Chapter 46: One Hundred Casualties
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Chapter 46: One Hundred Casualties
As the night deepened, the puppet soldiers on guard duty began to grow drowsy.
“When are those Eighth Route guerrillas going to show up? I’m already getting sleepy.”
“Exactly. Let them attack soon and get this battle over with so we can go back and get some sleep.”
“I’m getting drowsy, and they won’t even let us smoke. What a pain.”
“Stop complaining. Stay alert. We’re not allowed to smoke because the glow would give away our position at night.”
“Once we wipe out those Eighth Route bastards, we can smoke as much as we want.”
…
Seeing that the soldiers were growing sleepy, the puppet officers on patrol barked at them as well. “Keep your eyes wide open! Anyone caught dozing off will be dealt with under military law!”
With the puppet officers keeping watch—and the soldiers not yet worn out from prolonged harassment—none of them actually fell asleep.
The first night passed without incident.
“Damn it, those Eighth Route bastards are too sly. They didn’t even launch a night attack.”
“That’s right. They’re too crafty. We kept ourselves on edge, and they never came.”
…
The puppet soldiers cursed among themselves.
As the first pale light appeared along the horizon, the puppet regiment commander said to Jiang Deshui, “Sir, it seems my guess was right. The Eighth Route guerrillas really aren’t going to attack tonight. They must have planned their night raid for later.”
“Hmph. If they want to launch a night attack against us, they’ll have to get the chance first.” Jiang Deshui snorted, then urged, “Order the troops to eat quickly. As soon as it’s daylight, launch the attack. Before the sun sets today, I want to force the Eighth Route main force into the open.”
Under Jiang Deshui’s orders, the puppet soldiers quickly ate breakfast, and dawn arrived.
The soldiers split into search teams organized by company and began combing the First Independent Regiment’s defensive zone.
Each search team consisted of an entire company. Even if they ran into the Eighth Route guerrillas, the latter would not be able to swallow them up at once.
If the guerrillas tried to use hit-and-run tactics or harassment, a full company would pursue them and tear them apart.
If the guerrillas appeared in force, the other search teams would move in to encircle them.
Six artillery pieces and the Japanese soldiers served as powerful reinforcements. The moment the Eighth Route main force revealed itself, they would immediately hammer it.
Facing this move by Jiang Deshui, Li Yunlong observed the area through his binoculars before asking Zhang Dabiao, “Dabiao, is all the preparation finished?”
“Everything’s ready. We’re just waiting for the puppet troops to walk right over,” Zhang Dabiao replied with a nod.
“Good.” Li Yunlong nodded. “Then let’s have some fun with Jiang Deshui.”
Boom!
Boom!
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Boom!
…
As Jiang Deshui’s search teams advanced, they soon set off land mines.
These were no ordinary mines, but minefields made up of dozens of charges.
One blast could wipe out an entire stretch of men.
The First Independent Regiment had captured more than enough explosives, allowing them to lay extensive minefields. Each mine was also packed with a larger charge than before.
As the minefields detonated, several puppet search teams immediately suffered heavy casualties.
“Sir, five of my men were killed and thirteen wounded.”
“Sir, seven of my men were killed and twenty-one wounded.”
“Sir, my unit has suffered more than thirty casualties.”
…
“This… this…”
The confident Jiang Deshui soon received the consolidated casualty figures.
Five search teams had triggered minefields, bringing the total casualties to one hundred.
Had the search formations not been spread out so widely, the losses would have been even greater.
“You idiots! Send sappers ahead to clear the mines carefully! Clear the mines first, understand?” Jiang Deshui shouted furiously.
“Sir, if we clear the mines first, the search will slow down considerably,” the puppet regiment commander said.
“That’s still better than having people killed!” Jiang Deshui roared.
“Yes, sir.”
The puppet troops sent out their sappers to begin clearing the mines, but because they had too few engineers, progress was painfully slow.
By lunchtime, they had cleared barely a mile.
The First Independent Regiment’s defensive zone extended more than thirty kilometers in depth. At this rate, clearing the entire area would take half a month, which was obviously unacceptable.
Jiang Deshui looked up at the blazing sun, wiped the sweat from his brow, and turned to the three puppet regiment commanders before him.
“Do any of you have a better way to encircle and wipe out the enemy?”
“Sir, I do have an idea,” one of the puppet commanders said. “We could change the way we clear the mines.”
“What do you suggest?” Jiang Deshui asked, looking at him.
“We could seize some civilians and force them at gunpoint to run toward the Eighth Route positions. Then the civilians could…”
The puppet commander did not finish.
Jiang Deshui cut him off. “Do you want to live or not? If you do that, you’ll end up on the Eighth Route’s anti-traitor blacklist. And even if we surrender later, you won’t be treated leniently.”
The Eighth Route’s anti-traitor squads rarely appeared openly, because doing so carried enormous risks.
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But whenever those squads did appear, something had provoked them.
Forcing civilians to step on mines would certainly provoke them.
Unless driven to the absolute limit, the puppet troops would never commit such a heinous act.
Once they did, they would have no way back.
Not only would they be placed on the anti-traitor squads’ blacklist, but if the Imperial Army were defeated in the future, the puppet troops would be punished as well.
For now, the Imperial Army seemed unstoppable—but no one could say what the future held.
“Then perhaps we could seize cattle, sheep, and other livestock from the villagers and drive the animals ahead of us,” the puppet commander amended.
“Hmm. That might be worth considering.” Jiang Deshui nodded.
He still did not dare force civilians into the minefields at gunpoint.
But stealing the villagers’ livestock was another matter entirely.
On ordinary days, the puppet troops helped the Japanese ravage the countryside. This sort of thing was precisely what they did.
“Send someone to contact the rear immediately. Tell them to seize cattle and sheep and send them here as quickly as possible,” Jiang Deshui ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
The messenger set off at a run.
“Major Fujimura, I’ve arranged for the rear to send cattle and sheep to clear the mines. We’ll have to wait a while,” Jiang Deshui said after making the arrangements.
“Make it quick.”
Fujimura did not press him further.
Although Jiang Deshui had paid the price of another hundred casualties, not a single Japanese soldier had been lost. Fujimura had no concern whatsoever for the deaths of the Chinese.
“Commander, something’s strange. The puppet troops ate lunch and then stopped searching altogether. What new trick are they playing now?” Zhang Dabiao asked after seeing through his binoculars that the puppet soldiers had ceased their advance. Even their engineers had stopped clearing mines.
That morning, Zhang Dabiao had actually suggested sending men to shoot the puppet sappers, but Li Yunlong had stopped him.
Li Yunlong had done so because there were too few enemy engineers, and he did not care whether they cleared the mines or not.
The moment they opened fire, however, their own positions would be exposed. The enemy’s artillery and mortars would then rain down on them, making it difficult for their soldiers to withdraw safely.
“What other trick could it be?” Li Yunlong said calmly. “The puppet troops have probably gone to seize the villagers’ livestock. They want to use the animals to clear the mines for them.”
Zhang Dabiao grinned. “Then should we change the mines to tripwire detonation?”
“Go ahead. Leave the wires long enough for whoever pulls them to get away.” Li Yunlong nodded. Zhang Dabiao was learning quickly.
“Yes, sir.”
End of Chapter