Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

The remnants of the Japanese 4th Brigade, which had retreated from the battlefield, were returning to the county town. This battle not only did not cause any losses to the independent battalion, but instead resulted in the loss of a tank formation and hundreds of devils.

Of course, it cannot be said that the independent camp did not suffer any losses. At least a lot of ammunition was consumed.

Yuanping Koizumi ordered the troops to rest on the spot. He himself was very tired and wanted to stop and rest for a while and drink some water.

"idiot!"

"Why does Lin Qiang have so many tricks up his sleeve? Why does he even own a tank?"

"Signalman! Report the situation here to Taiyuan Headquarters and request a transfer!"

"Hi Yi!"

However, just as the signalman was sending the telegram, the Japanese soldiers who stayed behind hurriedly came to report: "Brigade Commander, the Eighth Route Army tanks are catching up! The armored vehicles are very fast and will catch up with us in about ten minutes!"

People walk on two legs, so no matter how slow the tank is, it will catch up soon. Facing the steel beast, Harahira Koizumi knew that he did not have the ability to fight.

So he turned and shouted to the signalman, "First, request reinforcements from the county troops. Tell them that if the reinforcements are not timely, the 4th Brigade will be completely destroyed. The situation is urgent!"

"Hi Yi!"

Since it concerned the life and death of the entire brigade, the signalman did not dare to delay and quickly sent a telegram to the county town.

Fortunately, this place was beyond the range of the device's signal reception, otherwise, if it was intercepted by Lin Qiang, Yuanping Koizumi would not even know how he died.

The original plan was to make the Japanese mistakenly believe that Lin Qiang was going to counterattack and liberate the county town, thus forcing the Japanese to return to defense, but they never expected that Yuanping Koizumi would help Lin Qiang.

After receiving the call for help, the county gendarmerie immediately sent a telegram to the dispatched regiment, asking them to provide reinforcements as quickly as possible.

Upon receiving the news, Ishiyama Heiji, commander of the 38th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army, had a gloomy expression on his face: "The 4th Brigade is truly a complete waste!"

"Order the troops to change direction, target Xiaowangzhuang, and advance at full speed!"

"Hey Ya Gu!"

The reason why Ishiyama Heiji called Harahira Koizumi a waste was that he thought Harahira Koizumi had delayed his opportunity to make merit. If the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had been defeated in one fell swoop, he would have been the first to make merit, and promotion to major general would not have been impossible.

The 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army was known as an ace unit, well-equipped and with strong combat effectiveness. The Japanese invaders launched dozens of encirclement and suppression campaigns against it, but all ended in failure.

The 358th Regiment and the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army were listed by the Japanese as one of the primary targets for elimination.

In various county towns, the Japanese offered a reward of 100,000 silver dollars on the heads of Chu Yunfei, commander of the 358th Regiment, Ding Wei, commander of the New 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, Kong Jie, commander of the New 2nd Regiment, and Li Yunlong, commander of the Independent Regiment.

In addition, the person who provides the information will be rewarded with three thousand silver dollars once it is confirmed to be true.

This was actual money given by the Japanese. The last time the news of Chu Yunfei going to the county town leaked out, the person who betrayed him actually received three thousand silver dollars.

But now someone is superior to them. This person is Lin Qiang, the commander of the independent battalion directly under the headquarters of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

The Japanese posted a notice in the county town that Lin Qiang's body was worth 300,000 silver dollars. If he could be captured alive, the Japanese would not only give a reward of 500,000 silver dollars, but also arrange a position for him in the county town.

Ishiyama Heiji was very clear about his own strengths and weaknesses. Although the contribution of destroying the Eighth Route Army Independent Battalion was great, it had no appeal to him at all.

Because he knew clearly that this was simply an impossible thing to do, unless Lin Qiang couldn't figure it out and wanted to die.

In comparison, it would be more practical to cooperate with the reinforcements from the Ping'an direction to attack the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, but now they were suddenly informed that the action plan had changed.

Even if Harahira Koizumi was a major general and a brigade commander, Ishiyama Heiji would still curse him.

The news of the Japanese withdrawal soon reached the 358th Regiment's position. Chu Yunfei, who was personally commanding the battle, was very happy when he heard the news, because in his opinion, Lin Qiang must have intended to agree to his previous proposal since he was able to complete his request so quickly.

"Has the First Battalion of the Independent Regiment retreated?"

Chu Yunfei knew that this was impossible, but he still held on to a glimmer of hope, thinking that the first battalion would withdraw out of fear of not being able to hold on.

