Okazaki Ichiro, a Shaozuo stationed in the county seat of Qixian County, received a call for help and immediately reported the news to the Ninth Brigade that the Huting stronghold was besieged by a brigade of the Eighth Route Army.
Brigade commander Koshie Toranosuke ordered Okazaki Ichiro to immediately lead his troops to the rescue of the Kottei stronghold, and then Koshie Toranosuke reported to the First Army Headquarters.
Li Yunlong used one regiment to create the momentum of a brigade, which even alerted Yoshio Shinozuka who was far away in Taiyuan.
There were only 8 trucks in the county, which could only carry more than 200 people, so Okazaki Shaozuo ordered the first squadron to take trucks to rescue the Huting stronghold.
Okazaki Shaozuo himself led the remaining 500 soldiers to the Huting stronghold on foot.
The roads at this time were almost all dirt roads, filled with nothing but mud and gravel. Such roads would become muddy when it rained.
Due to the rolling of the truck tires, the middle of the road is raised, and the areas where the tires run over are sunken, forming two parallel ruts.
Captain Arai Toyoyoshi, the commander of the 1st Squadron, had ordered the driver to be very careful, but within 3 kilometers of the Japanese convoy leaving the county town, the tire of the truck hit a mine.
Although the mine was not very powerful, the tire on the right front of the front truck was blown out, and the shriveled tire caused the truck to tilt to one side.
Squadron leader Toyoyoshi Arai opened the car door and got out of the car to take a look. He couldn't help but be speechless.
Engineers from the Eighth Route Army actually buried landmines in the ruts, and after laying the mines, they restored the ruts to their original state. The driver sat in the car, even with the headlights on and his eyes wide open, he could not see anything unusual at all.
Arai Toyoshi had no choice but to order the soldiers to put on spare tires and get back on the road.
As a result, the truck only drove a few hundred meters away when the truck hit a landmine again, and the truck's left front tire was blown out.
Arai Toyoyoshi finally became a little angry, but there was nothing he could do about the Eighth Route, because you couldn't see the Eighth Route at all, not even a shadow of the Eighth Route.
Angry as hell, the order still had to be carried out, so he ordered the soldiers to put on spare tires again and continue on the road.
But this time Arai Toyoyoshi was smart. He ordered the tires of the front and rear cars not to run along the wheel tracks, but to have one tire on the roadside and the other on the raised road.
However, the convoy had only driven more than 300 meters when the truck's tires hit a landmine again. This time, it was not the previous landmine made in the border area but the S mine.
S mines are extremely lethal to infantry, but their damage to armored vehicles and trucks is not as good as anti-tank mines.
With a loud explosion, although the truck failed to be destroyed, all four tires of the front vehicle were blown out by steel balls.
A truck without four tires would definitely not be able to drive. After scrapping a truck, Toyoshi Arai's mentality exploded.
Toyoshi Arai didn't know how many landmines were ahead, so he could only let the driver drive, while the soldiers pushed behind and parked the front car on the roadside.
Then the second truck changed to the front truck, turned on the low beam headlights, and several engineers carried mine detectors to clear mines in front. The truck drove forward after the engineers confirmed that it was safe.
Several engineers walked carefully while holding a mine detector to detect.
A few hundred meters ahead, at the blocking point of the third company of the first battalion of the new regiment, third company commander Yang Dapeng and engineer platoon leader Huang Zhiqiang were lying behind the ridge.
After hearing that Huang Zhiqiang first laid mines in the ruts, and then on the raised road in the middle of the ruts, which not only slowed down the Japs' march, but also caused the Japs to scrap a truck, Yang Dapeng grinned slightly and lowered his voice.
The voice said: "Platoon Leader Huang, you have a pretty good brain."
"What's this? The fun is yet to come." Huang Zhiqiang said, "Captain Yang, the Japanese engineers have entered the range of the machine gun, why don't you kill him?"
"Don't worry, let the Japs get closer first." Yang Dapeng said, "When I kill his engineers, let's see what the Japs can do to clear mines."
Huang Zhiqiang said: "Captain Yang, I can't tell you, you are quite shady."
Yang Dapeng smiled and said: "Haha, we are each other, and you are not a fuel-saving lamp either."
