Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

The battle situation in northwest Shanxi has exceeded the Japanese's expectations, but what they did not expect is that a series of movements in northwest Shanxi have affected the entire battle situation.

There was dead silence in the Japanese headquarters, and the generals looked at the map with worried expressions.

The original plan was to open a gap for invading North China by controlling northwest Shanxi, but now it is stuck in a quagmire.

The scene in the Eighth Route Army headquarters was quite different, as the generals were discussing their next move.

They knew that this was just the beginning and they had to press on.

So they sent several small teams to go deep behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and prepare to deal more blows to the enemy.

Northwest Shanxi.

Independent camp base.

Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong Jie, and Lin Qiang, the four of them gathered together.

After three days of non-stop fighting, the Japanese Fourth Brigade was completely defeated.

Either die or escape.

There is only one company left to defend Xiaowangzhuang, and the rest of the troops have all withdrawn.

As for the other three groups, they have now entered Laiyuan County.

Laiyuan County became the first county in northwest Shanxi to be peacefully liberated.

When the news came out, several counties including Anhua County, Xiangyang County, and Ping'an County reacted differently.

The people prayed that the Eighth Route Army would liberate the county town as soon as possible, preferably in a peaceful way.

The puppet troops in the city have already sent people to contact the Eighth Route Army.

The local troops and guerrillas that they had previously looked down upon have now become their lifeline.

The Japanese soldiers guarding the city were all facing a powerful enemy.

As soon as the news of the liberation of Laiyuan County spread, people and refugees from surrounding areas flocked to the county, praying for a safe place to stay.

It is not just the liberation of the county that is worth celebrating. The young and middle-aged people who were reluctant to join the army before are now signing up enthusiastically.

why?

Because now they see hope of victory.

Over at the independent battalion, Li Yunlong was giving a lecture to a group of new recruits: "Since you've joined the army, you must behave like soldiers! We're facing ferocious Japanese invaders. Don't think that everything will be fine if we just drive them out of Laiyuan County like herding ducks!"

Lin Qiang watched silently from the side. He was happy that an old revolutionary like Li Yunlong, who had already made a great name for himself, was training new recruits.

All the recruits had serious expressions and determined eyes.

At the same time, the Japanese commander in Ping'an County, Major Kameda, received an order to defend the county to the death.

While strengthening the city's defenses, he sent spies out to spy on the movements of the Eighth Route Army.

However, Zhao Fugui, the puppet army captain in Ping'an County, had his own plans. He knew that the Japanese were doomed and wanted to find an opportunity to join the Eighth Route Army in order to protect himself.

After receiving this news, Lin Qiang and the other three decided to postpone the plan to attack Taiyuan and instead liberate the county town first.

Because they were worried that the Japanese would become desperate and threaten the lives of the people in the city.

The plan was finalized and Ding Wei took the lead.

He sneaked into the vicinity of Ping'an County with a reconnaissance team and found that the Japanese here were gathering troops into the city, as if they wanted to concentrate their forces for defense.

Ding Wei did not try it rashly, but turned back to discuss it with everyone.

Li Yunlong is a man who always does what he says: "If it were you, I'd say we'd act first and ask for permission later."

"The division headquarters is hundreds of kilometers away. By the time the news gets through, it will be too late. We should take advantage of the fact that the Japanese haven't fully deployed their defenses yet and catch them off guard."

Ding Wei had a different idea: "What Lao Li said is right, but it depends on whether what I saw is true. What if it is a trap set by the devils for us?"

Kong Jie also nodded and said, "Old Ding is right. We can't take this risk."

After a moment's contemplation, Lin Qiang said, "We can send another small team to conduct a feint attack. If we encounter fierce resistance and the firepower far exceeds our expectations, it means that the Japanese have not yet fully deployed their defenses."

Li Yunlong wanted to say something, but seeing that several people agreed with the proposal, he had no choice but to follow the crowd.

