Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"It's very simple. The Japanese target is Li Jin; they need to confirm whether Li Jin is here."

"If I'm not mistaken, the Japanese have probably already set traps elsewhere, with the Sixth Division as the bait. If Li Jin is on our side, then the Japanese will naturally have to readjust their deployment," Blind Cheng explained.

The Japanese objective was quite clear: the transfer of the 6th Division was already aimed at Li Jin. Therefore, even if it meant sacrificing a brigade, as long as they could pinpoint Li Jin's location, the Japanese would have a chance to strike him.

"That's right. The Japanese are quite afraid of Li Jin, worried that he will become even more powerful in the future, and then they might be driven out of the province."
The resources the Japanese occupied here cannot be taken away, which would be a huge loss for them.” Political Commissar Liu nodded in agreement.

With so many mineral resources here, the Japanese would never give up. And if they let Li Jin go unchecked, there would only be one outcome: Li Jin's troops would grow larger and stronger. How could the Japanese not be afraid of that?

Although they had revealed their strength to the Japanese in the battle last night, the Japanese could only guess at the general situation and did not know the specifics.

But don't forget, the Japanese have three Class A divisions stationed there. The combat power of one Class A division is equivalent to that of an army group. So even if the Japanese knew their strength, they would still choose to eliminate Li Jin first.

After all, compared to the Japanese, Li Jin posed a greater threat and made the Japanese more uneasy.

"So, we'll be facing the Japanese attack next. If nothing unexpected happens, the Japanese will involve their puppet troops as well."
"We are facing an enemy of at least five thousand, nearly six thousand people," said Blind Cheng.

In order to test whether Li Jin was here, the Japanese side would definitely mobilize all their forces, and the puppet troops would naturally be brought along as well.

Moreover, the puppet troops that came were not the local recruits; these puppet troops were all capable of fighting and could pose a threat to them.

"It seems we can't fight head-on; we have to fight and retreat, leading the Japanese in circles."
In short, don't choose to confront the Japanese head-on unless you really can't escape." Blind Cheng continued, explaining the next battle plan.

They couldn't face so many Japanese soldiers head-on, so they had to avoid them and not give them a chance to fight them head-on.

"The battalion commander is right. Besides going in circles, I think we can also launch a surprise attack when the Japanese are resting, so they can't rest," the battalion commander also offered his opinion.

In short, making things difficult for the Japanese is to their advantage.

"Let's forget about this sneak attack." Blind Cheng shook his head.

"Why?! Isn't this how we always fight?!" The battalion commander was puzzled. He thought it was good to attack the Japanese camp and prevent the Japanese from resting.

"The Japanese wouldn't be that stupid, especially if they thought Li Jin's troops might be there. The Japanese would be very vigilant."

"If we were to launch a sneak attack, we'd likely end up losing more than we gain; the chances of something going wrong are too high," Blind Cheng explained, justifying the decision not to attack.

If he could launch a sneak attack, he certainly wouldn't let it go, but to launch a sneak attack when the Japanese are on guard would be suicide, and he absolutely couldn't do such a stupid thing.

"That's true." Upon hearing this, the battalion commander abandoned the idea. Since the risk was too high, it was better not to launch a sneak attack.

"Commander, we can use mortars to bombard the Japanese devils. The distance is far enough. I don't believe that the Japanese camp or patrol range can be more than a few miles away," the Second Battalion Commander suddenly said.

"Your idea seems feasible. We can fire a couple of shots and then retreat. The Japanese won't be able to catch us in the dark." Upon hearing this, the battalion commander's eyes lit up, and he immediately agreed.

Since raiding the camp is risky, bombarding it with artillery is a good alternative, as it is farther away and less risky.

"Have you forgotten that we don't have many shells? Are you suggesting that we use artillery to attack, firing only one or two shots a night? What good will that do?" Blind Cheng said helplessly.

He had thought of this method long ago, but considering the number of their shells, it was clearly unrealistic. To achieve the level of harassment and prevent the Japanese from resting, they would have to fire at least several shells every night.

It won't be long before their regiment runs out of ammunition.

"Then let's forget about it." Upon hearing this, the second battalion commander immediately stopped talking, as their regiment was indeed short of artillery shells.

