Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 205: The Leader's Deal Is Really Worth It

The next day, Xu Wu finally arrived at the vicinity of Xiaogang Village with a battalion of exhausted troops.

Before Xu Wu could catch his breath, he received the order from the communicator.

"Captain Xu, the regiment commander has ordered that the first battalion move to Shita Village to rest and wait for orders. At night, the first battalion, the first guerrilla team, and the second battalion will jointly carry out the main attack!"

"okay, I get it."

Shita Village is not far from Xiaogang Village, only about ten minutes away, so you can rest there.

At this time, Chen Chengxing had already moved the forward command to Chaijin Mountain, where he could see the entire battlefield, including the general situation of Dashikou.

Late at night, Ma Youfu led the assault company, along the ditches and low walls, secretly sneaking through the three barbed wire fences of the Japanese, avoiding the searchlights.

The soldiers of the entire assault company were all elite soldiers selected from the Second Battalion who were best at night combat and close combat. Advancing in the dark at night felt not much different from daytime.

The Japanese in Mahe Town did not notice anything unusual. Of course, this was also because the Japanese had not completed all the fortifications. Normally, mines would be buried between these three barbed wire fences.

After passing through the barbed wire, the team leader Zheng Hua looked at the silent Mahe Town and laughed softly, "It seems that the harassment at all times of day and night has paralyzed the Japanese. They must be sleepy. They are probably sleeping now."

"Comrade Youfu, we can handle it ourselves from now on. You can rest here first or retreat." Zheng Hua turned his head and instructed.

The further you go in, the more dangerous it becomes. Although Ma Youfu is from Mahe Town, he is still not capable enough to approach quietly. Professional matters have to be left to professionals.

Hearing Zheng Hua's words, Ma Youfu nodded and did not try to be brave. He was not afraid of death, but he was worried that he would cause an accident. If an accident happened, he would be doomed.

Seeing that Ma Youfu had found a place to hide, Zheng Hua immediately signaled to the surrounding soldiers to disperse into battle formation and prepare to crawl to engage the enemy. He also sent out several scouts to eliminate the sentries.

The Japanese sentry on the outermost perimeter was killed directly by the soldiers who went around behind him without making any noise. However, when they went further in, things were not so smooth as a Japanese secret sentry discovered the attacking assault battalion.

"Snapped!"

In the silence, a gunshot suddenly rang out.

The gunshot was like a switch, and the originally silent Mahe Town suddenly became noisy.

The moment he heard the gunshots, Zheng Hua knew that the battle had turned from a sneak attack to a sudden attack. Now the faster they moved, the more advantage they would have. If they could rush directly into the town, it would be much easier for them to fight.

"Comrades! Follow me!" Zheng Hua jumped up and shouted.

"kill!".
At the same time, a battalion that had been prepared on the periphery also launched an attack.

The Japanese soldiers in Mahe Town also woke up from their sleep in an instant.

The Japs knew their situation, so they didn't take off their clothes when they slept and were ready to fight at any time.

"Everyone! Get into combat positions immediately!" shouted the Japanese captain Sakamoto Satoshi.

The Japanese soldiers in the nine large houses in the center of the town ran out of the houses at high speed and headed towards the positions that had already been designated.

The Japanese soldiers sleeping in the rooms outside the town immediately set up their guns and began to fire. They had already opened shooting holes in the walls and built fortifications near the houses.

"Bang!" "Bang!".
After being blocked, the assault company's attack speed immediately slowed down, but because the assault company attracted the firepower, the rest of the troops on the periphery were approaching rapidly.

Seeing the Japanese react so quickly, Zheng Hua immediately shouted: "Mortar! Quick, set up the guns and launch a fire attack!"

Because it was a surprise attack, the assault company could not bring heavy weapons, but they still brought one 60mm mortar after disassembling it, and the infantry also helped carry some shells.

The person who came with the assault company and was in charge of operating the artillery was Wang Chengzhu. After hearing Zheng Hua's order, Wang Chengzhu did not hesitate for a second and quickly set up the artillery.

"Attack the northwest corner of the town and use up all the shells. Don't stop until then!" Zheng Hua ordered.

