Bright Sword: From Border Region Manufacturing to Major National Heavy Industry

Chapter 280 The rat-throwing weapon
The 217th Regiment, which was part of the core force, was placed in the reserve and not incorporated into the vanguard, so the unit did not engage in combat with the Japanese.

Intelligence activities have much more freedom.

On this day, the scout sent out by Feng Zhihui, the commander of the 217th Regiment, to search for the Eighth Route Army's arsenal returned and reported: "Commander, we couldn't get into the Eighth Route Army's base area or find any clues about the Eighth Route Army's border region arsenal, but we found a strange target."

"What strange target?" Feng Zhihui asked.

Feng Zhihui wasn't in a hurry to get into the Eighth Route Army base area.

Once we've severely damaged the Kumamoto Division and seized the tungsten ore, our elite troops can find a pretext to enter their base and forcibly search it.

The scout replied, "Weren't the Japanese supplies destroyed by the Eighth Route Army? I see that they have another team escorting a large amount of supplies as they withdraw from the flank."

Upon hearing this, Feng Zhihui confirmed, "You looked carefully?"

“Yes.” The scout nodded. “I was afraid of alerting the enemy, so I didn’t dare get too close. I don’t know exactly what supplies their team was escorting.”

Remembering something, Feng Zhihui immediately asked, "How many escorting troops are there?"

"There are quite a few, it looks like there are five or six thousand Japanese soldiers," the scout replied.

Five or six thousand Japanese soldiers?
Feng Zhihui slapped his thigh and said excitedly, "If I'm not mistaken, this must be tungsten sand."

The scout also got excited: "Commander, now that you mention it, it's very likely."

Now, the Kumamoto Division has lost its supply lines and logistics, and they can no longer replenish their ammunition.

Faced with the attack of our elite troops, the Kumamoto Division dared not unleash its full firepower, and was thus gradually eroded by us.

The Kumamoto Division Commander must have realized that they couldn't withstand our elite troops, so he was trying to secretly transport the tungsten ore away in advance.

Fortunately, while we were looking for the Eighth Route Army's border region arsenal, we stumbled upon the Japanese transport team.

"Where is the location?" Feng Zhihui asked hurriedly.

“Here.” The scout immediately pointed it out on the map: Wolf Smoke Valley.

Feng Zhihui was not careless. He immediately summoned the deputy regimental commander and ordered, "You must personally lead men to Langyan Valley again to scout out and see if the Japanese have secretly smuggled anything out."

"Yes, Commander." The deputy commander went immediately.

Feng Zhihui picked up the phone and immediately called his superior.

After all, those were five or six thousand Japanese soldiers, and the 217th Regiment, being the only direct force of the Japanese, simply didn't have enough men.

Feng Zhihui's superiors were quickly informed and immediately dispatched personnel to investigate.

The final result was no surprise. Intelligence personnel confirmed that the Japanese had indeed sent five or six thousand people to smuggle goods, and the elite forces immediately dispatched several divisions to the area.

These divisions quickly clashed with five or six thousand Japanese soldiers.

"Division Commander, our elite troops have taken the bait." A staff officer came over and reported to Division Commander Kumamoto.

"Our tungsten ore is being stolen. If we don't go all out to rescue it, this whole thing won't be convincing enough," Commander Kumamoto sneered. "So, let's proceed with the second phase of the plan immediately."

"Yes, division commander."

Under the orders of Division Commander Kumamoto, the sweeping army quickly broke away from the main force of the elite troops and rushed to reinforce the area with five or six thousand soldiers.

The elite troops realized that the Japanese were desperate and trying to protect their tungsten ore.

Therefore, all the elite troops immediately headed over there, determined to seize the tungsten ore.

Ultimately, the elite troops were faster and managed to outflank the enemy first.

At this moment, the army of Commander Kumamoto revealed its ferocious nature, forming a large encirclement of his elite troops.

The Japanese army and its dozen or so elite divisions were locked in a chaotic melee, completely entangled together.

……

386th Brigade Headquarters

"Brigade Commander, the main Japanese army and our elite troops are locked in a fierce battle, but the Japanese have also spun off more than a dozen small transport detachments, which are retreating from different locations," the deputy brigade commander reported to the brigade commander. "Should we send troops to intercept them?"

"Nonsense, of course we have to intercept them," the brigade commander said decisively. "These Japanese traitors and collaborators in the transport team have broken away from the main force, which is the perfect opportunity to eliminate them."

The deputy brigade commander said, "These Japanese transport teams are probably trying to distract our forces, worried that we'll attack them from behind, right?"

"It's obvious they want to disperse our forces. I can also foresee that the goods being transported in these transport teams are just a decoy." The brigade commander nodded, hitting the nail on the head. "But the Japanese have underestimated our strength. We have enough troops that we have secretly developed."

"That's true." The deputy brigade commander nodded.

Although the bald man's side only gave us the strength of three divisions, we secretly expanded our forces.

Now, the team has grown to more than one hundred regiments.

"Go, send men to intercept these transport convoys," the brigade commander ordered. "The headquarters just gave instructions that the Japanese army and the elite division are fighting. I don't need to worry about the fighting here; the headquarters will send troops to launch a surprise attack on the rear of the Kumamoto Division. My main task now is to deal with the Kawashima Brigade."

