The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 315 Guerrilla Warfare (Part Two) [Two-in-One Chapter]

November 28th marked the sixth day since the Japanese launched their attack on the base of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

The latest battlefield situation is as follows:
The Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade No. 9 used Zhangjiayu as its command center, dispersing its subordinate units into battalions or even companies across a vast mountainous area.

These dispersed troops either searched the area or...

They either pursued and fought based on the traces left by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, wandering around in the mountain valleys.

Fighting continuously in such terrible conditions for a long time caused a significant decline in the morale, spirit, and physical strength of the Japanese troops.

Even due to the exceptionally cold weather in northwestern Shanxi this year, many Japanese soldiers suffered frostbite.

Even at this level, the Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade No. 9 still possessed considerable combat power, and it was far from the time for Hu Biao and his men to launch a counterattack.

We still need to continue using various methods to wear down and cripple these Japanese soldiers, at all costs...

"Deputy Battalion Commander! The Japanese transport team is coming soon, but they look a bit tough. Should we still make a move?" A lieutenant, the company commander, rushed up and asked Old Ma this question.

Upon hearing this, Captain Ma, the deputy battalion commander of the special operations battalion and a newbie who had just transmigrated, immediately looked conflicted.

In fact, without needing his company commander's report, he had already seen the full picture and strength of the Japanese transport team through his binoculars.

About four or five miles away, there were about forty horse-drawn carts loaded with various supplies such as grain, medicine, oil, and ammunition, slowly moving along a mountain road.

In addition to two squads of supply soldiers, this transport team also included a Japanese infantry company as guards.

So, this means that this Japanese transport team actually had a force of three hundred men.

Furthermore, the Japanese soldiers were extremely cautious and prudent as they marched, sending scouts to the front of the transport team and to the left and right flanks to conduct a thorough search along the way.

It's not surprising that the Japanese transport team was so cautious along the way.

The main reason is that the scorched-earth tactic implemented by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment this time was carried out too decisively.

The 9th Independent Mixed Brigade, with so many men fighting in the mountains, received absolutely no supplies; even if they wanted a drink of water, they had to start a fire to melt the snow.

In addition, since they can only stay in tents at night, they also need to consume more food, warm clothing, and medicine to treat injuries and illnesses.

As a result, the amount of supplies needed every day is quite astonishing.

If this transport convoy is destroyed by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade will not necessarily collapse, but its already poor living conditions will become even more difficult.

Morale, physical strength, and spirit will decline even more rapidly.

Therefore, the Japanese soldiers, knowing that the supplies must not be compromised, were extremely cautious along the way.

However, the fact that the Japanese were being so cautious meant that it was virtually impossible for Lao Ma and his team to ambush the Japanese transport convoy; they could only engage in a skirmish.

Whether or not to take action became the biggest question facing Lao Ma.

Should we attack? Once daytime arrived, weather permitting, the Japanese would send out many planes for reconnaissance, forcing the main force of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment to break up into smaller units and disperse to operate and hide.

This resulted in him having very few troops at the moment, consisting of only a partially staffed cavalry battalion of just over three hundred men.

Even if a direct assault were to be launched and the Japanese transport convoy were successfully destroyed, the cavalry battalion would still suffer staggering losses.

God knows! He and Van Gogh put in a lot of effort to set up the cavalry battalion attached to this special operations battalion, and they almost had to pawn their pants.

I've always cherished her like my own child, so I instinctively don't want to do this kind of unprofitable business.

But sending a transport team over? That would be even more impossible.

If they could receive such a large supply of materials, the Japanese soldiers' living conditions would improve significantly, and they might be able to hold out for a longer period of time.

We don't want the Subei Independent Regiment to be the first to be dragged down instead of the Japanese.

Therefore, even if their special operations battalion's attached cavalry battalion were wiped out here today, they still had to fight this battle.

After making up his mind, Lao Ma first took a deep breath.

He addressed the cavalrymen who were watching him intently, awaiting his decision, with a serious expression:
"Everyone prepare for battle. Once the Japanese have entered the open area a mile away, the entire cavalry battalion will immediately charge the Japanese transport convoy with me."

Attention! Our primary objective is to burn their supplies, not to completely annihilate the Japanese. Therefore, do not linger in battle; once their supplies are ablaze, withdraw immediately.

If the Japanese planes come, everyone should evacuate separately and regroup at assembly point number 7 that night.

Upon receiving this order, all the personnel of the attached cavalry battalion nodded in agreement.

Then they all sprang into action, hastily feeding their beloved mounts some food before the battle began; after feeding them, they removed the warm coats from their warhorses or mules and mounted them.

After Old Ma mounted a Mongolian horse, he called over his bodyguard, Xiao Huo, and whispered instructions:

"When we charge later, you take Dr. Ma and follow behind."

"Protect Dr. Ma well, he's our special agent battalion's treasure, nothing can happen to him, understand?"

The so-called "Little Ma Doctor" is actually Old Ma's father, who knows traditional Chinese medicine, joined the Hui Muslim detachment to fight the Japanese, and was now sent by our party to help in the independent battalion in northern Jiangsu.

