Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

The soldiers in the trenches were all ready for battle, their guns already loaded, ready to fire the moment the Japanese soldiers came up.

Another group of soldiers lined up their grenades, ready to throw them all out as quickly as possible once fighting broke out!
At this point, the Japanese lieutenant was unaware of the danger. In his mind, this village would be just like the previous ones, an empty village.

However, he miscalculated when they were halfway up the hill.

"beat!"

Suddenly a voice came from the direction of the slope. In that instant, the Japanese lieutenant's mind went blank. Damn it, there was an ambush.

Before he could react, a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers suddenly appeared on the slope and opened fire on them.

Da da da………

Bang bang bang…

The sounds of light and heavy machine guns and rifles rang out, and in almost an instant, more than half of the soldiers in a company were killed or wounded.

This was completely unexpected. Since they hadn't encountered any danger when they entered the village, the Japanese soldiers were caught off guard and had no chance to react.

Puff puff………

Da da da………

The overwhelming firepower relentlessly reaped the lives of the Japanese soldiers, one after another falling into pools of blood!

The surviving Japanese soldiers did not retreat immediately, because that would mean they would die even faster. Instead, they immediately dispersed and prepared to fight back.

But the Japanese soldiers were doomed from the moment they went up the hill.

Meanwhile, the soldiers in the trenches who were responsible for throwing grenades immediately threw out the grenades in front of them, and each grenade rolled a distance after landing on the ground.

Boom boom boom......

Explosions rang out, catching the Japanese soldiers off guard as they prepared to retaliate. At the same time, ten grenade launchers began firing at the Japanese soldiers not far behind the trenches.

Boom boom boom......

Then came another round of bombing, leaving the Japanese soldiers with no chance to fight back. Gunfire and the screams of the Japanese soldiers could be heard intermittently.

In less than three minutes, the Japanese soldiers on the slope had all fallen to the ground. Some were already dead, while others were seriously wounded and barely clinging to life. There were severed limbs and blood everywhere, and the blood from the county town flowed down the slope.

"Quickly, clean up the battlefield! Don't worry about wasting bullets!" The battalion commander glanced at his watch; only three minutes had passed. He immediately gave the order.

They don't have as much time to finish off the corpses with bayonets now; obviously, finishing them off with gunshots is faster.

Bang bang bang…

Scattered gunshots rang out, and the Japanese soldiers who fell to the ground were all shot in the head, whether they were dead or alive, without exception.

Two minutes passed quickly, and the battalion commander immediately ordered a retreat.

The operation was swift; the gunfire came and went quickly, leaving only scattered corpses on the slope, as if telling everyone that a brutal battle had taken place there.

However, this cruelty was inevitable for the Japanese soldiers; from the moment they burned the village, this outcome was destined to happen.

…………

On the other side, the Japanese brigade commander, who was on his way, was still wondering if that Northeast Army unit was really not here, or if there weren't many of them.

If there weren't too many people, they might have a chance to leave here alive.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire came from afar, which immediately startled the Japanese brigade commander.

"Brigade Commander, it must be the Eighth Route Army that attacked the vanguard!" the Japanese regimental commander said hurriedly.

"The number of Eighth Route Army troops attacking the vanguard must be small, and their combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the vanguard. Immediately send someone to flank them from both sides, while we lead a unit to continue advancing!" The Japanese brigade commander quickly analyzed.

He guessed that the Eighth Route Army couldn't stand their behavior of burning things wherever they went, so they specially sent troops to attack the vanguard to teach them a lesson!
"Brigade Commander, could this be a trap set by the enemy?! We've burned down three villages without incident; this is clearly a deliberate attempt by the enemy to lower our guard before launching a sudden attack."

"Perhaps they've already anticipated that we'll flank them from both sides. Even if we advance directly, we'll probably just walk right into their trap." The Japanese regimental commander quickly stopped him, expressing his opinion.

He didn't believe the enemy had gone to such lengths just to deal with the small number of their advance troops.

"What you said makes some sense." The Japanese brigade commander frowned; the enemy might indeed do that.

