At four o'clock in the afternoon that day, the remaining four teams of Yiluan Division all arrived.
After that, they followed the Oigawa River and walked north for about three miles, and then selected suitable terrain to arrange their fighting positions.
The fourth team as a firepower unit has not been separated and assigned. Together with the third team, they are ambushing on the high ground in the middle of the mountains. Heavy machine gun and mortar fire can block the mountain trails and foothill dirt roads here - these are enemy forces. There are only possible places to pass through.
The first, second, and reconnaissance teams, under the personal leadership of Cai Zhichen, began to circle to the southeast, hoping to get around the flank of the enemy in the west and launch a surprise attack. If the enemy troops were to flee, they would run headlong into the dragnet set by the third and fourth teams.
Obviously, Yiluan Division's tactical deployment was quite active and active. If it were an ordinary infantry unit, they probably would not take the risk to attack in a roundabout way, but would prepare an ambush at the selected location.
It was approaching five o'clock, and a group of about 200 armed men in different costumes were trekking through the rugged mountains. The spring was full of joy, but there was no joy or relaxation in everyone's expressions, and the atmosphere of the whole team was a bit depressed. .
This resistance force called the "Kimura Volunteer Team" was formed by reserve captain Kimura Junshi. They initially had eight reserve or reserve officers and soldiers as the core, together with more than 20 retired officers and soldiers, and a large number of civilian volunteers. Half a month ago, this team once reached 700 people. They moved to the north near Saku City and Togo City. They raided and ambushed the Ming army's baggage team many times, and even boldly seized the Nagano Prefectural Police's weapons depot.
Because it is too eye-catching, it has been targeted in the past few days - there are air strikes from aircraft in the sky and pursuit by infantry on the ground.
As a result, the Kimura Volunteer Team, which was under special care, suffered heavy casualties and countless corpses. Now there are only about 200 remaining defeated soldiers retreating to the southwest.
"The Ming army has not given up the pursuit, we cannot take it lightly..." Kimura Junzhi, who is nearly fifty years old, leaned on a thick branch and said: "Then turn due west, to the area of Mt. Misawa and Mt. Sanfu. That is a good place. , allowing us to set up camp for long-term rest and recuperation.”
A young man next to him asked hesitantly: "Is it too barren there? We have very little ammunition left. On average, each person only has twenty rounds of ammunition, and the machine gun only has three hundred rounds."
"Watanabe, you still want to go to American territory. This is an escape."
"No, senior, this is a longer-term plan. We can rest more safely, and we can also obtain medicines and bullets through various channels."
To the west of Nagano Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture are Gifu Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture, which belong to the sphere of influence of the Americans who are still hanging on. The Ming army cannot cross the border with great fanfare.
It's not just the resistance team led by Kimura that is divided, but the same is true for many other teams.
After the initial stage, that is, after more than half a month of attacks, many resistance generals have realized the key problem——
Even though the resistance movement is gaining momentum now, it is just hammering here and there, with no clear and specific long-term plans.
Although there are many large and small resistance forces, they lack unified leadership and fight independently. Therefore, they will be defeated by the Ming army one by one. The resistance movement that seems to be vigorous now must be short-lived.
Therefore, the resistance army needs one or more fixed and stable bases so that they can train, rest, and rotate. At the same time, such a place should be more convenient for material transactions to purchase weapons, ammunition, food, and medicine.
Taken together, retreating into American territory seems like a perfect choice?
There is no need to worry about large-scale cross-border siege by the Ming army, and it also facilitates material transactions.
Moreover, the Americans actually hope to have such a group of resistance forces to contain Akito's military strength and resources. As long as they don't make a big show of it, the Americans shouldn't refuse the resistance forces to cross the border and stockpile troops?
It is said that the leaders of several larger resistance forces are already trying to communicate secretly with the American representatives in Osaka.
"...Have you ever thought about how you will obey the arrangements of the Americans in all matters after this? Act according to their wishes?"
"..." The young man hesitated a few times and was speechless.
"What if the Americans choose to compromise? Maybe they will be worried that the Ming army will use this as an excuse to drive them away with good reason." Kimura Junshi frowned and said: "In this case, we are abandoned children who can be abandoned at any time."
The two of them were still arguing, and the entire team was also moving forward in a scattered manner on the dirt road next to the foothills.
At this moment, suddenly, several things flew out from the nearby woods and rolled around on the ground several times.
