Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"Hmm." The Japanese brigade commander grunted in response, not saying much more. It was easy to imagine that it would be more beneficial for the puppet troops to suffer casualties than for them to do so.

After all, any loss of Imperial soldiers would be a good thing for the New First Regiment.

.........

On the mountain, Blind Cheng held binoculars and stared at the Japanese. When he saw the Japanese being bombarded by artillery shells, the smile on his face never stopped.

"Blow these bastards to death," Blind Cheng said gloatingly.

"Commander, we should retreat now, otherwise we'll be in trouble if the Japanese catch up with us," the battalion commander reminded them. They were now quite close to the Japanese.

Otherwise, the artillery positions wouldn't have stopped firing after just one round; they were worried that the Japanese would calculate their artillery positions and then blow them up.

"Okay, let's retreat." Blind Cheng nodded. Seeing the Japanese being bombed made him feel much better. It wasn't time to confront the Japanese head-on yet.

"By the way, send a company of soldiers to take a shortcut and ambush the Japanese on their way out of the mountains," Blind Cheng instructed, stopping in his tracks.

"Huh?! Why?! The Japanese probably don't want to come out of the mountains yet, and besides, a single company can't stop them, can it?" The battalion commander asked in confusion.

"What are you thinking? I'm telling you to take care of all the wounded Japanese soldiers. Now that they've entered these mountains, they can forget about leaving alive!" Blind Cheng said slowly, his face filled with murderous intent as he spoke.

The villages along the way were all burned down by the Japanese devils, and they even had to help rebuild them. The Japanese devils had caused them so much trouble, so it was naturally impossible for them to leave alive.

"I see. Okay, I'll send the Second Company there in a bit." The battalion commander's eyes lit up when he heard this. It turned out that the regimental commander wanted to deal with the wounded Japanese soldiers.

A company of soldiers, especially when lying in ambush, would be more than enough to take care of the Japanese soldiers who came out of the mountains.

"The best place for them to ambush us is somewhere close to where we'll exit the mountain, because we'll be setting up another ambush later," Blind Cheng instructed.

When he leads the Japanese soldiers in circles, they will naturally leave when they realize they can't do anything to them. At this point, it will be best for them to ambush the Japanese soldiers. However, the location for ambushing the wounded Japanese soldiers should be close to the exit of the mountain so that the Japanese soldiers behind will not notice.

"Understood." The battalion commander nodded.

.........

386th Brigade, Brigade Headquarters.

The commander was also reviewing telegrams from various regiments, as well as telegrams from other brigades, to understand the specific combat situation.

"As expected, all the Japanese divisions began to move out, and the Japanese burned down villages along the way."

"Fortunately, all the villagers had been evacuated beforehand; otherwise, the Japanese devils would have surely killed them all." The political commissar said slowly, sitting opposite the commander.

If preparations had not been made in advance, once the Japanese attacked, their troops would have had to retreat with the civilians, which would have resulted in a large number of casualties, especially among the civilians.

"Indeed, those Japanese devils love to do this kind of thing; they have no humanity whatsoever." The commander nodded and said. The current operation is going very smoothly. Although the Japanese have launched a retaliation, they were prepared and are not afraid of the Japanese retaliation.

Moreover, they could take advantage of the fact that the Japanese troops were unable to move around on a large scale to continue sabotaging the railways and highways built by the Japanese.

The key point is that this is only the first phase. They still have a second phase, specifically targeting the Japanese pillboxes, checkpoints, and even some small towns with weak defenses.

"Yes, the 772nd Regiment and the 771st Regiment also encountered this situation. They were all carrying out their plans and did not fight the Japanese soldiers who entered the mountains."

Instead, he led them in circles in the mountains to delay them, so that the Japanese would think that Li Jin's troops were not here, but were keeping an eye on the Sixth Division. "The political commissar continued.

In fact, all these plans were arranged by Li Jin. They really had to put in a lot of effort to get the Japanese to willingly walk into the trap.

"The Japanese are so afraid of Li Jin that it's ingrained in their bones. They won't dare to make any rash moves if they don't know his location." The commander smiled.

The thought of the Japanese soldiers being traumatized by Li Jin gave him a sense of satisfaction and pleasure.