"Sigh... In the end, it's because our regiment is too poor. If we had as many supplies as the New First Regiment, we could definitely manage." The battalion commander sighed, somewhat envious of the New First Regiment.

It is said that in the New First Regiment, a soldier could be equipped with hundreds of bullets during combat, while their 772nd Regiment only had dozens of bullets, and not even all of them were fired at once. The difference was too great.

"Alright, instead of wasting time thinking about these things, we should prepare properly to meet the Japanese invasion." Blind Cheng didn't want to bring this up, otherwise he would easily recall Li Yunlong's smug look in front of him.

"Yes." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"By the way, each battalion should report their casualty figures," said Blind Cheng. He hadn't had time to find out how many people had been killed or wounded in this operation.

"Commander, the First Battalion suffered 68 casualties and 15 seriously wounded. The wounded have been sent to the brigade hospital. In total, we destroyed three Japanese pillboxes and four checkpoints, and killed 231 Japanese soldiers," the First Battalion Commander hurriedly reported.

"The Second Battalion suffered 65 casualties, 18 seriously wounded, and destroyed four Japanese pillboxes..."

"Third Battalion..."

"........."

Each battalion commander reported the casualty data and handed the list to Blind Cheng.

According to statistics, 453 soldiers of their 772nd Regiment were killed last night, and 121 were seriously wounded. All of them have been sent to the brigade hospital for treatment.

"Yes, more than 300 people were killed, and more than 1,200 Japanese soldiers were annihilated. This is already a great victory." Blind Cheng nodded in satisfaction. There were 1,070 or 180 Japanese soldiers in the watchtower and checkpoint, plus those at Qingyuan Bridge, which made more than 1,200.

The key point is that their casualties were almost one to three compared to the Japanese casualties, which was the first time that the 772nd Regiment had achieved such a good result.

Of course, Blind Cheng was also well aware that if it were the 772nd Regiment, which had not received any aid, it would not have been able to do this.

"Commander, the reason we were able to take down the pillbox so easily is all thanks to the tear gas! Just two tear gas canisters reduced our casualties by more than half!" said the battalion commander. Without the tear gas, even if they had managed to capture the pillbox, their casualties would likely have been much higher. This was only possible because they received weapons support.

Without suppressive fire, it would likely require hundreds of casualties for them to bomb the pillbox.

"Yes, yes, these tear gas canisters are really useful. Luckily, the regimental commander instructed us in advance to throw tear gas canisters in as soon as we suppressed the Japanese."

"That's right, Commander. You don't know, once you throw these tear gas canisters into the bunker, the Japanese can't hold on at all. They all run towards the door, and I just hold my gun and wait for them to come out before shooting them all. It's very convenient."

"Haha, the same on my end."

Everyone started talking happily, and they couldn't help but laugh when they thought about how the Japanese soldiers would rather be beaten to death than stay in the pillbox.

"As long as it works, that's fine." Blind Cheng smiled. He had also used tear gas last night, so he knew its power.

"It's a pity this thing appeared a little too late. If it had come out a few years earlier, we wouldn't have had to sacrifice so many men attacking the pillbox." The battalion commander suddenly sighed, recalling how in the past, when several hundred of them attacked a Japanese pillbox guarded by only a few dozen men, they had to suffer heavy casualties to take it down.

They didn't have it as easy back then as they do now.

"What's past is past, let's not bring it up again," said Blind Cheng. There was nothing to say about the past; they had no guns, no men, and were in a very difficult situation.

"What we need to do is look forward and not get stuck in the past," Political Commissar Liu said.
"Yes." Everyone nodded hurriedly. They had become stronger. Although there was still a considerable gap between them and the Japanese, it showed that they were making progress. Sooner or later, they would be able to surpass the Japanese.

.........

One day later, around 3 p.m.

The scouts Li Jin sent to keep an eye on the Sixth Division have returned and reported back. However, he did not let the scouts speak immediately. Instead, he ordered someone to notify the Jin-Sui Army and Li Yunlong to hold a meeting in the temporary command room.

Upon learning that a meeting was to be held, Chu Yunfei and his team hurried to the temporary command room.

"Is everyone here?" Li Jin sat in the main seat, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"Everyone's here. Is there any new news?" Li Yunlong replied, then asked.