The plan is finalized.

So a team of elite soldiers was selected and led by Duan Peng to launch a feint attack on the edge of Ping'an County.

As soon as the fire started, the Japanese counterattack was not strong. It seemed that they were still in the stage of withdrawing their troops.

Duan Peng quickly withdrew the report.

Li Yunlong was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately ordered the entire army to march straight to Ping'an County.

Major Kameda did not expect the Eighth Route Army to arrive so quickly and organized a defense in a hurry.

The battle began and the Eighth Route Army soldiers fought bravely.

Seeing that the Eighth Route Army was unstoppable, the puppet army captain Zhao Fugui decisively led his troops in an uprising, disrupting the devil's defense line from within.

No one expected that the puppet troops in the city would turn against them at this time.

Lin Qiang didn't expect it, Li Yunlong didn't expect it, and Kong Jie didn't expect it either.

As for Kameda, he could not have imagined that the main purpose of the puppet army's rebellion was to capture him, the regiment commander, as a token of his allegiance.

"idiot!"

"Zhao Sang, aren't you afraid of the revenge of the Little Day Locusts?"

Zhao Fugui sneered, "You're already like grasshoppers in autumn. How many more days can you keep jumping? To tell you the truth, if I hadn't been unable to contact the Eighth Route Army, I would have rebelled long ago."

Without giving Kameda the chance to curse, Zhao Fugui grabbed a piece of rag from somewhere and stuffed it into Kameda's mouth.

"take away!"

With the puppet army's rebellion and the capture of Major Kameda, the Japanese troops in Ping'an County were in great chaos.

The Eighth Route Army took advantage of the situation and launched a fierce attack, quickly clearing out most of the enemy troops in the city.

But there are still some strongholds that are resisting stubbornly.

Lin Qiang led a small group of soldiers to encircle a stubborn stronghold.

They unexpectedly discovered that there was a secret arsenal of the Japanese army hidden here.

If it exploded, it would cause huge losses to the Japanese army. However, the area around the arsenal was full of traps.

Just when everyone was worried, Li Yunlong brought a few soldiers who were good at engineering blasting.

They carefully cracked the mechanism and finally succeeded in placing the explosives. With a loud bang, the armory was blown to pieces.

The battle was a complete victory and Ping'an County was completely liberated.

The Japanese and puppet troops in the surrounding counties were even more terrified after hearing the news, while the common people cheered and many young people enthusiastically joined the Eighth Route Army.

The troops are still cleaning up the battlefield in the county town.

The brigade headquarters learned the news as soon as the war broke out.

The brigade commander was helpless.

If these guys get together, I'm afraid they will really attack Taiyuan, let alone the county town.

After the liberation of Ping'an County, the troops' morale was high.

But Li Yunlong and others were not carried away by victory. They knew that the next battle would only be more difficult.

At the celebration party, Lin Qiang proposed a bold idea: to use the deterrent power of this victory to launch a psychological warfare.

They forged a large number of leaflets, which were printed with pictures of the Japanese army's disastrous defeat in Ping'an County and words of persuasion for surrender.

Afterwards, several small teams were dispatched to quietly distribute leaflets into surrounding counties.

The effect was immediate, and many Japanese and puppet troops became panicked after reading the leaflets.

In some strongholds, soldiers even secretly escaped.

In Anhua County, Ma Dashan was originally from an independent battalion, and the Japanese had always had few troops in the city.

Japanese commander Kenjiro was furious after seeing the leaflets and wanted to severely punish those who wavered in their will.

The result was the intensification of internal conflicts.

There was chaos among the Japanese, so Ma Dashan immediately sent someone to deliver the intelligence.

Lin Qiang did not hesitate and seized the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, easily taking over Anhua County.

This series of victories further solidified the Eighth Route Army's foundation in northwestern Shanxi.

The common people spread the stories of the heroes, and the young people were vying to defend their country like Li Yunlong and others.