Yangcun.
Kazuo Sato had just arrived here half an hour ago. After taking a short rest, he ordered the troops to spread out and surrounded Yang Village.
Afterwards, he ordered the artillery troops to build artillery positions. He himself climbed to a slightly higher place with a few officers and observed Yangcun with binoculars.
After seeing the facilities and venues used by the county brigade for training, Sato nodded: "Yoshi, there are indeed traces of the military stationing there!"
However, after his eyes circled around Yangcun a few times, he was completely confused.
Because there was not a single soldier in Yang Village at this time, everyone was wearing ordinary people's clothes, and the number of people was far less than expected.
Kazuo Sato put down the telescope and couldn't help but murmur in his heart: "Where are the people? Has someone tipped them off and run away?"
Thinking of this, Kazuo Sato said to the puppet battalion commander next to him: "You, take a few people and go to the village ahead to do reconnaissance work!"
When the puppet battalion commander heard this, he was so frightened that his calves began to tremble: "Ah? Sato Tai-kun, are you kidding me? There are Eighth Route Army soldiers in the village. Aren't I going to die if I go there?"
Sato's face was stern and he said angrily: "If you are asked to go, you will go. How can there be so much nonsense?"
The puppet battalion commander was immediately frightened and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I'll go now, I'll go now!"
However, before he could turn around and leave, a Japanese telegraph operator ran up to Sato and said anxiously: "Report! Sir, a telegram for help was sent from Jingxing, saying that the Eighth Route Army is attacking Jingxing County?"
"Nani?"
Sato took the telegram and looked at it, and suddenly felt bad all over.
The telegram contained nothing about the enemy's troop strength and firepower configuration. He just wrote one sentence at the end: The situation is acceptable, please ask for tactical guidance!
What else can these guys who only know how to brag do?
Just when Sato was about to curse, a telegraph operator ran over: "Report, telegram!"
Sato took it and took a look. Well, this time there were only six words left: Captain please hurry up...
Sato also understood now that the telegram was obviously only half sent, indicating that the situation in the county was indeed urgent.
"Bagya Road! The Eighth Route Army took advantage of my entire army to attack my city. How cunning and cunning!" Sato gritted his teeth in anger, "Order!"
"Hai!"
"have!"
"The imperial army gave up their heavy weapons, returned to the Jingzhuang stronghold with light equipment, and boarded trucks to return to Jingxing for reinforcements! The Imperial Alliance Army is responsible for escorting the heavy weapons left behind by the imperial army, and there must be no losses!"
"Hai!"
"yes!"
The puppet battalion commander was also very happy when he found out that he didn't need to investigate, but he still didn't dare to show it on the surface.
. . . . . .
At the same time, Jingxing County.
When Liu Yu arrived, Wu Hongbo had already cleared away the remaining enemies in the warehouse.
When he saw Liu Yu, Wu Hongbo was particularly excited: "Liu Yu, I'm so damn jealous of your luck. Who can imagine attacking a county town without even encountering decent resistance! Such a city is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Are you going to let us capture the county seat?"
Liu Yu was also very happy, but he still had to pretend on the surface.
Seeing his indifferent expression, he smiled and said: "Don't worry, you are not dreaming. Besides, luck is also a part of strength, and you can't envy it. What's more, we can have this victory because of it." Just luck!”
As he said that, Liu Yu looked at the surrounding county brigade soldiers who were very excited but obviously extremely tired.
In three hours, they stormed more than 40 kilometers of mountain roads and captured a county town.
This can be regarded as a small miracle!
With this battle as the foundation, even if the soldiers lack actual combat experience, the spirit of this unit has taken shape!
Thinking of this, the light bulb on Liu Yu's forehead suddenly lit up again, and then he immediately said to Wu Hongbo: "Don't worry about the remaining puppet soldiers hiding in the city. I'll give you half an hour." , count the casualties, count the loot!”
With that said, Liu Yu didn't wait for Wu Hongbo to speak, and left quickly towards the Japanese headquarters.
Wu Hongbo wanted to say whether he should let the soldiers take a rest, but he raised his hand, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
He shrugged and conveyed Liu Yu's order.
. . . . . .
Half an hour later, Wu Hongbo happily walked into the Japanese headquarters with a list in hand.
"Captain, we've made a fortune this time!"
Liu Yu was currently lying in front of the sand table made by the Japanese, holding a map in his hand and comparing it constantly.
Originally, he didn't even have a map, but now, he no longer had to rely on his memory of the surrounding terrain to fight the battle.
Hearing Wu Hongbo's voice, Liu Yu also raised his head and looked at his instructor with questioning eyes.
Wu Hongbo grinned like a flower and read to the list: "In this battle, a total of 25 Japanese soldiers were killed, including 2 second lieutenants and one lieutenant! 13 puppet soldiers were killed and 4 were captured! 1,221 rifles were seized. There are 8 pistols, 45 light machine guns, 22 heavy machine guns, 30 grenade launchers, 8 mortars, and 2 Type 92 infantry guns! There are even more ammunition and so on, and the warehouse is full of them. At least 500 boxes! In addition, there were many military cans, white flour and other materials, too late to count! Oh, by the way, we also seized several boxes of oceans, gold bars, French currency, Japanese yen, military stamps and other currencies, as well. No time to count!”
