Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"Commander, it might not be that the city has been captured, but rather that the enemy has cut the telephone lines, which is why we can't get in touch," the Japanese major said after a moment's thought.

He felt that without that Northeast Army unit, the New First Regiment would not have been able to take down the blockhouse in such a short time.

However, the checkpoint might be taken down, since the checkpoint is not as easy to defend as the bunker, and the firepower of the New First Regiment is still very strong!
“You’re right.” The Japanese regimental commander nodded.

Just then, the phone on the table rang.

The Japanese regimental commander immediately reached out and answered the phone.

"Send men to reinforce the pillbox and checkpoint immediately! Remember, the troops you must reinforce must send advance troops to scout. If anything is amiss, retreat immediately." The Japanese brigade commander's voice came through the phone.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded, then asked with some concern, "What if that Northeast Army unit really is there?!"

"Damn it! That's why I told you to send the advance troops to scout ahead!" the Japanese brigade commander cursed.

"Understood! I'll give the order right away," the Japanese regimental commander replied.

"Go quickly. Call me immediately if anything happens." The Japanese brigade commander hung up the phone after saying that.

After hanging up the phone, the Japanese regimental commander immediately issued an order for the Japanese major to send troops to provide support, and instructed that the vanguard must be dispatched.

"Hey! But, regimental commander, why did the brigade commander do this?!" The Japanese major nodded, then frowned and asked.

"Need I say more? They're definitely testing whether that Northeast Army is involved! Stop talking nonsense and get moving." The Japanese regimental commander replied impatiently, then urged them on.

Upon hearing this, the Japanese major dared not ask any more questions and quickly turned and left.

The Japanese regimental commander was also praying in his heart that the Northeast Army would not get involved, otherwise his good days would probably be over. He didn't want to face the Northeast Army, because he simply couldn't win.

He knew about the Northeast Army's attack on a Class A division and the killing of its commander, which showed just how powerful the enemy was.

.........

On the other side, after the battlefield was cleaned up, Cheng the Blind also had explosives placed in the watchtower, as he didn't want the Japanese to continue using it.

Even if the Japanese rebuild it later, it will waste more of their time, which is a good thing for them.

"Commander, we've already placed explosive charges in the load-bearing walls of the pillbox," a soldier reported.

"Have people move all the Japanese soldiers' corpses into the watchtower, and let this watchtower become the burial place for these Japanese soldiers!" Blind Cheng ordered.

In his view, even if the Japanese soldiers' bodies were put into the pillbox, the Japanese soldiers would still dig them up later, which would waste their time. Anyway, he was naturally eager to do something that could save the lives of the Japanese soldiers.

A few minutes later, all the Japanese soldiers' corpses outside the blockhouse were moved inside, and Blind Cheng then pressed the detonator.

Boom boom boom......

Several loud explosions immediately came from the watchtower, echoing through the sky. Flames shot out from inside, and the ground trembled. The several-story watchtower collapsed with a roar, raising a large cloud of smoke and dust that covered the area, turning the watchtower into ruins.

"Retreat! Let's blow up the bridge!" Blind Cheng ordered a retreat, not forgetting to destroy the Japanese bridge.

.........

While Cheng the Blind and his men were on their way, the various regiments of the Eighth Route Army were also on their way, either tearing up railway tracks or destroying roads built by the Japanese.

They especially tore down sections of the railway tracks and took them away.

The commander of the 129th Regiment led his soldiers to dismantle the railway tracks belonging to the Zhengtai Railway.

"Hurry up, hurry up, don't dismantle it all at once, dismantle it section by section." Xiao Yu urged the soldiers to move, while also helping to dismantle the rails himself.

"Commander, there are less than ten minutes left before the Japanese patrol vehicle goes on patrol," Political Commissar Liu reported. In fact, they had already figured out the situation here.

The Japanese patrol car patrols the railway every half hour, and there are less than ten minutes left before it arrives.

"Are the explosive charges planted?!" Xiao Yu asked. The Japanese patrol car was an armored vehicle that could run on railway tracks, and explosive charges were the fastest way to destroy it.

While they could destroy the patrol vehicle with mortars, their artillery wasn't as effective at targeting moving targets, and the key was to waste multiple shells.

Therefore, compared to other options, it is better to use explosive charges.

"Wu Meng and his men have already buried it. We'll detonate it as soon as the Japanese patrol car comes!" Political Commissar Liu responded.