That little devil Kawashima is too cunning; he actually captured civilians to help transport supplies. He's hit us where it hurts.

Those are the masses, our roots; how could we possibly plant landmines to delay them?

The deputy brigade commander immediately gritted his teeth: "Brigade commander, that little devil Kawashima is really too despicable. What do you plan to do with him?" That little devil Kawashima is using our civilians as shields. No matter what we do, we are afraid to act rashly.

However, the orders from headquarters were absolute: under no circumstances should Kawashima be allowed to send supplies to the Kumamoto Division; the civilians had to be rescued.

"Go and take care of the task of intercepting the dozen or so small Japanese transport teams. I'm going to Kawashima Island." The brigade commander told the deputy brigade commander not to worry about Kawashima Island.

"Yes, brigade commander." The deputy brigade commander left.

The brigade commander, along with the 771st Regiment and some troops supported by headquarters leaders, set off immediately.

The team arrived at a mountain valley, where the captains of more than ten guerrilla groups were in a state of great distress.

Upon seeing the brigade commander arrive, they all felt as if they had found their pillar of support.

"Brigade Commander Chen, our scouts reported that some civilians were beaten to death by the Japanese for refusing to carry grain for them." The guerrilla captains looked at their commander with tears in their eyes. "They were our fellow villagers."

"What is the Japanese army's marching formation?" The brigade commander suppressed his anger and went straight to the point.

“We’ve already drawn them all up, take a look quickly.” The guerrilla captains quickly showed the brigade commander a sketch.

Of course, due to cultural reasons, this sketch is quite rough.

However, the brigade commander understood the situation clearly.

After watching for a while, the brigade commander called over his scouts and said, "You all go and scout again immediately, according to my instructions."

Immediately afterwards, the brigade commander gave detailed instructions, and the reconnaissance soldiers quickly went to their posts.

"Are the roads ahead all destroyed?" the brigade commander asked the guerrilla captains in front of him.

"The damage extends for over ten kilometers, and the destruction continues," the guerrilla leader replied.

“That way, the road won’t need to be damaged any further,” the brigade commander said. “This is Zhao Village, right? Let’s hurry up and repair the damaged road here.”

How about repairing the damaged road in Zhaozhuang?
The guerrilla leaders were stunned for a moment when they heard this.

It's already ruined. If we repair it again, wouldn't that just benefit the Japanese?

With the road repaired, the Japanese troops were able to advance even faster.

One of the guerrillas, Zhang, asked in confusion, "Brigadier General Chen, what does it mean that the road in Zhao Village has been repaired?"

"It's like this..." The brigade commander patiently explained to the guerrilla leaders.

"Commander Chen, that's brilliant! This way, we can not only rescue our fellow villagers, but also seize the Japanese's supplies and food!" The guerrilla captains were greatly excited after hearing the brigade commander's detailed description.

The Japanese devils took civilians hostage, making us hesitant to act.

This huge problem was miraculously solved by the brigade commander.

He truly deserves to be one of the three outstanding figures of the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy!
"Stop flattering me, let's get moving." The brigade commander said solemnly.

"Yes, Commander Chen."

……

As they watched the Chinese people carrying supplies and marching ahead, the so-called harassment and delays caused by the Eighth Route Army never occurred again.

Major General Kawashima immediately felt refreshed and laughed at Fujita Ichiji: "Fujita-kun, thanks to you for coming up with such a good idea. The Eighth Route Army is very disciplined and does not allow harm to civilians. We've seized the Chinese people and used them as their weakness. Now we're practically walking through an empty field, hahaha."

Fujita Ichiji said smugly, "Of course! Don't those Chinese Eighth Route Army guerrillas always say that the people are their providers? If we control the people, we control their weakness, and they certainly won't dare to act recklessly."

Kitano Chuji, standing nearby, reminded them, "We've taken advantage of the Eighth Route Army's weakness. They probably won't give up easily; they'll find a way to rescue the people."

"I'm not afraid," Major General Kawashima said calmly. "As long as they dare to come to the rescue and try to obstruct us, we'll point our guns at the civilians at the crucial moment. I want to see how those Eighth Route Army guerrillas will deal with it."

"Hmm, that's a good idea." Kitano Chuuni was speechless.

Pointing guns at civilians was a tactic that always worked very well against the Eighth Route Army.

During the massacres of villages in the past, the Eighth Route Army guerrillas who had gone into hiding couldn't find anyone, and they didn't come out either.

We drove the villagers to the village entrance, set up the machine guns, and often before we even pulled the trigger, the hidden Eighth Route Army soldiers were forced to reveal themselves.

in front of you.

As long as the Eighth Route Army wants to rescue the people, we will point our guns at them.

Even if those Eighth Route Army guerrillas have extraordinary abilities, they still have to behave themselves before me.

"Let's speed things up. The Kumamoto Division Commander's forces have already started fighting with their main army. We need to get there and join them as soon as possible," Kitano Chuuji added.

"Pass down the order: if they march too slowly, whip them severely," Major General Kawashima cruelly commanded.

"Yes."

……

(End of this chapter)