Everyone else was looking at Li Jin, wanting to hear what he was going to say next.

"Xiao Mo, tell me what you've found out," Li Jin said, looking at the scout.

"Yes, Commander, the Sixth Division has been mobilized. They've split into two groups, one in the west and the other in the north. In addition, there's a brigade from the Sixteenth Division in the east," the scout quickly relayed the information.

"Yes, it's certain that the Japanese are indeed coming for me. There aren't many strongholds in the south, so the Japanese haven't sent troops south. Or rather, they deliberately left this direction open, hoping I would go in and find the 6th Division's headquarters."

"Once I attack the command post, the Japanese will immediately block the breach, preventing me from escaping!" Li Jin said slowly.

"But this trap is too obvious. Don't the Japanese think there's a problem with setting it up like this?! Aren't they afraid you won't fall for it?" Commander Zhang frowned upon hearing this. He could easily see through the Japanese's deployment.

"Yes, could it be that the Japanese don't want you to fall into their trap?! So they set up this trap full of loopholes?!" Chief of Staff Fang was also somewhat puzzled. He felt that the Japanese didn't really intend to set up a trap.

"No, no, no, this just shows how clever the Japanese are. They deliberately told Brother Mu that there was a trap here, but the command post was really there."
Furthermore, the various brigades are quite far apart, and it would be impossible to complete the encirclement in less than a day or two.
The Japanese believed that Brother Mu was unaware of their secret force capable of holding them off for a day or two.

In this situation, the Japanese thought that Brother Mu would definitely not be able to resist the temptation, and given his own strength, he would definitely be thinking of attacking the command post again and then retreating quickly! "Chu Yunfei then expressed a different opinion.

In his view, the Japanese were actually trying to get Mu Jin to send someone to investigate the location of the command post. Given that the three brigades were far apart and the number of soldiers protecting the command post would not exceed one brigade, they felt that Mu Jin would definitely succumb to temptation and make a move.

"Good heavens, the Japanese have really played a big game. They're incredibly bold to actually use a division commander as bait!" Li Yunlong said. As soon as he heard Chu Yunfei say this, he already understood what was going on.

“Yes, if Mu Jin doesn’t know that the Japanese have a secret unit, and they actually find the location of the command post, plus it would take the other Japanese units a long time to surround it, they will most likely make a move, and then they will really succeed.” Zhao Gang also chimed in, his expression somewhat solemn.

"What you're saying is ridiculous. I'm not that naive. There's something wrong with this. The Japanese knew that a regiment couldn't hold the command post, yet they still did it. It's suspicious no matter how you look at it," Li Jin quickly said. He wasn't going to be so foolish as to fall for it.

"What if the command post is guarded by a regiment plus a battalion?! They are a Class A division, with more than 5,000 men and they are on guard, wouldn't you fall for it?!" Zhao Gang retorted.

"Hmm...you know what, there's a real chance we might fall for it," Li Jin said after thinking for a moment.

If it weren't for Yamamoto's special attack force, he certainly wouldn't have taken those five thousand-plus Japanese soldiers seriously.

They would think the Japanese were joking, that their own troops, with their supposed preparedness, could hold off the Japanese for a day or two with just over 5,000 men. Wasn't that ridiculous?

"Of course, I'm just saying there's a possibility; it's not that easy to fool me," Li Jin added.

"So, the Japanese plan was actually quite clever, or rather, they deliberately set this trap for you."
"The commander of this Japanese secret unit is quite something," Zhao Gang continued.

The trap that the Japanese devils went to such lengths to set up—if anyone else had Li Jin's skills, they probably wouldn't have been able to resist taking action.

"Damn it, it seems we absolutely cannot keep these little devils alive, and we absolutely cannot keep this unit alive either!" Li Yunlong said directly. These kinds of people are too dangerous. Although their numbers are not as many as Li Jin's, their command skills are indeed not weak.

“That’s right, we have to take them down! Brother Mu, they’re quite strong, only you two can handle them. You must deal with them, otherwise they will pose a great threat in the future.” Chu Yunfei also looked at Li Jin and said.

After careful analysis, it became clear that this secret Japanese unit was indeed quite formidable. In short, not only were their combat capabilities stronger than those of a Class A division, but their command abilities were also exceptional. (End of Chapter)