Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"In the end, it was his carelessness. He didn't expect the enemy to have figured out the trap, which resulted in other units being put in danger." The Japanese regimental commander sighed as he finished speaking, feeling somewhat regretful.

"Hmph! If I had known it would turn out like this, I shouldn't have agreed to this plan." Tani Hisao sneered.

.........

Meanwhile, Xu Qingfeng was still attacking the Japanese troops, and he had expected to see the Japanese being defeated and forced to retreat.

If they can't achieve this effect, how can they justify the cannons lent to them by others?

"Deputy Regimental Commander, it seems the main force of the Japanese is about to retreat." A company commander came to Xu Qingfeng's side and said. He saw that the Japanese troops seemed to have already begun to retreat.

"Okay, don't worry about that, just take care of the Japanese troops they left to hold them off!" Xu Qingfeng nodded and said.

As for the Japanese retreat route, Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei are keeping an eye on them. Once the Japanese reach that point, they will realize they have been tricked.

So now all they need to do is take care of the Japanese troops left behind to hold them off.

As the battle continued, the Japanese troops left behind to hold off the enemy suffered heavy casualties, especially as artillery shells kept falling on their positions and bombarding them.

This puzzled the Japanese battalion commander. How could the enemy artillery adjust so quickly and fire so accurately in the middle of the night?

The key point is that the enemy reported information a bit too quickly. The enemy's artillery positions were at least several miles away, and it would take them a lot of time just to run over and report the information.

"Captain, the firepower of the Northeast Army is terrifying. We probably can't hold them off for long," a Japanese captain said to the Japanese captain.

His eyes were filled with terror. Since entering China, he had never encountered an enemy with such strong fighting power. It was truly terrifying.

"No matter what, every minute counts. We must ensure the brigade commander and his men retreat safely," the Japanese battalion commander said.

He knew he was doomed to die, but as long as the brigade commander withdrew, he would have a chance to avenge them later.

"I understand! I just don't understand how things suddenly turned out this way," the Japanese captain said, wondering why that Northeast Army unit had appeared on their side and attacked them.

"Who knows?" The Japanese battalion commander didn't want to say anything more; what's done is done, and there's no point in saying anything more.

Da da da………

Bang bang bang…

Boom boom boom......

Gunfire was deafening. The large contingent left behind by the Japanese was already exhausted and could not withstand the attack of the special operations regiment. They lost their positions one after another.

Ten minutes later, the battalion was reduced to only a few dozen men. They turned off the safety on their guns and prepared to fight the special operations regiment with bayonets.

Faced with this situation, the commander of the 7th Battalion, who was leading the attack, had a bright idea in his eyes. They had never fought a bayonet charge against the Japanese from a Class A division before.

Just as he was about to order a halt to firing, Xu Qingfeng's order came through.

"Don't waste time, shoot them dead!" Xu Qingfeng was too lazy to let his troops fight the Japanese with bayonets at a time like this.

It wasn't that he was worried the soldiers couldn't win, but rather that he didn't want to waste time. If the entire Japanese brigade had been wiped out and only a few dozen men remained, he would be interested, and might even personally go up and exchange a few blows with the Japanese.

But right now, the Japanese brigade has not been wiped out yet, so sending the troops into bayonet fighting is a waste of time.

As Xu Qingfeng gave the order, the soldiers opened fire, killing the astonished Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese battalion commander was even more incredulous. He never expected that the enemy would actually fire on them. Logically speaking, since they had fixed bayonets, shouldn't the enemy cooperate?

Unexpectedly, the enemy had no intention of engaging in bayonet fighting at all and opened fire immediately, giving him no chance to buy time.

With the annihilation of the Japanese battalion, there were no more Japanese soldiers standing on the battlefield.

Xu Qingfeng also ordered a company of soldiers to clean up the battlefield, while the others continued to pursue the Japanese.

"Deputy Regiment Commander, I managed to get my hands on three Japanese tanks. How about we drive them and take them down?" Soldier Xiao Zhang ran over excitedly to report.

"Do you still remember how the Japanese tanks drove?!" Xu Qingfeng asked.

Li Jin had studied the Japanese tanks, figured out how they were driven, and then taught the soldiers how to drive them.

