Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 180 I still have a chance, I can still fight
Ever since Tomoki Ishimura led his team out of Wuyi County, they have been constantly ambushed by the county brigade's militia.

The puppet soldiers in the vanguard stepped on a landmine, and then a few cold gunshots were heard nearby. Ishimura Tomoki was so angry that he was about to smoke.

It was not until we crossed Guoziling that the sneak attacks began to decrease because the hills on both sides were far from the road and the guerrillas' marksmanship was not very good.

This made Tomoki Ishimura feel relieved. Although the casualties were basically puppet troops, this would also affect the morale of the troops.

"Pass the order! Speed up, don't worry too much about the villages on the road, our target is the stable!" Ishimura Tomoki climbed back on his horse and gave the order.

There are only about ten villages on the edge of this main road. I don't want to go to the rest of the mountain villages. Without information, it would be a waste of time to go there. It is better to go straight to Mafang.

The mopping-up operation targets the main force. If they were playing hide-and-seek in the mountains with the Eighth Route Army who don’t even have guns, it would take a year to clean up Zhongyun Mountain.

Based on intelligence, Tomoki Ishimura estimated that Mafang was the main force base of the Eighth Route Army in this area.

After hearing Ishimura Tomoki's order, the Japanese vanguard troops immediately urged the puppet troops further ahead to speed up.

When the Japanese reached Heishikou, they were about to turn and continue forward towards Xiaolijiafen.

The guerrilla fighters opened fire.

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
The moment he heard the gunshot, Tomoki Ishimura fell off his horse.

"Enemy attack! Scatter, scatter!"

"Machine gun fire suppression! Kill the chickens!" Tomoki Ishimura shouted while hiding in a ravine with a Nambu pistol in his hand.

This attack was not like the previous cold gun attack. Light machine guns were used. Even if they were not the main force of the New Second Regiment, they were still the main force of the guerrillas.

The Japanese reacted quickly. They set up the heavy machine guns at an extremely fast speed and began to fire at the positions of the 8th Guerrilla Team. At the same time, the grenade launchers also began to fire at the fastest speed.

"Da da da" "Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!".
Meng Hong, the captain of the 1th Guerrilla Team, only had one squadron of troops here at the time. Facing the firepower of a large group of Japanese devils, he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't even raise his head.

However, Meng Hong did not lead the team to retreat immediately. It would be too fake to retreat when the Japanese had not even launched an attack.

Looking at the powerless Eighth Route Army, Ishimura Tomoki nodded with satisfaction: "Yoshi. It's just a small group of Eighth Route Army harassing us. There's nothing to worry about. They must want to slow down our army's movement speed. A small team, attack immediately!"

No matter what the Eighth Route Army wants to do, I will definitely not let them get what they want.

Seeing the attacking Japanese soldiers, Meng Hong did not act rashly. Instead, he waited until the Japanese soldiers were 50 meters away before he shouted, "Hit them hard!"

"Thump, thump, thump." "Thump, thump, thump."
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
The soldiers who had been prepared for a long time immediately opened fire and began to throw grenades. Taking advantage of the height, they could easily throw the grenades 50 meters away.

The Japanese soldiers who were attacked by a large number of grenades immediately chose to retreat. Their mission was to test the firepower points.

Seeing the Japanese start to retreat, Meng Hong did not hesitate and immediately led his team to withdraw from the position.

At this time, the Japanese artillery team's four Type 4 81mm mortars had been set up and the angles had been adjusted.

"shooting!"

"Boom~" "Boom~".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
After several rounds of attacks, Ishimura Tomoki sent out another team to attack.

This time, the Japanese reached the position without any hindrance.

Soon a Japanese soldier came back and reported: "Colonel, the Eighth Route Army has retreated!"

"The Eighth Route Army is vulnerable! Order the troops to pursue! Hayaku!" Tomoki Ishimura ordered.

Since the Eighth Route Army launched a blocking attack, it must be to force their main force to transfer. We must not give them this opportunity.

Seeing that the Japanese had fallen into the trap, Meng Hong began to lead his soldiers to fight and retreat, step by step towards the encirclement.

In order to attract the Japanese, Meng Hong would use the pass to perform a trick from time to time, giving the Japanese a feeling that he wanted to stop them but was forced to retreat.

Tomoki Ishimura thought that this was just a small-scale blockade by the Eighth Route Army and did not take it seriously. He chased the guerrillas along the rugged mountain road.

By noon, the Japanese followed Meng Hong all the way to Jizhaokou.

Looking at the terrain in front of him, Ishimura Tomoki ordered: "Yokoi-kun, you lead a reinforced infantry squad and the 1st Company of the Locust Army to search forward along Changgou and Kawai Village; the rest of the troops continue to pursue!"

Jizhaokou is just like a chicken claw, with three forked roads. In order to avoid the continuous attacks of the Eighth Route Army who wanted to lure away the main force, a search must be carried out on the forked roads.

As for the other fork road that leads into the mountains, there is no village inside and the probability of the Eighth Route Army hiding there is very small.

"Hai!"

The captain of the first squadron, Yokoi Sugi, waved his hand and began to advance along the branch route with a reinforced team of more than 80 people and hundreds of locust soldiers.

