The Japanese soldiers stood in front of Xiaoqi and did not dare to move forward. Captain Hirata was experienced and believed that this matter must be a fraud. If there were really mines below, the enemy did not need to remind them.
However, when he saw the soldiers hesitating, he decided it was better to be cautious, so he said: "Let the engineers go up and clear the mines immediately."
"day."
At this moment, the distinctive sharp whistling sound of mortar shells came from the sky.
Captain Hirata hurriedly shouted: "Hurry up and disperse, guard against artillery."
The soldiers ran away and fell to the ground.
Captain Hirata didn't want to show fear in front of the soldiers, so he stood there and refused to get down.
The loyal guards around him hurriedly pushed him to the ground and then lay on top of him.
"Boom, boom, boom."
Four mortar shells exploded in the Japanese ranks, and those Japanese soldiers who were too slow to get down in time were blown to pieces. Even the Japanese soldiers lying on the ground were killed by the powerful shock wave from the shells falling nearby.
These shells were of course sent by Xu Dalong and others. The SWAT platoon has a mortar, and the cavalry company also has a mortar.
Xu Dalong and others planted small flags on the highway to let the Japanese troops stay there in a dense formation to facilitate an attack on them.
Each mortar fired two rapid fire rounds, then mounted and ran.
One minute after the explosion, Captain Hirata and others stood up when they saw there was no movement.
He looked at the attackers escaping on horseback in the distance, feeling furious. He pulled out his command knife and shouted loudly in the direction where Xu Dalong and others were escaping: "Artillery, prepare, kill them for me."
The Japanese hurriedly began to set up the artillery. After they had been busy for a while and set up the artillery, the attackers had already run away and were almost out of sight.
Captain Hirata didn't care so much, he swung his command knife forward fiercely and shouted: "Fire."
The mortars were out of reach, and the two Type 92 infantry guns they brought opened fire in the direction of the escapees.
At such a long distance, even if they hit a fixed target, they usually need to test fire before they can hit the target. Several horses running at high speed are not something they can hit at once.
The shells exploded, even dozens of meters away from the attackers.
When the attackers heard the sound of artillery, they suddenly dispersed, each horse going in its own direction, which made it even more difficult for the Japanese artillery to aim.
The Japanese soldiers fired a few shots indiscriminately, but without any effect. In order to avoid wasting shells, they had to stop the bombardment.
Captain Hirata is worried that if the troops continue to stay here, they will encounter new attacks. He thought there were no mines on the ground in front of him, so he shouted: "Everyone is there, run forward."
The Japanese soldiers trembled and ran past the area where the small flags were distributed.
Sure enough, there are really no landmines underground. When a Japanese soldier passed by, he reached out and pulled up a small flag, but there was no reaction.
The soldiers admired Captain Hirata very much, and Captain Hirata also felt a little proud.
The large group of Japanese troops ran for more than a mile, but a small flag appeared on the road ahead again, still reading "Beware of Mines" on it.
The Japanese soldiers already had experience, and they ran over without hesitation.
Sure enough, the Japanese soldiers running in front did not encounter any trouble, but one Japanese soldier stepped on something, staggered and fell to the ground.
At this moment, a violent explosion suddenly occurred behind these Japanese soldiers. Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen grenades flew into the sky and exploded in the air.
The densely packed Japanese troops on the road had nowhere to hide, and there were immediate casualties.
It turns out that Xu Dalong and others really don't have landmines, and even the arsenal in the headquarters' logistics doesn't produce them. Xu Dalong and others can only use grenades to kill the enemy. The number of grenades they have is also very limited, and they must ensure that they can be used.
In order to prevent the Japanese engineers from discovering the buried grenades, they deliberately planted small flags in front of them to make the Japanese think that there were no explosives here, thus creating a paralyzing mentality.
They dug a hole in the ground and made a pedal out of wooden boards. After the Japanese soldier running in front stepped on the pedal, the rope connected to the pedal pulled out the fuse of the grenade buried behind, and then used the explosion to blow up the other grenades. Flying into the sky, it once again caused heavy casualties to the Japanese army.
The smoke from the grenade explosion on the highway had not yet dispersed. Four more mortar shells flew into the sky, killing more than a dozen Japanese soldiers on the spot.
Captain Hirata looked at the fleeing attackers in the distance, eyes wide with anger. Suddenly, his chest felt hot, his throat felt sweet, and a mouthful of blood spurted out.
"Captain, please take care." The guards around him hurriedly stepped forward to support his shaking body.
"Eight, crushing the road. Eight, crushing the road. These damn attackers, not samurai, are all the work of cowards!" Captain Hirata pushed away the Japanese soldiers who were supporting him and cursed weakly.
