Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 133 Going North
Half a month later, the brigade commander's order was finally delivered to the New Second Regiment.

"What did the brigade commander say? Where is the target?" Luo Ping asked.

Chen Chengxing casually handed the order to Luo Ping and said, "Go to Jizhong."

At this time, Chen Chengxing also understood the boss's meaning, and asked the New Second Regiment to communicate with the troops of the Ji-Central Military Region about the tunnel warfare.

In the boss's eyes, tunnel warfare was first developed by the New Second Regiment, and Chen Chengxing must be an expert in it.

Chen Chengxing couldn't say much about this. It would be good for him to go there himself, which would promote the rapid evolution of the tunnel warfare in Central Hebei.

Once Ji Zhong develops its tunnel warfare to perfection, the casualties among the military and civilians will be much smaller.

Luo Ping glanced at the order and asked, "How many battalions should we bring this time?"

According to the brigade commander, they could send out two or three battalions.

"Leave the third battalion behind." Chen Chengxing said after thinking for a while.

There are many Japanese invaders in central Hebei. The more troops the New Second Regiment dispatches, the more benefits it can gain.

After Chen Chengxing led the main force away from Dayun Mountain, the people left behind could only fight the Japanese with guerrilla warfare.

Guerrilla warfare is the forte of the Third Battalion, and keeping them will make them more useful.

"What about mountain artillery and infantry artillery? Do we want to take them?" Luo Ping asked.

Chen Chengxing thought for a moment and said, "Take four infantry guns, and the mountain artillery platoon will stay behind to guard the base."

Although the Type 41 mountain gun is relatively light, it still consumes a lot of transportation capacity when combined with the shells.

The New Second Regiment relied entirely on legs to walk, so it was impossible to march quickly over long distances.

That is, infantry artillery can utilize the rapid mobility of mules and horses.

In order to maximize combat effectiveness, Chen Chengxing also specially transferred the mortars of the third battalion to the fourth battalion.

In addition to the overtime production at the arsenal in the past half month, the 60mm mortar platoons and 82mm mortar companies of the three battalions of the st, th and rd battalions have been fully replenished.

Because the Third Battalion stayed behind at the base, it could wait for subsequent arsenals to slowly produce.

However, in order to make it easier for the Third Battalion to attack artillery towers and strongholds, Chen Chengxing specially allocated an infantry artillery platoon to the Third Battalion. Two infantry guns were enough for the Third Battalion to hold its ground.

Although the ammunition rations of each camp are somewhat insufficient now, Chen Chengxing does not have much time to wait.

Although the brigade commander did not ask the New Second Regiment to meet with the brigade headquarters, he only gave them half a month to meet with the brigade headquarters in Ji Zhong before April 4.

Two nights later, Chen Chengxing and Luo Ping led a large force and left the base from the east of Jiaozi Mountain. Then they passed through Taigu from the north at the fastest speed and entered the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region via Dadaogou.

The area north of Taigu is only 10 kilometers from east to west. With the speed of the New Second Regiment, even with heavy weapons, the forced march would take no more than an hour and a half.

Although the puppet troops in the Mengzhen stronghold noticed something, no one chose to make trouble and they all thought they were blind.

They had no idea how many Eighth Route Army soldiers were out there, and if they really found any, would they chase them or not?

If we catch up with them, we will die. If we don’t catch up with them, we will have to report to the Japanese.

Rather than being caught in a dilemma, it is better to pretend that you know nothing.

When daybreak comes, setting up checkpoints and taking bribes are the most important things. They became traitors not to work for the Japanese.

Therefore, the news of the New Second Regiment's dispatch was concealed due to the deliberate ignorance of the puppet army. The Japanese in the Zhongyun Mountains thought that the main force of the New Second Regiment was still in the mountains, so they had no plan to go into the mountains to carry out a sweep. Every day, only small teams or squads of Japanese soldiers led the puppet army to carry out small-scale sweeps in the guerrilla zone.

Faced with these small-scale devils, the guerrillas and county brigades in various places can deal with them.

