Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 212: Still lying down? The Eighth Route Army is coming

"It's only been a few months, how come it's so hot?" Hong Shusen, the commander of the 13th Regiment of the puppet army, took off his hat and fanned himself while pulling open the collar of his shirt.

Adjutant Ding Cheng looked up at the sun in the sky and said, "I'm afraid there won't be much rain this year. It hasn't rained much since last year. If this continues, there may be a famine."

Ding Cheng is from the countryside and has been farming with his parents since he was a child, so he knows a lot about farming.

A drought of one or half a year is not that serious and will not lead to widespread famine. What we should worry about is consecutive years of drought, which is often accompanied by locust plagues.

Drought plus locust plague is extremely terrifying, and no one knows how many people will die.

"Who can decide whether it rains or not?" Hong Shusen didn't care.

Whether there was a famine or not had no effect on Hong Shusen. As long as he had a gun in his hand, he could eat white flour buns every day.

"How far is the village ahead?" Hong Shusen asked, looking at the big sun in the sky.

Ding Cheng knew what Hong Shusen meant, so he thought for a moment and replied, "There is a small village two miles ahead called Lijiazhang where you can rest."

"Go and ask the Japanese if they want to rest in Lijiazhang." Hong Shusen said. He didn't want to leave at all.

Originally, the 13th Regiment had horses, although not many, but enough for battalion and regimental level officers to ride.

However, ever since the cavalry battalion was hijacked by the 358th Regiment in Wanjia Town, these officers of the th Mixed Brigade have been in trouble.

The Japanese demanded that the 8th Mixed Brigade rebuild its cavalry unit, but would not approve the use of horses. Tan Dake had no choice but to target his subordinates. Not only the officers' Japanese horses, but even the Mongolian horses for logistics were taken away, saying that they wanted to rebuild the cavalry battalion.

Every time he thought of this, Hong Shusen became extremely depressed. Damn, there are only a few horses!
However, after Ding Cheng ran to the back and just suggested taking a break, he was hit hard by Shosuke Ishiguro.

"Baka! We've only traveled less than 3 kilometers!" Ishiguro Shouke shouted angrily, "Hurry up, clear the way!"

The puppet soldiers can feel the heat, and naturally the Japanese can feel it too, but if they rest now, it will be even hotter by noon.

Rather than getting burned by the heat, it’s better to hurry up and take a good rest when it’s hottest, then continue on your journey when it’s cooler in the afternoon.

"Hi, hi!" The big pussy was right on his face, and Ding Cheng didn't dare to say anything. He could only nod and bow, then ran back in embarrassment.

"Commander, the Japanese don't agree to rest. They say we have to travel until 11 o'clock at the very least."

"Damn it, it's easy for him to talk while standing, but he is riding on a horse." Hong Shusen cursed.

If he had a horse to ride, he wouldn't be afraid of traveling until night, let alone 11 o'clock.

However, the Japanese had already issued the order, and even if Hong Shusen was dissatisfied, he had no choice but to move forward.

When passing by Lijiazhang, Hong Shusen still felt a little regretful.

He hasn't traveled so fast since he joined the Locust Army.

The situation is a little better during a raid. When searching the village, you can let your men search while you sit down and rest.

But ever since the 9th Mixed Brigade withdrew its troops, he has been traveling for dozens of miles on mountain roads, which really exhausted him.

While the puppet troops were unaware, they had gradually entered the encirclement of the Third Battalion.
"Commander, the puppet troops are about to pass by." Wei Dayong reminded from the side.

"I saw it. Just let them pass. We will only fight the Japanese!" Chen Chengxing whispered.

Although the number of puppet troops is large, they will not have much impact on the Third Battalion. Even if the puppet troops are determined to help the Japanese fight, the cavalry company is enough to deal with them.

The current puppet troops are no longer the original ones. Those puppet troops who had illusions about the devils and dared to fight have all been killed under the double attack of the devils and the Eighth Route Army. The rest are just trying to get by.