The Japanese army organized their troops and continued to move forward. Soon after, they saw several more small flags on the highway.
At this time, they were all dumbfounded and didn't know what to do.
Losses were reported again. Since leaving Pingan County, the entire brigade has lost 339 officers and soldiers. Such a huge loss had never happened even when they conquered Taiyuan City.
Captain Hirata had never fought such a useless battle. For a moment, he really didn't know how to deal with those hateful attackers.
At this time, the communications staff officer ran over and said: "Captain, your Excellency the commander of the regiment came to send a telegram to inquire about our position and urge us to speed up our march."
Captain Hirata said helplessly: "Go around those small flags on the road and pass by the road."
Xu Dalong had already thought of this. Just when the Japanese soldiers got off the road and tried to go around those small flags, someone stepped on the pedal again, causing the explosion of more than a dozen grenades.
Captain Hirata was almost crying. He didn't care so much and ordered the troops to move forward.
Fortunately, Xu Dalong and others had limited grenades, and the Japanese soldiers did not encounter any more explosions.
Xu Dalong has been looking for Captain Hirata. At this moment, he was hiding 500 meters away, using a telescope to carefully observe the Japanese army's formation.
He saw a group of Japanese soldiers surrounding a Japanese officer, who should be Captain Hirata. Xu Dalong wanted to kill Captain Pingtian first.
The Japanese guards around Captain Hirata were standing in front of and behind him at all times. It was very difficult to snipe him from a distance.
After careful observation, Xu Dalong had an idea in his mind.
The Japanese army continued to march.
Monk Wei and a few soldiers lay down behind a field ridge 200 meters away from the road. When they saw a large group of Japanese troops approaching, they fired another round of machine gun fire at the road. When they saw the Japanese soldiers running towards this place, they still did the old trick of mounting their horses and running away.
Captain Hirata now also thought of a way to deal with the attackers. When they encountered the attackers, they sent a small force to drive them away. The large group of people did not stop and continued to march forward.
Not to mention, this method effectively prevented the Japanese marching brigade from being attacked.
Captain Hirata was originally riding a horse, but after the attack, he now walked. He was closely protected by soldiers. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for snipers to kill him.
Behind the field ridge 150 meters in front of where Wei Monk and others attacked, Xu Dalong stared closely at the Japanese marching group, looking for Captain Hirata.
It was not difficult to find Captain Hirata. When other Japanese troops marched, they kept an equal distance from the front and rear. Now in order to protect the captain, the guards did not pay attention to formation. The team was dense and looked chaotic.
The soldiers of the Japanese army all wore khaki military uniforms, but Captain Hirata wore a dark green officer uniform, which was easy to identify.
Xu Dalong aimed his rifle at the group of people. Although the Japanese guards were very responsible, Captain Hirata still inevitably showed his figure from time to time during the march.
The moment Captain Pingtian's head emerged from between the heads of the two guards, Xu Dalong shot him.
Captain Hirata's head spurted a stream of blood arrows, and his body suddenly fell down.
Xu Dalong didn't dare to fight, so he immediately mounted his horse and galloped away.
The Japanese army was so angry that a squadron suddenly came out and chased Xu Dalong's back blindly, firing guns at the same time.
The Japanese army was well-trained, and Captain Hirata died. After a brief period of confusion, according to their prior command order, the captain of the 1st Squadron took over the command of Captain Hirata.
Without any hesitation, he immediately ordered his troops to run forward, hoping to find a suitable hiding place as soon as possible to deal with these attackers.
Commander Wang of the 69th Regiment received an order to block the Japanese Hirata Brigade coming from the direction of Ping'an County. It took them three days to dig trenches and prepare for a tough blocking battle to cover the main force and annihilate the Japanese Okazaki Brigade.
After waiting for a long time, the Japanese Hirata Brigade still did not appear. Captain Wang felt confused, so he sent scouts to search in the direction of Ping'an County.
After a long march, the independent regiment of Li Yunlong and others finally arrived at the south of Lijiapo. At this time, they discovered that the Japanese Okazaki Brigade had already passed by. So they followed the Okazaki Brigade towards Lijiapo.
40 minutes later, fierce gunfire rang out from the direction of Lijiapo.
Gao Feng, the leader of the police platoon who was in charge of detecting the enemy's situation in front, ran back and said: "Report to the leader, the Japanese Okazaki Brigade exchanged fire with the 70th and 71st Regiments. They are retreating towards us."
