The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 252 Heavy troops suppress the situation
The battle ended like a whirlwind. The cavalry could attack and annihilate the fast-moving infantry groups much faster than fighting on the spot in close combat. The heavy firepower of machine guns and mortars in the front was intercepted, and the rear was quickly attacked and pursued. The more than 200 Japanese troops were quickly divided and dispersed by the incoming cavalry. Except for more than 30 scattered skirmishers who escaped in various directions, the rest were all wiped out.

After the battle, the battlefield strewn with corpses was full of stench, and there was a disgusting smell everywhere. In addition to the trampled corpses of Japanese soldiers and scattered weapons, there were also many stinky smells left by the Japanese soldiers on the battlefield. Smelling filth.

But in addition to these disgusting post-war relics, there is also a high-spirited excitement and excitement in the air. The battlefield is full of officers and soldiers of the Cavalry Battalion of the Teaching Corps who cheer and shout loudly. They have never fought a battle, but they won a great victory in one battle. The officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion galloped around, picking up equipment left behind by the Japanese army, wantonly venting the excitement of victory after the war. The cavalrymen, whose military uniforms and cotton clothes were stained dark red with blood, raised their lances and waved their sabers continuously. The cheers and shouts were like a group of bloodthirsty murderers celebrating their victory.

Almost every cavalry member of the teaching corps carries trophies pulled from the corpses of Japanese soldiers, including military boots, intact rifles, pistols, helmets, and bayonets. Of course, the most in demand are the trophies left by Japanese sergeants and officers. Long knife.

On the backs of the horses that taught the cavalry of the Corps, there were also tied a few Japanese prisoners with dull eyes, covered in blood, and even urine and feces. They looked like soulless beasts. Although most of the Japanese troops had been annihilated, the cavalry battalion was still We captured several Japanese prisoners who had run away and lost their strength.

Most of the soldiers in the cavalry battalion of the teaching corps are from the north. Many of them are from horse gangs and horse escorts in Inner Mongolia and Baoding. Most of their hometowns are in occupied areas.

Some platoon leaders who graduated from the cavalry department of Huangpu Military Academy are also exiled students from the Northeast who entered the country after September 18 and former cavalrymen of the Northeast Army. These people truly feel what it is like to be slaves of a subjugated country. After being captured by the Japanese army, they almost killed these guys with sabers.

Fortunately, the commander of the cavalry battalion, Major Wang Hanqing, took action in time. In order to ensure that the enemy's information was obtained, these Japanese soldiers were spared. Otherwise, the final outcome of these Japanese prisoners would have been worse than those of their comrades who died in the battle. Ten thousand times. You must know that many troops in the national army have the habit of abusing and torturing Japanese prisoners.

After the troops of the Teaching Corps cleaned the battlefield and tallied the specific results, they immediately reported the results of the battle to the General Headquarters-Military Police Headquarters located in the Shimonoseki defense circle.

In the military police headquarters, He Wei stood next to General Xiao, while an officer of the cavalry company commander of the teaching corps, whose uniform was stained with dark red blood, stood in front of He Wei and General Xiao, holding his saber. After reporting the general battle process, he reported the results of the battle very excitedly: "Sir, after rough statistics by the brothers, my teaching corps cavalry battalion and the fifth regiment of the teaching corps killed about 800 Japanese troops in total. The front of the position is still intact. There were about seven or eight corpses, and 240 usable rifles, three light machine guns, two heavy machine guns, eleven grenade launchers, and two infantry guns were seized. Thirty-seven officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion of my teaching corps were killed. Fifteen people were injured. One hundred and eighty-four officers and soldiers of the Fifth Infantry Regiment of our Corps were killed and seventy-seven were injured. Four more were captured alive. They are now outside, waiting for the officer's fate."

General Xiao nodded with satisfaction, stood up and patted the captain's cavalry officer on the shoulder, and said: "You fought well, fought well, go back and tell Chief of Staff Qiu, and I will report your results to each unit. You guys got off to a good start, you deserve a reward, you deserve a reward, come on!"

