Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 298 Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, the encirclement and suppression of the Eighth Route Army.

After Li Chishui returned to Wuyi County with about ten men, the county brigade developed rapidly.

In just half a month, they had already developed a force of sixty or seventy men.

However, the weapons are still somewhat lacking.

That evening, just as Li Chishui was about to rest, he heard Ren Wuliu calling him from the doorway.

"Captain, there's a situation!"

"What happened?" Li Chishui quickly got up again.

"The children's corps came to report that they saw dozens of traitors coming this way, all riding bicycles and moving very fast."

If it weren't for the children in the children's corps taking a shortcut, they definitely wouldn't have been able to outrun the traitors on bicycles.

"A mere few dozen traitors dare to provoke the Wuyi County Brigade?"

"Comrades, lie in ambush at the village entrance! I'll show these traitors what it means to have no chance of returning alive."

I've only been gone a short time, and the traitors in Wuyi County don't even know my name, Li Chishui?

"I'll get the comrades ready right away." Ren Wuliu nodded.

"Captain, where are we going this time?"

“I heard that Majiabao used to be a stronghold village of the Eighth Route Army. Now that the Eighth Route Army has fled, let’s go there and make our fortune,” Liu Shengkui said.

Liu Shengkui was a staunch traitor in Wuyi County. After the Japanese invaders arrived, Liu Shengkui formed a night raid team.

The standard equipment consisted of one bicycle and one Mauser pistol per person, and they would often raid the Eighth Route Army's fortified villages at night.

Because of their bicycles, the night raid team moved very quickly and made very little noise.

If it weren't for the children's group's sharp eyes, even if Li Chishui were in Majiabao, they wouldn't have been able to catch the night raid team.

"Majiabao? Captain, I heard the Eighth Route Army has returned recently. Is it not a good idea for us to go so deep into enemy territory?"

Majiabao is located deeper in the terrain compared to the fortified villages they had previously attacked.

If they are discovered by the Eighth Route Army, they will definitely suffer a great loss.

"You're overthinking it. The Sanhe Town area is now full of Locust Army strongholds, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army can't get through."

"At most, it's just a guerrilla team of eight or ten people."

"If they dare to show their faces in front of me, I'll take their heads and ask the Locust Army for a reward."

Liu Shengkui had full confidence in the firepower of the Night Raid Team.

With over forty guns firing 20 shots each, could the Eighth Route Army withstand such intense firepower?

The traitor next to him thought about it and agreed that it was indeed true.

They had not heard that the pillboxes and outposts in the Sanhe Town area had been attacked by the Eighth Route Army.

Since there was no large force of the Eighth Route Army, small guerrilla units were no match for them.

The Eighth Route Army and the regular Eighth Route Army are completely different types of troops.

However, where they couldn't see, gun barrels were already waiting for them.

Seeing that all the traitors had entered the ambush area, Li Chishui shouted and fired the first shot.

"beat!"

"boom!"

"Put-put-put" "Put-put-put"
Although Li Chishui only brought about 10 people back to Wuyi County, he had 3 light-duty rifles.

At the same time, he shamelessly asked Chen Chengxing for a rocket launcher.

Faced with the barrage of three light machine guns, the traitorous night raid team had no ability to resist.

"Run! Run!"

Liu Shengkui didn't bother to turn the car around and start again; he simply abandoned the car and turned back to charge forward.

However, Liu Shengkui was originally inconspicuous in the center of the group, but his shout immediately attracted Li Chishui's attention.

"See that bald guy? Open fire!"

Li Chishui pointed at Liu Shengkui and said to the machine gunner next to him.

The machine gunner understood, turned the muzzle, and fired two short bursts.

"Put-put-put" "Put-put-put"

Liu Shengkui, who was still sprinting 100 meters, suddenly collapsed to the ground.

However, about half of the other traitors managed to escape.

The Type 91 machine gun is quite accurate, but reloading is troublesome.

For Li Chishui and his men, they only had one chance.

"Damn it, the traitor ran away so fast. Why didn't you put up a fight?" Li Chishui said with a sigh of regret.

Even if you don't give the machine gun a chance to reload, you could at least give them a chance to charge.

Unexpectedly, seeing that things were not going well, he turned and ran.

“What are you going to do with these rickshaws?” Ding Futong asked.

"This is really difficult to handle." Li Chishui stroked his chin.

Bicycles are treasures, but they're not of much use to them.

Riding it out would be too blatant and would make it easy to get caught.

Just as everyone was deep in thought, someone suddenly shouted:

"Look, those traitors are back again!"

"Prepare for battle!" Li Chishui shouted, drawing his pistol.

"Don't shoot! Eighth Master, don't shoot!"

The traitors who came over raised their hands and shouted from a distance.

Seeing that there was only one traitor, Li Chishui and Ding Futong were a little confused.

"Spread out and prepare for battle. I want to see what's going on," Li Chishui said, putting away his pistol.

"Be very careful," Ding Futong whispered.

"Don't worry," Li Chishui said.

However, he still gripped the Japanese sword he was carrying.

If anything unexpected happens, he can strike in half a second.

"Hehe, hello, Eighth Master." Yu Zhiqiang walked over, bowing and scraping.

Yu Zhiqiang is the deputy captain of the traitor night raid team.

After the twenty or so of them escaped the encirclement, they were filled with worry.

These bicycles were specially provided by the Italians; if they were just gone like that, he definitely wouldn't get anything good when he went back. Therefore, Yu Zhiqiang had no choice but to bite the bullet and return.

