At the former enemy headquarters of the Japanese army in Pingyang Town, Major General Fujita felt that victory was very close to him, and he always had a smile on his face no matter what he did.
"Brigade leader..."
Chief of Staff Xing hurried in.
"I just came back from the front line. Our method of blasting the tunnel worked."
"Follow the underground passage from the town to the outside of the town and blast all the way towards the center of the town. We have reached the edge of the town."
"The Eighth Route Army hiding inside must have been cornered."
"He even ran to the tunnel entrance to attack the engineers."
"Isn't this asking for death?"
"After a sudden burst, they were repulsed by the frontline warriors."
"Not only were there heavy casualties, but a large number of tunnels were also lost."
"If we continue the bombing at the current rate, we will be able to reach the center of the town tomorrow morning at most."
Major General Fujita seemed to have seen the victory scene of annihilating his opponents. The smile on his face became thicker and thicker, and he looked at the chief of staff and said confidently.
"Do you know ground rats, the kind that steal food?"
"Hayi..."
The chief of staff nodded, but he was a little confused about what the battle in front of him had to do with the gopher.
"When I was a child, I saw farmers in the countryside killing gophers."
Major General Fujita explained with a meaningful expression.
"Countless rats were forced out of their holes and wandered around the fields."
"Farmers guard the entrance of the cave with shovels."
"A mouse came out and beat one to death. The scene made me very relieved."
The chief of staff finally understood and said with a look of enlightenment.
"I see."
"General, you compare the Eighth Route Army hiding in the tunnel to ground rats, and attack them as ground rats."
"Don't you think it's different?" Major General Fujita asked with a smile.
"Like, very similar..."
The chief of staff kept nodding his head like a chicken eating food.
"When we blast all the way to the center of the town, the Eighth Route Army hiding inside will definitely rush out of the tunnel."
"The warriors were guarding the entrance of the cave with rifles."
"A few come out and kill a few. The scene is really like what you said about farmers shooting gophers."
Major General Fujita immediately answered: "Then why are you still standing here?"
"Deploy more troops to guard the entrance of the cave. Don't lose the fat at all."
The chief of staff was convinced: "I'll go to safety now."
…………
At ten o'clock in the evening, eight demolition teams set up by the Japanese army in the afternoon successfully entered the town.
Each demolition team consists of an engineering unit, a company of puppet troops, and a reinforced squad of infantry.
Match each other and quickly approach the center of the town.
"Rumble..."
In the violent explosion, another section of the tunnel was blown up, and thick smoke mixed with dust spurted out from the tunnel mouth.
Without saying a word, the leader of the Japanese team rushed towards the explosion point with his troops.
The gunpowder exploded underground, reaching its maximum power and creating a large crater more than four meters deep on the spot.
When you step on it, you will find at least ten centimeters of floating soil.
A dozen puppet soldiers rushed into the pit with engineering shovels and started digging without any need to be greeted by the Japanese.
The tunnel was half a meter to one meter deep under their feet. A dozen people worked together and quickly dug out a new tunnel entrance.
A Japanese assault team immediately stood up.
A dozen puppet soldiers immediately gave up their positions and watched with respect as they ran to the tunnel entrance.
Grenades opened the way, machine guns attacked, and they quickly entered the tunnel...
"Boom boom..."
Two explosions suddenly sounded not far from the tunnel entrance, and thick smoke spewed out. The two engineers who were preparing to approach the tunnel were confused. Neither advancing nor retreating, and then there was no movement in the tunnel.
"Baga, something happened to the assault team..."
The face of the Japanese leader suddenly became particularly ugly, and he ordered with a frown.
"Add another assault team, watch your step, the explosion just now looked like a landmine."
The four little devils who were standing by immediately got into the tunnel...
"Boom boom boom..."
Three explosions reached the squad leader's ears again, but they did not come from the tunnel.
Three fireballs shot up at the same time more than ten meters away from him.
Under the darkness of night, the flames produced by the explosion were particularly dazzling, and five or six soldiers on guard were knocked over at the same time.
"Da da da……"
The sound of machine gun fire also rang out, in a ruins less than forty meters away from him.
Flames spurted out from the barrel of the gun, and the long tongues of flame showed that it was crooked.
Bullets flew over and took away the lives of three subordinates again.
"Enemy attack..."
The squad leader lay down on the ground, pulled out his command knife and pointed at the location of the machine gun to give an order.
"The machine gun will fight back immediately. Kill the sneak attacker for me."
The Kwantung Army reacted very quickly, and two crooked weapons immediately joined the battle.
The bullets hit the ruins as if they were free.
"Boom boom..."
Two grenades hit there at the same time, and the fire shot into the sky. Countless bricks and soil were blown away, illuminating the surrounding area, but there was no sign of the attacker.
"Bagh Ya Road, there is a tunnel entrance there, and the Eighth Road slipped through the tunnel..." the Japanese squad leader cursed bitterly.
Seeing that the assault team hiding in the pit had not entered the hole yet, he became even more angry and cursed again.
"Continue to blast forward..."
"I want to destroy the tunnel entrances and exits there and cut off all the Eighth Route Army's escape routes."
"Force them all out of the tunnel and have to fight us on the ground."
Gunshots and explosions soon sounded in the tunnel, followed closely by two engineers.
