Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

When we returned to the base, it was already dawn. According to the alternation of day and night in this season, it was around eight o'clock in the morning.

The soldiers of the independent battalion, after training for so long, were somewhat exhausted by the long-distance raids and surprise attacks.

Except for the defense forces on the Xiaowangzhuang position, Lin Qiang ordered the soldiers who participated in the night raid to recuperate.

Several company commanders were also called in, except Zhang Yuntian, who was called by Lin Qiang alone to the temporary command room on the Xiaowangzhuang position.

The two sat down.

Don’t be fooled by the simple appearance of this command room. Although it is small, it has everything you need.

Lin Qiang poured a cup of hot tea for the two of them and placed it in front of them before asking, "What's the situation in the county?"

Last time I sent Zhang Yuntian to gather intelligence, but I was busy with these things and didn’t have time to ask.

The Japanese have been having a hard time these past two days, so there won’t be any combat plans in the short term.

So Lin Qiang took this opportunity to find out what the Japanese were planning in the county.

Zhang Yuntian took a sip of tea without hesitation. As soon as he took a sip, his eyes lit up: "Good tea!"

Lin Qiang had no doubt that Zhang Yuntian could taste the quality of tea. After all, he was a famous figure among the Japanese devils. What kind of tea had he not tasted?

Then, Zhang Yuntian said, "I went to the county town originally intending to find Zhang Zizai to ask about the situation, but the Japanese asked him to strengthen patrols and defenses in the city. He was in meetings at the military police every day, so there was no way to contact him at all."

"Later, I asked Zhao He, but he didn't know what was going on either, but..."

Having said this, he suddenly stopped and looked up at Lin Qiang.

"But what?"

Lin Qiang didn't care: "Go on."

Zhang Yuntian thought for a moment and continued, "But he took me to see a Japanese soldier last time..."

Lin Qiang waved his hand: "I know, go on."

Zhang Yuntian continued, "He took me to see another Japanese soldier and said that I was a spy he was secretly training. The major seemed very interested and told me privately that there would be a big move in the near future."

But he refused to reveal more details, only saying that they were targeting our base. He also hinted that if I could provide some inside information about our independent battalion, I would be rewarded handsomely.

After hearing this, Lin Qiang frowned and said, "It seems that the enemy is plotting a conspiracy. So, how did you respond to him?"

Zhang Yuntian sneered, "Of course I only agreed insincerely. I wanted to calm him down first. I told him that it would take some time to give him accurate information. After all, the independent camp is heavily guarded."

Lin Qiang nodded. "Very good. Next, we need to find out what their so-called big move is as soon as possible. It seems we need to send more people into the county to conduct a thorough reconnaissance. Whatever their plan is, we must not let them succeed."

Zhang Yuntian clenched his fists. "Captain, please let me go again this time. The connections we established earlier can still be put to use. I will definitely gather useful intelligence."

Lin Qiang pondered for a moment, then patted Zhang Yuntian's shoulder heavily: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Zhang Yuntian grinned: "It's nothing, it's not hard at all."

That night, Zhang Yuntian quietly set out for the county town.

He was the puppet soldier guarding the city gate, so he easily sneaked into the county town.

Zhang Yuntian pretended to approach the informant he had contacted before inadvertently.

However, he discovered that there were suspicious people watching him, which made him realize that the Japanese had become more cautious and suspicious.

So, Zhang Yuntian deliberately exposed some true and false intelligence about the independent battalion to lure the Japanese into the trap.

Sure enough, the major summoned him again and said that if the information was true, he would give him great benefits.

During the conversation, the major revealed a key piece of information - they would unite the forces in the surrounding strongholds and pretend to attack another base, but their actual target was the independent battalion.

Zhang Yuntian was shocked, but remained calm.

After leaving the gendarmerie, he immediately found a reliable comrade to pass the message back to the independent battalion.

He himself had to stay in the county town to gather more information.

The Japanese soldiers who knew him before had all died long ago, so he was not afraid of exposing his identity at all.

The reason why Zhang Yuntian stayed in the county town was that he believed that the Japanese had learned from the lessons of the previous two failures and must be adequately prepared, otherwise they would not dare to attack Xiaowangzhuang easily.

His purpose was to find out the source of the Japanese's confidence, and if possible, to replace the Japanese's confidence with himself. This was his plan.

Zhang Yuntian began to search everywhere for the source of the Japanese's confidence.

He was wandering through the dark alleys of the city and overheard two Japanese soldiers chatting and mentioning a mysterious figure.

It is said that this person is a military expert who has been secretly planning how to attack the independent battalion.

Zhang Yuntian decided to follow the clues and after several days of investigation, he finally locked onto a hidden courtyard.

One night, he sneaked into the yard and saw a man in the house pointing at a map with many Japanese military documents beside him.

Just when he wanted to check further, the alarm suddenly sounded. He was startled and realized that he had accidentally triggered the mechanism.

Who on earth is this devil and how could he have such a strong defense force?

The Japanese had surrounded them, and at the critical moment, Zhang Yuntian jumped out of the window.

Bullets whizzed past from behind, but he escaped the pursuers thanks to his familiarity with the terrain.

After being safe, Zhang Yuntian suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself.

He knew that after this failure, the Japanese would either divert the enemy or set a trap for him.

In either case, the opportunity to continue gathering intelligence has been lost.

Zhang Yuntian was very upset, but since things had come to this point, he could only return to the independent camp as soon as possible to report the situation.

After leaving the county town, he carefully avoided the enemy's eyes and finally returned to the independent camp safely.

After seeing Lin Qiang, he lowered his head in shame: "Battalion Commander, I failed to fully understand the situation."

Then he recounted what had happened in detail.

Lin Qiang comforted him, "You've already brought back a lot of important information. Don't blame yourself."

Then, Zhang Yuntian saw Lin Qiang smiling and saying to himself, "Even the Japanese planes and tanks can't break our defenses. What's the point of a little Japanese military expert like him coming? Why would he use his pen to write a letter to scold me?"

Maybe it’s because of the different eras they lived in. In Lin Qiang’s previous life, “expert” had already become a derogatory term.

What kind of crap does this guy come out and dare to call himself an expert.

Seeing that Zhang Yuntian still felt a little guilty, Lin Qiang said, "But we can't be careless. The intelligence you provided this time at least prevented some things from being discovered. It's crucial."

“It’s impossible for a person to do something perfectly. As long as they achieve results, they have completed their mission.”

Lin Qiang patted Zhang Yuntian on the shoulder and said, "Go and have a good rest. I have something important to discuss with you tonight."

Zhang Yuntian just opened his mouth and wanted to say that he had energy, but he saw the look in the battalion commander's eyes and swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.