Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 33: A Battle That Wasn't Worth It

This situation dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Japanese soldiers, just like when Kong Jie was the commander of the independent regiment.

If two hundred people were sacrificed and only one hundred people from Yamamoto's special forces were left, the superiors would not remove Kong Jie from his post. Instead, they would praise Kong Jie for fighting well.

Not to mention a hundred people, even fifty or twenty people would not be dismissed, at most they would be criticized.

However, Kong Jie sacrificed more than 200 people but only left two Japanese soldiers. This is a bit unacceptable.

The Japanese captain Watanabe was in the same situation at this time. He felt mixed emotions when listening to the battle damage report from his subordinates.

But there was really nothing we could do about the Eighth Route Army soldiers who were hiding in the tunnels and refused to come out.

In fact, when Captain Du Bian looked at Wangjia Village, he also thought about using artillery to flatten the entire village.

But there are not just one or two houses in Wangjia Village, but two or three hundred houses.

It is obviously unrealistic to want to use the Type 92 infantry gun to blow down these hundreds of houses.

After all, the Japanese didn't bring that many artillery shells this time.

Captain Watanabe was in a dilemma. He wanted to attack, but there was nowhere to attack. He wanted to retreat, but with over a hundred dead and wounded soldiers leaving in disgrace, how could he write a battle damage report and explain it to his superiors?

But soon, Captain Watanabe no longer had to worry, as the crisp sound of a Type 38 rifle rang out.

Captain Watanabe also fell to the ground and died. It turned out that as the battle was not going well, Captain Watanabe actually wanted to come and check it out in person, and this naturally put him within Baili Xiu's effective shooting range.

You have to know that Baili Xiu is a famous hunter within a radius of 100 miles, and no one within this radius can match his marksmanship.

So the poor Captain Watanabe was naturally doomed. The death of Captain Watanabe naturally meant that someone was to take the blame, so several squadron leaders and deputy captains decided to leave in disgrace.

Unfortunately, this battle was not worthwhile. Although more than one hundred Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded, the spoils gained were not even one-tenth of what was gained from the previous ambush at the Lijia Village bunker.

Although many Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded, their weapons and equipment were taken away by other Japanese soldiers.

Even the bodies of the Japanese soldiers were taken away by other Japanese soldiers. Only more than ten bodies of Japanese soldiers who were killed while entering the tunnel and their weapons and equipment were left behind.

In other words, the gains from this tunnel warfare were only a dozen Type 38 rifles, thousands of bullets, and dozens of grenades.

But in this battle, not to mention other things, hundreds of grenades were consumed. Of course, many of these grenades were black powder grenades manufactured by their own arsenal, and were not very valuable.

After the battle, the main force of the New Second Regiment also returned to Wangjia Village. That's right, not all 500 people of the New Second Regiment participated in this battle. In fact, the total number of people participating in the battle was less than 100. There was no other way. The tunnel was so wide that if there were more people, it would not be able to maneuver. After testing, it was found that the entire Wangjia Village tunnel could only accommodate 100 people for combat. After the battle, Wang Gensheng immediately took Baili Xiu, who had killed Captain Watanabe, to the regiment headquarters and said to the regiment commander Kong Jie:

"Captain, this is the new recruit who killed Captain Watanabe. Although he's a new recruit, he's a pretty good shot. He's been hunting with his father since he was a kid! I've tried to hit the target with ten shots within three hundred meters!"

Kong Jie was surprised when he heard Wang Gensheng's words:

"At 300 meters, ten hits out of ten! That's a level of marksmanship you wouldn't find in the entire 386th Regiment, let alone our New 2nd Regiment! It seems we've recruited a sharpshooter this time!"

When Wang Gensheng saw that Kong Jie didn't say anything after he said that, he immediately became anxious. You know, the reason why Wang Gensheng brought Baili Xiu here was to take credit.

After all, Baili Xiu killed a Japanese captain with one shot. It would not be excessive to promote him to platoon leader or something like that for this achievement!
After all, if an army cannot clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments, it will seriously undermine the soldiers' fighting enthusiasm. After all, kings, princes, generals and ministers are all born with different species. This saying is engraved in the genes of every Huajiao person.

But before Wang Gensheng could open his mouth to remind him, Kong Jie said with a serious expression:
"Comrade Baili Xiu, in view of your heroic performance in this battle, after careful consideration by the New Second Regiment, we have decided to appoint Comrade Baili Xiu as the platoon leader of the third platoon of the third company of the third battalion of the New Second Regiment!"

That’s right, the New Second Regiment now actually only has one commander, Kong Jie. As for deputy commanders, regimental staff officers, and political officers, there are none. Isn’t it ridiculous for a commander of a regiment with only 500 people to have so many positions!
As expected, as Kong Jie made this appointment, Baili Xiu's expression became extremely excited and he said:

"Thank you for your trust, Captain. I will fight bravely in the future!"

"But Comrade Baili Xiu, you must also remember that we are fighting for our compatriots! Okay! I still have something to discuss with Captain Wang, so you can leave first!"

Following Kong Jie's words, Baili Xiu also left the regiment. Just after Baili Xiu left the regiment, Kong Jie spoke:

"This tunnel warfare was excellent. A company of just over a hundred soldiers was able to withstand the attack of a battalion of over a thousand Japanese soldiers, and with zero casualties! This actual combat proved that your tunnel warfare is feasible! I will submit a combat report on your tunnel warfare ideas! Do you have anything else to add?"

Wang Gensheng didn't care about Kong Jie's attempt to increase his own merits. After all, he had just been promoted from deputy company commander of the cavalry company to battalion commander of the third battalion. After three promotions, he would not be promoted again in a short time.

Moreover, in the current situation, what’s the point of being promoted to the group leader? Without weapons and equipment, and without people, wouldn’t he just be a figurehead?
Therefore, facing Kong Jie's question, Wang Gensheng shook his head and said:

"I don't have anything to add about tunnel warfare, but I think it's not suitable for our Eighth Route Army. It's only suitable for local militias to use against the Japanese. If we want to grow and develop, we still have to take the initiative and fight annihilation battles and ambushes. Only in this way can we seize more weapons and equipment to expand our team!"

Kong Jie also understood what Wang Gensheng meant. Although this battle looked very beautiful on the surface, in fact, not much benefit was gained. Instead, a lot of ammunition was wasted.

So Kong Jie nodded and said:
"Okay! I'll also include your idea in the report. Tunnel warfare is only suitable for local militias, not for our regular Eighth Route Army!"

After coming out of the regiment headquarters, Wang Gensheng met Baili Xiu who was waiting at the entrance of the regiment headquarters. When Wang Gensheng saw Baili Xiu, he asked curiously:

"Why are you waiting for me here instead of going back to the Third Battalion?"

(End of this chapter)