Chapter 68: Battle Report from the Outpost

Chapter 68: Battle Reports from the Strongholds

(I)

"Oh, you don't believe it? Go ahead and ask White Village to the north. They will certainly tell you that they have marched out, that they've run into an Eighth Route Army ambush, and that they're currently in battle. My foot! I'm telling you, they haven't even budged an inch from their lair. If you don't believe me, pick up the phone and call them yourself!" Lü Feng continued to shout through the loud-hailer.

Farther back in the rear, Chu Lianzhang raised both thumbs toward Lü Feng and smiled, saying, "What a talent! It's a damn crying shame for you to be a political instructor under my command!"

Inside the blockhouse, the Japanese corporal and deputy squad leader was roaring and raving at Lai Xiaozhong. Lai Xiaozhong couldn't understand a single word, nor did he have any idea what to do. His mind was an absolute blank.

The telephone rang, and Lai Xiaozhong hurriedly grabbed the receiver.

"Your Honor! Your Honor! This is White Village. I am under fierce attack from the Eighth Route Army here—a fierce attack, I tell you! Please dispatch reinforcements as quickly as you can, for the sake of..."

Lai Xiaozhong roared with irrepressible fury: "Bai Siqi? I'll fuck your grandmother! There isn't even the sound of a single gunshot over on your end, yet you claim you're under a fierce attack!"

"I'm just catching my breath, truly, just catching my breath, Company Commander Lai! You can't just stand by and watch me die!" Bai Siqi cried out with a weeping tone in his voice. "Fine, fine, I'll report directly and ask Major Hirata for help. I really have no way of relying on an elder brother like you..."

"Utterly shameless! Utterly shameless!" Lai Xiaozhong felt as though he had plunged straight into utter despair!

(II)

Huting Stronghold, the core supporting point of the Huting stronghold cluster. Lieutenant Colonel Hirata tried his utmost to maintain his composure.

Time coordinate: 4:00 PM sharp.

"Jingle bell."

The telephone rang just once before Akio Hirata reached out and snatched it up.

"This is Kasahara."

"Regiment Commander!" Hirata snapped to attention with a sharp click of his heels.

"Give me the detailed situation!"

"Haji! The latest news is that starting from Stronghold No. 10 at White Village down to the south, the mountain construction site and Stronghold No. 9 at Pheasant Terrace have all reported being attacked by the Eighth Route Army. The reported troop strength is of regimental scale in every case, and they all claim it is the Independent Regiment..."

Regiment Commander Kasahara interrupted Akio Hirata and asked, "Is there any news regarding Lieutenant Colonel Togo, who went out on an inspection tour?"

"The radio lost contact at 1:58 PM. I issued orders to Strongholds No. 9 and No. 10 as well as the construction security forces. Currently, No. 9 has replied that the vehicle carrying the Lieutenant Colonel was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army at the mountain pass 1 kilometer north of Stronghold No. 9. As for... whether the Lieutenant Colonel is alive or dead, it remains unknown..."

"Reinforce Sector No. 9! You will lead the troops personally. Draw personnel from every stronghold along the line and completely annihilate this Eighth Route Army force in the region of No. 9! Completely annihilate them!" Regiment Commander Kasahara slammed the phone down with a sharp crack.

Although Regiment Commander Kasahara did not interrogate Hirata, a deep sense of guilt and culpability welled up spontaneously inside Akio Hirata.

Around 1:25 PM, he had received a phone report from Stronghold No. 9 stating that the transport convoy carrying building materials to the Huting Mountain construction site had been ambushed by scattered guerrillas. Sergeant Noda, the officer in charge of that stronghold, reported that as soon as he hung up the phone, he would personally lead a team out to wipe out those daring guerrillas.

The stubborn Eighth Route Army and their guerrillas were harassing everywhere—dropping a shot here, planting a mine there—making them intensely aggravating.

Akio Hirata had not paid any special attention to it.

