Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 219: All grass and trees are soldiers
The Japanese's 20 mountain cannons bombarded the Xiangyang Village position for nearly 20 minutes, firing three to four hundred shells. Almost all the houses in the village were knocked down.

"Captain, the Japanese are coming." Wei Dayong shouted.

Chen Chengxing immediately lay down on the trench and looked out.

The first wave of Japanese infantry participating in the attack exceeded 400, which was almost the number of front-line infantry in a battalion.

"Comrades! Don't save ammunition, fight hard and I will supply you with all the ammunition when the time comes!" Chen Chengxing ordered.

The Japanese launched a strong attack right from the start, which meant that Yukio Nara wanted to quickly capture the Xiangyang Village position and then continue to pursue the first and third battalions.

At this time, the Japanese had more troops than Chen Chengxing, so he could not engage in bayonet fighting and could only try his best to delay time with firepower. However, with the ammunition supported by the First and Third Battalions, it should not be a problem for them to hold out until the night.

At the front line, Yang Hong looked at the Japanese soldiers who were becoming more and more scattered after entering 200 meters, and shouted, "Shoot!"

Although the hit rate is not high at such a long distance, the guerrillas must open fire in order to delay time.

"Da da da".
"Bang!" "Bang!".
The Japanese soldiers who were hit by fire did not panic, but leaped forward and took the opportunity to shoot.

However, because they were all new recruits, although the Japanese had a much higher hit rate than the guerrillas at such a long distance, the casualties among the soldiers were not serious due to the cover of the positions.

However, as the Japanese got closer, casualties on both sides began to increase sharply.

Seeing the Japanese getting closer, Yang Hong immediately shouted to the soldier next to him: "Pull!"

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!".
As the soldier pulled the rope in his hand, a series of explosions sounded in front of the position.

The Japanese casualties immediately increased by dozens, and those uninjured Japanese in the minefield were also buzzed by the explosions.

When the brain is affected, tactical movements are severely distorted, which can lead to massive casualties.

Therefore, the Japanese captain in charge immediately ordered a retreat, prepared to regroup, and then attack again.

Seeing the Japanese retreat, Chen Chengxing breathed a sigh of relief, and then ordered to reinforce the position again. According to his understanding, the Japanese artillery attack would come again soon.

Looking at the retreating infantry battalion, Toyama Ryotaro sighed: "The combat effectiveness of the New Second Regiment should not be underestimated. The density of its firepower far exceeds that of other Eighth Route Army units. If they continue to stay in Dayun Mountain, they will probably be a considerable threat to Taiyuan."

"Haha, Mr. Dongshan, it is probably wishful thinking for the Eighth Route Army to threaten Taiyuan. Their large forces can only operate in mountainous areas. Once they enter the plains, the Locust Army can fully utilize mechanized marching to quickly eliminate any Eighth Route Army." Nara Yukio said confidently.

The locust army today is not the same as the one three years ago. The number of trucks has increased significantly.

If the Eighth Route Army was active in the mountains, the Locust Army would have no good way to deal with them. But once the Eighth Route Army appeared in a place where trucks could maneuver, two legs could never outrun four wheels, and trucks never get tired.

If the Eighth Route Army leaves the mountainous area, it can only move in small groups; otherwise, once discovered, they will be quickly surrounded and annihilated.

On the North China Plain, when a few or a dozen Eighth Route Army soldiers were on the move, they were as hard to catch as mice. But once they rose to the battalion or company level, it was easy to encircle them.

"Brigade Commander, I think we should not underestimate this new Second Regiment." Toyama Ryotaro said seriously. He always felt that this unit was a little weird and different from other Eighth Route Army units.

"Alright, Dongshan-kun, let's not discuss this now. Let's prepare to attack again. Order the Third Infantry Battalion to send a squadron to the Second Infantry Battalion to strengthen the offensive on the front line."

In Nara Yukio's opinion, he was about to wipe out the New Second Regiment, so there was no need to worry too much about it, as the dead Eighth Route Army would not pose any threat.

Just as Ryotaro Toyama made a phone call to the 3rd Infantry Battalion, the telegraph soldier next to him handed him a telegram.

After taking a look at the telegram, Toyama Ryotaro's face changed drastically and he immediately quickened his pace and walked to Nara Yukio's side.

"Brigade Commander, we received a telegram saying that a large number of Eighth Route Army soldiers have appeared near the Zhangdian stronghold and the Minzhuang stronghold, with a total number of two to three thousand. Now they are unable to transport supplies on time. The troops in the stronghold requested that we send troops to clear out the Eighth Route Army soldiers in that area." Toyama Ryotaro reported.

