Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

"Sure, sure. Actually, these past few days I've been leading the Japanese around in circles, and I've occasionally given them a few blows, and I've even killed some of them," Commander Zhang affirmed, then recounted his regiment's achievements.

"Haha, it seems we're about the same. By the way, when you came over, did you leave some people there to deal with the Japanese?!" Blind Cheng laughed twice and then asked.

"Of course, I'm not stupid," Commander Zhang said. Before he came, he left a company of soldiers there to harass the Japanese from time to time, so that the Japanese would not find out that his regiment had run away. That way, the Japanese might be on guard.

“Then there’s no problem. Tonight, I’ll start by having people bombard the Japanese camp a few times, and then we’ll launch a general offensive to catch the Japanese off guard,” Blind Cheng said, outlining his plan.

Because they bombarded the Japanese several times last night without launching an attack, the Japanese side thought they were just harassing them and didn't dare to actually attack.

After all, in the eyes of the Japanese, it was impossible for a regiment of them to dare to attack the camp, otherwise they would be courting death.

Therefore, they could take advantage of this to annihilate this group of Japanese soldiers!
"Okay, we'll each take charge of two directions. If anyone lets the Japanese escape, they'll be in for a scolding." Commander Zhang nodded in agreement with the plan, then added a warning.

They've come all this way to help; if the Japanese soldiers manage to escape, then all their efforts will have been in vain.

"Don't worry about that, the Japanese devils will never be able to break through from my side!" Blind Cheng said confidently.

"No Japanese soldier will escape from my side. If even one Japanese soldier escapes from my side, I won't take a single piece of the spoils!" Commander Zhang made a solemn promise.

"Alright, it's settled then. Whoever lets the Japanese escape can forget about getting any spoils!" Blind Cheng chimed in.

A regiment has a lot of equipment.

"It's a bit of a pity, the Japanese didn't bring many of their artillery pieces," Commander Zhang said. Because the roads were all rugged mountain paths, the Japanese didn't even bring their infantry guns.

"What's there to regret? Don't forget, Qinghe County is currently sparsely defended; the Japanese artillery is definitely inside."

"If we wipe out this Japanese regiment, we can attack Qinghe County, take it, and all the artillery inside will be ours," Blind Cheng said hastily.

The Japanese have come out in full force this time. There are hardly any troops left in the county town; they are mostly puppet troops. The puppet troops left behind are all recruited locally and have no fighting ability whatsoever. They will surrender immediately once the fighting starts. It will be easy for them to take over the county town.

"That's fine, but no, the Japanese still have another regiment. If we attack the county town, the other Japanese regiment won't just stand by and do nothing." Commander Zhang couldn't help but worry when he thought of the Japanese regiment stationed at the Independent Regiment's base.

"What are you afraid of? These two regiments of Japanese soldiers aren't from the same county. Even if they come out of the mountains, they won't go to Qinghe County."

"The two counties are dozens of miles apart, and it will take them quite a while to get here. We can probably take them in less than half an hour. By the time they arrive, we'll have already retreated," said Blind Cheng.

He had already thought of these problems, which is why he proposed the idea of ​​attacking the Japanese county town.

After all, the Japanese had left behind a lot of weapons in the county town. If we missed this opportunity, we would regret it to the core.

"Then there's no problem!" Commander Zhang nodded.

.........

At this moment, in the temporary command post of the Japanese camp.

"Brigade Commander, according to our scouts, the enemy seems to be keeping a close eye on us, and they might be planning to annihilate us," the Japanese regimental commander speculated.

He felt that the enemy did not intend to let them leave the mountains, but rather to eliminate them there, which was why they had people watching them.

"What are you thinking? We have nearly four thousand troops. The puppet army still has some fighting power. If they dare to launch an attack, they're just asking for death," the Japanese brigade commander said confidently.

Their regiment had three thousand men, plus more than a thousand puppet troops, which was about the same number as the 772nd Regiment. Moreover, their combat strength was also stronger than that of the 772nd Regiment. If a real battle broke out, the 772nd Regiment would be courting death.

"That seems to make sense. It looks like they want to cause us more casualties before we leave the mountain as revenge." The Japanese regimental commander thought this made sense, so he naturally thought of revenge.

