Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 313 If You Dare, Kill Me
After retreating from the minefield, the Japanese squad leader breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no Eighth Route Army troops had launched an attack.

"You, send some men forward to clear the mines," the Japanese squad leader ordered, pointing at the puppet army battalion commander.

"Huh? Sir, none of the brothers know how to do it," the puppet army battalion commander said with a bitter face.

Demining is not a simple task; it requires professional training.

"You! You must send someone to clear the mines!" the Japanese squad leader said firmly.

He knew, of course, that the Locust Army wouldn't be able to clear mines; after all, even the Locust Army's infantry hadn't received this kind of training.

However, it's better to send the Locust Army to their deaths than to send the Locust Army infantry to their deaths.

The puppet army battalion commander understood what the Japanese squad leader meant by looking at his expression.

He wished he could spit in the face of the Japanese squad leader right now.

However, the situation was beyond his control, and he had no choice but to comply.

The puppet army battalion commander turned around and thought for a long time before shouting, "2nd Company Commander, send your 9th Platoon forward to clear the mines!"

"yes!".
The puppet soldiers of the 9th Platoon of the 2nd Company cursed under their breath, but there was nothing they could do.

With each level pressing down on the next, these ordinary soldiers had no choice but to grit their teeth and explore forward.

Because they had no mine detectors, they had to use bayonets to pierce through inch by inch.

The Japanese squad leader was getting increasingly anxious as he watched the slow-moving puppet soldiers.

There were no mines on this road when they traveled it before, but now they've suddenly appeared. There must be something wrong with that.

However, faced with this situation, the Japanese squad leader couldn't say much, because this was simply standard procedure.

Just as the puppet troops searching for mines were about to turn the ground upside down, Li Chishui arrived with his First Regiment.

"Commander Li, look, the puppet troops are clearing mines," the militia captain said, pointing to the puppet troops not far away.

Because of their proximity to Erlang Mountain, the various militia guerrilla units within the jurisdiction of the New Second Brigade had a considerable number of landmines.

The puppet troops have already dug out several along this road.

Therefore, the Japanese soldiers and their puppet troops dared not make any rash moves.

However, simple stone mines and clay pot mines are not like professional landmines; once they are discovered, they are relatively easy to dispose of.

"Fire support company, set up your guns and cannons!" Li Chishui turned and ordered.

Since the Japanese and their puppet troops dared to come out, they had to leave something behind.

The First Independent Regiment was established just when it was short of guns.

A dozen minutes later, the Independent Regiment, having completed its preparations, launched its attack.

"Da da da" "Da da da".
"Boom!" "Boom!"
"Enemy attack! Counterattack!"

"The enemy is over there!"

The Japanese soldiers, who had been attacked, reacted immediately and began to establish counter-offensive positions.

However, the puppet troops were clearly incompetent, getting beaten like headless flies, crawling around on the ground.

"Sir, something's wrong. We need to get out of here right away."

The puppet army battalion commander crawled up to the Japanese squad leader and said.

Where is this? It's practically right on the doorstep of the New Second Brigade.

If the time drags on, and the main force of the new 2nd Brigade arrives, that will be truly disastrous.

"Yes, you're right. We need to get through this place immediately." The Japanese squad leader nodded.

"You immediately organize the troops for a breakout. I'll have the grenade launcher squad provide covering fire!"

"Quickly!"

"Hi! Thank you, sir!"

The puppet army battalion commander had just smiled and stepped back a short distance when he suddenly realized what was happening.

Wait a minute, isn't this just sending the Locust Army to pave the way?

However, seeing that the Japanese had already set up their cannons, the puppet army battalion commander didn't dare to utter a single word.

"Brothers! If we wait any longer, the main force of the new Second Brigade will be here!"

"The locust army has shown great mercy and is preparing to cover our breakout first!"

"Brothers! Charge!" The puppet army battalion commander shouted, lying on the ground with his pistol raised.

"Charge!" The company commander and platoon leader below shouted and urged.

The lowest-ranking soldiers had no choice but to get up and charge forward.

At the same time, the Japanese grenade launchers began to bombard the position of the Independent Regiment.

The heavy machine guns of the First Regiment were forced to relocate.

Li Chishui's unique regiment did not form an encirclement, but instead launched an attack from the north side of the road.

