Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 157 Watermelon, Misi Misi
The New Second Regiment has been keeping an eye on every move of the Japanese since they left Dongli Town.

After leading the Japs to the southeast through constant harassment, the guerrillas stopped attacking and began to follow the Japs on the periphery.

The next day, seeing that the Japs were getting closer and closer to the pocket formation, just when everyone was gearing up for battle, something unexpected happened.

After crossing the small canal, the Japanese did not continue to move southeast, but changed direction and began to advance south.

"Old Chen, what should we do?" Luo Ping asked anxiously.

The Japanese are now very close to Hetou Village. If we continue to harass or seduce them, it will only be an encounter battle, not an ambush.

In that case, the entire arrangement would be null and void.

"Let me think about it." Chen Chengxing felt a headache when looking at the map. The only place suitable for ambush in this area was Hetou Village.

There is a small canal to the northeast of Hetou Village, and there are large lotus ponds around it. Only to the west is there farmland. As long as the New Second Regiment completes the blockade of the west, it can block the Japanese in Hetou Village.

Just as Chen Chengxing was thinking hard, Li Chishui, the commander of the 13th Company, said, "Captain, how about I give it a try?"

When they heard Li Chishui speak, everyone turned their eyes to him.

"What do you think?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"Captain, this is what I think. I will take a few people to pretend to be villagers of Hetou Village, and then invite the Japanese to come to the village to rest. Once the Japanese enter the village, we will have the final say." Li Chishui said.

After listening to Li Chishuai's plan, Chen Chengxing thought about it and felt that the plan was feasible.

"Okay, you choose the people yourself and be careful about safety," Chen Chengxing instructed.

"Don't worry, Captain." Li Chishui patted his chest and assured.

Li Chishui did not select any elite soldiers, but instead picked a few older people from the transport team, so that they would be more credible.

In order to increase credibility, Li Chishui also specially got a piece of white cloth and sewed a round piece of red cloth on it to make a plaster flag for the devils.

After quickly making preparations, Li Chishui ran towards the Japanese with the plaster flag at the head.

Nagata Tsukimi saw someone carrying a flag coming from afar and immediately signaled the troops to be on alert.

After the puppet army inspected him, Li Chishui was brought before Changtian Yuemen.

"What kind of work are you doing?" asked Nagata Tsukimi, looking at the sun flag that was sewn so ugly.

"Taijun, I am a citizen of Hetou Village. I heard that the locust army passed by here, so I came here specifically to invite the locust army to rest in Hetou Village." Li Chishui rubbed his hands and smiled.

"Oh? Aren't you afraid of the locust army?" asked Nagata Tsukimi.

"The Locust Army is great! The Eighth Route Army is terrible! The Locust Army doesn't rob food, but the Eighth Route Army not only robs food but also kills people! Long live the Locust Army!" Li Chishui became so angry that he even cursed himself.

"Hahaha, our Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Belt!" Nagata Tsukimi couldn't help but laugh when he saw Li Chishui being so sensible.

"Oh, yes, yes, we will prosper together." Li Chishui said with a smile.

"Madam, we have big watermelons here, miximixi." Li Chishui said with a flattering smile on his face.

"Watermelon?" Nagata Tsukimi perked up.

He led his troops on a sweep for most of the day, and now it was already 12 o'clock. The weather in June was getting hot, and it would be a pleasure to have a watermelon to eat.

"That's right, watermelon. I brought one with me. Your Majesty, please try it first. It must be delicious." Li Chishui said as he waved his hand behind him.

When Li Chishui and his friends placed the big round watermelon in front of Changtian Yuejian, Changtian Yuejian started drooling.

Nagata Tsukimi asked the ammunition handler beside him to place an ammunition box on the ground and said to Li Chishui, "Hurry and put it in place."

After Li Chishui arranged the watermelons, Nagata Yuejian drew out his command knife with a clang and cut the watermelons in half with one stroke.

"Yoshi. Yoshi" Looking at the red flesh of the melon, Nagata Tsukimi cheered repeatedly.

After playing around with cutting the watermelon into small pieces, Nagata Tsukimi picked one up and started eating it.

After being thirsty for most of the day, she suddenly had a juicy and sweet watermelon to eat. Nagata Tsukimi was so happy that she was bubbling with joy.

