Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 67 If you don't accept the challenge, won't all my preparations be in vain? (First order required)

"You have so many people in your new second group?"

Li Yunlong almost dropped his jaw when he saw the New Second Regiment marching into Dayao Township in a mighty force.

You have to know that it took only half a year for the new regiment to grow from a thousand people and four hundred guns to nearly 2 people now, with all the infantrymen equipped with guns. This is already very good.

You have to know that the independent regiment has only completed equipping all its members with guns, and the military force has not yet begun to expand.

But what about the new Second Regiment now? Although there are only a little over 2 people here, they are all the main combat troops. The logistics and agency personnel are not here yet.

If auxiliary troops are included, the New Second Regiment will at least be a fully-strength regiment of more than 2 people.

"Hey, Old Li, you don't understand. Every place has its own advantages." Chen Chengxing said casually.

"What benefits? Why don't I know about them?" Li Yunlong asked curiously.

Chen Chengxing did not give a direct answer to Li Yunlong's question, but just laughed it off.

Now Li Yunlong's new regiment has not yet reached full strength, so the brigade commander has not yet used the "Congratulations and Good Luck" trick. When he encounters this trick, he will know how precious freedom is.

In the temporary command post of the brigade, the brigade commander pointed to the map and said: "The reason why Shuiquan was chosen as the first target of attack this time is that Shuiquan County is the deepest in the hinterland of the base area and poses the greatest threat to the northwest Shanxi base area; secondly, Shuiquan's unique geographical environment is very conducive to our army's siege warfare."

Shuiquan County is surrounded by mountains on the east, west and south. The three mountains form an inverted triangle that sandwiches the county in the middle. There are only three roads leading to the outside world.

If the 386th Brigade could occupy three hills and set up artillery on them, they could strike down the entire Shuiquan County from a high position.

Of course, the Japanese are not stupid, they also know the importance of these three hills.

Therefore, an infantry squad, two heavy machine guns, and a company of puppet Mongolian troops were deployed on each hill.

水泉内部则是有2个步兵中队、一个炮小队2门步兵炮和1门41式山炮，还有剩下的6挺重机枪。

However, the Japanese had occupied Shuiquan for less than a month and had not yet established permanent or semi-permanent fortifications on the three hills, which gave the 1th Brigade an opportunity.

"Of the four of you, three regiments will be responsible for capturing these three hilltops, forming a formation of surrounding three and leaving one, while the other regiment will be responsible for intercepting the enemy troops escaping from the water spring."

"Are there any of you who want to be responsible for the interception?" the brigade commander looked at several people and asked.

"I, I'll do it." Li Yunlong said anxiously as the brigade commander finished speaking.

Most of the county towns in the northwest have rammed earth walls, but Shuiquan has a lack of earth and is close to a rocky mountain, so the walls are built with stone slabs. They are both tall and strong, making them easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Moreover, according to the combat arrangements, the brigade commander obviously wanted to force the Japanese in the city out and then eat them up.

So how can we get the most benefits? That must be to intercept the Japanese. There is no meat to be gained by attacking the city.

As soon as Li Yunlong finished speaking, he hurriedly looked at Chen Chengxing and the other three, especially Chen Chengxing.

This time, Li Yunlong secretly made up his mind that he would never let Chen Chengxing snatch the task away again.

Since that time, Li Yunlong has thought carefully for a long time, just to refute Chen Chengxing when he mentioned his qualifications again.

However, this time Chen Chengxing had no intention of grabbing the interception mission. He just sat there without saying a word.

Li Yunlong looked at Chen Chengxing at a loss. He had been preparing for such a long time, why didn't Chen Chengxing accept the challenge?
As for Kong Jie, he had no intention of accepting this mission. Now the independent regiment was still unable to fight against a battalion of Japanese devils. Forcing the mission would only result in heavy casualties in the independent regiment.

Of course, Kong Jie is not afraid of casualties alone. What he is more afraid of is that the Japanese will escape, and then the brigade commander's plan will fail.

The head of the 772nd Regiment, Cheng Zhiqiang, had no intention of competing for it.

The 772nd Regiment is a main field force and they have to purchase unnecessary weapons and equipment on their own. Taking over Shuiquan is a great achievement for the 772nd Regiment.

The brigade commander looked around and saw that no one was arguing with Li Yunlong, so he nodded and said, "Then this task will be handed over to the New 1st Regiment."

"But I have to say this first. The Japanese may not break out in that direction. If you, Li Yunlong, let them escape..."

"Then you can twist my head off and use it as a chamber pot!" Li Yunlong immediately patted his chest and promised.

The brigade commander didn't say anything about Li Yunlong's recklessness, he just glared at him.

After all, the brigade commander knew exactly what kind of person Li Yunlong was. After the interception mission was assigned, there was nothing left to choose from. They just had to take a hill.

Chen Chengxing looked at the map and casually pointed at the hill in the east.

"The New Second Regiment will attack here."

"The independent regiment will attack the western hilltop."

"Then the 772nd Regiment will attack the southern hilltop."

The three of them divided the task amicably.

The troops rested for a while and waited until after lunch before they began to move out gradually at 1 o'clock.

Dayao Township is about 25 miles away from Shuiquan. When Chen Chengxing and the New Second Regiment arrived at Dongshan, it was already 3: in the afternoon.

After arriving at the designated location, Chen Chengxing immediately commanded his troops to launch an attack.

"kill!"

The first battalion first sent out a platoon to launch a feint attack on the hill.

"Kill the chicken and give it to me!"

The Japanese squad leader on the hill was not afraid when he saw the 2 men of the New Second Regiment.

Although they have not had time to build artillery towers and bunkers, they still have basic defensive fortifications.

With the help of defensive fortifications, a small team of locust soldiers plus seventy or eighty Mongolian soldiers, relying on two heavy machine guns, were enough to inflict heavy damage on the Eighth Route Army at the foot of the mountain.

And because the western side of the hill was within the county's attack range, the Eighth Route Army could only launch an attack from the east.

In this way, if the locust army is defeated, they can retreat to the county town from the west.

The moment the Japanese light and heavy machine guns opened fire, the attacking troops immediately lay down, and then used the rocks as cover to fire back at the Japanese.

After just five minutes, the troops retreated.

"Yo, the Eighth Route Army is vulnerable." The Japanese squad leader on the hilltop stood there with his hands on his hips and said confidently.

"The locust army is very powerful." The pseudo-Mongolian army company commander gave a thumbs up.

However, they did not see that when the battle started, Chen Chengxing had already ordered the infantry artillery to move forward.

The level of the artillery of the New Second Regiment was not high, and they could only increase their hit rate by shortening the distance.

Now the muzzle of the infantry gun is aimed at the Japanese heavy machine gun position.

"fire!"

"Boom!" "Boom!"

With just two gunshots, the Japanese heavy machine gun position was destroyed on the spot.

When the Japanese squad leader heard the cannon fire, his eyes almost popped out.

"Baga! Infantry artillery!"

"Everyone prepare for artillery defense! Move the machine guns immediately!" the Japanese squad leader gave orders one after another.

However, the Japanese squad leader overestimated the importance of the Type 99 light machine gun.

The New Second Regiment has only so many artillery shells. Can they waste them on your rubbish light machine gun?

It must be during the follow-up attack, using grenade launchers to attack.

(End of this chapter)