Originally, Old Ma hadn't planned to bring his father along when he led the cavalry battalion out for mobile warfare.

However, the risk of non-combat casualties is extremely high when conducting long-term mobile operations in this kind of weather; with the old man's insistence, Old Ma couldn't even find a reason to object.

Therefore, before the battle, the only thing to do was to assign his bodyguard, Xiao Huo, to the old man's side to protect him as much as possible.

Upon hearing this, after a brief moment of stunned silence, the guard, Xiao Huo, was about to voice his objection.

Before he could say anything, Old Ma had already growled in a serious, low voice, "Shut up, that's an order."

Then, with utmost seriousness, he added, "Please, take good care of him for me."

Seeing this, Xiao Huo nodded, somewhat bewildered...

Forty minutes later, a three-man Japanese soldier team, trudging through the snow along a ridge above the mountain road, had just climbed a small hill.

Before they could rest on the hilltop for a while and check the surrounding area for dense footprints or an ambush by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, they decided to stop.

Suddenly, a hail of bullets came flying, riddling them with holes.

The next second, Old Ma shouted, "Brothers, follow me! Charge! Charge! Charge!"

As he spoke, he took the whip and lashed the horse's rump hard, sending the warhorse charging out from a hidden ravine.

They rushed towards the Japanese transport convoy, which had just entered an open area about a mile away.

The others quickly followed, and the thunderous sound of hooves broke the winter's tranquility.

The Japanese soldiers in the transport team reacted to the gunfire that had rang out seconds earlier and were now hurriedly finding a place to set up their machine guns.

Or they might simply pick up a Type 38 rifle and start firing in this direction.

It was around 11 a.m., which was a relatively warm time of day, but the temperature was still only minus 11 or 12 degrees Celsius.

But after galloping along with more than three hundred brothers, the old horse didn't feel cold at all, even though the cold wind was whistling against him.

On the contrary, it felt like my whole body, inside and out, was on fire.

A hail of bullets whizzed around us, and we could hear the muffled groans of our brothers being shot and the thuds of them falling off their horses.

Even the deafening sound of a galloping mule or horse crashing to the ground after being killed.

Thinking about how Van Gogh and I had put in so much effort and faced so many difficulties in order to build up this auxiliary cavalry battalion.

The fact that he could name almost every one of the cavalrymen in the battalion made Old Ma feel as if he were being torn apart.

The problem is that once the charge begins, there's no way it can stop.

Even setting aside the fact that failing to burn down the Japanese transport convoy would have affected the outcome of this major battle, wouldn't those brothers who just died in battle have died in vain?

So the only thing Old Ma could do at that moment was to bite his lip tightly and keep whipping his warhorse forward.

He didn't even dare to glance at his brothers to his left, right, and behind him to see how many had died in battle. He was afraid that he might soften his heart and issue a retreat order.

Meanwhile, based on the fact that he could be resurrected in the modern world even if he died, Old Ma shouted frantically at the Japanese soldiers: "You little devils, if you have the guts, come at me and fire at me!"

Unfortunately, his luck was surprisingly good today.

Despite being bombarded by dense volleys of ammunition, not even a scratch was broken.

Just like that, it felt like a year had passed, but in reality, it was only a minute later that he finally rushed to within a hundred meters of the Japanese transport team.

At the top of his lungs, he shouted "Fire!" and Old Ma raised an MP38 submachine gun and opened fire.

At most a second later, the soldiers behind him also joined in firing.

Although due to limited equipment, only twenty or thirty submachine guns and light machine guns were firing with him, the rest were all rifles and pistols.

The burst of intense firepower still managed to knock down a large number of Japanese soldiers blocking the way.

Most importantly, the Japanese had a Type 92 heavy machine gun, which was considered their core firepower and was mounted on a horse-drawn carriage, but it was shot down in the crossfire.

The pressure on Lao Ma and his team was immediately relieved.

In just a few seconds, after emptying the magazines of his submachine gun and pistol, Old Ma finally rushed into the convoy.
After loosening the thin string hanging from the gun handle to prevent the pistol from falling to the ground...

Instead of drawing a large knife from his back, Old Ma immediately took out an oval-shaped, red-cased grenade from his waist.

It should be noted that this was a batch of white phosphorus grenades produced by the Zhangjiayu Arsenal before it ceased operations and relocated.

The production quantity was small, and its power was far inferior to the Japanese white phosphorus grenades. In fact, the misfire rate was also very high, but it was still much better than nothing.

This is also an important reason why Lao Ma chose to take the initiative.

After all, as long as this thing doesn't misfire, even if its power is somewhat reduced, it can still quickly ignite the supplies on the truck.

With his big white teeth, he bit down on the safety pin of the white phosphorus grenade and pulled it open; Old Ma casually tossed the smoking white phosphorus grenade into a large cart loaded with many large sacks, which should have been filled with a lot of grain.

A few seconds later, Old Ma, who had hurriedly drawn his broadsword, used his horse's speed to cut down a Japanese soldier.

This was the first time he had looked back since the charge began; what he saw filled him with both sorrow and joy.

Tragic! That was originally an attached cavalry battalion with more than 320 men.