"I remember, I remember. It's just a bit dark, and the Japanese tanks can't see the road outside." Xiao Zhang nodded repeatedly, then hesitated for a moment before saying.

The Japanese tanks only left a very small gap to observe what was ahead, making it difficult to drive even during the day, let alone at night.

"Then forget it. Let's not damage the tanks. Let's talk about it tomorrow morning," Xu Qingfeng said immediately. They could still use these tanks; they didn't want them to be driven into a ditch and damaged.

"Okay." Xiao Zhang said helplessly. He really wanted to try driving a tank.

"Alright, alright, stop talking so much. Hurry up and catch up with the Japanese devils and block their retreat." Xu Qingfeng stopped dwelling on this and immediately gave the order.

Although the Japanese soldiers were driving, Li Yunlong and his men had already laid landmines on the main road. Once the Japanese entered the encirclement, it would be difficult for them to escape. Of course, they also had to go and block the Japanese retreat route, otherwise some of the Japanese might actually escape.

"Xu Qingfeng, you guys finished this so quickly! Have all the other Japanese devils run away?!" At this moment, Kong Jie and his men also arrived.

"Yes, the main force of the Japanese army has already retreated towards the regimental commander's direction. It's estimated that a battle is about to break out. We need to catch up quickly." Xu Qingfeng nodded in response.

"Let's go, let's go! Don't let these little devils get away. We finally have a force to annihilate a Japanese Class A division, we can't let this opportunity slip by." Kong Jie urged immediately, he didn't want to miss such a good opportunity.

.........

At this moment, the Japanese brigade commander, Nakajima Ichiro, was still somewhat shaken as he sat in the car. Fortunately, he left a large battalion to cover their retreat and buy them time; otherwise, they probably wouldn't have been able to escape.

Considering the ferocity of the enemy's attack, even if they occupy advantageous terrain nearby, they probably won't last two days. The crucial point is that reinforcements would take at least two days to arrive, and by then, they would already be corpses.

"Brigade Commander, the Division Commander just sent a telegram saying that he has sent troops to support us." The Japanese regimental commander handed a telegram to Nakajima Ichiro.

He hadn't taken out the telegram because he was in such a hurry to retreat.

“It will take at least two days for other units to arrive as reinforcements, so let’s rely on ourselves,” said Nakajima Ichiro.

"No, the brigade commander sent the Yamamoto Special Attack Unit. If they come to support us, it will only take a day." The Japanese regimental commander knew that the brigade commander had misunderstood, so he quickly explained.

"Hmph, Yamamoto Special Attack Corps!" Upon hearing the name Yamamoto, Nakajima Ichiro felt like cursing the other party's family.

"Brigade Commander, no matter what, the Yamamoto Special Attack Unit is indeed quite formidable. I estimate that they are the only ones who can rival that Northeast Army," said the Japanese regimental commander.

Before engaging that Northeast Army, he thought that the Northeast Army was only slightly stronger than them. However, who knew that they would be crushed by the enemy as soon as they clashed.

"They may be impressive, but they're not here. Besides, I look down on Yamamoto Ichiki, who's all talk and no action," Nakajima Ichiro said with a hint of sarcasm.

They were so confident when setting the trap, but the enemy had already seen through it and launched an attack instead.

He doesn't even know if he can safely evacuate from here now.

"Brigade Commander, upon closer examination, Yamamoto Ichiki's plan is actually quite sound; the only problem is where exactly it falls short."

Logically speaking, even if it were us, we would probably fall for his plan. No matter how powerful the enemy is, they wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by. The Japanese regimental commander frowned; this was something he couldn't understand.

“Yes, unless the enemy knows about the existence of Yamamoto’s special attack force, so they dare not attack the command post and have even shifted their target.” Nakajima Ichiro also realized this.

Yamamoto Ichiki's plan, upon closer inspection, was indeed without any problems. However, an unexpected incident occurred, which must have been because the enemy had learned of Yamamoto's special attack team in advance, leading to the plan's failure.

Boom boom boom......

Suddenly, a violent explosion came from ahead. The vehicle had triggered a landmine, and explosions rang out one after another, overturning many vehicles on the spot.

Because Nakajima Ichiro's car was at the back, it wasn't hit by the landmine, but this still made him turn pale.

