Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

Considering that the Eighth Route Army had hundreds of thousands of troops, it was practically impossible to make so many people strong.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

Suddenly, a series of sounds came from above.

"Brigade commander, get down!" Upon hearing this, the Japanese regimental commander immediately tackled the Japanese brigade commander to the ground! The voice was too familiar; it was clearly the sound of artillery shells flying in.

Boom boom boom......

Just as the two fell to the ground, several loud explosions suddenly came from outside.

Since Blind Cheng and his men only fired a few shells, the explosions quickly subsided.

However, the effect was still very obvious. The Japanese soldiers in the entire camp were awakened and immediately began to assume a defensive posture to prepare for the attack.

"Brigade Commander, are you alright?!" The Japanese regimental commander stood up and helped the Japanese brigade commander up.

"I'm fine, you bastard! These enemies actually dared to attack us!" the Japanese brigade commander cursed, patting the dust off his clothes.

"It seems they only fired a few shots and didn't actually attack our camp. Their purpose was probably just to harass us," said the Japanese regimental commander.

Since no gunfire was heard after the explosion, the enemy was definitely not going to attack them.

"Damn enemy!" the Japanese brigade commander cursed again.

At that moment, a Japanese major ran in.

"Brigade Commander, we haven't found any trace of the enemy. They fired their artillery from about a few miles away, and they've probably already fled," the Japanese major reported.

"What's the casualty situation?!" the Japanese brigade commander asked.

"Eight soldiers were killed, six were seriously wounded, and many others sustained minor injuries," the Japanese major reported the casualty figures.

"What?! Just a few shells killed so many of our men?!" The Japanese brigade commander was shocked. The soldiers' tents were quite far apart, so how could so many people have died or been injured?

"Two shells landed in a tent, which is why there were so many casualties," the Japanese major replied. He added that if the shells hadn't landed in the tent, there wouldn't have been such heavy casualties.

"Gather the bodies and burn them as soon as possible. Take good care of the seriously wounded soldiers and don't let them die," the Japanese brigade commander hurriedly ordered.

Even the fallen soldiers' ashes should be taken with them, and later transported back to China.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese major nodded.

"Brigade Commander, the enemy never intended to attack us before, so why are they suddenly attacking us now?!" The Japanese regimental commander was puzzled. Since they entered the mountains, they had never been attacked by the enemy at night.

"It seems the enemy is also driven to desperation by us. Perhaps we are getting closer and closer to the people they are protecting, so they don't want us to continue searching. Or perhaps they are planning to fight us to the death, which is why they are harassing us," the Japanese brigade commander speculated.

"Should we hold out for two more days and wait for the enemy to come and die?" the Japanese regimental commander suggested. Since the enemy wanted to die, let's grant them their wish.

"There's no need for that anymore. If this continues, our supplies won't last long. If the enemy suddenly attacks us now, we'll be in trouble. Let's leave the mountains as soon as possible."

"They'll probably stop attacking us once they see us leaving tomorrow." The Japanese brigade commander shook his head. If supplies were plentiful, he really wanted to continue searching.

It's best to retreat as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen circumstances. If we are wiped out by the enemy, we'll be gone forever.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded. Although he was somewhat unwilling, he couldn't say anything more since the brigade commander had already made the decision.

"You should go and rest first. Oh, and remember to have the patrols keep a close watch on things, don't let your guard down," the Japanese brigade commander instructed.

He didn't want to be caught off guard by the enemy, which would result in heavy casualties.

"Understood." The Japanese regimental commander then turned and left.

"The 33rd Brigade, they've suffered a setback. Luckily, that Northeast Army unit isn't here, otherwise I would have been the one in trouble." The Japanese brigade commander was still somewhat relieved.

Judging from the fact that the enemy dared to attack the 33rd Brigade, it would have been an easy task for them to deal with them. Therefore, it was already a good thing that they survived.

As for the enemy they were pursuing, although they did not inflict any major casualties on the enemy, they did burn down many villages.

When the villagers return and see the burned-down village, they will likely feel disgusted. This move was a psychological attack, and it can be considered a way to achieve some goals indirectly.

.........