General Xiao called a military police adjutant and said in a loud voice: "The Central Military Academy has taught the corps to fight bravely and annihilate the stubborn enemy. It has annihilated more than 800 Japanese troops in front of the garrison position. We are now sending a telegram to all units. I hope that all units will follow the example of the Teaching Corps, encourage them to fight hard and fight the enemy to the end. The Fifth Infantry Regiment of the Teaching Corps and the Cavalry Battalion of the Teaching Corps have made meritorious service in the battle. Now, the Military Police Command will award two legal coins of 10,000 yuan each to Qiu Qingquan, Chief of Staff of the Teaching Corps. If the commander is determined and the battle is successful, he will be rewarded with a thousand legal coins, and the reward will be distributed immediately!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Hearing the generous reward from General Xiao, the cavalry captain was overjoyed and kept thanking him. Material rewards are always an excellent means of encouragement and promotion. This is human nature.

"Brother, you go down and have a good rest in a while. You have worked really hard. When you get the money, you must reward the brothers. By the way, your Chief of Staff Qiu sent me a batch of food and cigarettes this morning. Come back After the teaching corps, I have to ask you to speak well for me, Chief of Staff Qiu, and say that I, He Wei, am very grateful for his gift. He fought well in this battle, and I hope the teaching corps will continue to win more battles."

He Wei said.

The cavalry captain immediately patted his chest and said to the young major officer in front of him: "No problem, sir, I will definitely bring you your message."

Immediately, the military police adjutant took the satisfied cavalry captain down to collect the reward.

Everyone in the command post was also happy for this victory.

The teaching corps got off to a good start and gave the battle of the Xiaguan defensive circle a good start. General Xiao was greatly relieved, and he would not be stingy with rewards. During this period of time in Jinling, the gendarmerie troops used it to transport people across the river. As a result, the amount of money I earned from boat tickets was huge, and I made a lot of money.

However, according to what He Wei has learned in the past few days, these are not the only ways for the gendarmerie to make a fortune. After the general retreat began, many unattended warehouses left by wealthy households and businessmen in the city did not escape the raids of the gendarmerie. , apart from the various grains, materials, building materials, supplements, and various industrial products in the warehouse, part of them was used to build the Xiaguan defense circle, and most of the rest went into the pockets of the gendarmerie.

It can be said that it is a huge profit and a huge war fortune. The reward given to the teaching corps is not even a drop in the bucket compared with the income of the military police these days!
Of course, He Wei has no objection to this. Although the military police are suspected of taking advantage of the situation, but in the face of this powerful enemy, even if the military police do not take those supplies, they will end up being advantageous to the Japanese. The military police can at least take advantage of them. Keep these supplies in the pockets of the Chinese.

Moreover, He Wei himself also took advantage of the situation. After all, he sent people to rob Wang Zhaoming's mansion and laundered Wang Zhaoming's money in the bank. Therefore, he would not laugh at the same time. Stepped.

"He Wei, this battle was good. What do you think?"

General Xiao asked.

Of course, He Wei didn't have any opinions. He just lamented that Qiu Qingquan, the chief of staff of the teaching corps, was indeed worthy of the nickname of Crazy Qiu. He was very crazy in command. Even a time traveler like He Wei had never thought of engaging in a cavalry charge. Such primitive tactics as the formation, but Crazy Qiu actually dared to play like this, and achieved excellent results.

While He Wei was sighing, he also reminded himself secretly in his heart that in the past, he had basically never seen the cavalry seriously due to the thinking of modern soldiers who traveled through time. But today, the outstanding performance of the cavalry has not been seen. Tell him that under today's military and technical conditions, especially in areas with low intensity and weak technical level such as the Chinese battlefield, the cavalry still has a certain role to play, and he should pay more attention to it in the future.

"Sir, I don't have any opinion. Chief Qiu did a good job, but there is one thing we need to do quickly."

He Wei said.

General Xiao asked: "What happened?"

"The most fundamental reason why Commander Qiu was so dangerous in this battle is that the Japanese army released a large amount of smoke, which prevented our artillery from providing artillery support to the forward positions. I suggest organizing artillery cadres and naval artillery within the defense circle. , conduct emergency measurements of various places in front of the forward positions, make shooting charts and issue them in duplicate to each frontline unit and artillery unit. In this way, if this happens again next time, it will be destroyed even if the Japanese army used cover. Based on the observation effect of our artillery, our troops in the forward position can also request artillery support through the shooting chart."

