Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Under the command of Yang Jihe, the brothers quickly wiped out the Japanese in Qiaoxi.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers on the opposite side rushed towards this side across the pontoon bridge.

Yang Jihe ordered loudly: "Set up the machine guns for me and block the pontoon bridge."

"Yes!"

The two machine guns immediately aimed at the Japanese on the pontoon bridge and began firing fiercely.

"Da da da~!"

Intensive gunfire rang out, and bullets flew towards the Japanese soldiers on the bridge like raindrops.

Several Japanese soldiers were beaten into pieces in an instant and fell off the pontoon bridge.

At this time, Zheng Mingyuan's mortar also adjusted the muzzle, aimed at the Japanese positions on the opposite bank and began shelling.

"Chirp chirp chirp~!"

A sharp whistling sound was heard, and one shell after another flew quickly across the Xiangjiang River and landed on the Japanese bridgehead position on the opposite bank.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

A loud explosion was heard, and the Japanese positions on the opposite bank were caught in a barrage of artillery fire. Two machine guns were destroyed one after another, and the Japanese on the positions were all killed or wounded, unable to fight back.

Yang Jihe shouted excitedly: "Well done."

"Demolition team, go ahead! Blow up the bridge!"

"Yes!"

Several soldiers immediately rushed onto the pontoon bridge carrying explosives and quickly placed the explosives on the bridge.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

Several violent explosions were heard, and a huge gap was blown out in the middle of the pontoon bridge.

Yang Jihe took a look at the destroyed floating bridge and said excitedly: "Good!"

After the pontoon bridge was blown up, the Japanese on the other side could no longer attack.

In fact, there were no main Japanese forces in the vicinity of the other side of the river, and they could not come to support in a short time.

However, just in case, Yang Jihe blew up the pontoon bridge as soon as possible.

At this time, a soldier ran over and said, "Report to the regiment commander, there are indeed dozens of motorboats on the river bank over there."

"Okay~!"

Yang Jihe said excitedly: "If we protect these motorboats well, whether we can withdraw to Hengyang as soon as possible depends entirely on these motorboats."

"Send a signal flare immediately to inform Li Guotao and the others that we have succeeded."

"Yes!"

"Chirp~!"

A shrill whistling sound was heard, and a shining flare soared into the sky.

At this moment, after a fierce battle, Li Guotao and his men successfully killed all the hundreds of Japanese devils in the village.

Because Li Guotao and his men launched a sudden attack, the Japanese soldiers who were sleeping were basically all trapped in the house. They were unable to form any effective resistance and were all wiped out.

Under Li Guotao's command, this sneak attack was extremely successful.

When Li Guotao saw the flares rising from the riverside, he knew that Yang Ji and their men had succeeded, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Quick! Check the supplies carefully immediately. Look for gas masks and medicines first. Once you find them, transport them to the riverside immediately and load them onto the motorboat to be transported away."

"Yes!"

Song Weiguo responded quickly, and then directed his brothers to start moving supplies.

There were some trucks in the village. Under the command of Li Guotao, the spoils were first loaded onto the trucks, pulled to the river, and then transported to the motorboat.

After a search, the brothers found a large number of gas masks and medicines.

Li Guotao ordered: "First pick up the gas masks and medical kits, then the weapons and ammunition."

The main purpose of Li Guotao and his men this time was gas masks. The Japanese frequently used poison gas bombs. Without gas masks, casualties among the troops would be inevitable. It would be impossible to completely prevent the soldiers from being poisoned by relying solely on those folk remedies.

The Japanese's supplies included a full set of anti-gas equipment, not only gas masks, but also protective clothing.

Naturally, we moved as many of these things as we could, as well as medicines. As the battle progressed, the number of wounded was constantly increasing, and the troops were short of medical care and medicines. If we could grab some medicines, we would naturally take them all back.

Of course, the troops also urgently need ammunition, but they only have so many people and so many motorboats, and the carrying capacity is limited. The spoils captured this time are really too much.

The entire village is a big warehouse. Many of the supplies that the Japanese just brought in are stored here. There are all kinds of supplies piled up everywhere, and it is impossible to take them all away.

Li Guotao and his men only picked up the important things, taking as much as they could, and the rest had to be destroyed.

Under Li Guotao's command, the soldiers acted very quickly and soon transported a large amount of supplies to the riverside and then quickly loaded them onto the motorboat.

