The sky is gloomy and heavy rain is coming, thirty miles south of Baoying County.
On a pile of soil, Major Takahashi, the leader of the Japanese battalion, was looking into the distance with a telescope. The field of vision was full of green weeds and wasteland, and there was not a single ghost.
"Your Excellency, Captain, there is an urgent call from the headquarters."
A Japanese communications staff officer with muddy military boots climbed up the soil with great difficulty, suddenly put his feet back and stood at attention in front of the brigade captain Takahashi, holding a message in his hand.
"What's the order from the headquarters?" Major Takahashi, the captain, asked with no expression on his face and without looking back.
The Japanese communications staff stepped forward and replied: "The headquarters ordered our troops to pursue and suppress the China and Jiangsu guerrilla corps with all our strength. We must wipe them all out to save face."
"I know." Captain Takahashi replied calmly.
More than a thousand Japanese soldiers of the Gaoqiao Infantry Brigade, armed to the teeth, returned to Baoying. After discovering that the detachment leader and the headquarters had been taken over by Yang Ling and others, they launched a pursuit in anger.
However, Yang Ling and the others were as slippery as loaches. When the Gaoqiao Infantry Brigade was about to catch up several times, they slipped away, which made the Japanese soldiers feel angry.
After chasing them to this area, they actually lost the chase. Facing the crisscrossing rivers and the lush green land, Major Takahashi was in a bad mood.
Because if they did not catch up and annihilate the fleeing Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps this time, they would not be able to explain it to the headquarters.
When the time comes, not to mention taking over the position of the vacant detachment leader, I'm afraid he will have a reputation of being unfavorable in pursuit and suppression, which is something he doesn't want to see.
Now, whether it was to compete with several other infantry captains for the vacant position of detachment leader, or to save face, he had to work hard to pursue and suppress them.
The Japanese soldiers were exhausted from the continuous fighting these days, and they were almost exhausted after chasing for most of the day.
Although the Japanese commander Takahashi wanted to catch up and eliminate the fleeing Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps immediately, he also knew that the troops had reached their limit, so he had to order an hour's rest to replenish their physical strength.
At this moment, in the field covered with green weeds behind the soil, the Japanese soldiers holding guns were sleeping all over the floor, snoring loudly. They were really tired.
"Your Excellency, Captain, the search team will send a signal when it discovers the whereabouts of the Chinese Army. You'd better go and rest for a while."
Seeing the haggard-looking Japanese commander Major Takahashi, who was looking for guerrillas everywhere with a telescope, a Japanese staff officer couldn't help but persuade him.
The Japanese captain Gao Qiao first commanded the troops to fight fiercely in the area north of Baoying for several days. He spent all his efforts to encircle and suppress the guerrillas, and was about to kill them all. Who knew that Baoying was in a hurry and rushed back in a hurry.
Unexpectedly, it was too late to rush them quickly. The detachment leader's headquarters in Baoying was overrun by the guerrillas, and all the materials and ammunition in the warehouse were wiped out.
Now they couldn't afford to rest and had to carry out the mission of pursuit. He hadn't had a sound sleep for several days.
The Japs' staff officer didn't say anything, but as soon as he said so, the Japs' commander, Major Takahashi, suddenly felt waves of fatigue coming over him.
He originally wanted to refuse, but he raised his wrist and looked at his watch, and finally nodded: "Then I'll go get some sleep. If there are any traces of the guerrillas, I'll report them immediately."
"Hi!" the Japanese staff officer stood up and agreed.
Captain Takahashi Major Takahashi stepped off the soil, took his marching blanket from the orderly, found a place to wrap himself up and began to rest.
While the Japanese troops were exhausted and resting, more than a dozen search teams sent by the Japanese could only carry on searching for traces of the guerrillas.
"Go look into the woods over there."
After a Japanese search team crossed a deserted field, a large green forest appeared in front of them.
Naturally, the Japanese would not give up searching in such woods where it was extremely easy to hide people. Under the orders of the Japanese infantry detachment, the Japanese walked towards the woods.
