manynovel #298 - Changes in the landscape
#298 - Changes in the landscape
The Northeast campaign advanced with unstoppable momentum. Although the Japanese were somewhat anxious, they had no effective way to reverse the situation in that theater.
They couldn't outdo Ren Chong in ruthlessness, so the Japanese could only honestly engage with the brigade and division commanders on the battlefield, employing both overt and covert tactics, but to little avail.
Therefore, the frustration the Japanese experienced in the Northeast was vented on the Kuomintang forces in the South and Central China.
Although the Kuomintang couldn't defeat the Japanese, they clung to their claim of legitimacy, sternly refusing the Eighth Route Army's intervention south of the Yellow River, even threatening civil war rather than allowing the Eighth Route Army to pass through Henan to fight the Japanese!
As a result, the new offensive launched by the Japanese south of the Yellow River led to another major defeat for the Kuomintang, as expected.
Since the Northeast campaign was at a crucial stage, the Eighth Route Army, despite feeling anxious and deeply distressed by the newly occupied areas, could only endure and avoid actions that would benefit the enemy and hurt their own people.
However, to prevent the Kuomintang from making a desperate move and surrendering to the enemy, causing further harm to the nation,
the New Fourth Army, after opening up the transportation line connecting Shandong and Jiangsu, began a large-scale re-equipment and reorganization, strengthening its forces to adapt to changes.
In contrast, the Allied forces in the Asia-Pacific were providing steady support to the Eighth Route Army, cutting off the Japanese mainland's air and naval intervention routes.
For the 'Rogue Eagle' (the US), they had calculated that if the Kwantung Army was defeated and annihilated by the Eighth Route Army, they would reduce their own troop losses in the Asia-Pacific theater by at least 500,000!
For the 'Rogue Eagle,' this was the Eighth Route Army's greatest value!
This motivated the 'Rogue Eagle' to spare no effort in supporting them with supplies, especially fuel, and in covering up their battlefield activities.
A squadron of P-51D Mustang fighters fought alongside the Shenying (Divine Eagle) Brigade, and destroyer flotillas patrolled the Bohai and Yellow Seas long-term, dispersing the remaining Japanese fleet's interference with the Eighth Route Army.
In a sense, the 'Rogue Eagle's' assistance was crucial for the advance into Greater Northeast China.
After all, fuel supply was not only limited by the base area's limited production capacity, which was already difficult to sustain, but also by transportation constraints. Although using railways could reduce some losses, the transportation capacity was inherently limited. The number of locomotives they could control depended entirely on captured ones, and there were simply too few to transport all the necessary supplies.
Apart from the initial windfall, subsequent captures in the Northeast were not significant.
Years of war by the Japanese had already drained the Northeast.
The supplies in the Jindong warehouse were painstakingly accumulated by them through plundering the Northeast. That single capture could sustain an army of 300,000 for a month in terms of military rations, and a month's ammunition consumption for Japanese equipment.
However, apart from food, Japanese equipment and ammunition were now becoming less useful for the reorganized regiments, as they had almost no Japanese equipment in their hands.
Even weapons like the Type 92 infantry gun and grenade launchers were becoming incompatible with the reorganized regiments' combat system.
These items were only used to arm the newly established local garrison regiments, which were being rebuilt from scratch.
But they didn't provide much help on the battlefield.
Only mountain guns, howitzers, and heavy machine guns could still be used by the brigade and division commanders on the front lines.
As the battle lines moved north, logistical support became increasingly difficult!
Without the Allied supply led by the 'Rogue Eagle,' it would be very difficult for a million-strong army in the Northeast!
In this regard, to reduce casualties among its own people, the 'Rogue Eagle,' under General Shi's coordination and after maintaining hotlines with the Asia-Pacific theater, was genuinely committed to providing supplies.
At least the supply of American-made artillery and tank ammunition was consistently available, coupled with the fuel supply, which solved a major problem for the Northeast campaign.
For the 'Rogue Eagle,' the Eighth Route Army's demands were far less than the insatiable appetite of the 'Great Bear' (the Soviet Union) in the main world timeline. This was nothing compared to the 'Great Bear's' requirements!
As the war progressed, divisions and wavering began to emerge within the 'Rogue Eagle' camp.
On the issue of whom to support, the 'Rogue Eagle' was no longer a monolithic entity, wholeheartedly supporting the Kuomintang.
Therefore, in addition to battlefield support, the 'Rogue Eagle' also set no obstacles for the base area's procurement of civilian construction materials, and the purchase of chemical equipment, oil extraction, and mining machinery was carried out according to market-based models.
With Mr. Chen's efforts, the two major oil fields and two major petrochemical refineries, as well as a series of chemical plants planned in Tianjin, Beijing, Shandong, and Jiangsu, had now completed large-scale procurement, and many supplies had even begun to be loaded onto ships for transport.
With complete naval superiority, transportation to the Dragon Country (China) became more direct, without having to go through the treacherous Hump Route.
Of course, the ports that could be controlled were all in the north, so the 'Rogue Eagle's' large-scale aid supplies were all transferred through the northern ports.
Although the base area had not received all the supplies, the supplies passing through the base area and the base areas were now being reported in detail by the base area's radio and newspapers. With this transparency, many of the Kuomintang's channels for embezzlement were cut off.
This made the Kuomintang very annoyed but helpless.
Now that public sentiment was becoming increasingly clear, the Kuomintang's plundering showed no signs of abating, and large quantities of military supplies were not being distributed to the front lines, increasingly fueling public resentment.
Coupled with the continuous defeats on the battlefield, the Kuomintang's approval rating was getting lower and lower.
The Japanese Operation Ichigo was now changing direction, and they began to propose a two-stage defense.
