Bright Sword: Start with Ding Blast Bridge, Homemade Sweet Potato Cake

When deploying troops, Ding Wei had to take one thing into consideration: both Shenchi and Ningwu are accessible by railway.

This is an important county town that the Japanese invaders paid attention to. The defense level arranged was not at the same level, and artillery was strengthened to participate in the garrison.

There are far more artillery towers, strongholds and bunkers near the railway than in the mountainous areas.

A brute force attack is bound to increase casualties. In the battle of a small town called Kelan, the Japanese garrison consisted of barely 200 men and artillery, but the Fourth Military Division suffered more than 200 deaths and more than 300 wounded.

If we attack these two counties, the casualties will at least double, or even multiply.

If we fight head-on, we won't be able to withstand the financial loss.

We need to wait a little bit. It is already autumn now. The Japanese are about to start the Pacific War and are dispatching elite troops to many islands for defense.

This will inevitably lead to a reduction in the number of troops stationed in North China. By then, who can stop him?

The county town can be fought slowly, but the areas surrounding the county town cannot wait any longer.

Arrange Sun Desheng to mobilize mobile forces to fight the Japanese and seize important commanding heights in the mountainous area to form an encirclement trend.

Especially the Tongpu Railway Line, the strongholds and artillery towers along the way are the focus. The coal and iron ore in the Datong area are transported by rail every day, and the Japanese are stealing our minerals day and night.

The puppet troops here curse their bad luck every day. The Eighth Route Army is elusive, especially those sharpshooters, who hide in secret places and shoot from behind every day.

As a result, no one was willing to leave the watchtower, and no one dared to show their head.

In the past, there was a chance to become a grandfather in the countryside, but now, you can’t even become a grandson.

The two puppet soldiers hid on the top of the artillery tower, smoking with their heads tucked in. They only dared to look out carefully from the firing hole, searching with their eyes squinting.

"Hasn't this month's flour been delivered yet?"

"You still want to eat white flour? You'll be in trouble. We've been robbed twice by the Eighth Route Army. There are no devils in our small fort, and no one wants to target us."

The Eighth Route Guerrillas had already figured out the artillery tower strongholds, and they would not provoke any of the Japanese troops stationed there for the time being.

There were no Japanese troops stationed there, only puppet troops, and their logistics were cut off.

The small artillery tower where seven or eight people were stationed was not an important thing to the Japanese.

There were hundreds of artillery towers built, and if a few were lost, we could just build dozens more.

No matter how many puppet soldiers died, they were not as dead as one Japanese soldier.

It is even more impossible to arrange logistical troops for a group of puppet troops.

After two or three days of starvation, the Eighth Route Army arranged for people to sneak up in the middle of the night and easily captured the enemy without any casualties.

The puppet army had two choices.

First, hand over the ammunition honestly, hold the empty gun, and act as if you are not a threat.

Pretend nothing happened, be obedient, send messages to the Eighth Route Army in the future, and follow their arrangements.

Secondly, if they are determined to work hard for the Japanese, we will open their chests on the spot and dig out their hearts and lungs with a knife to see if they are black-hearted people.

By using both kindness and force, the artillery tower was captured.

Without ammunition, the artillery tower was just an empty shell, and the puppet soldiers obediently continued to ask the devils for flour.

The Eighth Route Army naturally took the white flour away, leaving some coarse grains for the puppet army, just enough to keep them from starving to death.

The rest of the guerrillas followed suit and secretly instigated rebellion in many artillery towers.

With the military strength of the Japanese invaders, it would be impossible for them to occupy all of China's territory even if they put all their efforts into it.

It's because there are too many lackeys, traitors, puppet soldiers and traitors.

It is difficult to cure soft bones, and eight out of ten people have no backbone.

Everyone lived a good life during this period. They were served with white flour steamed buns and Japanese canned beef stew, with plenty of oil and salt. The comrades ate well and were healthy.

Zhong Zhicheng is capable of organizing the masses, arranging spies, and recruiting new soldiers in the base area. Otherwise, what is the role of the political commissar?

Ding Wei put down his stall and went to the county town to meet Chu Yunfei.

