Major Aso lowered his head and said nothing. Faced with the questioning, he really had no reason or confidence to refute.
At this moment, the Chief of Staff spoke up and said: "Your Excellency, Captain, the damage has been done. No matter how we hold people accountable, we can't undo the losses last night. Because of the delay, I thought we should find a way to solve this problem immediately. According to the command,
The ministry has ordered that in three days, a new transport team will stop at our transfer station to rest. The same thing will definitely not happen to us a second time!"
Colonel Kato's brows suddenly furrowed, and it took a full five minutes before he answered: "We must occupy all the areas around the transfer station that can fire at us. In this case, the Eighth Route Army will not be able to fire artillery shells at the transfer station."
"Bring me the map!"
The combat staff on standby immediately spread out a map and spread it in front of Colonel Kato.
Colonel Kato pointed to the map and analyzed: "The effective range of the mortar is more than two kilometers, and it can hit as far as three kilometers. Therefore, with the transfer station as the center, we must control the entire surrounding three kilometers area!"
While speaking, Colonel Kato had already drawn a big circle around Qinggu Valley, and then continued his analysis.
"There are seven or eight villages of various sizes scattered within a three-kilometer radius. I plan to station 200 people in each village and build strongholds. We will also send people to patrol and guard between villages to ensure that no Eighth Route Army enters this area!"
"If one of the villages is attacked, nearby villages will immediately send troops to reinforce and destroy the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops."
Having said this, Colonel Kato suddenly flashed a murderous look in his eyes, and then continued to add.
"Also, the Eighth Route Army is equipped with cannons. If they use cannons, our troops stationed in the villages will definitely not be able to hold on for too long. Therefore, after the troops enter these villages, they can find ways to coerce some people to take them to the stronghold as hostages. Even if the Eighth Route Army wants to
If we want to attack these strongholds, we will not dare to use artillery because of the hostages in our hands. In this way, several of our strongholds can cooperate with each other to attack the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops!"
A reinforced infantry squad of the Japanese army and a company of the Imperial Japanese Army, armed with heavy machine guns and mortars, entered these villages at noon that day.
Zhoujiazhuang Village Headquarters is also where the guerrillas are stationed. After hearing the news that the puppet troops were rushing towards the village for more than 200 days, Xiao Wu, the guerrilla leader and the former squad leader of the independent regiment, still took up the top position even though he only had one arm left.
Gun ready for battle.
"Classes 1 and 2 will follow me to slow down the march of the Japanese and puppet troops and buy time for the villagers to move!"
"Stand three teams to stay and immediately mobilize the villagers to leave the village. The devils are coming menacingly, and nothing good will happen for sure!"
"Bang, bang, bang!" Soon, the guerrillas fired a round of volleys at the Japanese and puppet troops on the road less than one kilometer away from the village.
However, because the shooting distance is too far, Wang Ping cannot provide a large number of bullets to the guerrillas to train their marksmanship like he trains the main force.
A volley of twenty-one bullets flew past, knocking down only three Imperial Army soldiers who were walking in front.
"Counterattack, counterattack immediately!" Before the guerrillas had time to fire the second round of bullets, the Japanese and puppet soldiers among the Japanese troops were already lying on the ground, and then they were ready to retreat in the direction of the guerrillas with their rifles in hand.
"Fire one more shot and keep it all aimed. Retreat after the attack!" Xiao Wu was very dissatisfied with the result and ordered with a frown.
"Xiao Wang, you immediately go to the highway and plant a ceramic mine issued to us by the main force, and we will cover you!"
"Bang, bang, bang!" This time when they fired, the guerrillas only killed one member of the Imperial Army, and not a single Japanese.
"Bang bang bang...ta da da..." But at this moment, the road a hundred meters away remembered the sound of gunfire like exploding beans, including rifles and machine guns.
The flying bullets instantly blew away the dirt in front of everyone. A guerrilla who failed to dodge in time was hit by a bullet, and a bloody hole appeared on his arm.
Not to mention, more than 20 Japanese soldiers armed with rifles, under the cover of frontal attack fire, quickly detoured towards them from the farmland on both sides of the road.
"The Japanese want to make our dumplings! Hurry, take the wounded and retreat, first use mines to slow them down!
Without saying a word, the Japanese soldiers, who missed the target, began to pursue them along the road.
After running less than thirty meters, a huge fireball mixed with a lot of black smoke shot up in the middle of the road.
"Boom!" Immediately afterwards, the violent explosion reached everyone's ears.
When the smoke cleared, a total of six Japs fell to the ground. Three were motionless, but judging from the bloody wounds on their bodies, these three Japs must not survive. The other Japs were also covered in blood, but they were still conscious.
And he could still move. He was hugging his injured thigh or arm, curled up on the ground, and screaming in pain.
"Baga, it's a landmine. These cunning guerrillas actually have landmines!" the Japanese leader exclaimed with an expression of disbelief.
But he quickly reacted: "A platoon of the Imperial Association Army went to the front to clear the way, and the Imperial Army followed suit. The remaining Imperial Army Army took the wounded and the bodies of the Imperial Army soldiers who died in the battle, and set off immediately to continue on their way to Zhoujiazhuang.
"
According to normal practice, the Japanese should send engineers to the front to clear mines at this time.
However, no one knows how many mines there are ahead and how long it will take to clear mines.
The Japanese squad leader had an idea and immediately thought of the Imperial Army and asked them to go to the front to act as humanoid minesweepers.
In his view, after all, the Imperial Army was Chinese and they were used to open roads, while the Eighth Route Army guerrillas still had some scruples when using landmines.
Besides, even if the Eighth Route Army didn't care about the lives and deaths of these people, the loss would still be the Imperial Alliance Army. Anyway, there are many Imperial Alliance Army troops in Laiyuan City, so no matter how much the Japanese team leader loses, he won't be heartbroken.
"The Japs are so cunning, they actually asked the Imperial Army to come forward and thwart them!" Captain Xiao Wu couldn't help but curse.
The smile that was on his face just now because he killed and injured several Japanese soldiers suddenly disappeared.
A squad leader next to him didn't care about this and immediately asked: "It doesn't matter whether they are Japanese or Japanese, they are all enemies anyway. Captain, do you want to land two more landmines to teach the puppet army a lesson? What I hate the most is giving these to the little boy."
A traitor who works hard for the Japanese!"
"No, it's different!" Xiao Wu replied, shaking his head.
"Most of the Imperial Army soldiers are good, and they are all former anti-Japanese heroes. They were only coerced by the Japanese to become puppet soldiers. They cannot be compared with those real traitors and Japanese soldiers!"
"You know, the main force, many cadres and soldiers were transformed from these Imperial Association Army."
"If they are beaten too hard and develop hatred towards our independent group, it will definitely be difficult to capture and transform them in the future!"
"Then just watch these Japanese and puppet troops rush into the village!" Apart from landmines and poor marksmanship, the guerrillas really can't think of any other way to hold back the Japanese and puppet troops on the road!