As the night fell, groups of guerrilla officers and soldiers, their uniforms torn and bleeding, withdrew from the battle with gray faces. Behind them was a battlefield of ruins and flames.
"What a bastard! What a bad fight this is!"
Liu Jinhu, the leader of the first guerrilla team, looked at the bloody and dead brothers on the stretchers and angrily kicked a wooden bucket full of water away.
The withdrawn guerrilla officers and soldiers no longer had the high spirits they had before, and their faces charred by smoke were full of depression, as if they had lost their souls.
The Japanese's firepower was fierce, and a large number of light and heavy machine guns swept away a large area of the charging guerrilla officers and soldiers. Corpses were strewn on the ground, and the ditches were filled with blood.
Although the guerrillas seemed to have a large number of people, they were behind enemy lines and lacked weapons and ammunition. Most of them still had large blades in their hands, and they were beaten with holes before they even rushed forward.
Although the guerrillas were besieging them from all sides, the Japanese position stood in front of them like an iron wall, unmoving.
The officers and soldiers of each detachment suffered heavy losses. The wounded who lost arms and legs in the explosion were wailing miserably, adding a bit of misery to the night wilderness.
"Sir Liu, the commander asked you to come over." A messenger found Liu Jinhu in the team and pointed to the tent in the center of the camp.
Liu Jinhu asked his brothers to go back to the camp to rest and treat their injuries. He cursed and walked towards the column commander's tent.
When Liu Jinhu arrived at the tent, under the dim light, the other detachment leaders had almost arrived.
The detachment leaders were all downcast and looked ugly, and some had their heads wrapped in gauze that was bleeding like rice dumplings. It looked like they were injured.
Liu Jinhu found an ammunition box and sat down. After waiting for a while, the livid-faced column commander opened the tent and walked in.
The detachment captains all stood up and saluted the column commander. The column commander pressed his hands down to signal them to sit down.
"Shi Zhentian! Stand up for me!"
The commander of the column had a dark face. He had lost the battle and was in a bad mood. He looked around at the detachment captains with cold eyes, pointed at a detachment captain with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks and growled.
Shi Zhentian was the captain of the 7th Guerrilla Detachment. His clothes were blown up and only rags were left. He stood up after hearing this.
"Come here, pull him down and kill him!" The guerrilla commander looked at the angry expression on Shi Zhentian's face and said,
Several wolf-like guards from the headquarters opened the tent and rushed in, holding the captain of the 7th Guerrilla Detachment and heading out.
"Commander, Commander, please spare my life, I have been with you for two years..." Shi Zhentian was held up by the burly guard, and he panicked and hurriedly shouted for mercy.
But the guerrilla commander turned a deaf ear to Shi Zhentian's begging for mercy. The other detachment captains in the tent were as silent as a chill in the face of the dark-faced guerrilla commander.
"Commander, Captain Shi has no merit but hard work, why not this time..." A detachment leader who was familiar with Shi Zhentian really couldn't bear that he would be killed like this, so he bit the bullet and wanted to plead for mercy.
"Retreating without orders will not be a pity!" The guerrilla commander was so angry that he could not listen to dissuade him.
"Whoever dares to persuade us again will be punished with the same crime!"
Facing the angry guerrilla commander, everyone felt sorry for the captain of the 7th guerrilla detachment. Who allowed him to take the lead in retreating at this juncture?
Soon, a dull gunshot came from outside, and the shouts of the captain of the 7th Guerrilla Detachment suddenly stopped.
"Report, military law has been implemented."
Soon some guards opened the tent and came in to report, and the guerrilla commander waved the guards out.
"Everyone, it's not that I am ruthless and disregards brotherhood, but Shi Zhentian defied military law and retreated without permission, causing the attack to fail. This is what he asked for!"
Although the guerrilla commander was filled with indignation, the captains of the detachment felt the same as Ming Jing'er. Shi Zhentian was just the scapegoat for the failure of the attack, and they could only blame him for his misfortune.
