"Your Excellency General, according to the search team's report, Chuxiong's troops have withdrawn from the city. Should we send troops to occupy the city and recover the bodies of the warriors?"
Kitahara reported to Major General Ushijima in a low voice.
"Yo Xi, the losses on the Eighth Route Army must also be huge, Chu Xiong can no longer bear such huge casualties.
Send the first brigade to occupy the central urban area of Liu Town, see off the Yushang warriors in the morning, and continue the attack in the afternoon! "
"Hey!"
Beiyuan took the order and left. The first brigade had recovered after more than a day's rest. They covered each other and drove into the central city, and then began to search for Yushang's warriors;
It took them two hours to search for the remains of 638 Japanese soldiers, and of course there were some that could not be found.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, the Japs began to burn the corpses. The entire sky above Liu Town was shrouded in a burning smell, mixed with the Japs' funeral singing, which made the officers and soldiers of the Independent Battalion sick to the point of vomiting!
"Tan Tao, give the devils a war song of our independent battalion, and let them all roar away to disperse this stench!"
Chu Xiong decided to boost the morale of the soldiers. Sacrifice is inevitable and the battle will never end!
"Comrades, let's sing "The Spirit of the Chinese Army" to bid farewell to our comrades, and also tell the Japanese on the opposite side that if they want to fight, then fight!"
"If the motherland is invaded,
A passionate man should strengthen himself.
Drink up this bowl of hometown wine,
A strong man will never return..."
At the Japanese temporary headquarters, Major General Ushijima actually hummed this Chinese war song to the melody of the Eighth Route Army. Old Japanese soldiers like Ushijima and Kitahara were all familiar with China. They had been preparing for this war more than a hundred years ago. .
"Kitahara-kun, did you hear that? This is the military spirit of Chuxiong's independent battalion. When an army has a military spirit, it becomes difficult to defeat;
Even if they are defeated, they will be difficult to eliminate, just like the withered grass under the vast snow, just a spring breeze will cover the land again! "
"There is an old saying in China, if you cut the grass without uprooting it, it will grow again with the spring breeze. Our casualties are huge, but as long as the empire is willing, dozens of brigades like Niu Dao can be formed overnight, but Chuxiong's independent battalion only has one!"
"While they are still very weak, we must completely and completely eliminate them and eradicate them, even if they cost the entire brigade!
Let the first brigade continue the attack and kill the chicken! "
Beiyuan nodded fiercely and followed the order.
Ten minutes later, the Japanese artillery fire sounded again, and the Japanese were about to attack again!
"Tan Tao, let each platoon take turns covering and withdraw!"
Chu Xiong no longer planned to play with the Japs and retreated to the direction of Shenxianling in advance.
"Your Excellency General, according to reports from the front, Chu Xiong led more than 200 remaining soldiers to retreat towards the mountain. Captain Kikuchi asked for permission to pursue?"
Kitahara brought unexpected news to Ushijima
"Chu Xiong is going to run away?"
"Or do you have other intentions?"
Ushijima, who had been tricked twice, began to become cautious. Of course, his hesitation was only for a moment. Hesitation was the most taboo thing for a general.
"Chase! We can't let Chu Xiong escape!"
Ushijima quickly made a decision, what tricks could Chu Xiong do with only two or three hundred remaining soldiers? He always firmly believed that in the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks were in vain!
The First Battalion was desperately chasing the Fourth Company, while the main force of Ushijima's brigade stayed in Liuzhen and waited for new developments.
It is impossible for thousands of people to be led by two or three hundred people.
"Kitahara-kun, you personally lead the third brigade to assist the first brigade in pursuit. We will completely wipe out Chu Xiong's tribe in the mountains and at sea!"
Ushijima played another card, and he himself was sitting in Liu Town, adjusting the deployment of troops at any time according to the subsequent development. He wanted to weave a dragnet for Chu Xiong, completely eliminate Chu Xiong's troops, and then divide his troops to clear out those hiding in the mountains. The Chinese people, in one fell swoop, razed the entire Liu Town.
"In such a cold weather, I want to see how long you can last in the mountains?"
Ushijima said to himself that he had a good plan in mind, which was to trap the people of Liu Town to death in the ice and snow.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, there was still one day left before New Year’s Eve, and there were still no fireworks in Lijia Village.
The villagers have been away from home for five days. The whole village is quiet. Occasionally a wild dog will escape, but it will also lose its vitality due to hunger. There is no food in the village.
At this time in previous years, every household is filled with smoke and aroma, and they are preparing the last New Year's goods. Children rush from one room to another, holding various kinds of food in their hands;
No matter how difficult the family is, they will not miss snacks for their children during the Chinese New Year, because this is where their hope lies...
In an unnamed valley more than 20 kilometers away from Lijia Village, the whole land is covered with snow, and the whole earth is almost frozen. Only this valley can still feel a trace of heat!
The villagers have been here for four days. It's freezing cold. The young ones are better off, but the elderly and children can hardly stand the cold...
Fortunately, the Japs never came to search the mountain. Chen Erxi led a military team to guard the mountain pass, so the villagers dared to build piles of bonfires to keep out the cold;
At least you can drink a sip of hot water and eat a mouthful of hot food. So far, no one has died from freezing.
The villagers are all praying to Commander Chu to fight away the Japanese as soon as possible so that they can return to their warm homes as soon as possible...
"Cough cough cough"
Old Uncle Qi coughed. His cough had not gotten better since he entered the mountains. If it hadn't been for the Japanese Army coat that Li Guoping brought over to keep out the cold, he would never have been able to survive the past few days.
"Dad! You drink a cup of hot water. I put a piece of old ginger in it to remove the cold."
Erni handed Uncle Qi a tank of hot water, and their family and other families set up a bonfire so that everyone could stay warmer if they huddled together;
There is an iron pot on the bonfire, and a pot of hot water is boiling in it. This is their water of life! With this hot water, scoop up a tub of hot water, put a handful of fried noodles in it, and you can eat steaming batter;
With a jar of batter, you can survive the cold nights.
After Uncle Qi drank a large vat of hot water, his complexion improved a lot and his cough was relieved a little. He handed the water vat to Aunt Qi beside him...
A few hundred meters away from the valley entrance, Li Chennan led a militia company to build fortifications on the hillside on the left side of the valley entrance. On the right side were cliffs with thick snow, making it impossible for ordinary people to climb up;
The terrain was chosen very well. It was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The narrowest part of the valley entrance was only a few dozen meters. As long as they held the hillside position, the Japanese would not be able to enter the mountain pass and harm the fellow villagers.
The fellows could still get some wind by hiding inside, but the militia company suffered a lot and stayed in the wind. In order not to freeze their bodies, they took turns digging trenches. They only had a dozen tools for digging fortifications.
"Company Commander, we have been digging here for four days and we haven't seen any Japanese coming. It's freezing cold. Why don't we let our comrades go into the valley to warm themselves up?"
Second platoon leader Li Sigan suggested that he saw that many comrades' fingers were frozen.
"Sigen, I also feel sorry for our comrades, but behind us are our families. Once the enemy comes, if we dig an extra foot of trench, one less comrade will be sacrificed. It is far better to freeze our fingers than let the enemy Rush into the valley mouth."
"Comrades, if you are not working, don't just stand around. Start running. Sigen, you can take everyone to run and move around."
