At the headquarters of the Japanese brigade in Baoding, the communications staff happily ran in and reported: "General, the telegram from the Third Infantry Battalion has arrived. They have connected with the transportation team heading south and are protecting the transportation team as they march toward Baoding."
The brigade commander thought about the order: "Let them strengthen their alert, and the speed must be fast."
"Intelligence shows that a lot of Eighth Route Army troops sneaked into Baoding last night. If they come sooner or later, their target must be this transport team."
"Contact the aviation force and immediately send planes to escort the convoy non-stop to ensure that there are no large swarms of the Eighth Route Army on the road the convoy must pass!"
The deputy chief of staff next to him said: "General, don't worry. The transportation team already has a supplementary wing, a baggage team, a cavalry squadron, plus an infantry brigade we sent over, with a total strength of more than 5,000 people. It will definitely be able to carry out the task."
Weapons and ammunition were safely delivered to Baoding City."
On the highway forty kilometers away from Baoding City, a huge transport team consisting of cars, carts, mules and horses was slowly advancing.
Looking down from the air, the entire transportation team looks like a giant dragon hovering on the road.
More than five thousand little devils, leading the way, driving the carriage, and rearing behind, guarded the convoy.
Wherever the convoy went, a large amount of dust was rolled up from the ground, blocking the sky and the sun. Coupled with the planes cruising back and forth above the convoy, the entire formation looked particularly scary.
There are mostly mountainous areas on both sides of the road, but they are all hills, not rugged, and there are no patches of woods.
If there is a large-scale troop ambush, it will definitely not be able to avoid aircraft detection.
The enemy changed and we changed. Zhao Wen, commander of the fifth battalion lurking near this official road, decisively ordered the troops to divide their forces and take action, turning the planes in the sky blind.
"Battal Commander, ahead is the first minefield we have prepared for the Japanese forward troops. In one minute, all the forward troops will enter the minefield." On a hill about one kilometer away from the road, the guard platoon leader pointed to a section of the minefield.
An introduction to a fairly gentle road.
Zhao Wen waved his hand and ordered: "I only watch the battle, not command. You have the final say on how to fight. I only want the result."
The guard platoon leader immediately replied: "Don't worry, captain, I promise to give the Japanese a wake-up call and let them know how powerful our guard group is."
More than a hundred Japanese soldiers lined up in two formations, with rifles in their hands and machine guns in their arms. They looked around vigilantly as they advanced, ready to lie down at any time.
There is a rare small piece of plain here. There are only some low shrubs for 500 meters on both sides of the official road, not even a small mound, and you can see it at a glance.
When the vanguard troops reached this point, their vigilance was subconsciously relaxed.
The terrain here is too unsuitable for hiding troops and setting up an ambush. Unless the commander of the Eighth Route Army is stupid, he will never send troops to ambush here and fall into a trap.
The garrison regiment is a unit that does not follow common sense.
This habit only appeared in Li Hao at first. As time went by, the cadres below also learned this trick. When they got the opportunity, they would take the wrong approach and catch the enemy off guard.
The 5th Battalion Guard Platoon is obviously preparing to do this today.
After more than a hundred Japanese soldiers entered the minefield, the sound of heavy machine gun fire suddenly sounded from a high ground more than 500 meters away on the right side of the road.
If the heavy machine gun is fired at this distance, even if the enemy is within the effective range, it will be difficult to hit the target, unless the little devil stands motionless on the road as a living target.
The Japanese army obviously couldn't be used as targets. They fell down as soon as the gun was fired. The speed was very fast. The heavy machine gun emptied two bullet plates in a row and only killed one soldier.
Apart from wasting bullets, this kind of sneak attack poses almost no threat to the Japanese.
They lay on the ground, with a mocking smile slowly appearing on their faces. Just as they were about to fight back, three shells roared towards them and exploded next to them.
The shooting of Zhu Yuan was measured many times. The three cannonballs hit the road, and the accuracy was very high.
In the splashing fire, at least five Japanese were blown over...
The squadron leader who led the team was startled. As soon as the sound of gunfire stopped, he got up from the ground and ran like a rabbit. He quickly rushed to the bushes on both sides of the road and finally threw himself into a weed, giving orders as he ran.
"Baga! The Eighth Route Army attacking us has mortars. Everyone, get off the road quickly. Don't stay here and become a living target!"
"Spread off the road and avoid the bombardment..." The squad leader in the middle of the team, Captain Cao, suddenly reacted and ordered as he ran.
Japs are not afraid of death, but as long as there is a chance to survive, they certainly don't want to die.
The more than one hundred Japanese soldiers here are veterans and know very well how to avoid artillery fire.
As soon as the officer issued the order to disperse, he didn't need to say anything else. He grabbed his weapon and rushed towards the bushes on both sides of the official road. The whole movement was as clean and swift as a leopard.
The squadron leader was the first to fall to the ground, then drew his command knife and prepared to order his subordinates to counterattack.
"boom……"
Before he could speak, an explosion rang in his ears, and then he lost consciousness.
The orderly soldier who followed the squadron leader had a chance to escape and saw with his own eyes how the commander died.
A cloud of black smoke rose into the sky from the squadron leader's thigh, and then he saw that the squadron leader's entire leg was blown into two sections, and the broken leg was blown away, and landed on a bush seven or eight meters away...
"There are mines here, everyone, be careful..." The squadron adjutant also saw this scene, took a breath, and continued to shout.
"Boom...ah...Baga..." Another landmine was detonated, and the violent explosion caused several screams.
After several Japanese soldiers saw the explosion just now, they were all frightened and showed dumbfounded and shocked expressions.
It's so strange that the landmine just now did not explode underground, but flew up from the ground to a height of almost two meters in the sky before exploding.
The flying mine fragments were like scattered flowers, sweeping away the entire surrounding area of five to six meters.
The Japanese soldiers hiding in this area were hit by one or two pieces of fragments if they were lucky, and directly hit by five or six pieces of fragments if they were unlucky, and they were silenced on the spot.
"What kind of landmine is this? How come it is so powerful!" Many Japanese soldiers had this question in their hearts, and then showed fearful expressions.
With ordinary landmines, as long as you stay far away and lie down on the ground, no matter how much the fragments fly, they will not be able to hurt you.
This kind of landmine is different from what I have never seen before. Even if I am lying on the ground, four or five meters away from the explosion point, I will be blown up. The power is no worse than that of a small-caliber artillery shell, and it will explode in a large area...
During the half-year training period of the garrison regiment, apart from inspecting each battalion and supervising everyone's training, the only thing Li Hao did most was to spend time in the arsenal and improve weapons and equipment with the engineers there.
The mine used by the 5th Battalion's guard platoon was a bouncing mine produced by the arsenal three months ago.
After the mine explodes, the gunpowder used as the propellant explodes first in a fixed container, ejecting the mine, and then explodes after flying into the air, maximizing the lethality of the fragments.
Due to the complexity of production and limited output, this type of landmine has not been promoted in the garrison for the time being, and has been hidden by Li Hao as a secret weapon.
Before attacking Baoding, Li Hao took out all the 500 bouncing mines secretly produced by the arsenal in one go, preparing them to shine in the upcoming battle.
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