"You're quite bold, aren't you afraid I'll kill you?" Li Chishui said, gripping his military knife tighter.

"Who doesn't know the rules of the Eighth Route Army? You never kill prisoners of war."

Yu Zhiqiang wasn't too worried about his own safety.

"Ha, you've got some cleverness. So, what is it?"

"Uncle Ba, could you please return this bicycle to us?" Yu Zhiqiang asked in a low voice.

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Li Chishui asked, pointing to himself.

“We won’t take it for free, we can trade it for bullets!” Yu Zhiqiang quickly said.

For Zhiqiang, bicycles were far more important than ammunition.

After all, wars require the consumption of ammunition, and the Italians themselves won't say much.

"Bullets? How many?" Li Chishui became interested.

The county brigade is currently short of ammunition.

"How about 6 rounds of pistol ammunition for all these bicycles?"

"Ten thousand, at least ten thousand." Li Chishui immediately shouted out ten thousand.

Hearing Li Chishui's words, Yu Zhiqiang said with a bitter face:

"Eighth Master, I won't lie to you, we can pull out 8,500 bullets from our bodies right now."

Li Chishui was slightly dissatisfied when he heard the number 8,500.

However, after thinking about the number of people who escaped, and then about the bullets that were seized from each traitor during the cleanup of the battlefield, he realized that...

Li Chishui quickly calculated in his mind and found that these puppet troops really did only have that many bullets.

However, Li Chishui was still somewhat dissatisfied with this:

"8,500 rounds? Are you trying to fob off a beggar? Let me tell you, absolutely not!"

Yu Zhiqiang's face looked even more bitter.

"Eighth Master, this is all we have. If all else fails, how about we trade 5 rounds of ammunition for half of the bicycles?"

"No way! If you're going to change it, change it all, or don't change it at all!" Li Chishui refused firmly.

What's the point of keeping the other half of the bicycle?

"But don't say I don't take care of you. If you do me a favor, I'll exchange it for 8,500."

Li Chishui's eyes darted around, and he came up with a good idea.

Upon hearing that things had taken a turn for the better, Yu Zhiqiang immediately said, "Please tell me, please tell me."

"Go and lure the puppet troops from Xiaobaozhuang out, and let them go to Gaocao Village to encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route Army."

"Huh?" Yu Zhiqiang was stunned.

Are these people in front of us not Eighth Route Army soldiers?

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Are you going to do it or not?" Li Chishui asked.

"It's not a question of whether I do it or not. The key issue is the troops in Xiaobaozhuang. They don't listen to me," Yu Zhiqiang explained.

"You are like this"

After explaining the situation, Li Chishui gave Yu Zhiqiang a bicycle so he could ride it to Xiaobaozhuang.

In order to retrieve the bicycle, he then became the leader of the Night Raid Team.

Yu Zhiqiang could only try going to Xiaobaozhuang.

In the evening, Yu Zhiqiang rode his bicycle to the Xiaobaozhuang outpost as planned.

The Xiaobaozhuang stronghold had only one company of puppet troops, numbering less than 90.

"Where's your company commander?!" Yu Zhiqiang parked his bicycle, got off, and asked arrogantly.

He's representing the "Japanese devils" now, so he has to be superior to everyone else.

"It's inside, please come with me."

The puppet soldiers on guard, unaware of the situation, bowed and scraped as they led the man into the stronghold.

"Company Commander Meng, why are your phones not working?!"

When Yu Zhiqiang met Meng Dake, the company commander of Xiaobaozhuang, he immediately launched into a tirade.

Meng Dake was completely stunned.

"This isn't our fault! The Eighth Route Army came to cut the telephone lines again," Meng Dake protested.

Since the Eighth Route Army returned to Wuyi County, their telephone lines have been cut every few days.

"By the way, who are you?" Meng Dake asked cautiously.

"I am a messenger from Captain Terauchi. The captain orders you to send troops to assist in the encirclement and suppression of the Eighth Route Army in Gaocao Village at 8:00 AM tomorrow!"

Gaocao Village was a choice made by Li Chishui after careful consideration.

Many people from Gaocao Village joined the Eighth Route Army, numbering more than a dozen, and there were quite a few military households in the village.

The puppet troops were well aware of this, but they were unwilling to offend the Eighth Route Army easily, so no one spoke out.

Therefore, the puppet troops would easily believe the siege of Gaocao Village.

Moreover, Gaocao Village is less than 10 li away from Xiaobaozhuang, a distance that is neither too far nor too close, making it the perfect place to start.

"I wonder if there are any written orders from Terauchi-sama?" Meng Dake asked.

"What written order? We used to make phone calls, but now we can't get through. Do you expect Captain Terauchi to write you a formal order?!"

"If you don't believe me, go ask the captain yourself!"

"Anyway, I've delivered the order. Go or don't go, it's up to you!"

After saying that, Yu Zhiqiang turned and left.

Looking at Yu Zhiqiang's retreating figure, Meng Dake was a little unsure.

Strictly speaking, troops must have clear instructions to deploy, but now there is only a verbal message delivered by someone they don't know.

But judging from this person's behavior, it doesn't seem fake.

Moreover, the Italians themselves looked down on the collaborators and it was common for them not to give them written orders.

"Somebody come!"

"Have the first and second platoons get ready; we're going to Gaocao Village tomorrow!"

Meng Dake ultimately decided to go, after all, he couldn't afford to offend Yi himself.

(End of this chapter)