"Old Master Du, please be kind. Our family is waiting to eat!”
"Get lost, get lost. You want to buy a pound of rice with one yuan? No way!"
"Wasn't it the same price yesterday?"
"Yesterday is yesterday, today is today. Five dollars per catty of rice, no bargaining! If you can't afford it, then get lost. There are plenty of people who want to buy it.”
On one hand, Master Du wanted the Japanese pirates to attack Wuxi later, which would allow him to sell his grain at a sky-high price; On the one hand, he also wanted the pirates to capture Wuxi as soon as possible, because the pirates had promised him all kinds of benefits.
"Old Master Du, please have pity on us!”
"It's not that I don't pity you, but I don't have much left. You should go to the Sixth Army! They must have sufficient reserves, or else they wouldn't dare to hold on to Wuxi.”
The Japanese pirates demanded that he hand over the pledge of allegiance to mess up the internal affairs of Wuxi and let the Sixth Army fall into the anger of the masses.
"That's right, let's go. We're going to die anyway. Let's go to the headquarters and demand an explanation!”
The traitors in the crowd continued to incite the anger of the people. It seemed that this pile of dry firewood was about to be ignited.
"Bang!"
With a gunshot, the excited crowd instantly quieted down. A bloody hole appeared on the forehead of the traitor who had been shouting the loudest.
" The Sixth Army is killing civilians…"
"Bang!"
With another shot, another traitor fell to the ground. This scared the real civilians silly and they were instantly silent.
"Villagers, those who were killed just now were all damned traitors. There's no need to panic. From today onwards, the Sixth Army will be selling cheap canned food. Anyone can buy an unlimited amount every day!”
Boxes of canned food were moved out. The Du family's entire courtyard could not hold them all. There were also quite a few on both sides of the road. A total of one million cans were taken out, enough for the remaining people of Wuxi to consume for half a week.
As for Old Master Du, he had already been taken away by the soldiers. This kind of traitor who maliciously raised prices and was found to be in cahoots with the Japanese pirates needed to be executed in public as a warning to others!
"One dollar for ten cans of meat?! 30 canned vegetables for only one dollar?!”
Tens of stalls had opened cans as samples. Just looking at the large pieces of beef soaked in oil was enough to make one's appetite rise, not to mention the alluring fragrance emitted by the canned meat. Moreover, the net content of a can was as high as 500 grams. Even an adult could be full.
The price of canned meat was completely inconsistent with its exquisite quality. Even if the selling price was one dollar per can, it was still acceptable. But now, one dollar could actually buy ten cans, not to mention thirty cans of canned vegetables that were also soaked in oil!
All the civilians went crazy. They cried and knelt down to thank the Sixth Army for their great kindness while desperately buying the goods. However, when they realized that after buying a batch, a new batch would soon arrive, the worries in their hearts disappeared.
Moreover, the point of purchase would poke a hole in all the canned food sold. This way, the shelf life would be greatly reduced and they would have to eat it within a week. Therefore, the enthusiasm for buying it was reduced.
On the other side, the ten divisions 'equipment was also being handed over smoothly.
"Mr. Muller, thank you for your generous assistance.”
Seeing the ten divisions of equipment being brought down, He Yingqin couldn't help but smile.
This was ten full divisions, 120,000 people's worth of German machinery equipment. Adding on the previous six divisions, it was enough for them to rebuild the elite of the sheep army, and it was several times stronger than before.
"It's not generous. We're just taking what we need.”
"Don't worry, the chairman has already ordered the 21st and 48th armies to be allowed to pass, and they will provide supplies along the way.”
It was rare for the bald man to be generous. He was willing to do it as many times as possible as long as there was still such a profitable business.
In the bald man's opinion, the local troops were always a motley crew. How could they compare to the central army? Even if Wang Qiangguo had four armies under him, they would only have 150,000 people. They were not even as strong as the 16 German Machinists who had helped the bald man to arm himself.
Unfortunately, this was destined to be the baldy's wishful thinking. If the baldy knew about the current weapons configuration of the Wang Kingdom's troops, he would definitely not raise a tiger to invite trouble.
However, the Sixth Army was surrounded on all sides, and the news of the Central Commander and the Military Commander could not be spread. Moreover, with the cooperation of the 200 spies and other clones planted by Wang Qiangguo, they had already caused a ruckus. It was a problem for them to protect themselves.
"Jingzhi, Cixiu, are you confident in taking back Shanghai?”
With the equipment of 16 German Machinists and the skeleton of the elites, Baldy could train 16 elite divisions in a month. This made his mind active again. After all, Shanghai was the money bag he valued the most.
"Yes! The 6th Division is holding back 4 elite divisions, and the Japanese can only send out 150,000 soldiers. We have the advantage in terms of numbers and equipment. Even if the pirates have the support of the 3rd and 4th fleets, they can't do it alone."
"Aren't you afraid that Wang Qiangguo will retreat when the time comes?”
"He shouldn't be able to. Moreover, he's surrounded by four elite divisions.”
"Should be? How could the word 'should' be used in a national plan? You and I both know the character of the warlords. Wang Qiangguo was willing to be the puppet of the Germans, but how could we know that he would not join the Japanese pirates?”
