Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 255: One Pig's Trotter, Three Lives
Early the next morning, Kong Ruifeng brought Li Chishui and a few others and drove a donkey cart to the artillery tower in the south of the city.

"Thank you, Taijun. Thank you, Boss."

"Thank you for your hard work, Taijun."

Kong Ruifeng kept greeting people along the way.

Obviously these people knew him, so they didn't stop him.

"Old Kongtou, why did you come so early today? Wasn't it always afternoon before?" asked a puppet soldier.

"Well, this time, I came to Houyang Village to buy the goods. I will unload them for you on the way, and then deliver them to other artillery towers."

Kong Ruifeng had already thought about this problem.

"That's great. In the past, the leaves of horseradish were all left over after being picked out." The puppet soldier walked forward and started picking them up.

Before, Kong Ruifeng always started from the west, and after making a circle, the artillery towers on the south were the last to be delivered.

"Here, white flour cakes." Kong Ruifeng took out a rattan basket from the front of the donkey cart and gestured.

He couldn't let the puppet soldiers rummage around at will, otherwise it would be troublesome if they saw something they shouldn't see.

"Hey, you know what, this white flour smells really good!"

"Anything else to eat?"

"Boss, there are still the Japanese. What if they see us?" Kong Ruifeng reminded.

"Get out of here, damn it! Do the Japanese think they are so great?" the puppet army soldiers cursed.

But he really didn't dare to steal the good things from the Japanese.

The Japanese are all people who will turn their backs on you.

Kong Ruifeng hurriedly led the donkey inside, while Li Chishui and others pretended to push the cart.

After getting to the artillery tower, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Chishui glanced at a few people, then picked up a basket and prepared to go to the artillery tower.

"Hey! Stop!" A Japanese soldier on guard raised his gun and shouted.

Li Chishui's body froze immediately. Although he didn't understand what the Japanese were saying, it was definitely not a good thing.

The people nearby unconsciously reached for their hidden weapons.

When Kong Ruifeng saw the Japanese soldiers walking towards him cautiously, he immediately opened the basket he was carrying.

"Taijun, I'm here to bring you food."

The Japanese didn't understand either, but their eyes were immediately attracted by the things in the basket.

Braised pig's trotters!
The Japs were drooling.

The Japs put down their guns and started shooting.

"Hey, good people."

The devil nodded continuously while chewing.

The Japanese soldiers just ran over, sat down and started eating, without any intention of entering the artillery tower or the barracks.

There aren't many opportunities to eat a pig's trotter alone.

Seeing the devils relax, several people also breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Chishui gave another look, and several people carried food into the turret.

"Taijun, come on, come on, mixi mixi."

Li Chishui gestured to the two Japanese soldiers standing guard at the door.

The Japanese soldiers on guard had already been attracted by the aroma of braised pig's trotters, so they couldn't resist and hurriedly followed in.

After entering, he just picked up the pig's trotter and before he put it into his mouth, Li Chishui's hand, which was under the basket, moved it forward diagonally.

The dagger entered the Japanese's mouth before the pig's trotter did.

Another Japanese soldier next to him also had his mouth covered and his neck wiped by several people.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers outside were still holding pig's trotters with a look of delicious smell on their faces.

After several people blocked the door of the artillery tower, Li Chishui picked up the two pig's trotters and put them back into the basket.

Then he took out a pistol from the bag next to him and put it on his back, then started climbing up holding the basket.

According to his experience, the Japanese would arrange people to guard both light and heavy machine guns on the artillery tower.

But at this time Li Chishui was no longer nervous.

Anyway, they have already occupied the artillery tower, so even if the Japanese on duty discover them, Li Chishui can easily deal with them with guns.

"Taijun, Taijun?"

"Pig's trotters?"

"Taijun?"

Li Chishui called out affectionately as he climbed up.

The Japanese soldiers who were on duty at the time could never have imagined that someone could sneak into the artillery tower directly.