Half a minute later, the firefight in the tunnel suddenly stopped, and there was no movement at all, as if the assault team and the two engineers had disappeared inexplicably.
"What's going on?" The captain's face was full of confusion.
Under normal circumstances, the assault team should quickly evacuate the tunnel with the engineers, and the explosives deployed by the engineers exploded immediately...
But that didn't happen.
After waiting for another half minute, there was still no movement in the tunnel.
The squad leader became even more anxious, vaguely guessing that something had happened to the soldiers inside.
Just as they were about to arrange for another assault team to enter the tunnel and fight the Eighth Route Army inside to the end, the familiar sound of machine gun fire rang out again, and the fire point was less than thirty meters away from the one that had been bombed just now.
The squad leader had a strong premonition in his mind.
The Eighth Route Army that was shooting now was the machine gun team that he wanted to kill just now but they escaped.
This is simply like plucking a tiger's hair and seeking death.
The anger in my heart cannot be described in words.
He stopped pulling out his command sword and pointed at the point of fire, shouting loudly.
"Machine guns, grenade launchers, all join the fight."
"You must kill the Eighth Route Army firepower points for me."
the more you hope, the harder you fall.
Before the grenade launcher could fire off the grenade, the firepower point hiding in the ruins was gone.
The gunfire stopped suddenly, as if nothing happened there just now.
The team leader was even more angry. He felt that he was so unlucky today, everything he did was not going well, and his teeth were blocked even when he drank cold water.
First, there was an accident in the blasting tunnel, and two assault teams were lost in succession without making any progress.
Furthermore, the ground troops were constantly attacked, and one combat unit was lost in succession.
There were only three detachments of soldiers under his command, and more than one-third of the troops were wiped out in a few minutes.
Little did they know that this was just a corner of the battlefield.
The intensity in other places is no worse than here.
The tunnels outside the town were prepared for retreat and troop deployment, and did not have combat functions.
The tunnels in the town are specially designed for shooting in battles.
There are dark rooms, shooting holes, traps everywhere...
The two assault teams sent into the tunnel by the team leader were attacked continuously, initiated by a few soldiers hiding in a dark room.
There was a half-meter-thick earth wall between the darkroom and the tunnel, with shooting holes drilled into it.
The soldiers attacked the little Japanese who entered the tunnel through the shooting holes, but the little Japanese could not hurt the Eighth Route Army soldiers separated by the wall and could only die passively.
…………
The former enemy headquarters of the Japanese army in Pingyang Town.
Fujita was just about to lie down on the camp bed and take a nap to recuperate his energy for tomorrow's victory, when he saw the chief of staff hurried in from the corner of his eye.
Compared with the high-spirited mood two hours ago, there was obviously more panic and anxiety on his face at this moment.
He was indeed in a hurry.
The Eighth Route Army hiding in the tunnel is very similar to the ground rats the brigade commander said.
But this group of ground rats will not only be beaten passively, they can also take the initiative.
The chief of staff did not expect to corner them so quickly.
There was no need to use the tunnel, but he rushed out of the tunnel and attacked the troops from the ground.
It was night, and the battlefield environment was more favorable to the Eighth Route Army.
In just half an hour, the eight demolition teams lost more than 200 people under the attack of the Eighth Route Army's ground troops and underground troops, with the Imperial Army accounting for at least 60%.
The number was almost more than what was lost during the previous two or three hours of tunnel blasting.
There are not many people in the middle mopping up troops. If they lose more than a thousand people after a battle, they may not even be able to protect themselves.
Facing the elusive Eighth Route Army, the chief of staff couldn't think of a way to deal with it, so he could only shamelessly ask the brigade commander for help.
Before he could say anything, a series of "rumbling..." explosions sounded in his ears.
Major General Fujita has very rich combat experience, and he knew as soon as he heard that these explosions could not be caused by more than ten or twenty artillery shells.
It shows that the mopping up troops were attacked by at least twenty artillery pieces.
If you don't counterattack as soon as possible and kill your opponent, artillery shells alone can severely damage the mopping up troops.
Major General Fujita himself became anxious. He sat up from the bed, walked to the map and began to issue orders.
"We have been fighting the Junping garrison for so long, and they have never used artillery."
"To dispatch at this time shows that they are on the verge of destruction."
"Heavy artillery brigade, mountain artillery brigade, mortar squadron, counterattack immediately."
"Today I'm going to use cannon to kill mosquitoes and destroy the artillery of the Junpei Defense Regiment."
"First cut off one of their arms, then annihilate them all."
After giving the order, he turned to the chief of staff and asked: "What do you want from me? Is it because the Eighth Route Army in the tunnel can't hold on any longer..."
"I just asked why they suddenly used artillery."
"It turned out that the infantry couldn't hold on any longer, so we had no choice but to mobilize the artillery to join the battle."
"I want to use artillery to change the situation of the war."
Listening to the brigade commander standing nearby talking to himself, the chief of staff's head almost dropped to his crotch in shame.
The news he brought was completely contrary to the brigade commander's judgment.
Facing the proud Major General Fujita, he didn't know how to report the bad news he had brought.
Major General Fujita was keenly aware of the changing expressions of the Chief of Staff.
Faintly feeling that something was wrong, he asked directly: "What, did I just say something wrong?"
"Did there be an accident when you blasted the tunnel?"
