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

Chapter 270 War is a contest of who makes the first stupid mistake!
Li Yousheng's troops were known as experts in persuading surrender within the Independent Detachment.

The shouts from the Japanese and puppet troops struck a chord deep within their hearts.

When it comes to the ability to persuade others to surrender on the battlefield, Li Yousheng is second to none.

After all, this is a skill accumulated from countless successful experiences.

Some of the Japanese and puppet troops opposite wavered after hearing the shout.

"I want to go home. I don't want to die. My wife is waiting for me at home."

"Mother."

"The cherry blossoms in our hometown are in bloom, Sakura, are you still waiting for us?"

Some of the Japanese and puppet troops laid down their weapons and began to move towards Li Yousheng's troops.

Human emotions are contagious; once a few people take the lead, it's easy for more people to be inspired.

Just like in ancient battles, if a soldier in an army starts to retreat and it is not stopped in time, it can easily spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, causing a major defeat.

Even in the age of firearms, the essence of humanity remains unchanged.

Inspired by a small group of Japanese and puppet troops who laid down their weapons, more and more Japanese and puppet troops began to abandon their weapons and run towards Li Yousheng's troops.

In the end, only a little over a hundred people remained, standing blankly in their original spots, holding their weapons.

They were Japanese and puppet troops who neither wanted to continue fighting the Eighth Route Army, nor did they want to surrender to the Eighth Route Army for psychological or other reasons.

The Japanese soldiers on the walls of Baotou, seeing that the Japanese and puppet troops below did not pick up their weapons to continue their suicide missions and delay the inevitable, instead surrendered to the Eighth Route Army.

The Japanese officer's eyes blazed with fury, and he was panting heavily.
"You damned coward, how dare you betray His Majesty the Heavenly Locust!"

"Not only did they not take up arms to resist, they actually surrendered to the Eighth Route Army!"

"Fire! Fire! Shoot them!"

The Japanese officer angrily issued the order.

He was a fanatical warmonger, deeply influenced by the Bushido spirit.

In his heart, all the Japanese soldiers had only one mission: to die gloriously for the sake of the locusts.

But now he witnessed betrayal firsthand, with nearly a thousand people surrendering to the Eighth Route Army right before his eyes.

If it were just puppet troops, that would be fine, since in his mind puppet troops weren't even human, their status was even lower than that of dogs in the army.

However, there were quite a few Japanese soldiers among them, which challenged his faith.

All he wants now is to kill all those who betrayed the Heavenly Locust.

Under the orders of the Japanese officers, the machine gun emplacements, firing ports, grenade launchers, and other weapons on the city wall began to fire at the Japanese and puppet troops.

The first to suffer were the more than one hundred bewildered Japanese and puppet troops who stood there dumbfounded.

They neither surrendered nor resisted; they simply stood still, which made them the perfect sitting ducks.

In almost a few breaths, all of the more than one hundred Japanese and puppet troops fell to the muzzle of the Japanese guns.

When they died, all that remained for them was numbness.

After dealing with the Japanese and puppet troops who were standing still, the Japanese continued to fire on the Japanese soldiers who were running towards Li Yousheng's position, trying to annihilate them.

"Quickly, fire! Suppress the enemy's firepower!"

Li Yousheng immediately gave the order.

During the previous attempts to persuade the Japanese to surrender, Li Yousheng had already ordered the artillery in his troops to be ready to suppress the Japanese at any time.

Because he knew that no one could tolerate their own troops surrendering to the enemy face to face.

The Japanese would definitely prevent these Japanese and puppet troops from surrendering to them, and the most direct way to stop them would be to shoot them.

This was common in Li Yousheng's previous cases of persuading people to surrender, and he had long been prepared for it.

These surrendered Japanese soldiers and puppet troops—that was his achievement! How could he let them die under the guns of the Japanese?

The Japanese were brutal and inhumane, firing on their own people. This was a great propaganda opportunity to demoralize the Japanese forces.

These people all have individual ID cards.

After Li Yousheng's and Wang Gui's troops opened fire, the Japanese firepower immediately faltered.

Although Li Yousheng's and Wang Gui's units were just ordinary battalions, their artillery firepower was by no means weak.

An ordinary battalion was surprisingly equipped with an artillery battalion.

In our army, this would be such luxurious equipment!
I never dared to dream of it before. A regiment with an artillery battalion, an artillery company, or even an artillery platoon with two or three mortars would be considered very luxurious.

Didn't you see that when Li Yunlong was still in the New First Regiment, he only had one mortar?
Now, Chen Ming has established an artillery detachment with three field artillery battalions, one of which is a heavy artillery battalion.

We no longer held onto weapons like mortars and infantry guns.

