Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 44: A stubborn mind becomes a double-edged sword
When cleaning the battlefield, the soldiers of the New Second Regiment followed the instructions that not even a single needle or thread should be wasted.

The Japanese were stripped naked.

The bodies of the Japanese soldiers on the ground all had muscles on their bodies, which showed that they had good food and had undergone rigorous training.

This is obviously different from the soldiers of the New Second Regiment. The new recruits of the New Second Regiment have been in the army for a short time and many of them have not yet fully recovered their bodies, so they are relatively thin.

But even those veterans were far inferior to the Japs.

Of course, this is not a problem of muscles, but the fact that the veterans of the Eighth Route Army have very little fat on their bodies, so they appear relatively lean overall.

"Now I understand why, even though the ratio of troops to manpower is 3:1, you still didn't ambush the Japanese battalion, but instead ambushed this squadron with the entire regiment." Luo Ping said seriously.

Now Luo Ping was glad that the regiment commander did not get carried away by the previous victory and chose a safe way of fighting. If the New Second Regiment had encountered the Japanese battalion, the entire army might have been wiped out.

"We still have to face up to our own shortcomings. Only in this way can we promote our development," said Chen Chengxing.

"The new second regiment is still lacking in bayonet fighting. We must increase training in this area after the Japanese retreat," added Chen Chengxing.

The triangular bayonets produced by the machinery factory had already been used in this battle. After the war, Chen Chengxing checked them and found no signs of deformation.

Next, the machinery factory will make full efforts in production to ensure that all guns in the regiment that lack bayonets can be equipped with them.

In this way, the main force of the New Second Regiment can eliminate the broadsword as much as possible. After all, the broadsword is too heavy and can only be swung many times in battle.

"Well, this matter should be focused on." Luo Ping agreed with Chen Chengxing's idea.

The New Second Regiment was short of ammunition, so it was unable to conduct live-fire shooting training, but bayonet training would not cause any losses, and could be completely compensated by relying on a large amount of training.

Seeing that the battlefield had been cleaned up, Chen Chengxing waved his hand and led the New Second Regiment to quickly move eastward into Laolong Mountain.

Of course, Chen Chengxing still stayed with the several platoons that were previously responsible for the sparrow warfare. Next, they will have to use the sparrow warfare to harass the Japanese.

When Yokogawa Shoji led his team to Luzigou, there was not even a single hair left except for more than a hundred naked corpses.

"Bag! Bag!"

"How dare the Eighth Route Army insult the brave warriors of our empire in this way!"

Yokogawa Shoji's eyes were spitting fire. This was a great humiliation for the dead soldiers!
"Revenge! I must take revenge!"

"Send out scouts immediately to find the whereabouts of this Eighth Route Army!" ordered Yokogawa Shoji.

"Hai!"

It is not very difficult to track the New Second Regiment. After all, it has just left here not long ago, and it is a large marching force of nearly 2000 people, so its whereabouts cannot be concealed at all.

Shoji Yokogawa immediately led a large army to chase after them. In order to facilitate the march, he even temporarily placed all the wounded and medical soldiers in Wangzhuang, and found a large house for them to defend themselves.

After learning of this situation, Chen Chengxing immediately ordered that except for the reconnaissance platoon to continue harassing the Yokogawa Battalion, the other three platoons should stay behind to attack the wounded Japanese soldiers.

However, their attack was not smooth. Although these 30 or so wounded Japanese soldiers had difficulty walking, they were able to block their attack with the help of a light machine gun and simple fortifications, and caused more than 1 casualties to the three platoons.

This is the result of trying to attack, finding that the situation was not right, and immediately choosing to retreat. If they had forced their way forward, no one knows what would have happened.

"We can't just attack with force. We have to change our strategy."

"Do you have any idea?"

"Since the Japs' shooting skills are accurate, their combat effectiveness during the day must be strong. Let's just kick the cripple's broken leg! Night attack!" It has to be said that night attack is the best way at this time.

The wounded Japanese soldiers were now unable to move, and most of them had their positions exposed. The guerrillas could easily approach them under the cover of darkness and attack them with grenades.

The Japanese soldiers lying on the ground unable to move had no choice but to wait for death when faced with the grenade.

On the other hand, Chen Chengxing began to circle around with the Yokogawa Brigade.

Now Yokogawa Shoji dare not divide his troops easily, for fear of being eaten again.

However, Chen Chengxing had no such concerns. Along the way, he reduced the number of soldiers and increased the number of forts. He quietly transferred most of the troops to the outer lines, and he only took one battalion to play hide-and-seek with the Japanese.

In the nearly 200 square kilometers of land from Zhengfeng Town in the south to Ping'an County in the north and Laolong Mountain in the east, Chen Chengxing led the Japanese to circle around several times but never found a suitable opportunity.

"The Japanese are so damn cautious. Why don't they split their troops?" Chen Chengxing said helplessly.

Facing Chen Chengxing's repeated seductions and the harassment from the reconnaissance platoon, Yokogawa Shoji could fight and chase, but he refused to separate his troops.

This hit Chen Chengxing's nerves.

If the Japanese did not divide their forces, Chen Chengxing would not be able to use a small force to harass the large Japanese force, and then concentrate his superior forces to wipe out the small Japanese force.

Of course, Chen Chengxing was in great pain at this time, and Yokogawa Shoji was also in great pain.

The troops, equipped with heavy machine guns and infantry artillery, faced the Eighth Route Army who were marching lightly, and found themselves in a dilemma where the main force could not catch up, but they did not dare to split up their forces and advance quickly.

Of course, Shoji Yokogawa also had a choice, which was to ignore the New Second Regiment, but to go through Laolong Mountain and go straight to Hongni Bay.

But the Japs now have no idea what a base is, and they are still thinking about finding the main force for a decisive battle.

Moreover, Yokogawa Shoji knew very well that even if they could reach Hongni Bay, they would not gain much without dividing their troops.

Failure to divide troops means failure to form an encirclement, and it is difficult to produce a large-scale annihilation campaign by relying solely on frontal attacks.

This has happened many times in battles with the Chinese army. Once the Chinese army retreats, it is impossible to catch up.

After all, the other side only needs to pick up their rifles and go, while the Locust Army has a large number of heavy weapons to carry, and their speed cannot be caught up at all. This is basically the same situation they are facing now.

After the two sides had been fighting for five or six days, Yokogawa Shoji was the first to be unable to bear it anymore.

He came here to fight, not to race. If he has the time, he might as well go back and train.

"Stop the pursuit!" ordered Shoji Yokogawa.

"Captain?" Tokugawa Eisuke was a little confused.

"Send a telegram to the headquarters and request withdrawal from the battle," said Shoji Yokogawa.

He has already lost an infantry squadron. If part of his troops is eaten up due to the division of forces, the best outcome for him would be to commit seppuku.

But if we don't divide our troops, we will not be able to stop the Eighth Route Army at all.

This results in a stubborn problem becoming blocked at both ends.

The best outcome now is to withdraw troops and stop fighting, and then look for an opportunity to retaliate later.

(End of this chapter)