Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"Secretary Xiahou, the Japanese and puppet troops are usually stationed at their base. But within the next week, they will no longer be stationed there, but will come out in full force."

"why?"

"Because every village had to send opium to Shiziling. Although the Japanese occupied this area for some time and there were very complete puppet government institutions in various places. However, due to the high profits of opium, some bandits would still come from time to time. Therefore, the Japanese and puppet troops had to use force to protect these opium.

"Dozens of surrounding villages will have to confiscate their opium, a process that will take about a week. We came to the New Third Regiment because we heard they were strong and well-equipped. We hope they can send troops to take down Lion Ridge."

"As far as I know, our intelligence capabilities in the Chicheng, Chongli, and Zhangbei areas are very weak. How did you, the Chicheng County underground party, get the intelligence about the Shiziling area in Chongli County?"

Xiahou Wen had some doubts about the intelligence of the underground party in Chicheng County.

If Xiahou Wen was merely the head and political commissar of the New Third Regiment, he wouldn't have been qualified to inquire about the affairs of the Chicheng County underground party. This was because each of these underground party organizations had its own superior department. In the past, the Chicheng County local party committee would report directly to the Cha'nan Special Committee. But Xiahou Wen was now the secretary of the Long (Longguan) Yan (Yanqing) County Committee, responsible for developing the Cha'dong base area.

Chicheng is under the leadership of Longyan County Party Committee.

It happened to be within Xia Houwen's jurisdiction. Although everyone agreed on the slogan and the letter he brought was fine, Xia Houwen was still very vigilant. Anything could happen at this time.

If you are not careful, sacrifices will occur.

So Xiahou Wen was a little wary.

The courier sent this time was very young, only in his twenties.

He was fair and clean, and looked like a scholar. He was silent for a moment and looked at Feng Mulin next to Xia Houwen. Xia Houwen introduced him, "He is Comrade Feng Mulin, the commander of the 8th Column Guerrilla Detachment. He is a veteran of the Red Army and the underground party. You can trust him.

Xia Houwen had worked for the underground party before, so he dispelled the young man's concerns.

After hearing what Xiahou Wen said, he said, "Secretary Xiahou, my name is Wu Pingshan, and my father's name is Wu Shi.

"Wu Ergouzi?"

Xiahou Wen was a veteran, but he still couldn't help but scream.

Xia Houwen soon realized that he had lost his composure, so he adjusted his mood and said, "I'm sorry, I got a little excited."

"Secretary Xiahou, do you believe what I say now?"

Xiahou Wen nodded slightly.

But he had already made up his mind that he had to send someone to the Chicheng County Party Committee as soon as possible to inquire about the situation.

Xia Houwen hadn't expected this handsome young man to have a father who was a traitor. Wu Shi, Chicheng County's biggest traitor, currently served as the Chief of Police and Captain of the Security Brigade. He oversaw not only the Chicheng County police but also the security brigade, and even the small number of puppet Manchukuo troops currently stationed there.

He has more than a thousand people under his command and is the real traitor in this area.

Wu Shi is very famous in Chicheng County.

At the end of the Guangxu period, Wu Shi's father brought his family to Chicheng through the west. Wu Shi had never received any education since childhood and was illiterate. But he was skilled in archery and horseback riding, and was brave and courageous. Before he was twenty years old, a group of young people had followed him and recognized him as their eldest brother. When he gained some strength, he led people to wipe out the bandits who were plaguing their village several times. As a result, many local bandits did not dare to provoke him, but instead came to curry favor with him with generous gifts. In this way, Wu Shi worked with him to build a large industry and became one of the largest landlords in Chicheng County. In this place, even the local government was unwilling to mess with people like him. Later, when the Japanese came, he defected to the Japanese and became the biggest traitor in Chicheng County. 1

"Then can the New Third Regiment send out troops?"

Xia Houwen shook his head.

He said, "The current mission of the New Third Regiment is to consolidate and develop the Longguan base, and then to open up the Chicheng Anti-Japanese Base in the north. Marching nearly a hundred miles to attack Shiziling is not our main task now."

"Secretary Xiahou, this is a very good opportunity."

Wu Pingshan was very anxious.

But Xiahou Wen still shook his head.

"Our next step is to expand into Chicheng County, not Chongli County. Besides, the New Third Regiment was established not long ago, and the troops need to be reorganized and trained to become a true Eighth Route Army unit. But you don't have to rush, Commander Feng Mulin might be interested in this."

"Commander Feng."

Wu Pingshan looked at Feng Mulin.

