Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 74: Flanking Again
The New Second Regiment and the Japanese fought fiercely for several hours at Qifengkou.

Although the 772rd Battalion of the 3nd Regiment also launched a surprise attack from the side, the Japanese still relied on infantry artillery to block it.

During the battle, Xu Wu found Chen Chengxing and reported: "Captain, we have used up more than half of our ammunition."

Although the New Second Regiment's repair shop can reload bullets, the bullet shells cannot be reloaded indefinitely. They will become scrapped after being reloaded three or four times at most. Therefore, the ammunition of the New Second Regiment is not enough to support the high-intensity and continuous combat of the entire regiment.

"I know." Chen Chengxing didn't even turn his head.

Chen Chengxing knew more about the ammunition reserves of the New Second Regiment than Xu Wu.

"It will be dark in two hours. I think the Japanese are almost exhausted. Let's launch a night attack then!" said Chen Chengxing.

If we engage in direct combat with the Japanese during the day, we will either risk our lives or use up our ammunition. There is no other option.

For Chen Chengxing, the lives of soldiers are far more valuable than ammunition. Only with a large number of veterans can the New Second Regiment develop rapidly in the later period.

However, when it was late at night and Chen Chengxing led his team to launch a surprise attack, they suddenly discovered that the Japanese had disappeared.

"Where are the Japanese?" Xu Wu and others widened their eyes, looking at the quiet position, their minds a little confused.

They had a firefight in the evening, so why can't they see any Japanese now?

"Send out scouts immediately. Find the devils at all costs."

Before Chen Chengxing could finish his words, an explosion suddenly sounded from two or three kilometers to the west.

"Zheng Hua!"

"To!"

"Take the second battalion to see what's going on immediately!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

In the new Second Regiment, the Second Battalion has the strongest night combat and marching capabilities.

"Yes!"

"All of them are from the Second Battalion! Follow me!"

Zheng Hua led the second battalion and rushed quickly towards the direction of the explosion.

"The rest of you return to your positions and wait for orders," said Chen Chengxing.

Before the situation becomes clear, the New Second Regiment cannot act rashly to prevent a surprise attack by the Japanese.

An hour later, the second battalion's signalman ran back.

"Captain, there was a battle in Xiling between the Japanese and a group of unknown armed forces, but the two sides separated as soon as they engaged. The Japanese were probably ambushed and dozens of them were killed. Now the Japanese have gone in the direction of Jingchi Town."

"Unknown armed forces?" Chen Chengxing was a little confused.

"Yes, the enemy retreated to Qingfeng Mountain before we arrived." the communicator reported.

"It seems that they are not our Eighth Route Army guerrillas, but most likely bandits." Chen Chengxing said.

At present, the local armed forces in this area are basically active around Wulong County. It is impossible that there are troops operating in Xiling without our knowledge.

"Since they are anti-Japanese armed forces, let's ignore them for now and go to Gejiagou." Chen Chengxing ordered.

As this group of Japanese retreated into Jingchi Town, the number of troops in the town exceeded the limit that the independent regiment could bear.

If Chen Chengxing did not go to support, the Japanese could easily break through the independent regiment's blockade and support Wulong County, and the siege plan of Wulong County would fail.

In the early morning, after arriving at Gejiagou, Chen Chengxing did not bring the New Second Regiment to join the Independent Regiment. Instead, he left the Third Battalion of the 772nd Regiment at the Gejiagou position and took the New Second Regiment to the small south slope east of Gejiagou, preparing to launch a flank attack on the Japanese.

The next day, the Japanese reinforcements from Fu'an and the entire Japanese and puppet troops in Jingchi Town came out in full force, with a total number of more than 1500 people, and there were also 200 puppet Mongolian cavalry.

"TND, it's a good thing the New Second Regiment arrived, otherwise we would have suffered a great loss this time." Kong Jie said with lingering fear after listening to the scout's report.

"Tell the comrades that after the Japanese attack, fight with all your might to buy time for the New Second Regiment's flank attack," Kong Jie ordered.

"Yes!"

The first to arrive at the independent regiment's position were the puppet Mongolian cavalry. After being suddenly attacked by a wave of fire from the independent regiment, the puppet Mongolian cavalry quickly retreated, leaving behind more than 20 corpses.

