The first thousand two hundred and forty chapters of the puppet army
The moonlight was like water, and on the winding mountain road, a huge team carrying torches passed through the deep mountains and dense forests, running overnight to the Xiaoqingshan area in the Lunan mountainous area.
It was not that Zhang Liechen and others were in a hurry, but the officers and soldiers in charge of the investigation reported that a puppet army team was chasing them behind them.
When the troops were first divided, Yang Ling led more than 700 combatants from the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps and walked along the road to try to distract the Japanese.
Moreover, they did not go straight to the Lunan Mountains at the beginning, but led the Japanese pursuers in circles east and west.
When the three infantry brigades of the Watanabe detachment from Baoying arrived in Huaiyin, Huaiyin had already been occupied by the Yamaguchi brigade.
After all, they were friendly forces, so they couldn't steal other people's military exploits. Therefore, the three infantry brigades targeted the remnants of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps that had retreated from Huaiyin.
There are reconnaissance planes of the Army Aviation Corps in the Japanese sky responsible for providing intelligence. Naturally, it is easy to capture the location of Yang Ling and others.
Therefore, the three infantry brigades divided into three groups and tried to surround Yang Ling and the others. But who was Yang Ling? Although he did not have eyes in the sky, he had the map in hand and the local people to support him. Naturally, the Japanese could not stop them. Instead, they were
It's spinning around.
While the three brigades under Captain Watanabe were running out of breath chasing Yang Ling and the others across the mountains and plains, the Yamaguchi brigade occupying Huaiyin had some leisure time.
The Yamaguchi Brigade suffered heavy losses during the capture of Huaiyin, so the troops rested and reorganized on the spot, waiting for the replenishment of troops.
The Yamaguchi Infantry Brigade went into rest and recuperation, but Xie Zhengxiang, the former fourth battalion commander of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, who had just surrendered to the enemy and became a traitor, could not take any time off and was anxious to show off in front of his new master.
Xie Zhengxiang, who was once a mid-level officer in the Northern Jiangsu Corps, has now transformed into the colonel commander of the first regiment of the first brigade of the puppet fifth division under Ren Yuandao, the commander-in-chief of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui of the Wang puppet government.
After just one rebellion, he was suddenly transformed from a small battalion commander to a colonel commander, with three battalions under his command. This allowed the traitor Xie Zhengxiang to taste the sweetness.
Xie Zhengxiang's current three battalions are only on paper. He only has more than 200 people who were taken from the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, plus more than 300 puppet troops temporarily transferred to his command.
There are only 500 people in total, so a full battalion is considered to be one.
Although there are not many soldiers and horses under his command now, this does not affect Xie Zhengxiang's eagerness to make contributions and earn performance.
Since the Guizi Shankou Infantry Brigade suffered heavy losses when attacking Huaiyin, Xie Zhengxiang took the initiative to take over the task of searching for and suppressing the defeated troops of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps.
Faced with Xie Zhengxiang's solicitude, the Japanese wanted the Chinese to beat their own people and kill each other, so they naturally agreed.
In addition, in order to strengthen the strength of Xie Zhengxiang's pseudo-legion, the Japanese Yamaguchi Brigade specially allocated a batch of weapons and ammunition to supplement them.
When Xie Zhengxiang faced what the Japanese did, he burst into tears of gratitude and expressed his loyalty to the enemy. What he didn't know was that the Japanese had evil intentions and replenished their weapons and ammunition in order to let them hit the Japanese troops and let China fight its own people.
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Of course, the little devils were not fools, and they did not trust Xie Zhengxiang who had just surrendered to them, so they sent him a deputy, the traitor Liu Heitan who had surrendered to them earlier.
The traitor Liu Heitan was a local bully. Seeing the Japanese attack, he also used the banner of anti-Japanese to make money.
During a conflict with another local armed group, he was attacked by the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps and almost died at the hands of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps. He also had a lucky escape.
From then on, Liu Heitan harbored a grudge against the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps and joined the Japs to fight against the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps. He acted as the Japs' pawn several times and was the vanguard of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, winning the trust of the Japs.
