Chapter 44 What If?

"Imperial army, those Eighth Route bandits are simply too cunning..." Jiang Deshui hadn't finished his sentence.

Crack!

Fujimura Noichi delivered a fierce slap across Jiang Deshui's face. "Baka! You absolute idiot! You've used up a fifth of the artillery shells, suffered casualties exceeding a full company, and gone through tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, yet you haven't eliminated a single Eighth Route bandit! What the hell are you good for?"

Having taken the slap, Jiang Deshui felt thoroughly wretched.

He desperately wanted to retort: If you Japanese are so damn brilliant, why don't you go fight the Eighth Route Army yourselves?

Of course, Jiang Deshui wouldn't dare utter such a thought aloud. In front of a master, a dog that didn't know how to take things lying down didn't have a long life expectancy.

Having struck Jiang Deshui, Fujimura Noichi didn't push the matter any further; instead, he turned and walked away.

Both Fujimura Noichi and Hirata Ichiro understood that puppet troops couldn't be pushed too hard, or something disastrous might happen.

Yet they couldn't apply no pressure at all, otherwise these Chinese soldiers would just slack off and drag their feet.

In truth, neither Fujimura Noichi nor Hirata Ichiro liked using Chinese to fight alongside them.

It was simply that China's territory was vast, the battle lines were drawn far too thin, and the Imperial forces were stretched too thin, leaving them no choice but to rely on the Chinese to help govern and fight.

Though he had taken a slap, Jiang Deshui didn't vent his anger on his three puppet regimental commanders.

"Commander, how shall we fight tomorrow?" The three puppet regimental commanders remained fiercely loyal to Jiang Deshui.

They had seen Jiang Deshui get struck, but Jiang Deshui hadn't taken his fury out on them.

"Let's not worry about tomorrow just yet. I can guarantee you, those Eighth Route bandits will definitely launch a night raid tonight," Jiang Deshui said with absolute confidence. "It's their usual tactic; they excel at night combat and will certainly not let such a golden opportunity slip by."

"Commander, then we'll stay sharp and skip sleep tonight," the three puppet regimental commanders said.

"Going without sleep altogether won't do; we still have to continue the encirclement and suppression tomorrow. You three regiments will take turns resting and keeping watch," Jiang Deshui instructed. "Work out the specifics amongst yourselves."

"Understood," the three puppet regimental commanders acknowledged and immediately set about making arrangements.

---

New 1st Regiment

"Da-biao, pass the word down: everyone gets a good night's rest tonight, and tomorrow we'll continue wearing Jiang Deshui down," Li Yunlong told Zhang Da-biao.

"Regiment Commander, we're not going to harass Jiang Deshui tonight?" Zhang Da-biao asked skeptically. "Doesn't the sixteen-character formula for guerrilla warfare say: *The enemy camps, we harass*?"

"Da-biao, that formula is set in stone, but people are living beings—you can't just apply things rigidly," Li Yunlong said. "The battle has only just begun, and Jiang Deshui's troops haven't had their energy severely sapped yet. They'll undoubtedly be on high alert tonight, making it an unsuitable time for a night raid. Once we grind them down for a few days and toss them about until they're utterly exhausted, even if they want to stay sharp to defend against us at night, they'll still be nodding off. That will be our moment for a night raid."

"Understood," Zhang Da-biao nodded and left to carry out the orders.

"Old Zhong, send today's battle report to the Brigade Commander," Li Yunlong instructed Zhong Zhicheng after dismissing Zhang Da-biao.

Faced with this encirclement and suppression by Hirata Ichiro, the Brigade Commander attached immense importance to it and had ordered Li Yunlong to report the battle results daily.

"Right, I just sent it up," Zhong Zhicheng nodded, then asked with a hint of suspicion, "I don't seem to have seen Wu Ze all day today. Isn't he usually sticking close to you?"

"Wu Ze went down to operate with the subordinate units. He told me he wants to thoroughly familiarize himself with the terrain all around our New 1st Regiment," Li Yunlong said casually.

"Ah, little Wu is quite sharp. If he can master the terrain across our New 1st Regiment's sectors, he'll surely prove immensely useful in the future," Zhong Zhicheng said, his suspicions temporarily allayed without further doubt.

With Wu Ze having helped capture Qiuwazhuang, Zhong Zhicheng held an exceptionally high opinion of him.

