Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 122 Chen Ming – The Tiger of North China!
While the First Regiment was fiercely attacking the Japanese pillboxes and strongholds.

The soldiers of the Third Regiment and the Fourth Battalion, who were responsible for attacking Kelan County, were also engaged in fierce fighting with the defending troops in the county town.

Kelan County is located in the heart of northwestern Shanxi, so the garrison in the county seat was not as lax as the garrison in Shenchi County, which was backed by the Tongpu Railway.

Upon discovering a large number of enemies outside the county town, the garrison inside immediately went into battle and requested reinforcements from surrounding strongholds and the neighboring Wuzhai County.

However, because it was dark, the Japanese soldiers in Kelan County did not know how many enemies were outside the city, so they did not send the telegram directly to the division headquarters like they did in Shenchi County.

After all, with the Great Sweep underway, even if the Eighth Route Army wanted to attack county towns to aid other troops, they wouldn't be able to muster many troops.

Thanks to the county town's strong fortifications, the Japanese company commander guarding the town was confident in his ability to defend against the unarmed Eighth Route Army.

However, when the artillery of the independent detachment outside the city opened fire, the Japanese company commander regretted it.

"With such powerful artillery fire, you call this 'local guerrillas'?"

The Japanese company commander was shocked and immediately urged the Japanese army and puppet troops to strengthen their defenses and prevent the Eighth Route Army from entering the county town.

At the same time, they sent a telegram to the division headquarters requesting assistance, asking them to mobilize troops to rescue Kelan County.

However, Kelan County is not as close to the Tongpu Railway as Shenchi County, and the county seat is not connected by railway.

Kelan County is more than 40 kilometers away from the nearest county, Wuzhai County.

It would take considerable time for the Japanese troops from other areas to reinforce Kelan County.

The crucial reinforcement route was also destroyed by the soldiers of the Independent Detachment, preventing the Japanese troop transport vehicles from passing through and forcing them to rely on infantry reinforcements.

Faced with the tiered blocking attacks of the independent detachment soldiers, these supporting troops would need at least a day to arrive.

The Japanese company commander, listening to the fierce artillery fire of the Independent Detachment, couldn't help but wonder if they could really hold out until then.

"Boom!"

Gunfire erupted in the county town, and the special forces soldiers who had infiltrated the town launched a fierce attack on the section of the city wall with the fewest defenders.

Faced with more than 30 well-equipped and highly skilled special forces soldiers, the more than 40 defending troops were quickly defeated.

After eliminating the defending troops, the special forces soldiers opened the city gates to allow the troops outside the city to enter.

Thus, Kelan County was officially liberated.

The battle lasted only two hours from its outbreak to its end.

Although the commander of the Third Regiment was not as experienced as Kong Jie, he was brave and fearless in battle, which is why Chen Ming supported him and appointed him as the commander of one of the three main regiments.

The soldiers of the Third Regiment, under Li Yousheng's leadership, fought with unparalleled bravery.

There's a saying that goes, "A cowardly soldier is a coward, but a cowardly general leads to a cohort of cowards."

The Independent Regiment led by Li Yunlong was composed entirely of howling wolves.

Li Yousheng was the same; the soldiers he led were also tigers that would devour the Japanese invaders.

After capturing Kelan County, Li Yousheng immediately took stock of the supplies.

Kelan County, as an important grain-producing area in northwestern Shanxi, has a large amount of weapons, ammunition and supplies in the city, but it is not a land transportation hub. Shenchi County, which is backed by the Tongpu Railway, has more.

However, its grain reserves are far greater than those of Shenchi County.

The county's grain reserves have reached 1200 tons!
This is a huge number, amounting to more than two million catties of grain.

It's enough to feed the soldiers of the independent detachment for half a year.

This is before the autumn harvest. After the autumn harvest, when the Japanese forcibly conscript people, this number will skyrocket!

"Great! That's wonderful! With so much grain, life will be a little easier this year," Li Yousheng said excitedly.

Now it's 41 years later, and the drought has already begun. Li Yousheng has seen all of this.

Given the current drought, this year's autumn grain harvest will definitely suffer from large-scale crop failures.

Northwest Shanxi is not a region rich in resources. If there is a large-scale crop failure, the many soldiers of the Independent Detachment will definitely go hungry.

After all, the Eighth Route Army was an army that stood up for the people and could not be like the Japanese, forcibly confiscating the people's grain and disregarding their lives.

In order to get through the drought, Li Yousheng has prepared to tighten his belt and live frugally.

Unexpectedly, the attack on the county town yielded such a large amount of grain, greatly relieving the pressure on the troops.

"The leader's vision is indeed beyond my reach," Li Yousheng exclaimed.

Inside the headquarters of the First Army in Taiyuan.

Yoshio Shinotsuka frowned as he looked at the telegram sent by the 26th Division.

When the 26th Division received the telegram from Shenchi County, they initially did not believe it and even reprimanded the garrison in Shenchi County, telling them to investigate before reporting back.

But when they received a similar telegram from Kelan County, the 26th Division had to take it seriously.

It's possible that the investigation in one county was incomplete, but it can't be that the investigation in two counties was incomplete.

The 26th Division immediately sent a telegram back, but never received a reply.

Unwilling to give up, the 26th Division sent out signalmen to make contact, but the intelligence they received was that they had been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.

At this point, the commander of the 26th Division had no choice but to believe that the Eighth Route Army was indeed attacking the county town.

Given that no further news has been sent from the county seat, it is highly likely that the county seat has already been captured by the Eighth Route Army.

So the news was reported to Yoshio Shinotsuka.

