Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

Meanwhile, on the other side, the 771st Regiment was hiding in a mountain forest. Although they were being chased by the Japanese, their regiment did not suffer any casualties.

"Old Luo, the commander sent a telegram, ordering us to meet up with the 772nd Regiment and take care of the Japanese regiment over there." Political Commissar Jiang reported to Regiment Commander Luo, holding the telegram.

"The commander's decision is indeed brilliant. With our regiment alone, it's practically impossible to wipe out an entire Japanese regiment. But if we unite, it's a different story," Commander Luo nodded and said.

"Yes, to be honest, I always thought our mission was to hold off the Japanese, but I didn't expect the commander to also consider annihilating the Japanese troops who have entered the mountains," Political Commissar Jiang responded.

Their orders were to hold off the Japanese troops and not engage them in direct combat, thus buying time for Li Jin's side.

"I should have thought of this sooner. Perhaps that's what the commander was thinking all along, but he wanted to see if we would think of these things, so he didn't tell us in advance." Commander Luo sighed, realizing what was going on.

But it's too late to say anything now. With the leader's abilities, how could he only think of these things now? It was just a test.

However, they hadn't considered this point, so the commander had no choice but to take the initiative to bring up the subsequent operations.

"Do you think Lao Cheng might have figured it out?! He was the one who mentioned it to the leader first, and then the leader sent us a telegram." Political Commissar Jiang couldn't help but speculate!

"It's hard to say. If we're talking about ability, Old Cheng is definitely a bit worse than me. Even I didn't think of it, so how could he have?" Commander Luo naturally didn't want to believe that Blind Cheng was more capable than him.

"Forget about that. After the soldiers finish eating, they should head towards the 772nd Regiment. Don't waste time. If we miss our opportunity, we'll be in deep trouble." Regiment Commander Luo quickly gave the order, but in his heart he was also wondering if Blind Cheng had really thought of this before him.

If that's the case, his image with the commanders won't be very good, after all, they are both commanders of main force regiments, and there's quite a big difference between them.

"Okay." Political Commissar Jiang nodded, turned and left. Just then, another telegraph operator came to report.

"The regimental commander of the 772nd Regiment sent a telegram."

Commander Luo took the telegram and began to read it.

"What did Lao Cheng say?! Did he tell us their location?!" Political Commissar Jiang asked.

"Well, based on our current location, it will take about two days to reach the location Lao Cheng specified." Commander Luo estimated their travel time based on the distance from their current location.

“Then we definitely need to speed things up.” Political Commissar Jiang nodded.

.........

Around 8 p.m. that evening, Li Yunlong and his men had arrived at a location less than 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers) from the 33rd Brigade of the Japanese 6th Division.

Meanwhile, the reconnaissance battalion soldiers responsible for monitoring the brigade returned to report on the situation.

Li Yunlong immediately summoned Chu Yunfei and the others to a meeting to hear what news the soldiers had to report.

Inside the tent, everyone took their seats one after another.

"Xiao Zhang, tell us what you've found out," Xu Qingfeng instructed the soldier once everyone had arrived.

"Yes, Deputy Commander! After observing for the past few days, I've noticed that although these Japanese soldiers seem to be conducting a mopping-up operation, they're only deploying small groups of troops, while the main force hasn't moved much, as if they're waiting for something!"
"From this, we can see that these Japanese soldiers must be waiting for the command post to be attacked so they can immediately move in and surround it." Xiao Zhang explained the situation and shared his own guess.

"We can now be fairly certain that Mu Jin's operation will proceed without any further problems!" Chu Yunfei said with a serious expression.

“However, Mu Jin won’t be able to reach the Japanese command post until at least tomorrow night, so we have to hold back tonight to avoid any unexpected events,” Li Yunlong said.

Li Jin's journey was much longer than theirs, so they could only wait for Li Jin to send them a message before they could take action.

"That's all we can do for now," Chu Yunfei nodded.

"Xiao Zhang, how vigilant is this brigade?! Have they dug trenches and built strong defensive fortifications at their camp location?!" Xu Qingfeng asked at this moment, he needed to find out this.

"No, not really, but their camp location is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If attacked, they can quickly build fortifications," Xiao Zhang replied.

The Japanese camp was built near several mountains, so if it was attacked, the Japanese could immediately go up the mountain and build up advantageous terrain.