General Xiao thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement and said, "That's the truth. If the navy's cannons can fire, we can achieve better results, and the pressure on the frontline army units will also be alleviated. a lot of."

"Not only do we need to deal with this matter, but we must also hurry up and interrogate the Japanese prisoners we captured. Although we won this battle, this is just the beginning. We have no idea about the subsequent deployment and strength of the Japanese army, and even more cruel battles will happen." They are still behind, no matter what, we must interrogate these prisoners to see what the Japanese army’s deployment is.”

When mentioning the prisoners, He Wei's eyes lit up, and he immediately said to General Xiao: "Sir, why don't you leave the interrogation of the prisoners to my special agent camp? I promise to take care of the Japanese prisoners, so you don't have to bother." Brothers of the military police."

"Oh? What do you mean?" He Wei actually did not hide the fact that he had raised several Japanese traitors from General Xiao, but he did not know the details about the glorious results and important role of his Japanese traitors. Talk to General Xiao in detail.

Immediately, He Wei told General Xiao how his Rangers deceived the Japanese army in Jinling City so that the spy battalion cleanly killed an infantry squadron at the intersection of Zhongshan North Road. After General Xiao found out, he Laughing and clapping.

He Wei also patted his chest and expressed that he would make the four Japanese prisoners captured by the teaching corps honestly explain the situation of their troops as soon as possible. At the same time, he also made a request.

That is to hope that General Xiao can hand over these prisoners to the special agent camp, and the purpose of He Wei's request is naturally to repeat his old tricks, transform these prisoners, and make these prisoners available to him, thereby expanding his own special forces.

After the battle in Jinling City, He Wei also discovered that these rebel Japanese soldiers were really easy to use. No wonder the Japanese had organized a large number of puppet troops. Their destructive power and lethality should not be underestimated.

General Xiao readily agreed to He Wei's request. If these four Japanese prisoners were handed over to the military police for interrogation, in such a chaotic and urgent war situation, after the military police interrogated the things, these four The final outcome of the goods was probably to be shot, so it would be better to give them to He Wei and let these prisoners use their remaining energy.

As a result, all four prisoners were sent to the Rangers under the special agent battalion. The captain of the Rangers, former Japanese Army Second Lieutenant Nishi Kanjiro, whose pseudonym was Liu Lu, happily accepted these four people, and took several of his men with him. The Japanese traitor began to interrogate the four new prisoners. As for the interrogation and the interrogation process, it is not known.

In the seventeenth day of the battle, facing the aggressive Japanese Kunisaki detachment, the Chinese army successfully defeated the Japanese army with its incomparable fighting will and capable tactical qualities, as well as the excellent command of the corps chief of staff Qiu Qingquan. An infantry brigade of the Japanese Army's Kunisaki Detachment. After a morning of fierce fighting, there was no new movement from the Kunisaki Detachment.

The morale of the Chinese troops in the Xiaguan defense circle was greatly boosted after learning the successful report of the teaching corps. After the victory in this initial battle, each department continued their respective combat preparations, ready to welcome the next wave of Japanese attacks at any time.

The two sides were in such a state of confrontation that the stalemate lasted until four o'clock in the evening.

The sky gradually became dark, and the drizzle of winter nights suddenly began to fall in the sky. The rain washed away the soil and the blood on the battlefield in front of the teaching corps' position. It washed away the blood on the battlefield and gathered into strips of blood. The red turbulence finally flows into the earth and merges into the river.

In the command post of the Kunisaki Detachment, Major General Noboru Kunisaki, leader of the Kunisaki Detachment of the Fifth Division, was sitting cross-legged in the command post, shirtless and wearing a golden sword, his face full of defeat and anger.

Colonel Yamada Tetsujiro, captain of the 41st Infantry Regiment standing next to him, also looked at the rain curtain outside the command post with a frustrated expression. The rain blown into the command post by the wind also carried a stream of blood and blood. The salty smell kept blowing on their faces, as if laughing at their major failure today.

Today, the two of them suffered the biggest blow since they entered China and the biggest blow since the formation of the Fifth Division. An infantry brigade was completely wiped out and only a few dozen people came back. This is an unprecedented loss. The biggest failure ever.

