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

Chapter 58 Let's discuss it together.
Yangcun.

After being reprimanded by the brigade commander, Li Yunlong sheepishly reported to the Independent Regiment.

However, a thief never leaves empty-handed. Before returning to the Independent Regiment, Li Yunlong used the name of the clothing factory director to transport 500 pieces of military uniforms from the clothing factory back to the Independent Regiment.

In the battles prior to the counter-mopping-up operation, various units annihilated a large number of Japanese and puppet troops and seized a large amount of cloth and other supplies, resulting in a significant increase in the clothing factory's inventory.

Originally, Li Yunlong had hoped to be like Chen Ming, holding both the positions of regimental commander and political commissar, but he ended up being scolded by the brigade commander.

What were Li Yunlong's and Chen Ming's ideological awareness?

If Li Yunlong isn't assigned a political commissar to keep him in check, this rascal will run wild like a runaway horse.

After being thoroughly scolded, Li Yunlong dared not provoke the brigade commander. If he had been able to win, he would have definitely fought the brigade commander.

Within the Independent Regiment, Kong Jie was like a wilted eggplant, all his energy and spirit completely gone.

Chen Ming had already sent someone to remind him, and he had also increased the number of sentries, but due to his command errors, he still managed to achieve an embarrassing casualty ratio.

He has to bear this responsibility no matter what.

"See? The bullets are all in his face." Kong Jie said with a worried expression, holding a pipe.

"Sigh, anyway, you won't believe anything I say now. The Independent Second Regiment also sent over two Japanese corpses. They were indeed very elite Japanese soldiers, all equipped with automatic firearms."

"I heard it all over again, and it was all just to boost the morale of the Japanese devils. Aren't they their own children? After looking around for a while, all I see are our corpses. Were your guns fired into the air?"

Li Yunlong's words provoked Kong Jie.

He worried that his old comrade-in-arms would be too devastated by this defeat and never recover.

"Li Yunlong, you can annoy me, but you can't annoy my soldiers. The soldiers of the Independent Regiment are all top-notch soldiers. Which bullet hit them head-on?"

Kong Jie stared intently at Li Yunlong.

"Commander Kong."

"If I weren't the regimental commander, I would have been fired long ago!" Kong Jie said, turning and leaving.

Looking at Kong Jie's retreating figure, Li Yunlong felt a sense of relief.

Although he seems carefree, he is actually very thoughtful.

It's good that they can still get angry. If they really bury their heads and don't say a word, then they've been beaten to death by the Japanese.

Inside the Independent Regiment's headquarters, Kong Jie sat alone, looking at the political commissar's belongings, and secretly shed tears.

"Political Commissar, you left me, Old Kong, all alone. I still wanted to avenge you, but now..."

A tough guy who wouldn't shed a tear even if he was shot in the body, now shed tears like a broken pearl necklace.

Looking at his old comrade's retreating figure, Li Yunlong felt bad, so he called headquarters to plead for Kong Jie's life.

After Li Yunlong pleaded for leniency, and with the Independent Second Regiment handing over the bodies and weapons of the Japanese special forces, the situation improved.

The commander considered that the Independent Regiment had fought tenaciously in the Cangyunling blocking battle, suffering particularly heavy casualties, and that this group of Japanese soldiers was indeed elite.

If Kong Jie is transferred away again, the remaining two hundred or so soldiers of the Independent Regiment will probably collapse.

The Independent Regiment also took the bullet for the headquarters. In the end, it was agreed that Kong Jie could stay in the Independent Regiment and serve as the deputy commander to atone for his crimes.

Inside the Independent Regiment, Kong Jie packed his personal belongings, looking back at the Independent Regiment and its soldiers with reluctance, sighing inwardly.

"Old Kong, Old Kong."

Li Yunlong patted Kong Jie, who was packing his things, and said, "I forgot to tell you earlier, the commander appointed you to stay and serve as deputy regimental commander."

"Actually, we're practically family. What's this talk of 'official' and 'deputy'? Let's discuss it together."

Kong Jie looked at Li Yunlong in disbelief.

He knew that Li Yunlong had played a significant role in enabling headquarters to change the order.

"How about you be the head, and I'll be the deputy?" Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

Yamamoto Ichiki stood with his head down, looking guilty, in front of Japanese Lieutenant General Shinotsuka Yoshio.

Before setting off, he confidently declared that he would be able to wipe out the Eighth Route Army's command system in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, they ran into trouble in Yangcun.

Although the casualty ratio of 5:85 was already quite impressive, these were elite troops selected by all the company commanders in the Japanese army in North China.

With advanced German submachine guns at their disposal, it would be problematic if they couldn't achieve this level of success.

In a battle against another unknown team, Yamamoto's special forces lost sixteen soldiers without even seeing the enemy.

This is already extremely shameful.

Especially for a proud and arrogant Japanese soldier like Yamamoto Ichiki, the bigger the boast he made in front of the lieutenant general back then, the more painful the slap in the face he received now.

"Yamamoto-kun, you are an elite of the empire. A small defeat is not terrible. In field battles, it is indeed difficult for small units to fight when they encounter enemy artillery."

"But in the previous battle, didn't your special forces achieve a score of 5:85? Such a high casualty ratio is not common."

Yoshio Shinotsuka offered words of comfort.

Although he didn't understand special operations, he knew that once equipped with short-range firearms like submachine guns, even the most elite soldiers would be no match for the enemy's artillery.

"Hai, it's my fault for not scouting the enemy's situation properly."

Yamamoto Ichiki lowered his head in shame.

"Yoshino-kun, have the intelligence department located this unit with considerable artillery firepower?"

Yoshio Shinotsuka then asked.

From the previous Battle of Cangyunling to the recent artillery barrage encountered by Yamamoto Ichiki during his retreat, it is clear that the Eighth Route Army possesses a formidable artillery force.

"It has been investigated and the intelligence shows that the only force that could stop Yamamoto in time during his retreat was the Independent 2nd Regiment of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army."

"This Independent Second Regiment was awarded the title of 'Heroic Regiment of the Battle of Cangyunling' by the Eighth Route Army for its combat performance in the Battle of Cangyunling."

Major General Yoshino of the North China Expeditionary Army spoke first.

"Independent Second Regiment, what kind of unit is that?" Yoshio Shinotsuka asked.

"According to intelligence, this regiment is not part of the existing organization of the Eighth Route Army. In the Eighth Route Army's terms, it is a basic regiment that was reorganized from a district squad."

Major General Yoshino said.

"District squad?"

Yoshio Shinotsuka was completely bewildered.

He was a lieutenant general and commander of the First Army of the North China Expeditionary Army. Militia units like the district platoon were not even worthy of his attention.

“A district squad is a militia unit of the Chinese army, mainly engaged in guerrilla warfare, and usually consists of about 20-30 people,” Yoshino explained.

"However, this district squad that was reorganized by the Second Independent Regiment was no ordinary one. It had grown to more than a thousand people, so it was reorganized into a regiment that was not part of the Eighth Route Army's regular forces."

"According to intelligence, this regiment has attacked Imperial trains twice. The last time, the train carrying supplies for the Fourth Brigade was also ambushed by this regiment."

The Japanese intelligence system was indeed formidable; even the Nationalist government's intelligence on the Independent Second Regiment was far inferior to that of the Japanese.

“Sodis Lei.” Yoshio Shinotsuka nodded.

He has already become interested in the commander of the 2nd Independent Regiment.

"If we have the chance, we must eliminate this force. I have a feeling that if we let it grow, it will pose a significant threat to the Empire's army."

(End of this chapter)