Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 114 Young Warriors Eager to Earn Merit

"Sir, a small group of enemies has suddenly appeared outside the regimental headquarters. Please evacuate immediately."

Inside the Japanese regimental headquarters, a soldier shouted urgently.

"What?! Where did the enemy come from? How did they get to my command post?"

Colonel Okabe, the Japanese soldier, looked puzzled. The battle was at its most intense, yet the enemy had managed to infiltrate the regimental headquarters.

The regimental headquarters was located in the core area of ​​the camp, so if you wanted to break in, you had to break through the Japanese positions on the perimeter first.

"Those enemies are wearing our uniforms; they must have infiltrated. Please evacuate immediately, sir," the Japanese soldier said.

"Baka! What are the defense troops doing? They let the enemy breach my command post."

Colonel Okabe was furious.

It's absurd that a regiment of a Class A division could allow the enemy to breach its headquarters!

"Immediately order all units to return to the regimental headquarters and retreat! How could Imperial soldiers possibly retreat in such a panic!" Colonel Okabe immediately ordered.

A Japanese operations staff officer immediately prepared to use the battlefield telephone to notify the troops at the front to return to reinforce.

Just then, the door to the Japanese regimental headquarters was kicked open.

"Bagaya road!"

Inside the regimental headquarters, a group of Japanese officers stared in shock as special forces soldiers, armed with submachine guns, kicked open the door and entered.

"You bastard, where's your mother?!"

The first soldier to enter the regimental headquarters did not hesitate at all; these were all medals of honor!

So many officers, including the Japanese regimental commander, if we kill them all, we'll get at least a special merit when we get back!

The young soldier, eager for honor, did not hesitate and opened fire with his submachine gun.

All the officers in the Japanese regimental headquarters fell to the ground, unable to get up, amidst the dense hail of bullets.

The soldiers who followed behind, seeing that the first soldier who rushed in had killed all the Japanese officers, were filled with regret.

"Damn it, that kid Zhuzi ran too fast! He killed so many Japanese soldiers!"

The special forces soldier, nicknamed "Pillar," was panting heavily, his face flushed with excitement.

He charged forward with all his might during the raid and finally made a great contribution!
Charge into battle, be the first to scale the walls, slay the enemy general, and capture the flag!
These are the four greatest achievements throughout history!

When we get back, Chen Ming will personally award him the medal!
"Hurry up and finish off the remaining enemies. Take all the valuable maps, codebooks, and documents with you. Destroy everything else you can't take."

Zhou Weiguo, who came in later, gave the order.

"Yes."

The soldiers immediately seized the time and searched through the Japanese regimental headquarters for useful documents.

The second soldier who ran in, still not giving up, checked every fallen Japanese officer to see if any were still alive, so he could finish them off.

Two minutes later, Zhou Weiguo's squad withdrew from the Japanese regimental headquarters, throwing down several grenades and destroying the items they couldn't take with them.

"Quickly, fire the signal flare to tell the other soldiers that our special forces team has successfully destroyed the Japanese regimental headquarters."

A green signal flare soared into the sky. The cavalry battalion responsible for harassing the Japanese flanks and the soldiers of the First Battalion on the position all saw this signal flare with special significance.

"Comrades, kill the Japanese devils! The Japanese command post has been destroyed!"

The signal flare boosted the morale of the Independent Column soldiers, who fought fiercely against the Japanese invaders.

The special forces team eliminated the Japanese regimental headquarters very quickly. From killing the Japanese staff officer who discovered the weakness to destroying the regimental headquarters, it only took fifteen minutes.

At this point, the Japanese battalion commander directing the attack at the front line finally received the news.

"Sir, the regimental headquarters has been attacked by a small group of unidentified enemies. Please return to reinforce immediately."

"Baka yarou! Order the soldiers to cease their attack, return to the regimental headquarters, and protect the safety of Regimental Commander Okabe."

With our home stolen, we have no will to continue the attack!

If the attack continues and they manage to capture it, that's fine. But if they fail and something happens to the regimental headquarters, he'll bear all the responsibility.

Given the current battlefield situation, it would be difficult to capture the exceptionally tenacious 1st Battalion's position in a short time. Therefore, the Japanese battalion commander had no choice but to order his troops to first rescue the attacked regimental headquarters.

After receiving orders, the Japanese soldiers who had attacked the First Battalion's position retreated like a tide and ceased their attack.

The Japanese troops on other fronts did the same, halting their attacks and diverting their forces to reinforce the regimental headquarters.

Zhou Weiguo led his troops, armed with Japanese weapons, and weaved through the Japanese soldiers, shouting in Japanese:

"The enemy attacking the regimental headquarters is wearing our uniforms, please be careful."

