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

Chapter 57: The Independent Regiment Encounters a Special Forces Team; Li Yunlong Takes Office as Regiment Commander
Half a month later, after Chen Ming's condition stabilized, he embarked on his journey to Yan'an.

Four dedicated guards were directly assigned by headquarters, along with Chen Ming's bodyguard Da Biao. With the help of couriers and underground party members, they secretly crossed the enemy-occupied area and went to Yan'an to recuperate.

Kong Jie's Independent Regiment was also temporarily transferred to Yangcun for garrison duty.

Upon arriving at Yangcun, Kong Jie arranged for the addition of two hidden sentries and two visible sentries.

He knew Chen Ming, and Chen Ming wouldn't lie to him with false information; it was always better to be cautious.

The next night.

Yamamoto's special forces made their move, secretly traveling by car to a medium-sized outpost closest to the Daxia Bay headquarters.

Under the cover of night, they began to sneak into the mountains to carry out the so-called decapitation operation.

Relying on intelligence, Yamamoto's special forces made their way to the vicinity of Yang Village without any obstacles.

However, due to limited intelligence, they stumbled into Yangcun, where the Independent Regiment was stationed.

"Who? Password!"

The additional sentries stationed on the perimeter spotted the Japanese troops and immediately opened fire as a warning.

"boom!"

Yamamoto's special forces immediately opened fire in the direction of the gunshot.

"Da da da! Da da!"

The gunshots were particularly jarring in the quiet night.

The soldiers of the Independent Regiment immediately went into combat readiness.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Independent Regiment is now even worse than before.

Yamamoto's special forces were equipped with automatic weapons, including submachine guns and grenade launchers.

Even if they discovered the Japanese troops in advance, the Independent Regiment still couldn't defeat them in close combat.

However, this was Yangcun, the heartland of our army. Other soldiers of the Independent Regiment quickly arrived and began to engage the Japanese troops in firefight.

With their superior numbers, this small group of Yamamoto's special forces retreated immediately after leaving behind five bodies.

"Sir, the first combat team has been spotted by enemy sentries and has begun engaging the Eighth Route Army in firefight."

"Baka! Order the troops to retreat!" Yamamoto Ichiki cursed angrily and immediately chose to retreat.

As soon as the gunfire rang out, the fighter jets disappeared. This place was deep in our army's territory, surrounded by troops everywhere.

If his special forces team were discovered and entangled by other units guarding headquarters, they would not be able to defeat the regular army in a head-on battle.

Ultimately, at the cost of five casualties and three injuries, the Yamamoto Special Forces exchanged their lives for more than eighty soldiers of the Independent Regiment before hastily retreating in the direction they had come from.

However, this road is not far from the defense zone of the Second Independent Regiment.

"Battalion Commander, there's fighting at the Independent Regiment. Could it be that Japanese ambush you mentioned, Commander?"

A soldier from the first battalion asked Dafei.

The soldiers in the First Battalion still habitually called Dafei "Battalion Commander," and Dafei had no objection to this.

He also believed that Chen Ming was the only commander of the Independent Second Regiment, and that he was merely temporarily helping out as a steward.

"Immediately mobilize troops to block this group of Japanese soldiers. We can't let them leave so easily," Dafei ordered immediately.

"Yes."

With the order issued, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Independent Regiment, along with the artillery company, immediately sprang into action, preparing to block the Japanese troops who had penetrated deep into the base area.

However, Yamamoto's special forces knew their operation had been exposed and retreated quickly.

When the 2nd Independent Regiment arrived, they had already missed the opportunity to block Yamamoto's special forces, and only saw the blurry backs of the enemy hurrying away under the moonlight.

However, if the infantry can't catch up, there's still the artillery.

"Order Zhang Yousheng's artillery company to open fire on the Japanese immediately," Dafei commanded.

According to Chen Ming's instructions, if you encounter Japanese soldiers like this, it's best not to engage in close combat, but to bombard them with artillery.

