Traveling through 1937, starting from the Battle of Songhu

Chapter 435: Bandit Liu Heiqi

Northeast of Taiyue Mountain, in the Heilongxing Gorge connecting to Taihang Mountain, more than a dozen large trucks are traveling on the road, making constant rattling sounds.

A group of Eighth Route Army soldiers in earth-gray uniforms were transporting a batch of military supplies, and the soldiers of the 129th Division were in charge of escorting them.

The 129th Division had a relatively wide sphere of influence, including several areas such as southeastern Shanxi, the border between Hebei and Henan, and the southern Taihang Mountains, where guerrilla forces and detachments were established.

This time, an independent guerrilla detachment in southeastern Shanxi took advantage of the lack of Japanese troops in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and took advantage of it, which is why they were able to transport supplies to the Eighth Route Army headquarters.

The Japanese army’s defeat in Jinzhong could not be recovered from in a short time. A large number of troops were withdrawn to Jinzhong, which directly led to a significant reduction in the Japanese army’s strength in southeastern Shanxi.

"Captain, we're just ahead of Wolf Head Ridge. The terrain there is quite complex. Should we send a few soldiers over there to scout ahead?"

Platoon leader Ge Zhiqian suggested to the company commander Li Cheng.

Li Cheng heard this, thought for a moment and said: "That's not necessary. The bandits here have always kept their distance from our Eighth Route Army. We can just pass through quickly."

"Company Commander, the detachment commander has instructed that nothing can happen to this batch of supplies..."

Ge Zhiqian was a little worried. He never trusted outsiders, let alone bandits.

After hearing this, Li Cheng couldn't insist any longer and nodded, saying, "Then how about this? You lead the platoon in the front to search and advance, and I'll lead the convoy behind. Try to pay attention to the time, otherwise we'll have to spend the night in the mountains."

When Ge Zhiqian saw that the company commander agreed, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and then led a row of soldiers to clear the way.

Langtouling, the ambush position of bandit leader Liu Heiqi.

"Boss, the lookouts have sent word that the fat sheep are here. Judging from their uniforms, they look like Tubalu (Tubalu) soldiers. Should we take action?"

After hearing this, the bearded Liu Heiqi asked cautiously, "How are their equipment?"

He is not afraid of the Eighth Route Army. People like them who live on the edge of a knife can be sold out for money as long as there is enough benefit.

Second in command Yang Dashan hesitated for a moment and said, "Boss, that's a tough idea. They have over 200 men, several machine guns, and the rest are all Japanese Type 38 rifles."

Hearing this, Liu Heiqi said indifferently: "Second brother, my brothers have been here for half a year and are so poor that they are almost peeing blood. I don't care about the Eighth Route Army, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, or the Japanese. Even if the Central Army comes, I will take away my territory."

After he finished speaking, he didn't care about Yang Dashan and directly ordered his men to hide and prepare for battle.

Even if he was a man who only cared about money and not people, if he had not just arrived at Taiyue Mountain and his foundation was not stable, he would have taken action long ago. Why would he wait until this time?

Moreover, Taiyue Mountain is only dozens of kilometers away from the Japanese base in Yuci, and he was afraid of alerting the Japanese.

However, after more than half a year of peace and stability, there was no movement from the Japanese, and the supplies he had looted were used up. If he did not take action, he and more than 2,000 brothers would starve to death.

Ge Qianjin was unaware that there was an ambush ahead, so he led a row of more than 30 soldiers and carefully searched along both sides of the road, occasionally firing a burst of bullets into the nearby grass or suspicious places.

Unfortunately, their search area was rather narrow, and as it was gradually getting dark, the search was not very thorough.

Soon they fell into the bandits' pocket. Although Ge Qianjin felt something was wrong, the company commander in the rear kept urging him, so he could only hold the machine gun and fire a few rounds at the surrounding area.

Bandits are bandits after all, and it is impossible to expect them to have high quality. After being sprayed with gunfire by Ge Qianjin, someone couldn't help but open fire soon.

"Damn it, who fired the gun? Brothers, shoot!"

Since the other party has been alarmed, Liu Heiqi can only choose to launch an attack in advance.

At his command, more than a thousand bandits fired crazily at the Eighth Route Army on the road below the mountain.

The Eighth Route Army responded hastily and suffered heavy losses in an instant.

The bandits were not professional enough in their ambush, but fortunately they were numerous and the attack was a surprise, so the Eighth Route Army suffered a great loss and could not hold out for less than twenty minutes.

Seeing this, Liu Heiqi waved his hand and more than a thousand bandits rushed down the mountain shouting.

Seeing that the bandits were numerous and that his own soldiers had suffered seventy to eighty casualties, Li Cheng had no choice but to abandon his supplies and evacuate with more than a hundred people.

If the fight continued, they would be easily wiped out by the bandits because the enemy had more people and stronger firepower.

Liu Heiqi didn't chase for long and stopped his men after a few hundred meters. What he wanted were supplies and weapons, and it didn't matter if the rest of the people ran away.

"Brothers, stop chasing me. Pack up and go back to the village. I'll treat you to a good meal tonight!"

Hedong, Liuzhuang, the headquarters of the 325th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army.

"Damn it! These bandits are so bold that they dare to attack us! Come on, line up! I'm going to destroy their lair!"

The group leader Zhao Hui was furious.

This time, not only food was sent to the headquarters, but also more than 400 Type 38 rifles and more than 30 light and heavy machine guns. The loss was not small.

"Captain, calm down. I've already sent soldiers from the reconnaissance company to investigate. As soon as we find the bandit's lair, I'll personally report to our superiors and have our brother troops over there retrieve this batch of supplies."

Political Commissar Song Gansheng hurriedly grabbed Zhao Hui and said that some things cannot be rushed and must be planned first.

However, the weapons and food were exchanged for by the soldiers with their blood, so they couldn't just let it go. Song Gansheng agreed with Zhao Hui on this point.

After being pulled by the political commissar, Zhao Hui finally came to his senses and suppressed his anger.

He knew very well that it was unlikely to carry out a large-scale operation at the moment. The Japanese had suffered a loss and were looking for trouble with them. If they were not handled properly, they themselves would be in great danger.

The Japanese are the main threat. Zhao Hui calmed down and began to discuss with Song Gansheng how to deal with the Japanese. As for weapons and supplies, they could only find out first and then report to their superiors.

Niujiao Mountain, Liu Heiqi’s bandit lair.

Liu Heiqi, who had made a big deal, was in a very good mood and was eating and drinking with a group of big and small leaders in the village.

The other guys didn't just stand there and watch, and everyone got some meat.

Liu Heiqi has done several such low-cost deals recently, especially the caravan he robbed a few days ago. That caravan was called Fuyou. Otherwise, the food he robbed from the Eighth Route Army would not be enough for more than 2,000 bandits to drink and eat meat.

As it was getting late at night, the bandits were drunk and lay down on the ground snoring. Liu Heiqi had also drunk a lot and was staggering to go to sleep.

Just then, a small leader who was on guard outside ran into the village and found Liu Heiqi.

"Boss, there's a group of people outside. They say they want to discuss business with you. Do you want to meet them?"

Liu Heiqi's interest was interrupted. He looked at the little leader angrily and said with glaring eyes: "No, tell them to get out. We can talk about it tomorrow if there is anything!"

He was just about to go back and do something with the girl he had kidnapped, so he had no time to meet any outsiders.

Moreover, it was the middle of the night, and he came here secretly, so there must be nothing good going on.