Faced with the puppet troops and Japanese soldiers fleeing like wild donkeys, the soldiers could only try their best to aim and fire.

However, due to the distance, the effect was not very noticeable.

Black powder mines are very noisy, but they don't actually kill many puppet troops.

"Damn it, everyone says the Japanese will fight back desperately when attacked, how come they're running so fast!"

Li Chishui angrily looked at the Japanese soldiers who had no intention of attacking and only knew how to run away frantically.

He was all prepared to fight a defensive battle and make a fortune, but now the Japanese have just run away.

However, at least more than a hundred people were left this time, so it wasn't a loss.

Otherwise, Li Chishui would have been so angry he would have died.

"What did you say? There's no one here?"

After listening to the reports from the Japanese squad leader and the puppet army battalion commander, Fan Chun and Yutaro Tsuchigu were somewhat surprised.

Without the people, there would be no vegetables, and even grain would have to be supplemented by Ping'an County.

If this continues, they will definitely live a miserable life.

After dismissing the disheveled squad leader and the puppet army battalion commander, Yutaro the dog was extremely worried.

If you don't eat vegetables for a long time, your buttocks probably won't be able to handle it.

"Sir, why don't we figure out how to grow our own vegetables?" Fan Chun suggested.

Fan Chun knew without a doubt that the supply team from Ping'an County couldn't possibly deliver vegetables to them every few days.

After all, the Eighth Route Army's favorite thing was the supply team.

Even the most substantial fortune can't withstand being robbed every day.

At this time, growing your own vegetables is the only option.

"Oh? Fan-san, you know how to grow vegetables?" Yutaro the earth dog asked excitedly.

Although the vegetables they grow might not be enough to feed two thousand people, it's enough to ensure the daily vegetable supply for the officers.

As for ordinary soldiers, they can have a meal occasionally.

If all else fails, try to deduct it yourself.

“I don’t understand, but I’m sure some of the soldiers in the regiment do,” Fan Chun said.

The soldiers under his command were mostly farmers, and most farmers know how to grow vegetables.

“However, we don’t have any seeds right now,” Fan Chun added.

"Don't worry about the seeds. I'll contact Ping'an County later and ask them to bring some over when they transport supplies."

"Your most important task now is to select skilled workers and start tilling the land," said Yutaro the Earth Dog.

It's a pity there are no vegetables available right now, so we might suffer a bit. However, using tea leaves should alleviate the situation somewhat.

"I'll go right away."
"Commander, something's not right. The Japanese seem to be planning to farm themselves, and they're carrying water to irrigate their fields right now."

Ren Wuliu ran over to report.

"The Japanese devils really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Let's go take a look."

Li Chishui set off, mounted his horse, and headed straight for the hills near Zhangjiahui.

From the hilltop south of Zhangjiahui, one can observe the movements of the Japanese soldiers using binoculars.

This was also an observation post set up by Li Chishui.

Standing atop the hill, Li Chishui carefully observed the movements of the Japanese troops through his binoculars.

"You know what, the Japanese really are planning to farm; they've even demolished the training grounds."

Besides searching for places to grow vegetables inside their strongholds, the Japanese soldiers and their collaborators were also tilling the land in areas within the reach of the outer bunkers.

"How many wells are there in the Japanese stronghold?" Li Chishui asked.

“There’s only one inside, and there’s one on each side of the outside,” the militia captain said.

"Then let's make a fuss about the water."

“Let’s smear the past and add some fuel to the fire for the Japanese!” Li Chishui said.

As instructed by the brigade commander, the main task of the Independent Regiment, besides development, was to deal with the Japanese soldiers of the Zhang Family Society.

Development can't be rushed, so let's have some fun with the Japanese devils from the Zhang family.

Water that is contaminated can be used to water vegetables, but it cannot be drunk.

Two thousand people consume a huge amount of water per day.

"Damn, this water tastes wrong, it's stinky!"

The puppet soldiers had just drawn a bucket of water from the well outside the stronghold when they smelled a foul odor.

"Go get a flashlight and shine it to see what's going on."

A few minutes later, a puppet soldier hurriedly ran back with a flashlight.

Upon closer inspection, everyone discovered a dead dog in the well, its body bloated and unrecognizable.

"Ugh~~~".
Everyone gagged; they had been drinking water from this well for the past few days.

