Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 147: Decisive Battle (5K)

Looking at the Japanese army retreating again outside Huangzhuang, Chen Chengxing felt that the time had come.

There are now nearly 250 Japanese soldiers on the north side of Pinghe River, and more than 300 Japanese soldiers on the outskirts of Nanwang, in addition to the two or three hundred Japanese soldiers who were killed in the previous ambush in Huangzhuang.

Therefore, Chen Chengxing judged that the 800 Japanese troops stationed outside Huangzhuang were the vast majority of the troops in the hands of Yamaguchi Jusanro. Except for the personnel of the regiment headquarters, the Japanese should not have many combat forces in Zhangzhuang.

In order to strengthen the defense of Huangzhuang, Chen Chengxing has already sent two companies of soldiers from the Fourth Battalion to Huangzhuang. If the fighting continues tomorrow, the ammunition of the New Second Regiment will not be able to withstand it.

"Order the 1st, 2nd and 4th Battalions and all infantry companies to prepare for a night attack tonight!" Chen Chengxing said seriously.

Tonight is the night to decide the winner!
"Yes!"

After hearing Chen Chengxing's order, everyone in the regiment headquarters looked serious.

Whether the new second group wins or loses depends on tonight.

After nightfall, at 10 o'clock, three flares suddenly appeared in the sky.

"Captain! Something's happening!" Otsuka Tomotomo hurriedly knocked on Yamaguchi Jusanro's door.

"What happened?!" Yamaguchi Jusanro immediately put on his clothes and went out.

As soon as he went out, Yamaguchi Jusanro immediately saw the flare hanging in the air.

"Order all troops to get ready! The Eighth Route Army is likely to launch an attack soon!" Yamaguchi Jusanro shouted.

"Hai!" The staff officer at the side immediately ran to call the front line and also ordered the Locust Association Army to prepare for a blockade.

"Mr. Otsuka, Zhangzhuang must also strengthen its defense to prevent small groups of the Eighth Route Army from breaking through the blockade on the front line at night and harassing the command center." Yamaguchi Jusanro continued.

"Hai!"

Yamaguchi Jusanro issued several orders in succession, and the entire 42nd Regiment was immediately mobilized to prepare for battle.

At the same time, at the entrance of a tunnel in Nanzhangxi Village, the soldiers on guard saw three bright spots suddenly rising in the sky in the distance.

The sentry immediately jumped down the tunnel entrance and found Lu Ze and reported: "Captain, the regiment commander has sent a signal. Three flares!"

"Three flares?" Lu Ze immediately looked at his watch. It was 10 o'clock.

"Everyone prepare for battle!" Lu Ze ordered.

According to the previous agreement, the three flares would mean launching a surprise attack on Zhangzhuang three hours later.

In the middle of the night, the Japanese who were waiting intently became a little impatient.

Jusanro Yamaguchi frequently raised his telescope and looked into the darkness in the distance.

"What are the Baga and the Eighth Route Army doing? Why aren't they taking any action?" Yamaguchi Jusanro frowned.

There must be a purpose for firing the signal flare, but what is the purpose of the Eighth Route Army?
"Captain, what should we do now? Do the troops need to remain on alert?" asked Otsuka Tomotomo.

If they were to remain on alert overnight, the 42nd Regiment would probably not be able to launch many attacks tomorrow.

Yamaguchi Jusanlang thought for a moment and said, "Lift the alert, but arrange more guard posts and move the cordon outward."

The troops certainly wouldn't just wait there without understanding what the flare meant.

If the Eighth Route Army attacked me on purpose, wouldn't I be a fool if I persisted for another night?
I can hold out today, but what if the Eighth Route Army attacks again tomorrow? Should I hold out? What about the day after tomorrow?

He did not have time to waste time here with the Eighth Route Army. After annihilating the New Second Regiment, the 42nd Regiment still had a mopping-up mission.

"Hai!"

In the early morning, in addition to leaving a machine gun company in each village to defend, all 12 infantry companies of the New Second Regiment quietly began to assemble.

At the same time, a dark shadow was also swaying in Nanzhangxi Village.

At the front line of Huangzhuang, Chen Chengxing asked in a low voice: "What time is it?"

"Captain, it's five minutes until 5 a.m." Wei Dayong beside him whispered.

"Okay, let's move!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

According to the arrangement, the guard company was responsible for launching a surprise attack on Zhangzhuang and destroying the enemy's command system.

The Second Battalion was responsible for holding back the 800-plus Japanese soldiers on the front, giving the First and Fourth Battalions the opportunity to quickly wipe out the 300-plus Japanese soldiers on the front of the Southern King.