The bald man had long wanted to kill Wang Qiangguo, but unfortunately, he could not do anything to him in the big picture.
"But in general, I also said that I believe that Wang Qiangguo will not be a traitor.”
"Yes! Even with four more divisions, I'm confident I can take back Shanghai!”
Chen Cheng and He Yingqin patted their chests and promised that as long as Baldy did not come to cause trouble, the sixteen German Machinists would cooperate with the other local troops and there was still a high chance of taking back Shanghai.
"Report! There was no panic in Wu Xi City, and the Sixth Army had been providing food to the civilians.”
"Nani? Is there a big granary in Wu Xi City?"
"It's just a few small granaries. It's useless. Matsui-kun, they should be reaching their limits soon. Let's wait for another two days.”
"Lord Fan Zhao, we can't wait any longer. The headquarters have already urged us to speed up the Nanjing offensive.”
Matsui Ishigen was also very depressed. The dozen or so batches of agents sent to rescue the field had all failed. The bald-headed commander was indeed not to be trifled with. And now, they could wipe out the Sixth Army without wasting a single soldier, but they were forced to rely on human lives.
"Damned Cao Chang Chen Yi! We have to wait, at least until the support of the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade and the navy. If we can't pin down the artillery of the 6th Army, then we'll be sacrificing the warriors of the dynasty for nothing.”
The 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade was currently helping the troops attacking Nanjing. It would take some time for them to return to Wuxi. On the other hand, it was Matsui Ishigen who had lost face and requested the Third and Fourth Fleet to provide support in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Shanghai dispatched army.
"In addition, request for more troops from the headquarters…"
" Matsui-kun, if we request for reinforcements now, I'm afraid..."
" We have already lost tens of thousands of warriors of the Imperium, and the enemy before us is getting stronger and stronger. Without enough troops, how are we going to destroy the damn elites of the enemy?!”
"Hey!"
Chief of Staff Fan Zhaoshou responded heavily. If they requested reinforcements after consecutive defeats, even if they won the Battle of Songhu, they would not get much benefit.
"Chief of Staff, please let us attack once!”
A week had passed since the last time they changed their equipment. Wang Qiangguo had given more than half of the production quota to the artillery. This was why the 48 Katyusha rockets and 16 240mmK3 heavy artillery were not just for show.
During this period of time, the Japanese Air Force had become cowards. They hid in the airport and did not come out. They allowed the F86 saber-wielding fighter jets to fly over their heads and gather intelligence.
"Yes, yes, we've been holding it in for a week.”
With so many good weapons, not using them, such as traveling in brocade clothes at night, really made the artillery feel suffocated. So far, the first artillery division was basically completed. Other than the anti-aircraft guns, the smallest caliber was the 105mm howitzer. This was a real artillery division, and it was not the same concept as the heavy artillery division of the pirates. After all, the pirates liked to use 75mm field artillery to make up the numbers, and they also liked to call 150mm howitzers heavy artillery.
However, other than the nearly 1,000 clones provided by Wang Qiangguo, most of the others were still novices. They couldn't even lift shells well. They needed at least another three months of training to become real artillery. Therefore, the 1st Artillery Division was only full. The overall combat strength was still half a heavy howitzer regiment, half an anti-aircraft artillery regiment, a heavy artillery regiment, and a Katyusha rocket artillery regiment.
"Alright, I'll treat it as live ammunition training. The order was to carry out carpet bombing on the enemy's artillery positions and try to bombard them continuously.”
"Understood!"
"There's a cannon!"
This group of new artillery soldiers had been training for a week, but they had not seen the instructors do any actual training. Their excitement was beyond words.
"It's so beautiful! Learn well!"
On the battlefield, everything was done as quickly as possible. The new artillery had not even trained in blank ammunition before they began to learn how to use live ammunition. If the conditions allowed, Wang Qiangguo would definitely not be able to tolerate such a big risk.
"Chief of Staff, we actually only have rough coordinates. Why don't we practice with the field artillery?”
When it was time to fire, Old Liang regretted it. The F86 was not designed for reconnaissance, so it could not obtain the precise coordinates of the enemy artillery. If they didn't get enough results in the first two rounds, they would expose their coordinates and put the 1st Artillery Division in a passive position.
"Old Liang, it seems that you still don't understand what the Katyusha rockets mean. Let the Japanese see what a real carpet bombing is!”
Historians had never reached a consensus on what was the beginning of the Second Battle of Songhu. Some believed that the Sixth Army had started their bombardment on November 27th, some believed that the baldy had mobilized sixteen German Machinists to launch a full-scale counterattack on December 13th. The rest believed that the Sixth Army had started their night attack on the Sixteenth Division on December 13th.
However, all historians agreed that the Second Battle of Songhu was the beginning of the rise of the empire.
P.S.
Two 3,000-word updates, shouldn't he show some appreciation?(Crazy hints, I've been banned from taking care of myself during this period of time), at least let me know in the comments section ~
If someone could not accept the word 'empire', then... The author did not know what to do either…
Each read-only had its own limitations and advancements. In a specific era and situation, there was a read-only that was most suitable.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。