In the short distance they rushed over, nearly a hundred people have probably already died or been injured.

Even after they charged in, people were constantly being knocked off their horses by Japanese bullets; however, the speed at which they were knocked off was only slightly slower than during the charge.

After this battle, the attached cavalry battalion was severely damaged.

To my delight! The white phosphorus grenades made in Zhangjiayu were surprisingly effective.

The one he just threw out not only detonated successfully without misfiring, but the huge flames it produced quickly set the entire load of grain ablaze.

Even with a fire extinguisher, it would be impossible to put out the fire, and besides, the Japanese soldiers didn't have any fire extinguishers either.

Many of the brothers behind him spontaneously took out white phosphorus grenades, thinking that they could burn all the Japanese transport trucks to ashes in one charge.

The deaths of so many brothers were quite meaningful.

With these rather complicated feelings, Old Ma turned his head back and prepared to continue the fight.

He only carried one white phosphorus grenade. Although he could no longer burn the Japanese wagons after using it, he could still wield his broadsword and kill a few more Japanese soldiers, buying some time for his brothers.

As soon as I turned my head back, I saw a smoking object fall to my left not far in the corner of my eye.

Before he could do anything, such as slightly turning the horse's head to avoid the small melon grenade thrown by who-knows-who, the grenade had already exploded.

Shrapnel flew in, throwing the warhorse to the ground.

The old horse was thrown off, but fortunately it landed on a thick layer of snow, hitting its back first, and was not seriously injured.

However, in addition to the pain in his left leg, waist, and ribs caused by shrapnel, he also injured one of his eyeballs.

After my left eye went black, an excruciating pain shot through me.

Everyone keeps saying that the ten fingers are connected to the heart, but Lao Ma only now realizes that the pain in the fingers is nothing compared to the pain in the eyes.

After falling to the ground, an indescribable pain shot through his left eye, making Old Ma tremble with fear. He wished someone would knock him unconscious with a stick.

In a very short time, the sweat from the pain soaked his underwear, and he became severely disoriented.

Before he completely lost consciousness, he felt a warhorse galloping towards him and pulling him onto the horse.

Then a voice that sounded somewhat familiar, but whose owner he couldn't quite place, kept whispering in his ear, "Don't sleep, you absolutely can't sleep!"

The sound buzzed incessantly like a fly, making Old Ma feel inexplicably annoyed.

In his frustration, he struggled with his last bit of strength and yanked out a large bag; then, he lost consciousness...

******
When Lao Ma woke up again, he felt that his head, especially the left side of his head, was still in excruciating pain. His left eye was wrapped in a thick bandage and he could not see at all.

Just then, a familiar voice rang in my ears.

With a sense of relief, he spoke, rambling on and on:

"One-Eyed Dragon! You're finally awake! You've been unconscious for two days. You're not doing well either. Xiahou Dun lost an eye, but he still managed to kill Cao Xing. You've only just passed the critical period these past two days."

Also, you should really thank Xiao Ma.

He not only saved your life, but also dragged you onto a horse and helped you escape. During the journey, he kept telling you not to fall asleep, lest you never wake up again.

"Wow, you're pretty good, even in that state you still managed to slap him hard in the butt."

After hearing this, Old Ma's headache worsened.

First, he never expected that the old man would save him, yet he had slapped the old man in the back; what is this called, repaying kindness with enmity? No! It's completely the opposite of what he intended.

If my dad finds out about this, he'll probably whip me with his belt until it breaks.

Secondly, those old fogies like Van Gogh really have a sharp tongue.

It hasn't been long, and he's already earned the nickname 'One-Eyed Dragon' for himself. He's still an injured man, you know.

Of course! He's called other people nicknames quite a few times too; this kind of mess is impossible to unravel.

So Lao Ma changed the subject, asking, "Lao Cao! How's the battle with the Japanese going these past two days while I was unconscious?"

Faced with Old Ma's question, Van Gogh did not answer directly, but instead asked in return, "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear?"

"Okay then," Old Ma said casually.

"The good news is, I have a fine piece of lambskin here, which I can make into a one-eyed eye patch for you. It will be quite comfortable to wear from now on," Van Gogh joked.

After uttering the curse "Fuck it!", Old Ma pressed on, "Bad news?"

Upon hearing this, Van Gogh's expression also became serious:
"The bad news is that we have recently suffered heavy combat and non-combat casualties in our mobile operations and harassment against the Japanese.

These are troops that everyone has built up with their own hands; these casualties are truly heartbreaking.

Although the morale and overall strength of the Japanese troops have declined significantly, they still possess considerable fighting power, and these difficult times will continue for some time.

We will still need to suffer heavy casualties and pay a heavy price to outlast the Japanese.

After letting out a long sigh, Old Ma said nothing and closed his remaining intact right eye to rest.

Because apart from recovering as quickly as possible so that he can participate in the subsequent counter-offensive against the Japanese, there is nothing else he can do right now; and the price that the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment is currently paying is the price that must be paid when its hard strength is inferior to that of its opponent.

The simple truth that "if you fall behind, you will be bullied" is so clear and frustrating to Lao Ma, a novice at the time...

(End of this chapter)