Songhu: Never Give Up

Both the enemy and us are looking for Colonel Ishii. It's as if the old guy has disappeared from the face of the earth. Especially the troops of the Ludongnan Military Sub-district. If this group of remnants of the enemy is not eliminated, the military and civilians in the base will have to remain highly vigilant.

Liao Jianping issued a death order, demanding that the Japanese must be found alive or dead. All the scouts were released, and all villages were put on first-level combat readiness.
In order to be able to respond as soon as possible, the military sub-district adopted a wait-and-see approach. The three main battalions were split into company units and formed more than a dozen emergency teams, all of which went deep into the vicinity of each village on standby.

The garrison battalion is on standby in the town 24 hours a day, ready to support any village that is attacked. This is also an anti-mopping-up emergency drill.

On the fourth day after the Japanese invaded the mountains, someone finally found them. They somehow found their way to the back mountain of Songling Village and were discovered by the militia company's outer guard posts. A brief battle broke out between the two sides' scouts.
Since neither side knew the other's strength, they chose to retreat after a hasty contact, and the militia guards knocked down the message tree.

After receiving the enemy information, Lin Tianqi immediately sent people to the town and surrounding villages to ask for reinforcements. At the same time, he organized the villagers to evacuate from the front village, leaving only the militia company in the back mountain to fight the Japanese, buying time for the villagers to evacuate.

Colonel Ishii's first reaction after receiving the enemy information was to stay away from this place. They only had a few dozen people and did not have the capital to fight the guerrillas head-on.

On the contrary, Major Suzuki, who had rich practical experience, put forward the opposite opinion. Major Watanabe thought it made sense and persuaded Ishii to say:
“Sir, what Suzuki said makes sense. If it were an elite Chinese force, they would not let the guards leave easily.

Moreover, according to the guards, the Chinese people they encountered were wearing ordinary people's clothes and were armed with only some old rifles. They should be a militia.

There are villages around here, we have come out of the mountains!"

When Colonel Ishii heard about the village, his eyes instantly lit up like a wild animal. A village meant food, hot water, all kinds of food and daily necessities, and beautiful girls...

Thinking of this, his mouth almost drooled, and he shouted excitedly:

"Why are you still standing there? Lead the warriors and charge forward to rob money, food, and women!"

Major Suzuki and his men were equally excited. They had been wandering in the freezing cold mountains for three days, suffering from hunger and cold, and their morale was low. They urgently needed a carnival to boost their morale.

As for the militia in the village, they were not even a mob, so they didn't take them seriously at all.

Major Suzuki led more than 50 soldiers to Songling Village, followed by Colonel Ishii and others.

They have no way out. It is too difficult to find a village in the vast mountains, and they will not let it go easily.

Ten minutes later, under the guidance of the scouts, Suzuki and his men reached the outskirts of the village. Through the telescope, they could even see smoke rising from the cooking fires (from the Liu family, they had not retreated), which showed that the Chinese were completely defenseless.

A grim smile appeared on Major Suzuki's face. He was already imagining the carnival after rushing into the village, so he drew the ancestral sword in his hand forward, and the Japanese couldn't wait to rush towards Songling Village.

"boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

"boom!"

"Damn it, there are mines on the road! Retreat quickly!"

Major Suzuki shuddered for no reason, as he recalled the horrific experience of being controlled by a minefield in the direction of Tianjia Town.
Unexpectedly, this inconspicuous village was also affected. More than a dozen Japanese soldiers were killed or injured in the bombing, causing heavy losses.

Suzuki didn't know how many land mines there were ahead. Although these mines were not very powerful, it was no problem for someone to break his legs if he stepped on them. The unlucky ones might even be killed.
If he had any other choice, he really wanted to turn around and leave, but they had no way to retreat now. The dry food they carried was almost gone and could only last for a few days at most. Moreover, it was freezing cold, and if they didn't get supplies, they would really die in the mountains.

The engineers followed Colonel Ishii's regiment headquarters, and only a few engineers and a set of mine-clearing equipment were left;
Suzuki could only ask Colonel Ishii for tactical guidance, and was bound to be scolded. Fortunately, despite the scolding, Ishii still sent engineers to them.

After sending out several engineers, there were only about twenty people left around Ishii. They were either wounded or staff officers and communications personnel. Those who could fight were all with Suzuki, and all hopes were placed on Suzuki.

When the Japanese engineers came up to reinforce, they started to clear the mines. Colonel Ishii also came up and took over the command.

Ishii had great confidence in the engineers. Just a few land mines would not be a problem for them.

What Ishii didn't know was that Lin Tianqi and the militia from Songling Town were also keeping an eye on the Japanese engineers. The engineers posed a great threat to landmines, so he absolutely could not allow the Japanese to clear the mines.

He aimed his rifle at the Japanese soldier holding the minesweeper. He was obviously a backbone. In just a short while, he found two mines.
When the Japanese found the mine, they put a small flag on it, and then two assistants crawled on the ground and started to clear the mines, cooperating tacitly. Lin Tianqi would never allow such a powerful Japanese to exist, so he decisively pulled the trigger, and the Japanese engineer fell down, and the bullet pierced his left chest;

In order to improve his hit rate, he did not choose to hit the head. As a veteran, he pursued effectiveness.

His gunshot was an order, and a row of militiamen followed him and fired at the remaining Japanese engineers. Although their marksmanship was not very good, they could not withstand the large number of guns.