"Wow, the watermelon is so delicious!" Nagata Tsukimi gave a thumbs up.

Seeing Nagata Tsukimi eating with relish, the Japanese soldiers and traitors around him drooled; they were also hot and thirsty.

After Changtian Yuejian had eaten his fill, he stood up and said, "You, the good citizen, lead the way, and the locust soldiers can take a rest."

"Hi!"

"Please!" Li Chishui gestured immediately.

In the regiment headquarters that had been hidden for a long time, Chen Chengxing looked through a telescope at Li Chishui who was leading the Japanese soldiers and talking and laughing all the way, and he couldn't help laughing.

If he didn't know his situation, Chen Chengxing would really have regarded him as a traitor.

Perhaps it is easy to feel sleepy after eating and drinking too much, so Nagata Tsukimi led the troops into Hetou Village on horseback, ready to take a rest.

However, after entering Hetou Village, Changtian Yuejian found that the village was a little quiet. He lowered his head and prepared to ask Li Chishui where all the villagers had gone.

But only then did he realize that Li Chishui, who had just been talking to him, had disappeared.

And not only him, all the other good citizens disappeared.

Nagata Tsukimi immediately reacted: "Baka! We've been fooled! Cunning Chinese!"

"Get ready for battle!" Nagata Tsukimi jumped off his horse and shouted.

As soon as Nagata Tsukimi finished shouting, the New Second Regiment, which had been hiding in the ditches beside the fields, opened fire at full force.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
The unprepared Japanese were beaten and retreated back to the village in a panic.

"Immediately search the village for enemies, and the rest of you hurry to set up a defense line!" After retreating into the village, Nagata Tsukimi ordered.

A few minutes later, after searching the houses in the village and finding no enemies, Nagata Tsukimi immediately used the entire village as a position and began to defend and counterattack. "Taijun, let's ask for help immediately." Ma Ziqi said anxiously.

He is a good traitor and doesn't want to die here.

"Haha, Ma Sang, don't worry, I already have a plan to defeat the enemy!" Nagata Tsukimi said confidently.

He had just seen the situation in Hetou Village. Although the Eighth Route Army had blocked their exit, the Locust Army could also concentrate its forces to block the attack of the Eighth Route Army.

I brought a lot of supplies this time, enough to fight against the Eighth Route Army.

Moreover, they have cavalry. When the Eighth Route Army finds that they cannot take Hetou Village and wants to retreat, that will be the time when they pay the price.

Seeing that the artillery had completed its preparations, Nagata Tsukimi immediately ordered: "Fire! Attack the Eighth Route Army's positions!"

"Hai!"

The artillery squad leader immediately instructed each gun to fire.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Under the command of Nagata Tsukimi, the Japanese artillery fired indiscriminately at the west end of the village.

Although this move was like a headless fly, the firepower of Nagata Tsukimi's two guns was indeed strong. By taking advantage of the range, they actually exerted great suppression on the New Second Regiment.

This time, Chen Chengxing only had a total of four infantry companies in addition to the infantry artillery company. Although other directions were conducive to blockade, manpower also needed to be deployed, so only the Guard Company, the 4st Company and the 1th Company participated in the frontal attack.

The 5th Company was responsible for blocking other directions with the cooperation of local guerrillas and militia.

Seeing that the casualties of the troops began to increase, Chen Chengxing immediately ordered: "Stop the attack and maintain the blockade."

"Send a telegram to the brigade commander, asking him to coordinate with friendly forces in the counties surrounding Anyang to delay the dispatch of troops to support the Japanese troops in Anyang. We need 24 hours." Chen Chengxing ordered the telegraph operator beside him.

After having the radio station, although the New Second Regiment was put under a tight rein, it also brought great benefits and played a big role in communication coordination.

"Old Chen, this group of Japanese devils are quite capable in combat and their reaction speed is also very fast." Luo Ping said on the side.

Even though Nagata Tsukimi seems a bit unskilled, the troops he leads are not weak at all.

Luo Ping saw clearly that although the Japanese were in a very bad state after being suddenly attacked at the village entrance, they responded well and did not suffer many casualties.