After shouting, he led the special forces team in another direction.

The special forces soldiers were much faster than these Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese soldiers, who had fallen behind, were surprised to find that a squad had run to the rescue of the regimental headquarters at an astonishing speed.

The commander of the Japanese Second Battalion praised, "Which squad of soldiers is this? They run so fast! They are truly the elite of the Empire."

The company commanders under the Second Battalion exchanged glances, their faces full of confusion.

I don't know, it's so dark I can't see anything. Anyway, it's not one of their squads.

"It might be Ono-kun from the Fourth Company," a Japanese company commander said.

The fourth company commander was injured and absent. After exchanging glances, the other company commanders realized that it wasn't their company, so it could only be the fourth company.

It's unlikely that a squad that runs this fast is the enemy that attacked the command post.

They were wearing their own people's clothes, and the rescue team was so fast; they were clearly loyal!
"Alright, we'll praise Ono-kun after we've eliminated the enemy who attacked the regimental headquarters," the Japanese battalion commander said.

After creating distance between themselves and the Japanese troops behind them, Zhou Weiguo and his group shouted to the Japanese reinforcements coming from another direction:
"The enemy is over here, they're wearing our clothes, we have to be careful."

After Zhou Weiguo finished speaking, the special forces soldiers behind him immediately opened fire on the Japanese soldiers, killing five or six of them in one go.

At this moment, Zhou Weiguo stopped and pretended to fire back.

His counterattack immediately killed several more soldiers from the second battalion who were charging fast.

When the Japanese soldiers in the rear saw that the enemy was attacking them and that their own "friendly forces" were also being attacked, they immediately led their men to rush forward to fight back and aid Zhou Weiguo.

This counterattack happened to run into the returning Second Battalion.

The second battalion commander saw that the people in front of them, dressed in their own clothes, were attacking them. These were the enemies who had attacked the regimental headquarters.

"Counterattack immediately, rescue the regimental headquarters!"

The Japanese battalion commander shouted the order!
And so, the two groups of Japanese soldiers began exchanging fire within the camp.

Zhou Weiguo and his special forces soldiers slipped away quietly under the cover of night.

The two groups of Japanese soldiers exchanged fire, and when they found that the other side was putting up a strong resistance, they immediately set up heavy machine guns and increased their firepower.

The commander of the Japanese Second Battalion took a look.

Wow? This enemy force has pretty strong firepower; they even have heavy machine guns!
He immediately ordered the grenade launcher soldiers to take out the enemy's heavy machine gun!
Both groups of Japanese soldiers believed that the other was the enemy who attacked the regimental headquarters, and they fought fiercely.

After fighting for more than ten minutes, the commanders of both groups of Japanese soldiers had the same feeling. The enemy's firepower was strong, and they were fighting exceptionally tenaciously, just like the Eighth Route Army soldiers on the Eighth Route Army's positions. This must be the Eighth Route Army!
Therefore, they launched an even more vigorous attack.

It wasn't until the commander of the Japanese Second Battalion felt it was time to teach the enemy a lesson.

So they used mortars and bombarded the enemy relentlessly.

The Japanese soldiers, who were being bombed, never expected that the enemy's firepower would be so strong, including mortars.

Caught off guard, they were blown up by the mortars of the Second Battalion, with men falling to their deaths and cries of agony filling the air.

"Alright, just blow them up! Blow them up!"

The commander of the Japanese Second Battalion clapped his hands and urged the artillery to continue bombarding.

After two rounds of shelling, the commander of the Second Battalion saw that the enemy's counterattack had weakened and felt that the time was right. He gave the order:
"Charge! Crush them!"

Upon receiving the order, the soldiers immediately charged and crushed the enemy who dared to attack the regimental headquarters!
When the charging Japanese soldiers, speaking in their native dialect, launched an attack on another group of Japanese soldiers.

The stunned Japanese soldiers immediately realized something was wrong!
This is their hometown dialect, this is the pure accent, it's from their hometown!

"Baka yarou! I'm Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino! Damn it, you've got the wrong number!"

The captain of the Japanese Third Battalion shouted loudly.

Upon hearing Yoshino's shout, the charging soldiers slowed their advance.

When they saw an officer emerge from the opposite position, it was Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino, the commander of the Third Battalion.

They realized it belatedly.

No wonder they thought the enemy had such strong firepower, even heavy machine guns.

No wonder the enemy was so tenacious; they continued to resist even after being bombarded by mortars.

So these are all our own people!

They are all elite troops from Class A divisions. How could their firepower and fighting spirit not be strong when they are fighting on their home turf?

