Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Li Yunlong did not expect that the Japanese would attach so much importance to him that they began to place intelligence personnel around him.

However, Li Yunlong thought about it and estimated that the Japanese would not take him so seriously. He should be sent to investigate the news about Kazuo Shinozuka. After all, the commander of the First Army was "captured" by Li Yunlong. The Japanese needed to confirm whether the commander of the First Army had revealed some important information, such as the operation against Zhongtiao Mountain planned by the Japanese at the end of last year.

Moreover, he is also a doctor, with a high degree of freedom, and can get all kinds of information from the wounded.

"Even the Special High Technology Department has sent people? It's really getting more and more interesting. But the more chaotic the better. After all, the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish!" Li Yunlong muttered to himself as he glanced at the sky.

At the same time, the Japanese 13th Regiment, Kumamoto Regiment, had finished breakfast and started marching. Their goal today was to reach Ping'an County before dusk.

"Your Excellency, the Regiment Commander, a telegram from the division!"

A signalman came to Okabe Michino with bow legs and respectfully handed him the telegram.

"Read it!" Okabe Michino, who was tidying up his military uniform at the time, glanced at the telegram and spoke.

"Hayi!"

"Today, reconnaissance aircraft arrived over Ping'an County and conducted repeated reconnaissance. Ping'an County is still under our control. We must cooperate with the Ping'an County defenders to annihilate the Eighth Route Army Independent Column, its commander Li Yunlong, and the Sixth Division..."

After hearing the contents of the telegram, Okabe Mitsuno pondered for a moment and said, "Reply to the division. Our troops will arrive in Ping'an County this evening. We have not encountered any Eighth Route Army troops so far, and we have not been able to make contact with the tank battalion. Please send another reconnaissance plane to Ping'an County to conduct reconnaissance and ensure intelligence preparations!"

"Hayi!"

Okabe Mitsuno thought for a moment and continued, "Continue to send telegrams to the tank brigade and ask them about their situation!"

"Hayi!"

At this time, a night had passed since Ping'an County lost contact. Even though the division headquarters sent a telegram and dispatched a reconnaissance plane to confirm the situation in Ping'an County, Okabe Michino was still a little confused.

If Ping'an County and the tank brigade were safe, why was there no way to contact them? Whether by phone or radio, it was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.

Therefore, Okabe Michino still needs the division to confirm the situation in Heian County before deciding what to do next.

Chapter 130 The th Regiment Attacks, Li Yunlong's Greatest Crisis

Ping'an County, Independent Column Headquarters.

Li Yunlong sat in the first seat smoking a cigarette, Kong Jie was on his left, and Zhao Gang was on the right, frowning as he looked at the telegram.

Lao Xing, Zhang Dabiao, Sun Desheng, Ma Renxin and others sat around the table, looking at the map of Ping'an County.

"Old Li, do we really want to defend Ping'an County? Isn't that too risky? In principle, I don't agree with defending Ping'an County to the death!"

Just ten minutes ago, Li Yunlong received a telegram from the division headquarters, discovering that the Japanese 13th Regiment was rapidly rushing towards Ping'an County, with about three thousand people.

The division headquarters only told Li Yunlong that the Japanese troops were heading towards Ping'an County, and did not let Li Yunlong retreat. It was left to Li Yunlong to decide whether to fight or stay.

Li Yunlong listened to Zhao Gang's words without saying anything, but instead swept his eyes over everyone present.

The Japanese 13th Regiment was the elite among the Japanese elite 6th Division, even more elite than the Sakata Regiment, and was nicknamed the Kumamoto Regiment.

"Old Li, this is a whole regiment of Japanese soldiers after all! We can still retreat now!"

Zhao Gang continued to dissuade him, and Kong Jie also frowned and said, "Old Li, I don't think we need to fight this battle. The pressure of a regiment of devils is too great!"

After hearing this, Li Yunlong nodded and agreed with Kong Jie's statement. It was indeed true. A regiment of Japanese devils was too much pressure for the independent column.

Now the independent column plus the county brigade and district squad have a total of more than 2,000 people. Including the new recruits who have not yet completed training and the new soldiers who joined the army this morning, there are only 3,000 people at most.

Including the more than 1,000 people from the independent regiment, the total strength is 4,000.

However, they were facing a Japanese regiment. Although it lacked a tank battalion, the 13th Regiment still had two infantry battalions, an artillery company, a cavalry company and an engineering company.

Moreover, the Japanese soldiers of the 13th Regiment were not like the Yamazaki Battalion, which was not fully staffed with only a few hundred people. The two infantry battalions were fully staffed with thousands of people. Li Yunlong's independent column had to face nearly three thousand elite Japanese soldiers.