Liu Yu was also shocked: "Why so many?"
As he spoke, he took the list and read it carefully.
But then he realized that after the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese army in North China showed signs of weakness in their offensive on the frontal battlefield, and it was time to shift their main target to the Eighth Route Army behind enemy lines.
And Jingxing County is a very important node of the entire Zhengtai Line. If it is lost here, there will be problems with the supply of the Japanese army in Shanxi.
The railway was stripped for repairs, and it took a few people half a day to get it done. If Jingxing County was lost, threatening the Jingxing Railway Station in the northeast, then things would be very serious.
There are so many weapons and ammunition stored in the Japanese warehouse, which is enough to meet the operational needs of a garrison brigade for a year. It seems that they are preparing to completely eliminate the surrounding Eighth Route Army forces to ensure that Jingxing is safe and create a good rear transportation environment for subsequent mopping up operations against the main force of the Eighth Route Army. .
Seeing that Liu Yu was thoughtful, Wu Hongbo asked: "Captain, do you have any other ideas?"
Liu Yu nodded and did not speak directly, but asked: "How are our casualties?"
Wu Hongbo was stunned, and then said quickly: "Three were killed and eight were injured, all new recruits, and veterans had zero casualties. Two were killed by heavy machine guns in the charge at the city gate, and the rest were caused by the attack on the warehouse. It seems that We have to increase street fighting training this time when we go back!"
Liu Yu nodded: "Fortunately, there are not many casualties. Do you have any suggestions for the next action?"
Wu Hongbo heard this and said thoughtfully: "The Japanese have hoarded so many weapons and ammunition in places like Jingxing that focus on defense. I think there will be more in other places, such as Zhengding and Shimen in the east! This is obviously going to happen soon. Big move! And the closest ones to them are the Shanxi-Hebei-Hebei and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base areas of our Eighth Route Army. To defeat their plan, the best way is to cut off the Zhengtai Line!"
Liu Yu nodded: "Compared to Jingxing County, the train station is the real enemy's key point!"
As he said that, Liu Yu changed the topic: "But even if we blow up the train station, the Japanese will be able to build it in a few months. The worst is to delay the raid, and what is supposed to come will still come!"
Wu Hongbo was a little confused and asked: "What do you mean?"
Liu Yu pulled him to the sand table, then spread out the map and pointed to a place on the map.
When Wu Hongbo saw it, his eyes lit up and he immediately thought of something: "Mianhe Highway Bridge?"
"Yes! Mianhe Bridge!" Liu Yu said, "If the Japanese come back for reinforcements, they will definitely be in a hurry. They must follow the official road on the west bank of the Gantao River, cross the Mianhe River, and then go to the west gate of Jingxing!"
With that said, Liu Yu took out his pocket watch and checked the time: "It is now 2:10 in the afternoon. The Japanese should have started to return reinforcements. Even if they lose their heavy equipment, they will not be able to reach the Jingzhuang stronghold in less than an hour. And they have not been able to reach the Jingzhuang stronghold since then. It takes almost an hour to get on the bus in Jingzhuang and take the official road back to the county town. So, I decided to set up an ambush near the Mianhe Bridge to ambush him! We seized too many things this time, and we couldn't finish them in just a few hours. , so we must stop the Japanese who are returning for reinforcements and strive to severely damage him! Eliminate the threat to the transportation of supplies!"
As he said that, Liu Yu showed a fierce expression again: "The other thing is, this time the little devils gathered two squadrons to beat me, and there may be more next time. Instead of waiting for them to come to beat us, it is better to take advantage of them to be in a hurry now." , give him a hard blow! Instead of blowing up the station, it’s better to consume his vitality! If we kill a Japs here, he will have to bring one from somewhere else, and won’t there be fewer Japs from other places?”
After hearing this, Wu Hongbo thought for a moment and said hesitantly: "But we are not sure whether the Japs from other directions will come for reinforcements. In addition, the soldiers' physical energy consumption is too great. I am worried..."
Before he finished speaking, Liu Yu raised his hand and interrupted: "We are tired, and the enemy is tired! Besides, how can there be any relaxation and joy in fighting? Without this awareness, what kind of soldier can we be? As for the Japanese from other directions, they are coming They came early, and the fact that we haven’t seen reinforcements for so long means that the Japanese garrison commander at Jingxing didn’t report the matter, which just gave us a chance!”
"Okay, I agree!" Wu Hongbo looked at Liu Yu's determined look and could only say this.
"Okay, now go give the order and ask everyone to go to the warehouse to get equipment. Whoever likes to use it and knows how to use it can get it. Each person will bring 200 rounds of ammunition. Bring all the machine guns in the warehouse, and each one will carry bullets. 3,000 rounds! After the change of clothes, the troops gathered at the gate of Xicheng. In addition, you ask Yang Xing'er to take the money to go to the city to buy carriages, oxcarts and other means of transportation, even if it is a handcart, the price will be doubled or tripled. It’s okay, we have money now anyway! Hire some people and move everything in the warehouse back to Yangcun. As for the escort mission, a platoon from the Second Company will be responsible for it.”
