Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 331: Early Action
"What are your thoughts on the telegram regarding the new Second Regiment?"

In the military region's conference room, Chen Sijin began to speak.

He had already been studying the integration of the forces of the Jin-Sui Military Region.

However, Ping'an County and Anqiu City are the first obstacles to achieving integration.

Chen Chengxing's telegram was like a pillow arriving when one is sleepy.

"Officer, isn't this a bit hasty?" the chief of staff asked.

"It's not that I think the new second regiment is not strong enough, but taking Ping An now is a bit risky."

"If the Japanese launch a large-scale attack, we might not necessarily gain the upper hand."

The reason why the Eighth Route Army could harass the Japanese so relentlessly was because of guerrilla warfare.

However, attacking Ping'an County would mean a direct confrontation.

The Japanese probably wished the Eighth Route Army would do just that.

If the war escalates, it might turn into a decisive battle between the main forces.

The Eighth Route Army will suffer losses then.

"How can we know if we have an advantage if we don't fight?" Chen Sijin said.

"Chen Chengxing said in the telegram that he was absolutely confident of taking Ping'an County."

"Besides, Ping'an County's geographical location is not particularly outstanding for the Japanese, so they probably won't make a big fuss about it."

Ping'an County is a relatively important county in northwestern Shanxi, but it is not so important in the context of Shanxi as a whole.

For the Japanese, the county towns along the Tongpu Railway and Zhengtai Railway were the most important county towns.

The Tongpu Railway runs through the most important plain and basin area in Shanxi.

The Zhengtai Railway is the core channel for transporting Shanxi's resources to other regions.

Compared to these two railways, other places were not as important in the eyes of the Japanese.

Besides, the Jin-Sui Military Region is now a strong and well-equipped force.

Chen Sijin felt that it wasn't impossible to have a confrontation with the Japanese.

There had been no sign of Japanese planes in the skies over northwestern Shanxi for a long time.

This means that Yoshio Shinotsuka no longer has any reconnaissance aircraft.

The only thing the Japanese can use to gain an overwhelming advantage over the Eighth Route Army is their heavy artillery.

However, in northwestern Shanxi, it was not difficult to contain the Japanese heavy artillery.

He couldn't get heavy artillery to the battlefield in a short time.

But he had a hundred ways to get the heavy artillery on the road.

"This"

Since Chen Sijin has said so, how could the chief of staff not understand his meaning?

"This matter probably needs to be reported to higher authorities for approval," the chief of staff reminded him.

The current situation is such that a single move can have far-reaching consequences.

Such a large-scale operation as attacking Ping'an County must be reported to headquarters.

“I know that.” Chen Sijin nodded.

"But we need to confirm how many troops and equipment we have first."

Reporting to headquarters isn't just done like that.

At the very least, there must be a feasible battle plan.

After receiving the operational plan, headquarters will conduct an evaluation. Only if it is confirmed to be in order will the various units be mobilized for coordinated operations.

"Alright, I'll send out staff officers to gather information on each regiment right away." The chief of staff nodded.

The situations of the various regiments in northwestern Shanxi are different; some are still behind enemy lines and have no telephone connection.

To confirm the specifics, we have to go there in person.

“Staff Officer Zhou, look, those Japanese soldiers who parachuted into Dayun Mountain are still in the Japanese military police headquarters.”

At the restaurant outside the military police headquarters, Wei Dayong was eating peanuts while gesturing to Zhou Weiguo next to him.

I don't know how he manages to eat and talk without them interfering with each other.

Moreover, it can simultaneously see in all directions and hear from all sides.

In the past two days, all units of the New Second Regiment have gathered, but without clear instructions, Chen Chengxing cannot act rashly.

However, the fact that the main force remained stationary did not mean that Chen Chengxing had made no preparations.

On the outskirts of Ping'an County, two county-level police brigades are already openly active.

Meanwhile, the cavalry battalion was also keeping a watchful eye on things, and the special forces had already infiltrated Ping'an County.

Upon hearing Wei Dayong's words, Zhou Weiguo glanced sideways and said:

"Monk, can't you be a little more discreet?"

"I barely ate any of this plate of peanuts, and you ate them all."

"It will make us a laughing stock."

Zhou Weiguo, who had been muttering to himself, stopped talking the moment he saw the Japanese soldiers.

Then he rubbed his eyes.

"Takeshita Shun?"

Although they were separated by dozens of meters, Zhou Weiguo recognized the Japanese colonel inside at a glance.

Who is handsome?

Wei Dayong thought there were Japanese women, so he immediately followed Zhou Weiguo's gaze.

"Don't stare!" Zhou Weiguo whispered, leaning back and hiding behind the window.

