under fire

Not long after dark.

The scout scout hurried to the major to report.

A small group of unidentified people consisting of only a dozen people was found in the village to the west.

Before the major could deploy his troops, his men had surrounded the village and captured all the people hiding in the village.

The young man from the Wang family, with a bayonet pressed against his chest and almost shot to pieces by airplane bullets, spoke whatever was asked.

The interrogation results showed that it was part of Wang Shun's guerrillas who were defeated by the aircraft.

Stepping through the iron shoes, there is nowhere to find it, and it takes no effort to get it.

He quickly found out the basic situation of this group of Eighth Route Army soldiers who had been chasing him for the whole day.

In addition to Wang Shun's guerrillas, the others are the guard battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the Allied Autonomous Army!

The battalion commander's name is Hu Yi.

Training instructor Liu Yuanqing.

The instructor of the reconnaissance company is Xiao Hongying. It is not known who the company commander is yet.

The reconnaissance platoon leader is called Big Dog, whose last name is unknown at the moment.

The fat company commander Luo Fugui.

Scarface company commander Li Xiang.

Taoist Li Laosi didn't know which company he belonged to.

I often hear people in the guard camp talking about the Ninth Battalion.
Stepping through the iron shoes, there is nowhere to find it, and it takes no effort to get it.

Roughly figure out the basic situation of the Eighth Route Army who had been chasing for a whole day.

Although it was just some messy information, the major still judged that there were "two battalions" of enemies nearby.

One is called the Guard Battalion and the other is called the Ninth Battalion.
As for the Ninth Battalion, which is one regiment and three battalions, what is the Ninth Battalion?
Maybe. A certain Type A brigade has three regiments, and the battalion-level combat units are numbered consecutively.
The Autonomous Army has a close relationship with the Eighth Route Army.

He had little interest in knowing more details.

I just want to find out where the two groups are now.

Find them out and crush them to death one by one.

Unfortunately, after stabbing two prisoners to death in succession, no more useful information was obtained.

Before crossing the canal, the major had completed the entire battle plan.

Judging from the prisoners' confessions, my judgment and arrangements were not too far off.

Send the confession to the headquarters in Liaocheng and let them verify its authenticity.

He was not in a hurry, although he still could not determine the location of the Eighth Route Army.

But as long as he is in this area, he can't run away.

The Autonomous Security Army has already dispatched two regiments to cooperate in the encirclement and suppression.

At that time, let them sweep from the west and conduct a carpet search of the area within a radius of dozens of miles.

No matter your guard battalion or the messy ninth and tenth battalions, they all have to be pulled to the death.

"Combined with the prisoners' confessions, the headquarters has made a comprehensive assessment of all intelligence." The assistant came to the major with the telegram: "Last night our army was chasing the Autonomous Army Guard Battalion!"

"The Eighth Route Army that attacked the Guantao Guard came from the Lingqiu Squadron in the Taihang Mountains!"

"Lingqiu Squadron?" The major was stunned for a moment: "Where are you from?"

"The telegram said that it was a subsidiary guerrilla unit established by the Ninth Battalion of the Eighth Route Army."

Guerrilla? Looks like there's another rat.

The major has been leading troops for many years, and the intelligence is becoming clearer.

He immediately made a new judgment that part of the Eighth Route Army was hiding on the east side of the canal, and the other part was hiding on the west bank of the canal.

They are even planning to replicate the results of the attack on the security team.

That's fine, let the Imperial Army act as bait and explore the way first.

Of course, we can’t just say that the Imperial Army was going to be beaten.

So, the order he gave was to search for any escaped members of the small group that had just been captured.

There is a reward of ten dollars for each one caught.
It’s not that he is stingy, but he understands the psychology of these Chinese people very well.

If the reward is small, they will think there is no danger.

What's this called? You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb.

The major even blamed himself a little, wondering if he was too insidious. After giving the order, he asked his assistant to quietly assign tasks to the messenger and formulate a new combat order for the upcoming hunting operation.

