In the blocking position of Tutu Temple, nearly a thousand soldiers were working tirelessly.
Some people wielded shovels to deepen the trenches, or dug anti-cannon holes underground along the inner walls of the trenches. Some soldiers also covered the top of the bunkers with wooden boards and then covered them with a half-meter-thick soil layer to build semi-underground machine gun bunkers.
"Battal Commander, as long as the Japs are not equipped with heavy weapons like mountain artillery, ordinary mortars can't do anything to our machine gun bunkers and anti-gun caves. They will definitely teach the Japs a harsh lesson!" Zhong Chengjun pointed at the machine gun at his feet.
Bunbao said with confidence.
Huang Yu nodded: "The current intelligence sent back by the county brigade shows that in order to speed up the march, the Japanese and puppet troops are not even equipped with infantry artillery!"
"But the Japs have air support, we have to guard against this!"
"We still have several hours before we encounter the Japanese and puppet troops. This time is enough for us to build another seven or eight machine gun bunkers!"
"The anti-gun holes are almost repaired... learn from the previous experience of losing a platoon when one anti-gun hole was destroyed!"
"The shell-proof hole we built this time is very small...A gun-proof hole can hide at most one infantry squad!"
Huang Yu shook his head and said: "This is not enough!"
"Deploy a company to dismantle the Earth Temple for me, and all the dismantled wood will be used to reinforce the anti-gun holes and machine gun bunkers!"
"After fighting the blockade, the troops will help the villagers rebuild the Earth Temple!"
"Didn't we bring a large number of telephone lines and telephones? Use them all, arrange a telephone for each company's defensive position, and arrange double lines to ensure that the battalion headquarters can issue orders to them at any time!"
"Distribute fifty more landmines to the First Assault Company and the Second Assault Company respectively!"
"Once we receive the retreat order from the battalion headquarters, we immediately lay mines on the position to let the Japanese and puppet troops know that even if we retreat on our own initiative, the assault battalion position cannot be occupied by them if they want to."
Cavalry company commander Zhang Dashan followed Huang Yu silently. He only became anxious after hearing that each company in the assault battalion had tasks.
"Captain Huang...what is the mission of the cavalry company? You can't let the cavalry company watch the show!"
Huang Yu answered seriously: "The task of the cavalry company is very heavy, which affects whether we can severely injure the enemy and whether we can make enough money in this battle!"
Zhang Dashan became excited when he heard this. He looked at Huang Yu with a look of anticipation and asked, "What task is so important!"
"Surprise the Japanese artillery positions and transport troops!" Huang Yu replied.
"After the blocking war begins, if the Japanese army wants to capture the Tutu Temple, they will inevitably set up artillery positions in front of the blocking position to bombard us!"
"I will take the initiative to give up the first two lines of defense during the battle and lengthen the distance between the Japanese offensive troops and the artillery..."
"You ambush the surroundings in advance, and when the time comes, launch a surprise attack on the Japanese artillery positions, capture their artillery positions, and then attack the Japanese transport troops!"
"I will ask the regiment's special operations team and reconnaissance platoon to cooperate with your actions!"
"After a successful raid, it's best to hold the Japanese artillery position. If you can't hold it, retreat with some of the loot and destroy the loot that can't be taken away!"
"There are more than 3,000 Japanese and puppet troops from us to reinforce Ping'an County... The county brigade and the district squad can kill four to five hundred people no matter what, otherwise the good weapons I gave them will be in vain!"
"By reaching Tutu Temple, the total strength of the Japanese and puppet troops should be reduced to 2,500!"
"Kill out 500 of them on the first line of defense, and kill another 400 or 500 of them on the second line of defense...The total strength of the Japanese and puppet troops will be sharply reduced to about 1,500!"
"Excluding the baggage corps and artillery, and the combat troops of over a thousand people, they will definitely gather in front of the third blocking position to launch the final attack. Their artillery position and baggage corps will at most be left with an infantry squadron to protect them!"
"Maybe we don't even have an infantry squadron, and we can just arrange a baggage team with guns to protect the artillery positions!"
"Through this calculation, the cavalry company's opponents only have about 500 Japanese, and most of them are gunners and baggage soldiers with little combat effectiveness..."
"How about it, do you have the confidence to complete this raid mission?"
The more Zhang Dashan listened, the more expectant he became, and he accepted the order without hesitation: "Please rest assured, Commander Huang, the assault battalion guarantees to complete its mission!"
On the highway more than 40 miles away from Tutu Temple, the rapidly marching Japanese and puppet troops were stopped again because of landmines.
A total of five landmines exploded at the same time just now. In the violent explosion, dozens of Japanese and puppet troops were blown up piece by piece like ripe wheat.
This is a series of mines prepared by the county brigade for Colonel Miyamoto.
A total of five landmines are lined up along the road, ten meters apart from each other, and the triggering device is on the last mine.
When the first puppet army stepped on the trigger device, three landmines had been stepped on by the puppet troops, and two landmines had been stepped on by the Japanese team...
"Da da da... bang bang bang..."
The moment the landmine exploded, gunfire rang out on both sides of the road at the same time.
Two crooked guns, nearly a hundred rifles, the soldiers were divided into separate groups, and they simultaneously pulled the triggers on the Japanese on the road...
