Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Xue Kai felt that he was caught in a huge conspiracy, the protagonist of which was Lin Zhenhua. He originally wanted to take the opportunity to deplete the strength of the independent regiment, but he did not expect that he would be the first to fight with the Japanese. This made him wonder if this was a trap set by Lin Zhenhua and Li Yunlong. However, after seeing Li Yunlong's performance, he felt that he might have been overthinking!

"Brothers, you must hold on! Our support will arrive soon. Fight hard and beat back this wave of attacks from the Japanese!"

Shimada Jiro smiled slightly when he saw the situation on the battlefield. He had previously thought that the independent regiment was very strong. After this test, he clearly knew that the opponent's combat effectiveness was only slightly stronger than other Chinese troops. He no longer had any worries. He waved his command knife in his hand and ordered: "Order the Inoue Squadron to follow the Tanaka Squadron to launch an attack. The battle must be ended within half an hour. Order the artillery squadron to fire at full speed to provide artillery support for the infantry charge!"

As Jiro Shimada issued the order for the general attack, the Japanese artillery frantically poured shells on the reserve battalion's position. Tanaka Squadron and Inoue Squadron, led by their respective squadron leaders, launched a charge towards the reserve battalion's position. The stalemate on the battlefield was directly broken and the situation of the reserve battalion was precarious.

Xue Kai was very regretful at this moment. You know, he would never get involved in this matter, but in less than half an hour, his reserve battalion had been reduced to only one company. He had already thought about retreating. If he didn't retreat, he would have to stay here today.

"Captain Li, we only have one battalion of troops left. I'm afraid it will be difficult to wait for reinforcements to arrive. We still have strength to spare, so let's retreat as quickly as possible!"

Li Yunlong also knew that retreat was the only way, so he nodded in agreement. He knew very well that if the reserve battalion did not withdraw, it would most likely be wiped out. More importantly, he did not know what Lin Zhenhua was planning. The monk had just met him when he was discovered by Xue Kai, so the two of them had no chance to communicate at all. He had no idea of ​​Lin Zhenhua's layout, so retreating was the best way at the moment without arousing suspicion.

"Brothers, fight hard, don't be stingy with bullets, we must fight off this attack of the Japs, and after repelling the Japs, we will retreat immediately!"

When the soldiers of the reserve battalion heard that they could retreat, they seemed to be injected with strength. They opened fire at full force. At the cost of half of their men being killed or injured, they repelled the attack of two squadrons of the Japanese enemy and immediately evacuated their positions when a break in the attack was hit.

Jiro Shimada originally wanted to order a pursuit, but considering that Yamamoto Ikki and Hirata Kojiro were still in the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold, if the enemy was planning to lure the tiger away from the mountain, the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold would be very dangerous now. After all, there was only one squadron guarding it, and it might not be able to withstand the siege of the independent regiment's army. He had to suppress the idea of ​​pursuit and ordered the troops to clean up the battlefield immediately and then begin to retreat back to the stronghold.

The opportunity that Lin Zhenhua had been waiting for finally came. He waited for the Japanese artillerymen to load the shells and artillery onto the carriages and trucks, took out the signal gun from his waist, and fired directly.

As soon as they saw the signal, the 12 eight-mounted rocket launchers of the rocket artillery company opened fire first. 96 120mm rockets directly completed the comprehensive coverage of the Japanese artillery. For a moment, violent explosions were heard, mixed with the sound of the Japanese artillery shells detonating. The entire Japanese artillery squadron was wiped out at once.

The artillery battalion also opened fire at the first moment, bombarding the Japanese infantry. In just one minute, they fired 80 100mm mortar shells. The Japanese positions were like a rain of shells, killing more than 100 Japanese soldiers on the spot and injuring nearly 300 people. Only more than Japanese soldiers were left who could fight.

"Armored squad, charge immediately. Rush into the enemy's lair, cut them apart and surround them. We must kill all of them before their fighter planes arrive!"

"Zhu Zi, your artillery battalion must immediately knock out the enemy's light and heavy machine gun fire points and cover the armored squad and infantry's attack!"

"Bugler, blow the charge horn and immediately launch a general attack on the Japanese in front of us!"

As Lin Zhenhua issued one order after another, the remaining light and heavy firepower points of Shimada Battalion were all destroyed in just five minutes. The armored squad also took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and broke into the Japanese defensive position. The general offensive was truly launched at this moment.

Jiro Shimada was really confused now. Ten minutes ago, he was still enjoying the joy of victory, but ten minutes later, more than half of his soldiers were injured and they were surrounded by the enemy in a narrow strip of land with a radius of 300 meters. Even his retreat was cut off by the enemy. What made him even more uncomfortable was that he could not adapt to Lin Zhenhua's offensive rhythm.