Although now the Wang Puppet Government has been established in Nanjing and has established the so-called Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Appeasement Headquarters.
But in fact, the Appeasement Command was an empty shell, and all its troops existed as auxiliary combat forces for the Japanese.
These puppet troops not only have instructors and military advisers appointed by the Japanese, but even combat commands are obeyed by the Japanese.
Now Xie Zhengxiang and others are apparently responsible for the appeasement of the 1st Brigade and 1st Regiment of the 5th Division of the Puppet Army, but in fact, the Japanese are responsible for all personnel appointments and other matters.
Now Xie Zhengxiang was appointed as the commander of the puppet colonel, while Liu Heitan served as the deputy commander of the lieutenant colonel and also served as the liaison officer with the Japanese troops.
Although Liu Heitan had been defecting to the Japanese for a little longer, he had always commanded plainclothes troops and had no military rank.
Now he is directly appointed as the deputy commander of the lieutenant colonel, and he is also grateful to the Japanese.
Now the chief and deputy commanders of the Puppet First Regiment have just taken office. The so-called three things a new officer does when he takes office are that they both want to make new achievements, so they lead the hastily formed First Regiment to attack the officers and soldiers who were separated from the North Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps.
search and suppression operations,
During the search and suppression operation, the captured straggler officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps were tortured, and they learned that Yang Ling and others had divided their forces.
Now the pursuit of the three Japanese infantry brigades was just a pretense. A large number of people and some supplies that had been evacuated from Huaiyin were being led by Zhang Liechen to evacuate to Lunan through a small road.
After learning this information, excited Xie Zhengxiang and Liu Heitan reported it to the Shankou Infantry Brigade in Huaiyin, and pursued it with more than 500 people under their command.
Although Zhang Liechen and others had been withdrawing for several days, their team was too large and they had to avoid Japanese reconnaissance planes in the sky during the day, so they moved very slowly.
When they eliminated the bandits in Heilang Village, the reconnaissance officers and soldiers at the rear discovered that a group of puppet troops were catching up behind them.
Zhang Liechen and the others now have very few troops that can fight, and they were unable to contact Yang Ling and the others for a while, so they were very afraid of the pursuers behind them.
Therefore, they did not dare to stay and hurriedly led their people to retreat into the mountains. However, when they reached the mountains, there were dense forests and thorns everywhere, and the mountain roads were rugged, so their team could not move faster.
"This is not okay. Let's notify everyone and ask everyone to speed up."
Looking at the slow-moving team in the mountains, deputy captain Zhang Liechen, standing on a rock by the road, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
If they keep going at this speed, I'm afraid it won't be long before the puppet troops behind them will catch up with them.
And now they only have about 300 officers and soldiers capable of fighting. It can be said that they are powerless if they want to protect tens of thousands of people.
The only thing he can hope for now is that everyone can enter Xiaoqingshan earlier and stay hidden.
Even if the puppet army pursues them into the mountains, they may not dare to go deep into it because they are not familiar with the terrain, because there are many bandits on the mountain roads. Once they are targeted by the bandits, even if the puppet soldiers are outnumbered, they still have to weigh their concerns.
However, their old, weak, women and children and some of the evacuated machinery and equipment walked extremely slowly on the mountain road, which gave deputy captain Zhang Liechen a headache.
When Zhang Liechen directed the troops to drill into the mountains overnight, Xie Zhengxiang, the leader of the first puppet regiment, and Liu Heitan, the deputy commander, also followed them into the mountains with more than 500 puppet troops.
The puppet soldiers had chased them all the way, and their feet were weak from exhaustion. Now they had to pursue them all night, and everyone was complaining incessantly.
"Quick, cheer up and catch up with the guerrillas. I'll give you five yuan for everyone!"
Seeing the puppet troops moving slower and slower, the regiment leader Xie Zhengxiang was eager to make meritorious deeds, but he was generous. He used half of the bonus he received when he surrendered to the enemy to reward the troops, hoping that they would speed up.
On the rugged mountain road in the Lunan mountainous area, the two teams were rushing through the night, one behind the other. The torches they held were like fire dragons swimming in the mountains, which was quite spectacular.