The 13th Regiment of the puppet army did not know that their heads were being pointed at, and they continued to move forward slowly.

Not until the puppet troops had almost all passed did the Japs enter the encirclement.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Chen Chengxing raised his Ma brand pistol and fired a shot into the air.

"boom!"

The moment the gun sounded, the soldiers who had been prepared opened fire at full force.

"Da Da Da" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Countless bullets, grenades, and artillery shells flew towards the Japanese in the canyon.

"Enemy attack!"

"Fight back! Fight back!"

"Kill the chicken for me!"
The attacked devils immediately fell into chaos.

After several clashes with the New Second Regiment, the 3rd Mixed Brigade lost a large number of its elite troops like peeling an onion, especially the front-line infantry, which suffered the heaviest casualties. Now more than 4/ of the infantry are newly recruited soldiers.

Although these recruits had received military training since childhood, this was the first time they were attacked by the Eighth Route Army, so they were a little panicked for a while and didn't know what to do.

When Ishiguro Akisuke saw that his troops had not quickly formed a tactical team centered around light machine guns and grenade launchers, he knew that the current situation was extremely unfavorable and that he had to immediately withdraw from the ambush circle and reorganize, especially by deploying heavy firepower.

The coordination of the light weapons units was somewhat rigid. If the heavy weapons could no longer be deployed, then his entire army would be annihilated.

"Turn in! Turn in now!"

"Everyone move to Lijiazhang Hill!" Ishiguro Shosuke shouted. He needed the troops to reorganize on Lijiazhang Hill before deciding whether to fight or continue to move backwards.

After hearing the order conveyed by the messenger, the Japanese soldiers, who were originally somewhat confused, finally found their backbone and immediately fought back while retreating.

Chen Chengxing was not surprised to see the Japanese retreating quickly and seizing the Lijiazhang Heights. Although the Japanese were bad, they were not weak at all.

After seizing the Lijiazhang Heights, Ishiguro Shosuke finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is the current situation of the troops?" asked Ishiguro Shosuke while ordering the troops to build fortifications immediately.

"The troops suffered more than a hundred casualties and lost some supplies, but no weapons were lost," said the deputy captain on the side.

"Yoshi. Build the artillery position immediately." Ishiguro Shosuke nodded. As long as the heavy weapons were still there, it would be fine.

The independent infantry battalion is standardly equipped with two infantry guns and two Type 2 mountain guns. As long as he has these four guns in hand, Ishiguro Shosuke has the confidence to compete with the Eighth Route Army.

Ishiguro Shosuke looked around and found something wrong: "Where are the Locust Alliance? Why can't I see any of them?"

"The firepower of the Eighth Route Army was too strong. I saw that the Locust Army chose to break forward." The deputy captain reported.

"Send out a messenger immediately, find a way to find them, and order the 13th Regiment to attack the Eighth Route Army from behind!" Ishiguro Shosuke ordered.

No matter how strong the 13th Regiment is, even if it can only attract one platoon of the Eighth Route Army, the Locust Army will have one less platoon to face.

"Ha!"
The Locust Army that was remembered by Ishiguro Shosuke was now hiding in a valley, not knowing what to do.

Just now, after Chen Chengxing fired the first shot, although the main firepower of the Third Battalion was aimed at the Japanese, many infantrymen who could not reach the Japanese pointed their guns at the puppet army.

The puppet troops who were caught off guard had no power to resist at all. Those outside the encirclement naturally ran away, but the tail of the 13th Regiment, which was trapped, was in a dilemma.

The terrain in the canyon is steep, and there are the Eighth Route Army on top. It would be harder than climbing to the sky for them to attack the Eighth Route Army's positions. If they retreat, there will be an ambush circle several hundred meters long. It would be strange if they are not turned into a hornet's nest by then.

For the puppet army, the most appropriate thing to do is to break through. If the troops outside can support them, they have a very good hope of breaking through.

