Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 142 Encounter with Black Cloud Stronghold

Of course, Wang Gensheng was unaware of the Japanese withdrawal from Daguzhen and Chu Yunfei's entry into Daguzhen.

So, when Wang Gensheng had nothing better to do, he thought of going to Daguzhen to take a look. If the Japanese soldiers in Daguzhen hadn't left yet, he would take them over and get some guns for his newly formed militia. Otherwise, it would be too shabby for his militia to always be carrying broadswords and spears.

Of course, Wang Gensheng did not bring the entire special cavalry regiment. If he had, they could have launched a direct assault, let alone a night raid.

Therefore, Wang Gensheng only led one assault team, about a hundred men, towards Daguzhen. A hundred men were enough to deal with Daguzhen.

Just as Wang Gensheng was about to reach Dagu Town, he heard two gunshots.

Judging from the intensity of the gunfire, it was less than a kilometer away from them. Wang Gensheng immediately waved his hand and then gave the order:

"Leave one squad to watch the warhorses, the rest of you come with me to see what's going on!"

After saying that, Wang Gensheng dismounted and led the way towards the direction of the gunshot.

There was no other way. In the special cavalry regiment, warhorses were more precious than people. Unlike the soldiers who wore bulletproof vests and helmets, the warhorses were completely naked. If they charged straight into the battlefield like that, even a single bullet could be fatal.

Just as Wang Gensheng led his assault team into the battlefield, something unexpected happened: soldiers in military uniforms were robbed by a group of bandits dressed in ordinary clothes.

More importantly, these guys in military uniforms were really cowards. As soon as they saw they were ambushed, they surrendered without firing a single shot.

However, there was nothing they could do about it; the escort team consisted of only about a hundred people, while the bandits on the other side numbered over five hundred.

After seeing them lay down their guns and surrender, the bandit leader rode out on his horse and pointed at his leader, saying:
"Come here, come here, and tell me, which department are you from!"

The man in military uniform obediently ran over and said to the bandit leader:
"Good sir, I am from the 358th Regiment of the Jin-Sui Army."

Upon hearing that they were from the 358th Regiment, the bandit leader then pretended to speak:
"Oh! It's Chu Yunfei's troops!"

Upon hearing the bandit leader's words, the commander of Chu Yunfei's troops was immediately overjoyed and said:

"Does our Commander Chu know you, sir?"

But this bandit leader's expression changed faster than the weather; his face hardened and he said:

"I don't know anyone, I only know this gun in my hand! Tell me, what's in the truck!"

"Ammunition, food, and clothing!"

Upon hearing the commander's reply, the bandit leader immediately said:

"Go back and tell Commander Chu, I'm taking all of these!"

Upon hearing this, the commander immediately said, "Good sir, please have mercy! If we go back like this, we won't be able to explain ourselves to Commander Chu!"

But no sooner had he finished speaking than the bandit leader's second-in-command shot the leader in the foot, then glared at him fiercely and said:
"If they keep babbling, I'll smash your head! Get out! All of you, get out!"

Seeing this, the commander stopped wasting words. After all, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle. They were outnumbered and could simply go back to get reinforcements.

It was a pity they ran in the wrong direction; otherwise, they could have met up with Wang Gensheng, who was on his way. Just as the bandits were collecting their spoils, Wang Gensheng and his assault team surrounded them. With a wave of Wang Gensheng's hand, the assault team of over a hundred men, armed with light machine guns, surrounded the bandits who were picking up the guns.

That's right, it was only about a hundred people who surrounded more than five hundred bandits. However, after Wang Gensheng saw the leader clearly, he realized that this band of bandits was actually Black Cloud Village, and the bandit leader was Xie Baoqing.

However, to Wang Gensheng's surprise, the Black Cloud Stronghold actually had quite a few people, numbering around five hundred.

Before Wang Gensheng transmigrated, he had always been curious about how many people there were in Black Cloud Village, since they dared to be so arrogant and plunder the resources of anyone. But he didn't expect there to be only about five hundred people.

It should be noted that Black Cloud Stronghold is a notorious bandit force that appeared in the Bright Sword storyline, and it is quite famous in the Jinxi Bei region.

Black Cloud Stronghold operates on a risk-free basis, making a living by plundering the supplies of passing armies, merchants, and even civilians. Although it has angered many forces, no one can eradicate Black Cloud Stronghold and can only let it develop.

So viewers of "Bright Sword" all had one question: Just how many people were in Black Cloud Stronghold? And how were they able to provoke so many forces and still remain unscathed?

As anyone who has watched the TV series knows, Shanmaozi, the second-in-command of Black Cloud Village, killed Wei Heshang, and Li Yunlong, in a fit of rage, led a battalion to attack Black Cloud Village.

Meanwhile, upon hearing this, Kong Jie immediately realized that Li Yunlong might act impulsively. He rushed to the Independent Regiment headquarters to tell Li Yunlong that Black Cloud Village had decided to accept the reorganization of the New Second Regiment, trying to prevent him from making a mistake.

During Kong Jie's attempt to dissuade him, he mentioned that Heiyun Village would be reorganized into the New Second Regiment Independent Brigade. Kong Jie had even chosen his political advisors and was about to carry out ideological reform on Heiyun Village.

It is important to know that the Independent Brigade was a unique organizational structure of the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and its strength was quite flexible. For example, an Independent Brigade directly under the command of a regimental headquarters had a strength roughly equivalent to an infantry regiment, while an Independent Brigade directly under the command of a regimental headquarters had a strength equivalent to an infantry battalion.

Therefore, according to this standard, Black Cloud Village would become a battalion after reorganization, with a number of three to five hundred people. So the five hundred or so people that Wang Gensheng is currently surrounding should be the entire force of Black Cloud Village.

Despite their small numbers, the bandits had their advantages. Black Cloud Stronghold was nestled in a mountainous region with extremely complex terrain, meaning that heavy weapons like cannons couldn't be brought up the mountain. Furthermore, the bandits were familiar with the surrounding terrain; even if they were attacked and their stronghold was captured, they could simply hide in the forest and continue their risk-free business once the enemy left. They would rob if they could win, and hide if they couldn't. This was the reason Black Cloud Stronghold had been able to survive for so many years.

However, if you walk by the roadside often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet! Li Yunlong was determined to avenge the monk who had risked his life for him, so he assembled the strongest battalion in the entire regiment to attack Black Cloud Village.

Although it was only a battalion of troops assembled, under Zhang Dabiao's management, the battalion had more than 2,000 men, which was several times the size of the Black Cloud Stronghold. Moreover, the battalion was also skilled in field combat, so even if the bandits of Black Cloud Stronghold wanted to escape, they would be easily caught up by the battalion. Therefore, in less than half an hour, Black Cloud Stronghold was completely controlled by the battalion, with no ability to resist whatsoever.

In the end, only Xie Baoqing managed to escape by sheer luck, which was also due to Xie Baoqing's quick adaptability.

That's exactly what happened. Even though Wang Gensheng only brought about a hundred men, Xie Baoqing was terrified when he saw that all of them were carrying light machine guns.

(End of this chapter)