Ride a motorcycle westward to contact the two regiments transferred from the Autonomous Army.

Let them completely block the west.

At the same time, a telegram was sent to another part of the mopping-up force that was sweeping the east side of the canal, asking them to immediately cross the canal and head west.

The area within dozens of kilometers on the west bank of the canal was completely surrounded.

Now that we have plenty of time, we can contact the North China Special Police Team to see if there is any new information and further improve the combat plan.

We must achieve our goal in one battle and completely annihilate the Eighth Route Army that has been roaming from Wucheng County to the canal area.

It has been a long time since I have encountered such a large-scale hunting scene.

The major was very much looking forward to it.

The signalman was sending messages, and he was not idle either.

He began to deploy the imperial army and immediately divided the troops into three groups.

Along the way, a junior captain led a squadron, accompanied by a mortar group, and supervised the Imperial Army's search southward along the canal.

Another route was led by him personally and headed straight to the southwest.

The rest will serve as reserves to deal with possible emergencies.

In the eyes of the major, the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army was rubbish.

The reason why they are difficult to deal with is that the Eighth Route Army is too slippery like a loach, and they can run into a mouse hole with a whoosh like a mouse.

Finally having a rare opportunity to play cat and mouse in an open plain, he decided to go all out.

Even if the Eighth Route Army really get into the cave, we must pull them out.

The Imperial Army set out, and the Japs also slowly set off.

Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard from the northeast.

The map was immediately unfolded by the assistant in the night breeze, and the observer came over immediately to report the approximate location of the explosion.

Under the flashlight, the major drew a circle on the map and muttered, "The explosion point is about 20 miles south of Donggu Town."

Hearing the faint sound of gunfire and explosions, the assistant couldn't help but add: "The squadron down the mountain has mortars, and they should have caught up with the group of Eighth Route Army. The location of the exchange of fire is not far from the east bank of the canal."

The major thought for a while and said, "Messenger!"

"Hai." The messenger who had been waiting immediately stepped forward and stood at attention upon hearing the words.

"Immediately ride your motorcycle north, swim across the canal near the battle position, and contact Lieutenant Yamashita on the east bank of the river who left in the afternoon, and report the battle situation as soon as possible."

"Hayi."

The assistant looked at the expanding Imperial Army and said, "Searching with torches is not a good idea, right?"

The Major shook his head: "Do you know that mice have a habit?"

The assistant was surprised: "What habit?"

“When you chase a rat with a flashlight, you will always see the rat.”

"Why?" The assistant thought that the mouse should run into the darkness.

"Because mice think that they may be able to take advantage of the person holding the flashlight. So, they will not run far away! Instead, they will stay in the dark and look at the flashlight light." The major looked at the endless darkness: "Because mice think that darkness represents safety!"

"I understand. Letting the Imperial Army lead the charge is to use them as bait to catch mice!" The assistant suddenly realized: "Then the Imperial Army will follow closely behind!"

The conversation between the two officers seemed somewhat irrelevant.

The Japanese soldier who was on guard nearby and knew a little Chinese was a little undecided. Could he be thinking of someone behind the scenes?
The gunfire and explosions to the northeast seemed to continue.

The major felt more and more relieved.

Because continuous combat means a huge consumption of ammunition.

No one knew better than him how much ammunition the Yamashita Squadron had on this trip.

The one who is still shooting is definitely not the Tubalu.
If everything goes as expected, I'll be reporting back with news of a great victory.

With the strength of a squadron of the Imperial Army, they can definitely walk sideways on the plains!

No longer paying attention to the situation in the north.

The mighty Imperial Army in front spread out into a skirmish line and continued to move southward.

In the night wind, the empire's elites could be heard stomping on their feet and stabbing their bayonets, silently and with great momentum.

[There is another chapter at 12 o'clock in the evening] (End of this chapter)