The first line of defense was to utilize the natural barrier of the Yellow River, focusing on managing the Yellow River defense line. Although the loss of Shandong tore this line of defense to pieces, with the Yellow River flood area, from Shandong to Central Henan, one would still have to cross the Yellow River from the Japanese's Yellow River defense line on the northern route to mobilize heavy troops, or take a long detour of thousands of miles around Huaiyang!
The second line of defense is naturally the Yangtze River defense line, which is the focus of the Japanese devils' current efforts. Their intention is to fully manage the Yangtze River defense line, to ensure the south of the Yangtze River and the east of the Yuehan Railway, attempting to rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to restrict the mechanized troops of the Eighth Route Army to the north, and to keep the rich Jiangzhe area to continue to resist stubbornly.
From the Kwantung Army in the Northeast to the North China Front Army, although this leader is about to be beheaded, the Japanese Central China Front Army and the South China Front Army still want to linger on and struggle for a while.
Due to the firm refusal of the GMD, the Border Region is now unable to launch a decisive battle south of the Yellow River.
The New Fourth Army in Central China is only carrying out local counterattacks in Huaiyang, striving to connect Qilu and Huaiyang into one piece.
Ren Zhong did not care about these developments in the current situation. He knew that, as far as this world is concerned, the situation is definitely much stronger than in the original timeline.
As long as the Northeast is taken down, even if the Japanese devils' border fortress groups are left alone for now, directly trapping them to death in the fortresses, the resources of the Northeast in his hands will bring real hope for the rise of the Dragon Clan.
The GMD is as useless as ever, and Ren Zhong no longer holds any hope. It is like a boil on the Dragon Clan's body, which must be squeezed out in order to develop healthily. There is no room for reconciliation at all.
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In this regard, Ren Zhong will use his influence to complete this process.
This is not a difficult problem. Even the Border Region, which had a worse start in the main world timeline, was able to quickly turn the tables against the wind in three years. Under the current conditions of popular support, there is even less of a problem.
There is also a big problem that Ren Zhong needs to solve now.
The great power balancer in his hand is not strong enough!
Just a cloud explosive rocket, although it has weight, is still not enough.
He turned his gaze to Professor Wu.
"Our atomic reactor is running very normally, and we have perfectly verified the chain reaction theory. The design verification of the entire peace egg has also been carried out very smoothly. Theoretically, there is no problem with the verification, and the detonation facilities have performed very well after multiple tests.
From a design point of view, we have actually completed all the preliminary design verification work for the peace egg," Professor Wu said to Ren Zhong, who had come from afar, was not surprised. After all, Ren Zhong had not come to them for a long time, and the environment he gave them was indeed loose enough.
"Our current problem is that the amount of enrichment is not enough, and the number of centrifuges is still too small. We have only obtained 10 kilograms of enriched uranium, and the purity is barely enough. Normally speaking, even with perfect purification, it would theoretically require at least 14.6 kilograms of U235 to carry out a nuclear explosion. With our current purity, it would be safer to have about 16 kilograms or more."
Professor Wu's words made Ren Zhong very excited.
He remembered that, according to his inquiries in the main world timeline, it was not until July 16, 1945, that the first atomic egg was tested at the Trinity test site.
According to the current progress, it seems that Professor Wu and his team have a chance to catch up before this time?
This is a bit interesting.
Ren Zhong nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly had a bold idea for this test explosion!
Under Ren Zhong's attention, the number of centrifuges was increased by another 3,000. Producing these centrifuges is not a big problem, just invest money. However, such a large investment also requires a supply of electricity, which is not a small amount.
According to Ren Zhong's idea, there will be a constant demand for development in this area in the future, so doing these things now will not be a waste.
In the short term, use thermal power to support it. In the long term, you can consider building a new hydropower station near Wuhai. After all, in the construction of the main world, there is a water conservancy hub that also takes into account power generation. Continue to improve the water conservancy project in Suiyuan to create a real Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall.
Now a 30,000 kilowatt water turbine has been made. Since there is no need to build a dam that is too high, it is just the application site for a bulb turbine unit. According to the water volume of the Yellow River, it is just right to design according to 4 to 6 bulb turbine units.
Plan to build 360,000 installed capacity to solve the electricity in this area in one fell swoop. After the early stage of centrifuge power supply is done well, the role of this power station will be even greater when the industrial development here develops in the future.
Of course, as a new large unit, this power station will be built in three phases. The first phase will complete the test of 2 * 30MW units, the second phase will complete the test of improved 2 * 50MW units, and the third phase will complete the test of 2 * 100MW units.
This will also be the first set of test base for the Dawn Research Institute's hydroelectric generator units.
For Ren Zhong, this project is relatively moderately difficult, and the water flow of the Yellow River is enough to provide abundant water for these 4 units. From an economic point of view, it is definitely not a loss.
After this power plant is completely built, it can give Suiyuan, the Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall, wings!
With this power station, the Wuyuan Iron and Copper Smelting Plant can be upgraded from the original indigenous iron and copper smelting to modern industrial converters and new copper smelting processes.
After all, the main world has complete construction survey and design for this power station, and Ren Zhong is not worried about messing it up at all. Just build it according to the modern plan, and it will basically not deviate too much. When this power station is successfully built, Ren Zhong's team can be considered to have graduated in terms of bulb turbine large hydropower stations.
The next power generation infrastructure will begin to shift from small hydropower to medium and large hydropower models, taking the lead in using water resources as a clean energy source, which can also reduce the negative impact of large-scale development on environmental construction.
Now that we have enough to eat, others don't know how to bring up high-level topics such as environmental protection, but Ren Zhong himself knows how to maintain it!
Second update, continue to explode for monthly tickets!