Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

At this time, Song Weiguo ran up to Li Guotao and said breathlessly: "Everything is ready."

At this point, Song Weiguo was inevitably a little frustrated. He looked in the direction of the village and continued, "It's a pity that so many supplies were blown up all at once."

Li Guotao said helplessly: "There is nothing we can do about it. We can't take it with us, so we can only blow it up."

"Send a signal flare to let Chen Jianghe and the others withdraw."

"The engineers are ready to blow up the village."

"Yes!"

Song Weiguo responded without any further ado and immediately passed on the order.

At this time, a flare soared into the air.

"Company commander, battalion commander has sent a signal."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jianghe turned his head and saw a flare rising in the sky in the distance.

Chen Jianghe couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, "Great, it looks like the battalion commander and his men have finished their work."

"Retreat immediately~!"

"Yes!"

Following Chen Jianghe's order, the brothers who were originally responsible for blocking the enemy immediately and quickly withdrew from their positions and ran all the way to the river.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers who came to reinforce from the north gathered hundreds of troops. Under the command of the Japanese officers, these Japanese soldiers scrambled to cross the river.

Chen Jianghe and his friends quickly ran through the village and headed towards the river.

After they all retreated, the engineers immediately detonated the explosives buried in the village.

"Boom~! Boom~!"

A series of violent explosions sounded, and the raging flames quickly spread to the entire village. Houses collapsed one after another in the violent explosions, and in a blink of an eye, the entire village was engulfed in flames.

Because the Japanese had stored a lot of ammunition among the supplies in the village, almost all of this ammunition was detonated, and the power was quite astonishing. The entire village was basically razed to the ground.

In addition to ammunition, there was also a large amount of fuel stored. The brothers had previously sprinkled gasoline on the houses in the village. The explosion ignited the gasoline, causing an explosion, and soon the entire village was engulfed in flames.

Many of the other stored materials were also flammable, and even those that were not destroyed in the explosion were all burned.

The Japanese soldiers who had just crossed the river and arrived near Caojiazhou were in a dilemma when they saw the village engulfed in flames.

While taking advantage of this time, Li Guotao and the rest of his brothers boarded the motorboats, one after another, going down the river, preparing to return to Hengyang.

Even if the Japanese wanted to continue the pursuit, they no longer had the chance.

However, the Japanese also set up outposts and some defensive troops on the riverside.

It was already dawn at this time. The Japanese soldiers on the river bank saw the motorboats floating down the river and immediately realized something was wrong. Knowing that they were the enemy, they opened fire and reported it immediately.

The soldiers on the motorboat drove the motorboat down the river, trying to avoid the enemy while firing back.

"Buzz~!"

At this time, the Flying Tigers' planes had already flown over the battlefield. According to the original plan, these planes took off before dawn, and when they arrived over Hengyang, it was already dawn.

The pilots in the air soon discovered this situation.

"Chirp chirp chirp~!"

A shrill whistling sound was heard, and one fighter plane after another swooped down from the sky, like ferocious falcons, pouncing on the Japanese positions on the ground.

"Da da da~!"

Intensive gunfire rang out, and tongues of blazing fire fell from the sky and hit the Japanese positions, killing and wounding the Japanese soldiers immediately.

When Yang Jihe saw this scene, he shouted excitedly: "The Flying Tigers have arrived, and our planes are here to support us."

The plane arrived and the brothers finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Under the repeated strafing and bombing by dozens of planes, the Japanese soldiers who attempted to stop the attack suffered heavy casualties.

One position after another was destroyed, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Yang Ji and his men drove the motorboat down the river, heading towards Hengyang at the fastest speed.

Li Guotao stood on a motorboat, looking at the situation in the distance with a smile on his face.

Li Guotao had been a little worried before, fearing that the Flying Tigers' planes would not arrive in time. If that were the case, it would not be easy for them to withdraw to Hengyang safely.

But now it’s different. The Japanese had not deployed many troops on the riverside to begin with, and the troops that were urgently dispatched for support were blown to pieces halfway.