"Hmph, if it weren't for that Northeast Army unit drawing away most of the troops, how could the 772nd Regiment have escaped so easily!" The Japanese brigade commander couldn't help but sneer.

To annihilate that Northeast Army, Itagaki Seishiro will definitely have to mobilize a large force, leaving their side without any other troops to provide support.

"Yes, we can only wait until that Northeast Army is annihilated, then the higher-ups can send troops to help, and then we can deal with the 772nd Regiment." The Japanese regimental commander nodded, which sounded ridiculous.

In order to encircle and annihilate a Northeast Army force of only a few thousand men, tens of thousands of troops were mobilized, including units of Class A divisions.

With this kind of troop strength, they could have conquered a small province, but now they're only used to besiege that Northeast Army.

"This matter is probably not that simple. Don't forget, that Northeast Army also has the Eighth Route Army's Independent Regiment and New First Regiment helping them. Oh, and the 358th Regiment of the Jin-Sui Army as well."
"It's fair to say that Mu Jin has 20,000 troops under his command. I don't think it'll be easy to wipe them out in the short term," the Japanese brigade commander began to analyze.

If it were just that Northeast Army, mobilizing a division would be enough to deal with them, but with the addition of the New First Regiment, they are not so easy to handle.

After all, these regiments are not weak in combat, and under Mu Jin's leadership, they can unleash even greater combat power.

That's why he felt that it wouldn't be so easy for the division commander to deal with Mu Jin!
"Brigade Commander, if what you say is true, that Northeast Army unit is very likely to break through the encirclement?!" the Japanese regimental commander said.

"That's right, the possibility is still quite high. However, as long as we can severely damage this Northeast Army, that would be enough."

"To prevent that Northeast Army from growing stronger. They only have a few thousand men, plus a few regiments, and they've already forced us into this situation. If they grow to tens of thousands, the enemy might even dare to attack Taiyuan directly." The Japanese brigade commander responded.

The division commander was worried about this happening, which is why he kept requesting support and even asked the commander to borrow troops from other theater commanders.

"Sigh... This unit will always be a big problem if we don't get rid of it." The Japanese regimental commander also sighed.

"Let's put that aside for now. Go and send a telegram to Tanaka's regiment and ask him how things are going over there," the Japanese brigade commander ordered.

For safety's sake, he felt it was best to check the situation of the other corps before he could feel at ease.

If the 771st Regiment wasn't there and had instead come here, their situation might be dangerous. "Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander quickly left.

The Japanese brigade commander waited for seven or eight minutes before the Japanese regimental commander returned.

"Brigade Commander, we've found out. The Tanaka Regiment has also been attacked by the enemy these past two days, including last night. It seems the enemy is really just retaliating for burning down our village," the Japanese regimental commander reported.

"Yes, leave as early as possible tomorrow so the soldiers can get some rest. I suspect the enemy will attack again tonight, so let's take this time to rest as much as possible," the Japanese brigade commander nodded and said.

They were already exhausted from the enemy attack last night, and after traveling all day, their mental state was already very poor.

If I'm not mistaken, the enemy will most likely choose to shell them again in the early morning, so we need to seize this opportunity to rest.

That way, at least I'll have the energy to travel tomorrow.

In fact, compared to the imperial soldiers, the puppet troops were in the worst mental state. Their physical condition was already inferior to that of the imperial soldiers. If things continued like this, the puppet troops would probably be the first to give out.

At that point, he would have no choice but to abandon the puppet army. There was no other way; he wouldn't let his soldiers be dragged down by the puppet army.

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

"This is really troublesome." The Japanese brigade commander sighed, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Since entering the mountains, trouble had never stopped, and now, even if they wanted to retreat, they would have to pay a heavy price.

Time quickly came to around 8:30.

Blind Cheng also ordered the artillery to fire shells at the Japanese camp, and five shells were fired in one round of bombardment.

Boom boom boom...

A huge explosion was heard, flames rose from several locations in the Japanese camp, and screams of agony from the Japanese soldiers could be heard.