The Japs had well-organized fortifications and sophisticated weapons, but their guerrilla detachment fought the opponent with scraps of metal and flesh and blood. Although the brothers were brave, failure was to be expected.
They attacked the Japanese in Huaiyin aggressively, but they didn't expect that they would get a bloody head and a head, and many of them had begun to retreat.
If the fight continues like tonight, all the money they have saved will have to be spent in a day, which they are unwilling to do.
But the guerrilla commander didn't think so. He always believed that the Japanese troops in Huaiyin City were sparse, and as long as they launched another fierce attack, victory would eventually be theirs.
As long as their Ninth Guerrilla Column recaptures Huaiyin, he, the commander of the guerrilla column, will naturally take the first credit.
"Now everyone goes back to rest and replenish ammunition. After dawn, we will concentrate our efforts to attack the south gate. This time we must completely eliminate the Japanese!"
The siege on all sides failed. The guerrilla commander felt that the force was too dispersed, so he promptly adjusted his offensive tactics and prepared to concentrate his forces to break through.
"Commander, the little devil has great firepower. If we attack like this, we will die."
Liu Jinhu, the captain of the first detachment, had just come off the battlefield and saw batches of brothers falling under the guns of the Japanese. Naturally, he was unwilling to act so recklessly again.
"That's right, Commander, without heavy weapons to suppress it, the brothers can't rush forward." The detachment leaders all agreed one after another.
The guerrilla commander's face darkened, and he glared at the detachment leaders and said: "The devils have great firepower, but I think you are afraid of fighting and death! As a member of the Communist Party of China, I am ashamed of you!"
"Commander, I, Liu Jinhu, have died several times. I just don't want my brothers to die in vain!" Liu Jinhu also got angry and pushed back.
"Liu Jinhu, am I the commander or you are the commander, execute the order, otherwise I will remove you from your post now!"
When the guerrilla commander faced the rebuttal from his subordinates, he slapped the ammunition box angrily and roared angrily.
"I'm quitting." Liu Jinhu was furious when faced with the reckless guerrilla commander. He pulled off the hat on his head and threw it away. He turned around and left the tent angrily.
"You've gone too far, Ma Ming, now I appoint you as the captain of the first team!"
Faced with the unruly Liu Jinhu, the guerrilla commander directly removed him from his position as detachment leader and let the second detachment captain hold the concurrent post.
"Yes! Thank you very much, Commander!"
Ma Ming, the captain of the second team, stood up excitedly. There were hundreds of people in the first team. In this way, his strength increased a lot out of thin air.
"Go back and prepare well. We will launch the attack at dawn!" The guerrilla commander waved his hand and dismissed the detachment leaders.
When the Ninth Guerrilla Column was experiencing internal strife due to its defeat, a relaxed atmosphere filled the Japs Brigade headquarters in the city.
"The Chinese guerrillas are really vulnerable. They were repelled so quickly." A Japanese officer with a sinister face showed a contemptuous smile.
Some people immediately responded: "Let alone guerrillas, any army will be turned into powder in front of the Imperial Japanese Army!"
The guerrillas suffered heavy casualties in front of the Japanese's strong fortress trenches. The Japanese effortlessly consumed a large amount of the guerrillas' effective strength, which made them excited.
The Japanese leader, Yamaguchi Akamatsu, was as stable as a rock. He had already anticipated this outcome, and it was just a trap he had set for the guerrillas.
"Captain, when are we going to encircle and eliminate the guerrillas outside the city?" an officer asked the stern-faced captain Yamaguchi Akamatsu.
All the officers turned their attention to Yamaguchi Akamatsu, waiting for the answer.
"At five o'clock in the morning, launch an encirclement attack on time." Yamaguchi Akamatsu stroked the gleaming Sankan sword, his vicious eyes exuding a fascinating light.
"Hiyi!"
The Japanese officers all became excited, and under the light, their well-nourished faces glowed with oil.