"So, according to you, we're just going to ignore the vanguard?!" the Japanese brigade commander retorted.

"To minimize casualties, this is the only way. We can't just send our soldiers to their deaths knowing there's danger," the Japanese regimental commander replied, feeling that not going to the rescue wasn't a big deal.

"Baka! Have you forgotten why we came here?!" the Japanese brigade commander snapped angrily.

"I haven't forgotten. We came here precisely to confirm whether this Northeast Army unit is here or not." The Japanese regimental commander stopped talking immediately after saying this.

"Now is the perfect opportunity. Do as I say immediately. Oh, and send out the vanguard from the flanking forces as well."
"I don't think the enemy might be lying in ambush on the flanks, but just to be on the safe side, we should send an advance force to keep an eye out. If they sense anything amiss, they should immediately retreat." The Japanese brigade commander immediately ordered that if casualties were found to be too high during the engagement, there was no need to go to the rescue; they should retreat instead!
"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander was about to give the order when he was stopped by the Japanese brigade commander.

"Wait, replace the men flanking the enemy with puppet troops and send them," the Japanese brigade commander said. He still didn't want too many of his soldiers to die, but if the dead were puppet troops, it wouldn't be so bad.

"Understood!" The Japanese regimental commander immediately went to relay the order, then returned to lead the troops with the Japanese brigade commander and continued their march.

The puppet army captain who received the order also frowned. He felt that something was wrong. Why was such an important task as flanking the enemy only assigned to them, while the Japanese were sent to provide support from the front?
But what the Japanese regimental commander said seemed to make some sense. The Japanese were responsible for drawing fire in front while they would take the opportunity to flank them. It sounded reasonable, but there wasn't a single Japanese unit moving with them, which was very problematic. Did the Japanese really think they could stop the enemy?! But he didn't have time to think too much about it now and could only order his troops to flank them from both sides.

Boom boom boom......

A huge explosion came from afar.

"Brigade Commander, that sounds like a grenade exploding, and also a grenade launcher and a mortar," the Japanese regimental commander said.

"Don't say so much, hurry up and send reinforcements." The Japanese brigade commander urged. In fact, he already felt that the vanguard was definitely not going to be able to save them, but they still had to confirm the enemy's situation.

In less than ten minutes, the Japanese brigade commander arrived at Zhangjia Village with his men. In fact, the gunfire had stopped a few minutes earlier, followed by sporadic gunfire, which was obviously the enemy cleaning up the battlefield.

"Damn enemy!" The Japanese brigade commander cursed as he looked up at the hillside of Zhangjia Village, which was littered with the corpses of his soldiers.

"Brigade Commander, don't rush over there. I'll send someone to scout the village first, just in case there are still enemies inside," the Japanese regimental commander said.

"Hmm." The Japanese brigade commander nodded, his face very gloomy. In just a few minutes, more than a hundred generals and two hundred Imperial soldiers had been killed, which was a huge loss.

"The New First Regiment is really bold. They must have concentrated a lot of firepower to take out our vanguard in such a short time. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to kill so many of us in such a short time," said the Japanese regimental commander. He was sure that the New First Regiment didn't have a particularly large number of men lying in ambush; they were just caught off guard.

In addition, the enemy had strong firepower and a terrain advantage, which is why they were able to eliminate their vanguard in such a short time.

"At present, it seems that the enemy has no intention of fighting us. In general, they are still somewhat wary and dare not engage our main force," the Japanese brigade commander said slowly.

Although the enemy quickly eliminated their vanguard, they were not attacked during their reinforcements.

"Of course, we can't jump to conclusions too early. We should wait and see if anything happens to the puppet troops," the Japanese brigade commander said. If the enemy was planning to make a move, then the puppet troops lying in ambush on both flanks would be the best opportunity.

It was because of this concern that he didn't let his own people do it; if they sensed anything was wrong, they could retreat immediately.

"The brigade commander is wise." The Japanese regimental commander also agreed with this statement.

"Next, before entering the village, we can't let the advance troops be too careless, especially in this unfavorable terrain. Before entering the village, we must bombard the potential ambush locations with grenade launchers as soon as possible to see if there are any enemies!" the Japanese brigade commander said.