As for Sun Xun, he set his sights on the strongholds near the Zhongyun Mountains, especially those guarded only by puppet troops, which were the fat meat in his eyes.

When Chen Chengxing left, although the guns of the Third Battalion were not withdrawn, not a single round of ammunition produced by the arsenal was given to the Third Battalion.

Although the Third Battalion has not returned to the Three Guns and Eighth Route Army, each infantryman can only get 5 rounds of bullets.

According to Chen Chengxing's instructions, whether the Third Battalion eats meat or drinks porridge depends on Sun Xun himself during this period of time.

With these two infantry guns, the Third Battalion could capture those strongholds where there were no Japanese invaders without much effort.

After all, everyone knows the Eighth Route Army's policy of treating prisoners well. As long as they surrender quickly enough, there will be no losses.

As for the stolen guns and ammunition, they belonged to the Japanese. What did it have to do with a traitor like me?
The New Second Regiment had basically no obstruction in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. The Japanese only set up artillery towers on a few important traffic routes, so Chen Chengxing could easily lead his team to bypass them.

All the guerrillas they met along the way looked at the New Second Regiment with envy. With such equipment, who would have thought that this was the Eighth Route Army if they had not been notified in advance?

A week later, just after Chen Chengxing led his team through Gunlonggou and set foot on the land of Hebei, the system rang.

[Side quest released: Support friendly forces. ]

[Mission Objective: Assist the Eighth Route Army in Central Hebei to open up the situation and dismantle the enemy's security warfare plan.]

[Task reward: skill points 0-5 (depending on specific contribution). ]

This reward is quite a lot, but it is not easy to get it.

According to Chen Chengxing's estimation, the 386th Brigade could not stay in Hebei Province for a long time, after all, the 386th Brigade had its own tasks.

Chen Chengxing inferred that they would stay in Ji Zhong for 3-6 months, giving the Japanese in Ji Zhong a good beating and making them behave themselves for a while.

As long as Hebei Province develops, the 386th Brigade should withdraw. Just as Chen Chengxing was staring at the system in a daze, Luo Ping said, "After leaving Gunlonggou and walking for another ten miles, we will enter the plain area, which means we have left the base and entered the guerrilla zone. Old Chen, do you have any ideas?"

The Ji Zhong Plain has rich real estate, developed transportation, and an extremely important strategic location. The Japanese attach much more importance to this place than to Shanxi.

After hearing Luo Ping's words, Chen Chengxing came back to his senses and said to Wei Dayong, "Monk, bring me the map."

Plains are different from mountainous areas, especially for a regiment as large as the New Second Regiment. Any rash action would likely lead to an encirclement by the Japanese.

After Wei Dayong laid the map on the stone, Chen Chengxing looked at the map and said:

"We are now about 150 miles away from the Pinghan Railway. The enemy's defenses along the railway are far greater than other places. If we want to successfully enter the Jizhong Plain, breaking through the Pinghan Railway is our top priority."

The breakthrough that Chen Chengxing talked about does not mean just fighting forward. If it is a head-on attack, it would be no different from poking a hornet's nest.

"It's not easy to break through to the east from here. It's too close to Changshan. The Japanese mechanized army can reach the battlefield in one to two hours." Luo Ping said while looking at the map.

Changshan is an important garrison place for the Japanese. The coal from Shanxi is refined into coking coal at the Changshan Coking Plant, and then transported to the Northeast or the mainland for steelmaking.

According to intelligence, there is a division-level direct-affiliated unit and an infantry regiment stationed in Changshan, as well as a large number of puppet troops. The total strength may be over 10,000 people, which is not something the current New Second Regiment can match.

"So we have to march north." Chen Chengxing said as he made a stroke on the map.

From Gunlonggou to the northeast, it is still in a hilly area and belongs to the edge of the base. Even if the Japanese discovered the New Second Regiment, they would think it was a mobilization of the Eighth Route Army within the base, so they would not alert the enemy.

"What about the goal?" Luo Ping asked.

Simply marching towards the northeast would not be of much use, as the New Second Regiment would eventually have to cross the Pinghan Railway.

