The light rain fell in the early morning, and the sky and the earth seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze. The rain and mist made it difficult to see the distant scenery clearly.
The gloomy clouds were low, and in the wet wilderness and stagnant ponds, cold corpses wearing cotton clothes lay scattered everywhere. Many of the corpses had been swollen by the rain, and there was a cold chill in the air.
The Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps led by Yang Ling launched an attack on the vanguard of the Watanabe detachment that captured Jieshou after nightfall, and returned with carbine in the middle of the night.
The two attacks by the guerrillas caused heavy losses to the Japs. The Yamazaki Infantry Brigade, which served as the vanguard, was too careless and underestimated the enemy. More than half of it was lost in the firefight last night. Both morale and combat effectiveness were reduced to freezing point.
The patter of rain blocked the pursuit of the Japanese Yamazaki Brigade. The pigskin shoes on their feet became extremely heavy and cold in the wet muddy water, which greatly reduced the pursuit speed of the exhausted Japanese soldiers.
Although many of the officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu guerrilla force led by Yang Ling also wore captured Japanese military shoes, the number was limited after all. Most of them wore thousand-layer soles worn by local people, and they ran as fast as flying.
What's more, Yang Ling has always paid attention to the basic physical training of his brothers, and ordinary armed attacks are also one of the training subjects. Therefore, he did not lose at all in the chase battle with the Japanese last night.
Although Captain Yamazaki was very unwilling, he had to admit that he had encountered a strong opponent.
During the pursuit, although the opponent was retreating, it was in an orderly manner and did not collapse thousands of miles like other squadrons.
Instead, they took advantage of the cover of night to set up ambushes, carry out counterattacks, and lay mines on the road, leaving his pursuing troops dead along the way.
Looking at the cold and hard bodies of his subordinates who had fallen dead on the roadside, the Japanese captain Yamazaki's facial muscles twitched violently, and he had long lost his previous high spirits.
Although the troops under his command are all supplementary troops drawn from various places, they are a miscellaneous force composed of baggage soldiers and engineers, and they cannot be considered elites in all battles.
However, they had just attacked Jieshou and suffered such huge losses. The heavy casualties made Yamazaki, the Japanese captain, realize that it might not be that easy to capture Baoying and eliminate the main force of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps in a short period of time.
Although he still firmly believed that their troops were still strong and would eventually win, there would probably be a lot of casualties. His mood was like the cold drizzle, getting worse for no reason at the moment.
"Report to the captain, Captain Watanabe has asked you to report on the battle situation."
When the Japanese Captain Yamazaki stood on a hillock wearing a raincoat and watched his troops collecting corpses in the wilderness, a Japanese soldier quickly ran to his side and stood up to salute him with a military salute.
"I see."
Captain Yamazaki knew that their captain had suffered such a big loss this time, and as the commander, he could not bear the blame this time, but now he had no choice but to bite the bullet and wait for the scolding.
Captain Yamazaki said to the staff order: "Order the troops to rest and be on standby and be on alert. The guard post should be set out five miles in front to prevent sneak attacks by the Chinese."
"Hiyi!"
The Japanese staff also knew that the captain was in a bad mood. After agreeing, he took the initiative to move aside and get out of the way.
Captain Yamazaki looked at the wet wilderness scattered with corpses, took a deep breath, turned around and strode towards the foot of the hillock, followed closely by more than a dozen Japanese guards.
At the foot of the hill, Japanese soldiers were already waiting with their horses. The sullen Captain Yamazaki got on his horse and, surrounded by a group of guards, walked along a muddy path towards the detachment Linshui headquarters.
Jieshou Town has been reduced to ruins, and now that it's raining again, it's impossible to camp in the town. The Japanese detachment leader Watanabe Shouichi's headquarters is set up in a village south of the town.
The people in the village had all moved away before the Japs arrived. Now there are densely packed tents in the open space near the village, and a large number of Japs soldiers are stationed there.
The Japanese's original plan was to capture Jieshou and then head north non-stop to attack Baoying and Huaiyin, completely annihilate the North Jiangsu Corps, and re-incorporate this area into their occupation.
But God's calculations were not as good as those of man. Who knew it would start to rain just before dawn, and the Japanese soldiers had to postpone their attack plan.
Now the highway from Gaoyou to Jieshou has been bombed by guerrillas and is in a mess, and the Japanese engineers are seizing the time to repair it.
Although the Japanese army had already advanced to the frontier on foot, the ammunition they transported on packhorses would not be enough to fight all the way to Baoying.
Moreover, the scouts reported that the road from Jieshou to Baoying had also been dug up and blasted to pieces. Now that it was raining again, it was definitely unrealistic for such a large force to walk through those muddy paths, so the Japanese had to stop their attack.
.
The sudden rain caught the Japanese off guard. The rain not only brought a chill, but also caused water to accumulate in some low-lying areas.
The Japanese usually choose to camp in low-lying and leeward places when camping, but now they have to brave the drizzle and set up camp again at higher ground.
When Captain Yamazaki of the Japanese Army passed by these places on horseback, he saw some Japanese soldiers who were covered in mud and in a state of embarrassment, digging drainage ditches and setting up camp again.
Originally, the Japanese soldiers thought they would spend the night here and attack Baoying at dawn.
Now that the heavy rain has blocked the way, they don't know how long they will stay here. The Japanese soldiers who are all wet are complaining and busy rearranging the camp.
Captain Yamasaki rode into the village, got off his horse in front of the heavily guarded detachment headquarters, and walked in soaking wet.
The detachment headquarters is located in a brick courtyard of a landowner. Compared with the humidity and cold outside, there is a fire inside the detachment headquarters, which makes it much warmer.
When Captain Yamazaki walked into the room, he found that the commanders of several other brigades had already arrived.
"Yamazaki-kun, sit here—"
Seeing the raindrops slipping off Captain Yamazaki's raincoat, Captain Yamazaki entered the room. The other captains nodded one after another and greeted Captain Yamazaki.
In contrast to Captain Yamazaki, who looked haggard and was wet all over, Captain Takahashi, Captain Anton and Captain Tanigawa were all neatly dressed in military uniforms, which was in sharp contrast to the embarrassed Captain Yamazaki.
"Yamazaki-kun, have you caught up with the Chinese?"
They were playing table tennis all night long, and the infantry captains behind were very curious. As soon as Captain Yamazaki sat down, they couldn't help but ask.
Hearing the concerns of his colleagues, Captain Yamazaki, who had suffered a loss last night, also sighed heavily and said in frustration: "The Chinese are too cunning. It's all my fault that I underestimated the enemy and let them run away."
Hearing that the guerrillas who attacked them ran away, the other captains looked at each other in disbelief.
The combat effectiveness of the Yamazaki Brigade is not weak, so how could they let the guerrillas who attacked them escape?
But when they saw the embarrassed look of Captain Yamazaki, they all knew that what he was telling was not a lie, so it was very intriguing. Are the guerrillas really that strong?
"Don't worry, Mr. Yamazaki. The Chinese people have a good saying. A monk who can escape cannot escape from the temple. As long as they want to guard Baoying and Huaiyin, they will not be able to escape, and they will all be wiped out by us in the end!"
Captain Hasegawa saw that Captain Yamazaki was in a bad mood and comforted him with a smile.