After going another 5 kilometers on this road, there is a road that can turn back to the highway leading to Mafang. At that time, you can turn around and meet up with the main force, or you can continue searching and advancing. The specific choice depends on the actual situation.

After Yokoi Sugi left, Ishimura Tomoki took the remaining 800 people and continued to chase the guerrillas.

As soon as Yokoi Sugi and his team of about 200 people crossed the long ditch, they entered the ambush area of the second battalion. Looking at the Japanese who suddenly split up, the commander of the 4th Company, Zhao Feng, whispered: "Fortunately, we didn't set up an ambush directly at Yanwei Cliff, otherwise this group of Japanese would appear behind us."

The Japanese are good at flank attacks. If they appear behind the New Second Regiment, they don’t even need to prepare and can catch the New Second Regiment off guard.

By then, there will be a gap in the encirclement, and the Japanese will likely take the opportunity to break through.

"The commander has never missed the enemy's ability," said Zheng Hua, looking at the advancing enemy soldiers.

Sometimes you have to accept it. Not everyone can be the head of a regiment, especially when developing independently behind enemy lines. There are more issues to consider than just fighting.

"Battalion Commander, what should we do with this group of Japanese devils?" Zhao Feng asked.

"Start fighting as soon as we are in position." Zheng Hua said firmly.

According to Zheng Hua's estimation, the main force of the Japanese should have entered Yanwei Cliff, and even if a battle broke out on their side, it would not affect the overall situation.

A few minutes later, Zheng Hua said, looking at the Japanese approaching, "Tell the comrades to prepare for battle! Mortars and machine guns will suppress the enemy in a moment, and then we will rush forward and fight with bayonets!"

Although this group of Japanese devils is small in number, in addition to light machine guns and grenade launchers, they also have two heavy machine guns, so their firepower is not weak.

Moreover, the New Second Regiment did not have that much ammunition to fight the Japanese. There were only about 200 people, and less than 100 of them including the puppet troops. The Second Battalion could take them down with one charge.

"Yes!" Zhao Feng immediately went down to convey Zheng Hua's order.

At the same time, Zheng Hua loaded his pistol.

Seeing that the Japanese and puppet troops had all entered the ambush circle, Zheng Hua immediately fired the first shot.

"boom!"

Hearing the battalion commander's gunshot, the Second Battalion immediately opened fire.

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
A round of fierce firepower attack directly made the Japanese dizzy.

"Hide! Hide quickly!" Yokoi Sugi kept shouting. He had 2 heavy machine guns and 5 light machine guns in his hands, and he had the ability to fight back.

But before the Japanese could react, Zheng Hua had already picked up the big knife next to him.

"Blow the charge!" Zheng Hua ordered loudly.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep"

"Comrades! Follow me and kill!" Zheng Hua raised his sword and shouted.

"Kill!"

"kill!".
The second battalion rushed out immediately.

It took less than two minutes from the launch of the fire attack to the full-scale charge of the army. The Japanese army's formation and firearms had not yet been deployed before they were divided into several parts by the rushing Second Battalion.

Yokoi Sugi looked at the chaotic formation and did not waste a moment, and immediately shouted: "Turn around! Turn around! Everyone follow me!"

He only had a reinforced squad. If he fought with so many Eighth Route Army soldiers, he would be courting death. Those puppet troops were absolutely useless at this time.

Now the only way to keep some distance is to have a chance to struggle.

Hearing Yokoi Sugi's shout, the rest of the Japanese soldiers immediately moved closer to this side. The tighter the formation, the fewer casualties would be incurred during the bayonet fight.

However, they could not stay where they were after the reunion, otherwise, once the Eighth Route Army set up machine guns or threw grenades, they would face a massacre.

After the troops had almost gathered together, Yokoi Sugi immediately led his troops to break out to a high ground southeast of Yanzi Cliff. If they could occupy an advantageous terrain, they would be able to wait for support from the main force.

As for those soldiers and locust soldiers who did not catch up, they can only hope for the best. Yokoi Sugi would not bet the lives of the majority by waiting for them.

The Japanese's breakout was relatively smooth. After all, the Second Battalion had no troops in the direction of Yanzi Cliff. Except for a small number of Japanese and all the puppet troops, most of the Japanese had advanced to a high level.

"Count the number of people and weapons immediately! Build fortifications as quickly as possible!"

"Send a signal flare immediately and request support from the main force!" Yokoi Sugi said anxiously as he looked at the Eighth Route Army that had caught up with them.

The Japanese radio stations were only deployed at the battalion level and were not very useful in the mountains. If Yokoi Sugi wanted to send a message to Ishimura Tomoki, he could only rely on messengers or flares.

However, Yokoi Sugi was really blinded by this thought. It was wishful thinking for him to get the support of the Japanese army.

Just when Yokoi Sugi's team was being beaten, the large force led by Ishimura Tomoki had already entered Swallow Cliff after being lured by the guerrillas.

When the Japanese were advancing along the dry river channel, the Fourth Guerrilla Team had already detoured from Xiaomiao Village to the east entrance of the canyon, cutting off the Japanese's retreat. At the same time, the Third Battalion also sent an infantry company with four heavy machine guns to block the west entrance of the canyon.

(End of this chapter)