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

Chapter 294 The Leaked "Tank Base"

Apart from He Jianxin's troops, which were better suited for decisive battles on plains, other units like Ding Wei's and Kong Jie's were adept at mountain warfare.

In this battle, Chen Ming was able to use the three-dimensional battle map in his mind to divide the Japanese troops by utilizing the terrain and concentrate superior forces to defeat them one by one.

Two divisions of Japanese soldiers—that's a huge force; it would be extremely difficult to wipe them out head-on.

Divide the enemy into battalion-level and company-level units, and it will be much easier to wipe them out.

Therefore, Chen Ming gave Ding Wei the order to withdraw from Jining.

Besides preparing for the final battle, Chen Ming had another consideration.

"Jining was rebuilt by us at great expense of manpower and resources. It would be a great pity if it were destroyed."

"After we release Jining, according to the Japanese devils' intentions, after 'rescuing' the Japanese tank division in Baotou, we will definitely not leave here."

"Mobilizing four divisions would consume too much manpower and resources. If we only rescue one tank division, the Japanese will not give up easily."

"According to the analysis of the General Staff, if the Japanese 'rescue' the tank division in Baotou, they will most likely concentrate the strength of three divisions plus one tank division to attack Shuoxian, the core of our base area."

"They attempted to annihilate us in one battle. Even if they couldn't annihilate us, the Japanese wanted to severely damage us and eliminate the biggest threat to North China."

"Only when our troops are gone or have lost their fighting capacity can the situation in Suiyuan, Chahar, and even northern Shanxi be stabilized."

"If we are eliminated, Jining will once again become an important transportation hub in Chahar and a key city for the Japanese to radiate into Suiyuan."

"Therefore, when the Japanese recaptured Jining, they would not want to destroy this city, which is a major transportation hub."

"Because they need it themselves, destruction is easy but construction is difficult, and the Japanese don't have many resources left to support their reconstruction."

"If the Japanese don't destroy it, we can retake Jining after the war and preserve its facilities to some extent, allowing it to recover its vitality and function more quickly."

Chen Ming explained to the group of cadres why he had ordered Ding Wei's troops to withdraw from Jining, leaving not a single soldier behind, and directly handing Jining over to the Japanese.

Everyone understood after hearing this.

If we continue to hold off the Japanese in Jining, we can rely on Jining's defense system to inflict casualties on them.

But after the war, Jining will be reduced to ruins, just like Fengzhen.

Rebuilding a ruined city is far too difficult.

The key point is that Jining is also an important transportation hub, so construction is necessary.

"By the way, have all the residents of Jining been evacuated?"

Chen Ming suddenly asked.

"The last group of elderly people were evacuated three days ago."

Political Commissar Zhang Zhengze began to speak.

"Yes, the Japanese suffered heavy losses in Fengzhen. If they find that Jining is a ghost town, they may take their anger out on the local people."

"They are capable of such bestial acts, or rather, they are capable of even more bestial acts."

"We cannot treat the Japanese devils as human beings; we must prepare for the worst."

Chen Ming spoke up.

"Indeed, the Japanese devils committed too many atrocities on our land, and we have a blood feud with them."

Wang Dafei, from the fourth division, nodded and said.

He was a member of the district squad and witnessed the tragedy in Lijia Village. A small Japanese detachment alone killed an entire village of villagers.

Of the many villages across China, countless were ravaged by the Japanese invaders.

"Alright, let's not talk about that for now. The artillery detachment and the special forces detachment are the decisive forces in this battle. Order them to keep their positions well hidden."

"If the Japanese discover our artillery power and scare away this huge group of Japanese soldiers, that won't do."

"In addition, have the comrades in the branch office leak our 'tank base' in Liangcheng to the Japanese."

"The Japanese planes are the biggest threat to our artillery and special forces detachments. We need to deplete some of their fuel and bombs so they can't target our trump cards."

"If the 'tank base' in Liangcheng is destroyed, the Japanese will be much less vigilant."

Chen Ming said with a smile.

The "tank base" in Liangcheng was a tank model that Chen Ming had hired carpenter Li to work overtime to produce.

It looks very simple, and you can tell it's fake at a glance if you look closely.

But the Japanese planes were flying overhead and we couldn't see them!

In addition, to enhance the realism, Chen Ming also set up an anti-aircraft company at the "tank base" in Liangcheng, further increasing credibility and making the Japanese believe that this was the armored force of the Independent Detachment.

