"Why don't we transfer troops from Asagawa Nakasa?" the chief of staff thought for a while and replied.

The brigade commander still shook his head: "There are more Imperial Army troops in his place than the Imperial Army. It looks more people, and his combat effectiveness is far inferior to ours. It just happens to put pressure on the opponent. I will definitely not be able to draw out the troops to protect our supply line!"

The Chief of Staff was in trouble. These were all the troops he could think of at present. If he could not move, he would not be able to draw out his troops to find this enemy.

At this time, the brigade commander suddenly ordered: "Send a telegram to the Yangquan left-behind troops immediately and ask them how they fought and whether the situation continued to deteriorate?"

The Chief of Staff understood as soon as he heard this: "Sir, do you want to transfer troops from Yangquan?"

Seeing the brigade commander nodded, he immediately replied: "I'll send them a telegram now..."

The Chief of Staff returned to the brigade commander twenty minutes later, with a happy look on his face, obviously receiving some good news.

"Sir, I just received a telegram from the left-behind troops: the situation in Yangquan has stabilized."

"After the return troops entered Yangquan, with the support of the armored vehicles squadron under the Railway Guard, they attacked the villages and towns captured by the Eighth Route Army along the railway, and fought a contact battle with them, with a 55-point victory and 50 points. Then the Eighth Route Army, which was active in Yangquan, began to shrink its defense, break it into pieces, and fight guerrilla with our offensive troops."

"In order not to give the Eighth Route Army a chance to defeat us, the rescuing troops regained the two strongholds captured by the Eighth Route Army and then stopped the attack. In addition to leaving two strengthening squadrons and some Imperial Army reconstruction strongholds, the remaining troops retreated back to Yangquan. At present, there are two garrison squadrons, four infantry squadrons, one military police squadron, plus artillery, heavy machine gun troop, and baggage troop, and the Light Imperial Army have 1,500 people."

"With ensuring the safety of the county town, they can draw at least two reinforcement squadrons to pacify and support us. If the troops are still insufficient, they can draw another battalion from the Imperial Army."

The brigade commander thought for a while, and after thinking that there was no problem, he ordered: "Just as you said just now: Yangquan garrison dispatched two reinforcement squadrons of the Imperial Army, one battalion of the Imperial Army, and immediately reinforce and pacify, stand at this mysterious enemy, destroy them, send a telegram now, and the troops set off overnight by railway!"

On a high ground less than two kilometers into the mountain, Zhou Chengshou stayed here for five or six hours without waiting for the Japanese to enter the mountain.

As the sky was about to get dark, a trace of worry flashed between his eyebrows and turned his head to order: "Platform Commander Xue, send a telegram to the Chief of Staff immediately and ask him if there is any situation there. It has been so long since the Japanese have not entered the mountain. It must be something wrong outside the mountain!"

"Yes, the leader..." Although Xue Ya was very dissatisfied with Zhou Cheng's reaction to him, she could still distinguish between the seriousness in front of the important matters.

He strode to the radio station, put on his headphones and started sending signals.

Ten minutes later, he stood up: "Report to the commander of the regiment, the chief of staff called back: Everything is normal over them!"

"That's strange!" The worry on Zhou Cheng's face did not relieve the good news, but instead became stronger and stronger.

"There are at least one thousand Japanese outside the mountain, and their firepower is far greater than that of us. There is no reason not to go into the mountain to continue chasing us. What's wrong with it?"

Tang Yufeng thought for a while and replied: "Can the Japanese have not determined our specific location yet, so they dare not enter the mountain rashly."

Zhou Cheng shook his head: "This reason is not valid. At noon, there were Japanese scouts outside the mountain. We must have seen some traces left by us entering the mountain, so the Japanese must now know where we are."

After hearing the leader's words, Tang Yufeng also frowned: "Then I can't think of any other reason!"

"Report!" The reconnaissance company commander Tang Shengbo suddenly appeared behind Zhou Cheng.

"Is there any news outside the mountain?" Zhou Cheng asked with anticipation.

Tang Shengbo nodded quickly: "Yes, the leader..."

"The Japanese suddenly stopped after taking Donghui Town, as if they were waiting for something. At noon, they sent cavalry to investigate and advance in the direction of the county."

"I think this matter is suspicious, so I immediately sent someone to investigate along the official road towards the county town, and found two battlefields on the road."

"A dozen or so Japanese and puppet troops were buried on one battlefield, and more than one hundred Japanese and puppet troops were buried on one battlefield. All the equipment and ammunition of the Japanese and puppet troops were taken away, and even their uniforms were stripped off, and they lay naked on the ground."

"The investigators bypassed the battlefield and continued to investigate in the direction of the county town. They learned from the people near the county town that this morning and afternoon, the Japanese sent a transport team out of the city, filled with things... I don't know what it was!"

Zhou Cheng understood, and looked at Yuan Shushan and others who were still full of doubts around him and replied: "I know why the Japanese didn't enter the mountain."

"Why?" Yuan Shushan asked anxiously.

He lost to Zhou Cheng in the town in the morning and lost all his face. At this moment, no one wanted a chance to save face and reshape his identity as deputy commander, otherwise he would not have thought of opening up the situation in the National Salvation Army for a long time.

