Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 282 I'm Too Numb to Win (Bonus Chapter, Please Vote)
In the middle of the night, Chen Chengxing led a group of people and quietly slipped out of the village from the northeast corner.

"Monk." Chen Chengxing gestured forward.

To ensure that the Eighth Route Army could not escape, the Japanese did not even have the puppet troops stand guard.

A Japanese soldier was standing guard by the fire, warming himself by the flames.

Wei Dayong is the most skilled player in the team right now, so naturally he has to be the one to scout.

Wei Dayong nodded, took out a dagger, and crept along the darkness by the wall.

The other soldiers were ready to open fire at any moment.

After Wei Dayong quietly approached the Japanese soldier, he covered the soldier's mouth while simultaneously slicing the soldier's neck with his blade.

The Japanese soldiers, who were comfortably warming themselves by the fire, wanted to resist, but they had lost the strength to do so, and blood began to spurt from their necks.

Wei Dayong caught the Japanese soldier's dropped rifle to prevent the sound of the gun hitting the ground from attracting the attention of others.

This is a battlefield, after all; no one can sleep that soundly.

Seeing that Wei Dayong had dealt with the Japanese sentry, Chen Chengxing waved his hand and led his troops past the sentry post.

Wei Dayong took the bullet out of the Japanese soldier's waist and quickly followed.

However, compared to Chen Chengxing's smooth sailing, Lu Ze's situation was not so favorable.

The Japanese soldiers on this side were more cautious, setting up one visible sentry and one hidden sentry.

After the visible sentry was taken out, the hidden sentry opened fire.

Left with no other option, Lu Ze ordered an attack and then quickly advanced.

After passing the sentry post, there is still a cordon.

Upon hearing gunfire from the southwest, Chen Chengxing immediately gave the order:

"Order the troops to open fire and launch a strong attack! Break out of the encirclement!"

"Commander, the Japanese haven't spotted us yet," Wei Dayong hurriedly said.

There wasn't just one Japanese sentry post; there were more further ahead.

The closer the troops are to the outer perimeter of the Japanese blockade, the more sudden the attack will be, and the easier it will be to break out.

"Lu Ze's side has already started fighting, we need to reduce the pressure on them."

"Launch an attack," Chen Chengxing commanded.

"Yes!"

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
"Bang!" "Bang!"
After eliminating the Japanese sentries, Chen Chengxing launched an attack on the encirclement.

With a volley of grenades thrown, the soldiers launched a direct assault.

However, due to insufficient ammunition, the soldiers did not maintain a dense barrage as before, but instead tried to fire with precision.

As soon as the battle at Shezhuang began, Hiratsu Yuu got out of bed and looked through binoculars at the location of the battle.

"Brigade Commander, reports from the northeast and southwest fronts of Shezhuang indicate that over a hundred Eighth Route Army units on each side have launched an attack, seemingly attempting to break out."

"Inquire about the other positions. Should we provide immediate support?" the operations staff officer reported after hanging up the phone.

"No, order all units to hold their positions!" Pinglu Yongfu said solemnly.

"The firepower density of the Eighth Route Army is completely different now than before, which means that the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Shezhuang has not moved yet."

"I am certain that this group of Eighth Route Army soldiers who are breaking out now are definitely expendable pawns."

"They just wanted to draw the locust army's attention so that the main force could break out."

Hiratsu Yuufu looked confident.

A mere trick to fool the careless brigade commander of our army? That's wishful thinking.

"Tell them not to worry too much about these Eighth Route Army soldiers; the most important thing is to keep the village tightly surrounded."

Only by capturing the main force of the Eighth Route Army can we achieve the greatest victory.

"Hai!" The Japanese staff officer hurriedly relayed Hirano Yuufu's order.

On the battlefield, Chen Chengxing, who had expected to be caught in a tough battle, was somewhat surprised.

We're about to break through, so why are the Japanese soldiers taking their time?

However, the Japanese are moving slowly now, which is a good opportunity for us.

"Everyone, stop fighting and retreat quickly!" Chen Chengxing shouted.

After Chen Chengxing led his troops out of the encirclement, they quickly retreated to Dongfengbao.

The next day at dawn, Pinglu Yongfu looked at the silent village and nodded in satisfaction.

"Yoshi. The troops reacted quickly and plugged the gap, but the main force is still surrounded."

The force that broke through was just a small group, not worth mentioning at all.

"Order the artillery to begin firing!"

"Today I will wipe out these Eighth Route Army soldiers!" Pinglu Yongfu commanded.

"Hai!"
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Shezhuang was covered by a dense barrage of artillery fire.

A dozen minutes later, following the normal procedure, the shelling ended, and the Japanese infantry began a large-scale assault.

"Here you go, Tao!"
However, this time, the Japanese did not encounter any resistance.

Two minutes later, Hiratsu Yuu learned of the situation.

"Brigade Commander, the attacking troops report that no Eighth Route Army soldiers have been found in the village!"

"What?! No Eighth Route Army soldiers were found?" Pinglu Yongfu's face was filled with disbelief.

"That's absolutely impossible! Only a little over 2 people managed to break through yesterday!"

"Could it be that such a small number of Eighth Route Army soldiers could hold off 4000 locust soldiers' all-day assault?!"

Hiratsu Yuufu simply could not accept this situation.

If word gets out, what will the Locust Army be called?

