Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 214 It’s time for the Locust Alliance to take the lead
After sending out the messenger, Ishiguro Shosuke did not waste time waiting, but immediately divided his troops to seize the nearby commanding heights, preparing to ensure his own retreat first.

However, at this time the 1st Battalion had already joined the battle from the north. The Japanese st Squadron and the st Battalion's Vanguard st Company reached the highest point almost at the same time, one in the south and one in the north.

The two sides bumped into each other unexpectedly, and for a moment, neither of them reacted and just stared at each other.

Two seconds later, both sides reacted and rushed towards each other, shouting loudly.

"kill!".
"ah!".
When the First Battalion and the Japanese were fighting with bayonets, both sides subconsciously formed small groups and coordinated their offense and defense.

However, the bayonet fighting ability of the 2st Battalion has always been the best in the new 20nd Regiment, and it is also blessed with two characteristics: Infantry Combat Proficiency and Mountain Proficiency, which increase both the attack power and defense power by %.

Therefore, the gap between the two sides, which were originally evenly matched, suddenly became apparent.

It was the same knife, and it was stabbed in the same place. It was not fatal, but the Japanese died. It was fatal, but the Eighth Route Army soldier did not die.

When fighting with a stabbing blow, everyone attacks the chest and abdomen. Generally, no one would stab the heart or head, which are vital parts but smaller in size.

This resulted in the Eighth Route Army, who should have lost their combat effectiveness and fallen, being able to strike back at the Japanese before falling down.

With this addition and subtraction, the Japanese troops, which were mostly composed of new recruits, were the first to be unable to bear it and began to retreat down the mountain.

Strictly speaking, these new recruits of the Japanese Third Mixed Brigade are not weak, but they are still somewhat different from the elite Japanese troops in the early days of the War of Resistance.

If it were the Japanese devils in the early days of the War of Resistance, they would not be at a disadvantage in a bayonet fight with the increasingly powerful First Battalion.

Looking at the retreating Japanese soldiers, the 1st Company Commander Cao Lin immediately shouted: "Don't chase them anymore, use the terrain to build a defensive position immediately!"

This high ground is the only way for the Japanese to retreat to the north, and they will never give it up easily. The 1st Company needs to hold the position before the arrival of the st Battalion.

Cao Lin's judgment was correct. After retreating, the Japanese did not return to the Lijiazhang Heights, but chose to reorganize their formation and prepare to launch another attack.

At the same time, the heavy machine guns that Shosuke Ishiguro had added to the 1st Squadron also arrived at the battlefield.

After making preparations for the attack, the Japanese artillery positions opened fire first.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
Faced with the attacks of the Japanese mountain artillery and infantry artillery, the 1st Company, which had no trench protection, could only struggle to hold on behind any shelter they could find.

In the battle for high ground, the ridgeline is the most important, so even under bombardment, the 1st Company had no intention of retreating. Cao Lin, who was familiar with the reverse slope positions, knew how difficult it was for him to occupy the ridgeline by chance.

Once the Japanese occupied the ridge and built a position, with the help of the artillery on Lijiazhang Hill, they would inflict great damage to the first phase.

As soon as the enemy's artillery fire stopped, Cao Lin, before he even looked up, started shouting, "Everyone, get ready! The enemy is coming!"

"Hit hard! Throw all the grenades!"

As the vanguard troops, the 1st Company is not very far away from the main force of the st Battalion. Once the gunfire sounds here, the troops in the rear will definitely rush towards this side. Therefore, as long as they can withstand this wave of attacks, the rest will naturally be taken over by the main force.

"Thump, thump, thump."
"Boom!" "Boom!".
A large number of grenades flew towards the Japanese, who were blown to pieces.

Facing the Japanese skirmish attack line, the area damage effect of grenades was very significant, and a large number of grenades formed a small explosion area.

However, the Japanese did not retreat. Instead, they took advantage of the fact that the 1st Company had no heavy machine guns and rushed forward again to prepare for hand-to-hand combat.

The Japanese believed that the previous sudden encounter was due to their lack of preparation. Now, after reorganizing their formation, they are ready to regain their lost dignity.

Seeing that the Japs refused to give in, Cao Lin did not indulge them. He picked up the big knife beside him and shouted, "Comrades! Follow me and kill!"

"kill!".
The soldiers rushed towards the Japs.

After the two sides fought together, the Japanese discovered something wrong again.

Under the artillery fire, the enemy had obviously suffered heavy casualties, and our side even had an advantage in troop strength, so why was it that we still couldn't win?
I clearly stabbed the other person, so how come he was able to fight back?

Faced with such a situation, the morale of the Japanese soldiers who did not have time to eat "assault ingots" quickly dropped.

No one wants to fight such an opponent.

Watching the Japanese retreating again, Cao Lin breathed a sigh of relief. If the Japanese fought to the death, the 1st Company would win, and in the end there would be only a few people left.

Although no one in the New Second Regiment was afraid of death, everyone was willing to do the deal as long as they could stay alive and kill two more Japanese devils.

Just as the Japanese were preparing to launch another artillery attack, Xu Wu had already arrived at the battlefield with a battalion.

At the same time, the Third Battalion, which had no longer had any worries, also moved down from the ambush position and formed a semi-encirclement of the Lijiazhang Heights.

Looking at the Eighth Route Army that was attacking him from the north and south, Ishiguro Shosuke's face turned frighteningly dark.