"If that's the case, then things will get a bit complicated." Chu Yunfei frowned. He had originally thought about whether he could take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Japanese, but now it seemed that he had been too optimistic.

“Yes, the Japanese occupy advantageous terrain, which means that a surprise attack will eventually lead to a bitter battle. Although we have strong support, even if we manage to eliminate the Japanese, we will have to pay a very high price, which is not worth it,” Kong Jie also expressed his opinion.

Attacking a brigade of a Class A division, especially when the enemy occupies advantageous terrain, is bound to end badly.

"Commander Kong, according to you, that means we can't fight?!" Chief of Staff Fang said.

"We definitely have to fight, but we need to plan it well. We can't fight blindly!" Kong Jie said with a serious expression.

Attacking the 33rd Brigade is a must, otherwise Li Jin's plan will fail.

"So, we need to discuss how to deal with the Japanese. At the very least, we can't let them occupy the terrain! Otherwise, we'll be in a very passive position," Li Yunlong said slowly.

He didn't want the New First Regiment to suffer too many casualties. He had worked so hard to develop the New First Regiment to its current state, and he couldn't let it be destroyed in one battle.

"It's easier said than done. The positions of the Japanese soldiers were all carefully selected."

"It's precisely to support the command post that they can't stray too far from its location! Even if we send men to attack the Japanese, they most likely won't fall for it and pursue us," Chief of Staff Fang said.

In order to support the command post, this brigade could not possibly stray too far from its original position!
"Yes, so what should we do?!" Chu Yunfei also fell into deep thought, feeling that this matter was indeed difficult to handle. Did they really have no choice but to launch a direct attack?!

If we launch a direct assault, the casualties will certainly be significant.

Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang also started thinking of solutions, but no matter how they thought about it, they couldn't come up with a better one.

"Why don't you listen to what I have to say?!" Xu Qingfeng said, looking at the silent crowd.

"If you have a solution, tell me quickly." Li Yunlong's eyes lit up and he urged him, knowing that Xu Qingfeng must have a good idea.

"It's obviously impossible to get the Japanese to leave that position directly..." Xu Qingfeng was interrupted by Fang Ligong before he could finish speaking. "Why don't you come up with a solution, Chief of Staff Fang?!" Xu Qingfeng looked at Fang Ligong and said irritably.

"Brother Ligong, listen quietly!" Chu Yunfei's tone became somewhat forceful.

Fang Ligong immediately shut up and stopped talking.

"Commander Xu, please continue." Chu Yunfei looked at Xu Qingfeng, also curious about what good idea Xu Qingfeng would come up with.

"Although it's unlikely that we can force the Japanese to leave that position, we can reduce their numbers. Once they're outnumbered, our casualties will be much lower when we launch a full-scale attack," Xu Qingfeng said slowly.

"The question is, how do we reduce the number of Japanese soldiers so that we can send men to attack their camp for several days in a row?!" Li Yunlong asked.

"Don't forget, the Japanese are just putting on a show with their mopping-up operation. The troops they've sent are based on companies, and the number of Japanese soldiers participating in the operation will be no less than two thousand."
"We can take this opportunity to eliminate these Japanese soldiers. With two thousand fewer Japanese soldiers, our casualties will be greatly reduced when we attack them again!" Xu Qingfeng slowly explained his plan.

His target was the Japanese troops that were sweeping through the area; only in this way could they reduce a lot of pressure when attacking the Japanese.

"Hey, you've got a quick mind, kid. With two thousand fewer Japanese soldiers, the pressure on us is definitely much less." Li Yunlong praised him immediately after hearing this.

Don't underestimate two thousand Japanese soldiers; they were a Class A division, and their fighting strength was formidable.

"But the problem is, if we take care of these two thousand Japanese soldiers, the 33rd Brigade will realize something is wrong, right? What if they escape then?!" Kong Jie raised the question.

The Japanese weren't stupid. The only force capable of eliminating two thousand elite soldiers in their brigade was Li Jin's troops. Otherwise, no other unit could have done it.

"Old Kong, are you stupid? Of course they were carried out simultaneously. The Japanese troops sent out to sweep through the area most likely won't return to the main force's camp at night."