At the same time, the Japanese soldiers who were resting in the camp were also awakened and entered combat mode. However, no puppet troops got up in the camp of the puppet army because they had discovered that the Eighth Route Army's shells would basically not be fired at their positions, so they continued to rest.

"Baka! What's wrong with these enemies? They won't even give us time to rest!" The Japanese brigade commander ran out of the tent, holding his uniform in his hand. His face was full of anger, clearly furious.

He hadn't expected the enemy's shelling to begin so early.

"Brigade Commander, how about I send men to pursue the enemy artillery?! To stop them from continuing their bombardment!" The Japanese regimental commander ran over at this moment and made the suggestion.

The enemy's actions were truly disgusting. They had no time to rest at all, and the thought that the enemy could rest peacefully made him feel resentful.

"Don't be impulsive. The enemy might be waiting for you to chase them. If you fall into a trap, even if I bring men to get there, we'll likely suffer heavy casualties."
In comparison, being bombarded a few times by the enemy would only result in some casualties, which is acceptable. The Japanese brigade commander calmly began to analyze the situation.

In contrast, he preferred to remain inactive to minimize casualties. There was no other way; the 772nd Regiment was quite strong, and if they split up, they might be picked off one by one by the enemy, which would mean they would be unable to leave the mountains.

"Are we just going to let the enemy harass us like this?!" The Japanese regimental commander was somewhat unwilling, and in his heart he wished he could skin the enemy alive and tear them apart.

"For the sake of the bigger picture, we have no choice but to endure it. We should have withdrawn when we confirmed that the Northeast Army wasn't here." The Japanese brigade commander also regretted it a bit!

At that time, he was thinking that he could catch up with the enemy and annihilate them, but he did not expect that the enemy was too fast and that they could not split their forces to pursue them, so it was even more impossible to annihilate the enemy.

Now, they've gotten themselves into trouble. They've gone too deep and can't withdraw from the mountains in a short time, which has given the enemy the initiative.

Fortunately, the enemy's numbers were small; otherwise, they would have had to worry about being annihilated.

"Damn it! These damned enemies!" The Japanese regimental commander cursed, but it was just impotent rage.

"Let the soldiers cease combat readiness and continue resting," the Japanese brigade commander ordered. Judging from the enemy's artillery bombardment, the enemy didn't have many shells left, so they had to conserve their firepower.

"Understood." The Japanese regimental commander, deflated like a punctured balloon, relayed the order.

.........

On the mountain, Blind Cheng looked towards the Japanese camp through his binoculars. When he saw the Japanese soldiers in the camp being awakened by the artillery shells and quickly entering combat mode, he was overjoyed.

"Old Cheng, these Japanese devils must be furious. They were attacked last night and didn't get a good night's sleep. They also traveled all day and were exhausted. They were just about to rest when they were attacked again," Political Commissar He said with a smile.

If the enemy did that to him, he would probably be furious too.

"Haha, those Japanese deserved it. Who told them to burn down the villagers' houses? Hey, Lao He, look at those Japanese soldiers, don't they look like monkeys being played with, only able to vent their anger at thin air?" Blind Cheng laughed, feeling incredibly happy to see the Japanese suffer.

"Old Cheng, aren't you afraid the Japanese will send men after us?" Political Commissar He asked.

"They'd better dare to do it. Although we can't defeat them head-on, if the Japanese dare to split their forces, we still have the ability to make them suffer."

"Moreover, we still have the 771st Regiment. If the Japanese split up, we can wipe them out even faster," Blind Cheng replied.

The Japanese soldiers weren't fools; they could clearly understand the stakes involved. Therefore, no matter how angry they were, they would never dare to send troops to pursue them, because the consequences were beyond their ability to bear.

“That’s true. Our strength is not weak now. Speaking of which, what should we do with those puppet troops? I feel that once the fighting starts tonight, many of them will probably surrender. Should we take them in?” Political Commissar He asked.

He was already considering whether or not to accept those puppet troops. There was no need to guess; once the fighting started, the puppet troops, whose morale was already low, were highly likely to surrender.

"Let's see if they really want to surrender. If they surrender quickly, we can take them in; otherwise, we'll wipe them out," said Blind Cheng. Killing them all directly wasn't a good idea, so they should give them a chance. (End of Chapter)