"No, I reckon the Japanese are dreaming of tearing Li Jin to pieces." The political commissar couldn't help but smile as he spoke.

"Speaking of which, the 772nd Regiment also dealt with the Japanese vanguard, which can be considered revenge for those villages that were burned down." The political commissar changed the subject, and to be honest, he was still very angry when he learned that the Japanese had burned down the villages.

They thought that getting the villagers out of the village would be enough, but who knew that the Japanese would choose to burn down an empty village that had no value whatsoever.

"Yes, the subsequent reconstruction work will be quite busy." The leader sighed, acknowledging that this had caused considerable losses to the people.

"As long as this major operation can achieve significant results, all these losses will be worthwhile!" the commander continued. This major operation was of utmost importance, and some losses were to be expected.

It's practically impossible to achieve great results without putting in any effort, because the Japanese are a bunch of inhuman creatures.

"Now we're just waiting for Li Jin's side. We've done everything we could to help. If he can't take down enough Japanese soldiers, I'm going to start yelling!" the political commissar said.

In order for Li Jin's plan to be successfully implemented, the 386th Brigade fully supported Li Jin's plan and mobilized all its regiments to cooperate with the operation.

If in the end Li Jin fails to expand the gains, he will really curse Li Jin.

"Don't worry, Li Jin isn't Li Yunlong. He won't do anything he's not sure of. Besides, he's already found out where the Sixth Division's headquarters is."

"If I'm not mistaken, they'll be making their move tonight. We'll just have to wait for their good news," the commander said with a smile.

He also knew that the political commissar said this because Li Jin had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and if the mission failed, it would be quite troublesome.

It should be understood that many base areas are facing retaliation from Class A divisions. If Li Jin cannot first eliminate some of the Japanese soldiers from Class A divisions and then lure away the other Class A divisions, the danger facing other base areas will be enormous.

Why not send those troops to fight the Japanese? Because the gap between them is still quite large. If ordinary troops can achieve a 3:1 casualty ratio against a Class B division, then against a Class A division, it would be 5:1.

This clearly shows the difference, even though their troops are much stronger than before.

If they didn't have their current firepower, the casualty ratio would probably be even more staggering once a battle broke out. "This kid can definitely do it!" The political commissar also started cheering for Li Jin.

"With all the commotion we've made, the Jin-Sui Army must have received intelligence by now," the commander said with a smile.

"Definitely, but they don't know exactly how many of us there are. However, even a rough estimate would be enough to shock them," the political commissar replied. The Jin-Sui Army couldn't get accurate numbers and could only guess based on the extent of the damaged railways and highways.

"They probably never dreamed that our development would be so rapid." The commander couldn't help but chuckle as he thought of Commander Yan's shocked expression upon learning the intelligence.

"Let's not talk about them. If it were two years ago, I wouldn't have dared to imagine that we could develop so quickly. Speaking of which, the biggest credit goes to Li Jin." The political commissar couldn't help but praise Li Jin again as he finished speaking.

The person who deserves the most credit for their current development is indeed Li Jin.

"Yes." The commander nodded in agreement.

…………

Around 6:30 p.m., the puppet army captain, who had been chasing for several hours, finally stopped and ordered his troops to rest.

"Captain, this new regiment is running way too fast! We can't catch up at all!" the puppet army company commander said, panting heavily.

"It's a good thing we can't catch up. If we really did, we'd be in big trouble!" The puppet army captain didn't think much of it. On the contrary, he believed that if they couldn't catch up with the New First Regiment, they wouldn't have to fight.

"Why?! If we can't catch up, won't the Japanese curse us?!" the puppet army company commander asked in confusion.

The Japanese wouldn't give them a friendly look; they might even hurl insults at them.

"Being scolded is better than losing my life. The Eighth Route Army soldiers we've encountered this time are different from those we've faced before."

They even possess powerful weapons like mortars, which speaks volumes about the regiment's combat strength. They are truly formidable; perhaps slightly weaker than the Japanese, but definitely stronger than us.

"If we really clash, do you think we'll have a good ending?" the puppet army captain asked seriously.

The new First Regiment is too strong; it's best to avoid engaging them if possible.