The Eighth Route Army that appeared in front of him already had 3,000 people. This could not be a detachment of the Eighth Route Army, but only the main force. In other words, the brigade commander was probably fooled. The Eighth Route Army was using their usual tactics again, sending out small units to block the enemy everywhere, while the main force forcibly devoured the enemy's small unit, but this time it was his own Ishiguro Battalion that was chosen.

At this moment, Ishiguro Shosuke wished that the brigade commander had sent two independent infantry battalions. In that case, let alone 2 Eighth Route Army soldiers, even if there was another 3, the Locust Army could still be defeated.

As a result, he now only has the 13th Regiment of the Locust Army to rely on, and such reliance is equivalent to nothing.

At this time, Ishiguro Shosuke did not know that the entire 13th Regiment of the puppet army had been captured, and even the messenger was killed by Sun Desheng. However, even if the 13th Regiment was still there, Ishiguro Shosuke did not think they would play any role.

"Send a message to the brigade commander immediately and ask for tactical guidance!" Ishiguro Shosuke gritted his teeth.

Now there is still a unit that can save them, and that is the 9th Mixed Brigade. As long as they can send two battalions of troops to support them, they can turn defeat into victory.

If there are not two battalions, but there is one battalion to support us, we can also break through successfully.

"Hayi!" The telegraph operator on the side hurriedly sent a message.

After receiving the telegram from Shosuke Ishiguro, Ryotaro Toyama was shocked. This was not good news.

Once the Ishiguro Battalion was annihilated, not to mention the impact on the combat effectiveness of the 3rd Mixed Brigade, the previous strategy of squeezing and attacking the New 2nd Regiment would fail.

Squeezing from east to west, the Eighth Route Army has a very large range of activities. They can move northward at any time. After all, there is no blockade of the Locust Army in the north.

"Brigade Commander, the Ishiguro Battalion has been besieged by the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Lijiazhang, south of Dujia Town!" Toyama Ryotaro hurriedly reported the situation to Nara Yukio.

"What?!" Nara Yukio stood up in an instant.

"Hasn't the main force of the Eighth Route Army been fighting against our large army? How come they suddenly appeared in Dujia Town?!" Nara Yukio said anxiously.

"The specific reason is unknown, but according to Lieutenant Colonel Ishiguro's report, there are 13 troops besieging them, and there should be troops fighting against the th Regiment of the Locust Alliance Army."

"Three thousand people? This means that the Eighth Route Army is very likely to be divided into two groups." Nara Yukio thought.

During this period, Nara Yukio had already figured out the troop strength of the New Second Regiment and knew that 3,000 people were not the entirety of the New Second Regiment.

As for the troops fighting against the 13th Regiment, Nara Yukio did not include them. Let's not talk about whether this unit exists or not. Even if it does exist, a unit that is in a stalemate with the Locust Association Army will not have any impact on the battle situation.

"Mr. Toyama, immediately send a telegram to the headquarters and have General Shinozuka coordinate with the 9th Mixed Brigade to dispatch two independent infantry battalions to support the Ishiguro Battalion. At the same time, drive this main force of the Eighth Route Army as far south as possible."

"Order the main force to speed up the sweep and form a siege with the reinforcements from the Ishiguro Battalion and the 9th Mixed Brigade!" ordered Yukio Nara.

After hearing Nara Yukio's order, Toyama Ryotaro didn't know how to send the telegram.

It’s only been a few days since the 9th Mixed Brigade incident, and you’re already asking them to send troops again?
"Brigade Commander, two days ago" Toyama Ryotaro planned to ask Nara Yukio to say something good, so that the 9th Mixed Brigade might be more friendly.

"No need to say more, just send the message directly, I think Xishan Jun will understand."

"I'm doing this all for the sake of our empire!" Nara Yukio said seriously.

Ryotaro Toyama had no way to deal with Yukio Nara's stubbornness, after all he was the brigade commander.

After receiving the telegram from the 3rd Mixed Brigade, Nishiyama Ken was so angry that he laughed.

"Baga. Is Nara Yukio a fool?"

"He just played a trick on me, and now he wants me to cooperate with him in sending troops? So that he can get the military merit for himself?"

"Who does he think he is? An aide-de-camp to Tian Huang? Has he forgotten that he has lost this opportunity?"

Ken Nishiyama didn't give Nara Yukio any face in his words and just criticized him to pieces. If Nara Yukio was present, they would probably duel on the spot.

"Brigade Commander, this is an order from the headquarters after all. We can't just ignore it." said Nobuhiro Yamada on the side.

This is also the reason why Yukio Nara chose to send the message to Yoshio Shinozuka instead of directly to the 9th Brigade.

Yukio Nara also knew that if he sent a message directly to the 9th Brigade, no one would pay attention to him, but as long as the message was sent from the headquarters, the 9th Mixed Brigade would send some troops no matter what.

"Humph! That's all Nara Yukio is capable of." Nishiyama Ken said disdainfully, "But since he can use the Locust Army to fool me, can't I send the Locust Army to support him?"

"Isn't the 1nd Regiment of the 2st Independent Division of the Locust Army in Xinbao Town? Order them to reinforce the Ishiguro Battalion along the highway!" Nishiyama Ken ordered.

The headquarters' telegram was to try to mobilize 1 to 2 battalions for support without affecting the strategic layout. A Locust Army regiment had thousands of people, which was enough to support a battalion.

"Hai!" Nobuhiro Yamada was also very unhappy with the 3rd Mixed Brigade.

(End of this chapter)