Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 342 Don't you know what kind of people your own troops are?

"The military region has sent a telegram that the offensive will begin in three days."

"The Second New Regiment's attack on Luye will be carried out simultaneously."

Chen Chengxing looked at the group of officers at the regimental level and above sitting below, and felt a sense of commanding authority.

"Old Chu, why don't you explain the battle plan to the comrades?" Chen Chengxing said.

It must be said that Chu Yunfei's drawing was incredibly accurate.

That's much better than Xu Wu, who came from a peasant background.

"Okay." Chu Yunfei stood up.

"Please look around, everyone. This is Luye. The Tongpu Railway comes from the northwest and turns south at the northeast corner of the city."

"According to intelligence, there are more than 7,000 Japanese and puppet troops in this area, mainly distributed along the railway line."

Everyone present listened attentively to Chu Yunfei's introduction.

This isn't a small county like Ping'an; a fight here won't be so simple.

After Chu Yunfei explained the situation in detail, Chen Chengxing spoke again:

"In this battle, in addition to attacking Luye, blocking the Japanese reinforcements is also of paramount importance."

"The Japanese reinforcements came from three main places: Fu'an, Ye County, and Xinkou."

"According to intelligence, there are two infantry battalions in Ye County and Chi County."

"However, they need to be wary of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, so it is impossible for them to send out all their troops."

"I estimate that at most five hundred Japanese soldiers can be mobilized, plus some puppet troops."

"We can only divide our forces to intercept Lu Ye after we surround him. We'll decide on the intercepting force based on the situation later."

"The Japanese troops in the Xinkou area are from the 4th Division. I have already reached an agreement with their division commander that the two sides will fake a fight."

"Our main concern is the Japanese troops in the Fu'an area."

"This is the border between the Japanese troops stationed in Mongolia and the First Army, with a corps of troops here."

"Although Si Jinyuan and his men's attack on Shuiquan will also attract the attention of the Japanese devils in Fu'an."

"But once the battle begins, the Japanese will inevitably use the railway to provide support."

"Qin Sheng, this task will be handed over to the 3rd Brigade."

"You lead your men to set up an ambush in the Sandaowan area, lay landmines in advance, blow up the railway, and block the enemy."

"Yes! I guarantee I will complete the mission!" Qin Sheng replied, standing at attention.

"Li Chishui, the task of feigning an attack with the Xinkou reinforcements will be assigned to the First Regiment."

"At that time, you can blow up the Yunhe Bridge to block the Japanese from sending reinforcements by train."

"Yes!"

"Even though it's a fake battle, don't let your guard down. You must prevent the Japanese from taking it too seriously," Chen Chengxing instructed.

The Japanese were never to be trusted.

No matter how well Chen Chengxing and Mo Lizhilang talked, he didn't believe it.

"Don't worry," Li Chishui assured him.

He could tell whether the Japanese were really fighting or just pretending the moment they made a move.

"The remaining troops were divided into three detachments and assembled in Qiujiayu, Yujiagou, and Daruzhuang respectively."

"Is everything clear?" Chen Chengxing asked.

"clear!"

"Go and prepare yourselves," Chen Chengxing said.

After everyone left, Chen Chengxing looked at Luo Ping and said, "Old Luo, I'm entrusting the overall management of the militia and laborers to you."

Fighting in the wilderness isn't just about finishing the battle; you'll definitely get a lot of supplies by the end.

Only when it is transported back to the base can it truly be considered one's own.

"Leave it to me." Luo Ping nodded.

He's done it so many times, he's got it all figured out.

Three days later.

Chen Chengxing received another telegram from the military region: Chen Sijin and his men had taken action.

"According to plan, begin the operation!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

The New Second Regiment's initial operational plan was not a full-scale offensive, but rather to besiege a stronghold and strike at reinforcements, aiming to inflict casualties on the Japanese and puppet troops.

According to the plan, the first wave of encirclement and suppression of reinforcements was to be handled by the Second Detachment.

The Second Detachment was the main force of this offensive, consisting of the First Battalion, the Second Battalion, and the Independent Fourth Regiment.