The outbreak of fighting here naturally alarmed the surrounding Japanese.

There are about a thousand Japanese soldiers in the north who have rushed over to provide support.

However, Chen Jianghe and his men blew up the stone bridge on the north side in advance, temporarily blocking the Japanese reinforcements.

The leading Japanese lieutenant shouted angrily: "Swim across the river and take back Caojiazhou at all costs."

"Hayi~!"

Following the order from the Japanese lieutenant colonel, a large number of Japanese soldiers jumped into the river and swam to the other side.

This was just a small river, only about 20 to 30 meters wide. The Japanese on the other side used machine guns and grenade launchers to fire fiercely at this side to cover the Japanese while they were swimming across.

Chen Jianghe and his men were suppressed and dared not show their heads. Chen Jianghe shouted loudly: "Use grenades and throw them into the river to kill the Japanese soldiers crossing the river."

The brothers hid in the broken walls and ditches, took out grenades and threw them out.

One after another, the grenades hissed, emitting black smoke and fell into the river.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

Violent explosions continued to sound, and the Japanese soldiers in the water had no time to dodge and were blown to death in the river in large numbers.

However, there were too many Japanese devils, and this method could not hold them off for long.

Chen Jianghe quickly ordered: "Go, inform the battalion commander immediately and tell him that the Japanese reinforcements have arrived and we can no longer stop them."

"Yes!"

A soldier nearby quickly responded, turned around and ran away.

Chen Jianghe shouted loudly: "Brothers, fight hard. We must stop these damn devils at all costs."

"Yes!"

The brothers responded loudly.

At this time, seeing that some Japanese soldiers were already climbing out of the river, the brothers could only shoot desperately.

The firepower of the Japanese on the opposite side was too strong. Although the dozens of men under Chen Jianghe fought desperately, they were outnumbered and were no match for the Japanese at all.

As the battle progressed, casualties increased.

Seeing his brothers falling one after another, Chen Jianghe was furious. He knew that they could not retreat now. If they let this group of Japanese devils rush into Caojiazhou, the consequences would be disastrous.

Now we must try to buy as much time as possible, even if it means sacrificing our lives. Chen Jianghe shouted loudly: "Brothers, fight them."

"Boom~! Boom~!"

At this moment, a series of violent explosions sounded, and the Japanese soldiers in the river and on the opposite bank were blown to pieces, with heavy casualties.

The Japanese machine guns on the opposite bank were engulfed by artillery fire one after another, and the Japanese gathered on the shore also suffered heavy casualties.

There were also artillery shells falling continuously into the river, and the Japanese soldiers in the water floated on the water one by one like fried fish.

The Japanese mortars and grenade launchers on the other side of the river were all silenced by the explosion.

Chen Jianghe was also dumbfounded when he saw this scene.

"what happened?"

A soldier nearby said, "It's our artillery support."

Chen Jianghe said, "Are you still asleep? Can our artillery fire here?"

The soldier asked, "Could it be the Japs' artillery?"

"How come they all fell into the hands of the devils?"

At this time, another group of Japanese soldiers climbed up from the river. Chen Jianghe didn't care about that anymore and shouted, "Hit them hard. Kill the Japanese soldiers crossing the river first."

The morale of the brothers was greatly boosted. Without the fire suppression from the other side, the brothers raised their guns and shot at the Japanese.

The Japanese soldiers who had just climbed ashore and had not yet stood firm saw that the large force behind them was being bombarded. They were all confused and panicked, not knowing what to do.

Chen Jianghe and his men took the opportunity to fire fiercely, and these Japanese devils were soon all wiped out.

However, the main force of the Japanese invaders on the other side of the river suffered heavy artillery bombardment for ten minutes.

The Japanese were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. Out of a team of more than a thousand people, only a few were left alive.

Chen Jianghe couldn't help but smile when he saw that the Japanese on the other side had suffered heavy casualties and were probably unable to attack for the time being.

“Great job!”

"But who bombed them?" one soldier asked.

Chen Jianghe frowned and said, "If it's not our gun, then it's most likely the Japanese gun."

“Yes, yes, yes~!”

A soldier said: "The shells are coming from the north. They must be the Japanese artillery."

"Why did the Japs want to blow themselves up?"

