Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Chapter 522 Chapter 521, How to deal with reinforcements?

Although Captain Kong was cursing, anyone could see the happiness in his heart! Of course, he was not the only one who was happy. Everyone present, including the soldiers of the Lixi District Team, was also very happy! Even though the District Team was just watching the excitement during the battle just now...

Whoosh... bang... the Japanese soldiers were thrown down from the artillery tower and smashed onto the Japanese plaster flags on the ground, staining the plaster flags with complex red patterns. After all the dead Japanese soldiers were thrown down, a soldier came out of the artillery tower carrying the wounded, put them on a stretcher, and asked the comrades of the stretcher team to carry them to the medical station for rescue.

"In this battle, we captured a stronghold and killed nearly 200 Japanese soldiers, 31 puppet soldiers were killed, and 88 surrendered. Among our soldiers, 12 from the spearhead platoon died and 8 were injured, and the rest suffered no casualties!" On the way to the Huting stronghold, someone was reporting the results of the battle to Li Yunlong and his men.

"What about the spoils? There should be a lot of supplies in the Japanese stronghold, right?" asked Captain Zheng.

"Well, we found some warehouses, especially the first floor of the artillery tower, where the Japanese had piled up a lot of food. Now is not the time for us to consider seizing the spoils. What we need to consider is how to deal with the next reinforcements of the Japanese! According to the news sent back by the headquarters, there are more than 300 Japanese soldiers and puppet troops coming from Wuxiang and Xiangyuan, and they will arrive in the evening!" The speaker was the political commissar of the 14th regiment.

"Isn't it coming soon? We have wasted a lot of time digging communication trenches and preparing for artillery bombardment!" said Captain Kong.

"There are only more than 600 Japanese soldiers in total, and at most more than 600 puppet troops. What are you worried about? The Japanese have no bombers, no mountain artillery, and they may not even bring the Type infantry gun! We should now think about how to absorb these two reinforcements instead of worrying about them coming to attack us!" Li Yunlong reminded.

"Hey, what Lao Li said really makes sense!" Captain Kong grinned happily: "In the past, when there were more than 300 devils, we had to think carefully about how to fight them so that we could defeat them with no more than 300 casualties. After all, at that time we didn't have so many light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, and we couldn't even have a gun for each person, and there were only a few bayonets!"

"Yeah, even though we just used artillery bombardment and easily took down a stronghold, I still haven't quite figured it out in my head! Now, our strength is no weaker than the Japanese. In fact, at the regiment versus regiment level, our overall strength is stronger than the Japanese! Well, it's just that our regiment has not yet been equipped with 120mm central mortars!" Captain Zheng's words were filled with emotion.

"Old Zheng, you may be ugly, but you have beautiful ideas! The production of 120 heavy mortars is so limited. We have so many brigades and columns in the Eighth Route Army, we have to equip the brigade level first, right? So, I'm not in a hurry!" Li Yunlong said to Captain Zheng in an educating tone with the look of an experienced person.

"Li Yunlong, now that you've gotten the advantage, stop being a good boy! Let's not talk any more. Our 14th Regiment will head northwest to fight the Japanese reinforcements from Wuxiang!" said Captain Kong.

"That's perfect. Let's set up positions to the west and south to fight the devils in Xiangyuan!" Commander Zheng echoed, "As for your independent regiment, just stay in this stronghold and help us defend it!"

"That's fine! But my suggestion is that both of your regiments should not go out too far. Keep a distance of 500 meters from the stronghold. By the way, connect the telephone line and place the artillery here to provide you with artillery support at any time! I know you are eager to make a contribution, but look at your soldiers, they are about to fall asleep while standing!" Li Yunlong said.

"Alas... these soldiers have suffered! Let's do as you said. We can just build a position on the southern ridge, let the 14th Regiment go to the north, and you can hold the stronghold here. The Japanese reinforcements will arrive at the Huting stronghold sooner or later, so we can just set up a goose formation. You are the head of the goose, and we are the wings on both sides!" said the head of the regiment. "This is the best! If the Japanese attack our stronghold, I, Li, can still fight them again!" Li Yunlong readily agreed.

The three regiment commanders had fought many battles, and they agreed on a way to fight the Japanese reinforcements in just a few words. Then, the soldiers of the two main regiments took the Huting stronghold as the center and set up positions on the ridges on both sides of the river valley, one in the south and one in the north. The independent regiment also occupied the artillery tower of the stronghold and built new fortifications on the west side of the stronghold by placing sandbags and digging trenches.

Of course, in addition to these, the artillerymen were not idle either. They built new artillery positions in the field east of the stronghold, and the signalmen also distributed the telephone lines they had just seized to the two regiments.

In addition, there were the logistics personnel who followed! For example, the civilians, the soldiers in the kitchen, and the cadres in the brigade. They turned into hardworking little bees, wandering around the battlefield, taking away the puppet soldiers who had surrendered earlier; collecting the scattered Japanese corpses and looting the spoils; opening the warehouses in the Japanese strongholds one by one, packing up everything that could be taken away...

When the last wave of people delivering things left, only the brick and stone structure and some necessary buildings were left in the turret. As for the rest, everything that could be dismantled was dismantled and taken away, even the stove in the Japanese mess hall was not spared! For example, in the team returning to Licheng, there were many militiamen, carrying big black iron pots on their backs, chatting and laughing with the villagers around them.

The company commander of the third company, who had been assigned the task of guarding the artillery tower, looked at the machine gun group that had been positioned facing the firing holes on the west side, and then at the cracked wall of the artillery tower on the east side, and wiped the dust off his face, he said to the soldiers: "Haha, comrades, we have destroyed at least ten artillery towers, big and small! I didn't expect that we would have to defend artillery towers!"

"Hahaha..." The soldiers were also amused by their company commander. But speaking of it, it was the first time for everyone to fight in the artillery tower, so it was quite fresh.

The soldiers' novelty had not yet worn off when they heard a thudding sound on the stairs next to them, and then they saw the sentry on the roof going down to the third floor.

"Report to the company commander, the Japanese are coming! We saw through the telescope that the Japanese gathered at the fork in the road to the west. More than 600 Japanese and more than 500 puppet troops are coming!"

"Haha, you really can see far when you stand high up! Go up and continue observing. I will report to the regiment commander in person!" The third company commander waved his hand to let the sentry go up. He planned to find Li Yunlong.

Before he could even move his legs, Li Yunlong popped his head out from the stairs: "The Japanese are coming, everyone prepare for battle! Now, I'll put the headquarters here, and the signalmen will convey my combat orders at any time! Also, Third Company Commander, you have to learn to adapt to the environment. The telephone in the Japanese artillery tower hasn't been dismantled yet, don't you know how to make a call?"

(End of this chapter)