Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 300 What's the point of this pit? (Bonus chapter, please vote)
Just as Li Chishui was leading his team to besiege Xiaobaozhuang.

Qin Sheng also led the 213th Regiment to set up an ambush at Majiaji.

According to the initial division, the 213th Regiment was responsible for the guerrilla areas on the west and south sides of the Dayunshan base area.

Qin Sheng received reliable intelligence that the Japanese in Anqiu had a reinforced company of more than 200 men that was about to be dispatched.

The Japanese forcibly requisitioned more than 60 trucks in the county town, intending to set up a new stronghold in Sanwan Town.

Sanwan Town is not located on a major transportation route, so it is not a particularly important town.

However, there is a small path here that leads to Hongni Bay.

If the Japanese army were to easily occupy Sanwan Town, they would likely continue to advance.

At that time, not only will the jurisdiction of the 213th Regiment be divided in two, but Hongniwan will also be threatened.

Therefore, upon receiving the news, Qin Sheng immediately decided to give the Japanese a harsh lesson, at least to deter them from being too arrogant.

Majiaji was the burial place Qin Sheng chose for the Japanese soldiers.

In Majiaji Village, there are earthen walls built by landlords and wealthy families in the past to guard against bandits.

Using the earthen walls, the main force of the 213th Regiment could ambush the enemy without leaving a trace.

When the Japanese army marched, they usually had a vanguard force, and the vanguard force would also have outpost groups.

A squadron can stretch for 5 meters.

Therefore, the pocket formation set up by Qin Sheng was more than a mile long.

Troops were pre-positioned to ambush the road on its south, north, and east sides.

"Lin Zhifeng!"

Qin Sheng stood on a hilltop near the ambush site, observing the situation through binoculars.

"Here!" Lin Zhifeng, the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 213th Regiment, ran over immediately when he heard Qin Sheng call him.

"Take the 2nd Battalion to the east and cut off the road," Qin Sheng said, pointing to the rear of the ambush formation.

The Japanese soldiers brought 60 large truckloads of supplies this time. As long as the road is dug up, even if the Japanese soldiers can escape, these supplies will not be able to escape.

For the Eighth Route Army, capturing more supplies and ammunition was clearly more important than killing a few Japanese soldiers.

"I'll go right now." Lin Zhifeng turned around and prepared to go and call on the Second Battalion to get to work.

"Wait a minute," Qin Sheng suddenly spoke again.

"You should also dig more deep pits on both sides of the road."

"Huh?" Lin Zhifeng was a little confused.

If we dig a pit like this, wouldn't it become a foxhole for the Japanese soldiers?

"You don't understand, wait until the fight starts," Qin Sheng casually explained.

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Lin Zhifeng gave a thumbs up.

"One is influenced by one's company; having fought so many battles alongside the brigade commander, one has learned by observation," Qin Sheng said with a smile.

"Commander, are you black or red now?" Lin Zhifeng asked with a smile.

"Get out!" Qin Sheng waved his hand, signaling Lin Zhifeng to get lost.

Lin Zhifeng led his soldiers to sabotage the highway overnight, and also dug many pits of varying sizes on both sides.

It wasn't until the next morning, when the scouts spotted the Japanese soldiers in the distance, that Lin Zhifeng led the Second Battalion to a halt and quickly evacuated the highway.

"The troops cease operations; the vanguard shall continue reconnaissance."

The Japanese company commander, Konishi Yuhachi, ordered his troops to halt their advance once again.

Throughout the journey, Konishi Yuhachi took caution to the extreme.

Any place suitable for an ambush, or where an ambush might be possible.

He would wait until the vanguard had completed their thorough reconnaissance before proceeding.

Faced with such cautious Japanese soldiers, Qin Sheng had no way to deal with them.

The soldiers could only hold their rifles and wait silently.

The Japanese soldiers, who had been moving slowly and haltingly, finally entered the encirclement when the sun was directly overhead.

Seeing that the Japanese troops were completely trapped, Qin Sheng immediately fired a signal flare into the air.

"Boom!" "Boom!"
The mortar battery, which was well-prepared, began firing shells.

The remaining soldiers of the 213th Regiment also began to quickly advance and prepare to form an encirclement.

"Baka yarou!" Konishi Yuuhachi never expected that even though he was being so careful, he would still be ambushed.

"Seize advantageous terrain immediately! Counterattack! Counterattack!" Xiao Xiyou shouted from beside the cart.

Because it was a sudden attack, and there weren't any suitable high grounds nearby.

The Japanese could only use the carts as a barrier and seize some earthen embankments for cover while constantly retaliating.

Although this group of Japanese soldiers was small in number, they were not lacking in grenade launchers and light machine guns, and they were also reinforced with two mortars.

In a short period of time, they managed to fight the 213th Regiment to a standstill.

However, the 213th Regiment had an absolute numerical advantage and began to compress the Japanese troops' operational space from the east and west.

"Baka! How could the main force of the Eighth Route Army be here?!"

Light and heavy machine guns and mortars—these are equipment that only the main force of the New Second Regiment possesses.

If it were a local unit, it would be good if it had two light machine guns.

"Company commander, the front line can't be held, requesting reinforcements!" A disheveled Japanese soldier ran back to ask for help.

Konishi Yuhachi's expression grew increasingly grim; he simply didn't have any extra troops to support him.

"Order the troops to consolidate their defenses and hold their ground while awaiting reinforcements!" Konishi Yuhachi gritted his teeth and said.

Four infantry squads, unable to lift their heads due to the intense firepower of the 213th Regiment, began to retreat.