Yoshio Shinotsuka looked at the contents of the telegram and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"After chasing them for so many days and deploying countless reconnaissance planes, we still couldn't find the Independent Detachment. It turns out they've fled to the Shanxi-Northwest region." "Such powerful firepower and combat capabilities, along with the ability to capture a county town within this timeframe, can only belong to the Independent Detachment."

Yoshio Shinotsuka's tone was somewhat defeated, and he felt helpless.

He mobilized so many troops to sweep through the independent detachment, but not only did he fail to annihilate them, he also crippled one of their regiments.

Moreover, the enemy had unknowingly moved from eastern Shanxi to northwestern Shanxi and captured two county towns.

Yoshio Shinotsuka knew that he had no way to deal with the Independent Detachment.

At least during the remainder of his term, he was no longer able to eliminate the Independent Detachment.

Given the terrain of northwestern Shanxi, it was difficult for the army to penetrate too deeply into the mountains because transportation and logistics were too challenging.

Faced with the formidable combat power of the independent detachment, how many more personnel would the logistics unit need to be to ensure that supplies could be transported up there?

Yoshio Shinotsuka was unsure of himself, but he knew that even an elite regiment of a Class A division was no match for the Independent Detachment, and the logistics troops would be easy prey against it.

Yoshio Shinotsuka began to reflect on how many troops had been lost at the hands of the Independent Detachment during his tenure.

The Yamazaki Battalion was annihilated; an 800-man battalion was gone.

The Kawasaki Battalion was annihilated; a battalion plus its supporting units, totaling 1400 men, were wiped out.

The main force of the independent mixed brigade was annihilated, and more than 4000 soldiers were wiped out.

During the sweep in the Wutai area, the 237th Regiment, which was decimated, along with other units that were sporadically eliminated, suffered a total loss of more than 4500 men.

The independent detachment attacked two county towns in northwestern Shanxi, and the defending troops, along with the surrounding strongholds, numbered more than 1000.

Including other scattered battles, such as ambushing trains, attacking strongholds, and holding off enemy forces, the total number of casualties was close to 2000.

A rough calculation showed that Yoshio Shinotsuka was already completely heartbroken.

During his tenure, he allowed such a ferocious force to grow into an unmanageable unit.

Within two years, the independent detachment had annihilated more than 14,000 people.

This number caused Yoshio Shinotsuka immense heartache and filled him with profound darkness.

If it were such a large force, and it was the Eighth Route Army that launched the attack, he could accept it.

The fact that so many casualties came from a single unit of the Eighth Route Army that rose from a small district detachment had a huge impact.

Yoshio Shinotsuka knew that it wouldn't be long before he was dismissed and sent back to his home country.
With such a shameful resume, when he returns to China, he will be branded as a traitor to the empire and forever nailed to the pillar of shame.

"hehe."

Yoshio Shinotsuka chuckled self-deprecatingly, looking at the sword in his hand, a gift from Ame-ko.

But now he knows that once the order to dismiss him arrives, this knife will become the knife that ends his life.

In order to avoid trial, Yoshio Shinotsuka has decided that once the transfer order arrives, he will commit seppuku to save himself some dignity.

"General, now that the Eighth Route Army has captured two county towns, what should we do?"

One of the staff officers looked at Yoshio Shinotsuka and asked.

The advisor's words brought Yoshio Shinotsuka back to his senses.

He is still the commander of the First Army and has to fulfill his responsibilities.

"Let two regiments of the division that were sweeping through the independent detachment in the northern Taihang Mountains take Shenchi County back."

"After recapturing the county town, we blocked the main transportation routes, trapped the Eighth Route Army in the mountains, and blocked supplies from entering the mountains."

Yoshio Shinotsuka gave the order.

He did not mention Kelan County, which had been captured by the Independent Detachment.

Because Kelan County is located too far away, surrounded by mountains, and there is no railway line.

If we send troops to recapture it, too many troops will cause logistical difficulties, while too few troops may give the independent detachment an opportunity.

Yoshio Shinotsuka can no longer afford further casualties; he dares not gamble anymore.

As long as the independent detachment is contained in the mountains and controlled within one area, preventing them from disrupting this sweep, the operation can be completed.

After the sweep is over, his successor can deal with the Independent Detachment.

Yoshio Shinotsuka chose a less damaging strategy, ordering his troops in northwestern Shanxi to switch from offense to defense and not to split up and advance too far into enemy territory.

The troops sweeping through northwestern Shanxi were not as numerous as those in southern Shanxi, and the troops in eastern Shanxi numbered only over 30,000.

With such a small number of people scattered across the vast northwestern Shanxi region, the only way to cover a larger area is to divide the troops.

But now that the Independent Detachment has appeared in northwestern Shanxi, Yoshio Shinotsuka no longer dares to let a battalion-level unit roam freely in front of the Independent Detachment.

Otherwise, if the opponent seizes the opportunity, it could very well result in another loss for the entire team.

Therefore, Yoshio Shinotsuka could only order the troops sweeping through the Jin-Northwest region to begin gathering together for a sweep, in order to prevent the Independent Detachment from seizing the opportunity.

However, if the already small force were to be gathered together, it would lose its effectiveness in sweeping through enemy lines.

For a time, the pressure on the Eighth Route Army troops in northwestern Shanxi was greatly reduced, and they successively evaded the Japanese army's sweeps.

Chen Ming's name also spread among the Japanese army, and he was listed as the number one enemy of the First Army, known as the "Tiger of North China".

P.S.: I'm looking for a nickname given to the protagonist within our military.

(End of this chapter)