Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

Upon learning that there would be combat missions in the next two days, the fighting spirit of the soldiers in a row instantly rose. Especially after they learned about the beastly behavior of the Japanese devils during conversations with the new recruits, they wanted to kill all of them immediately.

At night, Lin Qiang used an oil lamp to draw a safe marching route on the map. Hu Zi knocked on the door and walked in.

He came to the table and waited until Lin Qiang put down his pencil before saying, "Platoon Leader, I have discussed this with Qiangzi and have finalized the battle plan."

After taking a sip of water, Lin Qiang said, "Tell me about it."

"Look, platoon leader."

Hu Zi pointed to the location of Xiaowangzhuang and said, "There are two ways to get to Xiaowangzhuang. If we take the main road, our march speed will be much faster, but it will also make it easier to encounter the devils. We will also have to bypass several strongholds, increasing the risk of exposure. However, if we take the mountain road, the risk will be much smaller and we can completely avoid a direct encounter with the devils.

According to my last observation, the Japanese soldiers spend most of their time resting in the tents in the southeast corner, and there are only a few puppet soldiers on guard at the construction site. This stronghold is surrounded by open areas on three sides. If we want to surprise the Japanese, we can only sneak over the mountains to the north, but this will not allow us to eliminate them immediately and will likely cause casualties among the civilians.

Lin Qiang nodded and asked, "What's your solution?"

Hu Zi hesitated for a moment, then said, "I think we can send a few new recruits to attract the attention of the Japanese and puppet troops. As long as the puppet troops and Japanese are attracted, the team can take the opportunity to rush into the stronghold, immediately eliminate the alert puppet troops and evacuate the civilians. Even if the gunfire is heard, by the time the Japanese react, we will have already entered the stronghold, and they will have no cover, so we can only call out their names one by one."

Using new recruits as bait is where Hu Zi hesitates.

Hu Zi considered this plan very comprehensively. It could not only quickly eliminate the devils and puppet troops, but also protect the safety of the people at the first moment.

Lin Qiang looked at Hu Zi in surprise and said, "This is a good plan. This way, we can easily take over the stronghold without having to carry heavy weapons."

"Platoon leader, then let's act according to this plan?"

Lin Qiang nodded and said, "Let's follow this plan. Go and inform Qiangzi to get ready tonight. We'll set off early tomorrow morning and still be back in time for dinner."

"Yes!"

After leaving the room, Qiangzi immediately came to Huzi and asked, "How is it, did the platoon leader agree?"

Hu Zi glanced at him and said in confusion, "You are such a smart guy, why are you so willing to play dumb?"

This plan was actually thought up by Qiangzi, but I don’t understand why he didn’t report it to Lin Qiang in person.

Qiangzi was not proud, and whispered: "You don't understand this. Now the platoon leader can still command the team personally. Why should I join in the fun? I might as well be on the battlefield, shooting a few volleys of bullets at the devils with my pheasant neck."

……

the next morning.

The time of action was confirmed last night. Zhao Dezhu and the soldiers in the kitchen team prepared a lot of dry food overnight to prevent the soldiers from going hungry on the road.

The team shuttled through the mountains according to the planned route, perfectly avoiding several strongholds along the way. At noon, they arrived near the Xiaowangzhuang stronghold.

Lin Qiang did not let the team start moving immediately, but rested for a while to give the soldiers time to recover.

He took a telescope and observed the situation at the construction site through the gaps in the trees.

The sun was scorching and the temperature was no less than 30 degrees, so all the Japanese soldiers had to hide in their tents. The other puppet soldiers also took shelter in the shade. Only a few puppet soldiers were supervising the people to work.

In addition to the tents where the Japanese soldiers hid from the scorching sun, Lin Qiang also noticed a simple wooden house next to the tent. Although the door was closed, Lin Qiang could guess that there were some food supplies inside.

After confirming that he hadn't missed any important information, Lin Qiang put down his binoculars, walked over to the new recruits, and instructed them, "Remember, don't panic. As soon as you hear gunfire, immediately find cover and hide. Don't even think about killing the devils. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

Lin Qiang took a deep breath and gave his final order: "As long as the puppet troops and the devils have not pulled the bolt of their guns, you must not compromise and make as much noise as possible."

"Yes!"

"Okay, let's start taking action!"

Several new recruits wearing tattered clothes grabbed a handful of mud from the ground and sprinkled it on their bodies, looking dusty. After walking around for a distance, they slowly walked towards the stronghold.

Lin Qiang watched their backs until they were out of sight, then whispered, "Prepare for action!"

Sure enough, when several puppet soldiers saw the new recruits disguised as civilians, they immediately notified the Japanese.

A few Japanese soldiers came out of the tent and came up to them under the guidance of the puppet soldiers. One of the puppet soldiers acted as an interpreter and said, "The lady asks you, do you want to have a full meal?"

