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

Looking at the three people running over breathlessly, Ono Taro asked curiously: "Xiaocun, did you find any important information?"

"Sir, this is Li Tianlai, the deputy commander of the First Battalion of the Imperial Army, who is affiliated with the Xiaodao Squadron. He survived yesterday's battle and should know some of the truth!"

Ono Taro nodded and asked Li Tianlai: "So you must tell the truth about your experiences in the past two days, otherwise you will all die!"

Tong the translator quickly translated: "Captain Li, the lady just said that you should tell me about your experiences over the past two days. You must tell the truth and not lie. If you are found to be lying, I will chop off your head!"

Li Tianlai replied with a flattering look on his face: "Translator Tong, even if you give me ten guts, I dare not tell lies! Yesterday we stayed in the village peacefully, and I don’t know why, the captain of the Xiaodao Squadron took the Taijuns away and asked us to guard Duanjiazhuang well. But they never came back. Before that, there was a small incident. It seems that nine Taijuns came here to ask for help. I wanted to inquire about it, but I was scolded. I don’t know whether this matter is true or not!"

"What happened next was even more bizarre. Originally, there were two battalions of the Imperial Army stationed in the village, but the commander of the second battalion, Chen Dalei, turned against us and severely damaged our first battalion. Even our battalion commander, Li Gensheng, was killed by Chen Dalei. Now we were leaderless, so I had to serve as the acting battalion commander."

"But before I could even get comfortable in my position as battalion commander, the main force of the Eighth Route Army came to attack Duanjiazhuang. The firepower was so fierce that there were 20 to 30 machine guns alone, and they fired bullets without paying. I had no choice but to take a small group of people with me to seek help from the surrounding troops!"

After listening to Tong's translation, Captain Ono became interested and asked seriously, "You said you encountered an attack by the main force of the Eighth Route Army. They were also equipped with a large number of machine guns. Did you see clearly how many people they were?"

Li Tianlai quickly replied: "It should be a main regiment of the Eighth Route Army, or possibly a main division, otherwise our 20 to people would not have been wiped out in just minutes. Their firepower is simply too strong!"

"Yoshi! A Tubalu division. Did you encounter an attack from their divisional headquarters? Ordinary Tubalu don't have such strong firepower!"

"Xiaocun, report to the headquarters immediately and have them send out reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance in the vicinity to confirm whether there are any main forces of the Eighth Route Army nearby. If it is really the divisional headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, then we will make great contributions."

"I can now confirm that the bastard Xiaodao must have discovered the Eighth Route Army's division headquarters, otherwise he wouldn't have sent out all his troops. This guy likes to take credit the most. But this bastard has lost contact and is likely to have died. This proves that there should be at least one regiment guarding their division headquarters, otherwise it would be impossible to easily wipe out Xiaodao's squadron!"

"Send a small team with a radio to search the surrounding area and report any situation immediately. We must capture this mysterious Eighth Route Army main force!"

Under the arrangement of Jiro Ono, a small team of Japanese soldiers was sent out, led by two sidecars. Their march in the snow was not affected much. They soon found the traces and notified Jiro Ono by radio. Jiro Ono immediately led a large force to start the pursuit.

Lin Zhenhua, who was moving forward, didn't know that their tracks had been discovered by the Japanese. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. From morning till now, they have been walking for seven hours. During this period, they did not rest and were always on the move. It was cold and the road was slippery. They could only walk five miles in an hour at most. The speed of travel was very slow.

"Doctor Wang, go check on the old man and the child, and deal with any problems immediately. We brought a lot of medicine with us this time, plus the ones we captured from the Japanese, so we have plenty of medicine. Go check on the two wounded soldiers, and if it doesn't work, give them a shot of penicillin to make sure their wounds don't get infected!"

Wang Xuecheng panted and replied, "Captain Lin, I have given penicillin to the wounded. The wounds seem to be recovering well and there will be no infection. The elderly and children in Duanjiazhuang are sitting in several carriages. Apart from being a little sleepy, there are no problems!"

"I just want to ask, when are we going to take a break? We have been walking for most of the day since this morning, and the soldiers have consumed a lot of energy. We only had a quick meal at noon. If this continues, there will definitely be problems!"

Lin Zhenhua spread his hands and said, "Doctor Wang, I want to rest too, but we can't stop. I've asked Li Sanwa to lead a squad of soldiers to find a campsite. It will be dark in two hours, so let's rest then!"

"We stayed in Duanjiazhuang for a whole night yesterday. We must make up for the lost time. To be honest with you, I have a lingering sense of crisis in my heart. I always feel that we have been targeted by the devils. The more steps we take, the safer we will be!"

After listening to Lin Zhenhua's explanation, Wang Xuecheng expressed his understanding. He took out the ginseng water he had boiled yesterday and gave everyone a small sip. This made everyone look better and not so tired.

"Captain, we are being targeted by the Japanese. The platoon leader asked me to inform the captain and quickly find a place to hide!" Lu Dali hurriedly ran over to deliver the message.

Lin Zhenhua stopped and asked anxiously, "Da Li, tell me the details. How many Japanese soldiers are there?"

Lu Dali took a deep breath and replied anxiously, "Captain, we encountered a squad of the Japanese. Our platoon leader is leading the remaining brothers to fight with the Japanese. He asked me to come over quickly to report the news! By the way, our platoon leader also said that the Japanese also brought a radio, and there must be a large force behind them!"

Lin Zhenhua calmed down. He knew that he must not panic at this time, so he quickly calmed down and said, "Lu Dali, you lead the way. We must fight back the enemy's attack this time. I will lead two squads of soldiers to support us!"

Lin Zhenhua found the old village chief again and asked him to lead the team to continue moving forward and get to the campsite as quickly as possible. He led two squads on horseback, and under the guidance of Lu Dali, they rushed to the location of the third platoon leader Lu Xiaohai.

"Those damn Japanese soldiers are really not afraid of death. They are charging forward under our fire. Don't show your heads. The Japanese soldiers are very accurate in their shooting. Xiao Shanzi was almost shot by them just now!"

"Kill them! Tell the squadron leader that the ones in front of us are definitely the main force of the Eighth Route Army. Their firepower is very fierce. They are equipped with at least six light machine guns and a large amount of automatic firepower. The number of people should be around a company. Request tactical guidance!" Major Komura ordered the telegraph operator.