People looked closely and realized that it was actually a grenade! Immediately, the dead souls emerged, screaming and crawling away.
"Boom! Boom!"
An explosion sounded, followed by intensive gunshots. In just a few breaths, an unknown number of bullets spilled out from this side.
Amidst the screams, at least twenty people were knocked down in a daze at the beginning. However, what surprised Cai Zhichen was that they did not run away in panic. Only a few of them were shaken and ran away.
The officers and soldiers of the Yiluan Division who circled to the flank launched a successful surprise attack. Several sentries placed by the resistance army were shot dead by the soldiers of the reconnaissance team with crossbow arrows, allowing everyone to get as close as less than thirty meters. distance.
The "bang bang" sound of rifles, the "tat-tat-tat" sound of light machine guns, and the "tat-tat-tat" sound of submachine guns. In an instant, the firing sounds of at least five or six different guns on both sides were intertwined with the people's The shouts became a battlefield symphony.
With a rate of fire of more than 500 rounds per minute and a magazine capacity of 47 rounds, although the Lewis light machine gun equipped by the Resistance Army is old, it is one of the few that can cause some trouble, so it has also been attacked by the officers and soldiers of the Yiluan Division. the key objects of care.
Rifle grenades, light machine guns, and sniper rifles all prioritized attacking the few enemy light machine guns that were desperately firing back, but the enemy kept taking over the control. Next to one of the light machine guns, there were four or five corpses lying in a mess!
The large number of semi-automatic and automatic weapons equipped by the officers and soldiers of Yiluan Division gave them an advantage in such close combat. The dense rain of bullets suppressed these defeated generals who could not raise their heads.
Although these two hundred people are all "veterans" who survived the Ming army's pursuit a few days ago, after the brutal elimination of winners alive and losers dead, their quality is undoubtedly not low, so they suffered a sudden and swift blow. From then on, order was still barely maintained.
As the elite among the elite, Yiluan Division was not suitable for taking the initiative to attack, and Cai Zhichen was reluctant to do so, so he simply used overwhelming firepower to continuously kill and injure the opponent.
The "target performance" of the special forces with excellent shooting skills and accurate marksmanship at this distance of tens of meters is terrifying!
Atsushi Kimura was killed by a soldier with two shots from a semi-automatic rifle at the right moment. A grenade was then dropped on the place where the body fell. After the explosion, wisps of smoke drifted away, and the reserve captain whose granddaughter had just turned ten died. of.
The two sides only exchanged fire for half a quarter of an hour. The scene of one-sided shooting and massacre was extremely horrific. The Kimura Volunteer Team, which suffered heavy casualties, immediately collapsed, and they fled in despair.
The larger group fled westward without thinking, and apparently ran into the dragnet set up by the third and fourth teams.
Seeing the frightened enemy troops staggering away, the officers and soldiers who were waiting could not help but beam with joy, but they still waited with excitement.
"boom!"
The fastest runner is not necessarily the first to die, because the fourth person behind and to his left stepped on a mine.
The Type 2 and Type 3 mines, about the size of two cans, were a typical style of this era - aiming to kill rather than maim, so they were large and loaded with explosives.
The explosive landmine tore off the unlucky man's legs in an instant. The two blown-off legs were spinning and flying in the air like branches, and the body was thrown high by the air waves; the other three nearby, The four of them were also knocked down immediately.
Fierce fighting resumed, but lasted only for a short time.
The die-hards who were lucky enough to survive but refused to surrender still persisted in resisting. They relied on depressions, corpses, and trees to shoot at the officers and soldiers of Yiluan Division, but the intensity of the battle was already very low.
After two cups of tea, the entire battlefield finally fell silent.
In other words, there were no sudden and loud gunshots and explosions, but the shouts and howls of the wounded still came one after another.
The next day, Tokyo, the headquarters of the First Marine Regiment of the Ming Dynasty.
For nearly half a month, a petite figure would appear at the main entrance of the camp on time at noon every day, and it was the same today.
Since the encounter that morning, Komatsu Moriko now carefully prepares a lunch every day, then takes the tram to the nearby area and requests by name to give it to the "young officer with an off-white rank plate."
Jiang Ning didn't take this matter to heart at first, but under the "instigation" of Zhu Lizhuo, Han Yi, Xue Can and others, he started to hook up with her.
"...No matter how bad it is, it would be nice to take him home as a servant to help with the work. It can be said to be harmless and profitable!"
