si-mexico Chapter 1188 The Militia Who Were Never Worried
Chapter 1188 The Militia Who Were Never Worried
According to the original plan, Liu Qingyuan's village was to form a militia team of more than 30 people. However, later all the men in the village came. These men had heard about some things happening in the south. Rather than waiting at home for the Japanese to come and wreak havoc on us, they thought it would be better to find a way to join the militia team, at least they could get a rifle.
According to some of the guys, even if we only have one grenade, if the Japanese dare to come, we can just fight them to the death, rather than standing there waiting for them to mow us down with machine guns.
The people's thinking has matured. Rather than sitting at home waiting to die, they'd rather find ways to strengthen their training so that when the Japanese come, they'll have a way to deal with them. If all else fails, even if it means dying together with the Japanese, you should at least learn how to use a grenade, right? Are you going to charge in without pulling the pin?
Liu Qingyuan was taken aback by the villagers' enthusiasm. However, time was of the essence, and since the villagers were all willing to join the militia, he didn't stop them. He selected a few who were physically weak, and allowed everyone else to join. Training began on the third day.
It's currently the off-season for farming, and the original plan was to train two days a week, with a subsidy of three catties of wheat flour per day. However, now they train almost every day, and even without the wheat flour subsidy, their enthusiasm for training is extremely high. Everyone has relatives from northern Jiangsu, and from those relatives, they know that if you have no resistance at all, the Japanese could wipe out your entire village.
The villagers have basically figured out the situation. Since the Japanese won't let us live, we have to fight them to the death. If we wait for them to invade, the situation in northern Jiangsu will be our next step. How can that be allowed? Our families have lived here for generations, and our loved ones still need to survive. So we have no choice but to fight the Japanese to the bitter end.
When Liu Qingyuan organized training for the villagers, he was greatly surprised by their enthusiasm. He had served in the regular training camp of the 72nd Army, where the improvement in performance was far beyond what the militia could achieve. But now, the militia's strength was equivalent to 70% of the regular army's—just how high could their enthusiasm be?
In response to the situation here, the higher authorities have begun sending large quantities of weapons and equipment here. Each militia unit must have at least one light machine gun and two submachine guns, with the rest of the personnel carrying either Type 38 rifles or Hanyang rifles. In any case, all the guns must be inspected, and they must be reliable.
We have no reason to be stingy with bullets and the like. The Lunan region is still under our control, and all warehouses in various places are open. Zhang Haiguang ordered his transport teams to speed up the delivery to various places so that these people could master shooting skills as soon as possible before the battle.
Of course, this doesn't mean there's an unlimited supply of bullets; every bullet fired must be recorded. If someone tries to make an arms deal at this time, the next bullet could very well be hitting you in the head.
Faced with the powerful presence of the 72nd Army's inspection department, many people in the surrounding area who had hoped to make a quick buck became much more subdued after witnessing the execution of five or six people. As for those who were executed, no matter how much their families cried, that was their fate.
When we first started distributing the weapons, we repeatedly emphasized that regardless of your reasons, these weapons were all for training purposes. Anyone who dared to covet them would face only one outcome: execution. There would be no need for trials; with overwhelming evidence, a swift sentence and execution would suffice.
Although the Japanese army had not yet entered the southern Shandong region, agents from various intelligence organizations had already infiltrated the area. They had gathered sufficient intelligence on the situation in each region and were simply waiting for the southern army to arrive. However, the expansion of the militia was something they had not anticipated.
They initially thought these were just local organizations with little combat capability and posed little threat to their regular army. Therefore, the Japanese spies didn't take the militia training seriously at first. However, when the training began and gunfire erupted, the spies were all shocked.
They basically understood the training methods of the Chinese army. Before going to the battlefield, even if you were a soldier in the Central Army, you would only have a dozen or twenty bullets at most. As for other soldiers from miscellaneous units, they were lucky to get three or five bullets. Many people had never fired a single bullet before going to the battlefield, and only after arriving on the battlefield would they be given a few bullets.
How could such an army possibly be strong in combat? The Japanese army had already experienced this firsthand when facing ragtag troops at the Battle of Huangpu; almost a single battalion could break through the defenses of an infantry division. Therefore, they had never really paid much attention to militias.
But now, some news has completely stunned them. Each militiaman must fire at least 100 rounds of ammunition before going into battle. And this is just for ordinary militiamen. If they are armed with submachine guns or light machine guns, the requirements will likely be even higher.
They also received another piece of information: the militia in each village, depending on their numbers, generally carried one light machine gun. However, if there were more militia members, they might have two light machine guns. Each light machine gun was equipped with two submachine guns, plus other equipment, so their firepower was definitely not weak.
The message was passed down through the ranks, and by the time it reached the spy chiefs, they were already feeling the pressure. This wasn't for training militia at all; it was far more capable than the regular troops from other units. They had to report this to headquarters immediately, otherwise, they would definitely suffer heavy losses when the army entered the area.
Nojiri Jiro was currently staying near Liu Qingyuan's village, having been in this mountain forest for three days. The clearing in front, which used to be their threshing ground, had now become a training ground for the militia. They had been hearing gunfire for seven or eight days straight; the gunfire hadn't stopped every day, crackling and popping. Anyone who didn't know better would think this was a military academy training ground.
This morning, in addition to the usual gunfire, they also heard artillery fire. Although they didn't know what kind of artillery it was, the traces of explosions in the nearby mountains indicated it was likely a 60mm mortar.