On the mountain, Blind Cheng held binoculars and looked at the Japanese camp in the distance. When he saw that a tent in the Japanese camp had been destroyed by artillery shells and even caught fire, he couldn't help but smile.

"The artillery was really accurate! They hit right into the Japanese camp. That should kill at least a few Japanese soldiers!" Blind Cheng was overjoyed.

“No, our regiment’s artillerymen are rigorously trained, so hitting targets like this is a piece of cake,” the battalion commander added from the side.

Their artillery units were quite capable, hitting targets with ease. The only difficulty was calculating the location of the enemy's artillery positions based on the impact points of the enemy's shells.

Regarding this, their artillery still can't do it. If it weren't for the fact that the artillery of the special operations regiment could do it, he would have doubted whether calculating the enemy's artillery positions by the impact points of artillery shells was even possible.

"I wonder if any Japanese officers were killed in the bombing. If we could kill the Japanese commander, that would be a huge win," said Blind Cheng. He still hoped to kill the Japanese commander directly, which would save them a lot of trouble!
"I doubt it. How about we send scouts closer to find the Japanese commander's tent tomorrow?!" The battalion commander suggested. As long as they found the Japanese commander's tent, they would just bombard it with artillery fire. He was sure they could take out the Japanese.

"Forget it, it's too close and we'll be exposed." Blind Cheng shook his head. What if we end up not finding the Japanese commander's hideout, but our own men get killed by the Japanese instead? That would be a huge loss!
“Our scouts are pretty good at camouflage, I think we can give it a try, or I can go myself.” The battalion commander insisted, feeling that we should at least give it a shot.

"That's it for this matter. It would be best if we could hit the enemy, but if we can't, we shouldn't cause unnecessary casualties among our own people." Blind Cheng decisively refused.

"Alright then," the battalion commander said somewhat helplessly.

"Two hours later, have the artillery continue firing at the Japanese. In short, don't let the Japanese get a good night's sleep. Then one hour, then two hours, and then stop." After giving his instructions, Blind Cheng turned and went down the mountain to rest.

As for harassing the Japanese, that can be left to the battalion commander.

"Understood!" the battalion commander replied.

Two hours passed quickly. The three artillerymen of the 772nd Regiment received the order to fire again, and then opened fire once more.

Boom boom boom......

Several loud explosions rang out again from the Japanese camp, waking up all the Japanese soldiers in the camp and immediately putting them into battle mode. However, they still failed to find the enemy.

"Damn it! When will they stop? They're attacking again!" The Japanese brigade commander, who had just been woken up by the explosion, cursed under his breath. He had just fallen asleep when the explosion woke him up, and he was now extremely irritable.

"Brigade Commander, are you alright?!" The Japanese regimental commander lifted the curtain and walked in, asking with concern.

"It's alright, the enemy just doesn't want us to sleep peacefully!" The Japanese brigade commander's face was gloomy. He had been on tenterhooks since entering the mountains, fearing that the Northeast Army was here.

They breathed a sigh of relief when they finally learned that the Northeast Army was not there, but then the enemy they were chasing turned around and attacked them.

"Judging from the current situation, that is indeed the case. However, I am worried that after a few attacks, the enemy might suddenly launch a real attack on us!" The Japanese regimental commander expressed his concerns.

The purpose of the repeated bombardments was to lower their guard so that they could be caught off guard by a sudden attack.

"Then tell the soldiers to be extra careful and not let the enemy find an opening!" the Japanese brigade commander said, as he also felt that the enemy was very likely to do so.

But they had no other choice. They couldn't very well chase after the enemy in the dead of night; what if they fell into a trap? So, just to be on the safe side, they had to tell the soldiers to be extra careful.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded.

.........

On the other side, Xu Qingfeng and his men were still engaged in fierce fighting at the 33rd Brigade. As the Japanese soldiers became more and more cowardly, Li Yunlong frowned.

"Xu Qingfeng, those Japanese devils are just firing their guns without actually killing anyone," Li Yunlong couldn't help but say to Xu Qingfeng.

Now, it's practically impossible for the Japanese soldiers to show their faces when they fire a shot. They'll either fire one shot and immediately hide, then reappear a while later to fire again and hide once more.