The branch bureau that Chen Ming mentioned was naturally the Jin-Sui-Re-Cha branch bureau, whose function was to coordinate all aspects of the work of the Party, government, and military, including counter-espionage, eliminating internal traitors, and protecting the security of the base area.

The branch office has already been monitoring several Japanese spies, who were specifically left behind by Chen Ming.

Because Chen Ming possessed extraordinary abilities in counter-espionage, he also coordinated the construction of counter-espionage networks in the base areas, the detection of enemy infiltration, the elimination of traitors, and defection operations.

Those few Japanese spies were specially kept by Chen Ming for use now.

If we inadvertently leak information about the location of the "tank base" to the Japanese, we might end up revealing it to them.

In order to eliminate the major threat posed by Chen Ming's armored forces, the Japanese will most likely send bombers to bomb him.

The Japanese had a limited number of bombers and aerial bombs in China, most of which had been transferred to other battlefields.

This means that as long as the Japanese set their bombing targets in the areas designated by Chen Ming, they would be unable to target other important units, such as artillery detachment positions.

At the same time, the annihilation of the "armored forces" would greatly reduce the Japanese soldiers' vigilance.

After all, the special forces unit under Chen Ming's command posed a significant threat to the Japanese infantry.

An armored unit can be a decisive force that can turn the tide of battle at critical moments.

Under Chen Ming's orders, the officers from the branch office began their operation.

A mule caravan suddenly burst into flames on the road under the cover of night.

The massive fire caused the oil to explode, making it difficult for the transport team to fight the fire, so they had to seek help from a nearby village.

This village is no ordinary place; it harbors a Japanese spy.

The sudden request for help turned the quiet village into a noisy place.

When the villagers learned that the fire was caused by supplies being transported by the Eighth Route Army's transport team and that the fire needed to be put out, they immediately put on their clothes and went to help.

Men, women, young and old all pitched in, not daring to waste a single moment.

Under normal circumstances, villagers would help with firefighting.

Moreover, since it was a fire involving supplies being transported by the Eighth Route Army's transport team, they were even more eager to help.

The villagers knew the importance of the supplies, and the whole village participated in the rescue effort, including the Japanese spies among them.

With many hands making light work, even though the oil caught fire, the villagers managed to extinguish most of it. Once the fire was completely extinguished, the soldier collapsed onto the muddy mountain road.

His hands gripped the oil-stained hem of his clothes tightly, his knuckles white, tears mingling with the oil, sweat, and mud streaming down his face, his voice choked with sobs, almost incoherent:
"How could this happen... How could this be!"

He suddenly raised his hand and pounded his thigh:

"I'm such a useless piece of trash! This oil was earned with the lives of Lao Zhang and the others!"

"How many Japanese soldiers could be wiped out with half of this oil?"

He choked back tears as he crawled over, reaching out to gather the oil that had seeped into the soil, but his fingertips only touched a cold, slippery surface.

"I'm so sorry to everyone... I'm so sorry to my fallen comrades... How could I be so careless? How could I have accidentally set the oil drum on fire!"

He abruptly stood up, his eyes bloodshot, gripping the rifle at his waist and roaring:
"Company commander, execute me. I have let down my fallen comrades and the organization's trust by letting precious supplies be destroyed."

The company commander strode forward, squatted down, and pressed down on the soldier's hand that was pounding on his chest, his voice deep and powerful:
"Why are you crying! Now is not the time to blame yourself!"
Before he finished speaking, the old squad leader had already deftly opened his backpack, pulled out all the water bottles, food bags, and even untied the enamel mug from his waist:
"What are you all standing there for! Bring containers! Fill them up with as much as you can!"

The medic also tore off the waterproof gauze from the outer layer of the first aid kit, lay on the ground, dipped the cloth strips into the oil droplets in the soil, and wrung them into the enamel mug;

Two young soldiers carried the remaining oil drums, lined the truck bed with three layers of dry grass, and tied them tightly with rope.
Some people even took off their coarse cloth jackets and laid them on the oil stains to absorb the remaining oil. Their movements were quick and steady, and no one complained.

The deputy company commander squatted down beside the soldier, patted him on the back, and his voice, though rough, was warm:
"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. If you really feel sorry for your fallen comrades, then protect the remaining oil and kill a couple more Japanese soldiers. That will do more good than crying here!"

The soldier wiped his face, tears still clinging to his cheeks, but suddenly stood up, grabbed the tarpaulin beside him, and began covering the remaining oil drums with it.
"I will make sure to deliver the remaining oil safely."

