Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Seeing that the main force of the Japanese had not caught up with them and that it was not suitable to hold on to this place for a long time, Li Guotao, the military headquarters had also issued an order to retreat to Tianma Mountain, so he led his brothers to retreat to the Tianma Mountain line.

As soon as Li Guotao and his men arrived at Tianma, they were notified that Commander Fang was already in the command post at the rear and was anxious to meet Li Guotao and Yang Jihe.

The two of them hurried to the command center.

"Commander!"

The two men raised their hands respectfully and saluted in a standard military salute.

Commander Fang said enthusiastically: "I feel relieved to see that you all returned safely."

"I believe you are all aware of the current situation. The outer defense line has been breached by the Japanese. We can only hold the last line of defense and keep the Japanese in the suburbs."

"Tianma Mountain is the southwest gateway of Hengyang. Once the Japanese occupy Tianma Mountain, they will directly break into the city, and our army will have no place to defend."

"We can't hold out for long in street fighting, so we must defend Tianma Mountain."

"We have also built strong fortifications here. If nothing unexpected happens, we will have no problem holding off the Japanese for a while."

Li Guotao said: "We have just observed the defensive fortifications of Tianma Mountain. With the favorable terrain of Tianma Mountain, it will be no problem to resist the Japanese invaders."

"Even if the Japanese use corpses to pave the road, they will never be able to cross Tianma Mountain."

"Yes, I am confident about this!" Commander Fang continued, "The first battle is crucial and it affects the morale of the troops."

"Especially since we just gave up the outer defense line and the troops retreated, it was a time when the morale of the troops was unstable."

"So we have to fight this battle well. After careful consideration, I think it is most appropriate for you to take the lead. I believe you can definitely fight this battle well."

Yang Jihe said quickly: "Thank you for your trust, Commander. We promise to fight this battle well and stop the Japanese in Tianma Mountain."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "I found that the trenches here are wider and deeper. Even if the Japanese fill Tianma Mountain with corpses, they will never be able to climb up Tianma Mountain."

"Haha~!"

Commander Fang laughed and said, "That's great. I'm glad you have such determination. I will leave the Tianma Mountain position to you."

"I guess the Japanese will not continue to rest, but will prepare to defeat us in one fell swoop and take Hengyang, so they should soon launch a more fierce all-out attack."

"Time is running out, so I won't be polite with you. Get ready and take over the Tianma Mountain position immediately to prepare to meet the enemy!"

"I'm waiting for your good news."

"Yes!"

"Make sure to complete the mission."

The two responded and then left the command center.

Yang Jihe said to Li Guotao: "I never thought that the commander would let us take the lead this time."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Such a good opportunity, others may not be able to grab it even if they want to."

Yang Jihe sighed helplessly and said, "But we only have so few troops left. I am really worried that something might go wrong. If we lose Tianma Mountain, we will become sinners."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "Don't worry, we have nowhere to retreat now, and Tianma Mountain will not be lost."

The two men immediately assembled their troops and headed to Tianma Mountain to take over the defense.

Li Guotao carefully walked around the entire defensive position and got a clear understanding of the situation everywhere.

Li Guotao excitedly said to Yang Jihe: "Captain, the fortifications here are more powerful than those at Zhangjiashan. This time, we will give the Japanese a hard time."

"The Japanese paid thousands of casualties in order to capture Zhangjiashan before. If they want to capture Tianmashan this time, they will definitely pay a heavier price."

"With such a solid position, it won't be a problem to hold out until reinforcements arrive."

Li Guotao is now full of confidence. Although they still need to hold on for about twenty days, judging from the current situation, completing this task is not too difficult.

Yang Jihe said excitedly: "Since you said so, it must be correct."

"Haha~!"

The two looked at each other and laughed.

The entire first battalion entered the Tianma Mountain position. Li Guotao did not dare to be idle for a moment. He made some minor improvements to the fortifications on the original basis, and all the firepower points were deployed in place.

The soldiers were busy until late at night before they finally had time to rest.

At the same time, the Hashimoto Battalion of the 218th Regiment of the Japanese Army, about Japanese soldiers, quietly sneaked to the vicinity of Tianma Mountain.

Major Hashimoto observed the terrain, looked at the map again, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Yo, if the map is correct, we are only a hair's breadth away from Hengyang City."

A Japanese officer pointed to Tianma Mountain ahead and said, "Captain, as long as we climb over the hill ahead, we should be in Hengyang City."

"Yoshi~!"

Major Hashimoto nodded with satisfaction and said, "The enemy's main force has been defeated and cannot organize an effective resistance. This is a good opportunity for the locust army to take advantage of the opportunity to break into the city."

"Have you found anything unusual nearby?"

A Japanese officer said: "The scouts carefully scouted the surrounding area and found no enemy troops."

"However, there are enemies stationed on Tianma Mountain, and our scouts dare not get too close to avoid alerting the enemy."

Major Hashimoto looked up at Tianma Mountain and sneered, "It's just a small mountain. There's nothing to worry about."

"We estimate that the enemy will not deploy too many troops there, at most a battalion."