Last time I went to the 358th Regiment for a meal, it would be rude not to reciprocate, so Ding Wei also had to be polite.

He rode into the city, asked Zhuzi and Zhao Dayi to follow him, ordered a table of fine food, and invited Chu Yunfei to Jingle County for a gathering.

This side is still dominated by the Japanese. An infantry battalion is stationed in Jingle County, and including other puppet troops, there are a total of 3,000 people.

With their skills and courage, the two groups met at Juxianlou in the county town.

Chu Yunfei brought his adjutant Sun Ming, who was dressed in a businessman's long gown and a black round-crowned hat, and really looked like a shopkeeper.

Ding Wei and his two companions were also in disguise. Gou Zi and Zhu Zi dressed up as wine sellers, and looked quite realistic.

"Brother Ding!"

"Brother Yunfei!"

We sat down, had our food served, and had two drinks.

While chatting, Ding Wei looked out the window at the situation in the county. The Imperial Army and the Security Army were patrolling in turns. Something big was about to happen.

"The Fourth Military Division quietly recovered the two county towns of Wuzhai and Kelan and occupied the middle section of the Yunzhong Mountain area, which frightened the Japanese invaders so much that they could not move forward. Commander Ding's name is well-known in northwest Shanxi."

Chu Yunfei was telling the truth. There were many capable fighters in the Eighth Route Army, like Li Yunlong of the Independent Regiment, who was also a capable man who came from the countryside.

They fought head-on with the Japanese Sakata Regiment and their record was impressive.

But the Fourth Military Sub-district troops were the first to seriously attack a county town and successfully capture it.

Ding Wei had three regiments under his command, occupying the north, south and east directions of the Yunzhong Mountain area respectively. They could attack or defend, and their garrison area spanned hundreds of kilometers.

We can also get close to the Tongpu railway line and guard the Japanese trains. It will be hard not to get rich.

In the Wutai Mountain area, the New 1st and New 2nd Regiments were also making considerable moves, especially Kong Jie's New 2nd Regiment, which expanded rapidly with the weapons and equipment in hand.

After regaining their former combat effectiveness, they continued to approach the direction of Fuping.

In fact, Fuping, Wutai, Shenwu, Kelan and Wuzhai counties are all bases of the Fourth Military Sub-district.

Now he has asked Chu Yun to fly to Jingle County for a gathering. Is he planning to develop further south?

Chu Yunfei doesn't have much room for development, as the headquarters of the 358th Regiment is still in the town.

"Brother Ding has come all the way to Jingle County. He won't just treat me to food and drinks, will he?"

Chu Yunfei really looked down on this family's food, which was far worse than that of his chef.

He was more interested in the Japanese devils in the county town.

However, Jingle and Lanxian counties were close to each other and there were three infantry battalions stationed there, so the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army could not take them down alone.

Ding Wei didn't say much, just looked at Chu Yunfei and sighed softly.

"Once August is over, the Japanese will launch their autumn sweep. Life for you and me will be very difficult again."

The Fourth Military Sub-district never fights an unprepared battle, and Ding Wei received news of the Japanese troop mobilization.

The commander of the First Army was replaced by Yoshio Iwamatsu from Yoshio Shinozuka, who was a lackey of Gangcun.

As soon as he took office, he vowed to solve the problem of the Eighth Route Army guerrillas and resolutely implement the Three Alls Security Policy.

Unlike Yoshio Shinozuka who is suspicious, Yoshio Iwamatsu is cruel and ruthless.

Mobilize the surrounding mobile forces as soon as possible and attack the strongholds in the nearby mountainous areas.

The storm is about to come. The summer mop-up has just ended for more than a month, and the Japanese invaders are already preparing for the autumn mop-up.

In the Yunzhong Mountain area where the Fourth Military Sub-district is located, there are infantry battalions stationed in Shenchi and Ningwu counties.

At the same time, the Imperial Army and the Cavalry Regiment moved closer to the area. Ding Wei had a great time in the county town, so he returned to the headquarters with Zhuzi and Zhao Dayi.

Cutting meat with a blunt knife is like casting a net in the sea; you never know when you might catch a big fish.