These were more than 44 well-equipped Japanese soldiers. On the front battlefield, they could easily defeat a division or even an army of the Nationalist Army, and their own casualties were generally not heavy. In a major rout in , these troops could even chase after an army group of the Nationalist Army.

Although Li Yunlong has been winning battles since he traveled to Cangyunling, he has never faced the current situation, which is also the biggest challenge Li Yunlong is currently facing.

In the Battle of Cangyunling, although Li Yunlong was facing the Japanese Sakata Regiment, it was only a part of the Sakata Regiment, and it was a blocking battle, so they could retreat after the battle. At the same time, Li Yunlong also found the location of the Japanese command post and destroyed it with one shot.

In the Battle of Yangcun, we faced a small group of elite Japanese troops.

In the Battle of Yixiantian, we faced an understaffed infantry battalion of the Japanese.

In the Battle of Wangjia Town, disguised sneak attacks were used. Even when attacking an infantry battalion in Ping'an County, victory was achieved by taking advantage of the terrain and launching a surprise attack at night.

Including the recent Battle of Wild Dog Ridge, which was able to destroy the tank battalion and capture Ping'an County, it was also due to the use of terrain advantages and the Japanese arrogance and underestimation of the enemy.

Now Li Yunlong needs to face the frontal attack of a Japanese regiment.

"This battle must be fought!"

Li Yunlong took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

After Li Yunlong spoke, Zhao Gang immediately stopped refuting and waited for Li Yunlong to arrange combat tasks. Zhao Gang knew very well that the more it was at this time, the more unity was needed. Since Li Yunlong, the military commander, wanted to fight, he had to be responsible for logistics.

"We can retreat and leave Ping'an County with our spoils, but what about the people in the city?"

"Once we retreat, the Japanese will vent their anger on the people of Ping'an County! Ping'an County will become a dead city!"

Li Yunlong knew very well that the Japanese were now about to implement the Three Alls Policy. Wherever the Eighth Route Army had existed, they would immediately kill, burn and loot everything. Once his independent column retreated, the people in the city would fall under the Japanese butcher knife.

In addition, the location of Ping'an County was extremely important to Li Yunlong (Note 1).

Li Yunlong's gaze swept over everyone present again. After Zhang Dabiao, Shen Quan, Sun Desheng and others were swept by Li Yunlong's gaze, they all straightened their chests and waited for Li Yunlong's orders.

"Old Zhao, you will be responsible for arranging the evacuation of the people. The new recruits in the city and those we recruited during the New Year will be responsible for escorting the people to the base for shelter. This time is different from the past. The Japanese will definitely send out the air force. If we continue to stay in the city, we will definitely be bombed by the Japanese. Explain everything clearly to the people and evacuate them first!"

Then Li Yunlong glanced at everyone present and said, "Wait for my orders for the specific combat missions. Now, all troops, go to the warehouse to collect supplies immediately. There is no need to save ammunition in this battle. Fight hard. I don't believe that with the same number of troops, we can't defeat the Japanese!"

"Yes!"

Soon the entire Ping'an County began to take action. Zhao Gang organized the new recruits to prepare for the retreat with the people who were willing to retreat. All the trucks responsible for transporting supplies were requisitioned to transfer the people.

At the same time, all the soldiers began to line up in front of the warehouse to receive supplies. The soldiers of the independent column had more bullets than other troops before. This time, Li Yunlong directly distributed 50 rounds of bullets to each soldier, and each person was equipped with 300 and 1,000 rounds of bullets for light and heavy machine guns.

In addition, all the mortars, grenade launchers and other equipment in the warehouse were distributed to various troops. Even to the independent regiment, Li Yunlong lent a batch of equipment to them and would use them after the war.

Two heavy artillery pieces were placed in a hidden location in the city, quietly waiting for orders.

The 37mm caliber tank guns removed from the Japanese tanks are being modified at a rapid pace, and all the modified ones have been sent to the city gate tower.

The usable 7.7mm heavy machine guns on the abandoned tanks of the Japanese have also been dismantled. Without stocks and racks, they are being urgently modified. If Li Yunlong is given enough time, he can tailor-make some machine gun racks for these dismantled machine guns. Now they can only make do with what they have.

In addition, after receiving the supplies, the cavalry battalion left directly from the south gate. Eight captured Japanese tanks also left with the cavalry battalion.

The entire Ping'an County was busy waiting for the arrival of the Japanese 13th Regiment.

At this time, the 13th Regiment had already entered Ping'an County.