A Japanese officer said: "It's just that the enemy's situation is unclear now, and our artillery units have not caught up yet, so they can't provide us with effective artillery support."

Major Hashimoto said: "Even so, we can't continue to wait. That would be a waste of time and a missed opportunity."

"If we wait until other troops arrive, it might not be our turn by then."

"And the enemy may not be ready yet, and the mountain is quiet, with no movement. Maybe the enemy did not expect us to arrive at Tianma Mountain at this time and launch a sneak attack at night."

"We can catch them by surprise. As long as we attack the mountain and engage in hand-to-hand combat, with their limited military strength, we will be able to annihilate them all."

"After we take Tianma Mountain, the road ahead will be flat and we can march straight into the city of Hengyang. By then, our Hashimoto Battalion will be the first to break into the city, and the enemy's will to resist will be completely crushed."

"Such a great achievement, aren't you tempted?"

After hearing what Major Hashimoto said, the Japanese soldiers present were extremely excited, as if a huge fortune had really fallen upon them.

The Japanese have never lacked people with an adventurous spirit from top to bottom.

Just like the attack on Pearl Harbor, this plan was actually very risky, but they succeeded, severely damaging the US Pacific Fleet, giving them an advantage in the early stages of the Pacific War.

Of course, the Japanese are now being beaten to a pulp by the American devils, which is entirely due to their lack of overall strength.

The industrial strength of the Americans is too strong, far beyond the reach of the Japanese.

Take the navy as an example. The Japanese spent nearly twenty years, until their defeat, to build less than thirty aircraft carriers in total, and that included all the modified ones.

As for the Americans, within three and a half years of the outbreak of the war, they built and modified 150 aircraft carriers, which was more than ten times the construction speed of the Japanese.

So it's not surprising that the Japanese were beaten to a pulp.

To get back to the point, the Japanese have never lacked people with adventurous spirit, and Major Hashimoto is one of them.

And every adventure means high returns, which makes Japanese devils like Major Hashimoto more obsessed with taking risks.

As for failure, this guy never thought about failing.

Of course, even if he failed, in his opinion, he just needed to withdraw in time, and it would be no big deal.

Major Hashimoto said with a serious face: "Pass the order down, prepare to raid Tianma Mountain, and make sure to take Tianma Mountain in one fell swoop by taking this opportunity."

"Hayi~!"

The order was quickly passed down, and these hundreds of Japanese soldiers quickly prepared for battle.

"Report to the Major, the warriors are ready for the assault."

"Yoshi~!"

The smile on Major Hashimoto's face became even more intense, as if he had seen the medal waving at him, little did he know that it was Grandma's call.

Major Hashimoto waved his hand and ordered, "Let's go." Under the pitch-black night, hundreds of Japanese soldiers carefully moved towards Tianma Mountain under the cover of darkness.

Everything went relatively smoothly at the beginning, and the Japanese devils successfully reached the vicinity of Tianma Mountain.

There was no movement on the mountain and no enemies were seen around.

Major Hashimoto became even more excited.

Like Zhangjiashan, the bottom of Tianmashan was dug into a nearly 230-degree cliff, meters high and about meters wide.

They dug several meters further down the cliff to form an outer trench. However, the defenders were not idle during this period and made improvements to the outer trench. This trench was wider and deeper than the one at Zhangjiashan.

The width is about 15 meters and the depth is meters.

There is a pointed bottom below, and in the middle of the trench, there is a barbed wire hanging, like a huge net suspended in the air.

In order to prevent it from being discovered by the Japanese, a layer of camouflage was laid on it to create a trap. At first glance, the barbed wire could not be seen at all.

Because it was dark at the time, the Japanese soldiers could not see the situation in the ditch clearly.

When the Japanese soldiers who were leading the charge carefully slid down the edge of the ditch, they fell directly onto the barbed wire.

The Japanese soldiers missed their steps and their legs got stuck in the barbed wire. The sharp iron spikes pierced into their thighs, causing them to bleed profusely.

The severe pain made the Japanese soldiers scream.

"Ah~!"

The shrill screams completely broke the silence of the night.

Major Hashimoto was following behind, and suddenly heard a scream. He couldn't help but curse: "Bagayashi, what are these bastards screaming about?"

Seeing that it was impossible to sneak up the mountain, the old devil gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "Charge up the mountain!"

"Give it to me, Baldy!"

The Japanese soldiers behind had no idea what was going on. When they heard the captain's order, they rushed out with bayonets pointed.

The screams of the Japs also alarmed the defenders.

The brother on duty immediately shouted loudly.

"The devils are attacking~!"

"Da da da~!"

The machine guns on the mountain roared first, and several machine guns opened fire at the same time, instantly sweeping down a group of Japanese soldiers at the foot of the mountain.

Major Hashimoto shouted loudly: "Rush to the foot of the mountain, avoid their firepower, and we will win if we rush through."

"Onboard~!"

At this moment, the old Japanese soldier still did not give up, so hundreds of young Japanese soldiers screamed and rushed forward one after another.

In this way, these hundreds of Japanese soldiers, driven by machine gun fire, all rushed into the outer trench at the foot of the mountain.

