Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 164 Return (asking for monthly ticket)

Inside the headquarters operations room.

The deputy commander looked at the Japanese movements on the map and said, "This old Japanese, Shinozuka Yoshio, is trying to show us his power."

"It is said that a new official will start with three things. It seems that he wants to start with the Eighth Route Army." The deputy chief of staff said, "According to the intelligence gathered from various units, the Japanese have dispatched more than 4 troops this time, including the 109th Division, the rd Independent Mixed Brigade, the th Brigade, and the th Brigade."

By this point in the war, the Japanese had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and were simply unable to muster the troops to engage in a large-scale strategic decisive battle against the Guo army on the front line.

At this time, the losses inflicted on the Japanese in the enemy's rear areas were also increasing rapidly. The Japanese strategy of fighting to support the war could not be implemented, and the problem of logistics supply became more and more serious.

"Hmph, that's quite a commotion." The deputy commander said, "But now is not the time to confront the Japanese head-on. Order all troops to disperse and break out of the Japanese blockade, jump to the periphery and wait for the opportunity!"

Everyone knew that the Japanese were now eager to destroy the main force of the Eighth Route Army in order to stabilize the rear, and the deputy commander-in-chief would naturally not give the Japanese this opportunity.

"Okay." The Deputy Chief of General Staff nodded.

Jumping to the outer line to fight has become the Eighth Route Army's usual method of facing the Japanese. With the current strength of the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi, it is still unable to fight against the large forces of the Japanese.

The more Japanese devils there are, the number of heavy artillery will increase exponentially. With more than 4 Japanese devils, even if they are scattered for a sweep, there will definitely be artillery regiments and independent artillery battalions involved.

"Boss, the 386th Brigade has been in Hebei Province for several months. Do you want to transfer them back?" asked the Deputy Chief of General Staff.

Although the 386th Brigade only brought four regiments, it was equivalent to taking away half of the combat effectiveness of the 4th Division.

"If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten. What's the situation in Ji Zhong?" asked the deputy commander-in-chief.

"It's already on the right track. Most of the villages in the base area have tunnels available to use, and local guerrilla units have also been established."

It is impossible to build a tunnel all at once. After the initial tunnel is built, the villagers will have a place to hide. The next step is to gradually connect all the villages.

"Now that we are on the right track, let's send a message to the 386th Brigade and ask them to return to northwest Shanxi," said the deputy commander-in-chief.

Makou Village, after receiving the telegram from the brigade commander, Chen Chengxing immediately issued an order to assemble, but not to Makou, but to Wuqiao Town south of Qi County.

Just as Chen Chengxing ordered the regiment to prepare for the transfer, Luo Ping said, "Old Chen, it's easy to go back to Dayun Mountain, but there is something more troublesome."

"What's the matter?" Chen Chengxing was a little surprised. He really didn't expect it to be any trouble.

The return journey was not as difficult as the one to Ji Zhong. Even if the Japanese discovered their whereabouts, it would not be a big deal. As long as they entered the mountains, the New Second Regiment would be safe.

"A lot of new recruits have been added to each unit of the New Second Regiment. They are all local people from central Hebei. If we take them back to Dayun Mountain, it may affect their enthusiasm," said Luo Ping.

Many of these new recruits in Jizhong joined the army because their relatives had been persecuted by the Japanese invaders and traitors. What they wanted was revenge for their families. Although they were also fighting the Japanese invaders in Shanxi, they definitely wanted to fight in Jizhong more.

Of course, if the New Second Regiment really took them back to Dayun Mountain, they would have to follow orders, but the New Second Regiment did not lack manpower, so Luo Ping did not want to force these people.

"Well, this is indeed a problem." Chen Chengxing reacted. This was something he had not expected.

"Lao Luo, how about this? Inform the comrades of the situation. If they want to stay, they can join the local guerrillas. The guns they were issued do not need to be taken back. This can be considered as support to the local comrades." Chen Chengxing said.

When the New Second Regiment attacked Sangong Town, it seized 2 infantry guns, 3 heavy machine guns, 24 light machine guns and 986 rifles.

