Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

abridgement
[Shanxi, Taihang Mountains, Eighth Route Army Headquarters]

"That feels great! That's fucking great!"

The deputy commander slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups bounce around.

Pointing to the map, he said to the chief of staff, “We used to say that we should concentrate our superior forces to fight a war of annihilation. This time, Chu Yunfei used ‘absolute firepower’ to fight a war of annihilation. This is the future mode of warfare: land and air coordination. If there is a navy, then it is land, sea and air coordination. This was also demonstrated in the previous Qiongzhou Island campaign.”

"What does this mean?"

The deputy commander paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, saying, "This shows that as long as we Chinese people unite and our guns are strong, the Japanese devils are just grasshoppers in autumn!"

"Yes."

The deputy commander walked to the window and looked at the continuous mountains outside: "The railway guerrillas, the armed work teams, and our main force regiments have been digging up railways, blowing up bridges, and blocking reinforcements. Without us pulling the Japanese back, it wouldn't have been so easy for Chu Yunfei to encircle and annihilate the 12th Army!"

"Also, send a telegram to that kid Li Yunlong, telling him that he did a good job in Woyang this time and did not disgrace our Eighth Route Army. Tell him to take the time to rest and recuperate, as there are still many big battles to come!"

"Yes."

Chief of Staff Zuo said with a solemn expression: "Chu Yunfei's command skills are indeed superb, and most of the National Army is willing to obey his command."

"I'm thinking about something else right now."

"The recent battles have shown that conventional warfare is the future trend. Most of our commanders are still immersed in small-scale guerrilla warfare. So, shouldn't our command theory also keep pace with the times?"

"We definitely need to talk to them about this and see if we can send some of our people for further training... Ding Wei is a good example, isn't he?"

……

Wutai Mountain, Shanxi Province

The morning bells echoed through the valley, startling a flock of birds.

Although far removed from the hustle and bustle of the world, news from down the mountain still reached this ancient temple through that thin telephone line.

Inside the meditation room, the air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood.

Yan Laoxi, who had already "retired," held the telegram in his hand and remained silent for a long time.

His hands were trembling.

He was enveloped in a mix of emotions: relief, disappointment, pride, and a touch of the desolation of a hero in his twilight years.

"director."

Xie Ming, a trusted confidant, stood aside and whispered, "This is great news. Yunfei, no, Commander Chu, has done it."

"Yes, he did it."

Yan Laoxi took off his glasses, wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes, and sighed: "Back then, in Xinkou and Taiyuan, we risked our lives to fill the gaps, but we still couldn't stop Itagaki Seishiro's 'half a division'."

"Now, this young man Yunfei, leading the old guard of our Jin-Sui Army, along with the Central Army, has actually wiped out an entire Japanese army!"

"The next generation is to be feared, the next generation is to be feared!"

Yan Laoxi stood up, walked to the window, and looked eastward. It was as if he could see through the clouds the young officer who had once stood at attention and saluted him, who had now grown into a powerful commander.

"I made the right move."

Yan Laoxi muttered to himself, "Taking the initiative to step down and give up the title of First-Class General, although I'm a little reluctant, it's worth it!"

"It was totally worth it!"

“If I hadn’t retreated, who knows how Chang Ruiyuan would have tried to strangle him.”

"Now it's all good. With the great victory in Jinan, and with the help of this old man like me, Yunfei's title of 'War General' is completely secured! No one can shake it!"

Xie Ming said in a low voice, "Director, should we send a congratulatory telegram?"

"Send it! Of course I will!"

Yan Laoxi turned around, a shrewd glint in his eyes: "Not only should it be sent to Yunfei, but also to Chang Ruiyuan, and to the whole country!"

"I want the whole world to know that Chu Yunfei is a subordinate trained by me, Yan Xishan, and the pride of Shanxi!"

"Even if I am no longer in office, this bond of kinship and the teacher-student relationship can never be severed by anyone!"

"Served with pen and ink!"

Old west shook off his previous dejection, picked up his brush, and wrote eight large characters: "The glory of the Jin people, the pillars of the nation!"

……

Just as the victory in Jinan continued to resonate throughout the country and the nation was celebrating.