However, the puppet troops who were not surrounded had no intention of providing support. They ran faster than rabbits and were out of the shooting range of the Eighth Route Army in just a moment.

The trapped puppet soldiers saw their friendly forces running away, and they were unable to break out in any direction, and they couldn't fly, so they had no choice but to break out downwards.

I simply threw away my gun, found a cover and lay down with my head in my arms. Whether I could survive or not, it all depended on fate.
After running away, Hong Shusen sat on the ground, panting heavily. "Damn, how could the Eighth Route Army have an ambush here? Didn't they say that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was attracted to the Ta Village area?"

He ran for several hundred meters at full speed and almost exploded his lungs.

"The telegram received by Mr. Ishiguro was not accurate. He has been tricked this time." Ding Cheng was also gasping for breath.

If they had not received Nara Yukio's telegram, and had not found any trace of the Eighth Route Army, they would not have been able to march so brazenly. As a result, they have now suffered a heavy blow from the Eighth Route Army.

After this ambush, the 900th Regiment, which originally had less than 13 people, was reduced to just over 700 people.

After taking a breath for two minutes, Ding Cheng spoke again: "Commander, what should we do now? I think the Japanese have been trapped by the Eighth Route Army."

"MD, how would I know?!" Hong Shusen said helplessly. The current situation made him a little overwhelmed.

Ishiguro's battalion was trapped. If he led the team to escape, there would be no chance of survival if he returned; but if he was allowed to lead the 13th Regiment to attack the Eighth Route Army, that would also be a dead end.

Damn it, I'm so stubborn that I'm stuck in both ends. No matter what I choose, it seems like there's no way out.

After thinking for a long time, just when Hong Shusen gritted his teeth and was about to stab the Eighth Route Army before running away, the sound of horse hooves suddenly rang in his ears.

"Cavalry? Are there reinforcements?" Hong Shusen suddenly became excited.

However, Hong Shusen's excitement did not last for half a minute before he saw a sentry running back, "Commander, it's bad. The Eighth Route Army is the Eighth Route Army! Several hundred cavalrymen, at least a cavalry battalion!"

"What?! The Eighth Route Cavalry Battalion?!" Hong Shusen jumped up suddenly.

A cavalry battalion of the Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared around them, which was a fatal threat to the 13th Regiment.

If Hong Shusen was asked to lead the 13th Regiment to fight a platoon of the Eighth Route Army, he would feel obliged to do so; if he was asked to fight a company of the Eighth Route Army, he would hesitate; if he was asked to fight a battalion of the Eighth Route Army, he would have to run away first.

However, facing the cavalry, the 13th Regiment could not escape even if they wanted to. No matter how fast they ran on two legs, they could not outrun four legs.

"Still lying there!"

"The Eighth Route Army is coming!"

Hong Shusen was so angry when he saw the puppet soldiers lying all over the ground. He wondered if he could be a little more nervous.

Hearing the constant urging from the platoon leaders of each company, the puppet soldiers who were lying on the ground and unwilling to move could only get up reluctantly and prepare to find cover to fight back.

By the time the 13th Regiment had barely formed a defensive formation, the cavalry company led by Sun Desheng was already not far from the puppet army.

Looking at the 13th Regiment formed into a formation, Sun Desheng did not choose to attack directly.

Although Sun Desheng looked down on these puppet troops, it did not mean that they had no lethality.

Every horse in the cavalry company is very valuable. Apart from a large number of horses obtained from Wanjia Town, the rest are just one or two horses captured occasionally. The entire New Second Regiment now has only more than 30 horses in reserve.

Among these more than 10 military horses, most of them are Mongolian horses, and there are less than Oriental horses.

If I were to cause casualties in my attack on the 13th Regiment of the Puppet Army, I would be so upset that I would die, not to mention what would happen to the regiment commander.

For cavalrymen, horses are not just mounts, they are life-long companions.

(End of this chapter)