Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

"That's true!"

Yang Jihe said with a smile: "Although from the perspective of the overall battle situation, this rain is a good thing, but the road we are on is all mountainous. It may not be easy to walk in such heavy rain."

“And it may affect our schedule.”

Li Guotao frowned and said, "At most, we can take a short break. No matter what, we must get to the designated location as soon as possible."

"We must launch an attack tomorrow night."

The plan has been finalized and naturally cannot be changed at will.

So Li Guotao led his brothers all the way towards Baishazhou according to the original plan.

The road was indeed very difficult to travel on, and in order to avoid the Japanese, we could only choose to take the small road. The heavy rain caused too much water to accumulate in some places, making it quite difficult for the troops to march.

Fortunately, Li Guotao was there, leading the way. Not only could they avoid the Japanese, but they would also try to choose relatively easy routes. Some routes that were destroyed by heavy rain and could not be traveled would also be avoided in advance.

Although the journey was very difficult, it was relatively smooth.

Of course, the reason why it went so smoothly was that the Japanese had relatively fewer defensive forces in the west, and the weather was bad. As long as they were careful, there would be no problem in avoiding the Japanese.

Li Guotao and his brothers walked and stopped along the way, made a big circle, and finally arrived near Baishazhou.

It was already the afternoon of the next day, and Li Guotao and his brothers were lying in ambush in a hidden forest.

Li Guotao said to Yang Jihe, "Captain, I will go and scout the situation myself. You and your brothers should rest here first and conserve your energy so that you can move at night."

Yang Jihe said: "You are tired after working all day, why not let someone else go?"

Li Guotao said: "This matter is of great importance. I will not feel at ease unless I go and check it out myself."

"I'll go, don't worry!"

Li Guotao was right. No one else could do this job except him.

After several hours of reconnaissance, with the help of the system map, Li Guotao has already figured out the terrain near Baishazhou and the specific situation of the Japanese troop deployment.

It was not until the evening that Li Guotao returned to his temporary hiding place.

When Yang Jihe saw Li Guotao, he immediately asked, "How is it? Is everything alright?"

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Everything is normal, and it's pretty much as expected."

As Li Guotao spoke, he took out a map from his pocket and spread it out in front of everyone.

Li Guotao pointed at the map and continued, "We have already scouted the situation. A few hundred meters from the river, right here, there is a small village called Caojiazhou."

"Due to the rain, the Japanese stored a lot of supplies in Caojiazhou."

"The Japanese built a floating bridge on the nearby river, and supplies were transported over this bridge every day."

"There are Japanese soldiers guarding both sides of the pontoon bridge, but their number is not too large."

"There are about two squadrons of Japanese guards in Caojiazhou Village. This is the biggest trouble."

Yang Jihe couldn't help but frowned when he heard this and said, "Two squadrons, that's 400 little devils, it's not easy to deal with them."

Li Guotao frowned and said, "There are indeed a lot of troops, but if everything goes well, it's not impossible to deal with them."

"As long as we launch a surprise attack while they are sleeping like dead pigs, it won't be difficult to kill these two squadrons of Japs."

"But we must act quickly. Not only must we kill these devils quickly, but we must also quickly transport the spoils to the riverside and then retreat by motorboat."

Yang Jihe asked quickly: "Is there a motorboat?"

"Yes!"

Li Guotao said: "There are dozens of motorboats parked on the river next to the floating bridge!"

"It should be a backup. If there is a problem with the floating bridge, they will use these motorboats to transport supplies across the river."

Yang Jihe frowned and said, "Then we have to divide our forces and take down the pontoon bridge and seize these motorboats at the same time."

Li Guotao nodded and said, "The floating bridge should be easy to deal with. There aren't too many Japanese soldiers guarding the bridge. One platoon is enough to deal with them. We just need to quickly kill the Japanese soldiers on this side of the river and then destroy the floating bridge. Even if there are still Japanese soldiers on the other side, they won't be able to get over."

