Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

As the words of persuasion to surrender were spread, commotion broke out among the puppet troops. Many of them looked at each other in bewilderment. For them, not surrendering meant certain death.

Surrendering at least saves your life.

"I heard that the Eighth Route Army treats prisoners of war well. Anyway, the Japanese devils here can't escape now, so there's no need for us to fight the Eighth Route Army to the death," a puppet army squad leader said to the person next to him.

In fact, these squad leaders had already communicated with the company beforehand, and were just waiting for the Eighth Route Army to persuade them to surrender, and then persuade their subordinates.

“That’s right, if we don’t surrender, we’ll die. We might as well surrender.” Someone nearby agreed.

"But the Japanese are still here. If we surrender, they'll probably kill us first." Some of the puppet troops were worried that the Japanese would strike first.

"What are you afraid of? Our captain is already prepared. We'll take down the Japanese devils first, and then surrender," said the puppet army squad leader.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a Japanese lieutenant came over.

"Baka! What are you doing? Attack the enemy! Don't believe the enemy! The Imperial soldiers are far stronger than them. If you dare to surrender, you will definitely die!" the Japanese lieutenant shouted.

However, the puppet army squad leader didn't care about anything else. He immediately pulled out his pistol and fired directly at the Japanese lieutenant.

With a loud bang, the Japanese lieutenant was shot in the chest. His eyes widened in disbelief. The puppet troops who usually feared them dared to shoot him.

This scene shocked the nearby puppet army soldiers, because they did not expect that the puppet army squad leader would actually dare to fire a shot.

At the same time, before the other Japanese soldiers could react, they were suddenly shot and killed by the puppet army captain's men. Because the distance was too close, these Japanese soldiers did not even have time to react before they were shot and fell to the ground!
Hearing the gunshots coming from the puppet troops, the Eighth Route Army soldiers in charge of persuading them to surrender were also stunned. They didn't know why gunshots were coming from the puppet troops' side, and why so many people were firing.

This left him completely bewildered, unable to understand what had happened.

"Eighth Master, we surrender, we surrender!" The puppet army captain himself came out, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Under his leadership, the other puppet soldiers also came out one after another. They raised their guns, then threw them aside, and ran to an open space to squat down.

Upon seeing this, the battalion commander of the 772nd Regiment was overjoyed and immediately led his soldiers forward to seize the puppet troops' weapons.

The battalion commander then ordered the main force to support the regimental commander, while he stayed behind.

"Who is the battalion commander?!" The battalion commander's gaze swept over the puppet soldiers.

"Eighth Master, I'm the battalion commander, my name is Hu Ergou!" the puppet army battalion commander said hurriedly.

"What was that gunfire just now?! Where are the Japanese?!" the battalion commander asked. He already had a guess, but he still wanted to confirm.

"Eighth Master, we just killed the Japanese devils. Actually, we were forced to surrender to the Japanese. We didn't want to fight the Japanese for a long time, but joining is easy and leaving is difficult. As soon as you persuaded us to surrender, we immediately attacked the Japanese to atone for our crimes. Please give us a chance, Eighth Master!" Hu Ergou's words were very nice, shifting all the blame to the Japanese.

"You're smart enough to stay here and not try to escape, or you'll all be dead." After saying this, the battalion commander left behind a squad of soldiers and went to provide support.

.........

The sudden cessation of gunfire from the direction of the puppet troops alerted the Japanese brigade commander that something was amiss.

"Brigade Commander, the gunfire from the puppet army is a bit strange. I feel that they have not only betrayed us, but have even killed our soldiers!" The Japanese regimental commander speculated. The gunfire just now was very strange. It stopped for a while, then started again not long after, and then stopped again very quickly. This was definitely not the kind of gunfire that could be heard in a normal firefight.

"Damn it! Those puppet troops are indeed unreliable. As soon as they saw we were in danger, they immediately turned against us." The Japanese brigade commander cursed. The reason why the puppet troops had worked so hard before was because they were strong.

But now, the puppet army realized that their strength had weakened and that they might be completely annihilated, so they immediately rebelled.

"I really want to kill these traitors!" The Japanese regimental commander was also gritting his teeth in anger, wishing he could wipe out all those puppet troops right now.

"It seems we need to be wary of the puppet troops after we meet up with the Tanaka Regiment. These people are just opportunists!" the Japanese brigade commander said, adding that they couldn't trust the puppet troops too much.

Even if the puppet army works very hard for the empire, we still have to be wary of them.