If the Japanese in Changshan and Baoding use the Pinghan Railway to provide support, they can arrive in place in an hour at most.

"The specific target is hard to determine yet. We haven't figured out the situation in this area yet. Let's go first." Chen Chengxing said.

"Okay." Faced with this situation, Luo Ping had no choice but to agree.

After leaving Gunlonggou, the New Second Regiment began to march northeast.

At the same time, Chen Chengxing also sent out a reconnaissance platoon to let them understand the situation of the Japanese garrison in the area.

Although Chen Chengxing had some intelligence provided by the guerrillas of the 115th Division, this intelligence was not real-time intelligence, and the specific situation had to be confirmed clearly.

In the evening, Chen Chengxing held a meeting in the headquarters of the New Second Regiment.

"According to the intelligence from the guerrillas and the reconnaissance platoon, Heng County is an important fulcrum of the Japanese in this area. It is guarded by a part of the 114th Regiment of the Japanese 140th Division, with a total of about 1500 people."

"And the nearby Ren County, Xingping County, and Zhongshan County only had a squadron of Japanese soldiers."

"If we can quickly defeat the Japanese in Heng County, we can take advantage of the situation and quickly cross the Pinghan Railway," said Chen Chengxing.

Heng County is not close to the Pinghan Railway, so it is unlikely that the Japanese invaders from Baoding and Changshan will provide support via the Pinghan Railway. After all, people can just get on the train and go, but it is very troublesome for trucks to take the train.

If the Japanese took the Pinghan Line, they would have to rely on their own feet to provide support to Hengxian. It would take at least four or five hours to reach such a long distance.

So whether it is Changshan or Baoding, the best option is to go directly to Hengxian by truck.

As long as the New Second Regiment is fast enough, by the time they arrive in Heng County, the New Second Regiment will have already set out to the east, and by then the Japanese will not be able to find them even if they want to.

"With our strength, let alone whether we can capture the county town, even if we can, it will probably take several days. Such a long time is enough for the Japanese to come to support us eight times." Luo Ping said.

The plan is a good one, but it requires the New Second Regiment to be able to quickly annihilate the enemy. If it fails to annihilate the enemy quickly, the Japanese will instead bite it.

"We can't attack the county town." Chen Chengxing shook his head.

"However, the Japanese were very arrogant. On the plains, they relied on their own cars, machine guns and small artillery to look down on the Eighth Route Army.

As soon as the Japs saw the Eighth Route Army troops, they would immediately chase after them, especially after being attacked, they would pursue them relentlessly.

I think we can use this psychology of the Japanese to ambush them." Chen Chengxing affirmed.

"Commander, the Japanese's arrogance is indeed a condition for us to lure and annihilate them, but the area around Heng County is all plains, and now the green tent has not grown up yet, and there are bare flat lands everywhere. This is very conducive to the Japanese's actions, but not conducive to our ambush." Xu Wu said.

The key to a successful ambush is the ambush. If the enemy sees you from a distance, the ambush will not be successful.

"What the battalion commander said makes sense." Luo Ping nodded. "But I think we can ask the local farmers for advice. I believe we can find a cemetery where the Japanese are buried on this large plain."

The plain is flat, but it doesn't mean it's flat all the way. There are also undulating places. As long as we can find the right place, we can eat up this group of devils.

"What the political commissar said is very good." Chen Chengxing agreed: "People are alive. If they want to eat meat, are they afraid that they can't find a place to slaughter pigs?"

Hearing Chen Chengxing's words, everyone burst into laughter.

Yes, if you want to eat meat, are you afraid that you can’t find a place to kill these Japanese devils who are worse than pigs and dogs?
"After the meeting, each of your battalions and companies must send people to scout the enemy situation and find ideal ambush points," Chen Chengxing ordered.

"Lao Luo, it's up to you to communicate with the local cadres and seek help from the local people." Chen Chengxing turned his head and said.

"No problem, I will lead the comrades in the Political Department to take charge of this matter." Luo Ping nodded.

After the meeting, all troops set out immediately.

The new second group didn’t have much time, so they had to find a suitable location as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)