---

386th Brigade Headquarters

"Brigade Commander, this is today's combat report submitted by the New 1st Regiment." A staff officer handed the compiled battle results to the Brigade Commander.

The Brigade Commander had just hurried back from the Independent Regiment's sector and hadn't even had a bite to eat.

Hearing that the New 1st Regiment's report had arrived, he snatched it up eagerly.

After scanning the contents of the report, the Brigade Commander chuckled, "This rascal Li Yunlong got off to a flying start today! Puppet soldier casualties exceeded a full company, the New 1st Regiment captured a hundred long rifles and three light machine guns, and best of all, they suffered zero deaths with only one man wounded."

That single wounded soldier was the result of a stray bullet fired blindly by a puppet reconnaissance troop who had been ambushed.

"Indeed, the New 1st Regiment caused the puppet soldiers to suffer over a company's worth of casualties in just a single day. If Li Yunlong keeps this up for ten days to a half-month, those three-thousand-odd Japanese and traitors will likely lose half their strength," the staff officer laughed. "By then, the combined forces of the New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment will match the enemy's strength, and Li Yunlong might actually manage to encircle and wipe them all out."

"Don't go thinking this is so simple," the Brigade Commander said solemnly. "These are over three thousand Japanese and traitors, and the battle has only just begun—the Japanese troops haven't even taken the field yet."

On the conventional battlefield, a single Japanese infantry regiment could slug it out head-on with one or even two of Old Jiang's central-force divisions!

The Japanese company sent by Hirata Ichiro also belonged to the frontline elite field forces; on a conventional battlefield, they could fight toe-to-toe with one of Old Jiang's regiments.

Even though the New 1st Regiment had upgraded its weaponry and ammunition, its combat proficiency hadn't caught up overnight. Compared to Old Jiang's regular regimental organization, their combat effectiveness was worlds apart.

Jiang Deshui's puppet troops couldn't handle Li Yunlong, but once Fujimura Noichi's Japanese soldiers took to the field personally, the situation would become unpredictable.

"Brigade Commander, Li Yunlong is full of crafty tricks when it comes to fighting; maybe he really..." the staff officer began.

The Brigade Commander cut him off, instructing, "Send a reply to the New 1st Regiment. Tell that rascal Li Yunlong to fight properly and not shame my 386th Brigade."

"Understood." The staff officer left.

"Damn it, going to see Li Yunlong left me boiling with rage, and visiting the Independent Regiment filled me with exasperation—I haven't eaten a single bite. Now that the anger is passing, I'm starving to death. Hurry up and bring me some food!" With the staff officer gone to make the call, the Brigade Commander urged the mess hall.

The mess hall staff quickly brought over a plate of roasted potatoes.

"Are these potatoes from Qiuwazhuang?" the Brigade Commander asked the cook.

"Yes, they are. The flavor is fantastic—soft and waxy," the cook replied.

The Brigade Commander peeled a potato and took a bite, his expression lighting up with high praise: "Not bad! Hahaha, not bad at all! These Qiuwazhuang potatoes are truly top-notch, haha. I suppose I'm reaping a massive benefit from Li Yunlong this time."

"Brigade Commander, Regiment Commander Li is so capable, he's bound to wipe out Hirata Ichiro's encirclement force," the cook remarked to him. "Word has it that Hirata Ichiro's forces brought along six artillery pieces. If Regiment Commander Li could capture all six cannons, then this..."

The Brigade Commander interrupted the cook, "Capture six cannons? Stop dreaming. But it does look like I might need to start thinking about this possibility in advance."

Although the Brigade Commander believed that Li Yunlong facing over three thousand Japanese and traitors posed a considerable challenge, that rascal Li Yunlong had a habit of pulling off the unexpected when least expected.

Six cannons was too much to dream about, but one or two perhaps... just in case?

One couldn't rule out the possibility that Li Yunlong might stumble into some incredible luck and actually capture a few.

If that unlikely scenario actually happened, the Brigade Commander needed to think ahead about how to keep those artillery pieces within the 386th Brigade as much as possible.

That rascal Li Yunlong already had one cannon, yet he, a dignified brigade commander, didn't have a single piece of artillery—that simply wouldn't do.

Even though the New 1st Regiment also fell under the 386th Brigade's command, the principle was entirely different.