Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

Jiro Koizumi, the commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army, rode on a tall, dark brown horse. Along the way, he kept urging the team to speed up.

The order he received was to rescue the 7th Brigade besieged by the Eighth Route Army at all costs. His mission was to rescue, not to assist in annihilation.

Looking at the entire battlefield, no matter how Koizumi looked at it, he believed that it was the Japanese troops that surrounded the Eighth Route Army.

There was a large force of the 7th Brigade attacking from the front, and two regiments of the 9th Brigade were fighting for positions on the flanks. This was clearly a three-sided encirclement, so why were they still in trouble?

After the team passed Hulukou, they found many chaotic horseshoe prints on the mud ahead. Koizumi immediately came to the conclusion that it was the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment that arrived first.

He immediately gave the order to the team to advance at full speed and rush into the battlefield in one go, using the flexibility of the cavalry to rescue the brigade commander, and then the team retreated from the battlefield while fighting.

After marching a few kilometers further, a Japanese second lieutenant hurried back from the front and reported to Koizumi: "Report to the regiment commander, a large number of our soldiers' bodies have been found ahead."

"Hmm? How many people are there?"

The Japanese soldier replied: "It's impossible to estimate, most of them are broken limbs."

Koizumi Jiro looked at the terrain ahead and said, "The Eighth Route Army didn't set an ambush at Hulukou, a strategic location. It seems the 7th Brigade was hit by the Eighth Route Army's howitzers. I guess Lord Kawashita got angry and led his troops to charge forward, which is why they fell into the trap set by the Eighth Route Army."

"Order the troops to lighten their loads and charge lightly to catch up with the cavalry and rescue the brigade commander!"

"Hi Yi!"

A company of Japanese soldiers unloaded their excess loads, and all their equipment, including mortars, grenade launchers, light and heavy machine guns, were abandoned on the roadside.

The soldiers of the independent battalion who were secretly responsible for reconnaissance originally wanted to call in the howitzers to attack directly, but after seeing the actions of the Japanese, they changed their minds, contacted Lin Qiang, and reported the information in detail.

After a few breaths, Lin Qiang's voice came from the intercom: "The soldiers of the new regiment are on their way over. Keep a close watch on the enemy."

"Yes!"

Another soldier from the independent battalion asked in confusion, "All this equipment is intact. Why didn't the battalion commander leave some for our independent battalion?"

The soldier reporting in was clearly a veteran. He whispered back, "You don't understand, do you? Putting aside how much of this stuff our independent battalion has, if we were to get a piece of the spoils, wouldn't those three regimental commanders be tempted to take our other equipment?"

"By doing this, the battalion commander is ensuring that the three regimental commanders have enough to eat. Naturally, there's no reason for them to even think about taking other equipment."

"You are still young, you need to watch and learn more."

…………

Xiaowangzhuang position.

Inside the command post.

Li Yunlong said indignantly, "The equipment should be divided equally between the three of us. Lao Ding, you can't eat it all by yourself!"

"Hey, Lao Li, why are you like a hungry dog? You have to take a bite of everything you see!"

Ding Wei pointed at Kong Jie and said, "Look at Old Kong, he's nothing like you..."

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Kong Jie immediately defended himself: "I agree with Lao Li. The three of us brothers do business, and whether we make a profit or a loss, we should share it equally."

"Did you see it?"

Li Yunlong said proudly: "Old Kong is more ideologically conscious than you, Old Ding!"

Ding Wei was not good at debating, let alone facing Li Yunlong and Kong Jie alone.

"Okay, okay, when we bring the equipment back, we'll split it up. Is that okay?"

Li Yunlong and Kong Jie said in unison: "That's about right."

When these three people are together, they don’t look like a leader at all, but just three funny guys.

Lin Qiang didn't dare to breathe, for fear that he would be affected as well.

The main thing is that the battle hasn't ended yet, but these three people started talking about the distribution of spoils. No, they had already held a round of talks on this issue when the battle just started.

According to the news that came back, the Japanese troops that rushed over should be the 22nd Infantry Regiment mentioned in the intelligence.

According to the intelligence, the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment should have arrived first, so why did the infantry arrive first?

Is it possible...

"Captain Kong, have your Second Battalion prepare for battle. The Japanese cavalry are very likely to..."

Before Lin Qiang could finish his words, fierce gunfire was heard from the high ground on the right side of the position.

The Second Battalion of the New Second Regiment was responsible for the high ground on the right wing. The battle had been going on for such a long time without any movement, so the soldiers all relaxed their vigilance and concentrated on watching the show on the position.

Below the high ground on the right wing is an open area. Although it is not flat, there are no trees blocking the view.

The second battalion commander only sent two soldiers to follow, but seriously neglected the open area below the front slope.

At first, the second battalion commander thought that the Japanese would not be stupid enough to rush over openly, but he didn't expect that there really were some, but they were just Japanese cavalry.

When the Japanese cavalry was discovered, the team responded as quickly as possible and successfully repelled the Japanese cavalry when they were less than twenty meters away from their position.

The second battalion commander was almost scared to death at this time. If it were not for the light and heavy machine guns supported by the independent battalion, this position would have been lost because of his negligence.

Once the position is lost, the consequences for the battle will be unimaginable.

Fortunately, it was held.

Taking advantage of the retreat of the Japanese cavalry, the second battalion commander ordered the soldiers to bring back all the nearest war horses.

They were all farmers from the countryside. They had never ridden a horse, but they had ridden a donkey many times.

More than thirty war horses were brought back at a time, and more than a dozen of them were knocked to the ground by bullets, neighing in pain from their mouths.

Kong Jie was the first to rush to the position. When the second battalion commander saw the regimental commander coming, he immediately went up to him and apologized: "Commander, please punish me!"

The second battalion commander explained the whole process of how the team almost lost the position, and took the initiative to take all the responsibility.

Kong Jie said with a stern face, "You should thank Lin Qiang. If it weren't for him, you would have been shot dead by me right now!"

"Luckily, we held our position. Otherwise, do you know how much of a ripple your carelessness would have caused to this battle? It's possible that your mistake would have led to this battle's failure!"

"Your mission is to stay on the battlefield. Without my order, you are not allowed to move a single step. Otherwise, don't blame me for asking you to be shot!"

The second battalion commander saluted and responded, "Yes! We will never leave our position!"

When Kong Jie saw the war horses behind the position, his expression softened a little: "Shoot as many people as you can, and save the horses for me."

"By the way, send a squad to take these horses to the back of the command post."