Feng Mulin looked at the map, thought for a while and said, "How many Japanese troops are there in Chongli now?"

"In Chongli County, there was a Japanese squadron, a security battalion, and over 1300 police officers, for a total of to Japanese and puppet troops. Furthermore, the Japanese had a comprehensive puppet government structure in Chongli. Each township had a puppet government office and police station. Some important villages had separate residences and assigned police officers. If you add them all up, there were approximately Japanese and puppet troops in Chongli County. This doesn't include the landlord armed forces that the Japanese recognized and supported.

Wu Pingshan's background means that he knows a lot of information that others don't know.

His father, Wu Shi, was not only the biggest traitor in Chicheng County, but he also traveled extensively in his early years and had acquaintances in several surrounding counties.

I know a lot of people and have a wide network of contacts.

So there was a lot of information. In a few moments, the whole situation in Chongli was revealed.

Feng Mulin stared at the map, lost in thought. Although Wei Hongjun had told Feng Mulin to establish a base in Chabei, he hadn't forced him to do so, simply letting him decide based on the circumstances. Now, Wu Pingshan's intelligence had given Feng Mulin a new perspective.

Originally I was considering how to open up the situation in Chabei.

This intelligence was excellent. An attack to take down the pseudo-township office in Shiziling would instantly open up the situation. Therefore, Feng Mulin nodded and said, "If this intelligence is accurate, our guerrilla detachment can attack. But we don't know the terrain here, and I need a guide."

Chapter 164: Attack on Lion Ridge 2

After letting Feng Mulin and Wu Pingshan discuss the specific issues, Xiahou Wen immediately went out to investigate Wu Pingshan. After all, he only heard Wu Pingshan's one-sided statement and could not fully trust Wu Pingshan's identity.

After all, that was Wu Shi, the biggest traitor in the area.

Soon Xiahou Wen got Wu Pingshan's information.

Wu Pingshan was indeed a Party member, and he had joined the Party when he was a student in Taiyuan. It was said that the two were in the same place back then, and both were from the Pingxi Detachment. After Wu Pingshan received training in the Pingxi Detachment, he was sent to Chicheng because of his special identity.

Of course, this is all the information Xia Houwen could find.

In fact, in history, Wu Pingshan made remarkable achievements in underground work here.

Wu Pingshan established a communication station and an intelligence station in Chicheng, and later made great contributions to the establishment of the Pingbei base. He even persuaded his father, Wu Shi, a traitor in Chicheng, to accept the anti-Japanese stance.

As a result, starting from 1940, Wu Shi gradually slowed down his work.

Even when the Japanese army wanted to sweep the Pingbei base, Wu Shi pushed it away whenever he could. The troops under his command also did the same, rarely participating in the sweep of the Eighth Route Army base. This made the Japanese army very angry.

However, they still needed to rely on local powerful figures like Wu Shi, so they did not take any measures. They simply thought that Wu Shi and others did not want to fight and were afraid of fighting. However, more and more leaks of secrets later made the Japanese army wary.

A large amount of Japanese and puppet army intelligence reached Wu Pingshan through Wu Shi, and eventually entered the Pingbei base. Every time the Japanese and puppet troops raided the Pingbei base, the Eighth Route Army was able to know the news in advance. Finally, the Japanese army discovered through investigation that Wu Shi was the cause of the problem. However, Wu Shi's influence in the Chicheng area was too great, and his strength was too strong. Therefore, the Japanese army did not take any direct action.

However, Wu Shi died of vomiting blood two days after attending a Japanese military banquet. This led to the claim that he was poisoned by the Japanese. Consequently, many of Wu Shi's men subsequently defected to the Pingbei base.

After confirming Wu Pingshan's identity, Xiahou Wen agreed to Feng Mulin and his team's plan to attack Lion Ridge.

Two days.

Led by a guide, Feng Mulin avoided several Japanese and puppet army outposts and arrived at Shiziling. Upon arrival, Feng Mulin immediately began to survey the terrain. Feng Mulin was highly skilled in guerrilla warfare and ambushes.

Therefore, the terrain is observed very carefully.

Although Lion Ridge is a ridge, it is not actually a strategic location.

It is not a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The Japanese built a few simple bunkers here. They were crudely constructed, essentially temporary blockhouses. But they were more than enough to deal with the bandits here. Even for ordinary Eighth Route Army troops, facing such simple bunkers, it would not be easy to take them down unless they suffered heavy casualties.