As a result, the casualties on the Japanese side were reduced significantly.

"No rush. Let the Japanese hide if they want. They're just stalling for time. Once it's light, they'll be able to unleash their full fighting potential."

"But our fighting strength is also stronger during the day," Xu Qingfeng said slowly.

The special operations regiment was more powerful during the day than at night. The Japanese thought that if they could drag it out until dawn, they would be able to turn the tide. In reality, they would still be suppressed.

"Besides, isn't what they're doing also beneficial to us? It's just buying us time, which makes things much smoother for the regimental commander," Xu Qingfeng said. In fact, their current attack hasn't even involved their reserves yet.

When the time is right, it's time to use the reserves and try to wipe out these Japanese devils in one fell swoop.

"That's true, let a few more of these little devils live!" Li Yunlong nodded after hearing this.

Xu Qingfeng said nothing more. He picked up a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and began aiming at a Japanese captain who had poked his head out in the distance!

boom!
As he pulled the trigger, the bullet whistled out and flew towards the Japanese captain.

puff!
At a distance of over 200 meters, a bullet struck the Japanese captain directly in the head, killing him. Li Yunlong witnessed this scene firsthand, but he was not surprised; it was just routine operation for the special forces regiment.

The Japanese soldiers near the captain were startled by what they saw. The captain popped his head out and was immediately shot dead.

.........

"Brigade Commander, following our method—only firing at the enemy without aiming to kill them—has indeed significantly reduced casualties."

"At this rate, we'll be able to hold out until dawn soon!" The Japanese regimental commander found Nakajima Ichiro and said with a big smile.

"Hmph! So what if they're good at night fighting? As long as we don't engage them, the enemy can't do anything to us, unless they dare to charge at us!" Nakajima Ichiro said with a cold snort.

If the enemy charges at them, their heavy firepower will have a chance to shine, since even the enemy's sharpshooters are worried about hitting their own men.

"The brigade commander is brilliant! As long as we hold out until daylight, we will be able to unleash our full fighting potential. It's impossible for the enemy to annihilate us in a short time," said the Japanese regimental commander. All they needed to do now was wait for dawn.

"By the way, how many people have we lost so far?!" Nakajima Ichiro asked.

He is still unclear about the exact number of casualties suffered by the 33rd Brigade.

"Brigade Commander, our brigade now has about 6,000 men left, and we've lost more than half of our strength. The main reasons for our heavy losses are the sweeping attacks by the enemy and their surprise attacks."

"With the enemy's ambush, we lost six or seven thousand soldiers in just over three hours!" The Japanese regimental commander recounted the specific casualties.

"What?! We only have this many people left?!" Nakajima Ichiro was shocked to hear this. In just a few hours, they had already lost more than half of their men.

"If this location weren't unsuitable for an enemy ambush, we would probably be completely wiped out by now," said the Japanese regimental commander.

If it were a narrower valley, the Northeast Army probably wouldn't even need to come; the New First Regiment and the Independent Regiment could probably wipe them out completely.

"Fortunately, our positions have been reinforced, so the enemy's artillery fire poses a much smaller threat to us. Therefore, we should be able to hold out for a day. Besides, the enemy is unlikely to actually attack us for a whole day," the Japanese regimental commander added.

Their heavy casualties were entirely due to being caught off guard by the enemy and failing to build a strong defensive position, which led to the enemy killing so many soldiers in one fell swoop.

"Yes, we have to hold on for this half-day!" Nakajima Ichiro nodded; he was still confident that he could manage.

"Brigade Commander, Division Commander Itagaki has sent a telegram." At this moment, the Japanese telegraph operator ran over.

Nakajima Ichiro took the telegram and read it. The message asked how many people had been injured or killed!
"Tell Division Commander Itagaki the data truthfully." Nakajima Ichiro said as he handed the telegram to the Japanese regimental commander.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander glanced at it, then took out paper and pen, wrote down the specific data, and handed it to the Japanese telegraph operator.

"So many soldiers have been killed at once, do you think Division Commander Itagaki won't blame us?!" the Japanese regimental commander said. (End of Chapter)