"Old Li, what's going on with you and the Jinsui Army?"
Li Qiufan asked pretending to be confused.
"Humph, there is a man named Chu Yunfei from the Jinsui Army. His 358th Regiment is right next to my independent regiment."
"Previously, Chu Yunfei's 358th Regiment actually sent two battalions to my defense area! He even said it was an order from the commander's department!"
"Can we, Lao Li, tolerate him? I immediately set up three battalions to surround him. Later, he was afraid of us, Lao Li, so he withdrew his troops."
Li Yunlong drank a large bowl of wine and told Li Qiufan about Dagu Town.
Li Qiufan nodded, thinking that this had indeed happened.
"Okay, we brothers don't have to say anything. If there's anything you need, brother, just ask!"
Li Qiufan poured another bowl of wine for Li Yunlong and clinked it with him.
"By the way, brother, take me to see your howitzer. I've heard about it, so don't hide it!"
Li Yunlong suddenly thought of Li Qiufan's artillery regiment, and immediately stopped drinking and insisted on going to see the howitzers.
Li Qiufan shook his head helplessly and could only take Li Yunlong to the artillery regiment. This was on his territory anyway, and he was not afraid that Li Yunlong would take the artillery away for him.
After seeing the howitzer, Li Yunlong almost cried. He hugged and touched the barrel of the cannon, and he was closer than his wife.
In this way, Li Yunlong stayed here for another two days before returning to the Independent Group.
A month later, Li Qiufan suddenly received a telegram from the division headquarters, asking his independent brigade to move closer to Lin County.
Cooperating with friendly forces, we launched an attack on the puppet troops' temporary Fifth Army, Seventh Army, Taihang Security Team and the Japanese's 35th Division.
Li Qiufan's eyes lit up when he heard that there was a battle to be fought, and the number of people this time was quite large. The total number of Japanese and puppet troops was more than 40,000.
"Heizi, send a signal corps immediately to convey the order for all regiments to return to their formation. They have major combat missions!"
As soon as Li Qiufan received the telegram, he dispatched a signal corps to summon all the troops to return to the army.
The next day, the three combat regiments returned to the Shanglin County base one after another, and their numbers were much larger than when they went out, and everyone was equipped with a gun.
"Qiu Fan, you got yourself promoted again!"
Li Qiufan was studying the map when Zhao Gang suddenly walked in.
"Promoted? What promotion?"
Li Qiufan was a little confused and didn't understand what Zhao Gang meant.
"See for yourself!"
Zhao Gang handed a piece of paper to Li Qiufan with a smile on his face.
Li Qiufan looked at it immediately after taking it, and slowly frowned.
"I can't afford to support these brats when they bring so many people out!"
Li Qiufan looked at the string of numbers on the paper and cursed.
The strength of the three combat regiments that had been free-range at the time exceeded 3,000 in one month, especially Erhu's regiment, which had nearly 4,000 troops, and each of them was equipped with weapons.
As a result, the current independent brigade has 10,000 people in its three combat regiments alone. Together with the artillery regiment, reconnaissance battalion and guard battalion, there are already more than 12,000 people.
Except for the inferior mechanical level, its military strength is already on par with the national army's ace division.
"Heizi, gather the troops and set off towards Lin County immediately!"
Li Qiufan did not hesitate and directly ordered the troops to set off. Only one battalion of troops was stationed in Shanglin County.
After marching for two days, Li Qiufan's independent brigade had entered the sphere of influence of the Japanese and puppet troops. He immediately ordered the troops to slow down their march and released the reconnaissance battalion.
Not long after, the soldiers from the reconnaissance battalion came back and reported: "Reporting to the brigade commander, a large number of puppet troops were found two kilometers ahead. The number is unknown, but it is estimated that there are at least seven or eight thousand people."
"Qiu Fan, how should we fight?"
After hearing the news, Zhao Gang turned to look at Li Qiufan.
"The division headquarters just told us to launch an attack in the direction of Lin County, and it didn't tell us how to attack, so we will just push forward."
When he learned that the enemy was a puppet army, Li Qiufan said he had no pressure. There was no order from his superiors anyway, so he could fight wherever he went.
"Order, the artillery regiment builds artillery positions on the spot."
"The second and third regiments continue to advance, preparing to launch an attack on the puppet troops."
"The reconnaissance battalion will immediately scout the coordinates of the puppet troops and report to the third regiment."
"One regiment serves as a reserve team, ready to support at any time!"
Li Qiufan gave a series of orders and prepared to eat the Japanese on the opposite side.
Soon the reconnaissance battalion passed back the coordinates of the puppet army. The artillery regiment's position had been constructed. As soon as the coordinates were obtained, they immediately began to adjust and shoot Zhuyuan.
"Signal Corps, go give orders to the Second and Third Regiments. As soon as the sound of artillery stops, start charging immediately!"
Li Qiufan saw that the artillery regiment was ready, and immediately sent someone to deliver the order to the second and third regiments.
"Old horse, one test shot, let go!"
Looking at his pocket watch, Li Qiufan estimated that the signal troops had arrived, and immediately gave the order to fire.
"boom!"
Lao Ma operated a howitzer and fired directly.
Li Qiufan looked in the direction of the puppet army's camp, and a shell accurately hit the center.
"All gunners, three rapid fire rounds, let go!"
"Boom boom boom..."
The puppet soldiers who had just been bombed were still a little confused. They had no idea that twelve howitzers were already aimed at them. By the time they reacted, the rain of shells had already fallen on their heads.
Under the bombardment of howitzers, the entire puppet army camp turned directly into a hell on earth. All kinds of broken arms and limbs flew everywhere, and screams continued.
When the gunfire stopped, the front line instantly remembered the sound of the Charge, and what followed was the cry of killing all over the sky.
The puppet troops had long been frightened by the howitzer explosions. Those who survived saw the six or seven thousand people coming back and ran away immediately, losing the will to fight at all.
"This puppet army is really incomparable to the Japanese. They only fired three rounds of artillery and they couldn't hold it back."
Looking at the fleeing puppet troops, Li Qiufan was a little dissatisfied. This battle was completely unexperienced.
"Lao Ma, put away the howitzer and move on."
Li Qiufan turned around and said something to Lao Ma, and then led the guard battalion towards the battlefield.
By the time Li Qiufan arrived, the fighting here was over, and only the soldiers of the Independent Brigade were left cleaning the battlefield.
"Report to the brigade commander that this time a total of more than 3,000 puppet troops were annihilated and more than 1,000 were captured. We captured..."
"Okay, if the puppet army can get anything good, quickly clean up the battlefield and move on."
Li Qiufan came up to report the battle situation as soon as he arrived at Heizi, but he was interrupted by Li Qiufan with a wave of his hand before he could finish speaking. He could no longer see the preparations of the puppet army.
After half an hour of cleaning, everything was finally collected, and then Li Qiufan ordered the troops to continue setting off.
After walking for half a day, suddenly there was a burst of gunfire, followed by gunshots.
"Heizi, send someone to conduct reconnaissance immediately to see which unit is fighting!"
Li Qiufan was sure that some friendly troops were in trouble. The sound of artillery did not sound like the configuration of the Eighth Route Army.