Shiziling is a village, literally Shiziling Village. To the northwest of the village are the puppet township office and police station, while to the northeast are Japanese bunkers. To the west are medium-sized mountains, and to the east is a village called Erdaozhuang.

The Japanese army chose this place not because of its good terrain, but because of the geographical location of Shiziling Village, which was right on the transportation line. Many roads from east to west and north to south had to pass through Shiziling Village, so these institutions were set up here.

The Japanese and puppet troops are indeed currently collecting opium from various places.

The surrounding mountain villages, dozens of miles away, were currently all growing opium. Feng Mulin was extremely cautious. Although Wu Pingshan was a member of the underground party, his family situation was too complicated. Feng Mulin couldn't completely trust him.

So after arriving at Lion Ridge, he began to send scouts to investigate the surrounding situation.

Worried about being ambushed.

Fortunately, the situation was the same as Wu Pingshan said. After that, Feng Mulin began to think about how to complete the battle. Feng Mulin thought about it for a long time and finally decided on how to do it. He gathered several cadres of the guerrilla detachment and then said: "I plan to ambush the Japanese and puppet troops here. I will attack the main force of the Japanese and puppet troops. There are about 150 people in total. It is not difficult to fight them, but it is not easy to fight them either. It is easy to fight because there is only one squad of Japanese troops in the Japanese and puppet troops, and the rest are traitors. It is difficult to fight because these police and security forces are extremely vicious. They may be more stubborn than we thought, so we must make all preparations."

"Yes."

Feng Mulin looked around and said, "Daosheng, take fifty men and hold this hilltop to prevent enemy reinforcements. According to the intelligence Comrade Wu Pingshan gave us, the Japanese have a police substation in Erdao Village with over thirty police officers. Furthermore, the village chief has gathered some local thugs as his traitorous armed forces. Within a few miles of Erdao Village, while there are no armed forces directly controlled by the Japanese, there are village chiefs appointed by the Japanese. Perhaps they can actually bring a considerable number of men with them. As long as you control this hilltop, no amount of police will be able to defeat us."

"Yes."

"I can only give you a light machine gun."

"No problem. I will definitely defend this hilltop and prevent any traitors from coming here armed."

"Uh-huh"

The predecessor of the guerrilla detachment was the self-defense group of the Han brothers.

There are many members of the Han family inside.

Han Daosheng was one of the most talented. Feng Mulin was extremely cautious in reforming this unit. After all, with such an armed force, mutiny could easily occur if the slightest carelessness was taken. Therefore, he needed a member of the Han family to carry the flag and stabilize the troops.

Just then, Han Daosheng came into Feng Mulin's sight.

Feng Mulin then made use of Han Daosheng.

"Huang Yanjun."

"arrive."

"I'll give you thirty men and a light machine gun. Once our ambush begins, the Japanese and puppet troops from Lion Ridge will come out to reinforce us. There aren't many of them left, so you have to hold them off and prevent them from disrupting our ambush."

"Yes."

"As for the other Japanese forces nearby, the closest one is actually Chongli County. However, even driving here would take more than two hours. We don't have that much time. We must resolve the battle and clear the battlefield within an hour. Therefore, there will be no defense in the Chongli direction. If the ambush fails within an hour, the troops will immediately withdraw."

Feng Mulin not only considers success, but also failure.

The time is strictly regulated.

If the Japanese and puppet troops were not eliminated within an hour, there would be no need to continue the ambush, because instead of killing the Japanese and puppet troops, our troops might be surrounded by them.

After Feng Mulin gave the order, the troops immediately began to ambush.

The Japanese and puppet troops had been deployed daily recently, but no one complained much. This was because their daily work affected their treatment. The better the opium sales, the better their treatment.

And they didn't do the work themselves.

The people doing the work are all local people, they are just there to supervise them.

Apart from being tired from walking every day, there wasn't much else to do. When they got to the place, the local traitors would fawn over them and offer them all the delicious food. If they were lucky, they could even rob a couple of peasant girls.

It's a good thing for them anyway.

On the way back, we caught some chickens from various villages.

For the Japanese puppet troops, relying solely on the money they received from the government, they couldn't even afford a chicken a month. Therefore, they needed the tributes of traitors and had to rob some of their own goods. If the amount of opium wasn't so large and so important, they wouldn't have sent so many people.

Feng Mulin's guerrilla detachment has about 500 people.

Feng Mulin and four hundred men ambushed at the intersection. This wasn't a particularly good ambush location, but it wasn't too bad either. In August or September, even if there weren't many mountains around, there would still be plenty of trees and grass.

"Prepare."