Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

After all this, the Japanese had no time to continue attacking the independent battalion base.

Lin Qiang ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. To be on the safe side, he did not withdraw the main force back to the base, but instead kept them all in the Xiaowangzhuang position.

What’s interesting is that the Independent Regiment and the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had friction over the Dagu Town incident. While Chu Yunfei was still recovering, the Japanese launched a second attack on the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in order to avenge the attack they had suffered at that time.

There were also rumors that the Japanese from the 3rd Brigade blamed the death of Hirano Wataru on Chu Yunfei and the 358th Regiment, and that this attack was just the beginning.

Li Yunlong had a new excuse and sent a battalion to Dagu Town again, occupying the area around Dagu Town in the name of reinforcement.

Not only that, Li Yunlong also borrowed a lot of troops from the New 772st Regiment, the New nd Regiment, and even the nd Regiment.

Among them, the New 772st Regiment, the New nd Regiment, and the nd Regiment were short of manpower and could only assist Li Yunlong's local troops. Li Yunlong expressed his gratitude for this.

Only Lin Qiang's independent battalion dispatched a main force of 1,000 people, carrying various weapons, including mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and infantry guns.

Li Yunlong was not polite at all to Lin Qiang, and even asked Lin Qiang to drive a tank over.

How could Lin Qiang dare to do so? If he really drove the tank over, wouldn't that be the source of direct conflict with the friendly forces?

After finishing these things, Lin Qiang was able to take the time to think about how to deal with the poison gas bombs snatched from the Japanese.

In fact, if the Japanese really used poison gas bombs to attack the Xiaowangzhuang position, without considering other factors, Lin Qiang could completely let the Japanese use them.

It is winter now. The Xiaowangzhuang position is a U-shaped bend, located upwind, with extremely fast air flow. As long as we are prepared, the Japanese poison gas bombs will not pose much of a threat.

The main lethality of poison gas bombs relies on the poison gas stored inside the bomb body. In such an environment, once the poison gas leaks out, it will be blown away directly by the north wind.

Moreover, the unlucky ones were the Japanese who were at a disadvantage.

However, Lin Qiang knew very little about this type of weapon and was not sure whether these poison gas bombs would have an impact on the geographical environment.

Whether it will spread widely and even cause harm to the people in the county and surrounding areas.

There was no better solution for the time being, so Lin Qiang could only find a safe and hidden place to seal the poison gas bomb.

He selected several soldiers and headed towards a cave in the mountains with poison gas bombs. The cave was located on the cliff and was not easy for ordinary people to find. Even if they found it, it would be difficult to reach the cave.

After the storage was completed, the entrance of the cave was specially filled and covered to ensure that no one would accidentally enter it.

At the same time, Chu Yunfei learned that Lin Qiang had given strong support to Li Yunlong, and he secretly sighed that Lin Qiang had a long-term vision.

He understood that in the overall situation of the anti-Japanese war, unity and cooperation were the right way.

So he sent someone to deliver a letter to Lin Qiang, expressing his gratitude for Lin Qiang's previous secret help and hoping that if there was a chance in the future, they could fight side by side.

After receiving the letter, Lin Qiang smiled silently.

This Chu Yunfei is really patient. Even at this time, he is still thinking about winning me over.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiang wrote a short reply letter, which only contained one sentence:

"When the nation is in crisis, it is the duty of soldiers to unite against the enemy."

Lin Qiang did not give up on studying ways to deal with poison gas bombs. He ordered Zhang Yuntian and several other company commanders to send out scouts to find out if there were any people who had come into contact with such weapons, or if there were any chemical scholars who had fled.

When fleeing in troubled times, I met many outstanding people in various fields among the refugees. As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover.

For example, inside the arsenal, there were several military industry experts who had fled all the way from the northeast because they did not want to work for the Japanese.

…………

Two days have passed since the battle of Xiaowangzhuang.

During these two days, small-scale battles with the Japanese broke out in various places in northwestern Shanxi, with fruitful results.

After two days of turmoil and with the assistance of Yoshio Shinozuka from the Taiyuan Command, Harahira Koizumi managed to stabilize the situation. He also received a telegram from Ningji Okamura, which clearly stated that he was under full command of the two brigades in Laiyuan County.

After receiving the news, Harahira Koizumi did not feel happy at all, but fell into deep worry.

He was in full command of the two brigades, which meant that there were no more extra personnel to take over the command.

Harahira Koizumi was well aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders, so he called together his officers to discuss countermeasures.

However, opinions diverged significantly. Some advocated concentrating forces to attack one point fiercely to break the deadlock, while others suggested taking steady steps to consolidate the existing defense line.

Just when the scene was in chaos, Okamoto, a native of Laiyuan County and current deputy commander of the Laiyuan County gendarmerie and head of the intelligence department, finally had a chance to show his talents after Zhang Zilai learned from him.

Since it was his first time speaking in front of the brigade commander, Okamoto was somewhat nervous. He raised his hand and stammered, "Your Excellency, I have summarized the reasons for our Little Locusts' failures. It's not because Lin Qiang is too strong, nor is it because we are inferior to Lin Qiang."

"It was mainly because the Eighth Route Army's Independent Battalion was fighting on its home turf. Ever since Xiaoye lost Xiaowangzhuang, they've never considered retaking it. I've repeatedly warned him that Xiaowangzhuang is the best position to counterbalance the Eighth Route Army's Independent Battalion. You know what happened next."

"I believe that the Independent Battalion has the advantage fighting on its home turf, but victory is not impossible. The first thing we need to deal with is the Independent Battalion's howitzers. We can destroy the tanks using the same methods used by the Eighth Route Army. As long as these two problems are resolved, the Independent Battalion can be easily defeated!"

"Yoshi!"

Hearing this, Harahira Koizumi's expression softened considerably: "What's your name?"

"Okamoto Nagaken."

"I'll remember you, please continue."

"Hi Yi!"

Okamoto suppressed his joy and continued, "I believe the best way to deal with the independent battalion's howitzers is to have Colonel Yamamoto Ikki use his special forces to destroy them."

"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, I know you're dissatisfied with the repeated failures of Colonel Yamamoto's special forces, but what you don't know is that Colonel Yamamoto has grown through failure. He has been undergoing targeted training recently. I believe that if you give him a chance, he will definitely reap unexpected rewards."

"In addition, I have another way to deal with the independent battalion's tanks. That is to launch smoke bombs to block the line of sight on the battlefield, so that Lin Qiang's tanks cannot play their true role."

"With the cover of smoke bombs, we can deploy our artillery on the battlefield and use artillery fire to strike the artillery positions deployed by the independent battalion at Xiaowangzhuang."

"As long as we can destroy the two artillery positions of the independent battalion, it will be easy to completely wipe them out."