Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 42: I can’t hit you by hitting you; I can’t catch up with you by chasing you.

"Sparrow?" Luo Ping was a little curious when he heard Chen Chengxing's words.

He was very clear about guerrilla warfare, which was nothing more than 'when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy stays, we harass; when the enemy is tired, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue; we look for opportunities to fight and wait for chances to annihilate the enemy'. However, he had never heard of sparrow warfare.

Chen Chengxing then realized that the battle of Sparrow War had not yet officially begun.

"This is what I thought of when I was watching sparrows foraging for food. When sparrows are foraging for food, they never fly in groups. Most of them are one or two, three or five, or at most a dozen. They fly east and west, gather and disperse. They are small, fast, and flexible.

When we fight guerrilla warfare, we can also use this small group dispersed tactics. We can gather in groups of three or five, and appear and disappear at random, so as to kill, consume, confuse and tire the enemy flexibly and maneuverably.

I call this guerrilla warfare 'sparrow warfare'." Chen Chengxing explained.

"Hey, you know what, it's really vivid. He is well-educated after all. He can even think of a war when he looks at a bird." Luo Ping said with a smile.

This "sparrow warfare" is a type of guerrilla warfare that can divide the troops into small groups of several people, which can greatly increase the frequency of attacks.

Of course, the Sparrow Warfare is not without its drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that it is difficult to seize any spoils. After all, with fewer people, you can only harass.

However, just by thinking about the captain's plan, Luo Ping realized that it was a combination of sparrow warfare and ambush warfare.

As Chen Chengxing formulated the battle plan, the new Second Regiment began to operate at full speed.

Chen Chengxing pulled out one platoon from each battalion, and added the reconnaissance platoon directly under the regiment, a total of four platoons of troops, and began to constantly harass the Japanese's large force.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!".
"Chase! Chase!"

5 minute later.

"Captain, the enemy fled to the northeast, and the squad didn't catch up."

The Japanese soldiers were now wearing leather shoes, which were at a disadvantage compared to cloth shoes when climbing the mountain. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, the Eighth Route Army that harassed them had long since disappeared. After all, this ghost place was full of ravines, and people would not be found at all if they hid in.

In order to find these eight routes, more troops are needed to track them in a dispersed manner. If any route finds the enemy's trace, they will send a message via military sentry.

Only in this way can we avoid losing track of the Eighth Route Army.

"Damn it! These Eighth Route Army soldiers are as annoying as flies!" Yokogawa Shoji was almost mad with anger.

Since the team left Yangjiazhuang, they would be attacked every kilometer they walked.

Moreover, as the troops advanced eastward, the frequency of attacks became higher and higher, and the number of people involved also increased, from two or three people to seven or eight people now.

"Major, if we continue like this, morale may collapse. We must come up with a targeted strategy," said deputy captain Tokugawa Eisuke.

It has been several hours since the Eighth Route Army began harassing, and the harassment has never stopped during these hours.

The attacks on the Yokogawa Brigade included but were not limited to cold guns, landmines, wooden stick traps, and leg traps.
So far, the troops have suffered more than 30 casualties. If the soldiers caring for the wounded are included, there are at least hundreds of people in the entire battalion who have been tied up. You must know that there are only 500 front-line infantrymen in the entire battalion.

And as the number of wounded increased, the troops' marching speed became slower and slower.

Soldiers who stepped on landmines or bamboo stick traps could not walk alone and had to be carried by other soldiers, which greatly affected the speed and morale of the troops.

"Order the First Squadron to be ready. If the Eighth Route Army appears again, they will give chase and make sure to wipe out this group of Eighth Route Army soldiers!" Yokogawa Shoji gave the order after thinking for a while.

He was really disgusted by these Eighth Route Army soldiers.

According to Chen Chengxing's order, the soldiers hid in the dark and fired only one shot, and then left after shooting, without caring whether they hit the target or not.

Faced with this type of attack, the Japanese had no way to deal with it. The battle was over before they could even react.

Therefore, Yokogawa Shoji decided to dispatch a troop to pursue the enemy. Even if he could not destroy the enemy, he had to drive them away, otherwise he would never have peace. Chen Chengxing immediately got the news of the Japanese's division of troops.

"Good! The Japanese have divided their forces!" Chen Chengxing said excitedly.

"Tell the guerrilla unit to lead the Japanese northward along Hujiazhuang and Wangzhuang in an organized manner." Chen Chengxing ordered.

"Yes!" The combat staff officer at the side immediately went out to arrange for a communicator to pass on the order.

Chen Chengxing looked at Xu Wu and the others and ordered: "The main force will set out immediately, target Wangzhuang!"

There are many canyons suitable for ambushes from Hujiazhuang to Wangzhuang, but Chen Chengxing did not choose those locations in the front, but chose Luzigou, which is right next to Wangzhuang.

The Japanese would definitely be alert when they first passed through the canyons during the pursuit, but as they passed through more and more canyons, they would definitely let down their guard when they reached Luzigou.

As long as the Japanese enter the encirclement, they will have no way to escape.

No matter how elite the Japanese were, a force ratio of nearly 10:1 was enough to suppress them, not to mention that the New 2nd Regiment also had two heavy machine guns and a mortar.

On the other side, the first squadron of the Yokogawa Battalion was relentlessly pursuing the 30 or so Eighth Route Army soldiers in front.

"Platoon leader, Wangzhuang is ahead!"

"Okay, we're finally here! Have Squad 1 fire two more shots. Don't let the enemy get away!"

Along the way, whenever he had to pass through a mountain pass or other place suitable for ambush, he would arrange a few people to ambush.

On the one hand, it can provoke the anger of the Japanese, and on the other hand, it can slow down the Japanese speed.

I have to say that this group of Japs were really strong. Even though they were attacked from time to time along the way, they still held on very closely and the distance between the two sides never exceeded one mile.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

After hearing the gunshot, the pursuing Japanese soldiers fell to the ground subconsciously.

"Baga! Chase! Keep chasing!"

"Hayaku!" the Japanese squadron leader shouted as he got up from the ground.

The Japanese soldier on the ground checked himself and the soldiers next to him, and found that they were not injured. He immediately got up from the ground and quickened his pace to chase.

The furious Japanese squadron leader saw that no troops were sent to scout the canyon ahead. He had experienced many such canyons along the way and there were no ambushes at all.

The Japanese squadron leader now believed that these Eighth Route Army soldiers were buying time for the transfer of their main force.

He had experienced this kind of thing many times when fighting against the Chinese army. Facing the offensive of the Locust Army, the Chinese army usually chose to dodge.

However, he had already driven the small harassment troops of the Eighth Route Army away from the main force, and it seemed that the main force was advancing rapidly towards the Eighth Route Army's base.

At the same time, Yokogawa Shoji heard sporadic gunfire coming from the front again, and he was so angry that his nose was almost crooked.

How many guerrillas were there in the Tubalu? Why were they still coming in an endless stream?

Shoji Yokogawa once again sent out a troop to pursue, but this time he did not send out a squadron, but a squadron, and asked the squad not to stray too far away from the main force.

After all, there are only so many infantrymen in his battalion, and if they are divided further, there will be no one to protect the heavy weapons.

　Thank you for the reward from Wendaozhongnian
　　
　
(End of this chapter)