In central Shandong, on the edge of the Yimeng Mountains, at Heifengkou, a unique ambush is underway.

This is a treacherous pass, with earthen slopes overgrown with weeds on both sides and a winding dirt road in the middle.

"Get down there, all of you! If anyone moves and gives away our position, I'll shoot them first!"

Liu Ermazi, the puppet army battalion commander, clutched a Mauser pistol, his brow beaded with sweat, lying prone in the bushes behind the earthen slope, muttering curses under his breath.

He subconsciously touched the still-warm "letter of appointment" in his shirt pocket, a bitter, cold smile creeping onto his lips.

Just three days ago, it looked like the sky was about to fall over North China.

The Japanese officials, who were usually aloof and superior, suddenly became incredibly "generous".

The letter of appointment for "Commander of the Locust Army Infantry Battalion" bearing a red seal was forced into his hands by a Japanese liaison officer.

The reason given was even more high-sounding: that "the younger brother country values ​​him highly."

In reality, Liu Ermazi knew perfectly well that the Japanese had no one left!

When disaster struck, the Japanese promoted these puppet army company commanders and platoon leaders on the spot, giving them a promotion, and even gave guns to the cooks who only knew how to cook.

This is hardly a promotion or a fortune.
This is clearly an attempt to use a few pieces of waste paper to tie them to the tanks and leave them behind as scapegoats, so that the main force of the Japanese will have time to escape!

"Go to hell, battalion commander."

Liu Ermazi spat inwardly.

In the past, he would have been so happy to get promoted that he couldn't sleep for three days.

But now?
The higher the official rank, the more serious the crime will be when the Nationalist Army and the Eighth Route Army settle accounts with the enemy. When you are executed, you will be shot twice more!
"You want to use me as cannon fodder?"

"no way!"

It was precisely because of this "hot potato" battalion commander title that Liu Ermazi made up his mind to pull off a big heist and earn a real pledge of loyalty, otherwise he would never be able to clear his name!

Behind him lay a dense mass of over three hundred puppet soldiers.

The equipment they carried was actually quite good; they had Type 24 rifles, newly issued Hanyang rifles, and even two Czech light machine guns—which the Japanese had "generously" provided to them before they left.

But these "locust collaborators," who usually bully ordinary people with an imposing air, were now trembling like leaves.

"Battalion Commander, those are the Japanese army, no, no, no, they're the Japanese devils."

The company commander swallowed hard, his voice trembling: "Although the intelligence said there were only about forty men, a small squad, in the past few years, every time we've seen the Locust Army, we've been bowing and scraping. Just look at how fiercely they fought the Eighth Route Army, do you think we're their match?"

"We have to fight even if we can't win!"

Liu Ermazi gritted his teeth, a fierce glint of desperation flashing in his eyes. He pulled out a sweat-soaked photocopy of the *North China Daily* from his pocket, pointing to the name "Zhao Daye" on it:

"did you see it?"

"As I told you before, this Zhao Daye used to work for the Japanese. Now he's a martyr, a lieutenant colonel!"

"If we don't pledge our allegiance soon, once the main force of the Eighth Route Army or the main force of the National Revolutionary Army arrives, we'll be the dead men on the black list!"

"The Japanese are about to be wiped out, yet they're still promising us official positions and luring us to our deaths!"

"We're not stupid!"

"To survive, and to be able to hold our heads high in the future, we must devour these Japanese devils today!"

In the bushes beside him, Chen Dashan, the captain of the Eighth Route Army guerrilla detachment, looked at the “Battalion Commander Liu” who had only been in office for three days and was all bluster and no substance. He found it amusing, but at the same time became even more wary.

These puppet troops only bit people when they were driven to desperation.

If a real fight breaks out, we'll have to rely on these "new officials" to take the lead.

"Battalion Commander Liu, tell your men not to hold their heads so high."

Chen Dashan lowered his voice and reminded them, "The Japanese are famous for their marksmanship. With your formation so close together, you're just feeding the machine guns."

"Also, when the Japanese get into the circle, wait for my shot before firing, don't..."

"coming!"

I don't know who shouted.

In the distance, a cloud of dust rose from the dirt road.

