usatvline Chapter 184: In order to prevent Li Yunlong from making a mistake, I asked you to keep an eye on him
Chapter 184: In order to prevent Li Yunlong from making a mistake, I asked you to keep an eye on him
At Lin Zhenhua's order, the artillery battalion began a fierce bombardment of the Japanese's Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold, firing more than 500 artillery shells of various types, destroying all the artillery towers and bunkers in the entire Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold.
"College student, I have destroyed all the Japanese artillery towers and bunkers according to your orders. Can we launch an attack now?" Zhuzi asked hurriedly.
Lin Zhenhua replied, "Zhu Zi, bring up our six unscrupulous cannons and throw 12 more explosive packs into the enemy's base. Even the rats in the base will be killed today. After the fight, arrange for the soldiers to go forward and clean up the battlefield!"
Zhuzi felt that Lin Zhenhua was a little crazy. He was simply wasting ammunition. If the captain saw this, he would definitely get beaten today.
Lin Zhenhua didn't care about Zhuzi's idea. The reason why he threw so many artillery shells into the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold today was because he had his own plans. On the one hand, it was for Matsui Saburo to see, so that he could bring the message to the Japanese commander that the independent regiment had sufficient ammunition and could even fight for fun. On the other hand, it was to send a signal to the outside world that the independent regiment was strong and powerful, and whoever dared to provoke it would be prepared to be crushed to pieces.
Twelve violent explosions sounded in the stronghold. Lin Zhenhua then arranged two platoons of soldiers to go in and clean up the battlefield. As a result, they only picked up some scrap copper and iron. Even the Japanese's rifles were blown into two pieces. The only gain was some bullets. Even the few intact bodies of the Japanese were not seen.
Lin Zhenhua left a few words on a tree near his base, and then led his team back. On the way, he met Zhang Dashan who came to reinforce him, and followed him to escort the spoils back to Zhaojiayu.
After Li Yunlong retreated with Xue Kai, he ran into the mountains. However, after wandering around in a circle, he returned to the starting point. They were actually lost in the mountains and forests. This made Li Yunlong so angry that he almost jumped up and down. He had planned to attack the Japanese stronghold with Lin Zhenhua and take revenge, but he ended up being trapped in the mountains and forests. Who the hell could he go to for justice?
"Old Xue, we have to get out quickly and meet up with the college student and ask him to stop attacking the Japanese stronghold, otherwise my two battalions will be in danger of being wiped out!" Li Yunlong said with a worried look on his face.
Xue Kai really didn't want to pay attention to Li Yunlong at this moment. This time he was really badly tricked by Li Yunlong. He felt that this must be a trap set for him by Li Yunlong and Lin Zhenhua. There were 500 people when he came out, but now there are only more than 60 people left, and all the heavy weapons were lost. How can he explain to Xue Changkun when he goes back? More importantly, without manpower, how can he implement the Trojan Horse operation?
However, now was not the time to quarrel with Li Yunlong. He could only patiently reply, "Captain Li, you should also know our current situation. We were lucky to escape just now. If we really face the devil again, let alone a squadron of devil soldiers, even a small team of devil soldiers can easily eat us up. I think we should hurry up and find a way back to the base of the independent regiment first!"
"The college student you mentioned wouldn't be so stupid as to attack the enemy stronghold. He might have retreated back to the base area. If we move faster, we might even run into him on the way!"
Li Yunlong immediately understood the meaning of Xue Kai's words. He could not leave alone, as that would confirm the suspicion of setting a trap. He could only follow Xue Kai to find an exit in the mountains. After an hour of searching, he finally found the previous entrance to the mountain. After coming out from there, he happened to meet Lin Zhenhua's team returning victoriously.
Lin Zhenhua spotted Li Yunlong in the crowd and laughed at him mercilessly, "Old Li, where have you been? The battle is over, and I haven't seen you yet. How did you manage to be the regiment commander? If you really don't want to be the commander, just step down and let someone else take over!"
When Li Yunlong heard Lin Zhenhua's teasing voice, he immediately became angry and rushed over from Xue Kai's side, wanting to challenge Lin Zhenhua in a duel.
Seeing that Li Yunlong was out of danger, Lin Zhenhua signaled with his eyes. Li Yunlong blinked in response, but he cursed: "Damn it, Lao Xue and I encountered a large group of Japanese troops head-on. We fought for nearly an hour and suffered 80% casualties. We had to withdraw from the battle. I thought you would come to support us after hearing the gunfire, but we were almost killed and I didn't even see your shadow. Tell me the truth, were you secretly watching the show from the sidelines just to make fun of me!"
Lin Zhenhua replied with a wry smile: "Old Li, this matter really can't be blamed on me. I thought you would be able to meet up with me at noon, and we would launch an attack on the Japanese stronghold together. But you guys were late, so I had to fight alone and take two people to attack the Japanese stronghold of Xiaozhang Village. I just came back from attacking the stronghold and happened to run into you two."