"It's mainly because of these little devils in the village."

"Not only must we strive to kill them all, but we must also prevent the Japanese reinforcements from coming to support us."

"So this mission is still quite difficult, but we have come to this point. No matter how difficult it is, we have to find a way to complete this mission."

Yang Jihe looked at Li Guotao, sighed helplessly and said, "If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have agreed to you in the first place."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "It's too late to say anything now. We are already in the same boat and can only work together."

Yang Jihe said: "We are all in the same boat. Once the boat sinks, no one will be spared."

Li Guotao nodded slightly and said, "That makes sense, but let's first find a way to get our little boat to Hengyang safely, and we can work out the rest later."

Yang Jihe asked, "What are your plans?"

Li Guotao said: "Commander, you will lead a platoon to eliminate the enemy on the river bank and seize these motorboats."

Yang Jihe asked: "Are all these motorboats on the west bank now?"

"Of course!"

Li Guotao nodded and said, "Because the Japanese soldiers who drove the motorboats all went to Caojiazhou to sleep, so of course these motorboats were parked on the west bank."

"It's on the river bank a few dozen meters away from the floating bridge!"

Yang Jihe stared at the map for a while, then said: "I will take people to the riverside, and all the Japanese in Caojiazhou will be handed over to you."

Li Guotao smiled and said: "This is my job, after all I am the battalion commander!"

Yang Jihe said unhappily: "I am still the head of the group."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "As the regiment commander, you only have one battalion left, so the main attack mission will naturally be assigned to me."

"As the commander, what you need to do is to provide us with logistical support, so the job of supporting our retreat is yours."

"I have entrusted our lives to you. As long as we seize these motorboats, we can retreat calmly. Otherwise, we may all die here."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely be able to take down the floating bridge."

Li Guotao said, "Captain, I trust you to do your job. You will act according to our signal. After we take action in Caojiazhou, we will send out signal flares. You will ambush by the river in advance. Once you see the signal flares, you can take action. You must be quick."

"As quickly as possible, eliminate these Japanese soldiers near the floating bridge on the west bank, blow up the floating bridge, and seize these motorboats. Then we will be safe."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "Don't worry, there won't be any problems on our side."

"I am still most worried about you. If you can't succeed, you can just retreat. We blew up the floating bridge, which is also a merit. Then we can just retreat along the Xiangjiang River."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Don't worry, we will definitely succeed." "Of course, if there is any accident, you can just take the motorboat and retreat directly, don't worry about us."

Yang Jihe frowned and said, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you think we would abandon our brothers?"

Li Guotao smiled and said, "But we also have to consider the overall situation. When there is no need to fight to the death, we still have to conserve our strength."

Yang Jihe said helplessly: "I should be the one saying this to you."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know my limits. Now that we have discussed everything, let's send a telegram to the headquarters immediately."

Yang Jihe gritted his teeth and said, "That's it. What's that phrase you always say? Just do it. Don't be afraid of anything."

"Correct!"

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Just do it, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Afterwards, Yang Jihe ordered someone to send a telegram to the military.

After receiving the telegram, Commander Fang frowned and said, "Do you think they can succeed?"

Sun Mingyu frowned and said hesitantly: "Well~! I'm afraid it's hard to say. After all, they only have so many troops, and it is indeed difficult to complete this mission."

"But Li Guotao does have some skills. Although he is young, if he dares to do this, he must be sure of it."

Commander Fang nodded and said, "I also think that Li Guotao is indeed an extraordinary guy. If it were someone else, it would be hard to say. But if it were them, maybe it would work."

"What do you think?" Sun Mingyu asked tentatively.

Commander Fang said, "Then let's carry out the original plan. Call them back immediately and tell them that we will do our best to assist them. We wish them a successful start and I am waiting for their triumphant return."

"Yes!"

Sun Mingyu responded quickly, turned around and told someone to convey the order.