"That's good. You stay here and direct the operation. I'll go take a look." After saying that, Xiao Yu jogged towards Wu Meng's direction. He planned to personally detonate the explosive charge and blow up the Japanese patrol vehicle.

Soon, he walked about a mile along the railway and met up with Wu Meng and the others.

At this moment, Wu Meng and his group were about 100 meters away from the railway tracks.

"Commander, what brings you here? Just leave it to me," Wu Meng said quickly upon seeing Xiao Yu.

"Give me the detonator, let me detonate it," Xiao Yu immediately stated his purpose.

"Alright then." Upon hearing this, Wu Meng had no choice but to hand the detonator to Xiao Yu. He had originally planned to detonate it himself, but who would have thought that the regimental commander would come in person.

"Old Wu, I'll just do it this time. You can do it from now on," Xiao Yu said. He came over on a whim, not to steal credit.

"Understood." Wu Meng nodded.

"Speaking of which, I guess the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment have also taken action. I wonder if their operations are the same as ours, such as tearing up railway tracks and destroying highways," Wu Meng said, changing the subject.

"You're overthinking it. That's probably impossible. I suspect they're operating with a special operations unit."
"Don't forget, the Japanese have three Class A divisions. With such formidable fighting power, no one except special operations regiments can stop them," Xiao Yu said, shaking his head.

In his view, the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment definitely needed to assist the Special Operations Regiment; otherwise, it would be too difficult for the Special Operations Regiment to attract the main force of the Japanese army.

"That's true. It's a pity that our combat strength is not as good as the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment, otherwise we should also be able to assist the Special Operations Regiment." Wu Meng felt a little regretful.

"Yeah, there's nothing we can do. The New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment have a good relationship with the Special Operations Regiment, so they always call on them when fighting the Japanese. We're just not as good at that." Xiao Yu sighed.

With the help of the special operations regiment, the combat effectiveness of these two regiments skyrocketed. They were far superior in numbers and firepower, far surpassing the other regiments. However, their firepower was still at the level of a main force regiment, significantly stronger than the other regiments.

“Yes.” Wu Meng thought so too. Their regiment had only cooperated with the special operations regiment once, during the mine raid, and they weren’t even that helpful. The special operations regiment killed most of the Japanese soldiers.

However, it was that cooperation that transformed their regiment from an ordinary regiment into a main force regiment. Therefore, it is normal that the independent regiment of the new regiment cooperated with the special operations regiment so many times and obtained more equipment.

"I'm really envious of Li Yunlong. How come that kid is so lucky? He's made his fair share of mistakes, but there are still plenty of talented people in the regiment." Xiao Yu sighed. Why didn't their regiment have someone as talented as Li Jin?

Even if his ability was only one-tenth of Li Jin's, it would be enough. It's just a pity that he really didn't find such talent in the group.

"Commander Li... the Japanese are coming." Wu Meng was about to say something when he immediately noticed the lights of a train on the distant railway.

Three Japanese patrol cars are driving this way.

Seeing this, Xiao Yu immediately prepared to detonate the explosive charge as soon as the patrol vehicle reached its location.

Inside the car, a Japanese sergeant was lighting a cigarette.

There were also seven or eight Japanese soldiers nearby smoking.

"Sergeant Major, these Eighth Route Army soldiers have been behaving themselves lately and haven't come to sabotage the railway. I guess they don't dare to come," a Japanese soldier said.

Previously, the railway tracks had been secretly sabotaged by the Eighth Route Army, and the key issue was that they couldn't catch the perpetrators, so the higher-ups increased the number of patrol personnel.

After that, there were no more incidents of railway damage.

"Who can say for sure? What they like most is to pop up from time to time. It's just that I don't have the chance, otherwise I would definitely kill them!" the Japanese sergeant said coldly.

If the enemy hadn't frequently sabotaged the railway, they wouldn't have had to work so hard, reducing their patrols from once an hour to once every half hour.

"Sergeant Major, there should be a chance, right? Didn't two more divisions come in? They should be able to wipe out those enemies, right?" a Japanese soldier said.

No matter what, their current strength is still very strong, with several Class A divisions of soldiers stationed there.

