Major General Miyazawa was the commander of the Fourth Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army in Shanxi.
After receiving the order to reinforce Li Jiapo, he initially only wanted to dispatch two brigades, but the military headquarters actually asked him to send out all the troops, which made Miyazawa very uneasy.
The road near Yangquan was relatively smooth, and it was more comfortable to march in a wheeled armored vehicle than to walk. However, Major General Miyazawa was not in a good mood at all. He was restless, with worry between his brows, and he always felt that something was going to go wrong.
"Harada-kun, how long have we been away from Yangquan?" Major General Miyazawa called the chief of staff to ask, hoping that he could help relieve his worries.
"The brigade commander...the troops have been setting out for almost five hours...about 30 kilometers away from Yangquan County. I want everyone to march for another hour and rest for fifteen minutes before setting off!" Lieutenant Colonel Harada replied respectfully.
Although he is the chief of staff of the brigade, his military rank is only that of lieutenant colonel, not as good as the captain of the colonel who holds the real power. A casual word from the brigade commander could determine his future, so he had to be careful about what he said and did, for fear of incurring dissatisfaction from the brigade commander.
"You can rest!" Major General Miyazawa replied!
"There is still a long way to go, and the troops must maintain their physical strength..."
"But our vigilance needs to continue to be strengthened... After walking thirty kilometers in one breath, we will soon enter the Eighth Route Army guerrilla zone... Based on my understanding of them, we will definitely not let us easily reinforce Li Jiapo!"
"Please rest assured, brigade commander, I have repeatedly reminded the troops to be on guard...all the scouts that can be sent out have also been sent out..."
"The Eighth Route Army's means of blocking us are nothing more than guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare... As long as the troops stick together, regardless of the sporadic casualties, and go straight to Lijiapo... we will definitely reach the battlefield on time!"
"If the Eighth Route Army dares to block us head-on, the Fourth Mixed Brigade will not mind eating them!"
"I hope so!" Major General Miyazawa replied as he glanced at Huangpo, who had no birds around him. He suddenly slapped his head and suddenly thought of what he had been worried about.
He quickly asked: "Did you contact Yangquan County during the march?"
"That's our home base. Now our troops are empty. If we encounter the main force of the Eighth Route Army, we can attack it with just one regiment!"
"The two sides have been in contact!" Lieutenant Colonel Harada reported quickly.
"Before the troops set off, you promised to contact the county seat once an hour. You will strictly carry out your orders without slacking off!"
"Yo Xi!" After hearing the good news, the worry on Major General Miyazawa's face was obviously much relieved.
Continue the order: "When you contact the station again, remind the commander of the gendarmerie squadron that during my absence in Yangquan, all troops staying in the county must stick to their posts and be ready to fight at any time... If there is any slack, military law will be engaged..."
"Especially the Imperial Alliance Army, they must be watched to death by me..."
"If something happens to the infantry squad, the platoon leader will be executed... If something happens to the infantry squad, the company commander will be executed... If something happens to the infantry company, the battalion commander will be executed..."
"I authorize him to execute all officers below the imperial army camp who disobey orders and are afraid of fighting!"
"If you find out that the Eighth Route Army is attacking Yangquan, please contact us immediately..."
“Rumble… da da da…”
An explosion and the sound of machine gun fire suddenly sounded at the front of the team, abruptly interrupting Major General Miyazawa's unfinished order.
Quickly raise the telescope and look towards the explosion point.
A thick plume of black smoke rose from the ground, as if the forward troops had stepped on a landmine.
The forward squadron reacted very quickly. As soon as the explosion stopped, intensive counterattack gunfire came from the front...
What satisfied Major General Miyazawa the most was that the marching team only stopped for two minutes before moving on.
Five minutes later, a communications soldier panted and ran over to report.
"Report to your Excellency, General... The forward squadron was attacked sporadically by the Eighth Route Army... The opponent's force was about one squad, equipped with a light machine gun, and it has been repulsed by us..."
"Four people in the forward squadron were killed and two were seriously injured... Most of the casualties were caused by landmines..."
"The big hole caused by the mine has been filled... In order to prevent the troops from being attacked by landmines again, our captain requested engineer support!"
"No..." Major General Miyazawa refused without hesitation.
"The engineer's path exploration will affect the marching speed too much. We will definitely not be able to reach the Lijiapo battlefield on time!"
"Go to the baggage team behind and select some mules and horses. Let them go to the front of the team to explore the road and detonate the mines!"
"When we encounter a village ahead, we will capture some Chinese people to help us explore the road. The Eighth Route Army prides itself on being a people's team, so it will definitely use rat weapons and give up the use of landmines!"
"Reinforce the forward squadron with a mortar squad and a heavy machine gun squad!"
"After being attacked by a sneak attack, we directly used mortars, light and heavy machine guns, and grenades to fight back..."
"In order to kill the Eighth Route Army gathered in Lijiapo, the troops carried a large amount of ammunition, which is enough for us to consume... If it is not enough, we can ask the military headquarters to air-drop ammunition for us!"
"As long as five or six artillery shells can kill an Eighth Route Army...the ammunition we carry can make the opponent pay a heavy price..."
"The troops continue to advance and must reach Lijiapo in the shortest possible time!"
