Bright Sword: I am an undercover agent in the puppet army

In order to avoid the attacks of the Japanese air force, Li Yunlong and his men hid in the mountains and forests to rest during the day and only chose to continue their journey after nightfall.

Shouyang was about 386 kilometers away from the headquarters of the 50th Brigade. Because they returned with a full load, carrying countless spoils, their marching speed was extremely slow, and they did not arrive until noon of the next day.

Even so, a large number of local armed forces and civilians were mobilized to help with transportation. Otherwise, Li Yunlong and his five regiments with more than 5 people would have to make at least three more trips.

There was no other reason. It was because they had successively annihilated two infantry regiments of the Japanese Army, recaptured two county towns that were heavily guarded by the Japanese Army, and the spoils captured were simply too great.

In particular, a large number of local tyrants and evil gentry almost sold out their homes and properties and "voluntarily" donated all their supplies in order to support the Eighth Route Army's war of resistance.

It must be worth mentioning that almost all local armed forces, militias and even civilians in the area were mobilized.

In addition to helping Li Yunlong and his men transport the spoils, they also needed to dismantle the rails on the Zhengtai Railway Line and the steel plates from armored vehicles and tanks.

The Eighth Route Army already had its own arsenal, plus the copper-clad steel bullet production line and rifle production line provided by Xu Yang.

At present, these arsenals are in urgent need of various supplies.

Once these steels are transported back to the arsenal, they can be put to good use immediately.

Before this, the spoils from strongholds such as Niangzi Pass and Heishui River had already been transported back in advance.

Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong Jie and others won the battle. Everyone was talking and laughing, with the corners of their mouths unable to suppress the smile.

As a result, when he arrived at the entrance of the village where the brigade headquarters was located, Lao Li was dumbfounded.

What? What's going on? Why are all the captured items being sent to the brigade?

Didn’t I tell you repeatedly to put the captured spoils aside and deal with them after I came back?
The smile on Li Yunlong's face froze instantly and he almost cried.

There was a large open space in the village where the 386th Brigade headquarters was temporarily stationed. It was usually used for children to play and was used to dry grain after the autumn harvest.

At this moment, the open space was filled with weapons and equipment, and there were several reporters taking pictures with their cameras.

In front of these reporters, piles of Type 38 rifles and Type 65 rifles made in Shanxi were piled together, forming several small hills.

In front of the rifle hill are rows of light machine guns, including the Taisho 11-year type, also known as the Type 99 light machine gun, as well as the Czech-style and Jin-made Type 65 light machine guns.

There are quite a few light machine guns that are lacking this and that, but there are quite a lot of spare barrels. After all, the barrel is the most easily damaged part of a machine gun, and once it gets hot, it must be replaced in time.

Otherwise, it will become soft and deformed, or even explode due to high temperature.

Just a rough count shows that there are at least over 100 light machine guns of various types.

In addition, there are some heavy machine guns, mainly the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun, the Type 24 heavy machine gun and the Shanxi-made Type 65 heavy machine gun.

Some of these heavy machine guns have intact supports, while some have no supports and are supported by bricks, as if their legs are broken.

Then there were hundreds of grenade launchers, as well as some Type 97 light mortars and Type 92 infantry guns.

These weapons and equipment were placed together in an orderly manner, just like a weapons exhibition. The scene was shocking to the extreme.

At least, it was the first time that Li Yunlong saw so many weapons and equipment piled together.

However, what stunned Li Yunlong the most was not these light and heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and infantry guns, but the more than ten 10mm caliber rapid-fire guns placed in the C position.

These rapid-fire guns are all main guns removed from the Japanese Type 95 light tanks.

The ones seized from Yangquan County are still in his hands, which means that all these rapid-fire cannons were seized from Niangzi Pass.

There is no doubt that the brigade commander must have discovered the private storage at the Niangzi Pass stronghold.

Li Yunlong subconsciously looked at the political commissar Zhao Gang next to him and asked with a dark face: "Old Zhao, was it you who told the secret?"

Zhao Gang also got angry: "Old Li, please don't slander me! Although I have the obligation to report your secrets to the brigade commander, but I have been with you for the past two days.

Even if I wanted to report it, I don’t have time!”

Li Yunlong frowned: "That's strange, how did the brigade commander find out?"

Ding Wei laughed and said, "Old Li, have you forgotten what the brigade commander used to do? With your little tricks, can you still deceive the brigade commander's sharp eyes?"

Cheng Xiazi added insult to injury and said, "You bastard, you have gained so much benefit in the Niangzi Pass stronghold, and you still want to take advantage of us. You deserve it!"

Kong Jie also didn't like Li Yunlong's hiding his secrets. He took two puffs of welding cigarettes and said, "Old Li, the brigade commander and the chief of staff are here. You should think about how to explain it to them."

"Explain?" Li Yunlong said stubbornly, "Do I need to explain to them?"