Yuan Shushan was also a war person. After listening to Tang Shengbo’s report just now, he had a rough judgment in his mind: an army attacked the Japanese transport team outside the mountain.

The main force of the National Salvation Army is in the mountains, so this is definitely not something that our own people do.

Looking around, the only troops that really fight the Japanese are the National Salvation Army and the Eighth Route Army.

Therefore, the Japanese Transportation Team was probably killed by the Eighth Route Army.

They didn't come early or late, but they came to ambush the Japanese transport team at this time, which was a coincidence.

If these Eighth Route Army commanders really called for help, then they would definitely have some connections that they didn't know. If they operated well, it might be a handle to attack Zhou Cheng.

Zhou Cheng felt that Yuan Shushan was going to have something wrong, but he didn't take it seriously.

In addition to himself, Chen Zhengyu and Tang Yufeng knew that Yuan Shushan had no chance to catch his own.

Looking at his subordinate with a puzzled face, he explained: "Do you still remember the morning battle?"

"The artillery fire of the Japanese attacked us almost never stopped, and they wasted a large number of shells to destroy our minefield. In addition, the hundreds of shells they used last night, the Japanese army must have consumed more than two thousand shells since the attack."

"The attack consumed so many shells at the beginning, even if the Japanese were sufficient ammunition."

"So they stayed in Donghui Town and other county towns to replenish their already-used ammunition, and then attacked us."

"As a result, the transportation team was robbed halfway. The Japanese left behind in Donghui Town did not replenish the ammunition. If we wanted to wipe out the entire mountain, we would not dare to go into the mountain empty-handedly. We could only continue to stay in Donghui Town and wait!"

Yuan Shushan felt that he was about to hear the answer he wanted, and then asked: "Captain, as far as I know, we have no troops outside the mountain. Do you know who is helping us?"

"It should be the Eighth Route Army!" Zhou Cheng blurted out without hesitation.

Yuan Shushan's eyes lit up and he continued to ask: "How could the Eighth Route Army come to pacify? Could it be that you have contact with them, the regiment commander?"

After hearing this, Zhou Cheng frowned and knew what Yuan Shushan was going to do.

It turned out that he wanted to connect himself with the Eighth Route Army, and then take advantage of the situation and go to the war zone to complain, saying that he had secretly had an affair with the Eighth Route Army, thus driving him out of the National Rescue Army.

Tang Yufeng's brows also frowned.

He was full of dissatisfaction with Yuan Shushan. He was really unchanged. He had suffered a big loss in the town just now, and it seemed that he had no lessons and had to ask the team leader for trouble.

He stared at him with an angry eyes, ready to speak for the commander to speak at any time.

Zhou Cheng was not worried about Yuan Shushan's trouble at all, and snorted coldly and replied: "Of course I have contacted them! Deputy Commander Yuan, don't forget that I am not only the commander of the National Salvation Army, but also the power to command and pacify all the anti-Japanese armed forces in the territory."

"According to this, two Eighth Route Army guerrillas were moved north of the pacification. In order to increase the chances of our National Salvation Army's anti-sweeping campaign, before the war, I ordered them to move behind the Japanese army as the commander of the National Salvation Army, and find ways to cut off the Japanese army's logistics supply line."

"I didn't expect these two guerrillas to be so powerful that they intercepted two Japanese transport teams and worked for more than 100 Japanese and puppet troops. When the battle ended, I would definitely ask them for merit. If I don't say too much, I will definitely be rewarded for a few hundred dollars of oceans, otherwise it would be unreasonable. Deputy Commander Yuan, you were sent by the War Zone, what do you think?"

Yuan Shushan knew that this matter was definitely not that simple, but the leader was justified and he could not find any reason to refute it, and he could not catch the leader's slightest handle.

Facing Zhou Cheng's gaze at him, he had no reason to object, nor did he dare to object.

The guerrillas are so favourable that if they can't afford to pay hundreds of dollars, no one will help the National Saving Army in the future.

Yuan Shushan didn't expect that after one day he became the commander of the National Salvation Army, there was not a single friendly army behind the enemy.

I had to nod: "I must give it to a few hundred dollars!"

A surprise flashed in Zhou Cheng's eyes, which was definitely an unexpected surprise.

After the battle, I must go to the guerrillas and formulate the next development strategy for them.

Now that Yuan Shushan is here, he is always staring at him. It is difficult to leave for two or three days without being suspected by him.

Now that we have the excuse to reward the guerrillas, we can go to the guerrillas openly...

Seize the opportunity and decisively ordered: "Okay, then that's what this matter is!"

"Old Tang, you prepare a thousand dollars for the ocean, and each guerrilla team rewards 500 dollars. After the battle, I personally send it to them to see the war zone attach importance to the anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines!"

"I originally wanted to send them some weapons and ammunition, but I'd better forget it."

"After all, they belong to the Eighth Route Army, and the war zone does not allow us to get too close to the Eighth Route Army. Giving weapons will definitely make people gossip. Moreover, we don't have enough weapons and we don't have anything to give!"

Yuan Shushan was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Within a day, he was defeated by both fights with Zhou Cheng.

What made him most frustrated was his second fight. Not only did he not catch Zhou Cheng's handle, but he also gave him a chance to support the Eighth Route Army. It was so embarrassing.
Chapter completed!