The artillerymen of the 2nd Independent Regiment were very well trained and set up their mortars quickly, without taking much time.

However, by this time, the Japanese soldiers were almost out of artillery range.

"No need for careful aiming, just bombard the area the Japanese are bound to pass through," Zhang Yousheng shouted anxiously.

I aimed again; the Japanese soldiers were about to run out of range. Anyway, we had plenty of artillery, and it was area-of-effect damage, so aiming roughly and firing was the right thing to do.

"Yes."

After firing a flare, the artillerymen immediately opened fire in the general direction of Yamamoto's special forces.

"boom!"

When the flares went off, Yamamoto knew they had been discovered.

However, before he could react, artillery shells from the 2nd Independent Regiment came flying at him.

Although most of the shells missed because they weren't aimed carefully, two of them hit the moving Yamamoto special attack team, killing more than a dozen Japanese soldiers on the spot.

"Retreat immediately, get out of enemy artillery range as soon as possible, don't get entangled."

Yamamoto immediately gave the order.

Although his special operations skills were still in their early stages, he knew that he had almost no chance of winning against regular army artillery.

Judging from the sound of the shells exploding, he determined that it was a Type 97 81mm mortar with a range of 100 to 2850 meters.

Now, based on the location of the shelling, he judged that they were about to withdraw from the effective firing range. The most important thing now was to get out of the firing range rather than avoid the shells.

"Hay."

Upon receiving the order, the special forces members disregarded their fallen comrades and, carrying the wounded who could still speak, immediately ran towards the distance.

Once he was out of artillery range, Yamamoto Ichiki looked at the direction from which the cannons were firing at him and angrily fired a burst of bullets.

"idiot!"

These were all carefully selected elite soldiers, but unexpectedly, they lost twenty-one of them in just one mission without even seeing the target.

Most importantly, the second wave of losses was entirely due to the artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army, leaving them unable to even retaliate.

It’s frustrating, so frustrating.

After venting his anger, Yamamoto Ichiki did not linger and immediately led the special forces team to retreat.

If we delay any longer, we might get bombed again.

"What main force regiment? Bullshit! I think it's just dough!"

"An entire regiment was wiped out by a small unit of the Japanese devils. A regimental commander like that is only fit to be fed to livestock!"

"Go! Get rid of his regimental commander!"

The boss slammed his fist on the table in anger.

An entire regiment, with 85 soldiers killed and 32 wounded, failed to kill a single enemy. (To avoid exposing the special forces, the Japanese took away the bodies of the dead Japanese soldiers from Yangcun.)

A casualty ratio of 0.85 is simply humiliating.

This was the first time the Eighth Route Army had experienced such a huge casualty ratio.

After venting his anger, the commander began to think about how to handle the Independent Regiment next.

"We need to find someone to reorganize the 386th Brigade's Independent Regiment; we can't let it collapse like this."

"Go tell Li Yunlong to stop embroidering and stop pretending. He should be appointed as the commander of the Independent Regiment right now."

"Yes."

Meanwhile, the brigade commander of the 386th Brigade had become even more temperamental.

The Independent Regiment belongs to the 386th Brigade. Fighting such a humiliating battle not only means the loss of the Independent Regiment's personnel, but also the loss of his/her reputation.

同样是休整的团，凭什么独立二团能打出21:0的战绩，他386旅的独立团就打出了0:85。

Kong Jie must shoulder this responsibility no matter what!

Kong Jie also knew that this was a mistake in his command. He had not accurately assessed the Japanese fighting strength and still suffered such a high casualty ratio despite the sentries discovering them in advance.

No matter what punishment headquarters gives him, even if it means execution, he will accept it.

Ultimately, Li Yunlong was appointed as the commander of the Independent Regiment.

PS: The first two chapters are transitional chapters. There will be three chapters today. Please vote. I'm testing the waters first. If it doesn't work, I'll have to gloss over the Yan'an part.

(End of this chapter)