Adding on the weapons seized from Hetou Village, Erxianqiao and Xiaojia Town, the New Second Regiment is now not short of weapons at all. Chen Chengxing even took out a batch of Type 99 light rifles and distributed them to the guerrillas.

"Well, I agree. As for fighting the Japanese, it doesn't matter where we fight." Luo Ping nodded.

After Chen Chengxing and Luo Ping reached a consensus, they sent the decision to the brigade commander. After all, this was a cross-organizational transfer, and it was a bit unreasonable for the regiment to make the decision on its own.

Brigade Chen had no objection to the telegrams from Chen Chengxing and Luo Ping, but let them handle it themselves.

After obtaining the consent of the brigade commander, Chen Chengxing sent orders to all troops, asking them to make it clear to their comrades that whether to stay or leave was entirely voluntary.

In the end, most of the new recruits chose to stay in Hebei to fight the Japanese, and only a small number of soldiers were willing to follow the New Second Regiment.

In Sifang Village near Wuqiao Town, the troops of the New Second Regiment gradually gathered here.

At first, Chen Chengxing was somewhat satisfied looking at the spirited soldiers, but when the baggage train with large and small bags came in from behind, Chen Chengxing's smile froze.

How can we march quickly with so many things?
At the emergency meeting, Chen Chengxing made a direct decision that each person should carry 3 days of cooked food and 4 days of dry food. This food was almost enough for the New Second Regiment to return to Dayun Mountain, and once they arrived in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, it would not be a problem to get food.

The rest of the food was left to the local government, and all the transportation capacity of the New Second Regiment was used to transport weapons, ammunition and necessary supplies. They also tried to abandon large carts and use pack horses instead.

Although the New Second Regiment seized a lot of ammunition, it had also fought in many battles. Now the total ammunition of the entire regiment was less than 20 rounds, not much more than the ammunition carried by a fully-strength Japanese battalion.

The only things the New Second Regiment had in abundance were infantry guns and mortars, but the ammunition for the mortars had been almost used up, and many of the ammunition handlers in each gun squad were empty-handed, so it was a good opportunity for them to help carry the ammunition.

After this, the new second regiment immediately lost a lot of weight.

After a short rest, the New Second Regiment set out on the return journey under the cover of night.

Along the way, the New Second Regiment chose to hide during the day and move at night to ensure that their whereabouts were as secret as possible. The method of crossing the Pinghan Railway was still to have the reconnaissance platoon destroy the searchlights along the railway in advance.

At night, even if the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold noticed something unusual, they would not come out to check. At most, they would use machine guns to randomly fire in the direction of the gunshots.

Such strafing had no effect on the New Second Regiment, but instead would mask the sounds made by the soldiers' actions.

Four days later, the New 4nd Regiment passed through Gunlonggou and entered the territory of the 115th Division again.

The New Second Regiment rested for a day and replenished some food before continuing to march towards Dayun Mountain.

Just as the New Second Regiment continued its march, the Japanese troops who were raiding the headquarters, after coming up empty-handed, began to disperse and raid nearby bases.

Zhongyun Mountain was one of the targets of the Japanese.

The commander of the 103rd Regiment, Kosuke Mizuhara, led more than 2 Japanese soldiers into the mountains from the direction of Anqiu.

Mizuhara Kosuke considered himself a "wise general" and was known for his ability to use conspiracies and tricks. He had created many cases of sneak attacks on the rear of the Guo army, causing the Guo army's defense line to collapse.

"Captain, according to intelligence, the main force of the New 103nd Regiment is not in Dayun Mountain. There is only one battalion of main forces and some guerrillas in the Eighth Route Army base. Should our army conduct a dispersed mopping-up operation?" Kiyohiro Ozawa, chief of staff of the rd Regiment, proposed.

When the Locust Army was conducting a sweep of the Eighth Route Army, most of the time they were conducting sweeps with forces at the scale of battalions or even squadrons.

