Chapter 990: Dividing the Land and Preparing for War
While Lin Hao was formulating a future development plan, Stilwell was also having a headache.

After Xiao Rizi captured Imphal, although Lin Hao's Sichuan Army did not continue to pursue them, they did not stop their offensive pace. After a short rest, they continued to move westward.

The British army lived up to expectations and fled all the way, leaving behind countless baggage and supplies, which made Stilwell so angry that he cursed and said that he would rather give them to the enemy than to his slaves.

"What is the Sichuan Army doing recently? How many people are there?" In name, Lin Hao's Sichuan Army was still under the control of Stilwell.

However, Stilwell could not think of a better way to break the deadlock, so he asked what Lin Hao's Sichuan Army was doing.

"After they captured Yangon, they pursued Xiao Rizi all the way. They seem to be resting now and have not made any major moves." The intelligence staff officer said quickly:
"As for the military, we know that there are at least 20,000 troops, and the number is still increasing!"

Stilwell frowned slightly when he heard this, because he did not believe the actual number of these expeditionary forces. He always felt that they would try their best to exaggerate the number for the sake of food and wages.

So when he heard that there were more than 20,000 people, Stilwell thought it was a bit fake and that maybe 5,000 people would be good.

"Are there really 20,000 people?" Stilwell asked.

"No more, no less!" the intelligence officer said confidently.

Hearing this, Stilwell fell into deep thought. After all, the Sichuan Army Corps only had a brigade-level organization, but it actually had 20,000 people, which was almost the same as two division-level organizations.

"Twenty thousand?" Stilwell tapped his fingers and pondered, then asked after a while: "How is their fighting capacity?"

He had to examine the strength of the Sichuan Army. According to his understanding, the Guo Army had many such local armed forces, which were organized as a division and had more than 10,000 people. However, their combat effectiveness was vulnerable. They were just a group of rabble and were not worthy of support at all.

"They are very strong. According to the intelligence we have collected so far, in a head-on fight, a regiment of Xiao Rizi is no match for them." The intelligence staff had limited intelligence, and Lin Hao attached great importance to counterintelligence operations, so the U.S. military did not receive much intelligence.

"Also, we learned one thing. The Siamese army is gathering recently and seems to be crossing the border, heading straight for Yangon." The intelligence staff said again.

Hearing this, Stilwell lowered his head and continued to think. After a long while, he asked, "Do you know the organization of these 20,000 people?"

"It's not clear yet, but we know they have heavy artillery!"

"Have you found out where their weapons came from?"

"Sorry, not at the moment!"

"Do you think I can give him a corps, no, a division, and bring him over?" Stilwell weighed the pros and cons for a while and said slowly:
"Alexander is too stubborn and arrogant. We can't defend India by relying on him alone. We should win over these expeditionary forces. They are the most reliable."

"I don't know, but it should be possible." The intelligence officer roughly analyzed it in his mind and said uncertainly:

"But don't you want to discuss this with those people from the Guo army?"

"Hmph, no need. When do we need them to tell us what to do?" Stilwell said with disdain.

"Then give it a try. Tell him that if he agrees to attack Siam, I will give him a division or even an army."

"Yes, Commander, but won't this anger those people in Vichy France?" the intelligence staff officer added.

"Hmph, don't bother with them!" Stilwell naturally knew what this sentence meant, but he didn't care at all.

Vichy France? What the hell?
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On the other side, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Army, Terauchi Hisaichi, was looking at a piece of intelligence and asked after pondering for a moment.

"What's going on with this Sichuan Army?"

Tsukada Isao, the chief of staff of the Japanese Southern Army, had memorized all of this and said immediately:
"Commander, they were just a cannon fodder at the beginning. There were not many people, only about 500. But since they entered the Dian Dian, they have expanded rapidly, absorbing some of the remnants of the expeditionary force and Chinese. Now the number of troops exceeds 10,000."

Although the news of the Sichuan Army is kept secret, if you really spend time looking for it, you can still collect some information. After all, not everyone in the Sichuan Army's territory supports them.

In particular, he also cooperated with some people from Nantianmen, so it didn’t take too much effort for Xiaori to know some information.

"More than 20,000 people? This impact is already huge!" Terauchi Hisaichi said after thinking for a while.

"There is a certain impact. The 56th Division was driven from the south to the north. The key is that without Yangon, our sea transport channels have also been cut off. We can't deliver supplies and our combat effectiveness has dropped rapidly." Tsukada Ko said hurriedly.

"Well, we are going to have a decisive battle with the Americans next. We cannot withdraw more troops. Let the Siamese go!" Terauchi Shouichi sneered with narrowed eyes:

"Don't they have an army of more than 300,000? Aren't they coveting Shan State? Tell them that as long as they take back Yangon, we will give Shan State to them!"

He was quite successful in using this strategy of driving away the wolf and swallowing the tiger.

"Then we're not going to care about the Kawakami Army?" Tsukada Ko always felt that they would be a serious threat, so he thought about it and asked.