The captain of the second battalion, realizing something was wrong, went to the front line and panicked when he saw Yoshino's face, which was so angry it looked like it was about to explode!

Finished!

What a blunder! After fighting for so long, all the bullets and shells have been hitting our own people!

"What? How could this be? Why is it Yoshino-kun?"

"Who exactly said that the enemy has been discovered?!"

The Japanese soldiers who were being questioned all lowered their heads; they couldn't bear this responsibility.

After all, this kind of thing is not something to be proud of; if you take the blame, you're finished!

"Sir, it was the 4th Company that first reported the presence of the enemy."

At this moment, a company commander from the second battalion spoke up.

“Yes, that’s right, it was the soldiers from Ono’s squadron who said they discovered enemies wearing our uniforms.” The other squadron leaders echoed this.

At this point, whether it's an enemy or not is no longer important; the most important thing is to find someone to take the blame.

The fastest running squad from before was definitely not one of these companies, so it could only be the Fourth Ono Company.

When the commander of the Second Battalion of the Japanese army heard several company commanders say the same thing, he also shifted the blame to Ono in front of Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino of the Third Battalion.

"Baka! Find Ono immediately! His troops dared to spread false intelligence, causing us to lose so many soldiers!" the Japanese battalion commander said angrily.

So, while still recovering from his injuries, Company Commander Ono, in a state of utter bewilderment, was shot multiple times in the back and committed suicide out of guilt.

Several squad leaders under the Fourth Company also died on the battlefield in various accidents.

Lieutenant Colonel Yoshino, the commander of the Third Battalion, remained silent about the treatment of the Second Battalion commander, which can be considered as tacit acceptance of this approach.

Both sides were at fault in this blunder.

If no one takes the blame, both of them will be punished after the matter is reported!

More importantly, Yoshino might be punished more severely, since he was a poor commander and had never fought the Second Battalion.

When both sides are at fault, one is exceptionally strong while the other is getting completely dominated, it's obvious which one will be protected, right?
After a brief exchange, the captains of the two brigades agreed on the same story and defined the nature of the misunderstanding.

The only person who was wrongly accused was Ono from the fourth squadron.

Despite fighting bravely on the battlefield and even being wounded, he was suddenly and inexplicably accused of spreading false military intelligence.

He was also forced to commit suicide out of fear of punishment.

With such a large number of casualties, there will be no compensation for his death; on the contrary, his family back home will be plunged into an even worse situation.

The soldiers of the Japanese 237th Regiment were all recruited from the same place. After this news reached the mainland...

Will the families of the soldiers who died in the blunder leave Ono's family alone?
After agreeing on a story, the two brigade commanders realized something was wrong; they seemed to have forgotten something.

The fight just now went on so fiercely that everyone was completely engrossed!
After it turned out to be a false alarm, all my attention was drawn to this misunderstanding.

After all, such a large number of casualties have been caused, and if it is not handled properly, it will be severely punished.

Since it concerned their own positions and lives, the two captains naturally had to prioritize dealing with it.

Now that it's all over, I've thought about it carefully!

Oh no! Rescue Team Headquarters.

The two battalion commanders exchanged a glance and immediately led their troops toward the regimental headquarters, only to find a few wrecked corpses.

One of them was Colonel Okabe, the commander of the 237th Regiment!

Ruined!
If the military commander is killed in action, both of them will at least be demoted!

The two battalion commanders exchanged a glance, and the second battalion commander spoke:

"I am heartbroken by Yoshino-kun and Okabe-kun's tragic death. This is something none of us wanted to see."

"However, the most important thing now is to find out why the command post was attacked."

Yoshino nodded after listening to what the other person said.

"After the command post was attacked, we immediately led our troops back to reinforce it. It was that traitor of the Ono Empire who spread false information and delayed our rescue time. He deserves to die."

Yoshino skillfully shifted the blame onto Ono, who had already "committed suicide out of guilt."

Since the other party is already dead, and the previous blunder was indeed their responsibility, it wouldn't make much difference to add another responsibility for the death of a military commander.

"Yes, but the command post was attacked by the Chinese troops, and the Chinese troops attacked our flank. There is a reason why Okabe-kun transferred the regimental headquarters' security forces," the Second Battalion Commander added.

“Yes, that’s right. The soldiers who were transferred can all vouch for us,” Yoshino nodded in agreement.

"Then let's report this to the division headquarters and request tactical guidance at the same time."

The two men discussed the matter and reported the whole story to the division headquarters via telegram.

P.S.: Two chapters, 7,000 words each, please vote! It's almost the end of the month, please vote for me, I really need it!
(End of this chapter)