"Why don't we split our forces into two groups? One group can take care of the Japanese troops during the sweep, and the other group can attack the main Japanese force," Li Yunlong said.

To solve this problem, a two-pronged approach is needed: prevent the Japanese from escaping.

"Damn it, you're a real genius. Now the Japanese can't escape even if they want to," Kong Jie said with a smile.

"So, Lao Kong, you still have a lot to learn," Li Yunlong said in a senior's tone.

Kong Jie rolled his eyes at this, not wanting to talk about it at all.

"Well, my plan is to split our forces into three groups!" Xu Qingfeng said slowly.

"Huh?! Divide into three groups?! What does that mean?!" Li Yunlong asked in confusion, and the others also stared at Xu Qingfeng with curiosity.

"Actually, it's not impossible to make the Japanese leave that position, but it would require a small force, concentrating 80% of its heavy firepower, to attack the main Japanese unit."

We need to make the Japanese think that we are really going to annihilate them in one fell swoop, forcing them to run. Of course, this is on the premise that I lead men to put enough pressure on them.

"We need to make the Japanese think that all of our people are here, and that if they don't run now, they'll never have another chance to escape. The third group will be responsible for blocking the Japanese retreat route," Xu Qingfeng added later.

In fact, the Japanese soldiers were afraid of them, especially after they learned that the Japanese had joined forces with the New 1st Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and even the 358th Regiment to attack them. If they didn't run away, they probably wouldn't have another chance to escape.

“It sounds like there’s no problem, but what if the Japanese choose not to run and instead stay in place to defend and wait for reinforcements?! They might realize that retreating would lead to an ambush,” Li Yunlong said.

“That’s certainly a possibility. If they really don’t run away, then there’s no other way but to fight them,” Xu Qingfeng said.

He couldn't guarantee that this method would actually work, but if it did, their casualties would be greatly reduced, so there was no great loss in trying it.

“Yes, it’s worth a try if it can reduce casualties.” Li Yunlong agreed after hearing this, and then looked at Chu Yunfei.

"I think this operation is acceptable, I have no objections," Chu Yunfei nodded and said. No matter what, as long as casualties can be reduced, that's fine.

Even if Xu Qingfeng's later methods didn't work, eliminating two thousand Japanese soldiers would still greatly reduce casualties.

The key is that with the two or three thousand soldiers led by Xu Qingfeng, plus them, dealing with the remaining Japanese soldiers is not a big problem.

"So that's the plan. Xiao Zhang, have you found out where the Japanese artillery is located during your reconnaissance these past few days? And the locations of the Japanese armored vehicles and tanks?" Xu Qingfeng asked.

Among these, the Japanese armored vehicles and tanks still posed some threat. Although they had armor-piercing rounds, a better approach was to disable them.

"Yes, Deputy Commander, I can lead men to take out the Japanese hiding place for their artillery," Xiao Zhang quickly replied.

He had naturally scouted out the location of the Japanese artillery, since those things posed a significant threat when fired.

“Okay, you can lead the team and handle it then, no problem, right?!” Xu Qingfeng said.

"No! I guarantee I'll complete the mission." Xiao Zhang nodded.

"Commander Xu's plan is very thorough. Once the Japanese artillery is destroyed, our casualties will be reduced again!" Chu Yunfei praised.

This makes it even more likely that they can wipe out the Japanese brigade.

"After all, we are partners, so naturally we should consider your needs as well," Xu Qingfeng said with a smile.

"Well said." Chu Yunfei nodded.

“In that case, let’s finalize the detailed battle plan. Old Kong, you’re in charge of taking care of the Japanese mopping-up troops,” Li Yunlong said to Kong Jie.

"What?! Me?! I wiped out the Japanese mopping-up troops?! Do you want to hear what you're saying?!" Kong Jie was stunned, clearly not expecting Li Yunlong to say such a thing.

"Besides, why should I take orders from you?" Kong Jie retorted.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop arguing! Let's hear what Xu Qingfeng has to say." Zhao Gang quickly stepped in to smooth things over, otherwise the two might start fighting later.

"Alright, then we'll follow Xu Qingfeng's arrangements." Kong Jie nodded upon hearing this. Compared to being commanded by Li Yunlong, he preferred to be commanded by Xu Qingfeng, since it was Xu Qingfeng who came up with the plan. (End of Chapter)