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

Chapter 144 You've already died, can't you just hold back for a bit?
How much supplies could a county town garrisoned by a brigade have?
Li Yunlong had witnessed this firsthand.

Although the Japanese army is not as wealthy as the armies of other countries, it depends on who you compare it to!
Compared to the Eighth Route Army, especially the Eighth Route Army which had just experienced the anti-mopping-up operation, the supplies in the Japanese county town were far too abundant.

It can be said that the two regiments, the Fourth Regiment and the Independent Regiment, could eat their fill of food from the supplies of Luyang County.

"Old Zhang, how about we give each of our two regiments one and a half units of supplies from this Japanese city, after deducting what we hand over?" Li Yunlong said to Regiment Commander Zhang with a grin.

Commander Zhang touched a Type 92 infantry gun, feeling more comfortable than touching his own wife's leg; the wrinkles on his face gathered together in a smile.

"I think it's a good idea, let's do it that way." Commander Zhang readily agreed.

With so many supplies, even after deducting the portion handed over, the remaining amount would be enough for the two regiments to make a fortune!

Moreover, Chen Ming is truly kind-hearted. This time, he not only provided them with an elite main combat reinforcement battalion and an artillery battalion to help them contain the Japanese strongholds around Luyang County, allowing them to focus on attacking the county town.

Chen Ming also gave them a lot of autonomy regarding the seized materials in the county town, allowing them to hand over all strategic materials such as radio equipment.

In addition, 30% of weapons, ammunition, and food were handed over, and the remainder was directly used for emergency wartime replenishment to the two regiments.

Under normal circumstances, most supplies must be handed over to the central authorities, and only 30% can be kept by the troops cooperating in the operation.

But Chen Ming gave them 70% of the allocation rights, including the allocation of infantry artillery, which was really generous.

"Hurry up, hurry up, move all my artillery away. Our Independent Regiment is really going all out this time!" Li Yunlong shouted, directing his soldiers to push the infantry guns.

His voice was bright, and the smile on his face never stopped.

While inventorying the supplies, we found two Type 92 infantry guns. One was for city defense, and the other was still under repair due to some malfunctions. This also benefited the 4th Regiment and the Independent Regiment.

Upon seeing such important supplies as infantry guns, Regiment Commander Zhang immediately reported the situation to Chen Ming.

The response was that the two infantry guns would be directly assigned to the two regiments to supplement their combat strength in preparation for the upcoming battles.

Chen Ming also borrowed several artillerymen who could operate infantry guns from the artillery company that had come with them to attack Luyang.

Upon receiving the reply, Commander Zhang was overjoyed.

They originally thought that they would definitely not be able to keep such important supplies as infantry guns, but unexpectedly Chen Ming allocated both infantry guns to them.

This means that both the 4th Regiment and the Independent Regiment will receive an infantry gun in this battle!

That's why Li Yunlong insisted that infantry artillery was the responsibility of their Independent Regiment.

Under the orders of the two regimental commanders, the soldiers carried supplies, their faces beaming with smiles.

The puppet soldiers were also directed to help carry supplies, and they behaved themselves throughout the process.

Because they knew that if they surrendered to the Eighth Route Army, as long as they had not done anything immoral or immoral before, such as helping the Japanese to carry out the Three Alls policy, their lives would not be in danger.

Not only will they not be in any danger to their lives, but after being educated, they will also receive a few dollars for travel expenses and be allowed to go home.

Why not just honestly carry the supplies and wait until later to go home with the money or continue serving in the army? There's no need to risk being shot by running away.

It can only be said that our Party's policy on the treatment of prisoners of war and puppet troops on the battlefield greatly weakened the Japanese army's defense system and allowed us to obtain intelligence and resources.

It increased the sense of identity between the military and the people, built the legitimacy of the united front, laid out plans for the post-war period, reserved human resources for the War of Liberation, and reduced the burden of governance.

All that's required is a few dollars.

Many people don't understand why these traitors who surrendered to the enemy weren't killed after being captured, but instead given travel expenses to go home, which is such a lenient treatment.

This is the answer.

Even Li Yunlong, who had always looked down on the puppet troops and thought that keeping them around was pointless and that it would be better to kill them to avoid trouble, gradually came to understand the advanced and strategic nature of our Party's policies.

The cooks wielded large ladles and prepared a steaming hot breakfast with meat for the soldiers.

Just as Li Yunlong said, we'll have breakfast after we take Luyang.

While transporting supplies, some soldiers, led by puppet troops, civilians, and our Party comrades, began to clear out and arrest traitors in Luyang County.

Li Yunlong and Commander Zhang did not let these traitors go unpunished. They conducted a public trial on the spot, enumerated their crimes, and dealt with them in front of the entire city.

I heard that the notorious traitors who committed numerous evils have all been arrested, and the common people have all come out.

After the Eighth Route Army entered the county town, the townspeople discovered that the army did not harm them in the slightest.

Moreover, the Eighth Route Army even organized people to help repair the homes of ordinary people whose houses had been damaged in the battle.

