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

Chapter 96 Kong Jie's Bewilderment
When the communication between the Japanese soldiers and their puppet troops was cut off, the Japanese soldiers panicked.

This is one-third of their unit's strength. Although they are puppet troops, their combat effectiveness is not very strong.

But even with over a thousand pigs, they still have their uses; the tools in their hands aren't just fire pokers.

They have lost their command system and are surrounded, so they can only hold their ground and wait for reinforcements.

Among the remaining Japanese officers, there were also capable individuals.

They knew that if they didn't quickly regroup with other units and hold their ground, they might not be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Therefore, the Japanese immediately assembled an 800-man infantry battalion at Guanfengkou and launched a fierce attack on the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Battalion at Guanfengkou.

"Commander, we're surrounded! What do we do?" a battalion commander of the puppet army shouted in a panic.

Looking around, he saw that the surrounding hills were filled with Eighth Route Army soldiers, numbering at least two or three thousand.

These Eighth Route Army soldiers were unlike any they had encountered before; they had powerful artillery, abundant weapons and ammunition, and were extremely strong in combat.

Not long after the fighting began, they tore a hole in the Japanese position and cut off their communication with the Japanese.

Now, in local battles, they have become a completely isolated force.

The fake regimental commander was also getting anxious and yelled, "How the hell should I know what to do?"

"Commander, how about we join forces with the Locust Army to attack the Eighth Route Army at Guanfeng Pass from both sides and then rendezvous with them?" suggested the puppet army battalion commander.

"Easy for you to say. With so many Eighth Route Army soldiers, who's going to go, you or me? We only have a little over a thousand men. How can we possibly defeat so many Eighth Route Army soldiers?" the puppet regiment commander said helplessly.

"Why don't we surrender? I heard that the Eighth Route Army treats prisoners of war well. Brothers who were released by the Eighth Route Army before can even get three silver dollars for travel expenses," said the puppet army battalion commander.

"That's not a good idea. Although the Locust Army is surrounded, reinforcements are on their way. If we surrender now, the Locust Army will definitely not let us off the hook later."

The fake legion commander pondered for a moment before speaking.

Although the current situation is unfavorable to them, nearly 20,000 Japanese and puppet troops are gathering outside the Eighth Route Army's encirclement.

The final outcome is still uncertain.

If you surrender to the Eighth Route Army, and they win the battle, that's fine. The Eighth Route Army treats prisoners of war well, and they usually won't be in any danger.

But if the Eighth Route Army loses, they can just pack up and run away, leaving the surrendered soldiers to face the wrath of the Japanese.

The puppet army commander was caught in a dilemma, torn between the imminent crisis and the potential crisis afterward, making him hesitant to make a decision.

"Commander, if we don't surrender, the Eighth Route Army will be charging up soon," the puppet army battalion commander said anxiously.

The puppet regiment commander was getting agitated by the battalion commander's words, and suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

"I have a plan. You tell the brothers to do this."

Facing the Japanese army's attack on Guanfengkou.

Chen Ming completely ignored the Japanese troops in this battalion and ordered the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Battalion to hold their positions and hold out until the main force had annihilated the surrounded puppet troops before turning around to wipe out this battalion.

Under Chen Ming's orders, the Third Battalion, which outflanked the Japanese, along with the First and Third Independent Guerrilla Battalions, formed a flank.

The first and third independent guerrilla detachments built positions to block the encircled Japanese troops from breaking out to the south.

Kong Jie's second battalion, in coordination with the third battalion, wiped out the more than 1,000 puppet troops in the shortest possible time.

After receiving orders, Kong Jie knew it was time for his second battalion to have a feast.

He immediately ordered his troops to charge the surrounded puppet troops.

"Comrades, charge!" Kong Jie roared, carrying a Czech-made light machine gun, and led the charge against the puppet army's position.

"Da da da!"

With one burst of fire, more than fifty puppet soldiers fell in front of Kong Jie.

"Wow, when did I become such a good shot?"

Kong Jie had a lot of questions in his head.

The Czech light machine gun has a magazine capacity of only twenty rounds. Under normal circumstances, even if one bullet eliminates one enemy, it can only eliminate a maximum of twenty enemies.

Even if the Czech machine gun bullets have strong penetrating power and can penetrate two enemies, you can't kill more than two enemies with every bullet, can you?
But somehow, with just one burst of fire, more than fifty puppet soldiers fell.

However, Kong Jie didn't think too much about it and decided to fire first. After reloading, he prepared to continue firing.

But this time, as soon as he raised his gun, before he could even fire, the puppet soldier in front of him fell down first.

Seeing this, Kong Jie realized that these puppet soldiers were faking their deaths!

Seeing how weak the fighting spirit of this puppet army was, Kong Jie immediately lost interest and led his soldiers to charge into the puppet army's position. The puppet soldiers who were pretending to be dead were captured by the troops behind them.

Kong Jie fought his way from south to north, directly breaking through the position of a puppet army regiment.

There were very few puppet troops left standing on the entire battlefield.

"Clean up the battlefield immediately, capture all the puppet troops who are pretending to be dead, leave a company of soldiers to guard them, and the rest of you come with me to support the First Battalion," Kong Jie ordered.

"Yes." As the order was given, the soldiers immediately began to inspect the puppet troops on the battlefield. In order to check whether the fallen puppet troops were pretending to be dead, the soldiers stabbed them one by one.

If someone jumps up before the bayonet is even attached, they're just playing dead.