Therefore, when he was holding the pig's trotter and turning his back to Li Chishui to continue monitoring the outside, he was touched on the neck.

After Li Chishui repeated the same trick and killed the Japanese on the top of the artillery tower, the artillery tower fell into their hands.

"Hurry, hurry up, you two, operate the heavy machine guns to suppress the Japanese in the barracks."

Li Chishui pointed at the heavy machine gun mounted on the top of the artillery tower and said to the two people next to him.

"President Kong, you don't know how to use a gun, so just stay aside."

Li Chishui said as he set up the crooked-handled rifle he had brought up from the second floor.

"Oh, okay, okay." Kong Ruifeng has not yet recovered from Li Chishui's change of expression.

After everything was ready, Li Chishui pulled down the Japanese plaster flag that was inserted next to him.

As soon as the Japanese flag was torn down, Chen Chengxing, who had been holding a telescope in the woods, immediately ordered:
"Li Chishui and his men succeeded. Let's start the action according to the plan!"

The first, second and fourth battalions responsible for the attack immediately deployed their formations forward.

As soon as the New Second Regiment came out of the woods, the Japanese soldiers on guard on the No. 2 and No. 3 artillery towers immediately discovered it.

"Enemy attack! Alert!"

The Japanese sentry immediately sounded the alarm at hand.

"Woo~~~~~~"

A shrill sound rang out in Zhengshan Town.

"Da da da"

The Japanese on the No. 2 and No. 3 turrets began to use heavy machine guns to suppress the enemy from a long distance.

The Japanese soldiers in the No. 1 artillery barracks also rushed out after hearing the alarm. Before they could figure out why their artillery did not open fire on the Eighth Route Army.

The heavy machine guns on the turret had already started firing at them.

"Da da da" "Da da da".
The attacked devils were in chaos.

"Disperse! Disperse!"

"Take back the turret immediately!"

"Hayaku! Hayaku!" the Japanese squad leader kept shouting.

The threat posed by the artillery tower standing here is simply too great.

If we want to fight against the Eighth Route Army, retaking the artillery tower is the first priority.

However, before the Japanese could get close, several grenades fell from the sky.

Moreover, Li Chishui deliberately delayed for a few seconds, and the grenade exploded directly in the air.

The Japanese soldiers below were swept by hundreds of fragments.

"Damn it! Turn! Turn!" The Japanese squad leader shouted while covering his shoulder which was bleeding continuously.

The enemy is now in a dominant position and has a heavy machine gun and a light machine gun to provide suppressive fire.

And there are a large number of Eighth Route Army troops outside, attacking this side.

It is impossible for them to deal with the attack from both sides at the same time relying only on half of their infantry squad and a few locust troops.

If we continue to stay here, we will soon be wiped out.

Chen Chengxing, who was watching the movement of the troops in the woods, saw that the soldiers had arrived 200 meters in front of the Japanese position and immediately ordered:

"Let the mortars fire, and slowly advance the barrage of bullets to destroy the enemy's obstacles and minefields."

"The commander's order! Open fire immediately!" the combat staff officer next to him immediately shouted into the phone.

"50 meters of barrage, slowly move forward! Fire!"

"Boom!" "Boom!".
A large number of artillery shells fell on the Japanese positions in the south of the city.

At this time, Ding Wei, who was commanding the attack of the New 1st Regiment in the east of the city, was extremely envious when he heard the continuous artillery fire in the south of the city.

"The New Second Regiment is really arrogant. They must have at least a dozen guns, right?"

"Judging from the noise, there are at least 20 of them, and they should all be 82mm mortars." said the chief of staff on the side.

"Damn it, we must build a foundry too." Ding Wei said with jealous eyes.

As a result of the major raid some time ago, a large number of rails and axles have been delivered to Yixiantian, and mortars will surely be produced next.