"The first squadron is constructing fortifications on the left wing high ground, and the second squadron and the 21st Regiment are moving forward to prepare for battle."

After Otsuka Masasuke led his team to Gejiagou, he immediately made battle arrangements.

Previously, when he was riding the wind, Otsuka Masasuke was caught off guard by a flanking attack, and he would not make the same mistake again.

After everyone was in position, the captain of the second squadron drew his command knife and shouted, "Kill the chicken!"

"Da da da", "Da da da", "Da da da".
Seeing that the heavy machine gun squad had already formed fire suppression, the captain of the second squadron issued the order to attack.

"Taosi, here!"

After hearing the order, the Japanese soldiers immediately drove the puppet troops to launch the attack first, and they followed closely behind.

"Beat him hard!" Kong Jie ordered.

Then the two sides began to exchange fierce fire.

Otsuka Masasuke in the rear looked at the exchange of fire on the position and nodded with satisfaction. Under the attack of the infantry artillery, Otsuka Masasuke didn't think that the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side could hold out for long.

When the independent regiment and the Japanese started exchanging fire, Chen Chengxing immediately ordered the New Second Regiment to move forward and prepare to raid the Japanese heavy firepower units in the rear.

"Xu Wu, do you see the Japanese on the high ground?" Chen Chengxing said, lying on the back of a hillside, pointing at the small high ground in front.

"I saw it."

"I want you to lead a battalion to break through the Japanese defense line and suppress them. The infantry artillery will fully support your actions." Chen Chengxing said.

"Yes! I will ensure that the task is completed!" Xu Wu nodded vigorously.

"Go and get ready, we will launch the attack in 5 minutes!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

These 5 minutes are the time for a battalion to move forward and the time for the infantry artillery to prepare.

"Yes!"

Five minutes later, the infantry artillery of the New Second Regiment opened fire first.

"boom!"

"Boom!" At the same time, Xu Wu also ordered the bugler to blow the charge.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep"

"kill!"

"Kill!"

The soldiers of the first battalion divided themselves into platoons, and three platoons of a company rushed towards the small hill under the cover of heavy machine guns.

The other two companies formed the second and third waves in the rear.

"Kill the chicken for me! Kill the chicken for me!"

The Japanese squadron leader, who was well prepared, immediately ordered a counterattack when he saw the first battalion start the attack, and he counterattacked despite the artillery fire.

The strength of the devils can be seen from this point alone.

However, although the Japanese squadron fought very tenaciously, they could not withstand the firepower of the New Second Regiment, which far exceeded theirs.

After holding out for half an hour, the Japanese retreated, leaving behind a small number of corpses.

After occupying the high ground, the first battalion did not stop, but quickly rushed to the rear of the Japanese.

At the same time, Chen Chengxing also led a large force across the high ground and attacked the Japanese flank directly.

As long as we can cut the Japanese in half and make it impossible for them to coordinate with each other, the battle will be half won.

"Lieutenant Ogasawara, you must immediately take your troops and work with the Mongolian army to block the Eighth Route Army on the flank. We must not let them break through our defense line at any cost!" Otsuka Masasuke ordered urgently.

Otsuka Masasuke never expected that the First Squadron would retreat after only holding out for less than half an hour. He had originally planned to first break through the Eighth Route Army position in the front, and then make a detour and counterattack the Eighth Route Army on the side from the flank.

"Hai!"

After Ogasawara led his team to the front, Otsuka Masasuke immediately ordered the Second Squadron that was attacking the Independent Regiment's position to withdraw.

But Kong Jie was not a fool. He would not let the Japanese retreat so easily to deal with the New Second Regiment.

The independent regiment took advantage of the Japanese retreat and rushed out of the position to launch a counterattack.

Otsuka Masasuke looked at the situation which seemed to be on the verge of collapse and realized that he had to move forward. However, in order to move smoothly, he had to block this wave of attacks by the Eighth Route Army.

However, before Otsuka Masasuke could make an adjustment plan, the puppet Mongolian army sent to block the New Second Regiment collapsed and retreated on the spot after being hit by three infantry artillery shells.

