

"They are forcefully pinning the blame for destroying agriculture and starving the common people on us!"

An open conspiracy!

This is a naked, extremely vicious open conspiracy!

Abandon Southeast Shanxi? Absolutely impossible!

This is a strategic location exchanged for the blood of countless soldiers, and it is the key to connecting the Taihang Mountains and Taiyue Mountains, and expanding our living space!

Once we withdraw, the morale of the army will suffer a devastating blow, and the construction of the base area will be severely hampered!

Besides, who can guarantee that the Japanese won't go back on their word?

But not abandon it?

Facing the Japanese indiscriminate bombing of farmland, the existing anti-aircraft forces are simply unable to cover the vast rural areas.

Ten Anti-Aircraft Battalions, being able to protect the main towns and key nodes is already the limit.

And even if the Anti-Aircraft Battalions chase after the bombers, they will be exhausted, unable to attend to everything.

Originally, this period was one of the most difficult times for the Eighth Route Army in the War of Resistance.

The Japanese blockade and mopping-up operations against the base areas were unprecedented, friction with the Mountain City side continued to escalate, almost tearing off the mask of civility, and external aid channels shrank sharply.

The material supply of the base area mainly relied on The Rear Area, and it was already stretched thin.

If there is really a crop failure in Southeast Shanxi this year, it will be a catastrophic blow to the economy and production of the entire base area!

"Okamura… he has grabbed us by our Achilles' heel!" The Deputy Commander slammed his hand heavily on the table.

"He knows that we have just taken Southeast Shanxi, our footing is not stable, and our logistics are fragile! Using this kind of wicked, cut-off-the-future tactic to force us to submit!"

"Advance, and we face supply difficulties and air passivity; retreat, and all previous efforts will be wasted, and the hearts of the people and morale will be lost!"

For a time, the headquarters was filled with gloom.

The Chiefs frowned, racking their brains for countermeasures.

But they found that in the face of this "asymmetric" malicious scheme aimed at destroying people's livelihoods, conventional military means seemed somewhat powerless.

"That's right!" A Leader suddenly remembered something, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes.

"Before Mr. Shen left last time, didn't he imply… that he could get aircraft? He even asked us to build an airfield and find pilots!"

These words made everyone perk up slightly, but soon, that spark of hope dimmed again.

The Chief of Staff gave a wry smile and shook his head: "Mr. Shen has magical powers, we have no doubt about that. But… aircraft, comrades."

"Those aren't tanks, they aren't artillery! Even if Mr. Shen can get them, the quantity… is likely extremely limited."

"Judging by what he meant last time, I reckon that if we could get ten or twenty, it would be a huge surprise."

Another Leader also sighed: "Yes, ten or twenty aircraft, in the past, we wouldn't even dare to dream of it!"

"But what Okamura is using this time is the main force of the North China Area Army Aviation Corps!"

"Reconnaissance planes and bombers combined, there are at least over a hundred sorties being dispatched in rotation!"

"Even if we had aircraft, the gap in numbers is too large, and the pilots are starting from zero… it's just a drop in the bucket!"

The Division Commander also added: "Okamura's vicious scheme is not limited to bombing farmland!"

"Reconnaissance reports indicate that the Japanese are using a large number of Puppet Army and captured laborers on the main passages outside the Taihang Mountains and Taiyue Mountains to dig large-scale anti-tank trenches, lay minefields, and build strong fire points."

"It's clear they want to trap us to death in Southeast Shanxi!"

"Now, even if we want to concentrate our armored forces to charge out and fight a war of movement with them, it has become extremely difficult."

Originally, we thought we had taken advantage of the Japanese not paying attention to eat this piece of fat meat that is Southeast Shanxi, but now it seems that this was clearly bait they offered up.

Now, neither retreating nor advancing is a good option.

"The pressure on the logistics side is also beyond imagination." The Leader in charge of logistics took out a report that had just been compiled, his voice heavy.

"The previous battles were fought happily, and we didn't calculate carefully, but now that we've tallied it up… the consumption is too scary!"

"Just the ammunition consumed by the type 56 submachine gun and squad machine guns is an astronomical figure!"

"The bullet production line in He County that just started production is already somewhat unable to meet demand!"

One hundred thousand rounds per day sounds like a lot, but that's only three million rounds a month.

Averaged out to a ten-thousand-man troop, that's only… 300 rounds per person per month!

For automatic weapons like the type 56 submachine gun, that might be used up in a single battle!

"Not to mention the 40mm rocket launchers, 107mm rockets, Katyusha rockets, tank shells… we can't produce these at all! Every one we fire is one less! We've already consumed more than half of our stock!"

"And fuel! Trucks, tanks, generators, which one doesn't drink oil?"

"The territory has grown, but the logistics, weapon maintenance, ammunition consumption… every single item is pressing down on us like a mountain!"

"If this continues, in less than three months, many of our new equipment will become a pile of scrap metal because of a lack of fuel and ammunition!"

Heavy facts kept hitting them one after another.

The immense pressure made these Chiefs, who had been through many battles and were used to life and death, feel their hearts sink.

Just when The Chiefs were worrying, Shen Wang, who had been indulging himself in the later generations for two days, returned.