As long as he wants, he will definitely be able to get a few of them. By then, by combining them with the existing mortars of the New 1st Regiment, it will be no problem to form a mortar company.

However, for the new regiment, artillery shells were a big problem.

The ammunition consumption of mortars is far greater than that of mountain artillery and infantry artillery.

Ding Wei now admires Chen Chengxing's foresight.

When people first learned that the New Second Regiment was going to set up its own arsenal, many laughed at the regiment for overestimating its capabilities.

After all, most of the bases are just small-scale workshops such as repair shops.

At most, we can produce some simple supplies such as grenades and mines.

The New Second Regiment is the only brigade- and regiment-level unit that has invested so much effort in building an arsenal.

But now, the New Second Regiment has become rich thanks to this arsenal.

Everyone who knows about it is jealous.

But now even if other troops want to do it, they have no chance because the opportunity has passed.

As the Japanese retreated actively, the soldiers of the 13th Company successfully seized the artillery tower.

Then, taking advantage of the height, they continued to suppress the Japanese soldiers who ran out of Zhengshan Town and prepared to provide support.

At the same time, the first and second battalions also began to attack the No. 2 and No. 3 artillery towers.

"Use the enemy's fortifications to rebuild the bunker!"

"Light machine guns go upstairs!" Li Chishui ordered immediately after going downstairs.

He had already checked and found that the Japanese's artillery tower was a brick-concrete structure with strong defensive capabilities.

According to intelligence, the Japanese in Zhengshan Town only had infantry guns and mortars.

If you want to use infantry artillery to destroy a brick-concrete turret, it will only be possible if high-explosive bombs hit the same location repeatedly.

Even if armor-piercing bullets are used, it is impossible to penetrate without three or five shots.

Based on the captured items of the New Second Regiment, Li Chishui could easily analyze that a Japanese artillery squad was only equipped with a few armor-piercing shells.

After all, the Eighth Route Army had no strong fortifications to attack the Japanese.

Seeing that the progress was going smoothly, Chen Chengxing immediately ordered the next step.

"Position No. 1 has been taken. Order the mountain artillery positions to take down gun towers No. 2 and No. 3!"

"Boom!" "Boom!".
The brick-concrete structure of the turret can withstand the attack of infantry artillery, but it is impossible to withstand the continuous direct fire of 75mm mountain artillery.

It only takes three or five high-explosive bombs to hit the turret and it will collapse.

"Captain, the situation is not good. The Eighth Route Army has deployed 75mm mountain artillery!"

"The second and third gun towers have all collapsed. Now only the city gate tower is still holding out!"

Although the thickness of the city wall of Zhengshan Town is not as thick as that of the county town, it is also not comparable to that of the watchtower.

The Type 94 mountain cannon can destroy the city gates but cannot bring down the city walls.

However, the 13th Company took advantage of the height of the artillery tower to threaten all the firepower points on the city gate.

"Send a telegram to Luyang immediately and request tactical guidance!" said the Japanese captain Fukushima Sugi with a grim expression.

"Use poison gas bombs to counterattack the Eighth Route Army, especially the No. 1 artillery tower. Even if we can't defend it, we must blow it up!"

Fukushima Sugi would rather all the outer artillery towers were destroyed, so that at least the Locust Army would still have a height advantage.

But now the Eighth Route Army has occupied the No. 1 turret, which greatly reduces the height advantage of the city gate.

"Ha!"
"Boom~" "Boom~" "Boom~".
The Japanese used 90mm mortars to fire a large number of poison gas bombs onto the front line of the New Second Regiment.

"Damn it, the Japs resorted to dirty tricks when they couldn't win!"

Looking at the shells emitting red smoke, Chen Chengxing gritted his teeth.

"Let the troops withdraw from the range of the poison gas bombs first!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

The physiological reactions caused by poison gas cannot be resisted by willpower alone.

Without a gas mask, temporary retreat is the only option.

(End of this chapter)