If someone doesn't flinch when faced with a bayonet, they're either really dead or an incredibly good actor, but that's pointless anyway.

Once a bayonet is in your body, whether you're truly dead or not, you'll become a corpse anyway.

The soldiers of the Second Battalion hadn't bothered to clean up, but once they did, more than 700 of the more than 1,000 "corpses" actually got up.

The puppet soldiers, who were pretending to be dead, did not run away. Instead, they obediently gave the French military salute and were captured by the soldiers.

Anyway, they're not surrendering now, they're defeated and captured, so even if the Japanese settle scores later, they'll have something to say about it.

They were defeated only when they were facing an enemy several times their size and had run out of ammunition and supplies.

This left Kong Jie completely stunned.

"Good heavens, no wonder I wiped out a whole regiment of puppet troops with just one charge. Turns out they were all faking their deaths."

Kong Jie saw a captured puppet army battalion commander. He remembered this man; he was the puppet soldier who had fallen before he could even fire a shot.

"Coward, you've already fallen before I even fired a shot. You can't even pretend to be dead properly."

The puppet army battalion commander looked at Kong Jie with a fawning expression: "Doesn't this make your marksmanship look good?"

"Hmph, leave a company of soldiers to guard these prisoners, the rest of you come with me to support the main battlefield." Kong Jie didn't give these puppet troops a friendly look.

Traitors who surrendered to the Japanese are so spineless; in Kong Jie's eyes, such people are not even as good as animals.

Of course, he wasn't targeting all the puppet troops; there were still forces within the puppet troops that could be united.

For example, Li Yousheng, who is now a staff officer of the Independent Detachment and was formerly the battalion commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Independent Regiment, was a former puppet soldier who defected to the Eighth Route Army to fight against the Japanese.

Kong Jie had learned about the enemy's bravery in battle from other soldiers, and he admired Li Yousheng quite a bit.

In Kong Jie's eyes, anyone who had backbone and dared to fight the Japanese was a good comrade.

After dealing with the puppet troops, the soldiers of the Second Battalion and Third Battalion were freed up to join the battle to encircle and annihilate the remaining 1,400-plus Japanese soldiers.

With the addition of these two units, the battlefield situation changed to more than 8,000 soldiers surrounding and annihilating 1400 Japanese soldiers.

More importantly, because the First Battalion had previously breached the Japanese position, these 1,400 Japanese soldiers were divided into two groups.

One group consisted of 800 Japanese soldiers at Guanfengkou, while the other group consisted of the remaining 600 Japanese soldiers on the left side of the core Japanese position.

Looking at the situation on the battlefield, Chen Ming immediately ordered one battalion of the First Battalion stationed at the position to continue to hold the position and prevent the two Japanese forces from joining forces.

The remaining troops concentrated their superior forces to first wipe out the Japanese soldiers below Guanfeng Pass, and then turn around to fight the remaining 600 enemies.

"Time waits for no one. The two infantry battalions that the Japanese are reinforcing are less than ten kilometers away. If we can't finish the battle within an hour, we'll be caught in a two-front war."

Chen Ming observed the other route of the Independent Mixed 4th Brigade through the map; two battalions of Japanese soldiers were about to arrive.

Before long, they will be engaged in battle with Wang Gui's troops stationed on the high ground west of Baijiazhuang.

If we cannot eliminate the surrounded enemy and free our troops as soon as possible, we are very likely to be attacked from behind by these two battalions of Japanese soldiers.

None of these are the most important things. Two battalions of Japanese soldiers alone cannot pose a significant threat to the current Independent Detachment.

The key issue is that once the main force is tied down by these two battalions of Japanese troops, it will be difficult for the troops to move quickly. Once the encirclement of more than 20,000 Japanese and puppet troops is formed, it will be very difficult for the troops to escape smoothly.

"I cooked a whole table of dishes, and two tables of guests arrived. I have to get rid of this table of guests first before I can open the door to welcome the new ones," Chen Ming sighed.

"Order: All troops, move forward! Artillery positions, fire two more rounds of shells! Annihilate the besieged enemy within one hour!"

"Yes."

After the signalman relayed the order to each battalion, the soldiers all knew that the time for the decisive battle had come.

Since the command headquarters has issued such a strict order with a time limit, it means that the situation has reached a critical moment.

At the Third Battalion Headquarters, Wang Dafei ripped off his hat, threw it forcefully to the ground, and shouted:
"Comrades, charge with me! Kill the Japanese devils!"

Zhang Zhengze, the political commissar of the First Battalion who was temporarily in command at this time, also shouted loudly:

"Comrades, the time has come for the Party and the people to test us, charge!"

In the Second Battalion, Kong Jie, carrying a blood-stained broadsword, led his soldiers in a charge towards the Japanese position, encouraging them to fight back.

Kong Jie had waited too long for this moment, because of Chen Ming, he was unable to serve as the assault captain in the battle to annihilate the Yamazaki Battalion.

Therefore, the shame on his body could not be washed away.

Because the Independent Regiment had the mission of protecting the headquarters, it could not deploy troops at will. Kong Jie did not participate in the battle to ambush the Japanese observation group.

Now, an opportunity to annihilate the Japanese in a direct confrontation is presented to him. How could Kong Jie not be excited!
"Da da di—da da di—du ——————!"

The rousing bugle call for the general offensive echoed across the battlefield, and the soldiers charged towards the Japanese soldiers like tigers descending a mountain.

(End of this chapter)