Upon receiving the order, the second detachment set off with two mountain guns.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, the puppet army sentries who were bragging to each other on the outskirts of Tianyun Town suddenly stopped talking and stared blankly into the distance.

"The Eighth Route Army! The Eighth Route Army is here!"

A piercing scream rang out.

"Brigade Commander! Brigade Commander! We're doomed!"

A puppet army sentry scrambled into the command post.

Xu Fugui, the brigade commander of the 1st Brigade of the puppet army, who was counting the oceans, was startled.

"Bullshit! I'm perfectly fine, who's dead!"

Xu Fugui swept the silver dollars on the table into the drawer and cursed angrily.

The puppet soldiers, no longer caring about anything else, immediately reported:
"Brigade Commander! The Eighth Route Army! The Eighth Route Army is here!"

"What are you afraid of, Eighth Route Army? How many of you are there?" Xu Fugui asked.

As a crucial stronghold for the Luye army, Tianyun Town boasts a full brigade of troops.

There were more than 1,400 people!
With their fortifications in place, how could the First Brigade possibly be afraid of them?

"They're everywhere! And they're all wearing military uniforms—this is the main force!"

"Go and take a look!" Xu Fugui didn't entirely believe the sentry's words.

After all, he knew better than anyone what kind of people he had under his command.

Climbing up the rammed earth city wall, Xu Fugui held up binoculars and looked around.

The new Second Regiment came from Zhongshan, so they are all located to the west of Tianshui Town.

"This is troublesome," Xu Fugui said in a deep voice.

Although the Eighth Route Army outside wasn't covering the entire mountainside, there seemed to be at least two thousand of them.

"Brigade Commander, the Eighth Route Army has mobilized such a large force; their intentions must be quite ambitious," said Liu Hai, the adjutant beside him.

If it's a harassing guerrilla tactic, the Eighth Route Army usually mobilizes in groups of ten to several dozen people.

The Eighth Route Army outside now numbers over a thousand and is digging fortifications.

It's obvious at a glance that the Eighth Route Army intends to attack Tianyun Town.

"It's alright." Xu Fugui waved his hand.

"When soldiers come, generals will block them; when water comes, earth will be used to dam it."

"Now that the Eighth Route Army has arrived, we have to call on the Japanese to fight them."

"Get the brothers ready for battle! I'm going to call for backup right now!" Xu Fugui said, and then ran back to the command post.

"Get me the headquarters of Lu Ye's First Army!"

"Hello? Commander! This is Xu Fugui, the Eighth Route Army is here! Requesting reinforcements!"

"How many people? At least four or five thousand! Over a hundred light and heavy machine guns! And mountain guns too!"

"Yes! Yes! They're definitely the main force!"

"Okay! I'll hold them off, you guys hurry up!"

Xu Fugui hung up the phone and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard an explosion outside.

"Boom!" Second Detachment
"Holy crap! They actually have cannons!"

Xu Fugui wished he could slap his own mouth until it was swollen.

Having artillery and not having artillery are two completely different situations.

With the support of artillery, the outer fortifications of Tianyun Town were simply unable to resist.

Now Xu Fugui only hopes that the Eighth Route Army doesn't have many shells.

Otherwise, he would have no choice but to lead the way in fleeing.

Cao Lin, the commander of the 4th Independent Regiment outside the city, nodded with satisfaction as he watched the bunkers being destroyed one by one by the mountain guns.

Since being instructed by the Japanese artillery, the artillerymen of the New Second Regiment have become much more accurate.

Now I can basically hit the target every time.

"Mountain guns cease fire! First battalion advance and launch an offensive, with the artillery company providing cover," Cao Lin ordered.

The mission of the Fourth Independent Regiment is to put some pressure on Tianyun Town, but not to take it over in a short period of time.

Otherwise, the Japanese wouldn't have provided support.

Xu Fugui, who was on the city wall, finally relaxed when he saw that the Eighth Route Army's artillery had stopped firing.

If the Eighth Route Army had enough artillery shells, Tianyun Town would be difficult to hold out against.

"Brothers! Hold on! The Japanese have already set off and will be there within two hours!" Xu Fugui shouted.