Chen Chengxing’s goal this time was not big. As long as he could defeat the Nan Wang’s devils, it would be a complete victory.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the mission, Chen Chengxing personally led the Second Battalion to carry out a night attack.

Luo Ping stayed at the regiment headquarters to coordinate the management of three machine gun companies and three mortar companies, and provide support when necessary.

As Chen Chengxing's order was issued, the Second Battalion began to sneak out of Huangzhuang and move towards the Japanese positions in front.

Because the Japanese formed a fan-shaped attack position, their forces were somewhat dispersed, which gave the Second Battalion a good opportunity to disrupt the situation.

At this time, the Japanese secret sentries had pushed to 400 meters in front of the attack position and were about to approach the Huangzhuang guard position.

So not long after the Second Battalion left Huangzhuang, the Japanese sentry vaguely saw a dark shadow in front of him.

"Kobayashi-kun! Kobayashi-kun! There's a situation!" The Japanese soldier who had been paying attention to the situation ahead immediately pushed the soldier who was on guard next to him and said in a low voice.

Xiao Lin immediately turned over and looked in the direction the sentry was looking.

"Oh no, it's the Eighth Route Army! There really is a night attack!" Kobayashi's face looked extremely ugly.

Then Kobayashi raised the rifle in his hand and aimed at the black shadow in the distance.

The sentry's task is to serve as a guard. As long as the gun in his hand fires, his task is accomplished.

Of course the devil knew that he would die if he pulled the trigger, but he still pulled the trigger decisively.

"Snapped!"

One of the soldiers from the second battalion was immediately shot in the shoulder.

"Kill the secret sentry!" Chen Chengxing ordered immediately.

In this situation, the bolt-action rifle usually only has one chance to fire. Even if the hand speed is fast, it can only fire two rounds at most. It only takes one squad to kill it.

"Blow the charge!" Chen Chengxing ordered immediately.

Once the gunshot is heard, the chance of a sneak attack is gone, and it all depends on speed.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep" the bugler on the side immediately blew the charge.

"Comrades! Follow me and kill!"

"Kill!"
The soldiers of the Second Battalion immediately rushed towards the Japanese positions, and the noise became louder and louder.

Just as the Second Battalion launched its charge, the First and Fourth Battalions also rushed out from the left and right of Nanwang, preparing to attack the Japanese troops in front from both wings.

The sound of gunfire in the middle of the night could be heard far away, and the Japanese soldiers in Zhangzhuang also heard the sound. Yamamoto Jusanro, who was already awake, jumped up suddenly.

"What's going on? Where did the shooting come from?!" Yamaguchi Jusanro rushed out of the door and asked.

"Captain, it's the direction of Huangzhuang!" reported the guard at the door.

Yamaguchi Jusanro immediately climbed onto the roof from the ladder next to him and raised the telescope to look towards Huangzhuang.

At this time, shouts and screams were heard from the direction of Huangzhuang.

A moment later, Otsuka Tomoyo hurried over and said, "Captain, the troops in Huangzhuang and Nanwang directions have been attacked by the Eighth Route Army!"

"How many people did the Eighth Route Army dispatch?" asked Yamaguchi Jusanro.

"According to the report, there are only about 700 people in the Huangzhuang direction. The exact number of people in the Nanwang direction is still unknown, but it should be considerable. The troops report that they have been surrounded by the Eighth Route Army and hand-to-hand combat has already occurred between the two sides." Otsuka Tomotomo reported.

"Maintain contact with both positions, we"

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Before Yamaguchi Jusanro could finish his words, shells suddenly fell one after another in Zhangzhuang.

"Captain, be careful!" Otsuka Tomotomo immediately took Yamaguchi Jusanro down from the roof to the ground.

"Enemy attack! Defend! Defend immediately!" Yamaguchi Jusanro shouted.

There were dozens of guards at the Japanese regiment headquarters. Normally, they would be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived. However, due to the direction, the defense lines arranged by the Japanese guards were all facing the direction of the New Second Regiment.

Therefore, the guard company suddenly appeared from behind and stabbed them in the ass, and the Japanese were unable to build an effective defense in a short period of time.

Moreover, at the moment the guard company attacked, the Japanese regiment headquarters was bombarded by the guard company's artillery platoon.

In the entire Zhangzhuang, only the Japanese regiment headquarters was brightly lit, which was an obvious artillery fire direction.

Just as the Japanese were hastily setting up their defenses, 300 soldiers from the guard company and reconnaissance platoon had already rushed into Zhangzhuang.

"Comrades, follow me and kill!" Lu Ze shouted, raising his sword.

The guard company and the reconnaissance platoon had a total of five infantry platoons, so they were directly divided into five teams and began to rampage in Zhangzhuang.