A mortar unit had just set up its artillery and fired two rounds of shells when it was directly destroyed by a fighter plane roaring down.

Although several motorboats of the 568th Regiment were sunk and there were some casualties, most of the motorboats were successfully retreated to Hengyang under the cover of the Flying Tigers.

Seeing that they had successfully passed through the Japanese defense zone, Li Guotao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, one motorboat after another gradually approached the west bank and continued to sail towards the Hengyang Wharf along the west bank.

Because there were still Japanese troops on the other side of the river, the two armies were also facing each other across the river near the city of Hengyang. To the west was the defense zone of the 190th Division, and to the east was the defense zone of the Japanese 57th Brigade.

After receiving the news, the Japanese on the east coast also mobilized firepower to attack the motorboats on the river.

Due to the long distance and the cover of aircraft, the Japanese's blocking did not have much effect.

One motorboat after another gradually docked near the Hengyang Wharf, where troops were already waiting to pick them up.

As soon as each motorboat docks, a large number of people will rush on, quickly empty the supplies on the motorboat, and quickly retreat to a safe area on the shore.

In Hengyang, in addition to the more than 10 troops of the 10th Army, there were also thousands of civilian workers assisting the th Army in defending the city.

These civilian workers had no weapons, and their main task was to help the defenders build positions and transport supplies and wounded soldiers. It was at this time that they came in handy.

Because there were sufficient personnel, the retreat was quite quick.

When Li Guotao and his crew's motorboat docked, most of the motorboats had already arrived safely.

After Li Guotao jumped ashore, he shouted, "Quick, move to a safe place immediately, everyone, hurry up."

After getting ashore, Li Guotao soon met Yang Jihe.

Yang Jihe hugged Li Guotao excitedly and shouted excitedly: "We succeeded!"

Yang Jihe was very worried before, fearing that they would encounter accidents on the road, and then his hundreds of men would be in danger of being wiped out.

Now, although there were some casualties, the harvest was also very great. Most importantly, a large number of spoils were seized this time, especially those gas masks and protective clothing, which were undoubtedly a timely help for the defenders. With this batch of equipment, the Japanese's poison gas would not play a big role in the next battle.

Li Guotao pushed away the overly excited Yang Jihe and said with a smile: "My dear commander, calm down! Be careful of the impact."

Yang Jihe laughed and said, "Not to mention me, even the army commander would be overjoyed this time."

"I have already asked someone to notify the military."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Let's retreat to a safe place first. This place is not absolutely safe yet. We can't let anything go wrong with the things we brought back with great difficulty."

Yang Jihe smiled and said, "Don't worry! We have weathered the storm, so how can we capsize in a small ditch?"

"According to the previous plan, these supplies will be transported to the frontline troops in batches at the fastest speed and distributed to the officers and soldiers on the front line."

……

Just as Yang Jihe said, Commander Fang was also overjoyed after receiving the news.

Commander Fang asked excitedly, "How many gas masks did they bring back?"

Sun Mingyu smiled and said, "The exact number has not been counted yet, but a rough estimate is that there are about 5,000 to 6,000 sets, and not just gas masks, but also full sets of protective clothing."

"Great!"

Commander Fang said excitedly: "With these things, we don't have to be afraid of the Japanese's poison gas."

Although these thousands of sets of anti-gas equipment cannot be provided to every person, they are more than enough to meet the needs on the front lines.

Moreover, the 10th Army also had a batch of gas masks, so they are completely sufficient to deal with the current battle situation.

Commander Fang said excitedly: "Yang Jihe and Li Guotao have made great contributions again this time."

Sun Mingyu smiled and said, "This operation was indeed a bit risky, but I didn't expect that they would actually succeed, and it was quite smooth."

"This time, it's all thanks to this kid Li Guotao. This guy is really not an ordinary person."

Commander Fang laughed and said, "The first time I met Li Guotao, I felt that this guy was not simple, and he did not disappoint me."

"It would be great if we could have more people like Li Guotao."

"By the way, what are their casualties?"

