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

Chapter 64 Taking Down Shouyang
In this raid on the Japanese army's transportation line, the brigade commander was in charge, and the Independent 2nd Regiment was temporarily transferred from the 129th Division to the brigade commander's command.

After Chen Ming submitted the battle plan to the brigade headquarters, the brigade commander greatly praised the battle plan formulated by Chen Ming.

"It seems that Chen Ming really learned something useful while studying in the rear."

The brigade commander laughed heartily.

"Reply to Chen Ming: Regarding the operational plan of the Independent Second Regiment, request that the brigade headquarters approve it."

"At the same time, tell Li Yunlong to lead his troops to the Mengxian direction to monitor the Japanese in the Mengxian direction and cooperate with the Independent Second Regiment to fight a good blocking attack."

"Ding Wei's new regiment, in the direction of Yuci, blew up all bridges and eliminated surrounding strongholds to cover the operation of the Independent Second Regiment."

"The 16th Regiment was responsible for sabotaging the western section of the Zhengtai Railway and eliminating Japanese strongholds along the line."

"772 will remain as the general reserve force."

The brigade commander also finalized the operational plan.

"Yes."

As the brigade headquarters issued orders to each regiment, the regiments gradually began to take action.

However, Li Yunlong was not happy about it and started cursing in the room.

"Why is Chen Ming allowed to lead the main attack? Our Independent Regiment can only fight blocking attacks. When I, Li Yunlong, was the regimental commander during the Long March, he was just a battalion commander!"

The Independent Regiment currently has only 800 men, and there is a significant shortage of weapons and equipment.

When engaging in ambush operations, it is usually difficult to achieve sufficient spoils; the captured weapons and ammunition may even be less than what is fired.

As for raiding, once the enemy stronghold is captured, all the weapons, equipment, and supplies in the stronghold can be seized.

"Why should we? It's because the Second Independent Regiment has over 2,500 men and they obey orders. Our regiment only has 800 men. We can't cook rice in a big pot," Kong Jie said in a gruff voice.

“So what if there are eight hundred men? The soldiers of the Independent Regiment are all howling wolves. Are they afraid of the Japanese road protection team?” Li Yunlong said defiantly.

"Why are you in such a hurry? The higher-ups must have their own reasons. They want to use their strengths wisely. It's not good for the soldiers to hear you complaining like this."

"This is what Zhao Gang, the political commissar of the Independent Regiment, said."

"Don't try to sell me nonsense. Their Independent Second Regiment isn't even part of our brigade. Why should I be the one to ambush them?"

"It's one thing to fight ambush, we're following orders from headquarters, but Ding Wei can take out strongholds, while our Independent Regiment is the only one fighting ambush."

"Why do they get all the good things? Our Independent Regiment isn't some stepchild, is it?"

Hearing Zhao Gang say that, Li Yunlong got angry.

Seeing Li Yunlong like this, Zhao Gang sighed helplessly.

It's hard to believe that Li Yunlong, who uses such foul language, is a qualified military commander at the regimental level of the Eighth Route Army.

Changing the Independent Regiment and raising Li Yunlong's political awareness is a long and arduous task.

At that moment, the phone rang at the Independent Regiment headquarters.

As soon as Li Yunlong answered the phone and heard the voice on the other end, the imposing manner that had been hurling insults and criticisms at everyone vanished without a trace.

A fawning smile appeared on his face as he hunched over to answer the phone.

"Li Yunlong."

"brigadier."

"Are you swearing again, kid?"

"Which bastard snitched on me? Everyone in our 386th Brigade knows that I, Li Yunlong, am the most obedient. If you, Brigade Commander, tell me to go east, I will never chase away a dog." Li Yunlong's eyes widened.

"You'd better do this: Headquarters gave my 386th Brigade the chance to fire the first shot. If anyone messes up, I'll skin them alive," the brigade commander said on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, yes, it's just a sniping attack, let's do it, let's do it, okay?"

In front of the brigade commander, Li Yunlong dared not provoke him and could only act like a wronged little wife.

"Alright, stop pretending. After we finish the blocking action, you'll have plenty of fighting to do. This time, 22 regiments are operating together. We're not just going to disrupt the Japanese supply lines, but also attack the strongholds around those supply lines."

"When it's your turn to go, don't let me down."

"That's what the brigade commander said on the other end of the phone." Upon hearing this, Li Yunlong realized that after the ambush, there would be follow-up operations to attack strongholds, and his previously aggrieved expression immediately turned into a beaming smile.

Li Yunlong was a master of face-changing.

"Brigade Commander, thank you so much, thank you so much, Brigade Commander, I'm kneeling down to you, Brigade Commander."

"That old Li is like a dog, he can turn on you in an instant. He was cursing people just now, and now he's wagging his tail again. What a jerk he is."

Kong Jie complained to Zhao Gang from the side.

"Deputy Commander Kong is right. Old Li is like a dog with a face, unpredictable and moody. We need to find someone to keep him in check."

Zhao Gang echoed.

Li Yunlong didn't care at all about his two partners' complaints.

"So what? I'm happy to do it."

"Order the entire regiment to assemble, bring all their weapons, and after we finish the ambush, we can also take down a few Japanese pillboxes as a bonus."

Li Yunlong gave the order.

Although the brigade commander said that taking down the stronghold was a subsequent task, who was Li Yunlong?

This is just an inconvenient thing to do.

As the various units arrived at their designated combat locations, the brigade commander also set the time for the attack.

After midnight, all troops immediately launched an attack.

At the Independent Second Regiment, Chen Ming led his troops to a point five kilometers outside the Shouyang station, awaiting the time to attack.

The soldiers gripped their guns tightly, checking their weapons and ammunition, and loading the chambers full of bullets.

The artillerymen had also adjusted their firing parameters, waiting for the order to fire on the Japanese.

Using the three-dimensional combat map, Chen Ming checked it over and over again to see if there was anything he had overlooked.

Finally, after a long wait, the time on the pocket watch reached midnight.

The time for the final assault has come!
"Order the troops to fight freely according to Plan Number One!"

Chen Ming gave the order, and a signal flare was immediately launched into the air.

"Fire!" Artillery company commander Zhang Yousheng immediately ordered.

The eight mortars of the artillery company immediately began to roar.

"boom!"

"boom!"

The shells landed inside the Shouyang station, and the Japanese soldiers inside, still asleep, were subjected to a fierce artillery attack.

However, ammunition was limited, and after firing only eighty shells in total, Chen Ming gave the order to charge.

"Da da di—da da di—du ——————!"

The bugler blew the charge with all his might.

"Comrades, charge!"

The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Independent Regiment, who had been in position for some time, along with the machine gun company and guerrilla fighters, launched an assault on the Shouyang Railway Station.

At the Shouyang station, a company of Japanese soldiers now has only about a hundred men left. The shelling just now killed nearly eighty of them. A company of one hundred and eighty men has lost almost half of its strength.

This was also inside the train station. Although the shelling was sudden, there were plenty of bunkers, unlike in the wilderness.

Otherwise, even a single Japanese company, with eighty pre-aimed shells, could be decimated.

Before the Japanese could catch their breath after the shelling stopped, they heard the bugle call of the Eighth Route Army.

It's unclear how many people there are, but judging from the commotion, there are at least a thousand.

(End of this chapter)