"Two or three thousand? The expansion speed of the Eighth Route Army is really astonishing," Nara Yukio said with some disbelief.

With a size of two to three thousand people, they are destined not to be a weak organization like the Eighth Route Army militia guerrillas. If these Eighth Route Army guerrillas wanted to, they could definitely take over any stronghold.

Regardless of whether they captured the Zhangdian stronghold or not, the 3rd Mixed Brigade was destined to have no supplies.

Thinking of the supplies, Nara Yukio suddenly reacted and said anxiously: "Call the artillery position immediately and stop the shelling!"

Without material supplies, artillery shells will be in short supply, and they can only be used at fixed points instead of providing coverage fire.

At this time, Yukio Nara was already regretting the indiscriminate bombardment. The shells he had just fired exceeded one-third of the shells carried by the 1rd Mixed Brigade.

Toyama Ryotaro signaled the staff officer next to him to convey the order immediately, and then suggested: "Brigade Commander, should we send a troop to resolve the crisis in Zhangdian?"

For the current 3rd Mixed Brigade, Zhangdian is the most important transportation node. If it is blocked, supplies from either Xinkou or Wuyi County cannot be transported here.

When Nara Yukio heard the proposal, he did not answer immediately, but thought about it seriously.

"Send a message to the Zhangdian stronghold, asking them to suspend the transportation of supplies and focus on defending the stronghold."

"Mr. Dongshan, immediately count the supplies of the baggage train and send orders to all troops not to waste ammunition and to shoot as accurately as possible."

Yukio Nara decided to give up the rescue and only use the supplies in his hands to complete the attack plan.

There are now more than 2,000 Eighth Route Army soldiers near Zhangdian. If you want to drive them away, you must at least dispatch an independent infantry battalion.

However, the 4st Infantry Battalion of the 3rd Mixed Brigade had been completely wiped out, and he now only had infantry battalions left. If he sent out another battalion, he would only have infantry battalions.

With only three infantry battalions and one artillery battalion, they were facing the New Second Regiment of more than 3 people. It was not that they could not win, but that they could not wipe it out completely. If the Eighth Route Army chose to break out, the Third Mixed Brigade might not even be able to stop them.

"Brigade Commander, isn't this too risky?" said Toyama Ryotaro.

"It's okay. When necessary, the supplies of the 9th Mixed Brigade can also be allocated to us." said Nara Yukio.

The 9th Mixed Brigade has its own mission and under normal circumstances it will definitely not give its supplies to the 3rd Mixed Brigade. However, when the situation really becomes critical, General Shinozuka will naturally coordinate the matter.

"Go and pass the message." Nara Yukio waved his hand.

"Hai!"

Everyone in Xiangyang Village felt a little strange. Why didn’t the Japanese fire?

Seeing the Japanese infantry moving forward, Chen Chengxing thought for a moment and understood that the Second Battalion was probably already in place, and the Japanese were cut off from their baggage and began to make careful calculations. Seeing that the Japanese artillery had stopped firing, Chen Chengxing felt relieved.

As long as the Japanese artillery no longer launches large-scale bombardments, even though the guerrilla team only has two heavy machine guns, they can hold out for three or four hours.

In the following period, although the Japanese artillery did not have wide-area artillery coverage, the battalion's infantry artillery and Type 41 mountain artillery still carried out a certain degree of sporadic bombardment, and only stopped after all the heavy machine guns and light machine guns of the guerrilla team were destroyed.

At the end of the battle, the guerrilla team could only rely on the 10 grenade launchers of the grenade launcher team for fire suppression, and as time went on, the grenade launcher team had few shells left.

However, the sky was gradually darkening, and the possibility of the Japanese launching a night battle was very small.

"Captain, the Japanese have retreated." After nightfall, Yang Hong found Chen Chengxing with his arm in a hanging position.

"Are all the things I asked you to prepare ready?" Chen Chengxing sat on an empty ammunition box and motioned Yang Hong to sit down as well.

"Everything is ready. I've left notes for what I found in people's homes. I'll come and report back to the people after the raid is over," said Yang Hong.

"Okay, let's get ready immediately. We will retreat at 10 o'clock." Chen Chengxing instructed.

"Yes!"

On the battlefield, the soldiers were busy spreading the firecrackers they found on the ground and inserting a lit incense stick into the fuse. The incense sticks on each string of firecrackers were of different lengths to ensure the continuation of the sound.