Seeing that there were no women around, Wei Dayong immediately looked away, and at the same time, a chicken leg was torn off. Inside the military police station, Takeshita Shun sensed someone staring at him and immediately looked up.

There, a person dressed in thick black clothes was seen eating and drinking heartily.

A chicken leg was gone in three bites.

By any measure, it looked like a traitor had extorted a meal from the restaurant owner.

"What's wrong, Colonel?" the Japanese soldier next to him asked.

"It's nothing." Takeshita Shun shook his head.

Although he looked down on these traitors, it was not something he could interfere with.

"How are the wounded soldiers?" Takeshita Shun asked as he walked.

"The situation has stabilized. In a few more days, he should be out of danger and able to return to Taiyuan by car."

“Okay, then let’s wait a few more days and return together then,” Takeshita Shun said.

"Hai!"
Zhou Weiguo, who was at the dinner table, only relaxed his guard slightly after Takeshita Shun left.

When I turned around, I found that there were only a few chicken bones left on the roast chicken on the table.

"Monk, are you a reincarnated starving ghost?!" Zhou Weiguo threw down his chopsticks and said irritably.

While food was plentiful in Hongniwan, getting chicken wasn't so easy.

He had originally planned to have a nice meal.

In the end, he paid for it himself, but only ate a few peanuts.

"Stop sucking, let's go somewhere else!" Zhou Weiguo said, standing up.

"Huh? This place is great, you can even see what the Japanese are doing." The monk said, somewhat puzzled.

"Let's talk outside," Zhou Weiguo gestured.

The monk was somewhat puzzled, but he could only throw the chicken bones onto the table, remove the lid from the wine pot, and gulp it down in one go.

These were all bought with money, so we can't waste them.

After leaving the restaurant, Zhou Weiguo asked Wei Dayong to put his hat on, and then they found a tea stall nearby to sit down.

They had only been sitting down for a few minutes when several Japanese soldiers entered the restaurant.

"Staff Officer Zhou, how did you know there would be a situation?" Wei Dayong asked, somewhat surprised.

“I know that Japanese colonel, his name is Takeshita Shun,” Zhou Weiguo explained.

The moment Zhou Weiguo saw Takeshita Shun, he decided he had to kill him.

As a longtime friend, Zhou Weiguo was well aware of Takeshita Shun's abilities.

Don't be fooled by the fact that they're both involved in special operations now.

However, in Germany, they were not professionally trained in special operations.

Special operations do not demonstrate their full capabilities.

As far as Zhou Weiguo knew, there was only one person in the entire Asia who had truly studied special operations, and that was Yamamoto Ichiki.

However, after returning to China, Zhou Weiguo did not hear any news about this special forces team that had undergone rigorous training in Germany.

Even now, Zhou Weiguo still believes that Yamamoto Ichiki's special forces team is carrying out top-secret missions.

Wei Dayong only knew that they had killed a small group of Japanese soldiers and exchanged a lot of things, but he didn't expect that it was a special forces team.

After all, that unit was really too weak.

Wei Dayong was even more surprised when he heard Zhou Weiguo mention the name of the Japanese colonel.

"You still recognize the Japanese soldiers?"

Only Chen Chengxing and Luo Ping in the entire Second Regiment knew about Zhou Weiguo's past experiences.

Others were unaware of Zhou Weiguo's situation.

All I knew was that he had risen from a bandit to a staff officer.

“When I was studying in Germany, Takeshita Shun was my classmate, and I learned Japanese from him.”

"However, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan, I severed ties with him and returned to China to fight against the Japanese."

“I didn’t expect to see him here either,” Zhou Weiguo explained in a low voice.

"You studied abroad?" Wei Dayong was even more surprised.

Wei Dayong originally thought Zhang Chu's knowledge was already quite high, but he didn't expect there to be even higher knowledge.

Zhou Weiguo was so choked up that he couldn't say anything.

Are you focusing on the wrong thing?
We're discussing Takeshita Shun, aren't we?

Seeing Zhou Weiguo's expression, Wei Dayong finally realized what was happening.

"What's the deal with this Takeshita Shun?"

“He’s very perceptive. You were staring at him, which should have gotten his attention.”

"Therefore, I deduce that he might send someone to investigate you."

“Then it will be difficult for us to escape,” Zhou Weiguo said.

"Oh, that was really close." Wei Dayong finally realized what had happened.

"Alright, let's not worry about that anymore, the crisis is over now."

Zhou Weiguo had already seen several Japanese soldiers who had entered the restaurant come out.

It seems they had no suspicions.

"Next, have the comrades take turns monitoring to ensure that nothing unexpected happens."

“Okay!” Wei Dayong nodded.

(End of this chapter)