Company Commander Zhang Yunshan's face looked much better. With these seizures, he could finally give an explanation to the battalion commander.
Otherwise, if the battalion commander knew that five soldiers died directly because he underestimated the enemy during the attack, the battalion commander would definitely curse himself to death. With these seizures, although he would also curse, the situation would definitely be much better.
But the excess supplies also brought a new problem to Zhang Yunshan: did he have enough manpower to send the supplies back?
After all, he still has combat missions ahead, and it is impossible to leave too many troops to transport these supplies.
"Instructor, how many prisoners do we have in total?" Zhang Yunshan immediately asked.
"There are many prisoners around the village, but there are very few in the stronghold, 42 in total! Based on each person's thirty kilograms of weight, they can only take away more than a thousand kilograms of supplies!" Wang Liang understood the hidden meaning of Zhang Yunshan's words, and immediately
He answered helplessly.
"Then use big trucks to transport supplies!" Zhang Yunshan suddenly thought of something and answered with an affirmative look.
Wang Liang almost didn't believe his ears and looked at Zhang Yunshan blankly, without any reaction for a long time.
Zhang Yunshan quickly explained: "I just thought of it. When we came out of the mountain, we tried our best to take small roads in order to make a surprise attack on the Japanese. Now that the battle has started, there is no need to hide anymore. Since there is no need to hide, we can start from here
There are no Japs between us and our station, so what is there to be afraid of? Just use big trucks. If the big trucks captured are not enough, let the puppet troops carry them!"
"I left the squad with the greatest losses, and another Czech-made squadron. I also equipped our baggage squad with a Czech-made squadron. I immediately escorted the supplies and prisoners back to the station, handed them over to the instructors, and then took the carts and mules.
The horse rushes to Xuzhuang and strives to capture the Japanese and puppet stronghold in Xuzhuang tonight and evacuate the Xuzhuang stronghold!"
Wang Liang nodded and said in acquiescence: "I think it's okay. By the way, I'll leave a deputy platoon leader to unified command of all remaining troops!"
Just tonight, the Longshan stronghold in the other direction of Laiyuan City was also attacked.
Yan Song commanded the Third Company to capture this stronghold in just one hour, annihilating a reinforced Japanese squad and capturing most of the puppet company.
Because of the use of artillery, many weapons were blown up, but a lot of supplies and ammunition were still seized.
Like Zhang Yunshan, Yan Song left a combat squad and a baggage squad to go to the station to escort the prisoners and capture them, and then led the main force of the company to the next attack target.
Two strongholds were breached in one night, although there was no direct news back. However, the connection between the county seat and the two strongholds was interrupted, and there were faint explosions from the two strongholds. In addition, the Eighth Route Army showed great violence during this period.
The Japanese military headquarters had already guessed the powerful attack power.
For Major General Ono, this news was like a loud slap, telling him that his judgment about the Eighth Route Army two days ago was wrong.
The Eighth Route Army did not lose any troops in the battle to attack the Xiaguan stronghold, and still possessed powerful offensive capabilities. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to capture two of its strongholds in one night while dividing its forces.
But as the brigade commander, Ono's sanity was not affected by this slap in the face by the battalion commander.
When many staff officers in the headquarters contacted the troops to immediately send troops to reinforce these two strongholds, Ono decisively refused.
It's not that Ono doesn't care about the lives of more than a hundred imperial troops in the two strongholds, but he can't send troops out. Before the troops have formed combat effectiveness, with these new soldiers in hand, no matter how many people go out, they will bring military exploits to the Eighth Route Army.
In the end, Ono made the decision to stand still. Then he ordered the Japanese intelligence system in Laiyuan to figure out the true strength of the Eighth Route Army in the shortest possible time. At the same time, he ordered the chief of staff to speed up the training of new recruits. It would take up to five days to assemble an army with initial combat effectiveness.
infantry brigade!
The next day, the news that the two strongholds had been occupied and evacuated by the Eighth Route Army reached the Japanese headquarters in Laiyuan City, along with some simple information.
"Brigade Commander, fortunately we did not send troops last night. Although we have not yet figured out the specific situation of the Eighth Route Army, it is not difficult to judge based on these simple intelligence that the Eighth Route Army attacking the two strongholds is the main force! They are equipped with mortars and heavy
Machine guns, grenade launchers, and a large number of light machine guns. Once we send fewer reinforcements, with the combat effectiveness of these new soldiers, even if they are not wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, they will suffer heavy losses!"
"The general is wise!" All his subordinates and staff immediately complimented him.
Ono was not happy at all. If the more than a hundred imperial troops lost in the two strongholds were the new recruits that the military department had just added, he would not be heartbroken at all. But these people are veterans who followed him all the way here, casually
Even one person can serve as a sergeant in a mixed brigade. Losing so many people at once directly means that the mixed brigade he is forming has lost most of the officers of the infantry brigade.
At this time, a very bold idea suddenly came to Ono's mind: "The Eighth Route Army, which is divided into two groups, can take down two of its strongholds in one night. Will they continue to attack tonight and take away two of their own strongholds?"
Woolen cloth!"
Thinking that the possibility was more than 80%, Ono's forehead immediately broke out with sweat beads due to nervousness.
After listening to Ono's guess, the chief of staff became anxious and immediately affirmed: "Brigade commander, for the Eighth Route Army, now is an excellent opportunity to defeat our strongholds outside the city!"
"If I were the commander of the Eighth Route Army, I would definitely not miss this opportunity. But for us, losing those strongholds will not only lose hundreds of elite warriors of the Imperial Army, but also the foundation of the Laiyuan Guard Brigade!"
"Jianji, you used the word very well! The Eighth Route Army is so cunning. A seemingly unrelated attack actually hid such a big conspiracy!" Ono affirmed with a calm face.
The chief of staff immediately suggested: "General, we must immediately determine whether the Eighth Route Army really has this conspiracy. If so, we would rather abandon those strongholds outside the city than let hundreds of elite imperial troops have another accident!"
"Check, check immediately. No later than tonight, the intelligence agency must find out the results I want, otherwise, military law will be engaged!" Ono ordered with a rare murderous look on his face.
At this time, Wang Ping, who was staying at the station, was leading a newly formed engineer platoon to inspect a trench that the prisoners had just dug.
Because the Eighth Route Army has never had professional engineer talents, Wang Ping never considered forming an engineer platoon when the independent battalion was first established.
Until three days ago, after learning that one of the prisoners was a former engineer platoon leader of the Shanxi-Sui Army, Wang Ping immediately decided to make him the platoon leader and form an engineer platoon.
Because if I want to build a huge fortification complex on the more than ten miles of mountain road into the mountain, I will definitely not be able to rely on a bunch of laymen. I must have professional engineering and soldier talents, and Xu Ke, who has experience as an engineer and soldier, is him.
Selected talents.
Looking at the trenches dug halfway up the mountainside, Wang Ping was not satisfied. Although the trenches were reinforced with logs, they were still vulnerable to running in the mountains and even in front of infantry artillery. More importantly, the soldiers
Hiding in the trenches, they could not avoid the mortar shells and grenades falling from the sky.