The company commander nodded with a stern face and shouted:
"Hurry up! We have to get over the mountain before dawn! The remaining oil is our lifeline; we have to deliver it, even if it costs us our lives!"

This scene was witnessed in its entirety by the Japanese spies.

After packing up, the transport team continued their journey without stopping.

Before setting off, the company commander told the villagers that they must keep it a secret, as there was a war going on and they could not let the situation leak out.

The villagers all said they would keep quiet about it.

The village chief stated that their village would be under lockdown for the foreseeable future to ensure that no one leaves the village and to prevent any information from leaking out.

The villagers readily agreed with the village chief's suggestion.

The villagers knew that they had not received special training and might inadvertently leak information, sometimes without even realizing it.

Therefore, in order to maintain complete secrecy, they unanimously agreed to temporarily seal off the village, monitor each other, and prevent the news from leaking to the Japanese and traitors.

Because among the troops fighting the war, there were also able-bodied young men from their village.

If you accidentally leak information and cause a defeat at the front, your family and the soldiers who fought to protect them will be sacrificed.

After hearing the village chief's statement, the company commander of the transport team thanked the villagers and continued leading his team on their way.

The Japanese spies hidden among the villagers had piercing eyes beneath their lowered heads.

He extracted some keywords from what had just happened.

"The officers leading the transport team were at the company level, and they were transporting precious fuel."

"Nighttime transportation was conducted in order to maintain secrecy, and villagers were also required to keep it a secret."

It is certainly very important for a transport team to be led by a company-level officer.

The supplies being transported were also highly sensitive strategic materials such as fuel.

In addition, the level of secrecy was very high, to the point that it was even necessary to seal off the village to ensure that the information was not leaked.

This means that the mission this transport team is carrying out is very important.

What important mission required the clandestine transport of fuel at night?
Although the Japanese spy was not of high rank, he knew that this was absolutely important intelligence and had to be reported as soon as possible.

So, after returning to their lodgings, the Japanese spies, under the cover of night, quietly disappeared behind the cliff at the back of the village, leaving only a rope behind.

The village chief sent some people, along with militia, to guard the village entrance, but failed to notice the cliff behind the village.

After all, it's a bare cliff over twenty meters high, and under normal circumstances, no one could go down it.

Besides, it's late at night and visibility is poor; we can't let the whole village continue to gather together.

He could only tell the villagers to go home and not go out, and he sent people to guard the village entrance to prevent anyone from leaving.

After a night of trekking, the Japanese spy finally delivered the intelligence to the nearest intelligence station, then hurriedly returned to the village, acting as if nothing had happened.

However, his actions did not escape the notice of the branch office comrades responsible for monitoring the Japanese.

"Section Chief, did I act well just now?"

The soldier, who had just collapsed to the ground and wept bitterly, spoke triumphantly to the head of the anti-espionage section.

"It's so similar, so very similar. If I didn't know what you looked like, I would have almost believed it myself."

"The head of the anti-espionage section sighed."

This soldier was originally from a theatrical troupe, but later joined the revolution. Because of his special skills, he entered the anti-espionage department.

This oil fire was all staged by him.

I can only say that he is a true professional; his acting was so convincing.

During the performance, the head of the anti-espionage department almost lost his composure.

If it weren't so dark that it was impossible to see his expression, the Japanese might have noticed him.

Now that the Japanese spies have already passed on the intelligence, it means he hasn't discovered it.

Because once the other party discovers this, they won't easily expose themselves.

"Sigh, it's such a pity that so much oil was burned so easily."

"The soldier sighed."

To make the performance realistic, the oil used in the scene was actually burned.

That's several barrels of fuel, enough for the army's motorcade to transport supplies once.

The soldiers of the transport team were heartbroken when it was burned like that.

The grief shown by the soldier who just acted out the scene wasn't all acting; it was a genuine expression of emotion.

When they cried, they really cried; when they felt heartache, they really felt heartache.

That's why the performance was so realistic, even the head of the anti-espionage department was a little overwhelmed.

"You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. We may have lost a few barrels of oil now, but we'll capture even more in the future. Things will get better."

The head of the anti-espionage section patted the soldier on the shoulder to comfort him.

At this moment, an urgent telegram was sent to the headquarters in Okamura.

"Reporting, sir! Our intelligence personnel have discovered a secret Eighth Route Army convoy transporting fuel, heading towards Liangcheng!"

P.S.: I can only go up to 8,000 words, but rounding it up, it's still 10,000 words.
(End of this chapter)