Eight Japanese riflemen opened the skirmish line and walked at the front, while the Japanese infantry squad leader and four Japanese from the machine gun team followed closely behind, ready to provide fire support at any time.
"Sir, there are Japs coming."
At this moment, Yang Ling and the others, who were leading the Japs away to the south, were hiding in this forest to rest. When the sentry lying on the edge of the woods saw the Japs, he immediately bowed back to the forest and reported to Yang Ling.
Yang Ling currently only has one infantry company by his side. Taking into account those who were injured and killed in the battle at Baoying, there are currently 135 brothers in the fourth company who are still able to fight, with five light machine guns and three grenade teams.
When they heard that the Japanese were coming, the brothers who were resting in the woods grabbed their guns and stood up, preparing to run away again.
"How many people are there?" Yang Ling became much calmer and asked, staring at the sentry.
"There is only one infantry detachment and thirteen Japanese soldiers." The sentry replied calmly.
When they heard that there were only a dozen little devils, everyone who was nervous all breathed a sigh of relief.
This is not because they are nervous, but because they know that there are thousands of little Japs staring at them now. If they don't act cautiously, they may be wiped out.
"A small team should be their search team." Yang Ling judged.
Yang Ling and the others have been resting here for a while. The brothers have recovered some of their strength. Looking outside the forest, Yang Ling's lips curled into a sneer.
"Get ready to fight and kill them!"
Yang Ling's purpose was to distract the Japs and cover the main force's retreat northward to Huaiyin. It would not be a problem if they kept hiding like this, so Yang Ling decided to stimulate the Japs again.
After hearing the order, the brothers all had serious expressions on their faces. They loaded their rifles one after another and quietly moved toward the edge of the woods.
Although the Japanese search team had been vigilant enough, now that the leaves had grown, they still didn't notice that there were countless dark holes in the woods with guns pointed at them.
"beat!"
When the little devil was still about a hundred meters away from the woods, Yang Ling gave the order to shoot.
"Bang bang bang——"
Following Yang Ling's order, raindrops of bullets whizzed towards the little devil.
"Puff!"
The Japanese riflemen walking at the front didn't have any chance to react. The bullets penetrated their bodies, bringing out a shower of blood, and they fell to the ground tremblingly.
"Aochina!"
The leader of the Japanese team behind him had been paying attention to the situation around him. Suddenly he heard the sound of gunshots and fell to the ground almost as a reflex.
The machine gun team next to him also took advantage of the situation and fell to the ground, but before their machine guns could be set up, the violent bullets beat them into pieces.
"Ceasefire!"
In just one breath, more than a dozen little devils were beaten until they were all lying on the ground.
More than a dozen brothers quickly rushed out of the forest and fired a few shots at the Japanese soldiers who were still struggling and howling on the ground. They kicked their legs and completely stopped moving, and finally eliminated them completely.
The brothers picked up the Japanese rifles and bullet boxes, picked up the blood-stained machine gun, and quickly returned to the woods.
"It is not suitable to stay here for a long time, retreat——"
He quickly and easily eliminated a Japanese search team, with the purpose of attracting the Japanese's attention. However, Yang Ling did not want to be surrounded by himself, so he immediately continued running south with his brothers.
The gunfire here alerted the Japanese soldiers who were resting in the distance. The Japanese captain Takahashi, who had just fallen asleep wrapped in a military blanket, jumped up in excitement.
"Where to shoot?"
"Five o'clock direction." the Japanese staff reported.
"Surround us, the search team must have discovered the Chinese!" the Japanese commander, Major Takahashi, ordered with murderous intent.
Soon, the Japanese who were resting hurriedly got up and ran towards the place where the gunshots were heard without having time to assemble the whole team.
The Guizi Tanichuan Brigade, which was searching in the other direction, also heard the gunshots. Like wolves that smelled blood, they immediately turned around and rushed towards this direction.