Without exception, all of these Japanese soldiers fell onto the barbed wire, and screams were heard everywhere.

Major Hashimoto finally realized the reason why they were exposed, but it was too late. Most of the Japanese soldiers couldn't retreat even if they wanted to. Their bodies were stuck in the barbed wire. Their thighs and even the things in their crotches were pierced by the iron spikes and bleeding. The Japanese soldiers screamed in pain.

At this time, grenades flew down from the mountain in large numbers and fell into the outer trench.

Moreover, the brothers were all experienced, and they delayed throwing the grenades for two or three seconds. Most of the grenades exploded in mid-air, and the scattered shrapnel killed large numbers of Japanese soldiers in the outer trenches.

These Japanese soldiers were in a miserable state. They could not advance or retreat, could not go up or down, and there were also grenades to take their lives.

Major Hashimoto was stuck on the barbed wire and could not move, screaming in pain. What hurt him the most was not watching his men being blown to death one by one, but the two quail eggs that had completely broken, which was so painful.

But soon, a grenade exploded in front of him, and half of the old Japanese's face was blown off. He died on the spot, but for Major Hashimoto, this should be considered a relief.

Li Guotao did not expect that the Japanese would launch a sneak attack at night, and judging from the noise, there were quite a few people coming.

Li Guotao said in surprise: "Are these little devils crazy?"

"He is rushing to die."

Yang Jihe also felt a little unbelievable and said, "I don't know. Let's kill these bastards first, otherwise we will be sorry for them."

Li Guotao ordered loudly: "Keep bombing. Bomb wherever there is a lot of noise."

Soon the howling of ghosts and wolves in the trench gradually weakened, leaving only a few Japanese soldiers who were not yet dead groaning in pain.

Li Guotao ordered to stop dropping bombs. Although grenades were relatively cheap, the defenders were short of all kinds of ammunition and naturally could not waste them.

Li Guotao ordered: "Chen Jianghe, take a group of people to check the situation. If there are any Japanese soldiers who are still alive, kill them all."

Yang Jihe said: "Those who are not dead are probably seriously injured. Why bother with them? Let them slowly wait for death down there."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "What if some Japanese soldiers who are not dead or even injured sneak up the mountain to attack us? We can't be on guard all the time. The brothers are tired and need to rest."

"Besides, these hundreds of Japanese soldiers must have brought a lot of weapons and ammunition. It would be right to take this opportunity to pick them up."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "That's true. Judging from the noise, there are at least several hundred Japanese soldiers. We can seize a lot of weapons and ammunition this time."

"Chen Jianghe, you must be careful."

"Yes!"

Chen Jianghe responded quickly, and then led dozens of soldiers and quietly went down the mountain from one side. They crossed the trench on wooden boards and came to the other side from a place where there were no Japanese soldiers.

Chen Jianghe first sent out several scouts to scout into the distance to see if there were other large Japanese forces behind them.

Chen Jianghe himself led dozens of soldiers and approached the battle area from the outside, only to see the barbed wire in the trenches filled with the corpses of Japanese soldiers.

The broken limbs and arms of the Japanese soldiers covered the bottom of the ditch, and the walls of the ditch were covered with their blood and flesh. It was a horrific sight.

The soldiers dispersed and carefully checked the situation. If they found any Japanese soldiers who could still move, they would kill them with a single shot.

Soon the remaining Japanese soldiers were all eliminated.

Afterwards, Chen Jianghe asked his brothers to slowly go down into the trench from the place where the gaps in the barbed wire were larger, and hang all the scattered guns and ammunition up the mountain with ropes.

As for the weapons and equipment hanging on the barbed wire, the soldiers laid wooden boards and walked over carefully, taking them out bit by bit, tying them with ropes, and the brothers on the mountain pulled them directly up the mountain.

Soon all the spoils were sent to the mountain, and Chen Jianghe and his brothers quietly returned along the same route.

And no large Japanese force was found behind.

After Li Guotao learned about this, he smiled and said, "Why do I feel like these little devils are here to give us gifts?"

"Haha~!"

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter when they heard this.

This time, the Japanese really seemed to be coming to give gifts, and also to die.

This battle was a foregone conclusion. Li Guotao and his men easily killed more than 600 Japanese soldiers and seized a large number of weapons and ammunition.

Li Guotao waved his hand and said, "Okay, everyone, stop being so happy."

"It is estimated that the main force of the Japanese will arrive tomorrow. That will be the real test."

"Except for those on duty, everyone should go to sleep and get enough rest so that we can kill more Japanese devils tomorrow."

"Yes!"

The soldiers won the battle, and their morale was high and they were extremely excited, as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Especially such a big victory is so inspiring.

Yang Jihe said: "We can't use so many weapons and equipment. I think we can send some of them to the rear."

Li Guotao nodded and said, "Okay, but leave all the grenades behind. We'll need them later. Leave a few machine guns as backup and a batch of bullets. Send the rest to the rear."

Yang Jihe nodded and said, "Okay! I'll do as you say." (End of this chapter)