At this time, the Japanese firepower in the northwest corner was the weakest, and it was also the easiest place for the assault company to break through.

Wang Chengzhu didn't waste any words and said directly to the two ammunition handlers next to him: "Load No. 2, quickly!"

The No. 1 charge is to tie a propellant bag. The fewer propellant bags are tied, the faster the speed will naturally be.

"Boom!" "Boom!".
Wang Chengzhu's firing speed was extremely fast, and he had to make slight adjustments after firing just a few rounds, so the two ammunition handlers were somewhat short of ammunition.

Seeing that the Japanese firepower in the northwest corner was weakened by the mortar attack, Zheng Hua ignored the shells that were still being fired, and chose to launch a strong attack at the risk of being accidentally injured by his own people.

"Comrades! Follow me and kill!" Zheng Hua shouted.

"kill!".
Seeing how fearless the soldiers of the assault company were, Wang Chengzhu became more serious. He fired the shells with one hand and constantly fine-tuned the firing angle of the mortar with the other.

At this moment, even the slightest difference could result in the shells falling on their own people, which Wang Chengzhu absolutely could not accept.

Looking at the artillery shells that were almost pressing down on the assault team's advance, Zheng Hua couldn't help but sigh. With Xu Jin's barrage of artillery shells, there was no one else like him in the entire New Second Regiment. The deal made by the regiment commander was simply worth it.

Although Zheng Hua didn't know that Chen Chengxing had already made plans to default on his debt, it would be worth it to exchange an 82mm mortar for Wang Chengzhu's training for two months. If they could train such a talent, the New Second Regiment would make a fortune.

Under the cover of Wang Chengzhu's artillery shells, the assault company occupied several houses in the northwest corner after suffering more than ten casualties, and thus gained a firm foothold.

Seeing the assault company successfully break into the town, Wang Chengzhu sat down on the ground after firing the last shell. After just two minutes of shooting, Wang Chengzhu felt more tired than fighting in Cangyun Ridge for a whole day. He consumed too much energy while concentrating fully.

"Report! The assault company has occupied the northwest corner, and the main force is entering Mahe Town along the gap!"

"Good! Zheng Hua did a great job!" Luo Ping said excitedly. When they learned that the Japanese reacted so quickly, everyone in the regiment was sweating. This reaction speed was definitely only for the elite, which was completely different from the rumor that the 3rd Mixed Brigade was full of new recruits.

But now that the troops have entered the town, the battle is half won.

"Have the artillery positions of the 1st and 2nd Artillery Companies been set up?" asked Chen Chengxing.

The Japanese artillery positions were not located in the town. In order to prevent the Japanese from being defeated, it was necessary to suppress the enemy, and the best way to suppress them was with artillery fire.

During a war, once the artillery positions are exposed, disaster awaits them.

Therefore, when he knew where the Japanese artillery was hiding, Chen Chengxing had already found a mortar position and hid on a reverse slope 1 kilometer away. The mortar could fire as it pleased, and the Japanese could not even see the muzzle flame and could only passively take the hit.

In order to achieve the greatest effect, Chen Chengxing had been holding back from launching an attack, just wanting to wait until today to give the Japanese a heavy blow.

"The artillery positions have been set up, and the observers have already reached the hilltop not far from the Japanese positions." The operations staff reported.

"Okay, tell the logistics department to ensure the ammunition supply for the 1st and 2nd artillery companies." Chen Chengxing ordered.

Artillery cannot carry out precise strikes at night. The only thing it can do is covering fire, which happens to be what mortars are good at. However, in order to achieve covering fire, the consumption of artillery shells is inevitable.

"yes!".
"Old Chen, since the first battalion has already rushed into Mahe Town, should we let the rest of the troops go in to provide support?" Luo Ping asked.

There are quite a few Japanese soldiers in Mahe Town. It is difficult to take them down with just one battalion.
After thinking for a while, Chen Chengxing looked in the direction of Dashikou and finally said, "Let the Second Battalion go in, and the First Guerrilla Team will move east to Xiaolinling and wait for orders."

The new Second Regiment consisted of four main battalions and four guerrilla teams. The Third Battalion was responsible for the ambush at Dashikou, while the Second, Third and Fourth Guerrilla Teams were responsible for blocking the Yaotou Village in the north, south and east directions respectively.