Even if the damage cannot be repaired in a short time, they still compensated the house with a sum of money based on the loss, which is enough to renovate the damaged house several times.

It can be said that for the people whose houses were damaged, they not only did not lose their property in vain during this siege, but also made a small fortune.

This made many ordinary people with intact houses envious, and at the same time greatly increased their goodwill towards the Eighth Route Army.

The performance of this army was completely different from what the Japanese devils and traitors had prophesied; it was a truly good army.

Therefore, when they heard that this army was going to publicly try traitors who helped the Japanese invaders harm their compatriots, many of the people in the city mustered up their courage and came out.

When they saw the traitor who used to bully others being shot through the chest, many of the oppressed people cheered loudly.

"Good riddance! These damned beasts should all be shot!" a middle-aged man shouted with tears in his eyes.

Realizing he was being too loud, he looked around fearfully. Once he found no one paying attention to him, he calmed down and continued cheering from the crowd.

After the public trial concluded, soldiers from the Independent Regiment, the Fourth Regiment, and a battalion of the Reinforced Second Battalion continued to organize the transfer of supplies in preparation for their withdrawal from Luyang.

Luyang is definitely not defensible; its location is too close to Taiyuan, only 25 kilometers away, and it can be reached in just a few hours.

If the Eighth Route Army were to occupy Luyang, the Japanese troops in Taiyuan would never be able to sleep at night.

Therefore, once they learn that Luyang has been lost, the Japanese troops in Taiyuan will definitely send troops to take it back.

With only two regiments and one battalion, they simply couldn't hold out.

"Sir, will you come back after you leave?" a civilian asked with some worry as he watched the Eighth Route Army soldiers about to depart.

“Oh, just call me comrade. Our Eighth Route Army is our own army, the one that governs us.”

The soldier was startled when the locals called him "Sir," and he quickly replied...

Otherwise, if his squad leader finds out, he'll definitely be promoted when he gets back!

"The Japanese are powerful now, so in order to fight them better, we have no choice but to withdraw from the county town for now. But don't worry, one day we will fight back and drive the Japanese devils out of our homes," the soldier said.

"Yes, you must come back."

As the soldier listened to the sincere words of the people, a sense of responsibility and mission welled up in his heart.

"Yes, it will definitely happen."

In Shuangqu Town, Japanese reconnaissance planes flew over, but the Independent Detachment was nowhere to be seen; only a pile of white Japanese corpses remained.

The Japanese reconnaissance planes continued searching the vicinity, but still found nothing.

They had no choice but to return. On their way back, they flew over Luyang again and saw that Luyang had been occupied by the Eighth Route Army.

This was exactly what the Japanese had expected.

The Eighth Route Army assembled several thousand main forces to attack a county town garrisoned by only one company of Japanese soldiers; it was only a matter of time before they took it down.

The Japanese reconnaissance planes could only fire their machine guns at the troops transporting supplies below before returning to Taiyuan to report the situation.

However, the Ghost Reconnaissance Plane flying towards Ping'an County discovered, after repeated reconnaissance, that fighting was still taking place in Ping'an County.

"Company commander, the Japanese planes are coming again." A soldier in a Japanese uniform said to his company commander while firing his gun at an angle where no one was around.

"Never mind that, keep fighting, and don't let the Japanese find out," the company commander said.

"Yes."

The soldiers dressed in Japanese military uniforms continued firing their guns, confusing the Japanese reconnaissance planes.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who were "attacking" the county town from outside also launched an assault on Ping'an County.

As they ran, some of the soldiers pretended to be shot and fell to the ground.

"Gensheng, you're already dead, can't you just sit there and wait? What if the Japanese planes spot you?" A platoon leader muttered, cursing a soldier who had already "died."

"Platoon leader, a bug bit my chicken gill. Besides, the Japanese planes are flying so high, we can't see them."

The soldier said, feeling wronged.

"Stop your fucking nonsense. I'll deal with you when we get back," the platoon leader muttered, lying on the ground.

"Yes."

Thanks to the soldiers' performance, the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilots didn't realize it and still thought Ping'an County was in their own hands.

So he immediately went back to report the situation.

After the Japanese planes left, the soldiers who had been "killed" got up again, dusted themselves off, and chatted and laughed.

"Wasn't my performance just now so convincing? The Japanese planes couldn't even tell the difference," a soldier said proudly.

"It looks so much like him, so much like him. If I didn't know we were acting, I would have thought you were really shot," the soldiers next to him said with a laugh.

"Haha, it's all from my previous training. I never thought it would actually come in handy now," the soldier said.

He used to be a puppet soldier, and in order to save his life, he practiced the skill of feigning death. Unexpectedly, he has a chance to use it again today.

The other soldiers, upon hearing his words, showed no disdain whatsoever.

The past was before and the present is now.

Regardless of whether this soldier was a puppet soldier or something else, at least during the attack on the county town, he single-handedly killed two Japanese soldiers, fighting with unparalleled bravery, which deserves the respect of the soldiers.

As for the worm that bit Gensheng's chicken gizzard, it was repeatedly whipped by Gensheng until it was ground into powder.

(End of this chapter)