After completing the preparations, Chen Chengxing waved his hand and led the remaining soldiers to quietly evacuate Xiangyang Village.

In this battle, although the Japanese only carried out one round of covering fire, by now, the total number of people in the entire guerrilla team who could withdraw from Xiangyang Village was less than 600, including those walking and carrying people, and more than half of them stayed in Xiangyang Village forever.

This is still with a 20% defense bonus. If not, I'm afraid even fewer people would be able to evacuate.

Listening to the occasional crackling sounds coming from outside, Nara Yukio laughed and said, "This group of Eighth Route Army soldiers are really careful. They actually conduct firepower reconnaissance."

"The Eighth Route Army in Xiangyang Village has suffered heavy losses. They are probably preparing for our night attack," said Toyama Ryotaro.

"The Eighth Route Army has thought a lot. Judging from the gunfire during the day, they should have suffered more than half of their casualties, and there are still about a thousand people inside. After all, the Third Mixed Regiment has been marching continuously for a long time, and the soldiers are tired. A night attack will not be good for our army, so let the soldiers rest for a night." said Nara Yukio.

During the day, Yukio Nara had already realized that except for the initial attack, the strength of the attack had been weakened after all the troops had been rotated.

At this time, apart from the occasional gunshots from the Eighth Route Army's positions, the Japanese would also occasionally fire flares into the air, but other than that, neither side took any action.

Following the light of the flare, Yukio Nara took a look at the blurry figure on the Eighth Route Army position.

As long as the Eighth Route Army is still there, it will be fine. By tomorrow, when the Third Mixed Brigade has had a good rest, they can take the position with one charge, and then continue to squeeze the living space of the remaining troops of the New Second Regiment.

After an unknown amount of time, Nara Yukio, who was lying on the camp bed in the command room, suddenly sat up.

"Brigade Commander." Ryotaro Toyama who was on duty hurried over.

"Mr. Dongshan, why is the Eighth Route Army position so quiet? How long has it been since the gunfire was heard?" asked Nara Yukio.

"It should be almost an hour." Ryotaro Toyama said after looking at his watch.

"Before, there would be a burst of gunfire every few minutes. Why is there no sound for such a long time now? Could the Eighth Route Army have escaped?" Nara Yukio walked out of the door and raised the telescope to look towards Xiangyang Village, but it was pitch black outside and nothing could be seen.

"It shouldn't be. We just fired a flare and the scout reported that there were human figures on the Eighth Route Army's position." said Ryotaro Toyama.

"Let the artillery fire another flare." said Yukio Nara.

"Ha!"
Half a minute later, a flare was hung in the air.

Yukio Nara looked through the telescope and saw that there were indeed many people on the Eighth Route Army's position, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

However, as soon as he put down the telescope, Yukio Nara felt something was wrong and quickly raised the telescope again.

"Damn it! I've been fooled!" Nara Yukio gritted his teeth.

Now he realized what was wrong. The Eighth Route Army on the position did not move at all, just like what he saw before he went to bed.

A living person would not remain motionless for hours, and they are not sentinels.

"Order the front line to send a team to conduct reconnaissance." ordered Yukio Nara.

At this time, the Japanese Third Infantry Battalion was guarding the front line. After receiving the order, a small team carefully moved forward.

More than ten minutes later, Yukio Nara looked at the straw man wearing a military cap and clothes and a handful of firecracker paper mixed with mud placed on the table. The veins on his forehead were bulging and his teeth were chattering.

If this matter were to be known by others, it would probably become the biggest laughing stock of the Locust Army this year.

Yukio Nara now felt that he vaguely heard laughter.

"Bag! Bag!"

In a rage, Yukio Nara drew out his command knife and kept swinging it at the straw man on the table until it was chopped into pieces.

"Chase! Chase!" roared Yukio Nara.

"Brigade Commander, please think twice! The troops are in urgent need of rest!" Toyama Ryotaro stepped forward and said.

The troops were already unable to attack during the day, and now only a few hours had passed and they were simply unable to recover.

Hearing what Toyama Ryotaro said, Nara Yukio immediately turned his head and stared at him.

Although Toyama Ryotaro felt a little numb on his scalp, he still stood there motionless.

After taking a few breaths, Nara Yukio gritted his teeth and said, "Send out scouts to track the movements of the Eighth Route Army along the way! Send more!"

"Hai!"

Ryotaro Toyama immediately agreed. As long as the main force could take a rest, it would be fine if all the reconnaissance troops were sent out.

(End of this chapter)