Devil's Army

More than half an hour later, Liu Yuanbiao brought back two well-fed fellow villagers.

"Sit down, don't be restrained." Wenlang said to the two restrained fellow villagers.

"You escaped from the coal mines?"

"Yes."

"So is the mine producing coal again now?"

"Not yet. The coal mine has not been dug through yet due to a lack of manpower since it collapsed due to your blast last time. But it is estimated to be almost done."

"So how many workers are there in your coal mine now?" Wenlan nodded and asked again.

"More than 50 people, and today we brought over 30 more people."

“How many Japanese and puppet troops are there in the coal mine?”

"There is no coal production yet, so there are not many Japanese soldiers defending the area. There are only about 30 Japanese soldiers and more than 50 puppet troops."

"More than thirty devils? We killed twelve of them a few days ago. There should be about twenty left now?"

"Oh, it was you who shot the gun a few days ago." A fellow villager asked in surprise.

"Yes, the number of Japanese devils seems to be less in the past few days," said another fellow villager.

"Dwarf Wolf, notify the captains of each team to come to the war room for a meeting." Wen Wolf ordered Li Shaohua. Then he shook hands with the two fellow villagers and said, "Thank you, you can go down and rest first."

Soon, Wulang and Fox Wolf arrived at the war room. As soon as Fox Wolf entered the room, he shouted:

"Captain, have you thought of another way to cause trouble for the Japs?"

"According to the information just provided by the two miners who escaped, Diaobei Mountain has captured more than 50 laborers who are digging the collapsed coal mine. And they have almost dug it through. Apart from the ones we killed a few days ago, there are only about 20 Japanese soldiers guarding the coal mine. There are still 50 puppet troops."

"The puppet army is just cannon fodder to block bullets, there is no need to worry about them. More than twenty devils are one-third of our number, so why don't we kill them?" Fox Wolf asked excitedly.

Wen Lang nodded, and the three of them discussed a method of luring the snake out of its hole and surrounding and destroying it. They also studied possible situations and remedial measures. Finally, they decided: launch the attack at 5 a.m. tomorrow!

After a week of training, the twenty new members had mastered the basics of firing and throwing bombs. Wen Lang decided to let them participate in the battle, see blood, and learn and grow in actual combat. He arranged for people to take all the weapons and ammunition seized from the last attack on the Japanese artillery tower from the cave. He would give guns to the new members after the pre-war mobilization meeting.

All 58 members lined up at the door of the war room. The two miners who had just arrived also asked to join the team, and Wen Lang agreed. Then he said:

"Comrades, the Japanese have enslaved more than 70 of our compatriots to help them dig coal mines and steal our mineral resources. What do you think we should do?"

"Fight, save people!" the team members shouted in unison.

"There are only more than twenty Japanese soldiers, and we have sixty. This is the first time that we have surpassed the Japanese in numbers. So we must win this battle!" Wenlang shouted with clenched fists.

"We must win! We must win!" the team members shouted excitedly.

"Now we're distributing guns to the new members. Please step out when your name is called." When the new members heard that guns were going to be distributed, they became excited.

"Liu Yuanbiao!"

"Here!" The strong miner saluted and stepped out of the line. The fox wolf beside him handed him a Type 38 rifle.

…………

The guns were all distributed, but there were still four team members who had not received their guns. Among these four team members, except for the two miners who had just arrived, the other two were a little upset.

"Comrades, we seized these 20 guns last time we attacked the artillery tower, so there are not enough to share. But don't worry, after we take over this coal mine tomorrow, we will have plenty of guns." Wen Lang said in Japanese Chinese, and everyone laughed.

"Let's have dinner now, and then take a rest. We will set off at three o'clock tomorrow morning." Wen Lang said and left. The team members lined up to eat.

At 2:40 in the morning, the assembly whistle sounded and the team members quickly gathered at the door of the operations room.

At three o'clock in the morning, Wenlang led sixty team members towards Diaobei Mountain.

At 4:30 in the morning, the team arrived outside Diaobei Mountain. The second squad of Fox Wolf was led by two escaped miners and entered the coal mine from a small path after the battle started. Wu Lang's third squad was divided into two teams and ambushed on both sides of the coal mine entrance. Wu Lang led five people to ambush at the main entrance of the coal mine. Wen Lang led a team of people to ambush in the woods on both sides of the main entrance.

The Japanese were also scared, so they replaced them with four puppet soldiers to guard the two sides of the coal mine. There were also two puppet soldiers guarding the watchtowers on both sides.

At five o'clock in the morning, Wu Lang and his men fired a round of gunfire, and six puppet soldiers were killed at the main entrance of the coal mine and on the watchtower.

This time, Wulang did not retreat quickly. Instead, they waited for the Japanese soldiers in the coal mine to rush out. They fired another round of shots, knocked down several of them, and then retreated.

The Japanese soldiers who were chasing after them were so angry that they screamed and chased after them with their puppet troops.

When the Japanese soldiers and puppet troops chased to the grove, gunshots and explosions of grenades were heard in the groves on both sides. The Japanese soldiers and puppet troops were unable to dodge and were hit one after another. The Japanese soldiers and puppet troops behind them saw that the situation was not good and wanted to retreat to the coal mine. At this time, the Wulang team members ambushed on both sides of the gate opened fire in time.

The Japanese soldiers surrounded on all sides tried to make a last-ditch effort by using the fortifications at the gate. At this time, the Fox Wolf, led by the escaped miners, fought from inside the coal mine. The Japanese soldiers and puppet soldiers in the fortifications were beaten to the point that they had nowhere to hide. Twenty or so Japanese soldiers were quickly wiped out, and the remaining puppet soldiers raised their hands and surrendered.

The team members quickly cleaned up the battlefield and also took off the uniforms, shoes, and helmets of the puppet soldiers and devils and carried them on their backs.

78 miners were rescued. Many of them were young and middle-aged people from Liujia Village. Under the promotion and propaganda of the Liujia Village team members, most of them immediately joined the army. Only 16 people chose to escape.

Wenlang blew up the almost completed coal mine entrance, and then excitedly returned to Hujia Village with the spoils and 62 miners.