Sun Mingyu smiled and said, "There were dozens of casualties. But they killed hundreds of Japanese soldiers this time. In addition, near Caojiazhou, an artillery battalion of the Japanese soldiers was accidentally bombed by the Japanese soldiers, causing heavy losses."

"Later on the way back, our planes bombed and caused a lot of casualties to the Japanese. Overall, we made a lot of money this time."

"Also, the large amount of supplies stored by the Japanese in Caojiazhou Village were all destroyed by us."

"The loss of so much supplies will also affect the Japanese's next move."

Commander Fang nodded slightly and said, "But we can't be careless. Judging from the current trend, we won't get reinforcements in the short term. We must be prepared to hold out for a long time."

"It may take a month, or even longer, but we must defend Hengyang City no matter what."

Sun Mingyu smiled and said, "Overall, things are going smoothly now. We shouldn't have any major problems holding out for a month. It's not like reinforcements won't arrive forever."

Commander Fang nodded slightly and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. The 568th Regiment has made great contributions this time. We will send a telegram to commend the officers and soldiers who participated in the battle and ask the logistics department to prepare good wine and meat for them to reward our heroes."

"Yes!"

Sun Mingyu quickly responded: "I'll arrange it right away."

……

At the same time, in the devil's headquarters.

After receiving the report from his subordinates, Lieutenant General Yan Yong Wang was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He slammed the table and cursed loudly: "What are these idiots doing?"

"Not only did we allow the enemy to sneak up behind us and attack us successfully, but we also made them all run away."

"The locust army has lost all its reputation because of you idiots."

The Japanese officers present were so frightened that they were silent, not even daring to breathe, for fear that they would accidentally become the punching bag of this furious division commander.

It's no wonder that the old Japanese was so angry. The Japanese suffered heavy losses this time, and the small force that ambushed them actually retreated calmly and destroyed so many supplies. The Japanese were really embarrassed.

Of course, the reason why this old Japanese was so angry was that the offensive on the front line was never going smoothly, the casualties of the troops were getting heavier and heavier, and the capture of Hengyang was nowhere in sight.

Yokoyama Isamu is very dissatisfied with this and has urged more than once. Now Iwanaga Wang doesn't know how to explain it.

But things have already happened, and the old Japanese also understands that it is too late to say anything.

After a while, the old Japanese finally calmed down, sat down on the chair, frowned deeply, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

A Japanese colonel nearby mustered up the courage to say, "Calm down, Commander. From what we have learned so far, the enemy definitely planned this for a long time, and they even sent planes to help them escape successfully."

Lieutenant General Wang Yanyong waved his hand and said, "Alright, stop talking about this."

"It has already happened. What's the point of talking about it?"

"It's just that I'm a little surprised that these enemies are so bold."

The Japanese colonel said, "Your Excellency the division commander is right. Who would have thought that they would be so bold as to risk sneaking up behind us and launching a surprise attack?"

Yan Yongwang frowned and said, "This Fang Xianjue is so brave. It seems that I underestimated him before."

"But no matter what, we must take over Hengyang City as soon as possible. This matter cannot be delayed any longer."

"Continue to organize the troops to launch an attack. I want to see how long they can hold out."

"Even if it means wasting time, we must consume them all to death."

The battle was getting to this point, and Yan Yongwang was really furious, although taking Hengyang was still a long way off.

But in the eyes of the Japanese, Hengyang is currently an isolated city.

The defenders are currently unable to receive any support, at least no reinforcements are expected to arrive in the short term.

Even if there are reinforcements, the Japanese will try their best to intercept them and prevent them from entering Hengyang City.

The troops are getting fewer and fewer, and the ammunition and supplies are definitely getting less and less, so if the battle continues, the 10th Army will not be able to hold out for long.

Moreover, once their ammunition is almost used up, their morale will inevitably be seriously affected. At that time, we can take Hengyang City in one fell swoop.

Things have developed to this point, Yan Yongwang has no better solution, he can only grit his teeth and continue to fight. (End of this chapter)