Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

"Platoon leader, aren't you going to participate in this operation?"

Everyone went their separate ways to make preparations, but Hu Zi stayed behind to ask Lin Qiang.

Lin Qiang didn't answer but asked, "Why? If I don't participate, you won't have the confidence to complete this operation?"

Hu Zi shook his head and said, "I have always had confidence. I just want to know what tasks you, Platoon Leader, have assigned to yourself."

"Actually, I always feel a little uneasy when you don't lead the team yourself. It's not just me, the other brothers feel the same way, but they just don't say it out loud."

In the past, we only had to follow orders and fight, but this time we had to organize the operation ourselves. It was the first time for everyone, and we were all afraid that we would cause the failure of the entire operation.

Everyone knew that Lin Qiang was testing them, and everyone was afraid of falling behind.

Everyone wants to do their best to satisfy the platoon leader, but the more this happens, the more uneasy Hu Zi feels.

If he had continued to fight in the same way as before, he wouldn't have been so worried.

"I'm entrusting this operation to you because I need to go to the county town to meet someone and find out whether Zhang Zizai has betrayed me. I can't tolerate someone betraying me and still living happily."

Lin Qiang first answered Hu Zi's question, then explained his intention: "You have also seen the current momentum of the platoon's development. It will continue to grow in the future, and even the organization will change accordingly, expanding into a battalion or even a regiment! By then, I will not be able to lead every operation in person;

I'm confident in you, but the others, although they all held some official positions before, lack experience in commanding battles. This won't just be this time; there will be more operations in the future that you will have to carry out on your own."

"I would rather have ten combat commanders than a company of brave and capable soldiers."

Whether the soldiers fighting on the front line will retract the foot that has stepped into the gate of hell or follow the foot forward depends entirely on the decision of the combat commander.

The lives of the soldiers are decided when the commander begins to formulate the battle plan. If a team encounters a foolish commander, even the most powerful team will win a tragic victory.

Lin Qiang knew that the captains under him were all smart, but they lacked practical training and had almost no experience in commanding a battle themselves. Lin Qiang wanted to train them in some small battles.

Without going through thousands of tempering cycles, steel cannot become the purest.

Hu Zi stopped dwelling on this matter and began to worry about Lin Qiang's safety. "I don't doubt the accuracy of the intelligence for this operation. Whether Zhang Zizai has defected or not, he will use accurate intelligence. But you, Platoon Leader, are heading to the county alone. What if it's a trap..."

"Who said I'm alone?"

Lin Qiang smiled slightly and said, "Monk, come with me."

…………

In fact, it was not only the monks who followed Lin Qiang to the county town. After Duan Peng learned about this, he led the team to the county town against Lin Qiang's orders.

The two teams set out from the base at the same time, one team headed towards Yixiantian and the other team headed towards Laiyuan County.

Several children in the base climbed up the tree and shook the branches, which looked like the military flags waving by ancient soldiers when going to war.

Every time the team takes action, the people would worry silently. To them, the soldiers were just a group of children, and they didn't want any of them to be sacrificed.

The soldiers who died in the last ambush were buried in the martyrs' garden opened up by the villagers. The names of the soldiers were neatly engraved on the wooden tombstones.

Just a name.

The only figures that could be seen on the road were Lin Qiang and the monk. Both of them were wearing black robes and hats on their heads. If someone they didn't know saw them, they would definitely think they were traitors.

The people in charge of the city gate were Zhang Zizai's men, and the one who had met Lin Qiang last time was also among them. So after seeing the two of them, they pretended to ask a few questions and then let them enter the county town directly.

"stop!"

Just after entering the city, Lin Qiang and his companions hadn't taken a few steps when a loud shout came from behind them.

The two of them turned around and saw that the person who made them stop was none other than Zhang Zizai, one of the targets of this trip to the county.

"You two, come with me."

There was a Japanese patrol in the distance, so Zhang Zizai had to act like a villain and treat the two of them.

The monk followed first, and Lin Qiang followed closely behind. Both of them held their pistols in their hands inside their sleeves.

Walk along the streets and through the alleys.

The three of them arrived in front of a house that looked abandoned.

Zhang Zizai stopped and turned around, then fell to his knees. "Platoon leader, it's my fault for not passing on the information in time. Please punish me!"

Lin Qiang asked the monk to stand guard at the entrance of the alley, then helped Zhang Zizai, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet. "This is not your fault. Tell me why the intelligence was distorted."

From the moment the three met, Lin Qiang knew that Zhang Zizai had not betrayed him, and his loyalty level had directly risen to 100. Unless Lin Qiang led his team to surrender to the enemy, he would never betray him.

Zhang Zizai felt relieved after not being blamed by Lin Qiang. After a while, he explained the reason for the discrepancy in the intelligence: "It's like this. When I returned to the county, Okamoto found me and asked me to find a way to get Ono not to send him on this mission. I don't know why he suddenly changed his mind."

"Okamoto didn't give me any chance to pass on any information. He followed me closely the entire time. I had no choice but to reveal a little about our base's situation. Platoon Leader, I assure you, I only said that our team had a reinforced company with strong combat capabilities. After two captains learned of this, they volunteered to lead the team to encircle and suppress the enemy. Okamoto was replaced by them."

Lin Qiang felt sick after hearing this and asked, "Is it that simple?"

"That's right. At first, I thought Okamoto was doomed."

Zhang Zizai also sighed: "I have to say, this guy is really lucky."

On the way here, Lin Qiang thought of many possibilities, even thinking that Zhang Zizai's identity was discovered by the Japanese, and he could not bear the torture and confessed the entire situation of the entire row.

But no one expected that just a reinforced company would be worth the Japanese dispatching two battalions of troops.

In fact, this action was mainly due to Ono. In order to wipe out the Eighth Route Army team that brought shame to him, he even wanted to mobilize all his troops. However, he only mobilized two battalions of troops under the strong dissuasion of his staff officer Miyazaki.

This was equivalent to helping Lin Qiang in disguise, helping a platoon. Otherwise, Lin Qiang would never have ordered to open fire on a regiment of Japanese devils.

By that time, it was too late to withdraw to the base. The small number of people in the defense team was unable to resist the Japanese attack.

Lin Qiang didn't know what Xiao Ye was planning, nor did he know that all his previous efforts were almost wasted.

"Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, there's no need to think about it anymore."

Lin Qiang talked about the second goal of this trip: "Take me to see that Zhao guy."

"Ah good!"

Zhang Zizai responded somewhat awkwardly and then began to lead the way.

He could hear the meaning behind Lin Qiang's words. Because of this incident, he was misunderstood by everyone and they thought he had betrayed them.

Zhang Zizai had nothing to say about this misunderstanding. After all, it was because of him that a lot of soldiers in a row were sacrificed. Otherwise, Lin Qiang would not have said such suggestive words to his face.

Zhang Zizai wanted to speak several times on the way, but he didn't dare to.

It wasn't until they arrived at the gate of a large mansion that he spoke: "We're here. This is the Zhao family."

As soon as they arrived at the door, someone opened it to greet them: "My master has been waiting for a long time, please follow me!"