The mopping-up operation requires a dragnet-style operation, rather than more than 2 people moving forward at the same time. Such a one-stop mopping-up operation will not have much effect.

Mizuhara Kosuke did not directly answer Ozawa Kiyohiro, but asked: "Ozawa-kun, do you know why the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was not captured during this raid?"

"This must be because the Eighth Route Army is too cunning." Kiyohiro Ozawa didn't know why Kosuke Mizuhara asked this.

"The Eighth Route Army is indeed very cunning, but the mopping-up plan formulated by the superiors also has problems. The slow advance in a dragnet-like manner gave the Eighth Route Army time to react and the opportunity to disperse and break out."

"No matter how dense the troops are, in this complex mountainous environment, once the Eighth Route Army is divided into small groups, most of their forces will inevitably break out."

Kosuke Mizuhara scoffed at the mopping-up plan formulated by the First Army Command.

From Northeast China to North China, and then from North China to Shanxi, the mopping-up plans formulated by the military staffs of various armies were exactly the same and there was no change at all.

Mizuhara Kosuke thought that he was much smarter than those guys in the General Staff who were just sitting there doing nothing, so he didn't believe in the evil of the Eighth Route Army.

Mizuhara Kosuke decided to use the "bull knife tactics" he invented to eliminate the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Dayunshan and show others his abilities.

The so-called "butcher knife tactics" means "using a butcher knife to kill a chicken", concentrating strength to attack fiercely, killing both big and small.

This is also the reason why Mizuhara Kosuke chose to attack Dayun Mountain. If the main force of the New Second Regiment was still here, he would not dare to bring only 2 people.

Mizuhara Kosuke still recognized the combat effectiveness of the New Second Regiment. If it was a field battle, he could win, but if the New Second Regiment used the mountainous terrain for defense, this half regiment would really not be able to defeat the New Second Regiment.

As soon as Kosuke Mizuhara and his troops entered the guerrilla zone, they were discovered by the first guerrilla team.

Yang Hong, the captain of the guerrilla team, ordered his troops to use sparrow warfare to blow up the harassment, and at the same time sent a messenger to Hongni Bay to inform Sun Xun.

Sun Xun was shocked when he heard the news. With the current strength of Dayun Mountain, he was definitely no match for the more than 2 Japanese soldiers.

Moreover, due to the suddenness of the incident, the guerrillas scattered throughout the Zhongyun Mountains were unable to assemble in a short period of time. The only guerrillas that could participate in the battle were Team One, Team Two, Team Three, and Team Six.

The total strength of the four guerrilla teams plus three battalions was less than 4, and their equipment was not complete. They had no chance of fighting against the Japanese who were armed with large and small cannons.

Although the New Second Regiment also had two Type 41 mountain cannons, the regiment commander had been transferred to Erlang Mountain before leaving, so he could not transfer them even if he wanted to.

Sun Xun asked hurriedly, "More than 2,000 devils? How many groups are they divided into?"

"When I set out, the troops had not been divided, and it seems that there is no plan to divide the troops." The communicator explained.

This confused Sun Xun. Why didn't they divide the troops among more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers? Sun Xun couldn't figure out the Japanese's plan.

But now the Japanese have already made their move, and even if we don't understand it, we have to respond. Sun Xun immediately sent people to notify the guerrilla teams 2, 3, and 6 to prepare to meet the enemy.

At the same time, messengers were sent to other guerrillas that were farther away to pass on the message and ask them to send out part of their troops for support.

However, just as Sun Xun was about to lead his team to launch a harassment attack and then an ambush, the Japanese suddenly turned around and occupied Xiaoliu Village.

This made all of Sun Xun's arrangements go to waste, and he couldn't figure out the Japanese's intentions anymore.

Just when Sun Xun was puzzled, the signalman sent by Chen Chengxing in advance returned to Hongni Bay.

Upon learning that the main force had returned and had already arrived at Xifan Town in northeastern Shanxi, Sun Xun was overjoyed. He quickly wrote down the movements of the Japanese and sent someone to deliver it to the regiment commander.

(End of this chapter)