Although the Japanese had nearly 300 people in Zhangzhuang at that time, except for a security team of about 50 people, the others were either signal soldiers, drivers and transport teams, or staff officers. Most of these people only had pistols for self-defense. However, in night battles and close combat, the role of the Wangba Box pistol was minimal, and the probability of this gun failing at a critical moment was terrifyingly high.

Inside the half-collapsed regiment headquarters, Yamaguchi Jusanlang asked anxiously, "Have you contacted the Huangzhuang front?"

Only with emergency support from Huangzhuang could we stop the sudden appearance of the Eighth Route Army.

Until now, Yamaguchi Jusanro still didn't know where this group of Eighth Route Army came from. After determining Zhangzhuang as the headquarters, he sent troops to sweep the surrounding villages, but did not find any enemies at that time.

"We've made contact. Major Matsushita has said he will bring a squadron to support us. However, everyone has been involved in a melee with the Eighth Route Army, and the command system is in chaos. It may take a while for them to arrive," reported Otsuka Tomotomo.

While contacting the Huangzhuang position, Otsuka Tomoyo also contacted the Nanwang position, but the Nanwang position was not connected, so their specific situation was still unknown. After the Huangzhuang position was connected, only the deafening sound of killing could be heard from the other end.

"Okay, now we need to hold on and wait for help!" Yamaguchi Jusanro nodded.

Yamaguchi Jusanro estimated that this was the Eighth Route Army's last blow. As long as they could hold on, it would be the 42nd Regiment's turn next.

After the order to hold on was issued, the Japanese soldiers in Zhangzhuang gradually gathered together and used the houses in the village to resist.

As the Japanese gathered, the guard company also gradually gathered together.

"Where's the reconnaissance platoon? Why aren't they here?" Lu Ze asked after taking a quick look around.

"Company commander, the reconnaissance platoon has discovered the Japanese artillery positions and is now attacking them." Someone reported from the side.

As the group with the strongest tracking ability in the New Second Regiment, the reconnaissance platoon could roughly determine the approximate location of the Japanese artillery positions by the sound when they were on duty.

It was just northwest of Zhangzhuang, so after fighting back and forth in Zhangzhuang, the reconnaissance platoon left the village to look for the Japanese artillery position.

"Then we have to speed up and support the reconnaissance platoon immediately after destroying the Japanese headquarters." Lu Ze said.

The Japanese artillery squadron has nearly 200 people. Except for the dozens of people in the artillery unit, the rest of the squadron and the ammunition team are equipped with guns, and the Japanese artillery positions are generally defended by heavy machine guns.

It would be difficult for a 50-man reconnaissance platoon to break through the artillery position in a short period of time. After all, the reconnaissance platoon only has light weapons and no heavy weapons.

"Artillery platoon! Fire hard!" Lu Ze ordered.

Since the Japanese had formed a defense, if we wanted to quickly destroy them, we had to use mortars to clear the way.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
After receiving the order, the guard company's artillery platoon immediately advanced to a position of 500 meters and bombarded the Japanese outside the effective range of the Japanese grenade launchers.

Faced with the attack of 60mm mortars, the Japanese had no means of counterattack at all, as all their artillery were on the front line.

After a rapid burst of mortar fire, Lu Ze immediately shouted, "Blow the charge! Follow me!"

"Beep, beep, beep, beep"

"Kill!" "Kill!"
The Japanese were a little confused by the mortar fire, and they were unable to organize an effective defense against the charge of the guard company.

Most of the people in the regiment headquarters are technical soldiers, clerks, or transport personnel, so they are not good enough for frontal combat.

Seeing the Eighth Route Army rushing in, Yamaguchi Jusanro realized that the situation was irreversible, so he immediately stood up, drew out his command knife and shouted, "Gentlemen! This is the moment to die! Follow me and charge!"

As he said that, he took the lead and rushed out.

"It's dark and the card is on board!"

"Onboard!".
The rest of the soldiers also shouted and followed closely, holding various weapons in their hands, and rushed towards the Eighth Route Army.

Lu Ze looked at the Japanese soldier rushing in the front and saw his military rank at a glance.

Colonel? That must be Jusanro Yamaguchi?

Lu Ze stopped suddenly, then raised his hand and fired a shot.

Yamaguchi Jusanro felt as if his chest was hit by a sledgehammer, and then he fell to the ground.

"Use guns! Fight quickly and decisively!" Lu Ze ordered loudly.

There are not many Japanese soldiers in front of us. Including those holding benches, there are only about a hundred of them. The important thing is to kill them quickly and support the reconnaissance platoon.

