Chapter 68: Attacking Zhoukou, Tears Fall

  At this time, outside Shenchou town, the sound of gunfire was still loud and continuous explosions could be heard. If it weren't for the night, Ferry Erlang should have been able to discover that the Japanese troops at the foot of the city didn't launch an attack on the city wall at all, but instead lay on the ground and fired at the city wall, with several light and heavy machine guns making the most noise.

  The devils of Zhoukou, after half an hour of rapid march, were about to arrive at Shenqiu Town. When Liu heard the sound of guns and cannons coming from Shenqiu Town in the distance for the first time, he ordered the Japanese army behind him: "Advance quickly! Fast!" The devils behind him accelerated their pace again.

  Zhang Mingyu saw the motorcycle lights of the devils coming from afar through the telescope and ordered: "Prepare for battle!" The soldiers of each battalion and company promptly loaded their bullets and bayonets!

  After all the devils entered the ambush circle, Zhang Mingyu pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into the sky. The soldiers of each battalion heard the gunfire and opened fire one after another. The light and heavy firepower set up on both sides of the highway opened fire simultaneously, catching the devils off guard! However, as the main force of the 17th regular division of the Japanese army, the 12th Infantry Regiment was quite good in combat effectiveness, and Liu Shangci's tactical literacy was also not bad.

  The ambushed Japanese troops immediately dispersed, attempting to counterattack by taking advantage of the terrain. However, they encountered the Independent Regiment, and this time they ran into Zhang Mingyu. The enemy machine gunners were still under special attention from Zhang Haisheng and the snipers. At night, it was impossible to see people, but the muzzle flashes from the enemy machine guns exposed their positions. The snipers fired along the trajectory of the machine gun fire, taking out the enemy machine gunners one by one. Meanwhile, the enemy's mortars were unable to effectively suppress the Independent Regiment due to their inability to locate targets at night.

  Two hours later, as Zhang Mingyu had expected, the Japanese reinforcements were completely annihilated, and more than 600 rifles and a large amount of ammunition were captured. It has to be admitted that the combat effectiveness of the devils is still very strong, even if they were ambushed at night and were on the defensive. The machine gun firepower was suppressed, and all the unfavorable factors, they still caused more than 100 casualties to the Independent Regiment. It can be imagined that if this battle had taken place during the day, the two Japanese companies would have fought a fierce battle with the Independent Regiment, and it's hard to say who would have won or lost. The real elite of the Independent Regiment were only about a thousand people, most of whom were from the original Fuyang Security Team. Although they had undergone more than 20 days of training under Zhang Biao, their combat effectiveness was still no match for that of the Japanese elite.

  At the same time as Zhang Mingyu's side started fighting, Lai San also led three battalions to launch a real attack on Shenqiu Town, almost at the same time as Zhang Mingyu annihilated the ghostly reinforcements, and broke through Shenqiu Town, capturing more than 100 pseudo-soldiers. The three battalions also suffered nearly two hundred casualties.

  This time, the encirclement and annihilation were successful, but the Independent Regiment also suffered more than 300 casualties. It was not that Zhang Mingyu's tactical arrangement was bad, but rather that the combat effectiveness of the Independent Regiment still had a gap compared to the devils. Although they killed nearly seven hundred devils this time.

  More than a hundred fake soldiers had thirty or so willing to join the independent regiment, and the rest were all dispersed back home!

  After sweeping the battlefield, Zhang Mingyu personally led a battalion of troops towards Zhoukou, while Zhang Biao and Lai San led the main force to follow up from behind.

  There are currently two regiments and one guard company in the independent division, with approximately 3,000 personnel. The division commander is Zhang Mingyu. Zhang Biao serves as the regimental commander of the First Regiment, while Wang Tiehan serves as the battalion commander and deputy regimental commander of the First Regiment. Chen Xiaochun is the battalion commander of the Second Battalion of the First Regiment, and Sun Dali (whose artillery company merged with the Third Battalion) is the battalion commander of the Third Battalion. Lai San serves as the regimental commander of the Second Regiment, Ma Liqun serves as the battalion commander of the First Battalion of the Second Regiment, and Tie Niu serves as the battalion commander of the Second Battalion. The battalion commander of the Third Battalion is concurrently held by Lai San himself. Li Gang serves as the company commander of the guard company.