Jiang Ning, who was used to it, carried the lunch and walked back, while Xue Can smiled and talked to the side.
As everyone knows, Zhou Changfeng was walking and thinking about what to say. He heard these words from a distance, and then he squinted and said, "You instigate others to do bad things all day long. If you have time to spare, why not do something serious?"
"It's unfair. I don't have any advice." Xue Can said with an innocent look: "If the Ming matchmaker is marrying, he is afraid that his parents will not agree. He has no choice but to leave this to the little girl and take it back to the Ming Dynasty. It’s much better than staying here.”
Zhou Changfeng, who was quite speechless, looked at Jiang Ning and said earnestly: "It's normal for the older generation to be more stubborn, but according to traditional concepts, this doesn't actually violate anything. The important thing is whether you can persevere."
"Isn't that right? You are now a lieutenant in your twenties. It's time to make your own decision." Xue Can patted Jiang Ning on the shoulder, "In short, just live up to your conscience."
At this time, a guard came quickly and reported that the battle report from Yiluan Division had been delivered.
Zhou Changfeng didn't say anything more. He glanced at the lunch box, then turned and left.
21 people were injured, 7 were killed, 5 were lost in non-combat situations, and 208 remaining members of the "Kimura Volunteer Corps" were wiped out, including 39 prisoners.
The first battle was successful. The interception mission was carried out neatly and neatly. At least the battle report was very nice.
After reviewing the battle report, Zhou Changfeng felt that he could not find any faults. The threat that the army might expand in the future was completely eliminated.
However, the interrogation results attached to it made him a little worried, because these resistance forces seemed to have realized that the current state of disunity was not a long-term solution, and the Ming army would be able to deal with them one by one sooner or later.
So they are now actually considering retreating into the American sphere of influence to develop base areas? interesting.
The Americans have only two choices - if they are worried that the Ming Dynasty will use this as a legitimate reason to send troops, then refuse the resistance army to enter; on the other hand, if they are confident, then agree.
The latter will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on the maintenance of public security in the Japanese Islands. One or several resistance organizations have been active for a long time, constantly infiltrating, promoting, and causing trouble, and can cause chaos forever.
And if you want to cross the border and clear up, it will inevitably escalate to the point where the United States and the United States are at odds with each other, and military operations will be tied up.
So Zhou Changfeng thought that if that was really going to happen, he might as well cut the knot quickly and send Yiluan Division to conduct precise raids on the resistance base areas to disintegrate or defeat the resistance movement.
But before that, he still had something to do - as the intensity of the Japanese resistance increased sharply, the Ming army's suppression became more tough and brutal.
It was learned yesterday that in Fukushima Prefecture, the Second Marine Regiment of the Third Army and the local county police arrested more than a thousand "suspected rebels" in two days; in Miyagi Prefecture, the 10th Infantry Division was unwilling to They patiently screened out the resistance stragglers who were mixed with the civilian population one by one, and almost shot anyone they disliked. More than 400 people were "preventively executed" in six villages and towns.
Looking at the disciplinary statistics of the military and political departments of the General Military Department, the frequency of bad behavior has also soared rapidly, so much so that there are no records at all in recent days.
This approach of using violence to counter violence completely went against the "combination of kindness and power" originally planned by the court and the military. It can be said that the enraged officers and soldiers of the Second and Third Army completely forgot to learn from history.
After organizing his words, Zhou Changfeng sent an airmail to Zhu Lingjing.
He hoped that the latter could exert some influence on the court, so that the military headquarters could order the Ming troops stationed in Japan to exercise restraint and strictly follow the original plan of using both suppression and appeasement, as well as kindness and power.
The postal plane carrying the letter crossed the Daming Sea, and in the evening of that day, the letter was delivered to Princess Ningyou's mansion.
Zhu Lingjing, who had just finished taking a bath, was still covered in moisture. She was wearing a thin light-colored satin robe, her hair was disheveled, and she was letting the maid dry her wet hair with a hair dryer.
"Letter?" When she learned that someone from Zhou had written a letter for air delivery, she thought it was something urgent. "Is it something urgent?"
"Your Highness, it hasn't been opened yet..."
"dismantle."
"yes."
Su Yiyi, who looked as usual, opened the paint, took out the letter, and read it at a glance. Then she replied with some confusion: "This is a military and state matter, it should be considered important."
(End of chapter)