"Understood!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded in agreement.

"Break through quickly! Before the enemy can react, get out of the encirclement!" The Japanese brigade commander hurriedly gave the order. He didn't have time to worry about the surrender of the puppet troops. If they didn't escape now, they probably wouldn't be able to escape.

As the troops were assembled, the Japanese brigade commander ordered his troops to break through to the east with all their might. In an instant, the soldiers on the east side felt the pressure.

However, they did not panic. Instead, they retreated in an orderly manner, creating the illusion that they were no match for the fierce attack of the Japanese.

This scene did indeed give the Japanese brigade commander hope.

"I told you they couldn't stop us! It's just a pity about the other soldiers!" The Japanese brigade commander sighed as he finished speaking.

In order to organize their forces without letting the enemy discover their breakout intentions, they had no choice but to abandon the soldiers in the other two directions!
However, what the Japanese brigade commander didn't know was that all of this was within Cheng Xiazi's expectations.

As the soldiers retreated to a certain distance, Blind Cheng and Commander Zhang decisively launched a counterattack.

Da da da………

Bang bang bang…

The sudden and fierce attack caught the charging Japanese soldiers off guard, resulting in heavy casualties.

"Damn it! We've fallen into their trap!" The Japanese brigade commander was shocked to see this. He hadn't expected the enemy to guess his intentions and set a trap for him.

"The enemy is too cunning. They deliberately made a show of retreat to lure us in," said the Japanese regimental commander. He had genuinely thought that the enemy on this side couldn't stop them when he saw them retreating earlier, but he didn't expect that everything was within the enemy's expectations.

"Damn it, retreat to the position immediately!" The Japanese brigade commander hurriedly ordered. If they retreated to the position now, they could still fight the enemy. Even if they couldn't defeat the enemy, at least they wouldn't let the enemy annihilate them so easily.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

Boom boom boom......

Just then, shells rained down on the Japanese soldiers, and a series of explosions rang out. The Japanese soldiers who had left their bunkers suffered heavy casualties. With the fierce attack from Blind Cheng and Commander Zhang, the Japanese casualties were even greater.

Tap tap tap… Boom boom boom…

Gunfire was deafening as Japanese soldiers desperately retreated towards their positions. Naturally, Blind Cheng and Regiment Commander Zhang were not going to let the Japanese retreat so easily. They ordered their troops to press forward and relentlessly pursue the Japanese.

When the Japanese brigade commander managed to escape back to his position, he only had a few hundred soldiers left, which made him furious.

"Brigade Commander, what do we do now?!" the Japanese regimental commander asked, clutching his left hand where blood was flowing from a bullet graze.

"Send a telegram to the Tanaka Regiment, telling them they don't need any more support and to retreat back to the county town immediately!" The Japanese brigade commander hurriedly gave the order!
They were now powerless to reverse the situation and could only let the Tanaka Regiment take this opportunity to withdraw, lest they be wiped out by the enemy later.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese regimental commander nodded, and was about to give instructions to the telegraph operator when he was stopped.

"Wait, send a telegram to the division commander saying that we are under siege by the enemy and cannot retreat, and that we can no longer serve the Empire," the Japanese brigade commander hurriedly said.

The division commander needs to know about their accident.

"Understood!" the Japanese regimental commander replied.

"Once the telegram is sent, destroy the telegram and the codebook. Don't let the enemy capture them," the Japanese brigade commander said with a sigh.

To be honest, he had considered being annihilated by the enemy, but that enemy should be Mu Jin's troops, not the Eighth Route Army. But now, he was really going to be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Being defeated and killed by an enemy weaker than oneself is something no one can accept.

The fighting continued, and the Japanese were already at their last gasp. Naturally, Blind Cheng and his men would not let this opportunity pass and launched a fierce attack.

Twenty minutes later, all the Japanese soldiers in the camp were wiped out. The Japanese brigade commander was shot in the head, and the Japanese regimental commander was riddled with bullets.

After all this fighting, everything has finally come to a conclusion.

"Old Cheng, it's been a pleasure working with you." Regiment Commander Zhang's face was full of smiles. Although the annihilation of this regiment was not entirely their achievement, it was still quite good.

They can keep a lot of the spoils of war, which will greatly enhance the strength of their troops.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate." Blind Cheng smiled as well, naturally happy to have won such a great victory.

"Those surrendered puppet troops promised to give me half, so don't go back on your word," Commander Zhang hurriedly said.

