Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 148 Chapter 147, Zhoujia Village Stronghold

As all units were ready, the guerrillas finally appeared in front of outsiders with a brand new look after two months of silence. This outing was also the first actual combat of the guerrillas after the expansion and training. Therefore, everyone was excited but also a little worried.

The excitement was because they were going to kill the enemy again. The worry was that the guerrillas, who now accounted for one-third of the total, were new recruits. Could they withstand the test of war? No one knew the answer.

Therefore, Li Yuexuan temporarily organized Jiang Daquan, Cai Xiaotian, Xu Hongying and two grenade launchers in the first row, Bai Dashan, Chen Side, Huang Haihun and Chen Haineng, into a heavy firepower squad. This heavy firepower squad was quite "luxurious", with him, Bai Dashan and Xu Hongying, three good marksmen, and three grenade launchers available, which was the core of the firepower guarantee of the whole team.

However, Chen Laodao, the deputy squad leader of the comprehensive class, was sent to the team headquarters by Li Yuexuan to march with the captain and others to provide first aid for the wounded in the entire team.

If you ask his deputy platoon leader Guo Liandong what he is doing, you will find that he is carrying a box gun and a box of bullets on his shoulder. Together with 20 soldiers from the supplementary squad and the transport squad, they form a temporary transport team.

Xiluolu... clatter... Amid the sound of horse hooves, the messengers belonging to the team rode ahead and headed westwards towards the Zhoucun stronghold. Their mission was to contact the vanguard squad that had already set out to pass on the latest intelligence. Behind the messenger, Zhao Danian and Xing Weiguo led the team slowly forward, discussing ways to deal with the enemy.

In Liangjia Village, Zhu Xingyu and the soldiers who stayed behind were constantly placing sandbags at the entrance of the village, setting up positions, and digging trenches in the village. Although we don't know how the next battle will go, we must be prepared! Fortunately, there is no shortage of sandbags in the village due to various trainings during this period, and there is no need to deliberately open shooting holes in the wall, because these already exist.

"Granny Sun, please take the adults and children with you to hide in the mountains for a while! These are our guerrillas' cotton-padded clothes and quilts. Please take them with you when you go up the mountain. Don't catch a cold!" Zhu Xingyu arranged the position and took the time to find Granny Sun and asked her to take the women and children into the mountains to hide first.

"Okay!" Granny Sun said just one word, and then she led the women and children in the village, led the guerrillas' large livestock, and carried all kinds of supplies, and followed the path to hide in the mountains.

Two hours later, in Yinjiulang Village at the foot of Woniu Mountain, northwest of Liangjia Village, the guerrillas joined forces with the scout squad. At this time, the intelligence about the Zhoucun stronghold, 5 miles away, had also reached Zhao Danian and his men. Woniu Mountain, if viewed from a distance, looks like a cow lying with its head facing west and its tail facing east, hence the name.

There was a Type 100 infantry gun on the artillery tower of the Zhoucun stronghold, so the guerrillas did not dare to get too close to the stronghold. The Woniu Mountain and the Mianyang Mountain to the south were two parallel mountain ranges running east-west for several kilometers, forming a narrow valley with a minimum span of about meters in the middle.

In fact, this canyon extends all the way west to a hilltop about 500 meters away from Zhoujia Village. The Japanese's Zhoujia Village stronghold was built in a large, relatively flat valley at the foot of the mountain. This was originally Zhoujia Village, but now there is no one here! The purpose of the Japanese establishing this stronghold is to block this valley and the many mountain villages to the east.

In the past, this valley was a fairly straight mountain road. Many caravans coming from Jingxing in the east would choose to go west from here, then go through Xiyang to Yuci or take the Pingliao Highway to Liao County. Ping'an County is 5 kilometers northwest of Zhoucun Stronghold and is also the starting point of the Pingliao Highway. Therefore, Zhoujia Village Stronghold is also a fortress to stabilize the Pingliao Highway.

"According to the investigation of the vanguard squad, the Japanese have been very quiet in the Zhoujia Village stronghold. They have not sent troops to plunder like they did in the Baicun and Huangcun strongholds to the west. In addition, the vanguard squad has contacted the scouts of the 1st Company who stayed here. They said that the Japanese in the Zhoujia Village stronghold only went in but never came out." Hu Lanzhou's intelligence was laid out on the table. Zhao Danian frowned slightly after he finished speaking, feeling that something was wrong: "Logically speaking, if the Japanese have increased their troops, they will either come out to sweep or arrest people everywhere. They will not stay so quietly like this. What is the Japanese playing at?"

"Captain, do you think the Japanese are preparing for a bigger battle? And these new Japanese are just the vanguard?" Li Yuexuan expressed his opinion.

"Do the Japanese have so many troops? They are concentrating their forces to attack southern Hebei. How can they have more troops?" Xing Weiguo asked.

"No matter what the Japanese do, we should make arrangements. First, we should evacuate the civilians, plant mines, and set up ambush positions. The rest depends on how the Japanese act!" Zhao Danian responded to all changes with the unchanging attitude.

"Okay, let's do it! Comrade Youshun, can you give me a string of your mines?" Xing Weiguo didn't care if he used the word "string" or not, but looked at Li Yuexuan with burning eyes, waiting for Li Yuexuan's answer. In his opinion, as long as such a string of mines was placed in the right place, even if there were hundreds of Japanese invaders, they would dare to fight.

"Okay, then make a string! But I only have the ingredients for 20 explosive points here." Li Yuexuan happened to have the ingredients for 20 explosive points in his hand, so he spoke.

"20 explosion points, each explosion point covers 50 meters, which is two miles! Well, let's arrange them on the north side of the valley!" Zhao Danian made the decision.

Therefore, the guerrillas decided to set up a series of directional blasting devices for the Japanese before they saw any trace of them, and they didn't even know if they would come out. The veterans who had seen it smiled while the new recruits were confused, but they were soon led by the veterans to dig trenches behind the ridge of Woniu Mountain.

While digging trenches to prepare for battle, Hu Lanzhou and his nine men continued to observe the enemy situation on a hilltop closest to the Zhoujia Village stronghold. Then in the temporary team headquarters in Yin Jiulang Village, Zhao Danian, Xing Weiguo and three platoon leaders still couldn't figure out what was going on. They lacked effective intelligence support and really couldn't understand what the Japanese were doing.

"If you ask me, now that our team has completed the construction this time, we should go to the county town to take a look at the situation! At least, we need to have our own eyes and ears in the county town! That way, we can more or less find out some gossip. Even if it is just gossip, it is better than our blind guesses here!" Zheng Changfeng sighed after he finished speaking. He really couldn't do this kind of blind guesses without any intelligence support.

"Perhaps, we can send someone to open a small shop in the city as our cover, and buy some supplies for the team!" Lu Xiaoran said.

(End of this chapter)