A little over half an hour later, at 2:05 PM, Stronghold No. 9 made a second report. The reporter was no longer Sergeant Noda, but rather that newly promoted corporal and deputy squad leader whose name Hirata had listened to several times yet still couldn't quite remember.

(III)

Compared to the first report, the contents of the second report had turned upside down!

The report claimed that what Stronghold No. 9 encountered was a premeditated ambush by the main force of the Eighth Route Army. They were extremely experienced, actually managing to plant booby traps beneath the carts loaded with timber and construction materials within an extremely short timeframe. Furthermore, they launched their offensive at the exact millisecond when armored cars and infantry were integrated: first detonating the minefield to inflict heavy casualties upon the infantry, then rapidly attacking and seizing the armored car, utilizing the machine-gun firepower mounted on the armored vehicle to inflict fatal carnage upon the caught-off-guard infantry...

These details struck Akio Hirata like a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky! Akio Hirata hadn't even had time to report the matter to the regiment commander.

Frankly speaking, had that corporal and deputy squad leader not been a Japanese, Akio Hirata would flat-out have refused to believe such ghost stories!

Since when had the stubborn Eighth Route Army become so formidable? Such adept tactical coordination in handling infantry-tank cooperation—let alone the stubborn Eighth Route Army, even among the Japanese army, only a handful of elite units could pull it off!

Though filled with doubts, Akio Hirata still followed the garrison regulations and contingency plans, issuing reinforcement orders to Strongholds No. 8 and No. 10. At the same time, he phoned the garrison force at the Huting Mountain construction site, telling them to step up security while simultaneously detaching a unit to rush to the region of No. 9...

Over the course of the next hour, Akio Hirata actually hesitated several times. He was mainly agonizing over whether he should phone the regiment commander to report this affair and request that the regiment commander coordinate and arrange for reconnaissance planes and air support.

That corporal and deputy squad leader at Stronghold No. 9 had said he heard the stubborn Eighth Route Army shout out a combat unit designation like "battalion" during their rallying cries, but according to his visual estimate, it should only have been a company-sized unit.

For a mere company-sized unit of a little over a hundred men, should he mobilize reconnaissance aircraft and the air force?

Those navy fellows had constantly been sneering, claiming that naval aircraft were meant for bombing warships, while the army's aviation formations ought to be disbanded—especially in North China, where dealing with the stubborn Eighth Route Army required no such thing.

Therefore, Akio Hirata had suppressed the report and kept it to himself. He felt it was humiliating; doing so would make his battalion, and indeed the entire Huting stronghold system, a laughingstock across the entire 4th Brigade!

Then... after another hour or so had passed, the situation turned into the exact state he had just reported to the regiment commander.

Gritting his teeth, Akio Hirata cranked the handle and squeezed a few words out between his teeth: "Connect me to Stronghold No. 9!"

(IV)

"You are leading the troops personally? Thank goodness, thank goodness! Your Honor, I am kneeling before you!" Lai Xiaozhong actually dropped to his knees, even though Major Hirata couldn't possibly see him.

Having just allowed a breath of relief to escape him, Lai Xiaozhong suddenly heard a chorus of terrified shrieks and screams echoing down from the second floor!

"Banzai! Banzai!" The Japanese corporal and deputy squad leader on the third floor was also howling with a hoarse voice.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!" The Japanese heavy machine-gunner acted as if he had lost his mind, emptying an entire strip magazine in one frantic breath.

Lai Xiaozhong cautiously crept forward, peering through the horizontal slit of the observation port, and felt his head buzz with a deafening roar!

That armored patrol vehicle was billowing thick black smoke, moving forward and stopping alternately as it approached the blockhouse where he was stationed. From time to time, it would halt, and its gun muzzle would flash a few times toward his direction...

Yet what on earth was that contraption mounted on top of the armored car? It looked as though it was lashed together using timber scattered along the highway—three thick logs bound tightly to a single trunk, with only the middle third of that central trunk exposed at the front, section after section joined together in this fashion, extending a full ten or twenty meters long atop the armored car, supported from behind by someone trailing along...