"Search carefully! See if there are any tunnels!" Pinglu Yongfu also arrived at Shezhuang.

"Hai!"

However, no matter how hard the Japanese searched, they found nothing suspicious.

"Brigade Commander, nothing has been found in the village," Kasahara Koizumi reported as he ran over.

"However, we found a few Eighth Route Army bullet casings, and these casings are a bit unusual." Kasahara Koizumi had never seen such short rifle bullet casings before.

"What's so strange about that? The Eighth Route Army has no resources and can only reload bullets."

"This must be a shortened bullet used in a single-shot homemade gun."

Hiratsu Yuu took the bullet casing, glanced at it, and then casually tossed it on the ground.

Even if you beat him to death, he still wouldn't believe that the Eighth Route Army could invent its own bullets.

"Order the troops to burn down all the houses in the village!" Pinglu Yongfu said, somewhat embarrassed and angry.

He still believes that the Eighth Route Army is hiding in the tunnels.

Since they couldn't find it, they burned the village down and let the collapsed houses block the tunnel entrance.

"Hai!"
However, two days after the Japanese troops withdrew from Shezhuang, they broadcast the news of their victory at Shezhuang.

The Locust Army, at the cost of 960 casualties, annihilated the main force of the 2nd New Regiment of Zhongyun Mountain, numbering 3,000.

In conclusion, it can be summed up in one word.

We've won so much, we're completely numb!
At this time, Chen Chengxing was still unaware of the Japanese army's operations. He was leading his assembled troops on a march northward.

After traveling for several hours along mountain roads, Chen Chengxing looked at the soldiers who were panting heavily and whose shoes were worn out, and decided to take a break.

After climbing up a small hill nearby, Chen Chengxing carefully observed the surroundings with binoculars.

Finding no trace of the Japanese soldiers, Chen Chengxing then gave the order:

"Order the troops to rest on the spot and continue their journey at daybreak."

They have now broken out of the Japanese encirclement and should be out of danger.

"yes!".
Upon hearing that they could rest, all the soldiers except for a few sentries plopped down on the ground.

Since leaving Xiagugou, the troops have been either moving or fighting, and they are exhausted.

That night, the mountain area was completely quiet, without a single sound.

As dawn broke and it was getting late, Chen Chengxing prepared to lead his troops on their way.

If we walk for another day, we will reach Xiangling Village.

That was the designated meeting point for the main force.

However, just as Chen Chengxing climbed to the top of the mountain, he saw a large battalion of Japanese soldiers gathering on the mountainside on the north side.

Yesterday, Chen Chengxing had no idea that there were Japanese soldiers separated from him by a mountain ridge.

However, now that the enemy and our forces have suddenly met, Chen Chengxing has no time to think too much.

"Everyone! Follow me and seize the high ground on the left!" Chen Chengxing commanded.

In skirmishes, reaction speed is key.

Whoever reacts too slowly will suffer.

However, Chen Chengxing thought differently. When he led his troops to charge up the hill, the Japanese did not make any move.

Looking down from the hilltop, I saw smoke rising from the Japanese positions.

"The Japanese are cooking; they probably haven't spotted us yet," Chen Chengxing breathed a sigh of relief.

This mountain ridge is a necessary passage for both sides; there's no way to avoid this battle.

However, the Japanese have now provided the guard company with a valuable window of opportunity.

"Construct fortifications immediately," Chen Chengxing ordered.

In field battles, having fortifications and not having fortifications are two different things.

Even if this fortification is as rudimentary as it gets.

"Captain, please." A Japanese soldier brought over breakfast.

"Hmm." Shinji Kojima casually took it.

"Tell everyone to eat quickly, and we'll head back to Zhangdian after we finish," Shinji Kojima said.

They set out from their stronghold in Zhangdian to sweep through the area, and when they arrived at Zhaikou and Litang Village, they were attacked by the Eighth Route Army cavalry.

After finally advancing to Huatai Village, they discovered that the original encirclement operation had ended.

The troops that were supposed to cooperate with them in the blockade all rushed to Shezhuang.

However, Shinji Kojima was unaware of this situation; he simply believed the battle was over.

After realizing he was isolated, Shinji Kojima chose to return the way he came to avoid being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.

However, on the way, they were ambushed by a main force of the Eighth Route Army.

In order to escape the ambush, Shinji Kojima had no choice but to take a mountain path.

On the way, Shinji Kojima kept wondering if he had somehow offended Amaterasu.

Otherwise, how could I be so unlucky?

After a round of searching, they achieved nothing and suffered over a hundred casualties.

A dozen minutes later, all the Japanese soldiers wolfed down their food and then got up to prepare.

They couldn't wait to return to their base.

"set off!"

Shinji Kojima led his troops to prepare to cross the mountain ridge.

After crossing the mountain ridge, they can walk a few more kilometers to reach the main road.

They had long been fed up with wandering around the mountain paths.

The two locations are only a little over 100 meters apart as the crow flies, but by going around in circles, they would have to walk at least 2 kilometers to get there.

This is pure torture.

If it weren't for orders from their superiors, they would never have come to this remote and impoverished area to carry out a sweep.

They had participated in the battles to capture major cities before, and as long as they captured a city, they would make a fortune.

But what about in these mountains?
They were poor, truly poor.

Chen Chengxing, standing atop the hill, watched as the Japanese troops began to advance in their direction and immediately gave the order:

"Get ready for battle!"

(End of this chapter)