Li Yunlong said happily: "You came just in time. Zhang Dabiao, you immediately lead the first battalion to occupy the hilltop on the left. Kong Jie, you lead the second battalion to occupy the hilltop on the right. The rest of the people will build bunkers at the mouth of the valley with me. You must not let them run away. Okazaki is a bastard."
Kong Jie said excitedly: "That boy Xu Dalong is right. Now, where will his Okazaki brigade go? Brothers of the second battalion, follow me." As he said that, he took the lead towards the hilltop on the right. Climb away.
On the top of the mountain on the right side of Lijiapo, the former enemy commander and brigade commander of this battle was observing the battle situation on Lijiapo with a telescope.
After the Japanese Okazaki Brigade was blocked by the 70th and 71st Regiments, they sent some troops to block the 71st Regiment, concentrated their forces, and launched an attack on the 70th Regiment.
The brigade commander was very happy, this was exactly what he wanted most. If the 70th Regiment can contain the Okazaki Brigade, he can mobilize two battalions of the 71st Regiment, a reinforced battalion of the New Second Regiment, the brigade headquarters guard battalion and other directly affiliated teams to outflank the Okazaki Brigade and encircle and annihilate the enemy.
He was about to issue an order to outflank the enemy when he suddenly discovered that the Japanese Okazaki Brigade had stopped attacking the 70th Regiment and returned along the original route. The Japanese army withdrew very quickly, not even leaving the bodies of the soldiers who died in the battle, and retreated directly along the valley.
It turns out that Captain Okazaki is a warrior with rich combat experience. According to the original battle plan, the Japanese army dispatched three infantry brigades: Hirata Battalion and Watanabe Battalion conducted a feint attack to mobilize the main force of the Eighth Route Army, and Okazaki Battalion attacked the enemy's arsenal and logistics from Lijiapo.
When he was blocked by the 70th and 71st Regiments, he found that the enemy had more troops. It was obvious that the enemy had noticed his sneak attack and made preparations.
He realized the danger and immediately reported the situation here to the commander of the 35th Brigade. The commander learned that the Eighth Route Army had seen through the Japanese army's intentions, so he ordered the Okazaki Brigade to stop fighting and immediately withdraw from the original route.
Seeing this situation, the brigade commander hurriedly ordered the troops responsible for outflanking the enemy to outflank the enemy, but it was too late.
This is not because the brigade commander does not know how to use troops, but because during the march, the Japanese Okazaki Brigade dispatched sharp soldiers on the hills on both sides. In order to avoid being discovered by the enemy, the troops responsible for outflanking could only hide in another hill. behind the mountain,
Wait until the 70th Regiment attracts the Okazaki Brigade, and then outflank them.
What I didn't expect was that Okazaki's brigade retreated so quickly that it was too late for the outflanking troops to cross the mountains.
Seeing that the enemy was about to escape, the brigade commander ordered the 70th and 71st regiments to pursue the Okazaki Brigade. At this time, he no longer wanted to annihilate the Okazaki Brigade, but only hoped to eliminate as many Japanese troops as possible in the pursuit battle.
In the headquarters command post, the boss, deputy chief of staff, and division commander received the brigade commander's report and were a little depressed.
The boss said angrily: "I didn't expect that little brat Okazaki to be so timid. He is like a rabbit. He can run so fast. It's a pity."
The teacher comforted the boss and said: "It doesn't matter. Even if they can escape this time, they will suffer great losses. After this lesson, they will not dare to invade our base again."
On the top of the mountain, the brigade commander watched as the Japanese army ran into the valley in front of them and then disappeared around the corner.
He was so angry that he slapped the desk made of ammunition boxes, knocking the teapot on it to the ground.
Suddenly, the chief of staff shouted: "Brigadier commander, look, those Japanese are back."
The brigade commander raised his telescope and looked over. He wiped his eyes in disbelief, and then looked carefully. Sure enough, he saw the Japanese troops retreating from the valley and climbing towards the hillsides on both sides, apparently wanting to occupy terrain for resistance.
At this moment, many Eighth Route Army soldiers suddenly appeared on the hillsides on both sides.
They fired randomly at the foot of the mountain, and then swarms of grenades were thrown down the mountain.
The Japanese troops in the valley were blown up and turned into chaos.
The brigade commander was very excited and asked: "Which army is this? Hurry and find out the situation."
The chief of staff picked up the phone and asked about the observation posts ahead.
Soon, he put down the phone and said doubtfully: "Brigade commander, this is Li Yunlong's independent regiment. Aren't they the Hirata brigade that was holding down the Japanese army near Ping'an County? Why did they suddenly appear here?"
The brigade commander said very excitedly: "This is simply a stroke of genius, haha, this kid Li Yunlong is really worthy of him."
