67: Chapter 67 Headquarters Sends Someone! Deputy Director Makes His Appearance!
"Report to all Leaders! Yang Village... an urgent telegram from Yang Village! The Brigade Commander has provided a detailed report on the list of supplies that Shen Wang brought this time!"
Swoosh!
All eyes instantly focused on that Communications Staff Officer.
"How is Yang Village? Speak quickly!" the Deputy Commander-in-Chief asked urgently.
The Communications Staff Officer took a deep breath and read at a very fast pace: "Shen Wang has brought this time: equipment for three Anti-Aircraft Battalions, containing 12 85mm anti-aircraft guns, 18 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and 54 anti-aircraft machine guns..."
"Equipment for two standard artillery battalions; equipment for four standard infantry battalions; over two thousand machine guns; hundreds of light machine guns of the same series; 20 of the new 107mm Rocket Launchers..."
"And... and a small integrated ammunition processing plant, with an estimated daily production capacity of one hundred thousand rounds of ammunition!"
When the staff officer read to this point, his voice was trembling slightly.
Meanwhile, The Chiefs in the command post were stunned!
The Deputy Commander's teacup, raised halfway, froze in mid-air.
The pencil that the Chief of Staff had just picked up dropped to the floor with a "clatter."
The Chiefs, who were still anxiously pacing, stopped in their tracks, their mouths wide open.
Three... three Anti-Aircraft Battalions? Two... two artillery battalions? Four... four infantry battalions? Over two thousand machine guns? Hundreds of light machine guns? And... an ammunition plant with a daily output of one hundred thousand rounds?
Each of these terms exploded in their minds like thunderclaps!
The Chiefs had previously anticipated that Shen Wang might bring some more equipment, perhaps enough for a company or even a battalion of weapons...
But they never dreamed that this "some" would be a terrifying amount sufficient to arm a reinforced brigade, or even a simplified division!
And that ammunition plant, with a daily output of one hundred thousand rounds?
How terrifying!
For a moment, The Chiefs were so shocked that they forgot to speak!
The Chief of Staff was the first to recover from the shock. He stood up abruptly and interrupted urgently: "Wait! Stop reading for a moment! Let me ask you, did the Brigade Commander's telegram mention the loss of supplies? Are the casualties heavy?"
Everyone assumed that the Japanese bombers had already completed their bombing run. The Brigade Commander and his team must have been busy relocating, which is why they didn't have time to reply to the headquarters' inquiry.
The other Chiefs also instantly fell from their ecstasy, looking at the Communications Staff Officer with nervous eyes.
That's right, no matter how good the items are, they have to be preserved!
However, the expression on the Communications Staff Officer's face became even stranger. He swallowed and said in a tone that even he doubted: "Leaders... the Brigade Commander's telegram says... the ten Japanese bombers that attacked... have... have all been shot down by our army!"
"Our personnel... zero casualties, supplies... intact!"
"What?!"
"Zero personnel casualties?"
"Supplies intact?"
"Boom!"
The command post exploded!
"Ten bombers? All shot down?"
"How is this possible?"
"Are you sure the telegram wasn't decoded incorrectly?"
The Chiefs completely lost their composure.
Ten heavy bombers all shot down, with zero casualties on their side? This battle result sounded even more terrifying than the thousands of truckloads of equipment Shen Wang brought!
Suddenly, one of the big bosses reacted abruptly: "The Anti-Aircraft Battalion! Right, you mentioned three Anti-Aircraft Battalions earlier! It must be these three battalions that performed the great feat!"
Upon hearing this, everyone else also realized it.
Three Anti-Aircraft Battalions, with significant firepower density, taking out ten bombers seems... plausible?
But... there is still a feeling that something is not quite right!
Anti-Aircraft Battalion... shooting down planes... that's perfectly fine!
So what is exactly wrong...
Swoosh!
The Chief of Staff's eyes lit up.
"No! It's true they have three battalions of anti-aircraft guns, but anti-aircraft guns aren't light machine guns that you can just pick up and use!"
"They require professional gunners, observation, calculation, and fuse settings!"
"Let alone Li Yunlong's Independent Regiment, even if we gathered everyone in our entire Eighth Route Army who could operate anti-aircraft guns, it would be hard to say if we could even fill the establishment of three battalions!"
"How could they form such terrifying combat capability in such a short time and take out ten enemy planes in one round?!"
"This is unreasonable!"
That's right!
Once reminded by the Chief of Staff, The Chiefs all woke up to the realization.
That's an Anti-Aircraft Battalion; the requirements are higher than for artillery, so how could they form combat capability so quickly? And achieve such a terrifying battle result?
At this moment, the Communications Staff Officer hurriedly added: "Leaders, the telegram also mentioned a key point..."
"The Brigade Commander says that the anti-aircraft shells Shen Wang brought use a new technology called 'Proximity Fuse'."
"This type of fuse... does not require a preset explosion time; as long as the shell flies close enough to the plane, it can sense it automatically... and then explode!"
"What?"
"Proximity Fuse?"
"Auto-sensing? Explodes upon getting close?"
The Chiefs were completely bewildered!
At this moment, they were like people listening to a heavenly book, completely unable to understand what the staff officer was saying.
Shells can sense things themselves?
Do they have eyes or something?
What kind of joke is this?
The command post fell into an eerie silence, with everyone trying hard to digest this overly advanced information.
This concept had completely overturned all their understanding of anti-aircraft warfare, and even of artillery fuses!
Submachine guns are easy to understand—aren't they just rifles plus machine guns? The 99A is also easy to understand—it's just armor that's a bit thicker and a barrel that's a bit longer. But this Proximity Fuse... tsk tsk tsk...
I don't know how much time passed before the Deputy Commander took a deep breath and asked: "What else did the Brigade Commander say?"
The staff officer hurriedly replied: "The Brigade Commander said that the equipment and technology Shen Wang brought this time are of such immense value that it far exceeds the scope of his decision-making power."
"He requests that the headquarters immediately dispatch a comrade who can represent the will of the headquarters to go to Yang Village to take full charge of subsequent liaison matters with Shen Wang."
Hearing this, The Chiefs finally found a point in the series of shocks that they could understand and deeply agree with.
Of the entire telegram, this was the only sentence they understood!
"Whew..." one of the Leaders let out a long sigh of relief, "Finally, I heard a sentence that I can immediately understand and support with both hands!"
The Deputy Commander and the Chief of Staff looked at each other, both seeing the gravity and deep agreement in the other's eyes.
Let alone the Brigade Commander not being able to make up his mind, even as they sat at headquarters right now, facing this list and the miraculous battle result of the "Proximity Fuse", they also felt at a loss and did not know how to value it.
"Old Chen is right. Headquarters must send someone for this matter! And it must be someone with enough weight and stability!"
After some emergency consultation, the candidate was quickly decided.
"Let the Deputy Director of the Political Department go!" the Chief of Staff proposed.
First of all, this is not a military operation, but more of a political negotiation and united front work, requiring an experienced political worker.
Political workers must certainly be found from the Political Department. The Director of the Political Department is in The Rear Area, and currently at headquarters, only the Deputy Director has the most extensive experience in political work!
Secondly, the Deputy Director worked in the 129th Division for a long time in the past and was the Brigade Commander's old Leader; they are familiar with each other, which will facilitate the work.
Simply perfect!
The Deputy Commander made the final decision: "Good, then let the Deputy Director make the trip!"