He said something was wrong; their escape was too easy. How could the enemy let them get away so easily? Sure enough, there was an ambush, but he hadn't thought of it before.

Da da da………

Bang bang bang…

At this moment, the soldiers of the New First Regiment and the 358th Regiment, who were lying in ambush on the mountains on both sides of the road, also opened fire on the Japanese soldiers.

Gunshots rang out throughout the area.

In fact, the ambush position of Li Yunlong and his men was quite far from the main road, at least two or three hundred meters away. But this was the most suitable place for an ambush nearby. There were no suitable ambush positions within a dozen miles of this location.

Therefore, choosing this location as an ambush point was a last resort.

But at least it blocked the Japanese from escaping. However, the Japanese also took the opportunity to build positions and put up a resistance.

The two sides clashed fiercely, and many soldiers were still attacking the Japanese soldiers ahead of the main road. They had already dug trenches here.

"Brigade Commander, what should we do now?!" After getting out of the car, the Japanese regimental commander and Nakajima Ichiro hid in a ditch by the roadside.

"Baka! Stop talking nonsense and let me think about it!" Nakajima Ichiro cursed. He should have known that the enemy's attack would not be so simple, but he still foolishly fell for it.

This made him deeply regretful; he should have stayed where he was and built up advantageous terrain, so he could have fought the enemy to a standstill.

"Brigade Commander, something seems off. The enemy attacking us doesn't seem to be as accurate with their guns as the ones we just faced! They don't seem to be working together," the Japanese regimental commander said. After observing the situation, he realized that the enemy attacking them didn't seem to be as strong as he had thought.

They were on a completely different level from the enemies who had just attacked them!

"So, this is the foreign aid that the Northeast Army called in?!" Nakajima Ichiro also realized.

Although they were caught off guard at first, once they recovered, they realized that the enemy attacking them did not have the overwhelming fighting power.

“That’s right. Although that Northeast Army unit has the fighting power to annihilate us, they don’t want to suffer too many casualties, so they called for reinforcements,” the Japanese regimental commander said immediately.

He was sure that was the case; that Northeast Army was still somewhat wary of them.

"Judging from the gunfire, the enemy's firepower doesn't seem weak either. In the Eighth Route Army, the only ones with this kind of firepower are probably the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment. But aren't those two regiments in Qinghe County?!" Nakajima Ichiro was a little confused.

Logically, the enemy should be in Qinghe County, being chased and besieged by their own people. How could they suddenly appear here? Could the enemy fly?!
"I have two guesses now. One is that the enemy called in reinforcements, or the Eighth Route Army. But they lent a lot of weapons to these reinforcements, since the enemy does have a lot of weapons."
Another guess is that the ones who attacked us were the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment, and the ones in Qinghe County were just a fake, deliberately made to make us think they were there.

This affected our judgment. If we had known from the beginning that the New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment weren't there, we would definitely have adjusted our battle plan. The more the Japanese regimental commander analyzed it, the more he felt that his analysis was correct.

“But the troops over there did report seeing the regimental flag of the New 1st Regiment, and the enemy’s firepower over there is also very strong!” Nakajima Ichiro hesitated.

"That's why I said there are two possibilities, but I lean more towards the latter," said the Japanese regimental commander.

"Oh?! Why?!" Nakajima Ichiro asked in confusion.

"Because that Northeast Army unit often cooperated with the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment, they were quite familiar with each other. Crucially, these two regiments had extensive combat experience."
Their combat strength is far superior to that of ordinary troops. Since they're here to deal with us, they certainly won't call in ordinary troops for help. Even if we increased their firepower, it wouldn't make much difference; the difference in combat strength can't be made up for by adding a couple more machine guns.
"That's why I think the ones attacking us now will be the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment," the Japanese regimental commander explained.

"From this perspective, it seems more likely that these two groups are involved." Nakajima Ichiro nodded, agreeing with his subordinate's analysis.

"But what's the use of saying all this now? That Northeast Army has probably already blocked our retreat, and now there are enemies blocking our way ahead. Breaking out is basically impossible," Nakajima Ichiro said again.

Does knowing who attacked them mean anything?! They have no chance of escape now. (End of Chapter)