They were directly assigned to the main forces below, to strengthen their infantry support capabilities.

This also allowed ordinary brigades like Wang Gui and Li Yousheng to have artillery battalions.

However, the three main forces of the independent detachment had already abolished the artillery battalion structure, and directly dispersed the artillery used in the centralized positions to the battalions and companies below.

It directly enabled companies to be equipped with 50/60 caliber mortars, and battalions to be equipped with 82mm mortars and Type 92 infantry guns.

Why do you do this?

Because Chen Ming's artillery detachment has now been established.

When the three main forces under the independent detachment need artillery support, they can directly request field artillery fire support.

In that case, there would be no need for the reinforced artillery battalion.

The main problem is that the original artillery consisted of small-caliber cannons, such as mortars and infantry guns, which were no longer sufficient to provide artillery support for a reinforced battalion-sized force.

Just like the Japanese divisions, they wouldn't use mortars or infantry guns as divisional support weapons.

Therefore, some of the artillery originally under the direct command of the Independent Detachment was handed over by Chen Ming and distributed to other units by headquarters as support firepower.

The remaining portion was allocated by Chen Ming to three ordinary battalions to bolster their firepower.

The artillery was insufficient for the reinforced battalion of the independent detachment, but just right for the ordinary battalion.

The current Li Yousheng and Wang Gui brigades are comparable to the three main forces of the Independent Detachment before they acquired Soviet weapons.

With two artillery battalions firing simultaneously, it would be strange if the Japanese artillery positions on the city wall weren't suppressed.

With the cover of artillery fire, nearly two-thirds of the surrendered Japanese and puppet troops successfully escaped to our positions and were received by the soldiers there.

The rest fell to the guns of the Japanese soldiers.

There was nothing we could do about it; after all, we weren't babysitters. Before the Japanese and puppet troops were officially taken over, they weren't prisoners of war.

If they are not prisoners of war, then there is no obligation to guarantee their safety.

On the city wall, the Japanese officer was furious to see that out of more than a thousand Japanese and puppet troops, nearly five or six hundred had successfully surrendered.

He now desperately wants to lead his troops out of the city and slaughter all the traitors outside.

However, their current strength does not allow them to do so.

They are an armored division, and their core combat strength lies in their armored forces.

If only infantry were to go out of the city to fight, their combat strength would be no match for the Eighth Route Army outside the city.

The Japanese armored units cannot be deployed now because one of their fuel depots has been destroyed and another is being salvaged.

If they rashly leave the city, they will be unable to effectively obtain fuel supplies from within the city. Without fuel, the deterrent power of the armored forces will be greatly reduced, and they may even be completely wiped out, following in the footsteps of the 13th Tank Regiment that was previously destroyed.

Coupled with the information asymmetry, the Japanese could not determine how many troops were outside the city and worried that it was a ploy by the Eighth Route Army.

Therefore, the Japanese officers could only rage helplessly on the city wall, venting their pistol bullets into the darkness.

While receiving prisoners, Li Yousheng and Wang Gui were also keeping a close eye on the garrison in Baotou.

Let's see if they will take advantage of the surrendered Japanese and puppet troops entering their positions to launch an attack.

But the result disappointed them.

"It seems the Japanese are really cautious; they don't even dare to come out. What a waste of all those tanks they have."

"I think not only are their tanks iron turtles, but these Japanese devils are turtles too, they just know how to cower like cowards."

Wang Gui said regretfully.

He didn't really gain any credit in this operation.

With the help of Li Yousheng's troops, the breakthrough of the Japanese positions on the east side was achieved.

If Li Yousheng's troops hadn't arrived from the west, causing panic among the Japanese troops in the east, they might not have been able to break through the seemingly impenetrable Japanese position so quickly.

The main credit for persuading the more than 1,000 Japanese and puppet troops to surrender was also given to Li Yousheng; he didn't gain much.

It could be said that in this battle, Li Yousheng's troops ate all the meat.

Wang Gui not only failed to achieve any merit, but was also scolded by the chief of staff and made to lose face, who said that he had eaten millet for nothing!
This left Wang Gui extremely frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.

We can't blame Li Yousheng, can we?
They've already come to help the east after defeating the west side. How shameless would it be to complain about them under these circumstances?

Unlike the depressed Wang Gui, Li Yousheng was beaming and looked exceptionally happy.

In previous major battles, whether it was the Battle of Datong or the Battle of Chahar and Suiyuan, their three ordinary battalions played a supporting role.

The main attack was accomplished by the three main forces, so they didn't make much of a contribution.

But this time, among the three ordinary brigades as the main characters, Li Yousheng was still the most outstanding one.

