Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 127 Li Yunlong Takes the Blame
It has to be said that Duan Peng's ruthless attack was truly formidable; with that single palm strike, Wang Gensheng could hear the crisp sound of his ribs breaking.

The Japanese soldier was sent flying and crashed into the wall behind him. He spat out blood and lay motionless. Wang Gensheng sensed that Duan Peng's palm strike had actually shattered the Japanese soldier's heart.

This shows that Duan Peng had truly mastered the Iron Palm technique to a certain level, being able to shatter a heart with a single blow. This made Wang Gensheng feel even more that taking Duan Peng under his wing was worthwhile.

Then Wang Gensheng looked at the radio used by the Japanese on the table. You should know that even among the Japanese, radios were a rare item.

Only Japanese battalion-level combat units were qualified to be equipped with radios.

Therefore, only those who defeat a battalion of Japanese soldiers are qualified to acquire a radio.

However, the Japanese communications soldiers would destroy the radio when they were about to be defeated. Back when Wang Gensheng was still in the Independent Regiment fighting against the Yamazaki Battalion at Lijiapo with Li Yunlong, the radio had already been destroyed by the time the Yamazaki Battalion was completely wiped out.

It's truly a stroke of luck that Hirata Ichiro's radio station is still intact this time!

After instructing Duan Peng to put the radio away, Wang Gensheng went to the ammunition depot inside the county government office. Upon opening the door, he saw boxes and boxes of ammunition.

Judging from the quantity, it must have been at least ten tons. Such a large amount of ammunition was not just for Hirata Battalion's use; most of it was intended for distribution to the puppet army's combined arms units.

It's impossible to completely trust the puppet troops and Japanese soldiers, so how to control them naturally becomes a problem. The Japanese soldiers' method of control is quite simple: ammunition control.

Aside from combat, the Japanese strictly controlled the ammunition of their puppet troops. On average, each puppet soldier carried no more than twenty bullets, and they didn't have a single artillery piece.

To the Japanese, the puppet troops were nothing more than cannon fodder charging ahead; artillery was superfluous to them.

More than ten tons of ammunition may seem like a lot, but if divided among the entire cavalry regiment, each cavalryman would receive less than twenty kilograms. And this amount of weight would certainly not hinder the cavalry's speed.

Just after Wang Gensheng's cavalry regiment left with ammunition and a radio, the Japanese realized something was wrong the next day. It was Lu Yang's Luye Regiment that noticed something was wrong. After all, they were supposed to assemble in the morning to encircle and annihilate the 358th Regiment, but it was already morning and no telegram had come. This was naturally very strange.

As intelligence was gathered, the course of events was quickly pieced together: Li Yunlong took advantage of Hirata Ichiro's birthday banquet, when Hirata Ichiro was gathered at Juxianlou Restaurant, and wiped him out in one fell swoop. Then, when Hirata Ichiro's military police battalion was leaderless, Li Yunlong concentrated his firepower and annihilated the entire battalion.

That's right, the intelligence gathered by Yoshio Shinotsuka's subordinates led them to believe that Wang Gensheng's actions were actually Li Yunlong's.

So it's like Li Yunlong attracted the Japanese hatred for Wang Gensheng and took the blame for something he didn't do.

Just like in the story, the photographer hired by Hirata Ichiro for his birthday banquet also took a picture of Li Yunlong.

As Yoshio Shinotsuka looked at Li Yunlong's photo, he commented:
"So ordinary! Like a farmer, the kind you could find in any village in Japan. I'm so disappointed. Yamamoto-kun, don't you think your special tactics, learned from Japan, are a bit too sophisticated for dealing with a farmer like this?" Clearly, Yoshio Shinotsuka was giving Yamamoto Ichiki a warning. After hearing Shinotsuka's words, Yamamoto Ichiki looked at the photo before speaking:

“Jingjun, I know you’re not satisfied with me. Yes, I let Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei take advantage of the situation. The worst part is that Hirata Ichiro was the one directly in contact with Zhu Ziming. His death has forced me to pause my work. I need to re-establish contact with Zhu Ziming…”

Yamamoto Ichiki was interrupted by Shinotsuka Yoshio before he could finish speaking:

"I don't mean to blame you. At least this time you let me see Li Yunlong. It's good enough to see him in person. Yamamoto-kun, would you like to hear my evaluation of this person?"

Yamamoto Ichiki immediately replied:
"Speaking!"

"This man reminds me of that assassin in Sarajevo. He was just an ordinary Serbian youth, an immature nationalist, someone nobody would normally take seriously. But one day, he suddenly appeared in a specific situation and caused a huge mess! He plunged the whole world into war. What I'm trying to say is that this farmer-like Li Yunlong seems to belong to this category! The reason he hasn't accomplished anything great is because he hasn't yet appeared in the right situation!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka's comments on Li Yunlong drew some disapproval from Ichiki Yamamoto, who remarked:

"Jingjun, I have found a way to eliminate him. This time, he probably won't be able to escape!"

"Yamamoto-kun, I hope you have realized that among all the officers of the First Army, only you and I have never lost faith in each other. But from now on, I hope that we will not only use words, but also use the samurai's sword to depict those ideal designs!"

Yamamoto Ichiki immediately and loudly assured Shinotsuka Yoshio of his expectations...
Just as Yoshio Shinotsuka was discussing how to deal with Li Yunlong after receiving intelligence, Wang Gensheng arrived at the Lion's Den of the 129 Lions with the equipment captured the previous night. As usual, Wang Gensheng only handed over the rifles, leaving the grenade launchers and light machine guns behind.

However, unlike last time, this time Wang Gensheng did not hand over the light machine guns, but he brought over eight Type 92 heavy machine guns and two Type 92 infantry guns.

Unlike grenade launchers and light machine guns, the Type 92 heavy machine gun was simply too heavy. Even without the gun mount, it weighed 27 kilograms, or more than 50 kilograms. Moreover, it was fed by a feeding plate, so apart from being placed on the ground and fired from the gun mount, it was impossible to shoulder fire. As for the Type 92 infantry pack, it was simply impossible to carry.

Last night, Wang Gensheng had to go through a lot of trouble to disassemble the Type 92 infantry gun before he could bring it back.

This was completely inconsistent with Wang Gensheng's requirements for the cavalry regiment to be swift and highly mobile, so Wang Gensheng naturally lost interest in heavy weapons.

After recounting the battle and spoils of the previous night to the Lion Chief, Wang Gensheng smiled and said to the Lion Chief:
"Lion Commander, do you think it would be possible to assign a telegraph operator to the cavalry regiment?"

Upon hearing Wang Gensheng's request, the Lion Chief was immediately taken aback before replying:
"What, you want to equip the cavalry regiment with radios? Aren't you just putting a tight rein on yourself?"

(End of this chapter)