It didn't matter that the puppet Mongolian army retreated, they directly sold out the Ogasawara Squadron. Chen Chengxing led the special forces company and took advantage of the gap left by the puppet Mongolian army's retreat to directly intrude from the side and rear of the Japanese squadron.

"Bakayaro! Waste! Absolutely waste!" Ogasawara was so angry that he jumped up and down when he saw this scene.

You've been defeated in less than 5 minutes? Then why did you come here? You're here to stop me!
But at this moment, no matter how much Ogasawara jumped up and down, he could not change the fact that the Mongolian army retreated.

"Turn in! Turn in immediately!" Ogasawara shouted.

With the retreat of the Mongolian army, blocking the Eighth Route Army on the flank has become an empty talk. If we don't retreat quickly, we will be dead once the Eighth Route Army completes the encirclement.

With the retreat of Ogasawara's squadron, the Japanese army was quickly divided into two parts.

Seeing this, Otsuka Masasuke had no choice but to order the retreat to Jingchi Town.

However, it is easy for the Japanese infantry to retreat, but it is not so easy to defeat their heavy weapons.

Even though Otsuka Shosuke sent a squadron to provide support, he was able to rescue only half of the people in the end.

"Infantry gun?!" Kong Jie's eyes widened when he saw the infantry gun left by the Japanese on the position.

This is his dream gun! It is lightweight and has direct firepower.

When the Japanese were retreating, their artillery positions had been entangled by the 1st Battalion of the New 52nd Regiment. Although they finally managed to withdraw, they still left behind one infantry gun and artillery shells.

"Ahem. Well, Lao Chen, I..." Kong Jie was halfway through his sentence when he didn't know what to say next.

It was obvious that the New 2nd Regiment contributed more in this battle. If the infantry guns had two, Kong Jie would have to have one no matter what.

But with only one door left, Kong Jie found it hard to ask Chen Chengxing to give it to him.

"Old Kong, let's divide the rest of the weapons equally. I'll give you the infantry gun, but I want 40 shells and I'll leave 12 for you. How about that?" Chen Chengxing could see what Kong Jie was thinking.

However, for Chen Chengxing, infantry artillery is not that important. What is important is the shells.

For artillery, it is the number of shells rather than the number of guns that determines the casualties.

The New Second Regiment already has two infantry guns, so adding one more will not make a significant improvement.

On the contrary, if more artillery shells could be obtained, the combat effectiveness of the infantry artillery platoon of the New Second Regiment would be stronger, especially when half of the infantry artillery shells of the New Second Regiment had been consumed.

"Okay, okay!" Kong Jie nodded repeatedly.

For an independent regiment, it is enough to have infantry artillery, no matter how few shells there are. Sometimes, just pulling out the artillery is enough to hold the fort.

"Old Chen, it has to be you who is willing to take care of your old comrades, not Li Dabo who only knows how to eat and take more." Kong Jie said.

"Haha. We are all brothers. But I want to remind you that you have to hide the cannons well. I heard that the cannons that the New 1st Regiment robbed in Sanbei Town were taken away by the brigade commander." Chen Chengxing said with a smile.

"This time it's just our two regiments." Kong Jie realized halfway through that there was also the 772rd Battalion of the 3nd Regiment cleaning up the battlefield!
"Shen Quan, quickly take my cannon away and hide it. If it's gone, I will never forgive you!" Kong Jie ordered immediately.

"Yes!"

After Shen Quan left with the gun, Kong Jie said, "Old Chen, you are so kind, I have to express my gratitude. Of the three heavy machine guns, the two Pheasant Necks are yours, and I only need one Maxim."

"Okay, thank you very much." Chen Chengxing nodded with a smile.

"We are all brothers." Kong Jie said, patting his chest.

On the other hand, when the New 400st Regiment and the Independent Regiment were fighting a fierce battle with the Japanese, the Japanese in Sanshan Town also dispatched more than Japanese and puppet troops.

After being ambushed by the New 1st Regiment, they fled back to Sanshan Town in a panic.

At this time, Li Yunlong was looking at the New 1st Regiment cleaning the battlefield with a proud look on his face.

The puppet soldiers in this unit brought an 1mm mortar, which was fired by the New 82st Regiment itself, so even the brigade commander had no excuse to go up.

(End of this chapter)