"No."

The subordinate replied, "Commander, not only did the Eighth Route Army not withdraw, but they sent a team of several hundred people into Dagu Town, and they also brought mortars and grenade launchers."

"..."

Hearing this, Chu Yunfei was silent for a long time: "Let's fight first. After the war, I will deal with these things!"

"Signalman, order the artillery battalion to extend the impact point forward 300 meters and bomb his artillery position!"

"Notify the First and Second Battalions to prepare. After the bombardment is over, the troops will advance from the left and right flanks. The Third Battalion will be responsible for the rear. Eat up this Japanese army!"

……

Independent regiment headquarters.

Li Yunlong paced back and forth like an ant on a hot pan. Political Commissar Zhao Gang couldn't stand it any longer and said angrily, "Old Li, can you sit down and be quiet for a while? You're pacing around all the time. It's making me dizzy!"

"Old Zhao, I'm anxious!"

Li Yunlong frowned and said, "If the Japanese don't withdraw, then I, Old Li, can't just ignore the brothers in the first battalion, right?"

"Who's to blame?"

Zhao Gang said, "Old Li, I'm not gloating. If the higher-ups investigate, I can't escape responsibility either. Now, we can only wait and see how Lin Qiang reacts."

"But there is one thing I want to make clear. Even if this leads to a military court later, you, Old Li, cannot ignore the brothers of the First Battalion."

Li Yunlong sat down on the bed and relit a cigarette with the cigarette butt in his hand. "Need you to tell me that? I, Li Yunlong, have never given up on a single soldier since I joined the army."

"When I was in the New 1st Regiment, I led the team to break out from Cangyun Ridge. The battalion commander Zhang Dabiao was surrounded by the Japanese. Didn't I, Old Li, lead the team back and rescue Zhang Dabiao and several other brothers?"

"My life was saved by my brothers."

Li Yunlong pointed to a pack of cigarettes on the wall and said, "I don't need to tell you what that is, right?"

"Just because I said the pipe was not good, Sanbao risked his life to take it from the Japanese. Do you think I, Li Yunlong, would be worthy of the brothers who died on the battlefield if I abandoned one of them?"

The two of them suddenly fell into silence.

"report!"

The sound outside the door broke the silence in the room, and Li Yunlong responded: "Come in!"

Guard Xiao Li walked in and saluted, "Reporting to the regiment commander and political commissar, news has come from the forward observation post that the Japanese have withdrawn halfway. The first battalion is temporarily safe!"

"Great!"

Li Yunlong's face was like a book that had been turned over over the years. He had a sad face just now, but now his face was smiling like a chrysanthemum.

"I know. Keep closely monitoring the movements of the devils!"

"Yes!"

After guard Xiao Li left, Li Yunlong said happily, "I thought Lin Qiang had a solution. No, I have to give him a call."

"Xiao Li. Xiao Li!"

Xiao Li, who had just walked out the door, turned back and stood at the door of the inner room and answered, "Captain, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Li Yunlong opened his personal cabinet and took out a clean command knife from it.

"Old Zhao, look, this is that bastard Sakata's command knife! This is my biggest trophy in all these years!"

"Xiao Li, go find a clean cloth."

"Yes!"

Zhao Gang was puzzled and asked, "I know that. You usually take it out and wipe it, just like you cherish your wife. What are you doing with it now?"

At this time, Xiao Li came back with a piece of clean gray cloth. Li Yunlong took it and spread it on the kang. While wrapping up the command knife, he replied, "I, Li Yunlong, am not a person who only takes advantage of others. I plan to give this knife to Lin Qiang as a gift."

"We've been under a lot of care from that guy during this period. All the belongings of our independent regiment were taken from him. He doesn't even want them when we send them back."

"I don't have anything worth showing off, but this knife is one of them."

Zhao Gang laughed and asked, "The brigade commander couldn't even take this knife away, yet you're willing to give it to Lin Qiang. That's not like you, Old Li."

Li Yunlong curled his lips and pretended to be indifferent and said, "It's just a broken sword. Just wait and see. When the boss's plan starts, let alone a lieutenant's command sword, even a major general's command sword, I, Li, can get one back!"

After wrapping it up, he instructed Xiao Li, "Send this to Lin Qiang. Be sure to hand it to him personally."

"Also, they say the regiment headquarters has recently run out of food. The regiment commander has started picking up leaves to smoke, and he hasn't had a sip of alcohol in over half a month."