Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

So, Wu Lin immediately led his men to mobilize the light and heavy machine guns of the entire regiment and headed to Jiyi, setting up a pocket formation along both sides of the road leading to Taigu.

As soon as the 781st Regiment had set up its heavy machine gun positions, the 5th Cavalry Regiment, as the vanguard, could already see the torches. However, at this time, the Japanese torches were like bright lights in the dark night, and since they were located on a plain, the entire cavalry was like a sitting duck exposed in the night.

At this time, the 5th Cavalry Regiment, led by the regiment commander Xiaojue Shifan, was galloping along the Jiyi Highway, not noticing the ambushes on both sides, or they did not believe that the Chinese army dared to ambush.

After the Japanese cavalry completely entered the ambush circle, Wu Zhong fired a signal shot, and the grenadiers immediately threw the grenades in their hands into the cavalry unit. At the same time, light and heavy machine guns began to fire and harvested the entire cavalry unit.

The battle lasted less than 10 minutes, and almost all the Japanese troops were shot into sieves at close range, without even time to react or charge. Only a few of the last Japanese troops fled back to Jinzhong when they saw that the situation was not right.

This small ambush before the battle was very successful. Except for a few who escaped, almost all the Japanese troops were annihilated. It was a pity that a large number of war horses were killed or wounded by heavy machine gun fire, with only dozens of horses intact.

Wu Lin looked at so many killed war horses and thought about the situation behind them. He immediately decided to transport them to the rear and sent someone to notify the 386th Brigade to support a regiment for logistical transportation.

When the news reached Jinzhong, it immediately caused an uproar. The Japanese army had always been in short supply of war horses and supplies, but they did not expect that the always invincible Fifth Division would have its cavalry regiment destroyed.

From the soldiers who escaped back, the commander of the 5th Division, Itagaki Seishirō, learned the details of the cavalry regiment's destruction. This showed that the Chinese army had mobilized heavy troops in Taigu and wondered whether they would attack Jinzhong.

He immediately decided to lead the troops himself, and at the same time added a field artillery battalion and the 21st Infantry Regiment to wait for daybreak to advance in coordination. At the same time, he contacted the Taiyuan Airport and prepared to send aircraft for reconnaissance after daybreak and be ready to bomb at any time.

When Wu Lin in Taigu learned that the Japanese army had not sent any immediate reinforcements, he immediately understood that the Japanese army was planning to send a large force to launch a direct attack during the day tomorrow. Considering that there were Japanese planes parked at the nearby Taiyuan Airport and the Japanese army was heavily defending the Taiyuan Airport, a surprise attack was definitely not possible, and a way must be found to reduce the casualties of the troops tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Wu Lin immediately ordered people to collect straw and pile it on the road that must be taken for retreat tomorrow. As soon as the plane arrived, it would be immediately ignited to create smoke that would interfere with vision.

At the same time, trenches were dug for camouflage, and two trenches, light and dark, were intertwined to reduce the range of aerial bomb explosions. Cat-ear holes were built as much as possible to prevent large-scale artillery bombardments by the Japanese army, and a large number of dummies were arranged to stand on the positions.

At the same time, troops were sent out to place mines and explosives along the way to try to slow down the advance of the Japanese 5th Division.

At daybreak, the Japanese army began to advance towards Taigu. Along the way, they were harassed from time to time by the Eighth Route Army's cold guns, and there were also landmines that appeared from time to time, which made the Japanese army of the Fifth Division very annoyed. As a result, the Japanese army had to march for three hours until two o'clock in the afternoon.

Based on the reports from the reconnaissance aircraft on the front line, the Japanese army discovered that there was about a division of Chinese troops in front of them. It was not clear whether it was the Central Army or the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. So before arriving at Taigu City, they immediately began to scout the battlefield environment and build artillery positions.

At this moment, Itagaki Seishirō and a group of staff members were standing in the temporary command center, asking the intelligence agency about the number of the Chinese army that was attacking this time.