He proved himself once again, proving that he had not let Chen Ming down. How could he not be happy?
"If they don't want to come out, then they don't have to. After the New Year, those little devils won't be able to cause any trouble. Let them live a few more months."

"Anyway, the meat is right here, so you can eat it whenever you want."

Li Yousheng said happily.

After their reflections, the two men did not continue their attack on Baotou, but instead settled the prisoners down and awaited orders from headquarters.

Half an hour later, the command center issued the order.

"Report, command orders the Third and Fourth Battalions to move to the west of Baotou and launch an attack on Baotou to draw the Japanese attention."

"Cooperate with the Fifth Battalion to cover the evacuation of the special operations battalion from Baotou."

The signalman relayed the order.

The outer defense chain of Baotou has now been severed, and the puppet troops in Baotou have been basically wiped out.

Meanwhile, the special operations brigade successfully completed its guidance mission, directing artillery to destroy the Japanese oil depot inside Baotou.

The independent detachment has achieved its operational objectives and it is time to withdraw.

Baotou was, after all, garrisoned by a Japanese division, and although they were initially caught off guard and overwhelmed by the attack.

But given the strength and manpower available, the core forces were not significantly damaged.

If the fighting continues and the Japanese realize what's happening, it won't be so easy for them to continue gaining an advantage.

After all, none of the three main forces of the independent detachment were present, and even the artillery detachment was absent. It would be too difficult to take down a heavily fortified city.

Therefore, Chen Ming and his chief of staff's strategic objective was to destroy the oil depots inside Baotou City and simultaneously eliminate the puppet troops outside Baotou City.

After the puppet troops outside Baotou were cut off, if the Japanese wanted to defend again, they would have to fill in their own troops.

It should be noted that the Japanese division in Baotou was an armored division, with a limited proportion of infantry.

Infantry comprised only about 35% of the force, and their role was to support tank operations.

Tank crews, maintenance crews, communications crews, and transport crews together account for 65%.

When filling in lines, you can't just put in technical units, can you?

Therefore, after losing the puppet troops who filled in the gaps, the Japanese had no choice but to abandon most of the outer defensive positions and concentrate their forces to defend the key positions.

Over the next few months, the independent detachment will be able to gradually wear down these Japanese infantrymen, further weakening the Japanese forces.

Without the cover of infantry, the Japanese armored forces were not far from annihilation.

Staying within the city is fine, but once you leave, you become an easy target, and your survival time can be measured in hours.

This was Chen Ming and his chief of staff's plan: one cannot become fat in one bite; one must eat one bite at a time.

Anyway, we have the advantage now, and the Japanese are much more anxious than we are.

When you're in a rush, you're more likely to make mistakes and expose your weaknesses.

Throughout China's five-thousand-year history of warfare, apart from a few wars that were entirely contests of hard power, there are only a few exceptions.

In other wars, the outcome depends on which side makes a foolish mistake and exposes a weakness first.

Those who remain steadfast until the end often achieve ultimate victory.

The current situation is similar; as long as the Independent Detachment holds its ground, it can slowly wear down the Japanese tank division in Baotou.

Given that the enemy has been completely cut off from supplies, it is only a matter of time before they are wiped out.

If they acted rashly and tried to take Baotou head-on, the Independent Detachment could indeed capture it with its strength, but the cost would be too high, which is not the result Chen Ming wanted.

After Wang Gui and Li Yousheng led their troops back to the west, they made brief preparations and then launched an artillery barrage towards Baotou.

The terrain to the west is flat, which is advantageous for a large-scale military offensive.

Meanwhile, to the south, Luojian tribe, which had never had a road, quietly emerged under the cover of night.

"The command ordered us to launch an attack immediately after the special forces team inside the city launched their attack, to breach the city wall and facilitate the special forces team's retreat."

Luo Jian addressed the battalion commanders.

"Captain, if we blow up the city walls, why don't we take the opportunity to rush into the city and fight the Japanese?"

A battalion commander asked.

"There are still nearly ten thousand Japanese soldiers inside the city. Do you think we can take them down with just three battalions?"

"Our main force hasn't arrived yet, and the Japanese still have a large number of tanks, artillery, and machine guns. Even if we charge in, we won't be able to break through them."

"The command only instructed us to provide support to the special operations brigade, which naturally has its reasons."

"We just need to execute the orders."

Luo Jian replied.

"I don't understand why our main players didn't come when we had such a good opportunity."

The battalion commander muttered.

"If you could understand, you wouldn't be my battalion commander anymore; you'd be a staff officer or some other officer in the command headquarters by now."

Luo Jian tapped the battalion commander on the forehead and joked.

P.S.: Do any of you readers have good book titles? The one I originally wanted to use was rejected.
(End of this chapter)