Not only Lijia Village is making preparations, but the merchants in Liu Town are also evacuating. Soon Liu Town will become an empty city. The unsold goods will be disposed of at cost price. The Japanese are coming, and it is important to save their lives;
Every village is making preparations for retreat in an orderly manner, waiting to receive the order to enter the mountains!
The geographical location of Liu Town is indeed very good. The army can only enter Liu Town from the direction of Anping City. Although there is an official road in the other direction, it is surrounded by rolling mountains that lead to the Central Plains Province. Unless it is a joint operation with the Japs in the Central Plains Province, , otherwise the devils from Jin region would only have one way to enter Liu Town: Anping City.
This was what Chuxiong was looking for when selecting the base area. It was easy to defend but difficult to attack;
If a large group of Japanese soldiers comes, they may be wiped out;
To overtake a brigade, it takes more than a day or two to prepare the logistics supplies. This gives the base area enough time to prepare and clear the country.
The Japanese also understood this, so they never thought of launching a sneak attack. Today's Liu Town has become a climate where a squadron's sneak attack is of little use. A large group does not dare to enter Liu Town alone. This is the effect Chu Xiong needs!
The Japanese simply made blatant preparations in Anping City and mobilized a large number of troops and supplies. Anping City has become a military city.
The ghosts have many spies in Anping City, and every move of the Japanese is under their noses. No one can hide the actions of thousands of people.
This time the Japanese used a full brigade, two field regiments, and a large number of Imperial Army troops to deal with a small independent battalion. It was really a heavy attack.
December 23rd of the lunar calendar is a great day to celebrate the Spring Festival in the north. Every household is making dumplings. The Japanese are taking action. They want to make dumplings from the base area!
First, they sent three partial divisions to attack the three base areas on the outskirts of Liu Town, and pinned down Chu Xiong's three main forces on the outskirts;
The troop configuration is basically a Japanese squadron plus an Imperial Army Corps. From the Japanese perspective, these troops have no problem dealing with a company of the Eighth Route Army.
The remaining main force of the Japs, led by Major General Saburo Ushijima of the 1st Brigade of the 65th Division, came straight from Anping City to Liuzhen. There were more than 8,000 people and various combat supplies stretching for several kilometers.
In order to prevent the Eighth Route Army from attacking along the way, they split the cavalry brigade into several cavalry squadrons and escorted them along the way. The search teams went out hundreds of meters away on both sides of the road, like a hedgehog, leaving the Eighth Route Army with no choice but to test the independent battalion and The time has come for the soldiers and civilians in the base area.
In Majia Village, a squadron and a regiment of puppet troops swaggered in. The company could only organize the villagers to go into the mountains to fight guerrillas with the Japanese. Li Qing left three platoons outside the village, led by him to contain the Japanese;
The other two platoons are led by the fourth platoon leader Chen Fugui, who coordinates with the militia company to protect the villagers. Chen Fugui has accumulated rich experience in the last counter-mopping operation and is familiar with the terrain. He almost wiped out the Koizumi Squadron last time. This time he has more With a main platoon, it is not a big problem to deal with the Japanese.
The most difficult thing to deal with this time is the pseudo-legion. Many of them were surrendered by the Jinsui Army. They have good combat effectiveness and are familiar with the local terrain, making them very difficult to deal with.
Their branch was a partial division, and the task given to them by the brigade leader was to contain the First Company of the Independent Battalion, which was operating near Majia Village. At first, they were quite honest. They just occupied Majia Village and made a posture of searching the mountain. Naturally, the company could not Dare to stay away;
It's freezing cold today, and the people can't last long in the mountains. But the Japanese and puppet soldiers at least have the villagers' houses to block the cold wind. If this continues, within a few days, the villagers may suffer from frostbite and freeze to death. , especially the elderly and children!
"Company Commander, it's not a problem to drag on like this. The Japanese are living a very comfortable life in the village, while the fellow villagers are freezing in the mountains!"
While discussing countermeasures, the first person to ask the question was platoon leader Zhou Qing. What he said was what everyone was worried about.
"But we harassed the Japanese several times, trying to lure them out, but they couldn't get out of their holes and couldn't talk."
Third platoon leader Liu Peng also expressed his concerns.
"If the Japs don't come out, we won't be able to defeat their ambush and attack Majia Village. We don't have the strength. We still have to find a way to make the Japs unable to stay in the village."
The second platoon leader Gao Feng pointed out that the key to the problem was that the Japs could not be allowed to stay in the village.
Gao Feng's words suddenly gave Li Qing some inspiration...
"Don't let the devils stay in the village..."
"Why don't you let the devils stay in the village?"
Li Qinglian fell into deep thought, and others were also thinking along this line of thought...
Suddenly Li Qing had an idea——
"Comrades, I have an idea..."
Li Qing expressed his thoughts, and the others looked solemn. This decision was not easy to make!
"Comrades, if you don't want to let go of your children, you won't be able to trap the wolf. As long as the fellow villagers are still here, there will be no difficulty that cannot be overcome. Think about it, we Liu Town, haven't we survived?"
After listening to Li Qing's words, Zhou Qing gritted his steel teeth and made up his mind:
"I agree with the company commander's decision, we share the responsibility!"
"Yes, we share the responsibility. If our home is destroyed, we will rebuild it!"
"Done!"
Several leaders in a row finally unified their thinking, and the tactic of removing salary from the bottom of the cauldron is about to begin...
At night, a biting northwest wind blew outside the village. The cold wind was like a knife. Even the Japanese and puppet soldiers hiding in the village with broken houses to protect themselves from the wind could not bear it, let alone the villagers hiding in the old forest.
In Ma Sihai's courtyard, a blazing bonfire rose, lighting up the sky red and making the air warm;
Several Japanese army officers and puppet army commanders were sitting around a bonfire discussing military matters. On the bonfire were stewed large pieces of dog meat. This was a wild dog they caught today. After eating rice dumplings for two days, they could finally feast on it tonight. .
Wang Mazi, the commander of the puppet army, was also called over to discuss the matter. This made him very flattered. He wished he could sell his entire family to the Japanese for eighteen generations. He said to Captain Toyota with a charming smile:
"Tai-kun Toyoda, your plan is really brilliant!
It's such a cold weather, and those mud-legged people don't wear enough clothes. They can't carry them in the mountains for two days. If they stay for a few more days, they won't be able to open the gun bolts on Tubal Road. Then I will lead the way and pick them up in the mountains. Go dogs! "
Toyoda Ichiro was already very proud of his strategy. The harder the cold wind blew outside, the happier he became. Now when he heard Wang Mazi praise him, he felt even more proud.
"Yo Xi, Wang Sang, you are very loyal. The imperial army will not treat you badly!"
After Toyota finished speaking, he said to the Japanese second lieutenant next to him:
"Yamada-kun, give Wang-san a dog bone!"
Second Lieutenant Yamada used the bayonet in his hand to pick out a dog bone with a little meat from the pot and shaved it to Wang Mazi.
Wang Mazi suddenly trembled with excitement and took it with trembling hands, as if he was catching a peerless treasure:
"Thank you Toyoda-kun, thank you Yamada-tai-kun. I will go through fire and water for His Majesty the Emperor without hesitation!"
Toyota nodded and said arrogantly:
"Yo Xi, Wang Sang, tonight's security mission will be left to your Royal Association Legion. Keep your spirits up and make no mistakes, otherwise you will die."
When Wang Mazi heard this, he leaned on his legs, gave Toyota a military salute, and said loudly:
"Hey, the Ghost Alliance Army will definitely fulfill its mission!"
