“Chief, are you still thinking about the 399th Brigade?”
Seeing the deputy commander's troubled expression, the deputy chief of staff couldn't help but ask.
“Yes, I won’t be at ease until I receive news from the 399th Brigade!
They should have sent the telegram long ago. Why is there still no news?”
“Not sure. Maybe they captured too much loot, and the 399th Brigade spent a lot of time counting, delaying the message. Who knows?”
The deputy chief of staff cracked a small joke, hoping to ease the deputy commander's tension. His brows were furrowed so tightly they could pinch a fly!
“It's here! The telegram from Commander Xiao of the 399th Brigade is here!”
At this time, a telegraph operator excitedly called out.
The deputy commander and the deputy chief of staff, without further conversation, rushed to the telegraph operator's side.
They snatched the telegram, only to find it was not yet translated, just some indecipherable codes.
Eager to know the content of the telegram, they thrust it back to the telegraph operator, “Hurry up and translate it. What does it say?”
Under the watchful eyes of the two big shots, the young telegraph operator felt immense pressure. He was drenched in sweat, his face beaded with perspiration as he painstakingly completed the translation task, which should have been quick.
.....................
“Haha, I knew it! That Xiao Yun is no slouch. He fought a good fight, a very inspiring one. He took out the Japanese artillery unit right at the start of the battle, giving them no chance to impact the battle.
The rest of the siege battle was also fought brilliantly. After blowing up the city wall, they directly captured the entire city!
The 812th Regiment, sent out to conduct an ambush, turned the ambush into a battle of annihilation, directly consuming an entire Japanese regiment.
Adding it all up, the Zhai Jiu Ao Ambush, the Niu Jiao Feng Ambush, the Shu Zhou Siege Battle, and the Wu Yun Ling Counterattack - these four battles wiped out the entire 222nd Regiment of the Japanese!
It's just a pity that they couldn't capture the regiment flag. Otherwise, even the designation of the 222nd Regiment could have been destroyed by Xiao Yun!”
After reading the telegram, the deputy commander couldn’t help but smile brightly. His brows, which had been tightly knitted together, finally relaxed.
He then passed the telegram to the deputy chief of staff, “Here, Old Zuo, take a look. You were right. The 399th Brigade had too much loot after breaking through Shu Zhou City. Just transporting it back to base took a lot of time, and they had to clear and tally the loot and conduct post-battle summaries. They only finished and sent us the telegram now!”
The deputy chief of staff was the youngest among the headquarters leaders, significantly younger than the deputy commander.
However, the deputy commander still addressed him as “Old Zuo,” which was common in the Eighth Route Army.
“Oh? Let me see how much good stuff my junior has managed to capture!”
The deputy chief of staff took the translated telegram and chuckled.
He, like Commander Chen, was a graduate of the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy, a senior to Xiao Yun, who was from the third class. When they were in school, the three of them had a great relationship, and after they joined the revolution, they became close friends.
......................................
“Wow, amazing! Absolutely amazing! The Japanese had an entire regiment's worth of weapons and equipment in the Shu Zhou City warehouse, including ten mountain guns, countless food rations, canned meat, thousands of bolts of cloth, and dozens of machine tools.
This doesn’t even count the weapons and equipment of the 222nd Regiment that they destroyed, along with the silver dollars, gold bars, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and medicines.
The 399th Brigade under Xiao Yun has truly struck it rich!”
“Of course! Have you seen his reorganization plan? He has a brigade of almost 14,000 men!
He’s issued light machine guns and grenade launchers down to the platoon level, and heavy machine guns down to the company level.
Each infantry regiment has an artillery reinforcement company, and the brigade even has a direct subordinate artillery regiment.
So wealthy! I bet even Chiang Kai-shek's German-equipped divisions aren't this well-equipped! I'm tempted to hit up some landlords!”
The deputy commander said with a laugh.
“Chief, we can't hit up landlords, especially now. After the liberation of Shu Zhou, the 399th Brigade is sure to become a thorn in the side of the Japanese.
Once they withdraw from the Jinan area, they'll definitely launch a retaliatory attack on the 399th.
If the 399th Brigade is not strong enough, it will be a huge problem!”
The deputy chief of staff reminded him.
“Look at you, so nervous. You're worried that I'll rob your junior, aren't you?
Relax, I understand. Instead of taking these weapons and equipment to headquarters and distributing them evenly to all units,
it's better to concentrate them all in the 399th Brigade, creating an elite, powerful unit!
Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing has his German-equipped elite divisions, and we have our Japanese-equipped elite brigade!
Besides, all these spoils were won at the cost of the 399th Brigade soldiers' lives. While all captured goods belong to the public, there are exceptions.
The 399th Brigade needs these resources right now. We can't discourage their morale.
And it’s not like they won’t turn over their loot. You see, they’re sending us a batch of food and canned goods, and they’re saying they’ll turn over half of the silver dollars and gold bars!”
“Yes, yes. Xiao Yun's political awareness is very high, and his political stance is very firm. Chiang Kai-shek offered him the position of commander of an elite German-equipped division, and he didn't even blink!”
The deputy chief of staff nodded in agreement.