They retreated as soon as the gunshots were fired, without stopping for even half a second.
The Japanese reacted quickly, firing machine gun bullets at both sides of the road as if they were free of charge, but they were all stunned. The county brigade that had just raided them had long since disappeared...
Colonel Miyamoto was unmoved and prepared to order the troops to continue advancing, saying that he could not be fooled by the Eighth Route Army, which would affect the marching speed of the troops.
Before he could say anything, a major suddenly rushed towards him and reported seriously: "Sir, we can't go on like this!"
"In the past few hours, the forward troops have detonated more than 80 landmines... including several serial mines!"
"Not only did we lose more than 320 Imperial Army troops, but we also lost 36 Imperial troops..."
"The morale of the Imperial Alliance Army has almost been shattered!"
"If we let them continue to go to the front to hit the thunder, they will collapse!"
"Many Imperial Army soldiers even committed suicide when landmines exploded in order not to walk in front of mines...
After hearing this, Colonel Miyamoto became angry and said angrily: "Find all those Imperial Army soldiers who committed suicide and shoot them in public to scare the monkeys!"
"The troops continue to advance and arrange two more infantry squads to supervise the battle at the front!"
"If the Imperial Alliance Army collapses, shoot them directly without mercy!"
"Anyway, their mission is just to evade mines. As long as they keep marching speed and keep moving forward, their morale will be gone!"
"If there is an Imperial Alliance Army member who wants to rebel and becomes a deserter, they can directly suppress it with force without asking me for instructions!"
"We have so many imperial troops. I can't believe we can't handle hundreds of imperial troops!"
The Major continued: "The Imperial Alliance Army can indeed use bloody suppression to force them to continue to go to the front to fight mines... But we must pay attention to the losses of the Imperial Army..."
"In the past few hours, we were attacked 19 times, eight of which involved machine guns. When the strength was small, there was an infantry squad, and when the strength was large, there were two platoons..."
"Including our losses in the sneak attack just now, the reinforcements have killed 83 imperial soldiers and injured 28 imperial soldiers, resulting in a direct combat loss of more than 110 people!"
"It will take us six or seven hours to reach Ping'an County!"
"At the current rate of losses, even if the New Second Regiment does not send troops to block us head-on, the guerrillas along the way will cause us more than a thousand casualties!"
"The losses far exceed our previous estimates!"
"I suggest that the commander dispatch a reinforced squadron and assign a company of the Imperial Alliance Army to them!"
"If we encounter the Eighth Route Army sneak attack troops again... strengthen the squadron to take the initiative, bite the guerrillas who sneak attack us, hunt them down, and prevent them from continuing to sneak attack us!"
"Even if this strengthened squadron encounters an accident, we will only lose more than a hundred imperial troops, which will definitely be smaller than the losses caused by the Eighth Route Army's continued sneak attacks on us!"
"Besides... although the Eighth Route Army that just attacked us is large in number, it is only equipped with a few light machine guns. Judging from the firepower, it should be a local force such as a county brigade!"
"Our reinforced squadron has heavy machine guns and mortars, as well as a large number of light machine guns and grenade launchers, which can completely crush the opponent in terms of firepower!"
"As long as they stick together, pursue and kill them carefully, and don't fall for the Eighth Route Army, they will definitely be able to protect themselves!"
Colonel Miyamoto did not make an immediate decision.
Frowning, he analyzed whether his subordinate's proposal was feasible...
After a minute, he nodded and said: "This method works!"
"The worst plan is to lose only one reinforced squadron, but it can ensure that the main force will no longer be attacked during the next march, solving the problem of sneak attacks by the Eighth Route Army once and for all!"
"Go and prepare now..."
"The troops continue to advance. If they encounter the Eighth Route Army's sneak attack troops, they will immediately counterattack and bite them!"
On Jinniuling highland, Kong Jie was observing the hillside below.
Three trenches run across the mountainside, connected by traffic trenches in front of the trenches.
In order to better attack the Japanese, the Third Battalion also built seven or eight machine gun bunkers between the trenches, camouflaged with thatch and shrubs, to deliver fatal attacks to the Japanese at critical moments!
"Captain...it's such a good terrain, it's a shame to only be able to hold back for an hour or two...If you believe me, the third battalion can hold on here for at least five hours!" Guan Dashan, the commander of the third battalion, said with disappointment and expectation.
"Then let me ask you: after five hours, how many people are left in your third battalion, and how many Japanese can you kill?" Kong Jie asked without nodding or objecting, staring at Guan Dashan.
"The little devil has brought an infantry cannon and can call for air support at any time. Our bunker only has logs and sandbags. It cannot withstand the attacks of aerial bombs and mountain artillery. It can only be used as a one-time firepower point..."
"If we rely on such fortifications to hold on for five hours, there will be at least 200 men left in the third battalion!"
"As for the Japanese and puppet troops, no matter how well-equipped they are, we will kill three to four hundred of them!"
Kong Jie continued to ask: "The one-to-one casualty ratio seems to be no disadvantage...but have you ever considered how we will fight next after this blocking battle? If this battle is based on one-to-one casualties...
If the fight continues, can we annihilate all the Japanese and how much will it cost?"