The Japanese engineers quickly entered the 200-meter range of the ambush position. One of the Japanese engineers discovered a mine under the rutted mark, and then planted a mini flag next to the mine as a warning.
Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire from the front, and dense bullets were fired. The truck's searchlight provided an excellent view for the ambush troops.
Four minesweeping engineers were shot one after another, their whole bodies twitching as if they were electrocuted, and they fell into a pool of blood.
A headlight of the car in front was hit by a stray bullet and turned into a one-eyed dragon.
The Eighth Route Army was not fond of fighting. After killing the Japanese engineers in one round, they immediately retreated.
When Toyoshi Arai got out of the car, he saw the engineer who had been shot by machine gun bullets into a sieve of blood, lying straight on the ground.
Arai Toyoyoshi finally became furious and ordered the light machine gun on the roof of the car to fight back. However, the Eighth Route Army had already retreated, and the Japanese machine gun fired alone.
The person who was even more furious than Arai Toyoyoshi was Okazaki Ichiro. Hearing the sound of gunshots, Okazaki Shaozuo led his infantry to chase him on foot. Seeing that Arai Toyoyoshi was still staying here, Okazaki Shaozuo gave Arai Yuyoshi as soon as he came up.
Ji slaps two big-eared scrapers.
Arai Toyoyoshi hurriedly paused and said: "Report to the squadron leader, it's not that we are careless, it's just that the Eighth Route Army is too cunning!"
"The Eighth Route Army laid mines on the highway, and my engineers were killed by the Eighth Route Army just now!"
"Baga!" Okazaki Ichiro scolded, spittle flying everywhere, "You loser, don't you know how to send scouts?"
Arai Toyoshi quickly paused: "Hi!"
Therefore, the Okazaki Brigade was back on the road under the leadership of Okazaki Shaozuo. This time not only engineers were sent to clear mines, but also scouts were sent out.
However, Okazaki Shaozuo still underestimated the Eighth Route. Mine warfare and sparrow warfare took turns to wait for them. The Japanese walked for two hours on the less than 6 kilometers of road, and suffered more than 30 casualties.
Until daybreak, the Okazaki brigade had not even completed half of the journey. During this period, Okazaki Shaozuo also received a telegram from the commander of the Japanese First Army, Shinozuka Yoshio, asking where he was and ordered him to
He led his troops to speed up the rescue of the Huting stronghold.
…
At the same time, Guaizi Mountain.
The first, second and third battalions of the new regiment, as well as the artillery and cavalry companies, have all arrived.
More than 1,500 soldiers, all sweating profusely from running, were munching on dry food and drinking water to recover their strength.
Yang Dapeng, the third company commander of the 1st Battalion, found Li Yunlong in the crowd.
Li Yunlong said: "Third company commander, how far are the Japanese from here?"
Yang Dapeng said: "Report to the leader, the Japs are about 6 kilometers away from here. The Japs are frightened by our mine warfare and sparrow warfare, and their speed is as fast as a snail."
With a smile, Li Yunlong said: "Well done, there are still 6 kilometers to go. It will take at least an hour for the Japanese to arrive. By then, the soldiers' physical strength will have been restored."
"Signal Corps, go and call the three battalion commanders and three direct company commanders over."
Soon, Zhang Dabiao, Zheng Yu, Chen Dugu, Wang Chengzhu and Sun Desheng, as well as the direct machine gun company commander Wang Dashan, trotted over after receiving the order, and everyone gathered around Li Yunlong.
Li Yunlong said directly.
"This time our military strength against the Japanese is 2 to 1. We are condescending and caught by surprise. The advantage is on our side."
"It's the same as before. Let's wait until the Japanese scouts pass before we enter the ambush position."
"When the time comes, listen to the sound of my gunfire as a signal. Let me use mortars, submachine guns, light machine guns, grenades and heavy machine guns to fight for my life. Don't save bullets and shells for me!"
"The first round of firepower must kill at least half of the Japanese, then rush down and see the red bayonet, and fight quickly!"
"In addition, Zhang Dabiao and Chen Dugu, your two battalions are at the front and the end respectively. You must tie up the hole tightly for me. If a Japanese is allowed to escape, I will question you two!"
"Do you all understand your respective tasks?"
Everyone shouted in unison: "Understood!"
…
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
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