In addition to cooperating with local militia to harass the Japanese reinforcements from various strongholds, the most important thing for them was to block the large Japanese forces in the direction of Wuyi County, Xinkou and Taigu.

The cavalry company had not yet completed its training, and the guard company had to guard the regiment headquarters and mountain artillery positions. Chen Chengxing no longer had any available mobile forces.

By transferring the guerrilla team to Xiaolinling, on the one hand, it can serve as a reserve force to support Dashikou or Mahe Town at any time; on the other hand, Chen Chengxing felt that the Japanese in Mahe Town had a great possibility of breaking out, and Xiaolinling was a good opportunity to ambush the Japanese retreating eastward.

After receiving the order, the Second Battalion did not choose to enter Mahe Town from the northwest corner, but launched an attack on the southwest corner, and successfully broke through the Japanese positions who used a large number of puppet troops due to insufficient manpower, and then broke into Mahe Town from the southwest corner.

As the Second Battalion joined the battlefield, the new Second Regiment advanced faster and faster.

Standing on the high roof, Sakamoto Tomo's face became more and more ugly. The Eighth Route Army was attacking from the east and west at the same time, and would soon be encircling them. Once the Eighth Route Army encircled them, the troops on the front line would be eaten up.

Sakamoto Tomo was very familiar with this move, which was the ultimate move of the locust army, a flank attack and a pincer attack.

It’s just that Sakamoto Tomo didn’t expect that he would be the one being attacked from the side.

"Order the troops to retreat and use the houses in the center of the town to hold their ground. Call the artillery positions and have them fire to cover the troops' retreat!" Sakamoto Tomo ordered.

As early as when the artillery positions were set up, the artillery had already observed Mahe Town. Although it was impossible to carry out accurate strikes at night, it was still possible to support the retreat of the infantry with artillery fire.

Two minutes later, the Japanese artillery positions opened fire.

"Boom!" "Boom!".
The Japanese infantry, who had received the order long ago, immediately took the opportunity to retreat to the center of the town.

However, the continuously falling shells did not scare the soldiers of the first and second battalions, and they continued to chase and kill the Japanese.

At this time, the first and second artillery companies, which had been prepared for a long time, slightly adjusted the muzzles and carried out the first test firing.

"boom!"

A shell landed in the Japanese artillery position, creating a ball of fire.

Although this artillery fire did not cause any casualties, it gave the Japanese on the position a fright.

A shell suddenly flew over. It was obvious that it was a test firing. If I didn't dodge, endless shells would fall to the ground in the next second.

The captain of the Japanese artillery squadron had no time to think about how the Eighth Route Army knew their position. Instead, he shouted, "Hide! Everyone, hide quickly!"

The artillery pieces were all inside the bunkers, and unless the Eighth Route Army's shells landed directly on the artillery pieces, the shrapnel would not be able to hurt them.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Before the Japanese could hide, the 12 mortars of the first and second artillery companies began rapid firing. According to the previous plan, this round of rapid firing would involve 120 shells.

Then the 8th Company, which was left behind by the 120nd Battalion, launched the attack. If the Japanese counterattacked strongly, they would fire another rounds.

The Japanese artillery squadron, which was hit hard by 12 mortars, was simply unable to cover the retreat of the Japanese infantry.

The Japanese infantry were in bad luck now. They could have held out in their positions, but as soon as they left their positions under the cover of artillery fire, the artillery fire stopped before they were even a few dozen meters away. This was simply a death trap for them.

However, at this point the Japs had no choice but to retreat to the center of the town.

By the time the Japs retreated to the mansion in the center of the town, more than half of their troops had suffered casualties, leaving only about 300 Japs and less than 100 puppet troops.

However, by using the nine well-arranged mansions, the remaining Japanese soldiers were able to block the attack of the New Second Regiment.

Seeing that the attack of the 3rd Company was repelled again, Xu Wu and Zheng Hua squatted behind a low wall, and their hats were pulled off in anxiety.

Finally, Xu Wu gritted his teeth and said, "Form a death squad, I'll lead it!"

However, before the death squad was formed, Chen Chengxing's order came.

(End of this chapter)