As they were talking, the brigade commander and the chief of staff had already approached.

Unlike Li Yunlong who looked depressed, the brigade commander was in a very good mood. He walked up to Li Yunlong with a big smile on his face and said, "Li Yunlong, I want to congratulate you on your fortune again!"

Li Yunlong said with a bitter face: "No, Brigade Commander, if anyone wants to congratulate me, I should congratulate you on getting rich. Didn't you rob all the spoils?"

The brigade commander laughed and scolded: "Li Yunlong, don't wrongly accuse me, I congratulated you on your wealth before, but it was for the balanced development of our brigade.

But now you guys have already discussed how to distribute the spoils. Do I really have to be a bad guy and rob you of your spoils?
No matter how you grow stronger, in the end, isn't it still my 386th Brigade that grows stronger? "

"Brigade Commander, what you said is true. You really won't rob us this time?" Li Yunlong was overjoyed when he heard that. The gloom on his face was instantly swept away. He was worthy of being called a dog-faced person.

After that, Li Yunlong pointed to the weapons and equipment on the open space and said, "In that case, now that the reporters have finished taking pictures, we can move the spoils back."

Li Yunlong is such a person. He always wants to put the benefits in his pocket.

It was not safe to keep these captured items at the brigade headquarters, or to be more precise, he felt uneasy.

Brigadier: “Wait a moment.”

Li Yunlong's heart suddenly trembled, and a sense of foreboding came over him: "Brigade Commander? What else is going on?"

Brigade Commander: "In view of your outstanding performance over the past two days, the general has decided to come to our brigade headquarters this afternoon to commend you and congratulate me on my fortune."

At this point, the brigade commander's face darkened.

Li Yunlong felt amused. You robbed me in the past, and now you have come to this day.

But soon, Lao Li realized that something was wrong and got angry: "What? The boss wants to rob us too? No, why? Not rewarding us for winning the battle is fine, but robbing us? Is this reasonable?"

The brigade commander was also very depressed, thinking to himself, what do you think I want? I have always been the one robbing others, when will it be someone else's turn to rob me?

But he’s the boss, what can I do?
……

the other side.

Taiyuan City.

The Japanese 1st Army Headquarters. The brigade commander and Li Yunlong were depressed, and the old devil Shinozuka Yoshio was in an extremely bad mood.

In the past two days, the Eighth Route Army's offensive remained the same. As soon as night fell, they would emerge from every corner and launch attacks on the major strongholds of the Japanese army.

Although the brigade that withdrew from Luliang Mountain has arrived in Taiyuan in the past two days, the front-line headquarters also temporarily dispatched a brigade of troops to Shanxi.

But the strength of just two brigades is not enough to reverse the current situation.

The main reason was that with the loss of a large number of strongholds, the supply lines and intelligence networks that the Japanese army had worked so hard to build were all destroyed.

Right now, they are like headless flies, with no direction in which to launch a counterattack against the Eighth Route Army.

Take the air force for example. Even though they have no natural enemies, the Eighth Route Army avoids fighting during the day. No matter how angry the air force is, they have no way to vent it.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that the arrival of these two brigades has no benefits.

In fact, when Yoshio Shinozuka dispersed the forces of the two brigades and reinforced the major strongholds, the Eighth Route Army's offensive against these strongholds immediately became much smaller.

But when Yoshio Shinozuka wanted to go a step further and regain control of those lost small strongholds, he would inevitably be attacked fiercely by the Eighth Route Army that night.

Moreover, because the defensive fortifications of these small strongholds, especially the watchtowers and bunkers, had been completely destroyed, it was impossible to restore them in just one day.

This resulted in the Eighth Route Army appearing to be at ease when attacking these small strongholds for the second time, and they were able to capture them again easily.

Helplessly, Yoshio Shinozuka could only temporarily give up the idea of ​​retaking these small strongholds and instead consolidate the existing large strongholds.

Then, the enemy and us fell into a delicate stalemate.

At night, the Eighth Route Army launched a large-scale operation, attacking the major strongholds of the Japanese army, cutting off their communication network, and dividing and encircling them.

But once it was daytime, the offense and defense situation immediately changed, and it became an offensive round for the Japanese army.

The difference is that the Eighth Route Army hid in the mountains and forests, so even if the Japanese army launched a counterattack, they would not be able to achieve any decent results.

In contrast, the Eighth Route Army had a clear goal, because the Japanese stronghold was there and could not be moved.

If the attack was only on the large strongholds, Yoshio Shinozuka wouldn't have been so angry, because with the increase in troops, the major strongholds could basically protect themselves.

What's excessive is that while the Eighth Route Army is attacking major strongholds, it is also dismantling the tracks on major railway lines.

Unfortunately, the Japanese army has no means of counterattack.

All they could do was watch anxiously as the Eighth Route Army pried the rails.