Chen Jianghe said thoughtfully: "That must be because the devils marked the wrong parameters and caused the accidental bombing."

From the perspective of Chen Jianghe and his men on the other side of the river, the shells were flying from the northwest.

But to the Japanese soldiers who were bombed, the shells seemed to be flying from the direction of Caojiazhou in the south.

The reason why such a strange scene happened was that these shells appeared out of thin air.

Chen Jianghe and the Japanese soldiers who were bombed were not mistaken, or it could be said that they were all mistaken.

It can also be said that the system deliberately created different illusions for them.

Because this round of shelling was caused by Li Guotao using the artillery preparation card.

Seeing so many Japanese soldiers about to rush over, Li Guotao and his men would not be able to retreat calmly if they did not stop them. So, Li Guotao was forced to use this very precious artillery preparation card.

After one round of shelling, a large battalion of Japanese soldiers was basically wiped out, and hundreds of Japanese soldiers were killed, so it was not a waste.

Both sides saw different scenes and both thought that the shells were flying from the opposite side. However, neither side would contradict each other in their testimonies, so naturally no one would suspect anything. Even if the descriptions of both sides are inconsistent in the future, it will only become a historical unsolved case.

This was no longer a problem that Li Guotao needed to consider. He now only wanted to retreat to Hengyang safely as quickly as possible.

At this time, Li Guotao had already arrived at the riverside, and Yang Jihe immediately came to meet him.

"How about it?"

Li Guotao said: "Everything is going relatively smoothly, except that the Japanese reinforcements have arrived."

At this time, Yang Jihe saw the continuous artillery fire in the north, frowned and said: "Damn! Is the Japanese artillery fire so fierce?"

Li Guotao shook his head and said, "I don't know. Chen Jianghe and his men are desperately trying to stop the Japanese. We must hurry up."

Yang Jihe said quickly: "Then speed up. There are not many Japanese soldiers on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. They pose no threat to us. We can load the ship safely and then retreat to Hengyang."

"It's just that... there are still too few motorboats. I'm afraid they can't hold too much loot."

Li Guotao said, "Take as much as you can. Pick up the anti-gas equipment and medicines first. These things are not too heavy, so we should be able to take more."

"As for weapons and ammunition? If there is no other choice, we will have to leave them alone. Destroy them together with the other spoils of war."

"I've already asked them to start making arrangements. By then, the entire village will be blown up and all the supplies will be burned."

"We can't transport it away, but we can't let the damn Japanese get away with it."

Yang Jihe felt somewhat distressed when he heard this, but now was not the time to worry about this.

"It can only be the!"

"Brothers, speed up, hurry up~!"

"Yes!"

The brothers acted quickly and soon filled all the motorboats. Then they set out in batches, going down the river straight to Hengyang.

Li Guotao asked: "Captain, have you contacted the military?"

Yang Jihe said: "The military called back and the Flying Tigers called back to say that their planes had taken off as planned."

"Great!"

Now it was already daybreak, and with the support of the Flying Tigers' planes, they could retreat safely to Hengyang.

Li Guotao said: "Even so, we have to be careful. The motorboats will set out in batches and try to stay in the center of the Xiangjiang River and cross the enemy's defense zone as quickly as possible."

"it is good!"

Li Guotao continued, "Captain, you take the brothers and go first. I will stay behind to cover your retreat."

"no!"

Yang Jihe refused without even thinking about it.

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Hey, my dear commander! It's already this late, can we stop arguing?"

"Besides, leaving early may not necessarily be safe!"

"Maybe when we pass through the enemy's defense zone, we'll be sunk by a single Japanese artillery fire!"

Yang Jihe thought about it and it seemed to be true, but it seemed even more unsafe to walk backwards.

But this was not the time to argue about this, Yang Jihe said: "Okay, then I will explore the way ahead."

Li Guotao smiled slightly and said, "Then let's meet in Hengyang."

Yang Jihe didn't waste any more time and took his brothers on the motorboats. The motorboats set off one after another, going down the river all the way towards Hengyang.

Every motorboat was loaded with supplies. In order to load more supplies, many soldiers who were good at swimming simply did not sit on the motorboats to take up space, but jumped into the water directly, tied themselves to the motorboats with ropes, and followed the motorboats down the river. Although the water was turbulent, as long as they were careful, there would not be any big problems. (End of this chapter)