Lin Zhenhua's attack speed was astonishingly fast. Before he was ready to defend himself, all his heavy weapons were destroyed. The only weapons left in the soldiers' hands were grenades and rifles. Even the grenade launchers were all destroyed. After losing the advantage of weapons and equipment, the only thing he could do was to fight hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Only in this way could he have a chance of turning defeat into victory.

"Tanaka, Inoue, there aren't many people attacking us head-on, only about 500 at most. Gather all our wounded and let them launch a desperate charge. We will follow behind and break out of the encirclement. Our Shimada Battalion must not be annihilated here by the Independent Regiment. I don't want to become a laughing stock of the entire division. I can't accept such a failure, and I believe you two can't accept it either. Once we are defeated and captured, it is very likely to affect our families back home. For the sake of the Empire's holy war and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, we will engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy in three minutes. Please be ready and launch a counterattack with me!"

Lin Zhenhua saw that the Japanese were slowly gathering together, and he secretly thought that something was wrong. According to the original plan, the Japanese should have been broken up, divided and surrounded long ago, but the armored team encountered problems when attacking. Since the Japanese armored vehicles used a wheeled structure, and this place had just experienced a war, the bodies of the Japanese were scattered all over the battlefield, which seriously affected the progress of the armored vehicles and could not be used as fixed firing points. This meant that the predetermined combat objectives were not achieved.

Now Lin Zhenhua regretted not using the two Japanese tanks, otherwise the current situation would not have occurred. Once the troops came into close combat with the Japanese, the casualties would be very heavy, and some of the Japanese would escape, which would greatly affect Lin Zhenhua's next action plan.

Lin Zhenhua began to think about countermeasures. In order to reduce the casualties of the troops, he could only use artillery shells to wipe out the enemy's arrogance in the counterattack. Only in this way could all the Japanese soldiers be wiped out.

"Zhu Zi, turn all the guns around and fire at the enemy's lair. Use the enemy's flag as a reference and fire hard at everything within a 50-meter radius. Fire half the base number of shells first!"

"Notify the first, second and third companies to retreat immediately. After retreating 300 meters, immediately set up blocking positions and prepare for the enemy's counterattack. Let the fourth company continue to hold its position. No matter what, we must eat up all the enemy troops in the encirclement today!"

With Lin Zhenhua's tactical adjustment, Shimada Jiro had a temporary respite, giving him time to consolidate his defensive position.

"What? Why did the Chinese army retreat? They clearly had the upper hand. Is there some conspiracy?" Jiro Shimada asked suspiciously.

Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka replied, "Your Excellency, I think the Chinese were probably scared away by our wounded soldiers' desperate charge. In order to open an escape route for us, our wounded soldiers tied grenades all over their bodies. The Chinese soldiers are a bunch of cowards. It is normal for them to run away in order to survive!"

Lieutenant Colonel Matsui had a different opinion. He felt that there must be some conspiracy hidden in this, and said cautiously: "Your Excellency Colonel, the Chinese army's retreat is very methodical. This is not a decision made in a panic, but a premeditated retreat. There must be a conspiracy hidden in this, and we must be extremely careful!"

"Sir Colonel, we have lost all our heavy firepower. Once we distance ourselves from the Chinese army, our situation will be very dangerous. I think we should get close to them immediately and tangle with them tightly. Only in this way can the Chinese army's artillery be ineffective!"

"Now is the best chance to break out. Our soldiers' bayonet fighting skills are far superior to those of the Chinese army. We have a very high chance of success without taking huge risks. This is the best solution at the moment. I don't want us to be wiped out here and become a record on the Independent Regiment's medal of honor!"

Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka objected directly: "Colonel, if we engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese army, the casualties will be very high. In addition, we are not sure whether the Chinese have reinforcements. We can't take the gamble!"

"Just now, the Colonel has ordered Yoshimura to come with his infantry squadron to support us immediately. We only need to hold out here for three hours. Yoshimura and I can attack from the center and completely wipe out the Chinese army that ambushed us. We can completely turn defeat into victory. So why should we evacuate?"

"More importantly, the Empire has fighter planes patrolling nearby. Our fighter planes are on their way and are expected to reach the battlefield in an hour. Can't we hold out for even an hour?"

Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka asked an angry question, which made Lieutenant Colonel Matsui not know how to refute for a moment. Jiro Shimada knew that he had to make a decision at this time. Delaying any further would only make things worse.

"Tanaka, Matsui, what you two said makes a lot of sense, but I am more inclined to Matsui's suggestion. We have already lost half a battalion of troops. If we return in disgrace like we are now, what do you think will be the outcome for the three of us?"