The mobility of the infantry was far inferior to that of the cavalry. Cheng Xiazi and Xu Shengji commanded the troops to pursue for a while and then gave up.

Then, they left part of their troops to clean the battlefield and led the main force to continue towards Jiangjun Ridge.

…

Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

It was a rather risky decision to dispatch three main regiments to assist Li Yunlong and Ding Wei in destroying the Japanese 9th Brigade.

Even with the boss's determination, his heart was full of worries.

Sometimes he sat down to drink a cup of tea, sometimes he stood up and paced back and forth. Every few minutes, he would ask the communications staff if there were any battle reports coming from the front.

"How's it going? Is there any new report from the Independent Group?"

Communications staff officer: "Report to the boss, not yet, but there is news from the Independent Regiment that Commander Wang Chengzhu and Wang Battalion have taken away all the dried chili peppers from the Independent Regiment's cooking team."

The Major General of the Jinsui Army next to him asked doubtfully: "Boss, what does Battalion Commander Wang want to do with dried chili peppers? Does he want to continue the attack after lunch?"

But, you don’t have to go through so much trouble to find chili peppers, right?

In an emergency, just eat some solid food and you'll be fine."

The boss obviously had different thoughts. He is from Hunan, he likes chili peppers very much, and he also knows the habits of chili peppers.

He thought about it carefully for a while, then thought of Wang Chengzhu's plan, and couldn't help laughing: "Hahaha! Director Zhang, you are wrong. Wang Chengzhu asked the independent group for chili peppers. He did not want to cook, but wanted to hide in the canyon.

The little devil in the middle tastes the taste of chili pepper.

If nothing else, the Japs in the 9th Brigade will suffer a lot."

After hearing the boss's explanation, the Major General of the Jinsui Army also reacted: "That's it! It seems that I underestimated this Battalion Commander Wang. This man is really a genius!"

"Hahaha!"

The boss smiled and said nothing. Battalion Commander Wang was the treasure of the Eighth Route Army. He was not willing to reveal too much information about Wang Chengzhu to the Jinsui Army.

After a while, the communications staff officer put down the phone, hurriedly came to the boss, and reported to him: "Boss, there is news from the Independent Group!"

The boss hurriedly asked: "What's the news?"

Communications staff officer: "It seems that the Yamamoto special agent team of the Japanese army wanted to take a shortcut to Calabash Gorge, but they encountered the independent group again halfway."

The boss's face changed slightly and he said: "How is the situation of the independent group?"

Communications staff officer: "The independent regiment suffered dozens of casualties, but under the leadership of deputy commander Kong Jie, they also killed more than a dozen Japanese agents."

The boss nodded: "It's okay. Kong Jie finally didn't disappoint me again this time. By the way, is there any other news?"

Communications Staff Officer: “Not yet.”

Boss: "Contact the Independent Regiment at any time to inquire about the combat situation there. In addition, tell Li Yunlong and Ding Wei to preserve their strength and eliminate as many Japanese as they can. There is no need to worry about whether the Japanese 9th Brigade can be eliminated.

If the results of the battle cannot make up for the losses, just give up and withdraw the troops decisively!"

"yes!"

The communications staff officer agreed loudly, then turned and walked towards the telephone.

…

The screen returns to Jiangjun Ridge.

Kuroshima Morita led his troops to run wildly. Ten minutes after running out, they met Yamamoto Kazuki who came for reinforcements and were immediately stopped.

Yamamoto Kazuki found Kuroshima Morita and asked: "Kuroshima-kun, why did you withdraw?"

Kuroshima Morita: "Yamamoto-kun, reinforcements from the China Eighth Route Army are here. There are at least several thousand of them. We encountered an encounter halfway.

Although I led my troops to eliminate hundreds of Eighth Route Army units, because I did not have heavy firepower weapons, I was still outnumbered and had to turn in."

"Baga! I didn't expect the reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army to come so quickly, and there are so many of them!"

Yamamoto Kazuki did not doubt Kuroshima Morita's words. After all, they could reinforce the 9th Brigade, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army would definitely come to reinforce them.

He just didn't expect the reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army to arrive so quickly.

Kuroshima Morita asked again: "Yamamoto-kun, what should we do now? Should we continue to reinforce the 9th Brigade, or should we just transfer it?"

Kazuki Yamamoto calmed down and thought for a moment, then said: "Let's move in! Right now we don't know the situation of the 9th Brigade, nor the terrain nearby, nor how many reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army have arrived.

If the Eighth Route Army relies on favorable terrain and sets up ambushes to block the attack, even if all our troops are exhausted, we may not be able to reach Hulu Gorge.

Unless Commander Shinozuka can send troops to provide us with tactical guidance, not only will we not be able to rescue the 9th Brigade, but we may also get involved ourselves, and the gain will outweigh the loss.

But even if Commander Shinozuka sends troops to provide us with tactical guidance, it will be too late.

At the moment, we can only hope that General Watanabe can break out of the encirclement on his own."

Kuroshima Morita: "Yamamoto-kun's analysis makes sense."

Immediately, Yamamoto Kazuki, Kuroshima Morita and Kasahara Koizumi gave up on Watanabe Kazuo and left directly with their troops.

Wang Chengzhu's independent battalion relied on favorable terrain and had no problem blocking the Japanese reinforcements. However, if the Japanese reinforcements wanted to leave, he had no choice but to watch them leave.

Not long after, Cheng Xiazi and Xu Shengji led their troops to Jiangjun Ridge. They saw the corpses of Japanese soldiers on the battlefield, but no living Japanese soldiers. They couldn't help but asked Wang Chengzhu doubtfully: "Captain Wang, where are the little Japanese soldiers? Are they all there?"

Was it destroyed by your independent battalion?"

Wang Chengzhu smiled and said: "Our independent battalion doesn't have the strength. We have already tried our best to be able to hold on until the two of you came with your troops.

I think this group of little devils were afraid of the power of the two of you, so they just withdrew."

"By the way, did you two encounter a Japanese cavalry unit on your way to Jiangjun Ridge?"

Cheng Xiazi: "Well, we did encounter a Japanese cavalry unit on the way here."

Wang Chengzhu: "So it seems that you two have benefited a lot, right? These cavalry were all driven over by my independent battalion.

It can be said that if I hadn't run the business independently, you wouldn't have gotten such a big deal.

I want half of the captured military horses, but that’s not too much, right?”

Hearing this, Cheng Xiazi's expression suddenly became unnatural, and he said: "We had an encounter with these little devils, but they were as cunning as a group of loaches and did not bother with us at all.

In total, we killed dozens of Japanese cavalry, captured dozens of horses, and dozens of sets of cavalry equipment.

More than half of the troops and horses were wounded and killed.

Right, Lao Xu?"

As he spoke, Cheng Xiazi kept winking at Xu Shengji who was standing aside.

Xu Shengji thought: "Hey hey... hey hey hey... yes, we have eliminated dozens of Japanese cavalry in total.

Since you, Battalion Commander Wang, have spoken, we will naturally give you a share. After all, your independent battalion’s contribution is also included in this.

It’s just that it wouldn’t be appropriate if you want half of it.”

Cheng Xiazi then echoed: "Yes, yes, if we want to divide it, it will be divided equally among the three of us."
Chapter completed!