"Captain, your analysis makes sense. It's actually a good thing that we didn't catch up," the puppet army company commander said, realizing the situation.

"How could I be a battalion commander if I didn't have some skills?" Upon hearing this, the puppet army battalion commander's face also showed a hint of smugness.

"By the way, send someone to tell the Japanese that it's getting late and it's not suitable to pursue them, so we request to stop and rest," the puppet army captain ordered. They needed the Japanese to agree to stop, otherwise they would be in for a beating.

"Yes!" The puppet army captain nodded and immediately called a messenger to relay the message.

"Captain, should we let the brothers eat something now?!" the puppet army company commander asked.

"No rush, let's see what the Japanese say." The puppet army captain shook his head. What if the Japanese didn't allow them to stop and kept them in pursuit?

If they start eating when the time comes, wouldn't they be asking for trouble? The enemy hasn't caught up yet, and all they know is how to eat.

After learning of the request from the puppet army battalion commander, the Japanese brigade commander did indeed agree, telling the puppet army that they no longer needed to pursue.

"Brigade Commander, why did we stop pursuing them?! This was the closest we've ever come to the enemy," the Japanese regimental commander asked, puzzled.

The fact that the enemy dared to bombard them meant that the enemy was not actually very far away, and if they continued to pursue, they might still catch up.

"It's getting late. If we continue chasing, we won't be able to identify the terrain. What if the enemy ambushes us?! Even if we send in an advance force, it will be difficult to detect the danger. We don't have any other reinforcements, so we need to be careful," the Japanese brigade commander explained.

The main problem is that they are not familiar with the terrain. It's fine during the day, but at night, the soldiers of the New First Regiment are much more capable than them, so they need to be cautious.

"The brigade commander's consideration is very thoughtful; it was my oversight," the Japanese regimental commander hurriedly said. He was only thinking about catching up with the New 1st Regiment quickly, but he forgot that the New 1st Regiment's fighting strength at night was stronger than theirs.

"It's alright. Besides, it seems that the new First Regiment will never engage us in direct combat. It looks like our mission to encircle and annihilate them may be ruined." The Japanese brigade commander said with some helplessness.

If they still haven't caught up with the New First Regiment in a few days and engage in battle with them, they will have no choice but to retreat.

"So, are we really going to retreat like this then?!" The Japanese regimental commander, understanding the brigade commander's meaning, couldn't help but ask.

"There's nothing we can do. The enemy is determined to escape, and we can't catch up with them," the Japanese brigade commander replied. If he could encircle and annihilate the enemy, he would naturally want to, but there was nothing he could do.

"Brigade Commander, I think we can try splitting our forces into several groups to expand the pursuit area. That way, we might be able to force the New 1st Regiment to engage us," the Japanese regimental commander hurriedly said.

Their current pursuit method is a straight-line pursuit; they only send advance troops to scout ahead, without pursuing from several directions simultaneously to expand the area.

"This won't work." The Japanese brigade commander shook his head, disagreeing with the plan.

"Why?!" The Japanese regimental commander was puzzled. He thought this method would work. Expanding the area would increase the chances of engaging the New First Regiment.

"Judging from the current situation, the strength of the New First Regiment is not much weaker than ours. Once we split our forces, and the New First Regiment discovers this,..."

Then they concentrate their forces to deal with soldiers from one direction. Do you think we'll be in trouble?! Moreover, the New First Regiment will definitely concentrate all its firepower.
"In this situation, do you think we can stop the new First Regiment?!" The Japanese brigade commander explained his analysis.

If this method were effective, he would have used it long ago.

Upon hearing this, the Japanese regimental commander fell silent. Judging from the strength displayed by the New First Regiment, they were indeed not much weaker than them. If they split their forces to pursue, they would be more likely to be defeated one by one by the New First Regiment.

"Brigade Commander, are we just going to have to leave like this?!" The Japanese regimental commander was somewhat unwilling. Since entering the mountains, they had already lost more than two hundred men, and the key was that they had not yet been able to engage the New First Regiment in a direct confrontation.

"There's no other way. From beginning to end, we only had one option: to have the New First Regiment confront us head-on. Only in this way could we have a chance to annihilate them!" the Japanese brigade commander said slowly. (End of Chapter)