At the headquarters of the New Second Regiment, after waiting anxiously, Li Yunlong finally received the order to dispatch troops from the brigade commander. He walked to the map and shouted loudly.
"Zhang Dabiao, have you found out everything I asked you to investigate?"
"We've figured it out!" Zhang Dabiao pointed at the map and introduced.
"That old devil Yamazaki is very cunning. He built a circular formation in the middle of the platform on the top of the mountain, seven or eighty meters away from the platform, just beyond the grenade throwing distance!"
"Our soldiers will be beaten into sieves as soon as they reveal their heads from the edge of the platform..."
"The heavy machine guns we set up at the foot of the mountain cannot suppress the enemy's blocking fire for this reason. We can only use artillery to attack from a long distance!"
"But the heavy firepower of the offensive troops is seriously insufficient. The limited artillery and shells are difficult to cause a fatal blow to the Japanese..."
"The two regiments that have gone up all suffered heavy losses, and they didn't even reach the edge of the Japanese position!"
"When attacking, beware of air attacks by the Japs!"
"A large proportion of all our losses are caused by Japanese planes!"
"In one attack, the plane dropped two aerial bombs and wiped out half of our company... As a result, as soon as the attack started, before the Yamazaki Brigade opened fire, the attacking troops retreated because more than half of them were injured!"
"Also be careful to guard against Japanese mortars and grenade attacks..."
"Before the offensive troops rush to the top platform, they will mainly bear Japanese mortar and grenade attacks!"
"All kinds of artillery shells were dropped on the attacking troops as if they were free..."
"More than 20% of the soldiers who died were caused by Japanese shelling!"
"No!" Li Yunlong suddenly frowned and retorted.
"The Yamazaki Brigade accidentally hit Li Jiapo. They didn't carry much ammunition...According to their fighting style, the ammunition should have been almost used up long ago!"
Zhao Gang suddenly interrupted: "Old Li, the devils have many more methods than us!"
"As long as the Yamazaki Brigade needs it, aircraft from Taiyuan En can drop ammunition at any time..."
"In the past few hours, Japanese planes have air-dropped ammunition to the Yamazaki Brigade three times, all of which are the most expensive artillery shells and bullets!"
"If we can't think of other ways to break the ground, the Yamazaki Brigade can survive for another three or four days by relying on air-dropped ammunition supplies!"
"I'm so envious!" Li Yunlong sighed with jealousy.
"If our Eighth Route Army had such good conditions as the Japanese, I would have driven them into the sea to feed the fish!"
"It will happen sooner or later!" Political Commissar Zhao Gang consoled him.
"I think back then our New Second Regiment even regarded crooked weapons as treasures, but now we even have grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, mortars, infantry cannons... all!"
"As long as the troops win more battles, sooner or later we will have the weapons and ammunition that the Japanese have!"
"But our top priority now is to capture the Yamazaki Brigade!"
"If we don't kill them, from now on the little devils will dare to send any infantry brigade to break into our base area and cause destruction."
"We must make the Japanese realize that we have the strength to destroy one of their infantry brigade in a short period of time, and give them a severe shock!"
"Don't worry..." Li Yunlong stared at the map and analyzed it!
"This battle is said to be easy to fight..."
"It's seventy or eighty meters from the edge of the mountaintop platform to the Japanese ring fortifications. When troops enter this open area, they will become easy targets for the Japanese..."
"Looking at the terrain, our regiment of more than a thousand men cannot fully deploy. If we want to attack by force, we can only charge forward one company at a time. This becomes a tactic of adding fuel to the fire. Increasing the strength one by one is a taboo for military strategists... "
"I won't do a business where you lose money and make money!"
"I have to find a way to shorten this charging distance..."
"Thirty to forty meters is best... Didn't I just get thousands of grenades back from the arsenal? The troops will use them all before attacking..."
"Hehe... Thousands of grenades smashed into the enemy's ring fortifications at the same time in two minutes. No matter how bad the quality is, it's enough for that boy Yamazaki to drink a pot!"
"Before the attack, all troops moved to the edge of the mountaintop platform, and no one was allowed to show their head!"
"The kid's marksmanship is not bad, and there are a large number of light and heavy machine guns staring at him. Whoever shows up will be looking for death. We don't want to get into trouble!"
"The whole regiment is divided into battalions, and they take turns to repair the fortifications, using civil engineering methods to push forward in parallel. As long as they dig forty to fifty meters, and there is still thirty meters left, women can also throw grenades into the Japanese ring fortifications. .”
"Each soldier in a battalion is equipped with ten grenades...throw the grenades on him when he sees the signal of attack..."
Zhang Dabiao was happy when he heard this, and he geared up and said, "Commander, this is a great move!"
"I asked the soldiers to pull the string and wait two or three seconds before throwing it out, so that part of the grenade exploded in the air!"
"No matter how powerful the little devil is, he can't find a safe corner and has no place to hide. He can only be bombed!"
Li Yunlong continued to order: "All machine gunners in the entire regiment will be organized into the first echelon. The machine guns will be used as submachine guns. After throwing the grenades, they will rush up immediately and shoot while rushing. The firepower cannot be interrupted. We must suppress the Japanese and fight..."
"The whole regiment, from me down, rushed towards me, preparing to fight hand-to-hand with the little devil..."