They also rebuilt the defense line on a stretch of road less than 200 meters long.

Along this stretch of highway, there were scattered foxholes dug by the Second Battalion. To the Japanese, these foxholes were their natural fortifications.

The Japanese soldier immediately found the nearest foxhole and jumped in.

If they hadn't jumped, nothing would have happened. But as soon as they jumped, the landmines that the soldiers of the Second Battalion had planted beforehand exploded.

"boom!"

The Japanese soldiers who jumped down were immediately blown to pieces, their limbs mangled and their flesh torn apart.

Of course, due to time constraints, the Second Battalion only laid a small number of landmines.

However, the Japanese soldiers also realized something was wrong after jumping into the pits where no mines were planted.

The shallowest of these pits is 1.78 meters deep; a Japanese soldier who is 1.56 meters tall would not be able to stick his head out if he jumped in.

How can they fight if they can't see anything?

"Baka yarou! The Eighth Route Army is too cunning!" The Japanese soldiers immediately realized that this was a trick by the Eighth Route Army.

The battlefield is now in chaos, and if you can't show your head, you can only passively take hits.

But if you try to climb out, you'll be making yourself a sitting duck.

After all, they couldn't possibly crawl out sideways when they were climbing out.

The helpless Japanese soldiers could only dig a few small holes on the pit wall with entrenching tools so they could kick up their feet, and then lay down on the edge of the pit to fire their guns.

This way, they could at least make use of the pits dug by the Eighth Route Army.

"Hehe. The Japanese have been hit. Send the bombing team."

Qin Sheng looked at the Japanese soldiers who were stubbornly resisting there and gave the order.

The Japanese soldiers in these pits couldn't hide anywhere, so they were easy targets for the 213th Regiment.

"Slap!" "Slap!"
Just as the Japanese soldiers were firing wildly, they suddenly saw a dark object fall into the pit.

Looking down, the Japanese soldiers' eyes widened immediately.

"Baka! A grenade!"

However, just as the Japanese soldier was about to pick it up and throw it away, he embarrassingly discovered that he couldn't reach it at all while standing on the pit wall.

By the time the Japanese soldiers jumped down and tried to pick it up, the grenade's timer had expired.

"boom!"

The Japanese soldier lay at the bottom of the pit, covered in blood.

At this moment, although the Japanese soldiers were constantly spitting out blood, what they were thinking about was that the Eighth Route Army lacked martial ethics.

"Old Qin, this crater plus a grenade is even more effective than a mortar," Political Commissar Kong Hanwen said with a smile.

The grenade throwing team was already highly skilled at throwing grenades, and the crater could further reduce the power of the grenades.

This meant that once a grenade was thrown into the pit, the Japanese soldiers had no chance of escaping and were doomed.

As the Japanese soldiers in the pit were beaten one by one, their ability to resist weakened.

"Beep beep beep beep"

"Kill!"
"Yamaoka-kun, how long has it been since the great sweep? Why is Shanxi in chaos again?"

Yoshio Shinotsuka looked at the stack of telegrams beside him, took off his glasses, and pinched his brow hard.

"Sir, I have read these battle reports. The general reports from the troops below indicate that the number of artillery pieces from the Eighth Route Army has increased significantly."

"I also went to some of the sites and saw that the destroyed ones were all brick pillboxes."

"Some of the concrete pillboxes were attacked, but they were not destroyed."

"I speculate that the Eighth Route Army must have increased the number of heavy mortars it possesses."

Michifumi Yamaoka's judgment was very accurate.

During this period, the headquarters arsenal also managed to acquire more than a dozen train axles.

Two 150mm mortars and eleven 120mm mortars were produced.

Regardless of the caliber of the mortar, it can be used to decisively destroy a pillbox made of bricks and stones.

Not to mention, occasionally guerrillas would use rocket launchers to take down pillboxes in key locations.

"Sir, if we want to stop the Eighth Route Army's actions, we'll probably have to build blockhouses with concrete," Yamaoka Michifumi added.

"You're making it sound too simple. The Empire simply can't produce that much cement," Yoshio Shinotsuka shook his head.

With Italy's production capacity, it would be good enough if it could maintain the construction of permanent military fortifications outside the Great Wall.

In North China, it would be good enough if they could secure strongholds along key railway lines and build some bunkers with concrete.

The battles reported in these reports mostly took place in the mountains.

Even if you submit your application, the North China Area Army is highly likely to ignore it.

The remaining small probability is that General Okamura Yasuji will call and scold him.

"Yamaoka-kun, pass down the order to reduce the construction of blockhouses and instead build strongholds during critical phases to blockade the Eighth Route Army in the mountains."

"Even in places where it was necessary to build watchtowers, they were mainly stationed by the Locust Army."

The stronghold's walls were thick, and even though they were made of brick and earth, it was unlikely that a mortar could breach them.

Yoshio Shinotsuka knew very well that even if the Eighth Route Army had heavy mortars, the shells could not be supplied in unlimited quantities.

By having the Locust Army garrison the blockhouse, even if the blockhouse is destroyed, it would not be a significant loss for the First Army.

In any case, the pillboxes were all built by the puppet regime with its own people, and all the Locust Army had to give up were some weapons that they didn't need.

"Yes, sir! I'll get right on it!"

"Yes, I'll leave this matter to you. The North China Expeditionary Army is holding a meeting, and I've already received orders from headquarters to depart soon," Yoshio Shinotsuka said.

Yoshio Shinotsuka had already heard the general outline of what was going on.

Shanxi is probably about to fight a major battle, otherwise he wouldn't need to attend the meeting.

(End of this chapter)