Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 51: Attack and Save
Everyone knew that Niuwei Village was now a point that the Japanese had to rescue if they attacked.

But even though the transport squadron's combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the field troops, facing the Japanese transport squadron that had already built a defensive position, the small number of attackers could not threaten their safety at all.

But if there are too many people, the number of combat troops participating in the ambush of the Japanese will be reduced. Once the ambush fails, it will be a case of losing more than gaining.

Of course, the New Second Regiment now has a choice, which is to only attack the Japanese transport squadron.

But except for major battles, the Japanese carried their own ammunition when fighting, and the transport teams were generally only responsible for transporting the wounded and food and fodder.

For heavy machine guns and infantry artillery, which are big consumers of ammunition, they have their own separate ammunition teams, and they all use pack horses to march along with their weapons.

The New Second Regiment consumed a large amount of ammunition, so simply seizing some food would be a huge loss. After all, given the current situation, ammunition is much more valuable than food.

"If you want to threaten the safety of the Japanese transport squadron, it's actually very simple. That's the mortar." Looking at everyone's puzzled eyes, Chen Chengxing explained.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. They didn't expect Chen Chengxing to use mortars at this time, and to attack the transport squadron.

You know, since seizing this mortar, Chen Chengxing has always treated it as a treasure and would not use it easily.

Even during the last encirclement and annihilation of the Japanese squadron, Chen Chengxing would rather draw blood with his bayonet than let the already set up mortar fire two shots.

In fact, it’s not that Chen Chengxing was stingy, it’s just that there were too few shells. There were only 20 shells in total. If he fired freely, he could fire them all in less than a minute.

Before the arsenal produced its own artillery shells, each shell was used up, so Chen Chengxing naturally had to use them sparingly.

However, when the time comes to use it, Chen Chengxing will never be stingy, just like at this moment, even if he has to use artillery shells to attack food and fodder, he will be willing to do so.

"Now the number of people in the nine guerrilla teams is as high as four to five hundred. With the addition of a mortar, they can definitely pose a fatal threat to the transport squadron." Chen Chengxing said.

Although the guerrillas did not have many guns, Chen Chengxing did not need them to capture the transport team. It would be enough as long as they could cooperate with the mortars to create enough threat. At that time, the Japanese would naturally fight for their support.

"There's no problem in luring the Japanese back for reinforcements, but how do we determine their route?" Luo Ping asked.

"I've thought about this matter. We'll just take the route in the middle." Chen Chengxing said, pointing to the middle arrow on the map.

The Japanese infantry battalion has two infantry guns, one on each of the left and right routes. Only the one in the middle has no gun. Who else should we attack if not them?
"As for the route issue, although we cannot confirm the Japanese's evacuation route, we can force them to change their route, and at the same time make the Japanese in the middle leave the support circles of the other two routes." Chen Chengxing said.

In order to urgently rescue, the Japanese must not waste time with the blocking troops. Therefore, as long as troops are sent to set up blocking positions, the Japanese will inevitably change their route.

Once the Japanese change their route, they will be separated from other troops, and that will be the opportunity for the New Second Regiment.

"Third Battalion Commander, leave this matter to the Third Battalion." Chen Chengxing ordered.

The three battalions of the New Second Regiment each have their own unique skills, which may also be related to the battalion commanders themselves.

One battalion was known for its strong attack and good defense, the second battalion was good at infiltration and encirclement, and the third battalion was famous for its guerrilla tactics.

"Yes, I will ensure that the task is completed!" Sun Xun stood up and stood at attention.

Forcing the Japanese to follow a predetermined route cannot be achieved in one or two times; it requires multiple harassment attacks.

In addition to harassing the Japanese to force them to change their route, the Third Battalion was also responsible for blocking their retreat and preventing them from escaping directly.

As for the ambush location, Chen Chengxing had also chosen it, which was Qiangfenggou to the west of Gangzi Village. There happened to be a road passing through the bottom of Qiangfenggou. After sending out the third battalion and the mortar squad as planned, Chen Chengxing led the large force straight to Qiangfenggou.

After the last battle with the Yokogawa Battalion, no one in the New Second Regiment dared to underestimate the Japanese squadron, and this time the squadron was reinforced with 4 heavy machine guns, with a total of 330 people.

After arriving at Qiangfenggou, Chen Chengxing immediately ordered his troops to begin digging fortifications and placed two heavy machine guns on the high ground on both sides.

However, Chen Chengxing also explained that the heavy machine guns had to move after firing at most one bullet belt, and they must not give the Japanese grenade launchers any chance.

According to the standards, heavy machine guns should be placed in the second-line support position, so that it would be difficult for the Japanese to hit the heavy machine guns with grenade launchers before they get close to the first-line position.

But the New Second Regiment is now in an ambush, and everyone is hiding on the reverse slope. It would be difficult for the heavy machine guns to play a role if they were placed in the second-line support position.

After Luo Ping arrived at the designated location with the mortar squad and nine guerrilla teams, he immediately launched an attack.

"The guerrillas will be divided into two teams, attacking from the left and right, and the mortars will wait for orders."

"Everyone, pay attention, don't attack forcefully. Our mission is to force the Japanese to return for reinforcements, not to destroy the baggage squadron!" Luo Ping ordered.

The current guerrillas are still very weak and lack sufficient weapons and equipment. If they attack by force, regardless of whether they can wipe out this group of devils, the guerrillas alone will not be able to bear the casualties.

Luo Ping was very clear about Chen Chengxing's plan. The next step was to shift the focus to the guerrillas. If he destroyed the guerrillas here, Chen Chengxing would eat him up, even though he was the political commissar of the New Second Regiment.

The Japanese supply troops reacted quickly and entered combat status the moment they saw the guerrillas.

Not only did everyone in the Japanese supply team have a gun, they even had two Type 2 light rifles left behind by the main force.

Faced with the combat effectiveness of the baggage train, the guerrillas were unable to get close to it for a while, let alone pose a fatal threat to it.

"Mortar! Quick, shoot down the enemy's light machine gun!" Luo Ping immediately ordered upon seeing this.

"Tum~"

"boom!"

The brainwashed Japanese were very stubborn. Even though one machine gun had been shot down, the other one had no intention of moving its position.

Lying there means practicing the "Bushido" and firing at the risk of one's life.

The gunner naturally accepted this with pleasure and then fired another shell.

"boom!"

After the Japanese light machine gun was shot down, they immediately felt tremendous pressure.

"Hold on! The captain will come to support us soon!" The captain of the Japanese supply squadron kept shouting.

At this stage, the Japanese's combat effectiveness is indeed very strong. Facing four or five hundred guerrillas assisted by mortars, they are not at all inferior.

If Chen Chengxing had not distributed a lot of grenades to the guerrillas, and the Japanese had not had to guard the baggage carts, they would have broken through long ago.

(End of this chapter)