Commander Fang was also busy. He contacted the Flying Tigers again. The Flying Tigers also guaranteed that as long as there were no accidents, their planes would be able to reach the Xiangjiang River in time at dawn tomorrow.

Everything is ready, now it's up to Li Guotao and his team.

After receiving the call back, Yang Jihe said to Li Guotao: "The military has called back and everything is normal. We can proceed as planned."

Li Guotao looked up at the sky and said, "For the rest, we can only pray for God's blessing."

"Man proposes, God disposes. We have done everything we can. The rest depends on luck."

"Let the brothers continue to gather their strength and wait until the second half of the night to start the action."

"Okay~!"

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "You have been busy for so long and haven't had time to rest. It's time to have a good rest."

Li Guotao smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, I'm fine now. I just need to take a nap and that'll be all."

In the second half of the night, around two o'clock in the morning, Li Guotao and Yang Jihe led their brothers to leave the temporary base and quietly moved towards Caojiazhou.

With Li Guotao leading the way, everything went very smoothly. After avoiding some small groups of Japanese devils, the troops successfully arrived near Caojiazhou.

Li Guotao observed the situation for a while, then said: "That's Caojiazhou Village. Let's go to the village, and you quietly ambush by the river."

"Zheng Mingyuan, all your mortars are set up on the high ground over there, ready to provide us with artillery support at any time."

"Yes~!"

"Chen Jianghe!"

"To!"

Li Guotao ordered: "You take a team of people around to the north of the village. Once the battle starts, you quickly capture the stone bridge in the north of the village and then blow up the bridge. This will also prevent the main force of the enemy from the north from coming to support."

"Yes! Promise to complete the mission."

Chen Jianghe responded confidently.

Li Guotao continued, "The rest of you, follow me and sneak into Caojiazhou Village to attack the Japanese soldiers in the village. We must ensure that we kill these Japanese soldiers as quickly as possible."

"Yes!"

Song Weiguo and others responded quickly.

"Let's get started!"

Following Li Guotao's order, the troops immediately began to act separately.

Li Guotao was most familiar with the terrain and enemy situation. He personally led a team of scouts to lead the way.

Li Guotao first led his men to eliminate a checkpoint between the village and the river, and then killed the Japanese patrol. After solving the biggest trouble, Li Guotao and his men sneaked into Caojiazhou Village.

With Li Guotao leading the team personally, the Japanese soldiers standing guard at the entrance of the village were quickly killed by them.

Li Guotao waved his hand, and the brothers carefully moved into Caojiazhou Village.

Under the command of Li Guotao, after entering the village, the brothers immediately dispersed quickly in groups.

Li Guotao commanded the machine guns of the machine artillery company to quickly seize several commanding heights at the entrance of the village.

The other brothers dispersed into groups and sneaked into houses to attack the Japanese.

Li Guotao concluded that most of the Japanese soldiers lived in a wealthy family in the village, so he personally led dozens of soldiers to surround the family, including the front and back doors and all the walls.

Afterwards, Li Guotao personally led his men to sneak in through the back door. After entering, the troops dispersed and waited until they were ready.

Following Li Guotao's order, the brothers took out grenades and threw them directly into the house through the window.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

Violent explosions continued to sound, and most of the Japanese soldiers who were sleeping were blown to death without knowing what was happening.

At the same time, other brothers in the village also launched attacks, either rushing directly into the house and shooting at the Japanese.

Or just throw two grenades in to blow the Japanese to pieces.

Some Japanese soldiers were awakened from their sleep and were shot to pieces by submachine guns as soon as they went out.

After the battle started, bright flares were also raised in the village.

After receiving the signal, Chen Jianghe in the village immediately led his men to rush to the stone bridge on the north side. With a burst of random gunfire, they killed several Japanese soldiers guarding the bridge, and then blew up the stone bridge directly with explosives.

On the bank of the Xiangjiang River, Yang Jihe also led his men to the floating bridge. Zheng Mingyuan's mortar immediately turned the muzzle and fired at the Japanese on the bridge. (End of this chapter)