Tianyun Town is not far from Luye; even if the Japanese walked, it wouldn't take them long.

Upon hearing that the Japanese were about to arrive, the puppet troops' morale soared as if a noose had been tied around their necks.

Seeing that the troops had begun to counterattack, Xu Fugui's expression improved again.

We've finally stabilized.

Although the city wall of Tianyun Town is made of rammed earth, it is at least five or six meters thick.

Even if the Eighth Route Army's mountain guns still had shells, he wasn't too worried as long as the quantity wasn't large.

The reason is simple: when the quantity is insufficient, the Eighth Route Army would never be willing to waste a large number of shells on the 1st Brigade.

They don't deserve it.

Just as the puppet troops in Tianyun Town were putting up a "fierce" resistance, reinforcements from Luye and surrounding strongholds had already assembled and set off.

Tianyun Town is still quite important to Lu Ye; the Japanese will definitely not give it up easily.

The First and Second Battalions were waiting for them.

The ambush position at Dongshan Temple.

"Report! The Japanese are coming!" The scout ran back.

"The number of people was about two thousand, all of them lightly armed troops. I didn't see any large-caliber artillery."

"The commander is amazing! The first wave of reinforcements really did have two thousand people!" Sun Xun laughed.

"As long as we can encircle this reinforcement, we'll have won half the battle!" said Tian Cheng, the battalion commander standing to the side.

With two thousand reinforcements plus the puppet 1st Brigade in Tianyun Town, it was equivalent to wiping out half of Lu Ye's enemy forces.

This is a major advantage for the upcoming siege.

"Send someone to inform the First Battalion to prepare for the encirclement." Sun Xun nodded.

To eliminate this reinforcement force, we must first form an encirclement.

According to the plan, the 2nd Battalion was responsible for frontal blocking, while the 1st Battalion was responsible for flanking encirclement.

"Yes!"

"hurry up!"

Along the way, Zhu Fusheng, the commander of the puppet First Army, kept urging them on horseback, going back and forth.

His First Army, with its two brigades combined, had less than three thousand men in total.

If the First Brigade of Tianyun Town suffers heavy losses, its forces will be fewer than those of the Provisional 9th ​​Division.

At that time, the commander of the 9th Provisional Division will definitely whine and complain in front of him.

This was something Zhu Fusheng couldn't tolerate.

He and the commander of the 9th Provisional Division were mortal enemies.

After circling around, Zhu Fusheng came to the middle of the group.

"Sir, at our current speed, we should arrive at Tianyun Town in another hour."

The support sent by the Japanese devils could not be provided by the puppet troops alone.

A reinforced infantry company of two hundred men also accompanied them.

Although the Japanese soldiers are now mostly old and weak, their combat effectiveness is several levels higher than that of the puppet troops.

"Zhu-san, there's no need to be too anxious," the Japanese company commander said.

"We are already moving very fast. If we increase our speed any further, we will lose most of our strength by the time we reach the battlefield."

"That would be detrimental to the upcoming battle."

They didn't just stop once they arrived in Tianyun Town.

We'll definitely have to fight the Eighth Route Army.

Given the physical condition of the locust army, at their current pace, they would probably collapse from exhaustion on the way.

"Alas, how could I not know? But I'm just impatient."

Zhu Fusheng was originally a brigade commander in the Jin-Sui Army, so he had basic tactical skills.

"Hehe, Zhu-san, you must trust your men," the Japanese company commander laughed.

"I think they must have given a false report."

"If there were really several thousand Eighth Route Army soldiers plus a few mountain guns, they should have retreated long ago."

The Japanese knew very well what kind of people the Locust Army was.

Upon hearing what the Japanese company commander said, Zhu Fusheng thought it made sense.

What kind of character do your subordinates have?
They might be fighting against several thousand main forces of the Eighth Route Army?

Absolutely not!

Zhu Fusheng breathed a sigh of relief and was about to speak when he heard a sharp whistle from the sky.

Immediately afterward, he saw the Japanese company commander nimbly dismount and lunge into a small ditch.

"Mortar!!"

"Boom!" "Boom!"
(End of this chapter)