At the Japanese military headquarters in Taiyuan, the head of the intelligence section was reporting on the intelligence just compiled by his subordinates, with a smile on his face.
"Sir, some intelligence personnel witnessed the Eighth Route Army transporting damaged artillery barrels outside the forest. According to statistics, the heavy artillery battalion of the garrison lost at least six heavy artillery pieces in the morning bombing."
"They also brought out a large number of corpses, there must be two to three hundred."
"That means almost half of the heavy artillery battalion was destroyed!" the chief of staff said with a smile on his face.
The commander's expression was very calm.
As long as the entire heavy artillery battalion was not wiped out, he would not be happy.
Looking at the intelligence section chief, he ordered seriously: "Ask your people to keep an eye on the remaining artillery of the heavy artillery battalion. Tomorrow morning, the aviation force will send out another squadron to bomb the heavy artillery battalion, and strive to completely solve this serious problem."
"Sir, don't worry!" the intelligence section chief assured.
"I have ordered all nearby intelligence personnel to concentrate on Gangziling. This heavy artillery battalion has been exposed and there is no way it will slip away from the eyes of so many of us."
At eight o'clock in the evening, a heavy artillery piece slowly left the woods, pulled by a total of four horses, and finally returned to the road with the joint efforts of more than a dozen gunners.
Soon, the second door appeared, and then the third door...
After a total of ten artillery pieces were in place, the heavy artillery battalion began to set off.
More than two hundred soldiers guarded the heavy artillery camp, with rifles in their hands, light machine guns in their arms, and heavy machine guns on their shoulders. They stared at the surroundings with vigilance to ensure that there were no enemies near the highway.
"The heavy artillery battalion has appeared, let's follow." A voice suddenly sounded from a bush five hundred meters away.
Then I saw several black figures coming out of it, following behind the heavy artillery battalion like ghosts, separated by at least 500 meters.
From the bushes and woods on both sides of the road, dozens of black figures emerged one after another. They formed a large encirclement around the heavy artillery battalion in groups of two, monitoring every move of the heavy artillery battalion at all times.
On both sides of the road leading to Guanshan Town, the blockade ditch that was damaged last night has been dug again, and the blockade wall has taken shape. It should not be far from completion.
The Eighth Route Army that destroyed the blockade ditch last night came again.
Company Commander Huang led his troops to the front just like last night.
Then came the local troops, and the villagers who cooperated with the operation hid at the end.
After half an hour of anxious waiting, the squad leader of the reconnaissance squad appeared, rushed to the company commander and reported: "Company commander, the Japanese and puppet troops are the same as last night, there are no changes."
"The troops and villagers were all concentrated in the two assembly areas, and no one was sent out to patrol or guard!"
"How is that possible?" Captain Huang's first reaction was disbelief.
"Have you investigated clearly? We destroyed so many blockade ditches last night. With the little devil's character of seeking revenge, how could we remain indifferent? Aren't they worried that we destroyed two kilometers of blockade ditches tonight?"
The reconnaissance squad leader thought for a while and confirmed: "The reconnaissance squad conducted investigations all the way from the two assembly areas, and indeed no Japanese and puppet troops were found on the highway."
"And there are people watching both assembly areas. If the Japanese and puppet troops come out, they will definitely fire warning shots to remind us to retreat."
The investigation squad leader was a veteran in the company and would definitely not lie to him. Company Commander Huang chose to believe his report.
"Since the little devil is not prepared, let's destroy another two kilometers of blockade ditch tonight."
"It's still the same as last night. One row of left wing covers, the second row of right wing covers, others are on alert around them and start taking action."
Local troops, guerrillas, and villagers rushed onto the road with engineering shovels.
The first and second platoons quickly broke away from the troops, formed a fighting formation, and continued to approach the gathering areas of Japanese and puppet troops on the left and right wings.
If there are Japanese and puppet troops coming out, they can give early warning and stop them, giving the villagers more time to retreat.
"Da da da..." Just a few dozen meters away, a series of gunshots rang out on the highway. At least two machine guns fired at the same time. Bullets flew over, and the quiet night was instantly broken.
One platoon was caught off guard, and five soldiers were killed and injured in one fell swoop.
The remaining soldiers quickly lay down and raised their guns to fight back.
Two machine guns were mounted on the blockade wall less than 100 meters away, spraying bullets into a row as if they were free of charge.
At least thirty Japanese and puppet troops hid in the blockade ditch, holding their rifles and shooting at everyone with their heads exposed.
"Baba..."
Two gunshots were heard in the direction of where the Japanese and puppet troops were gathering. They were early warning shots from the reconnaissance squad.
An infantry squad of Japanese soldiers, with more than a hundred puppet troops, rushed out of the assembly area like hungry wolves and rushed toward the battlefield along the road.
"Bang bang... bang bang... da da da..."
At this time, a burst of gunfire also came from the direction of the second row of guards, which was as dense as the first row.
The sudden turn of events frightened Company Commander Huang. He opened his mouth and was blinded for several seconds before he could react.
"No, there's an ambush among us. The enemy is hiding in the blockade ditch. One row and two rows are covering us. The others will retreat immediately."
"Boom, boom, boom..." Several explosions interrupted the company commander's unfinished order.
Several plumes of black smoke suddenly rose from the blockade ditch not far away, and more than a dozen people fell around, including local troops and blind dates participating in the operation.
Others were injured and fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
"Retreat, the main force will cover it, and the local troops will take the wounded and retreat with the villagers. Leave the blockade ditch. The Japanese must have sold mines inside."
"boom……"
A more violent explosion sounded in Captain Huang's ears, and the rising fireball and black smoke were less than twenty meters away from him.
At least ten people around him fell to the ground, dead or injured.
"The Japs still have mortars. Everyone, retreat quickly. The security team will go over to help and cover everyone from leaving the road and returning the same way!" Captain Huang faintly felt that the villagers were starting to panic, and shouted anxiously.
They are all ordinary people without any training.
If the little devils drop more shells and the casualties among the villagers are greater, everyone will definitely become a mess, and it will be difficult to retreat by then.
On the position where the Japanese and puppet troops were confronting a platoon, the young Japanese sergeant leading the team fired and shouted: "The Chinese who destroyed the blockade trench must run away. We cannot let them escape so easily."
"The machine gunner continued to suppress fire and exchanged fire with the Eighth Route Army in front."
"The rifleman changed his target and shot at the retreating Chinese. Shoot immediately!"
"Taijun, most of them are ordinary people." the puppet platoon leader reminded.
"Shoot, if you don't kill them, the imperial army will kill you!" The sergeant remained unmoved and threatened with murderous intent.
"Sir said that as long as they go against the Imperial Army, no matter they are the Eighth Route Army or ordinary people, they are the enemies of the Imperial Army. What the Imperial Army needs to do is to kill all these resisters and make them afraid of the Imperial Army and dare not fight again.