Dozens of people concentrated their firepower on a few engineers. The dense rain of bullets turned them into sieves.

When Major Suzuki heard the gunshot, he yelled:
"There are guerrillas, kill some chickens for us!"

The Japanese machine gun that had been on alert started to fire, and two long tongues of fire sprayed towards a row of hiding places, mowing down two militiamen who had stuck their bodies out too far.
Seeing the fierce firepower of the Japanese, Lin Tianqi immediately ordered a retreat. Fighting the Japanese in the field was not the militia's strong point, so he left the minefield to the Japanese to deal with it slowly, and then disappeared into the mountains and forests carrying two militia brothers, one dead and one injured.

Seeing that the militia was vulnerable, the Japanese soldiers started to chase after them, but they tripped over several mines and lost three Japanese soldiers.
Lin Tianqi and others used the minefield to distance themselves from the Japanese. The militiamen were still inexperienced in fighting, but they could run much faster than the Japanese in the mountains, and playing hide-and-seek with the Japanese was their forte.

The Japanese were also fearless and rushed through the minefield, injuring several people.

Colonel Ishii and others followed suit, and all the Japanese joined the battle, including the lightly wounded. The seriously wounded had to be abandoned temporarily as they were now unable to lead the seriously wounded into battle.

The Japs were not slow in the mountains, and they chased the militia row after row into the ambush area of ​​the second and third rows;
As soon as the first row passed through, the militiamen in the second and third rows opened fire on the Japanese. The firepower network composed of two machine guns and dozens of rifles caused great losses to the Japanese, and more than a dozen of them were killed or injured.

By this time in the battle, nearly half of the Japanese had been killed or wounded, but the remaining Japanese were still not a force the militia could contend with;
After the two sides exchanged fire for a while, the Japanese gradually took control of the situation and the militia company suffered more than a dozen casualties.

The second platoon leader knew that they could not fight any more, so he ordered everyone to throw a grenade at the enemy, and then retreat under the cover of the grenade explosion.

The militia's marksmanship could not compare with the Japs, but they could throw grenades far and accurately, which was not much different from the regular troops. There were just a few impatient people who didn't even pull the fuse, thus wasting a few grenades.

The explosion of dozens of grenades frightened the Japanese soldiers, who all scrambled to the ground to avoid the explosion fragments. Their movements were very skillful, and many were killed or injured in the explosion.
When the smoke cleared, the militiamen had already run far away. The enraged Japanese soldiers chased them relentlessly, but unfortunately they failed to catch up.

After the three platoons joined together, Lin Tianqi continued to command the battle. He planned to lure the Japanese into the mountains and slowly wear them down.
Unexpectedly, Major Suzuki stopped after chasing for a while. He had already seen through the militia's intention, so he did not go into the ravines, but went straight to the village.

At this time, the Japanese soldiers, including the wounded, staff officers, and signal soldiers, only had more than 50 people left, while the militia company had more than 80 people left;

Although they had the advantage in numbers, Lin Tianqi knew that they would never be able to defeat the Japanese. The villagers in the village had already moved away, so there was no need for him to fight the Japanese to the death. Saving his lives was more important than anything else.

The Japs finally broke into the village, and just when they were about to start a massacre, they discovered that the Chinese had already fled, leaving the village an empty one.

Just when Major Ishii was about to despair, some Japanese soldiers came to report that they had found a large house with people and guns inside. When they approached, a conflict broke out between the two sides.
Ishii immediately asked Major Suzuki to blow the whistle to gather the troops, and then under the guidance of a Japanese soldier, they headed straight for the Liu family compound.

At this time, the gates of the Liu family compound were completely closed, and more than 30 guards were on high alert, even setting up a machine gun on the fort.
The first group to discover the Liu family compound was a group of Japanese soldiers. They tried to force their way into the Liu family's compound, but were turned away by the family.

The Japanese were used to being brutal and when they saw that the Liu family did not open the door, they immediately launched an attack on the Liu family compound. They were repelled by the machine guns on the dock. One of them died and the remaining two ran back to get reinforcements.

Colonel Ishii was an expert on China. He knew from the layout of the Liu family compound that this was a country gentleman, with plenty of food, gold, silver, and beautiful girls.

If it were any other time, he would focus on pulling the strings, because the Japanese still needed the support of these local tyrants to rule the local areas.

But now they were a group of hungry wolves, and the other party was undoubtedly a big piece of fat meat. He wanted to pounce on it and feast on it immediately, but he had to pull out the thorns before enjoying it;
He had plenty of ways to deal with these gentry. As he thought about it, a sinister smile appeared on his face, and then he explained to Major Watanabe:
"Take a few people with you and try to trick them into opening the gate. Tell them that the imperial army is here to wipe out the guerrillas and will not harm innocent people.
Just ask for a glass of water and some food. Only in this way will they let down their guard, because they have no shortage of food and property, but they are afraid of the guns of the imperial army. Do you understand?"

Watanabe immediately understood Ishii's meaning, which he was good at. He shouted "hi" and left.

Instead, Major Suzuki said disapprovingly:
"Your Excellency, the commander of the regiment, is really patient enough to play with them. With their low walls, they will surrender after a few shells from the Imperial Army."

"Suzuki-kun, we should use courtesy before force. Firing will attract guerrillas, and we don't have many shells left."

They only have one mortar and 1 shells left, so they have to use them sparingly. (End of this chapter)