Just a few decades ago, on a rainy night in Korea, the Fifth Division launched a general attack on the Qing army in Pyongyang, defeating tens of thousands of elite Qing troops overnight, marking Japan's first major war. The victory in large-scale foreign wars laid the foundation stone and elevated the Fifth Division to the honor roll of the Japanese Army.

Of course, this does not include an infantry squadron and a cavalry squadron that were killed by the Chinese navy's devastating naval gunfire in the morning. If these people are included, then the Kunisaki detachment's battle losses today will be greater than those of others. The losses suffered during the previous months of fighting in northern China were even greater.

But on this rainy night, they suffered their biggest defeat since forming an army.

The two of them and all the officers at the Kunisaki detachment command post were silent in the depressing atmosphere.

In the end, it was Colonel Yamada Tetsujiro, commander of the 41st Infantry Regiment, who spoke first and sighed: "I didn't expect the battle during the day to turn out like this. It's really not as good as God. I thought the Chinese army had already Total defeat. I didn’t expect them to gain a foothold in Xiaguan and be so capable of fighting. I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it. A group of defeated generals actually built such strong fortifications in such a short period of time. , it seems, it seems that they have been prepared."

Major General Noboru Kunisaki, leader of the Kunisaki detachment, lamented helplessly: "I'm sorry for the sacrificed samurai, and I'm sorry for the commander of the Itagaki division."

Kunisaki Noboru's eyes were full of regret. He originally planned to resolve the battle quickly and defeat the Chinese army in Xiaguan with extremely fast attacks. Unexpectedly, he hit a hard nail and had two teeth chipped. Not only did he not defeat them, Xiaguan achieved the first success in defeating the Chinese army, but instead lost its troops and generals, losing a complete infantry brigade.

This heavy loss of defeat was enough to cut off Kunisaki Noboru's future development in the military, and Kunisaki Noboru even felt that he might have to go to a military court.

After all, since the beginning of the war with China, he has not heard of any case where a large group was wiped out by the Chinese army. He may have caused the highest organizational level battle losses of the imperial army so far, and I am afraid he will also Hence, a very tragic ending.

Kunisaki Denden
"Sir, actually, as long as we make up for our mistakes and be more cautious and cooperate with friendly forces to knock down Xiaguan, you and this unit may not be blamed."

Yamada Tetsujiro, captain of the 41st Infantry Regiment, comforted Noboru Kunisaki. Then he glanced around the command post, leaned into Noboru Kunisaki's ear, and whispered: "Sir, I heard that An infantry group in both the 16th Division and the 6th Division has been completely wiped out, this is what my classmates at the Noncommissioned Officer School at the Expeditionary Forces Headquarters quietly told me."

"what?"

Noboru Kunizaki stood up suddenly, with shock written all over his face.

The gossip that Tetsujiro Yamada revealed to him immediately made him feel relieved. If both the Sixth Division and the Sixteenth Division really had an infantry brigade that was completely wiped out, then he would have lost an infantryman near Shimonoseki today. It seems that the brigade's culpability can be alleviated somewhat.

But then, Noboru Kunizaki's heart was in his throat again. If this news was indeed true, wouldn't it mean that the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army currently huddled in Xiaguan was much stronger than he expected? Wouldn't the next battle be more cruel and difficult?
The gossip that Kunizaki Noboru learned was certainly not false, and He Wei, the commander who led the annihilation of these two infantry brigades, was leisurely drinking hot tea and eating at the military police headquarters in the Xiaguan defense circle. With hot rice.

Of the two so-called eaten infantry brigades, one was from the Ninth Infantry Regiment and was completely annihilated by He Wei's special agent battalion in collaboration with the 66th Army of the Guangdong Army. The other one was naturally annihilated by He Wei in Jinling City. The 1st Infantry Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Division.

Regret, shock, remorse, doubt, Kunisaki Noboru's mood was as mixed as if he had opened a condiment shop, and he was full of thoughts. But just as he was having mixed feelings and thoughts, a lieutenant adjutant emerged from the rain curtain. , ran into the command post, and reported to Kunizaki Noboru and Yamada Tetsujiro: "Sir, the reinforcements Sasaki detachment of the 16th Division have arrived."

(End of this chapter)