He didn't want to lose an advance force every time he entered a village; he didn't have that many soldiers to let the enemy kill.

"Understood," the Japanese regimental commander replied. He also thought this was acceptable; the incident involving the advance troops was ultimately due to their carelessness.

The main reason was that they had burned down several villages without any problems, so they subconsciously thought that the villages behind wouldn't be affected either. As a result, they suffered a terrible fate. If they had been more vigilant, they wouldn't have ended up like this.

After waiting for a few minutes, the soldiers who had gone into the village to investigate finally came out and confirmed that there was no danger in the village. Only then did the Japanese brigade commander go up the slope to see what was going on.

The slope was full of potholes, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood. Limbs and severed arms could be seen on the ground, and some soldiers were even missing half of their bodies with their intestines spilling out. The scene looked extremely terrifying and frightening. If an ordinary person saw it, they would probably vomit immediately and feel physically uncomfortable.

However, these scenes meant nothing to the Japanese soldiers, after all, they were the ones who created these things, and could even be more cruel.

"Based on the analysis of the scene, the enemy must have launched a sudden attack on our soldiers while they were going uphill. Caught off guard, our men suffered heavy casualties in a single exchange. It's likely that there were even grenades thrown by special personnel, who hurled a large number of grenades during the firefight."
In addition, the enemy's grenade launchers also carried out artillery bombardment. After these few blows, a company of soldiers really couldn't withstand it. Even a battalion here, without support, would probably suffer as well." The Japanese regimental commander analyzed the situation on the spot.

"Yes, that shows the new 1st Regiment's firepower is indeed quite fierce, and their combat effectiveness isn't much weaker than ours." The Japanese brigade commander nodded in agreement!

Boom boom boom......

Just then, a huge explosion came from the left side of the puppet army responsible for flanking, but after the explosion stopped, there was no further movement.

"Brigade Commander, what's going on?! It can't be that all the puppet troops have been killed by landmines, right?!" The Japanese regimental commander was completely bewildered.

When he first heard the explosion, he thought he would hear gunfire next, but to his surprise, there was no follow-up.

"It's quite clear that our judgment was correct; the enemy had no intention of engaging our main force in battle."

The reason for laying landmines on both flanks was merely to delay the encirclement; there weren't many enemies in this village. The Japanese brigade commander said slowly, now the situation was quite clear.

"That's good." The Japanese regimental commander breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. If the puppet troops flanking from both sides were subjected to a fierce attack, they would have to consider whether to go to their aid or retreat directly.

.........

At this moment, the puppet army captain in charge of the encirclement on the left lay on the ground. He got up, covered in dust, and looked ahead. He saw that more than twenty puppet soldiers had fallen to the ground. Some were already dead or wounded, while others were groaning in pain, looking like they were about to die.

"Captain, it seems the enemy has only planted landmines and hasn't attacked us yet," a puppet army company commander said as he approached.

When the landmine exploded, he almost thought he was going to die. After all, the explosion of a landmine meant the enemy was about to attack. So, he was somewhat relieved that he had survived.

"Quickly check on them and see what's wrong." The puppet army captain said as he walked towards the fallen puppet soldiers, and the other puppet soldiers followed suit!

"Captain, save me! Save me!" A puppet soldier whose leg had been blown off lay on the ground, pleading for help in agony. His right calf had been blown off, and blood was streaming down his face.

"Medics, come and help! What are you standing there for!" The puppet army captain immediately gave the order, and soon medics came running over with their medicine kits.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. The rest of you, follow me and keep going." After comforting the wounded soldiers, the puppet army captain ordered everyone to continue.

"Captain, are we going to continue?! I feel like we'll encounter more dangers ahead." The puppet army company commander said hesitantly, his eyes filled with fear. To be honest, he was genuinely worried that if they continued, they might really die.

"The Japanese gave the order. If we don't continue, our fate won't be any better. Stop talking nonsense and get going," the puppet army captain urged impatiently.

The puppet army captain had no choice but to follow. (End of Chapter)