Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 30 Using yourself as bait
Of course, Wang Gensheng was not idle during this week. Instead, he relied on the memories of his previous life in his soul to draw a rough blueprint of the tunnel warfare.

In fact, the most important function of tunnels in tunnel warfare is ventilation, protection against poison gas, and flooding. In addition, a hole is arranged at the entrance of each tunnel to assassinate the Japanese soldiers or traitors who enter the tunnel.

Of course, the most important thing is to dig a hidden passage leading to the outside of the village, and this passage must be at least one kilometer long.

Fortunately, the Eighth Route Army was located in the Shanxi Qianli area, which was all loess with little water and rainfall, so there was no need to worry about water seepage after digging a tunnel of two or three meters.

"Captain, take a look! This is what I've come up with: how to use the tunnels to avoid the Japanese' pursuit, or even to kill them! We can use the advantages of the tunnels to close the gap in weapons with the Japanese!"

Kong Jie looked at the rough blueprint of the tunnel that Wang Gensheng handed over, but still said with some concern:
"Will your method work? If not, it will be a waste of effort. It will only implicate the common people and deprive them of time to retreat and escape!"

Kong Jie's concerns were naturally not without reason, and Wang Gensheng also understood that it would be an unwise choice to directly report to the Eighth Route Army and allow it to be promoted on a large scale in its own base without any practice.

So Wang Gensheng thought about it and said:
"Captain, how about we try it out in Wangjia Village where we're stationed? If it works, then we can promote it. If not, then we can make some changes!"

Kong Jie had no objection to Wang Gensheng's idea of ​​using Wangjia Village, the base of his own New Second Regiment, as a test village for tunnel warfare. Instead, he agreed with Wang Gensheng's idea and actively cooperated.

He mobilized hundreds of soldiers from his own New Second Regiment to take turns digging tunnels in Wangjia Village.

However, digging a tunnel is different from digging a cellar or a cave. It also requires certain skills. First, you need to dig a tunnel that is two or three meters deep and about one meter long and wide, and then mobilize a certain amount of manpower to use tools to dig in the predetermined direction.

To prevent the digging from going off track, a tunnel was dug every ten meters or so, and then two shifts of people dug opposite each other. After the tunnel was dug through, sorghum stalks and wooden sticks were used to cover the tunnel with a roof, and the roof was covered with soil.

Soon, the digging methods for tunnels also had to be selected according to the environment. For example, the southwestern part of Shandong Province is mostly sandy and silted soil with high groundwater levels. If the tunnels are dug too deep or too long, it is easy to cause landslides.

Therefore, when digging tunnels in these areas, the tunnel depth should be set between one and two meters from the ground, the top of the tunnel should be designed to be a spire or a dome, the number of bends in the tunnel should be increased, with a turn every ten meters, and air holes should be left, thus increasing the bearing capacity of the soil.

At the same time, they took a good look at the terrain in advance and tried not to construct in low-lying areas. In order to prevent bad elements in the village from discovering and informing on the situation, tunnels were dug secretly at night, and the excavated soil was transported to a place far away from the tunnel. Of course, these did not need to be considered in Wangjia Village, because Wangjia Village was full of Eighth Route Army soldiers, and there were no ordinary villagers.

Of course, the biggest problem with the tunnel is the lack of oxygen. So in order to solve the problem of lack of oxygen, they used wells and ground buildings as cover and set up several ventilation and exhaust holes leading directly to the tunnel.

In order to fully scout the enemy situation in the tunnel, it is necessary to set up lookout holes in some hidden places.

In order to prevent the enemy from setting fire and flooding the tunnel after discovering the entrance, the tunnel must be made as curved and forked as possible when digging, and smoke exhaust ducts and drainage pits must be installed at the turns.

With the cooperation of more than 500 people from the New Second Regiment, the tunnel in Wangjia Village, the New Second Regiment’s base, was dug very quickly. It was completed in less than a month.

Now in the entire Wangjia Village, some houses have an entrance to the underground tunnel, and more importantly, these entrances are very hidden and cannot be found at all without careful observation.

And more importantly, there is a passage leading out of the village. If it is really impossible to defend it, you can also evacuate Wangjia Village in time. However, after the tunnel is dug, it is natural to ask the Japanese to conduct a test. Only after actual combat with the Japanese can it be promoted on a large scale.

But before attracting the Japanese to test the tunnel, Wang Gensheng still felt that he should go to Baijia Village first and deal with the chairman of the maintenance association of Baijia Village.

Of course, it is not just Baijia Village. Liujia Village also needs to solve the problem of maintaining the chairman and turn these villages into bases to support the Eighth Route Army in fighting the Japanese.

However, when Wang Gensheng arrived at Baijia Village with a squad of soldiers, he saw Baili Xiu saying to a fat man:

"President Huang, why do we need to harvest so much grain this autumn? How are we going to survive this winter even with so much grain?"

However, when President Huang heard this, he immediately became dissatisfied and said:

"Why are you yelling? I didn't take it, the Imperial Army took it. If you're not happy, don't tell me. Go talk to the Imperial Army!"

But at this moment, a villager from Baijia Village who was watching said:
"I heard that the neighboring Lijia Village has decided not to give this year's autumn grain harvest to the Japanese! They say that the Eighth Route Army has taken over Lijia Village, and even the chairman of the Lijia Village Maintenance Association was killed by the Eighth Route Army!"

As expected, as soon as these words came out, the chairman of the maintenance association surnamed Huang trembled, and then angrily said to the villager:

"You know nothing! Do you think the Eighth Route Army can protect Lijia Village? Even though someone tipped off the villagers last time, they escaped disaster, but you can't escape the disaster later. Just wait and see! If the chairman hadn't been there to maintain the situation, Wangjia Village would have ended up like Lijia Village."

When Baili Xiu heard this, he immediately took down the rifle on his back and pointed it at the chairman of the Huang maintenance association and said:

"If we hand over grain, we'll starve to death. If we don't, the Japanese will massacre our entire village. It's either way, so why not be a well-fed Japanese and fight them to death? I'll kill you, the chairman of the maintenance association, first as a sacrifice!"

At this time, the chairman of the maintenance association surnamed Huang also pulled out the box gun from his waist and aimed it at Baili Xiu. However, just when Chairman Huang pulled out the box gun and had no time to open the safety, a flying knife pierced Chairman Huang's wrist, and Chairman Huang's box gun immediately fell from his hand.

Only then did Wang Gensheng calmly speak:

"President Huang, right? Go back and tell the master that we, the New Second Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, are protecting Baijia Village and Lijia Village. If you are not satisfied, come to Wangjia Village to find us. We, the New Second Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, are waiting for you to come to Wangjia Village!"

"Good! Good! Very good! I want to see how powerful you Eighth Route Army soldiers are!"

After saying that, the chairman of the maintenance association surnamed Huang didn't even want the box gun that fell on the ground. He just covered his wrist and walked out of the village in shame.

That’s right, the reason why Wang Gensheng spared his life was naturally to lure the Japanese into attacking Wangjia Village.

(End of this chapter)