As soon as the gunfire from the puppet troops stopped, he knew that they must have surrendered, and now it was time to discuss the distribution of spoils.

"Alright, alright, half for each of us." Blind Cheng was also a little helpless. Why did this kid only see credit?

Soldiers were examining corpses with bayonets on the battlefield to avoid any Japanese soldiers feigning death, while also collecting spoils of war.

"Commander, the surrendered puppet troops are still squatting over there. Do you want to take a look?!" The battalion commander ran up to Blind Cheng and reported.

"Okay, let's go take a look!" Blind Cheng nodded in agreement, and Commander Zhang followed him.

"Commander, those puppet troops will do anything to surrender!" said the battalion commander.

"Oh?! What did they do?" Blind Cheng asked.

"They killed hundreds of Japanese soldiers. They opened fire on the Japanese soldiers while we were trying to persuade them to surrender, and it looked like..."
"It must have been the puppet army battalion commander who made the arrangements in advance, just waiting for us to persuade them to surrender so he could immediately take care of the Japanese soldiers around him!" The battalion commander explained the situation and his own speculation.

"Oh?! It seems this puppet army captain is quite capable, actually knowing how to plan ahead!" Blind Cheng said with slight surprise.

The fact that this puppet army captain had prepared in advance to kill the Japanese shows that he had seen the situation clearly and realized that if he did not surrender, he would probably die with the Japanese!

From this, it can be seen that this puppet army battalion commander was actually quite capable. The key point is that he was able to easily get his soldiers to rebel and attack the Japanese, which shows that this puppet army battalion commander had considerable prestige.

“He’s a talented man, it’s just a pity he became a puppet soldier. Here’s what we’re saying, Lao Cheng, I want this puppet soldier battalion commander. I’ll check his background. If he’s the kind of guy who bullies men and women, I’ll take the trouble to kill him and won’t get your hands dirty,” Commander Zhang said with a serious expression.

"Bullshit! You just saw that the other guy was capable and wanted to take him under your wing!" Blind Cheng directly exposed Commander Zhang's intentions!

"What you're saying is unacceptable. Even if I wanted to take him in, I'd have to see what kind of person he is," Commander Zhang said. If someone is a scourge to the people, no matter how capable they are, he wouldn't take them in.

"Alright, alright, you can have this puppet army battalion commander. But if you take him in, you still need to do some ideological work on him, lest he sell you out one day!" Blind Cheng didn't intend to argue with Regiment Commander Zhang, but gave him a few words of advice.

"Of course!" Commander Zhang nodded. He wasn't stupid; how could he trust outsiders so easily? He had to test them more to avoid any unexpected problems later.

"If you ask me, you'd better not think about subduing them; it's a bit risky," said Blind Cheng.

"Let me see what the other party is like first. If it doesn't work out, then forget it," Commander Zhang replied. He didn't know what kind of person the other party was yet, so he had to give them a chance.

The two then arrived at the puppet army's side, where thousands of puppet soldiers were squatting on the open ground, which looked quite impressive.

Blind Cheng's eyes were sharp as he coldly swept over the puppet troops, which terrified them, fearing they would be killed. But then they thought that these were the Eighth Route Army, and that they had surrendered, so they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hu Ergou, get up." The battalion commander approached the puppet army battalion commander and said.

"Eighth Master, what are your orders?" Hu Ergou stood up, bowing deeply, looking timid and subservient, as if he were about to kneel down at any moment!
"This is our regimental commander, surnamed Cheng," the battalion commander introduced Blind Cheng.

"Greetings, Commander Cheng! I've long heard of your illustrious name. The 772nd Regiment has slaughtered countless Japanese devils, making them run for their lives. You are truly a hero of your generation! It is an honor to meet you today!" Hu Ergou immediately began to flatter him, showering him with compliments.

"Stop flattering me!" Blind Cheng said coldly. He was expressionless, but in reality, he was quite pleased with the flattery. After all, flattery never fails.

"Yes, yes, yes." Hu Ergou was startled, his body trembling slightly.

“I’m asking you, how dare you lay a hand on those Japanese devils just now?! Aren’t you afraid of being retaliated against by them later?!” Blind Cheng said slowly.

"Commander Cheng, actually I've been dissatisfied with these beasts for a long time. They come here to burn, kill, and loot. I just haven't had the chance yet, otherwise I would have taken action long ago. Now that the opportunity has come, I certainly can't miss it," Hu Ergou said earnestly.

P.S.: I've finished watching the movie! Those who haven't seen it should check it out! (End of Chapter)