In other words, they had been drinking corpse water for several days.

"You two, retrieve the dead dog. I'll report to our superiors and see if there's any in the well to the east," the puppet army squad leader ordered.

"yes!".
A few days later, Fan Chun and Yutaro the dog looked very grim as they looked at the several dead cats that had been pulled out of the water again.

This is the third time it has been discovered.

The soldiers in the stronghold have now been basically all taken over.

Now I'm not worried about constipation caused by not having vegetables.

However, if this continues, non-combat casualties will become increasingly severe.

“From now on, before fetching water each day, check for any corpses first, and then fetch the water,” said Yutaro the Earth Dog.

Everyone had no choice but to do this.

Fortunately, as long as the body doesn't decompose, the water is drinkable; at most, it's just a little disgusting.

"Commander Li, the Dead Cat and Dead Dog aren't working well anymore," the militia captain reported to Li Chishui.

"Usually, we would throw it in at night and take it out during the day, so it wouldn't affect the drinking water of the Japanese and their collaborators at all."

“I didn’t plan to manage this for a lifetime,” Li Chishui said.

“I’ve come up with a new solution, and that’s hair,” Li Chishui said, touching his newly cut buzz cut.

He learned this trick from Chen Chengxing when he returned to Hongniwan.

If you throw hair clippings into water, the water will quickly become fishy and smelly.

Moreover, even if the Japanese soldiers wanted to retrieve the stray hairs, they couldn't.

The only way to remove the hair is to drain all the water and then go down to clean away the sludge.

This whole process will take at least one or two days.

When the well is slowly filling with water, throw in a bag of hair clippings, and the Japanese will collapse.

"I'll take care of it right away." The militia captain nodded.

Cats and dogs are hard to find, but stray hairs are plentiful.

"Wait a minute," Li Chishui called out to the militia captain.

"We can already hear frogs croaking at night. Have the militiamen catch some frogs, the more the better."

"A toad?" The militia captain hadn't figured out what Li Chishui was up to.

"You can take care of it," Li Chishui said with a smile.

I have to say, the brigade commander is really cunning.

In the following months, the Japanese soldiers in Zhangjiahui were on the verge of collapse.

The single well within the stronghold was simply not enough to provide drinking water for 2 people.

Some people are so thirsty that they can't stand it anymore, and without caring about the stench, they pinch their noses and swallow the foul water.

Then came the pale-faced Incarnation of the Splatoon.

It wasn't until someone died of dehydration in the dung heap that the remaining Japanese soldiers and traitors finally behaved themselves.

At night, the Japanese soldiers and their puppet troops also suffered.

Li Chishui had chili seeds stuffed into the mouths of the toads they had collected, and then threw them into the Japanese blockade ditch.

The spicy kick made the toad croak incessantly.

One or two toads may seem insignificant, but the power of a thousand toads gathered together is something only those who have heard of it can understand.

On the first day, the Japanese soldiers and their collaborators didn't pay much attention, thinking it was normal.

However, the torment they endured for several days left them in excruciating pain.

There were even instances of Japanese soldiers falling off the city wall and dying while on guard duty during the day.

When winter came and there were no more toads, Li Chishui didn't rest. He specially arranged for a drum and gong team to perform for the Japanese soldiers every day.

Under such multiple forms of torture, the Japanese soldiers and their collaborators were nearly driven mad; it was worse than death.

They wished the Eighth Route Army would come and attack them the very next day.

However, until 43, the Zhang family had not been directly attacked, only harassment and sniping continued.

Li Chishui, using the Zhang Family Association as a base, ate with gusto, his mouth practically dripping with oil.

While the First Regiment was busy performing for the Japanese and puppet troops.

In February 1943, the Japanese suffered a major defeat in the Pacific and were forced to switch to full-scale defense.

The Japanese began to continuously transfer elite troops from the Chinese battlefield to the Pacific theater.

The newly added garrison troops had suffered a severe decline in combat effectiveness, leaving them with no choice but to rely heavily on puppet troops.

The Japanese handed over all the unimportant strongholds and pillboxes to the puppet troops for garrisoning.

He himself retreated to the county town and important transportation hubs.

Meanwhile, the base of the new Second Brigade continued to expand outwards.

(End of this chapter)