"No matter how strong his fighting ability is, he is just a turtle in a jar now." Chen Chengxing said disdainfully.

This is what it means when one incompetent general leads to the exhaustion of the entire army.

No matter how elite the Japanese soldiers were, they were brought into a desperate situation by Nagata Tsukimi, and now their lives were on countdown.

"Order the troops. If the Japanese do not make any movement, wait until night to launch the attack. If the Japanese show signs of being aware of the encirclement and trying to break out, launch an attack immediately!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

Chen Chengxing had already made preparations. As long as the Japanese dared to spend the night in Hetou Village, the New Second Regiment would be able to use the advance arrangements to catch them off guard.

If Nagata Tsukimi were suddenly possessed by a divine being and chose to break out by force, we would have no choice but to attack despite casualties.

"Yes!" The combat staff officer on the side immediately passed the order down.

In Hetou Village.

Seeing that the Eighth Route Army outside had stopped attacking, Nagata Tsukimi was not at all panicked about being surrounded. Instead, he said very proudly: "The Eighth Route Army is just like this. They can't do anything to Nagata's battalion!"

"Yes, yes, the Locust Army is much more powerful." Ma Ziqi didn't expect that it would be so easy to stop the attack of the Eighth Route Army. He was a little confused at this time. Could it be that the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness was exaggerated?
When the Japanese soldiers in Hetou Village saw that the Eighth Route Army had stopped attacking, they immediately took the time to build temporary fortifications.

It was not until the evening that the Japanese built defensive fortifications using several large houses in Hetou Village.

Taking advantage of the last rays of light, the Japanese soldiers in Hetou Village fired a burst of gunfire at the surrounding farmlands and lotus ponds as a fire reconnaissance. Seeing that there was nothing happening, the Japanese soldiers ordered the puppet troops to be on guard outside, and they fell asleep. They wanted to prepare for the upcoming battle.

At midnight, when the puppet troops were drowsy there, the New Second Regiment began to move.

"Commander, the comrades are ready." Guard Company Commander Lu Ze reported.

"Okay, let's get started!" Chen Chengxing said seriously.

The reason why Chen Chengxing chose Hetou Village as the pocket formation was not only because it was easy to blockade, but also because there was an underground tunnel connecting the inside and outside of the village.

Although the tunnel in Hetou Village cannot be dug very deep and its scope is not particularly large due to its proximity to the small canal, this tunnel connecting the inside and the outside can play a decisive role.

From ancient times to the present, no matter how effective the defense is, it is helpless in the face of internal destruction.

In a private house in the southwest corner of Hetou Village, a small crack appeared on the bluestone slab on the earthen kang, and a pair of eyes looked around through the gap.

Seeing that there was no enemy, he gently moved the bluestone slab to the side, and the soldiers began to file out.

The first soldier to come out immediately set up control of the surrounding area to prevent any unexpected situations.

After all the soldiers had climbed out, Lu Ze gave the order: "Platoon leader, you lead squad 2 to advance to the west; squad leader, you lead squad 1 to advance to the east; I will lead squads 3 and 4 to attack the enemy's position."

Because the guard company is responsible for guard missions, it has a four-four system, which is different from the three-three system of ordinary infantry companies. That is, it has four infantry platoons and each infantry platoon has four infantry squads.

As for the personnel and equipment configuration, Chen Chengxing copied it directly from the Japanese, with a squad consisting of 13 people.

However, in order to strengthen the firepower this time, Chen Chengxing specially reinforced each of the four squads in the first row with a machine gun group. The reconnaissance platoon also transferred all the grenade throwers over, reinforcing each squad with one group.

So now each intensive class has 19 people, and 2 classes have 38 people.

Such firepower, which has already entered the hinterland, can turn the Japanese army upside down.

"Are you clear about everything?" Lu Ze asked in a low voice.

"Understood!" Several people nodded to show that they received it.

They were very clear about their mission, which was to disrupt the enemy's deployment and prevent them from organizing an effective defense. The large force would take the opportunity to break into Hetou Village.

Once the fight enters close combat or hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese artillery will become useless.

The New Second Regiment and local guerrillas now have more than 5 people here, and they can easily defeat 2 Japanese devils and puppet troops.

(End of this chapter)