"Report, is this the Xiaowangzhuang stronghold?" Okabe Michino stood in front of a pile of ruins and frowned as he looked at the destroyed artillery tower.

"Hayi, the map shows this is the Xiaowangzhuang stronghold. It should have been captured by the Eighth Route Army."

"Huh, it's really clean!"

Okabe Michino glanced at the destroyed Xiaowangzhuang stronghold and waved his hand to signal the troops to continue advancing.

However, his brows were furrowed deeper. Just now, the division sent out another telegram, and the reconnaissance plane was dispatched again at noon, but still no abnormalities were found in Ping'an County. Their national flag was still flying on the city wall, and there was no enemy attack. However, Ping'an County could not be contacted.

"That's really strange! Could Ping'an County be occupied by the enemy?"

After reading the telegram, Okabe Michino thought of a possibility, but felt it was impossible. Okabe Michino did not believe that the Eighth Route Army could kill a tank battalion quietly. Even if Ping'an County was captured by the enemy, it would be absolutely impossible for no information to be leaked.

That’s a tank brigade. If we can’t defeat them, can we run away?

Note 1: Ping'an County is roughly equivalent to the current location of Pingding County! ~ Interested parties can look at the map! ~

···

···

Chapter 131 If you want to fight, fight beautifully

Eighth Route Army Division Headquarters.

"Division Commander, telegram from the independent column!"

The division commander took the telegram, glanced at it, and then handed it to the chief of staff: "It's just as we thought. That guy really doesn't want to withdraw from Ping'an County and is planning to fight the Japanese in Ping'an County!"

After reading the contents of the telegram, the chief of staff, who rarely smoked, also lit a cigarette.

"Li Yunlong is a capable fighter, and I believe he can win this battle, but the price might be high, so we must be prepared!"

The chief of staff put the telegram down and spoke slowly.

The division commander was also pacing back and forth, thinking about whether to order Li Yunlong to retreat, to fight or not. The division commander and the chief of staff had been thinking about this issue for a long time, since they learned that the Japanese 13th Regiment was approaching Ping'an County.

The two of them had deduced on the map countless times, but the final results were not very good.

"Since Li Yunlong wants to fight, let him do it! Didn't those people say we were just swimming around and not fighting? This time, let's fight them!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at the brigade commander, who immediately understood what the division commander and chief of staff meant. He stood up and said, "Report, the 386th Brigade is ready to go into battle at any time!"

"Li Yunlong didn't ask us for reinforcements, but this battle is not only related to his independent column, but also to our entire Eighth Route Army. Li Yunlong doesn't want reinforcements, but we can't just ignore it!"

"Have the 772nd and 771st Regiments immediately reinforce the Independent Column and tell Li Yunlong that since we have to fight this battle, we must fight it with flying colors and wipe out the Japanese 13th Regiment!"

"Yes!"

The brigade commander immediately stood up and quickly left the command center. He decided to go to Ping'an County in person for this battle.

After watching the brigade commander leave, the division commander and the chief of staff looked at each other and said, "We must also prepare for the worst. If Ping'an County is not defended, then the defense zone of the independent regiment and independent column will be vacant, and the Japanese may take advantage of it to sneak in!"

"Well, let the New Second Regiment and the Seventh Regiment cover the retreat of the rest of the troops if the battle doesn't go well!"

"Yes!"

Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko was staring at the location of Zhongtiao Mountain on the map at this time, with the commander of the 6th Division, the commander of the 20th Division and others standing beside him.

"Gentlemen, what do you think of the order from headquarters?"

The commander of the Sixth Division, Kanda Masatane, thought for a moment and said, "I think the Eighth Route Army is our biggest threat in the entire Shanxi region. The Shanxi-Suiyuan Army is currently in a corner and dares not confront our army head-on, so we don't need to worry about it!"

"Although the Chinese Nationalist troops are numerous, their military discipline is lax. They are hiding in the Zhongtiao Mountains and dare not engage our army. They do not seek to achieve merit, but only to avoid mistakes. They are not a cause for concern!"

"Last year, the Eighth Route Army deployed a large number of troops, destroying our railways and transportation lines and attacking our strongholds. Although they didn't engage us head-on, their guerrilla tactics exhausted us. Although our casualties seemed small each time, tens of thousands of our brave warriors have perished at the hands of the Eighth Route Army. If we continue to leave this situation unchecked, people like Li Yunlong will continue to emerge!"

After listening to this, the other Japanese generals looked at each other and finally nodded in agreement with Kanda Masatane's statement.

After hearing this, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko took out a telegram and said, "I agree with General Kanda. The Eighth Route Army is indeed our biggest threat, but right now our First Army needs a big victory to boost morale!"