"Don't worry about them. The western Yunnan highway has been cut off. The Guo army has reached its limit. As for the Sichuan Army, the more people the better. By then, the material supplies will drag them down. Don't worry about them. Next, we have to concentrate our forces to deal with the Mi livestock." Terauchi Hisaichi said indifferently.

He did not take the Sichuan Army, which consisted of only 20,000 people, seriously. Due to information differences, in his eyes, the Sichuan Army relied on domestic supplies.

At the same time, the commander-in-chief of the Siamese army also received Tsukada Isao's telegram.

"Send troops to Yangon? Just give Shan State to us?" The commander-in-chief of the Siamese army said with narrowed eyes.

He is not a fool, so he naturally sees the intention of the telegram. To drive away the wolf and swallow the tiger, no one is a fool, and those who can sit in this position are elites.

"Have you ever heard of this Sichuan Army?"

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, we didn't collect this intelligence, but I think it should be a local armed force and it should not have much combat effectiveness." The officer in charge of intelligence said nonchalantly.

"Report, the garrison in Paben Town was attacked and wiped out!" At this time, the adjutant walked in and said hurriedly.

Hearing this, the commander-in-chief of the Siamese army showed a hint of ferocity in his eyes, slammed the table and shouted:

"These bastards actually dared to attack us? They are simply courting death."

"Tell the 17th Division to assemble immediately and prepare to attack Yangon. We must show those idiots who is the overlord of this area."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief."

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"Liu Ergou, private second class, is allocated five acres of land!" The officer in charge of registration handed a land registration book to the big man in front of him.

"Here, take it. This time next year, use it to collect your dividends. Then go over there to register!" he said, pointing to the Sichuan Army Farm Company not far away.

"Yes, sir!" Big Song held the land registration book carefully, treating it as a treasure.

"Next, Zhang San, second lieutenant, will be given thirty acres of land~!"

"Wow, thirty acres!"

"That's a lot. We can have at least several thousand kilograms of food a year. This is enough to feed several children."

"I also want to have thirty acres."

Zhang San pretended not to hear everyone's envy. He was also lucky as he was among the second batch to join the Sichuan Army.

However, because he was illiterate, his promotion was slow. His peers were all lieutenants, and some of those who were luckier became captains, and they were given more land.

"Li Si, captain, is allocated 80 acres of land, of which 50 acres are for military rank and 30 acres are for third-class merit, a total of 80 acres!" the officer in charge of registration read out loudly.

According to Lin Hao's instructions, military merits were also to be distributed as land, so they were also read out.

"Next……!"

Every member of the Sichuan Army was allocated acres of land. With more than 30,000 people, if the minimum allocation was five acres, the total amount would be 150,000 acres.

After Lin Hao finished reading it, he couldn't help but frowned and said, "So many?" "Yes, Captain." Lin Yi said expressionlessly.

He was actually not very interested in dividing the land. After the data was counted, he went straight to the headquarters and handed it to Lin Hao.

"Seventeen thousand acres?" Lin Hao confirmed again.

"Please rest assured, there is absolutely no problem. There is detailed data at the back and you can check it out!" Lin Yi thought that Lin Hao was worried that someone was drinking the blood of the soldiers, so he explained immediately.

"No, I don't mean to say that the data is falsified, but it's too much. 170,000 acres. How many acres of land did you say we have now last time? It seems to be 30,000 acres. The gap is extremely large." Lin Hao shook his head and said.

Hearing this, Lin Yi attacked even more rudely:

"Commander, these 30,000 acres are not enough to distribute to the refugees. We have too few people now. We don't know when we can complete the reclamation of these 170,000 acres. Not only that, but someone has to plant the land. If no one plants the land, it will be a waste to reclaim the land."

"Don't worry about that. I plan to use mechanized planting, so I don't need too many people." This time, Lin Hao said with a smile:

"Do you know a tractor? It won't be long before we have one, and then we can plant more efficiently."

"Besides, who says these 170,000 acres have to be rice fields? Other fruit trees, trees, and vegetables are fine."

"Anyway, as long as the soldiers are given more than the actual income per acre of land, they will not have any complaints. The surplus will be used as military expenses. Starting next month, the Sichuan Army will officially start paying military salaries."

The original work point system was only a transition. Now that we have such a large territory, it is natural to implement a military pay system, which will also be conducive to promoting the economic development of the base.

"Yes, Captain!" Lin Yi responded quickly.

At this moment, the messenger came running over with a telegram and reported: "Commander, urgent news from Siam!"

Looking at the telegram in his hand, it was from the Sichuan Army's intelligence personnel in Siam, who sent back information about the movements of the Siamese army.

After reading the telegram in his hand, Lin Hao couldn't help but sneer:

"Very good. I originally wanted to let you live a few more days. Now that you are here to die, I will take Chiang Mai first!"

"Stop it, pass on my order. The 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments, the Guard Battalion, and the Reconnaissance Battalion, assemble immediately."

"Yes!"

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After Lin Hao's command center moved forward to Pegu, Long Wenjian's Old A Special Forces sent back the latest intelligence.