"Of course! Don't be fooled by how lively the enemy is; they don't dare to confront us head-on!" the Japanese sergeant said confidently.

suddenly.

boom!
A loud bang came from ahead, and the first patrol car was immediately blown into the air and overturned off the tracks. Then, several more explosions followed, and the two patrol cars behind were also blown over.

Eighty or ninety percent of the Japanese soldiers in the three patrol cars died on the spot, and the remaining Japanese soldiers were all seriously injured and unconscious.

The Japanese sergeant lay there, his face covered in blood, his consciousness beginning to fade. He hadn't expected that this patrol would be attacked by the enemy.

In the past, this situation has never occurred during patrols. Even when we encountered the enemy, they were always driven away, not blown up by the enemy like tonight!

"Comrades, follow me!" After pressing the detonator, Xiao Yu, holding a pistol, charged ahead towards the Japanese patrol vehicle.

"Commander, don't rush so fast!" Wu Meng immediately chased after them, and the other soldiers followed suit.

Xiao Yu rushed quickly, reaching the patrol car in just over ten seconds. He raised his pistol and carefully observed the area before opening the door and entering. He found that almost all the Japanese soldiers inside had been killed in the explosion.

Seeing the Japanese soldier who was still alive, Xiao Yu showed no mercy. He raised his pistol, aimed at the wounded soldier's head, and shot him dead.

Wu Meng quickly arrived with his men, and they swiftly eliminated all the remaining Japanese soldiers before beginning to collect the spoils of war.

"Commander, in this operation, we killed twenty-three Japanese soldiers, captured three light machine guns, twenty rifles, and one pistol," Wu Meng immediately reported.

"Yes, the harvest is quite good. Indeed, the firepower of these patrol vehicles is quite fierce, with each vehicle equipped with a light machine gun." Xiao Yu nodded in satisfaction.

If they hadn't prepared explosives, it wouldn't have been easy for them to kill these Japanese soldiers. Three light machine guns were equivalent to the number of light machine guns in their entire company.

“Yes, otherwise we wouldn’t be so afraid of these patrol cars,” Wu Meng said. When a small unit encounters a patrol car, they really have no choice but to retreat. It’s simply impossible to fight back.

"After blowing up the patrol vehicle, the Japanese should realize something is wrong in about half an hour. Lao Wu, use the walkie-talkie to contact other units and tell them to retreat immediately in ten minutes," Xiao Yu ordered.

They've already destroyed a lot of railway tracks this time, and even blew up three Japanese patrol cars—they've made a huge profit. Besides that, they've also damaged a lot of roads. That's quite something.

"Yes!" Wu Meng nodded, immediately took out his walkie-talkie and began contacting other units, quickly issuing the order.

"The commander's order has been conveyed," Wu Meng reported.

"Hmm, very good. I must say, these walkie-talkies are really useful and make communication very convenient." Xiao Yu exclaimed. With this thing, commanding his troops has become much easier.

In the past, if you wanted to convey an order on short notice, you would have to send a messenger to run to deliver it, which would have wasted a lot of time. Now it's different. As long as you are within 20 miles, you can communicate and issue orders at any time. It's incredibly convenient!

"It's a pity there are so few of them; they can only be given to battalion-level officers. It would be even better if they could be allocated to company-level officers, or even platoon-level officers," Wu Meng said.

He felt that if he could be assigned to a platoon-level unit, commanding troops would be the simplest thing, transmitting orders would be easy, and the speed of troop movement would be much faster.

"What are you thinking? It would be great if this thing could be popularized at the battalion level, let alone the platoon level. Actually, I would be very satisfied if it could be popularized at the company level," Xiao Yu replied.

But he also knew that walkie-talkies were not easy to manufacture, so he couldn't be too greedy.

“That makes sense. Maybe we can extend this to platoon-level units in the future,” Wu Meng said.
"That's the best. I don't know how the 386th Brigade managed to get their hands on these walkie-talkies. They're really amazing!" Xiao Yu praised.

The emergence of these walkie-talkies, to some extent, broke the Japanese blockade, allowing many units to contact each other.

Therefore, overall, the role of walkie-talkies is enormous.

"Who cares, as long as it works. Of course, we can't let the Japanese get their hands on this thing. If they manage to build it, we'll be in big trouble," Wu Meng said.

The Japanese soldiers were already stronger than them in combat. If they also developed walkie-talkies, it would definitely not be a good thing for them; it would be a huge disaster.

(End of this chapter)