One of the soldiers said in panic: "Sir, we haven't eaten a bite of food for several days. Of course we want to have a full meal."

The puppet soldier turned to the devil and said, "Taijun, he said they are willing to serve the Locust Lord."

"Yoshi!"

One of the Japanese soldiers said in broken Mandarin: "You guys are good citizens. If you work for us, you will get great benefits!"

Hearing the word "work", the soldiers started their performance and directly refused: "Sir, please explain, our brothers haven't eaten for a few days. How can we have the energy to work? Can we eat first and rest for a few days before working?"

The puppet soldier kicked the soldier to the ground and cursed, "Damn it, you're just daydreaming! Stop talking nonsense and get to work right now!"

Not satisfied with just cursing, he raised his foot and continued to kick the soldier.

At this time, another soldier quickly pleaded: "Sir, Sir, don't do it, don't do it, it's just work, we will do it, we will do it right away."

The puppet soldier didn't kick again, probably because he was worried that if he kicked the man, he would be unable to work and would be blamed by the Japanese. He said in a fierce tone, "What are you still standing there for? Go and work for me!"

At this moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the stronghold, alarming the Japanese soldiers resting in the tent and also alarming the puppet troops hiding in the shade.

"Go and see what's going on!"

At this time, the puppet soldiers did not care about the civilians they had captured, and returned to their stronghold to check the situation.

Unlike the panicked puppet troops, the well-trained Japanese soldiers came out of the tents and immediately advanced towards the construction site in a combat formation.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Continuous gunshots rang out, and the puppet soldiers in the front fell to the ground, twitching a few times and then stopped moving.

The rest of the puppet soldiers also kept shooting beside the devils. Seeing this, Lin Qiang completely gave up the idea of leaving any of them alive.

I originally thought that if these puppet soldiers did not resist, there would be a possibility of being incorporated, but now it seems that death is more suitable for them.

Relying on the favorable terrain, the Japanese battle formation was easily defeated. After every gunshot, a Japanese or puppet soldier would fall down.

For close-range shooting, even though most of the soldiers in the team had never conducted live-fire shooting, their shooting skills allowed them to kill an enemy with just two shots.

In this way, the battle lasted for ten minutes, and more than a dozen Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded, leaving only a dozen puppet soldiers still resisting.

As Qiangzi threw a grenade, the puppet soldiers who had been resisting stopped shooting and shouted, "Eighth Route Army, spare our lives, we surrender!"

But he did not ask the soldiers in the first row to stop shooting. As long as Lin Qiang did not give the order to stop shooting, they would not stop firing.

For the remaining puppet troops, every gunshot was like a call from the God of Death.

The fighting style of the first row made the soldiers who joined with Zhang Yuntian sigh. They all knew that the Eighth Route Army treated prisoners well, and they always believed that Lin Qiang's statement of not accepting surrender was false.

Looking back now, I am extremely glad that I made the right decision.

There were only two puppet soldiers left, and at this time, there were several bloody holes in their bodies caused by bullets, and bright red blood was gushing out like a spring.

One of the puppet soldiers took a deep breath and asked, "Don't you Eighth Route Army... treat prisoners well... well?"

Lin Qiang reached out to stop Qiangzi, who was about to shoot, and replied with a smile, "Are you prisoners? I don't think so. The reason you chose to surrender is not because you have come to your senses, but because you are afraid."

After saying that, he raised his hand and Qiangzi's bullet flew over.

After two gunshots, the battle was completely over.

The soldiers quickly began to clean up the battlefield and took away all the useful supplies.

Qiangzi opened the door of the wooden house, looked inside, turned around and shouted, "Platoon Leader, we have the goods!"

Just as Lin Qiang guessed, the wooden house contained food and ammunition. There wasn't much, but it was enough to feed the people in the stronghold for a while.

Lin Qiang looked up at the sky and immediately ordered, "Everyone, move a little bit away. Don't be greedy. Blow up everything that can't be moved!"

At this time, more than a dozen young men who had been captured and forced to work as laborers came up to Lin Qiang. One of them said, "Comrades of the Eighth Route Army, we also want to join you in fighting the Japanese!"

"no problem!"

Lin Qiang gladly accepted them and rejected their request to help carry the supplies.

Before leaving, Lin Qiang took a few grenades, tied them together, opened the lid, tied the rope to the fuse, and then tied one end of the rope to the wooden door, and placed the grenades in the wooden house.

The door of the wooden house opens outwards, and as long as someone pulls the door, the fuse of the grenade will be pulled out.

Qiangzi said with some distress: "Platoon leader, one grenade is actually enough."

Lin Qiang smiled and said, "Don't be so stingy. If you take so many supplies from others, you should at least leave something behind, right?"

"This is called reciprocity."