As dusk approached, Ruichang County looked empty and desolate after the people had evacuated.
After Yang Ling sent away the selfless people who sacrificed their lives for the country, he was about to summon the company and platoon leaders to prepare to stop the Japanese 6th Brigade, but he found that there were still people left.
"Why don't you leave?" Yang Ling was surprised when he saw dozens of officers and soldiers wearing security regiment uniforms.
These former officers and soldiers of the security regiment first assisted the Sichuan army in defending the city and were defeated, and then were gathered by the Japanese and used as a security camp. They then betrayed them and after a lot of hard work, only a few dozen of them were left.
It can be said that these officers and soldiers of the former security regiment are also the epitome of their kind in this era, and they are all hard-working people trying to survive.
"Sir Yang, I beg you to take us in to fight the Japanese." The leading company commander Zhang Heizi said and knelt down in front of Yang Ling.
As soon as Zhang Heizi knelt down, dozens of brothers from the former security group behind him all knelt down in unison.
"Get up, get up, what are you doing?" Yang Ling couldn't bear to see a big man kneeling down at every turn, and hurriedly tried to drag Zhang Heizi up.
But Zhang Heizi couldn't pull him up no matter how hard he tried. He raised his head and said, "Sir Yang, if you don't take us in, we won't get up."
"Yes, Chief Yang, if you don't take us in, we won't get up."
Looking at these stubborn officers and soldiers of the former security regiment, Yang Ling also sighed slightly.
"Everyone has something to say. I, Yang Ling, will not take away soldiers who kneel down and kowtow." Yang Ling saw that he couldn't pull him up and said with a straight face.
"Everyone, get up, kneel to the sky and kneel to your parents. What do you look like?" Wang Huzi and others also pulled and pulled them to stand up.
When they all stood up, Yang Ling said, "There are so many teams fighting the Japanese, why do you have to vote for us?"
"Sir Yang, you saved our lives, we are willing to follow you to fight the Japanese!" Zhang Heizi and his brothers looked at each other and gave the answer.
"I just did it casually to save you. Don't take it to heart. Go home and don't work for the Japanese anymore." Yang Ling waved them away, thinking that they were just here to repay their kindness.
But Zhang Heizi and the others refused to leave: "Sir Yang, our family has made arrangements. We sincerely want to follow you to fight the Japanese and avenge our dead brothers."
"Sir Yang, just take us in. We promise to fight the Japanese properly and not be deserters." When they saw Yang Ling's hesitation, they immediately became anxious.
"Do you really want to follow me and fight the Japanese?"
"Really!" they nodded hurriedly.
Yang Ling felt relieved when he saw that they looked sincere and didn't look like they were telling lies. However, he reminded: "The discipline of our troops is not as good as that of your security team, and we often have head-to-head confrontations with the Japanese..."
"Sir Yang, we have all died once, so we are not afraid of death." When they heard what Yang Ling said, they looked happy and spoke hurriedly.
"Lieutenant, why don't you accept them?" Wang Huzi saw that these brothers were not hesitant to kill the Japanese, so he stood aside and started to help.
Yang Ling thought for a while, and nodded while Zhang Heizi and the others were worried: "Okay, just join the army as a supplementary soldier and report back to the brigade headquarters."
"But I made it clear in advance. When we arrive in our army, everything must be in accordance with our rules." Yang Ling did not forget to remind him at the end.
"Sir Yang, don't worry, my brothers and I will never cause you any trouble."
Yang Ling agreed to incorporate Zhang Heizi and others into the army. Firstly, the army suffered heavy losses and many companies were seriously short of personnel. Secondly, seeing that they were sincere in fighting the Japanese, he accepted them.
The recruitment of Zhang Heizi and the others was just an unexpected episode. The real test Yang Ling and the others faced was the Japanese 6th Brigade.
The order they received was to block the Japanese 6th Brigade in Ruichang and cooperate with the main force of the 74th Army to destroy it.
Now Yang Ling has sent people to investigate the movements of the Japs in the direction of Minshan, but Yang Ling knows that the Japs who have run out of ammunition will definitely not be able to withstand the attack of the 74th Army and will retreat. It is only a matter of time.
The key now is how they fight and how they can stop the Japanese 6th Brigade.
With just a few hundred of their brothers, it would be unrealistic to block them head-on. However, if they did not block them, they would be disobeying military orders, which put Wang Huzi and the others in a very difficult position.
"There are mountainous forests all the way from Minshan to Ruichang..." Zhang Heizi attended the meeting as the temporary company commander, and his suggestions made Yang Ling and others frown.
Zhang Heizi and the others were originally locals in Ruichang County and were as familiar with the surrounding villages, towns and roads as they were at home. After hearing his words, Yang Ling quickly formulated a battle plan.
Soon, Yang Ling and his more than 400 brothers drove out of Ruichang City at dusk, carrying ammunition and weapons collected from the city, and headed straight for the mountainous area where the Japanese must pass through in their retreat.
Although Yang Ling and his brothers were exhausted from continuous fighting, on the cruel battlefield, continuous fighting was a common occurrence, so they could only keep their spirits up.
It was already night when Yang Ling and his brothers arrived in the mountainous area. The dark mountains looked particularly scary under the night wind, but with Zhang Heizi and the others leading the way, they would not get lost.
It only takes seven or eight hours to evacuate from Minshan to Ruichang. If the Japanese want to evacuate, they should come here soon, so Yang Ling and the others began to act nervously, creating obstacles, building fortifications, and even blowing up two small bridges.
.
The Japanese 6th Brigade ran out of ammunition and was outflanked in the rear, so they had to retreat overnight. However, the 74th Army kept fighting behind them, making it impossible for them to get out of the battle, and their retreat was not very fast.
Moreover, it was dark, the road was slippery, and there was no aircraft cover in the sky. The retreat of the 6th Brigade was not smooth from the beginning.
The Ono Brigade was the vanguard of the evacuation. They walked at the front of the team, and their torches and flashlights illuminated the entire mountain road.
In the dark mountains behind Ono Ichiro's troops, the troops' torches snaked into a long dragon and moved slowly,
In the farther direction, dense gunshots and rumbling explosions continued to be heard. The explosion fire was particularly dazzling in such a dark night, and the sky in the distance was illuminated red.
They came with great momentum at first, but now they are retreating in embarrassment. The Japanese soldiers who have been fighting fiercely for several days and nights are also exhausted to the extreme, and they are marching towards Ruichang with low morale.
"Speed up." Ono Ichiro looked at the team moving slowly on the mountain road and couldn't help but urge.
Although they were the vanguard of the evacuation, they still had another important task: to recapture Ruichang and open up a channel for the troops to retreat.
Thinking that the arms in Ruichang were attacked by the Chinese army, which led to their failure in the Minshan battle, Ono Ichiro felt a fire in his heart. He now couldn't wait to rush back to Ruichang to find the Chinese army.
vent.
But the fact is that there is no need for Ono Ichiro to go to Ruichang in person. Yang Ling and others have already taken the initiative to come to this mountainous area to welcome them.
"boom!"
The dull sound of gunfire broke the pace of the retreating troops. A bloody flower popped out of the chest of a Japanese soldier holding a torch, and he fell to the ground with a wailing sound.
The Japanese soldiers, who were retreating toward Ruichang with their heads drooped and exhausted, were suddenly confused at the thought of being suddenly attacked.