Then, every time the aerial reconnaissance came back, they would bring back bad news, such as how many railroad tracks had been pried off somewhere...

"Baga! Damn it!"

In just a few days, the Eighth Route Army had pried off nearly 20% of the tracks on the Zhengtai Railway, Baijin Line and Tongpu Railway. Shinozuka Yoshio's eyes were almost green with anger.

The Chief of Staff Kusunokichi said, "Commander, the only way to reverse the current unfavorable situation is to wait for the two divisions of the Kwantung Army to arrive."

Shinozuka Yoshio slammed his fist on the conference table in front of him: "When that time comes, I will definitely root out these damned Tubalu and leave them nowhere to hide!"

After a pause, Shinozuka Yoshio asked again: "By the way, where are the two divisions now?"

Kusunokichi Hideyoshi: "The 4th Division has already entered the country by train and has now arrived at Peking. The other division is still preparing and will be able to enter the country soon."

"Yoshi!"

Shinozuka Yoshio nodded.

Kusunokichi continued, "By the way, Commander, although the performance of each unit has been very unsatisfactory these days, the performance of one unit is remarkable.

They also recaptured Yangquan County and wiped out thousands of Tubalu troops."

Shinozuka Yoshio: "Are you talking about the Hikawa Brigade, Kusuyama-kun?"

"Hi!" Kusunokichi nodded sharply and said, "I think the Locust Army can use the Hikawa Battalion as a model and promote it to boost the morale of the Locust Army!"

"Yoshi!" Shinozuka Yoshio said, "This is a very good plan. Besides, the Locust Army has always been clear about rewards and punishments! In Nanshan's opinion, how should we reward this Hikawa Battalion?"

Kusunokichi Kusunokichi: "Wasn't the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army severely damaged by the Eighth Route Army, and even the commander of the regiment, Kasahara Koizumi, died in the battle?
It just so happened that the Richuan Battalion was originally affiliated with the 22nd Infantry Regiment. Not only did they recapture Yangquan County, they also avenged their regiment and their commander.

Therefore, I think that the commander of the Hikawa Battalion, Hikawa Okazaka, can be promoted to the new commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Locust Army."

Shinozuka Yoshio frowned slightly: "As far as I know, this Hikawa Okazaka was only a squadron leader a few months ago. In just half a year, he was promoted to a colonel. This is unprecedented in the entire history of the Locust Army. Isn't it a bit inappropriate?"

Kusunokichi Kusunokichi: "Your Excellency the Commander is wrong. Hikawa-kun obtained his military position and rank through military exploits, and the Empire of Japan was founded on military power.

Moreover, these are extraordinary times, and we must handle them in an extraordinary way.”

After a pause, Kusunokichi changed the subject and continued, "However, your concern, Commander, is not without reason. It is indeed a big step to promote a major to a colonel.

Therefore, I think it would be sufficient to promote Mr. Hikawa to the rank of lieutenant colonel battalion commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Locust Army.

In this way, others will not have anything to say."

"Yoshi!" Shinozuka Yoshio nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's do as you say. Immediately send a telegram in the name of the 1st Locust Army Command to commend the Hikawa Battalion and Hikawa-kun."

"Hi!" Kusunokichi nodded and said, "Commander, I think it is not enough to just send a telegram to the Hikawa Battalion. Since we want to set an example, we should send a telegram to the entire First Army of the Locust Army.

Moreover, although Richuanjun’s resume seems a bit exaggerated, isn’t it actually inspiring?

Any ambitious locust soldier who learns of Mr. Rikawa's resume will not be jealous, but will use it as a role model to inspire themselves and boost their military morale.

Let them see hope for the future and know that as long as they make military achievements, they will definitely be rewarded and reused by the empire.

Then, are you still afraid that they will not do their best to serve His Majesty Tianhuang and the Empire of Japan?"

“In addition, we can also send a reporter from the Asahi Shimbun to interview Mr. Hikawa and report on the battle process and results of the recapture of Yangquan to boost the morale of the locust army and at the same time undermine the morale of the Chinese army.

Let the damn Chinese know that the Locust Army only needs to make a slight move to easily defeat and severely damage the Eighth Route Army that they are so proud of!
Their heroic troops are nothing but a joke."

Shinozuka Yoshio: "This is a brilliant plan, but will it work? Can it fool the Chinese?"

Kusunokichi said confidently: "The Chinese have always been ignorant and believe everything they hear. The situation in Shanxi is still up to us, right?

Moreover, the Locust Army has always been invincible. Now the poorly equipped Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared and won so many great victories. I am afraid that they themselves have great doubts about this.

We just need to embellish this matter and report that the Chinese army likes to show off and deceive the people. I'm afraid they won't be fooled!"

"Yoshi! Kusunoki-kun, I'll do as you say..." Shinozuka Yoshio nodded repeatedly, and a smile finally appeared on his gloomy face... (End of this chapter)