A small Japanese platoon of about forty men was escorting two mule carts loaded with supplies, hurrying eastward.

Although it was a retreat, this small Japanese unit maintained a very high level of tactical discipline during its march.

The scouts led the way, with sentries on both sides and machine gun crews flanking them. Even in their disheveled state, their sharp and fierce killing intent still sent chills down people's spines.

Liu Ermazi peered through the gaps in the grass at the khaki military uniform, his heart pounding in his chest.

Three hundred against forty, that's a winning battle.

Logically speaking, even a single spit from one person could drown the Japanese soldiers.

But this psychological fear of the "Japanese officer" that had accumulated over the years made Liu Ermazi's palms covered in slippery cold sweat.

The Japanese troops drew closer and closer, until they were less than fifty meters from the ambush zone.

"beat!"

Liu Ermazi closed his eyes and suddenly pulled the trigger.

"Snapped!"

This shot was like a clumsy signal.

In an instant, gunfire erupted from both sides of the earthen slope.

More than three hundred rifles, plus two light machine guns, fired in a deafening roar. Bullets swept across the road like a deluge.

“Enemy attack—!!!”

The Japanese platoon leader's reaction was astonishingly fast.

Almost the instant the gun fired, he made a tactical evasive maneuver and rolled into the roadside ditch.

"Scatter! Fight back!"

In that instant, the Japanese army displayed tactical skills that left these puppet troops in despair.

None of the forty-odd Japanese soldiers who were ambushed panicked and ran away.

As if they had rehearsed this beforehand, they quickly sought cover; some hid behind the wheels of vehicles, some rolled into ditches, and some lay directly behind the dead horses.

"Da da da da——"

A Japanese Type 91 machine gun, after only three seconds of silence, roared into action.

Those precise bursts of fire, as if guided by eyes, instantly suppressed the firepower of the puppet army's left flank.

"what!!"

"Help!"

The few puppet soldiers who had just been peeking out and firing wildly now had blood spurting from their heads and were screaming as they rolled down the embankment.

"idiot!"

"They're Eighth Route Army guerrillas!"

"No, they are rebels!"

The Japanese platoon leader brandished his sword, his eyes filled with malice: "Grenade launchers! Suppress their machine guns!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Two muffled sounds.

The Czech-made machine gun on the puppet army's position, which had been firing wildly like water being poured on it but with no accuracy, suddenly fell silent.

Two grenades landed precisely in the machine gun nest, blowing the machine gunner and his assistant gunner into the air.

"How can this be?"

Liu Ermazi was dumbfounded.

The firefight had only lasted less than two minutes, and more than a dozen of their own men had already fallen. Apart from the three or five Japanese soldiers who were shot down at the beginning, the rest of the Japanese soldiers on the road were like nails stuck in the ground, and their counter-attack marksmanship was terrifyingly accurate.

"Charge! Charge down there!"

Liu Ermazi's eyes turned red with urgency: "We outnumber them, we can overwhelm them with hand-to-hand combat!"

"Brothers, that's our pledge of allegiance!"

"Come on!"

Driven by officers, more than a hundred puppet soldiers, bayonets at their heels, rushed out of their bunkers in a chaotic frenzy, howling as they charged toward the road.

However, this was precisely the opportunity the Japanese army had been waiting for.

"shooting!"

The distinctive gunshots of the Japanese Type 38 rifles rang out continuously.

The firing rhythm was more like a volley.

They played with great rhythm, as if they were firing a volley every round.

After the gunshots rang out, seven or eight puppet soldiers would fall to the ground.

The Type 91 machine gun became a scythe for reaping lives, unleashing a bloodbath among the puppet troops who made no tactical evasive maneuvers.

The mere fifty meters became an insurmountable death zone.

"Can not be done!"

The company commander cried out, his voice trembling with tears, "Battalion commander, the brothers can't get through! The Japanese are too tough!"

Three hundred men against forty men, and they were completely overwhelmed!
Seeing the charging troops suffer heavy casualties and forced to retreat back to the earthen slope, Liu Ermazi looked in despair at Chen Dashan, who had been mostly silent beside him.

"Captain Chen!"

"Give your brother a hand!"