"No matter how bad I am, I can't just stand by and watch you get annihilated by the devils. How could I possibly do such a thing? Besides, Adjutant Xue is here to help us fight the devils. When have I ever done such a thing as betraying my friends? Old Li, don't put the blame on me. I won't fall for it!"
"In order to quickly capture the Japanese's Xiaozhang stronghold, I took a shortcut and planned to give the Japanese a hard blow by surprise. The Japanese were beaten badly this time, and even the stronghold was breached by me. The entire stronghold was blown to pieces, and even the rats in the stronghold were killed by the shells. There was really no grass left!"
Li Yunlong was about to add a few words to Lin Zhenhua's increasingly bizarre remarks, but when he saw Xue Kai's constipated expression, he felt that he couldn't go too far. If Xue Kai got upset with the two of them, it would be really troublesome to deal with. So he could only change the subject and said, "College student, what are the casualties of the troops?"
Lin Zhenhua patted his chest and said, "Captain, I am as good as two men. After the battle, we only suffered more than 100 casualties. We killed hundreds of devils. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a great victory. We have finally avenged the previous defeat!"
Hearing that the casualties were not serious, Li Yunlong was relieved. He turned to Xue Kai and said, "Old Xue, the troops are in great danger in the wild. Let's hurry back to the base. Many soldiers were injured in today's battle. We need to send them to the hospital quickly. It's so hot now, the wounds are prone to inflammation. We have to hurry!"
Having said that, Xue Kai had no way to refute and could only nod in agreement. The conversation between the two just now seemed to explain everything very reasonably, but he always felt that there was something fishy going on. He decided to ask afterwards what went wrong. He had to gain Li Yunlong's trust no matter what. Only in this way could he continue with the Trojan operation.
Just when Li Yunlong and others were rushing back, Ding Wei and Kong Jie met each other and were talking about Li Yunlong's independent regiment. They wanted to find Li Yunlong to take advantage of them.
"Lao Kong, the last time we rescued Li Yunlong, I took out all my family fortune, and now many of my men are still using swords. I have to go find Li Yunlong and make him bleed a little to help us poor brothers. Otherwise, when he needs support next time, I can't take my soldiers carrying swords to fight the Japanese!" Ding Wei said complainingly.
Kong Jie lit up the pipe in his hand and replied with a melancholy face: "It is harder than climbing to the sky to take things from Li Yunlong, that stingy guy. Li Yunlong takes as much as he wants. I don't know how the brigade commander was fooled by him last time. He didn't even ask him for much spoils. I am still very curious. What reason did Li Yunlong use to fool the brigade commander?"
Ding Wei picked up the tea bowl on the table and took a sip, then said in a faint voice, "No need to guess, it must be related to that college student. How come Li Yunlong always gets such good things? Why can't we two encounter such good things?"
Kong Jie knocked on the table with his pipe and was about to speak when he heard the brigade commander's loud voice outside the door.
"Ding Wei, Kong Jie, you two seem to be quite relaxed, even having time to drink tea. It's a bit of a waste of your talents to let you two be the regiment leaders. Should I give my position as brigade commander to you two?"
Ding Wei and Kong Jie immediately stood up from their stools, hurriedly bowed their heads and admitted their mistakes, and at the same time complained for themselves: "Brigade Commander, it's not us who want to complain, it's really difficult for a good cook to cook without rice. Our two regiments are really in big trouble now. If no one helps, we may not be able to recover within half a year. We are also very anxious!"
"Brigade Commander, Lao Kong is right. I, Ding Wei, am not afraid of fighting, but my New 1st Regiment suffered two heavy losses in succession. The organization was almost destroyed. The troops were in short supply of guns and ammunition, and even the food supply was a problem. I thought of many ways, but the results were not good. That's why I thought of Li Yunlong. I really have no other choice. At worst, I can write an IOU to Li Yunlong. I, Ding Wei, will never do such a thing as not paying back a debt!"
The brigade commander knew that what the two said was true, so he did not continue to scold them. Instead, he motioned for them to sit down and said in a serious tone: "I came here this time to solve your problem. According to the latest report from the independent regiment, their arsenal will be put into production in more than a month. The pressure of defense is very high. I hope that the superiors can deploy some troops to help with the defense. I thought of you two at the first time!"
"I plan to transfer the New 1st and New 2nd Regiments, plus Li Yunlong's independent regiment, to form the Northwest Shanxi Military Sub-district. The commander's position is temporarily vacant. The three of you should discuss how to fight!"
"You should have heard about the big events that happened in Northwest Shanxi these days. The 726th Regiment staged a big drama about the real and fake regiment leaders. In order to prevent Li Yunlong from making mistakes, I asked you two to go there to keep an eye on him and make him make fewer mistakes. Li Yunlong will tell you the details after you arrive at the Independent Regiment. In short, you must ensure the smooth production of the Independent Regiment's arsenal!"