"Commander, Old A has sent back intelligence that Siamese troops have appeared in Eastern Shan State."

"Continue!" Lin Hao stared at the map and said without raising his head.

Meng Fanle heard this and continued:

"Opposite us is the 90th Infantry Division of the Siamese Army. This infantry division has only two infantry regiments and six battalions, plus two artillery battalions. They are mainly equipped with grenade launchers and mm mortars, and their weapons are mainly Japanese-style."

Lin Yi was in charge of the land distribution and was unable to handle all the other tasks, so Meng Fanle was asked to take on the role of combat advisor.

"This is a soft persimmon!" After listening, Lin Hao shook his head and said:

"Normally the Siamese army is composed of the 3rd Regiment and 9th Battalion of the main division. This is just a second-line unit. The Siamese army is really crazy!"

"Commander, they will behave themselves after this battle and won't be so arrogant anymore." Meng Fanle couldn't help but chuckle.

Lin Hao nodded and continued looking at the map. In addition to capturing Chiang Mai Province, another purpose was to obtain the salt and copper resources there.

Now that the basic industry has begun to show results, the bullet production line has been built, but due to the lack of qualified workers and insufficient copper resources, production can only be carried out on a small scale.

However, Felix has promised that a group of engineers will arrive in Yangon next time to train a group of qualified workers for Lin Hao.

Therefore, what Lin Hao needs to do now is to own his own copper mine resources, and the copper mine in Chiang Mai Province has already made Lin Hao jealous.

"Tell Ma Dazhi that if he fails to completely wipe out the 17th Division of the Siamese Army, I will hold him accountable!" After reading the map, Lin Hao immediately issued a combat order.

"Yes, Brigade Commander!"

Ma Dazhi, who received the order, immediately convened a combat meeting. According to the original combat plan, the first regiment would still be responsible for the main attack, and the second regiment would be responsible for the cleanup.

"Report, the reconnaissance company reports that the Siamese army on the opposite side seems to have not discovered us yet." Ma Dazhi, who was holding a combat meeting, was stunned after hearing this.

"They didn't even notice this? How could these Siamese be so careless?"

"Yes, we captured a few tongues. The other side seemed very surprised and had no idea that we would attack." The communications staff officer in charge of reporting said quickly.

"I understand!" Ma Dazhi waved his hand and decided to go to the front to investigate personally.

He had no choice but to be careful. After all, the opponent was a division. Even if it was just a second-line unit, it still had six or seven thousand people, which was three times his number.

More importantly, nearly half of his infantry regiment were new recruits, and the original backbone had long been disbanded and assigned to various companies.

This time he was the main attacker, with the aim of strengthening the troops' combat effectiveness and hoping to maintain the spirit of the Sichuan Army.

After arriving at the front line to investigate, they found that although the Siamese army on the opposite side had begun to assemble, they were still as scattered as usual, and it was obvious that they were not prepared at all for the upcoming war.

This made Ma Dazhi, who was originally a little worried, suddenly feel much more relaxed. Even in terms of combat awareness, their combat awareness was not as good as that of some guerrillas.

At least the guerrillas knew how to set up guard posts, but these people didn't even have basic secret sentries, so there was no need to worry about that. They could just rush forward.

Let’s first talk about Ma Dazhi’s infantry regiment, which is equipped with an artillery battalion directly under the regiment, including 2 M1 Long Toms and 10 120mm heavy mortars.

As for the 80mm and 60mm mortars, they had already been decentralized to various battalions and companies, or it could be said that Ma Dazhi no longer looked down on them.

Including all calibers, the total number of artillery pieces in the entire infantry regiment exceeded eighty, which was more than the artillery pieces of an entire regiment in Xiao Ri.

而小日子一个联队，也就装备12门70毫米九二步兵炮，6门37毫米反坦克炮，54-72门掷弹筒。

In terms of both quantity and artillery caliber, they completely crushed the Xiaori Regiment, not to mention the Siamese army which was only a second-tier one.

In addition, it is equipped with a tank company, which has 4 A32 tanks, 4 armored personnel carriers, and trucks towing artillery.

The rest of the infantry battalions were equipped with an M14 fully automatic rifle, and their waists were filled with grenades ready for use.

The German-made 98K sniper rifles are distributed to each infantry squad, which means that each squad has a precision shooter.

With such terrifying firepower density, what tactics are needed? Just rush forward.

Of course, it is impossible to rush forward. The lives of the Sichuan Army soldiers are still very precious, and necessary tactics still need to be formulated.

Originally, Ma Dazhi was a little worried, thinking that there might be a lot of casualties in this battle, but now, after seeing the Siamese army's awareness of preparation, he believes that his team can crush the opposing Siamese army.

"Attack!" After arranging everything, Ma Dazhi stopped talking nonsense and waited until the time for the general attack and immediately gave the order to attack.

As for the tactics, they are also very simple, which is to surround the enemy from both sides and then use powerful firepower to crush them.

All the Siamese army on the opposite side had to do was lie down.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Following the order, all the more than 80 large and small artillery pieces of the regiment opened fire at the first moment.