"Aren't you Eighth Route Army soldiers supposed to be powerful? Hurry up and make your move!"

Chen Dashan spat out the grass root in his mouth, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Get your men down! Don't send them to their deaths!"

Chen Dashan waved his hand and shouted to the guerrilla detachment of only twenty-odd men behind him, "Comrades, show these country bumpkins what fighting is all about!"

"Dazhuang, use our grenades."

"Everyone else, spread out and play according to our strategy."

At Chen Dashan's command, the guerrillas did not charge blindly like the puppet troops, but quickly dispersed, as if blending into the mountains and forests.

"boom!"

Suddenly, without warning, a cloud of black smoke rose from under a large truck on the road.

Although the power was not great, the loud noise and flying debris startled the Japanese soldiers hiding behind the cart, forcing them to expose themselves.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

At the same time, several sniper shots rang out from four different directions.

With every shot fired, a Japanese soldier inevitably fell.

The shooters would fire and run away immediately, never lingering to fire, making it impossible for the Japanese machine guns to find their targets.

"There are enemies to the east!"

"There's one to the west too. Is that the sound of firecrackers?"

The Japanese platoon leader was dumbfounded.

Suddenly, dense "gunfire" rang out from the surrounding mountains and forests. It was the guerrillas setting off firecrackers in the iron barrels, which sounded like several heavy machine guns firing.

"Here you are, you little devil! Your grandpa's right here!"

"The main force of the Eighth Route Army has arrived! Surrender and you will not be killed!"

Shouts of battle echoed across the mountains and fields, some from the trees, some from the gullies, moving from east to west, making it impossible to discern the truth from the falsehood.

The positional warfare tactics that the elite Japanese troops excelled at were not suitable for fighting against the Eighth Route Army companies, which were skilled in guerrilla warfare.

They couldn't find their main target, and even when they returned fire, they often only managed to hit one guerrilla fighter.

"Machine gunner, nine o'clock!"

"Baka! There's no one over there!"

The Japanese machine gunner had just turned his gun around when he was shot in the back and killed instantly.

"It's now!"

Seeing the Japanese troops in disarray, Chen Dashan, disregarding their own safety, roared, "Battalion Commander Liu, stop lying there like corpses!"

"Grenades! Throw them all!"

Liu Ermazi suddenly realized what was happening: "Quick! Hand grenades! Blow them up!"

This time, the puppet troops learned their lesson.

Instead of charging forward, more than two hundred people pulled the pins on grenades and threw them frantically onto the road.

Hundreds of grenades rained down on the Japanese army's small defensive perimeter.

Although it's not accurate, there are a lot of them!

“Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!!”

The continuous explosions completely drowned out the road surface.

The smoke has cleared.

All that remained on the road were mangled corpses and wounded soldiers still convulsing.

"kill!"

Without saying a word, Chen Dashan led the puppet troops and charged down.

The fierce hand-to-hand combat lasted less than a few minutes before this elite Japanese squad was finally wiped out by this chaotic, brute-force fighting style.

The battle is over.

Liu Ermazi plopped down on the ground, looking at the corpses scattered all over the place.

More than fifty puppet soldiers
He glanced again at the guerrillas next to him who were skillfully cleaning up the battlefield. Those Eighth Route Army soldiers, who looked incredibly rustic, had only lost a few men.

"Captain Chen"

Liu Ermazi, trembling, pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Chen Dashan, his eyes filled with awe: "I'm impressed, truly impressed. That Japanese soldier's marksmanship is incredible..."

Chen Dashan took the cigarette, tucked it behind his ear, and patted Liu Ermazi on the shoulder: "Accurate marksmanship is something you develop through practice. If we had the logistical support of the Japanese, we would have their marksmanship too."

Liu Ermazi nodded seriously, then flattered, "The same guns, how come they seem to have eyes in your hands?"

"Battalion Commander Liu, fighting the Japanese isn't just about having a lot of men and good guns."

"You have to use your brain, you have to be fearless, and you have to know who you're fighting for."

Looking at the bright red flag under the setting sun, Liu Ermazi nodded heavily: "We've done a great service, haven't we? When do you think we should reorganize the brothers into our Eighth Route Army?" (End of Chapter)