Lu Ze had already heard the sound of heavy machine guns coming from outside the village.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!".
After a burst of gunfire, there were less than 20 Japanese soldiers still standing.

Before the 20 Japanese soldiers could launch their fierce charge, the soldiers of the guard company had already rushed forward and gave them a cold shoulder.

"The third and fourth rows will finish off the enemy and clean up the battlefield. The first and second rows, the artillery row, follow me!" Lu Ze gave the order immediately when he saw that all the Japanese had fallen to the ground.

He then immediately led the team to support the reconnaissance platoon.

At this time, the reconnaissance platoon was fighting fiercely with the Japanese.

The soldiers in the reconnaissance platoon are the best at using grenade launchers in the new Second Regiment.

After all, they cannot carry heavy weapons when conducting reconnaissance. A 60mm mortar weighs 17 kilograms, and a shell weighs 1.5 kilograms. They simply cannot carry it.
Therefore, they could only work hard to practice their grenade launcher skills, which was the only cannon they could carry.

Chen Chengxing also allocated a lot of grenade launchers and grenades to them, and even replenished them with the captured grenades every time.

After the reconnaissance platoon found the Japanese artillery position, they and the guards at the Japanese artillery position attacked each other with grenade launchers.

Although the ammunition handlers of the Japanese mountain artillery squadron were less effective than professional infantrymen, their numerical advantage and heavy machine gun firepower still made it difficult for the reconnaissance platoon to advance at all.

It was not until Lu Ze arrived with his troops that the attack on the Japanese mountain artillery squadron got on track.

"Artillery platoon! Fire!" Lu Ze ordered.

The Japs liked to carry out artillery strikes before attacking, and the New Second Regiment liked it too, because it was really effective.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Following a burst of artillery fire, the firepower density on the Japanese position immediately dropped.

"Kill!" Lu Ze shouted.

"Kill!"
The soldiers from the guard company and reconnaissance platoon immediately rushed towards the enemy's mountain artillery position.

At this time, the gap in combat effectiveness between the Japanese ammunition handlers and the infantry was revealed. Their reaction speed was obviously much slower than that of the infantry.

With the assistance of grenade launchers and mortars, the guard company and reconnaissance platoon reached the Japanese position with just one all-out attack, and the two sides then engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Although the New Second Regiment did not have an obvious advantage in terms of manpower at this time, the number of soldiers holding guns on the Japanese artillery positions did not exceed 100, which was about 1.5:1 compared to the guard company and reconnaissance platoon.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of these devils was not as good as that of the New Second Regiment, so the offensive of the reconnaissance platoon of the guard company was very smooth.

At this time, on the outer Locust Association's defense line, Wu Xiongfei listened to the chaos in Zhangzhuang and once again demonstrated the excellent qualities he learned in the Liberal Party's army.

"Order the troops to strengthen vigilance! Prevent the Eighth Route Army from launching a night attack!" Wu Xiongfei ordered.

"Night attack? The Eighth Route Army never attacks us at night?" Zhou Cheng on the side asked with some confusion.

Normally, the Eighth Route Army would attack the Japanese at night, after all, the Japanese had stronger firepower.

When facing the Locust Army, the Eighth Route Army always attacked head on and never played any tricks like night attacks.

"Nonsense, of course I know the Eighth Route Army won't attack us at night. Do you want to go and support them?" Wu Xiongfei said unhappily.

If the Eighth Route Army really came, he would have led his team away long ago. His order was just an excuse.

I will explain later why I did nothing.

"Ah, yes, yes."

"Strengthen vigilance! Be prepared for the Eighth Route Army's night attack!" Zhou Cheng immediately gave the order.

If we go to support them now, we will have to fight the Eighth Route Army at night. This is not the way to die.

"kill!"

"kill!"

The soldiers of the guard company and the reconnaissance platoon were almost suppressing the Japanese.

According to Lu Ze's estimation, this group of devils could be completely wiped out within 20 minutes.

However, just when everything was going well, a burst of intense gunfire suddenly came from the direction of Zhangzhuang.

Then a messenger came running over: "Captain, the devils are coming!"

"How many devils are there?!" Lu Ze asked immediately.

"It's at least a squadron. Some of them are attacking Zhangzhuang, and some are rushing here. Moreover, there is a message from Jiajiaying that the Japanese troops north of Pinghe are taking a detour and crossing the river!" the communicator reported.

"The Japanese arrived just in time." Lu Ze said with a grim expression.

Although the Japanese only sent a squadron, it was enough to pose a fatal threat to the guard company.

"The first platoon and the reconnaissance platoon continue to attack the Japanese artillery positions. The second platoon follow me and stop the Japanese!" Lu Ze ordered.

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)