Chapter 65: Another Match in Twelve Minutes

Chapter 65: Another Battle in Twelve Minutes (I)

Li Yunlong gently instructed, "Has Ah Bao left yet? Call him back; I have a few more things to add for him to keep in mind!"

Li Yunlong used his binoculars to observe the Baicun stronghold at the foot of the mountain. There was no movement at all, and it did not look like they were assembling or mobilizing to reinforce the Yejitai stronghold.

Even the bare-chested laborers digging trenches had all stopped, looking around anxiously in the direction of the gunfire.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Keep working, keep working!" shouted the puppet army leader loudly.

Li Yunlong then scanned the northern direction with his binoculars.

On the distant mountain peak to the north, the signal tree was still standing, indicating that the northern stronghold was not taking any action either. That was the No. 2 ambush position, intended to cut off any Japanese reinforcements heading from that direction to Baicun.

(II)

The exact time the second battle at the No. 4 ambush position commenced was 3:33 PM. Just like the start of the battle over two hours earlier, it was not an auspicious day chosen by consulting an almanac, but purely a coincidence.

According to intelligence, the puppet army force supervising construction in Hutingshan consisted of a single puppet army company without any Japanese soldiers, guarding over three hundred construction workers made up of captured Shanxi-Suiyuan troops and drafted laborers.

The 3rd Battalion’s mission for this operation was to annihilate this puppet army company in the mountains and rescue the more than three hundred able-bodied laborers.

Because there had already been a precedent of Japanese soldiers disguising themselves as Eighth Route Army soldiers, to prevent Japanese secret agents from mixing among the three hundred able-bodied laborers, the Independent Regiment had specifically designated a temporary reception and screening site for this group during their planning. They were to be handed over separately to the county militia and district guerrilla units, undergoing one-on-one tracking and identification under the unified deployment of the Enemy Work Department and the Political Security Bureau, rather than being brought directly back to the Eighth Route Army base as had been done in the past.

The procedure was more cumbersome, and the cost in manpower was higher, but this price had to be paid. After all, relying on the masses and mobilizing the masses were fundamental policies of the Eighth Route Army. One could not stop farming just because mole crickets chirped. Therefore, under these circumstances, transferring the headquarters from the Central Shanxi region to the deeper Northwest Shanxi region was also a necessary measure to take.

What was the rear? Why was there such a division between the rear and the front? Those questions all required one to stand at a certain height to perceive them.

"Guanshan! Guanshan!"

Guanshan, who was standing on the turret of the armored vehicle, lost in thought amidst the gunfire and explosions echoing through the mountains, turned his head to see Wang Gensheng running toward him from afar.

(III)

"Brother Gensheng!"

"Brother Shanzi!"

Guanshan jumped down from the armored vehicle and shared a bear hug with Wang Gensheng, both of them firmly patting each other's shoulders.

"Brother Shanzi, the company commander just made hand signals, telling me to call you over there!" Wang Gensheng pointed toward the direction of the 2nd Company's blocking position on the southern slope.

(IV)

"Company Commander, a few gunshots and explosions suddenly echoed from the south just now. What's going on? Is it over already, or were we discovered?" Guanshan asked the moment they met.

Chu Lianzhang shook his head helplessly and said, "The scouts came back with a report. Heh, they said a dozen puppet soldiers were sent over from the southern pillbox, with no Japanese soldiers accompanying them. When they ran to a spot just over three li away from our preset position, it was as if they had smelled something. They casually threw a few grenades, fired their guns blindly, and ran back. Oh, and the scouts said they even rolled around on the ground a few times..."

"Haha, are they putting on a play?" Guanshan was amused by the news.

"Your side is doing pretty well! Any casualties?" Chu Lianzhang asked.

"How could there be any casualties?" Guanshan laughed. "With a position personally deployed by you, machine guns on the left and right blocking the retreat, and the iron turtle's heavy machine guns sweeping flatly from the front—there were only about forty puppet soldiers in total. Half of them were wiped out the moment we opened fire, and those hiding by the roadside were finished off with grenades. There wasn't even any need for bayonets!"

"You brat certainly have some skills, actually managing to get that iron turtle running. Who taught you that, or did you just guess your way through?" Chu Lianzhang asked with a smile, patting Guanshan's arm.

"Good luck, just good luck!" Guanshan replied with a smile.

"Alright, whatever works! Any plaster that can draw out pus is a good plaster!" Chu Lianzhang poked Guanshan in the ribs with his elbow, pointed toward the pillbox at the Yejitai stronghold, and said, "Guanshan! Think about it—let's play a big one! Can that iron turtle come in handy?"

Guanshan nodded and said, "I've actually been thinking about it, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. The terrain around the pillbox here is a bit different from the one in Baicun. I was just thinking that if we could get the iron turtle over to Baicun, it would certainly be useful."

"There's difficulty involved," Chu Lianzhang gently shook his head, pointing at the pillbox. "We used the machine guns on the iron turtle twice just now. I reckon the little devils in the pillbox have definitely reported it. Based on our experience, within an hour at most from now, Japanese planes will be flying over. Hiding such a huge hunk of metal so the Japanese don't spot it will be quite difficult."

"An hour?" Guanshan glanced at his watch. It was 3:45.

Pulling a map out of a leather satchel looted from the enemy and spreading it out, Guanshan muttered to himself, "If it's an hour, there will be planes in the sky, and there's a high likelihood that a sizable force of Japanese troops will come from the south..."

(V)

On the map, the deployment of the Huting stronghold system was marked in great detail.

Of course, this map didn't just cover the Huting stronghold system; it was the deployment map for the entire 4th Independent Mixed Brigade!

The Huting stronghold system consisted of a total of one battalion-strength formation of Japanese troops distributed across twenty small and medium-sized surrounding strongholds. Medium-sized ones like Yejitai and Baicun were garrisoned by a fifteen-man reinforced squad formation, equipped with one mortar, one heavy machine gun, two Type 11 light machine guns, and two grenade dischargers. There were eight such strongholds.

There were twelve small strongholds, garrisoned by a thirteen-man squad formation. Some were understrength, lacked mortars, and possessed only one light machine gun, one heavy machine gun, and one grenade discharger each.

As for the puppet army attachments, medium-sized strongholds like Yejitai and Baicun had company-sized units, while small strongholds had only a platoon.

This pepper-sprinkling deployment of forces detached 240 men, which was roughly equivalent to an infantry company.

"Company Commander, look here. According to the markings on the map, and matching them with some documents and the notes in the Japanese major's notebook, the Japanese in that major stronghold number about 300 men—an infantry company plus their battalion headquarters." Guanshan said this while opening the dog-eared notebook and showing it to Chu Lianzhang.

"240, 300... that doesn't add up!" Chu Lianzhang calculated and said, "That's only half! A full-strength Japanese battalion has over a thousand men!"

"It's not marked on this map, and I couldn't find it in the documents or the notebook." Guanshan looked at Chu Lianzhang and asked, "Based on your experience, where did the other half of the Japanese go?"

"They must have been assembled as a mobile force, getting ready to launch a major sweep!" Chu Lianzhang answered without hesitation. Afterward, he grabbed Guanshan's shoulders and said, "Guanshan, that means we must fight this battle even more! Am I right?"

Guanshan grinned and laughed, "Right, right, we have to fight! Platoon Leader Qin isn't sitting idle; he's already getting ready while clearing the battlefield!"