  Zhang Mingyu led Wang Tiehan's battalion, wearing the devils' uniforms, heading towards Zhoukou. They drove two captured devil motorcycles, Zhang Mingyu sat on the sidecar smoking, and Wang Tiehan asked: "Commander, are we going to deceive the little devils into opening their city gate this time?"

  "Congratulations, you're right!" Zhang Mingyu said, exhaling a ring of smoke.

  After half an hour's journey, they finally arrived at the foot of Zhoukou City. The devils on the city tower asked: "What kind of people are you?"

  Zhang Mingyu said a few words in Japanese, and the devils on the city wall shouted: "The big captain is back, open the city gate"

  Several Japanese soldiers struggled to open the city gate, and at this time, more than 400 soldiers from the first battalion behind them took advantage of the situation and rushed into the city, firing fiercely at those Japanese devils. Many Japanese devils were knocked down before they knew what was happening. This time, Li Gang's guard company also followed the first battalion to take action.

  The guard company, armed with submachine guns, took the lead in the assault. After eliminating the devils on the city wall, they began to attack the city. The remaining devil company commander immediately ordered a withdrawal of troops and launched a street battle with the independent division, and also sent a distress telegram to the headquarters of the 12th Infantry Brigade, which had already attacked Xinyang.

  Anda Twenty-three had led the 12th Infantry Brigade to clear the outer defenses of Xinyang, and was preparing to launch a general attack on Xinyang at dawn tomorrow. Suddenly, the staff officer walked into the command center with a telegram in hand, his face heavy with worry, saying: "Brigade Commander, just now we received an urgent message from the defenders of Zhoukou, saying that they were attacked by regular Japanese troops, and the Japanese have already taken down the city gate. They are currently fighting the enemy in close combat, requesting our immediate support."

  "Impossible! We have a large troop stationed in Zhoukou, the Japanese would need at least a regiment or even a division to take over Zhoukou. There aren't that many Japanese troops around Zhoukou, at most just a few scattered soldiers, how could they possibly break into the city?" Anda 23 angrily exclaimed.

  "The telegram says that three hours ago, Liu Shangjun led two battalions to reinforce Shenqiu Town and has been out of contact since then. It's estimated that something has happened. Battalion Commander, we should hurry back to Zhoukou to support the First Battalion. Otherwise, the large amount of supplies that were just transported into Zhoukou County yesterday will fall into the hands of the Japanese." The staff officer said again.

  "Hurry! Order the second and third battalions to reinforce Zhoukou immediately!" Anda 23 roared in anger.

  The 12th Infantry Brigade had not yet arrived at Zhoukou, and the first battalion was in Zhang Biao. Lai San led the main force to coordinate with the lower reaches and had already taken down Zhoukou. Lai San quickly ran to the front of Zhang Mingyu: "Shī zuò! Shī zuò! Good news, good news!"

  "What's the good news?" Zhang Mingyu asked Lai San, who was beaming with excitement.

  "Just now in the devil's warehouse, a whole warehouse of materials was found, with cannons, machine guns, and grenade launchers," Lai San said, counting on his fingers one by one.

  "Alright, alright, stop counting, take me there." Zhang Mingyu said impatiently.

  Lai San turned around and ran towards the warehouse where the spoils were stored.

  Zhang Mingyu was thoroughly shocked when he arrived at the warehouse. The large warehouse, which was about 200-300 square meters in size, was packed with equipment and supplies, including mortars, mountain guns, light and heavy machine guns, and bullets stacked up like mountains.

  Zhang Biao saw Zhang Mingyu running over and said: "Master, we're rich! I roughly calculated that these weapons and equipment are enough to equip an entire division! Haha!" (It turned out that these supplies had just been transported from Xuzhou and were supplementary materials for the 11th Division. Zhoukou was just a transit station, responsible for helping the devils transport supplies, and more than 2,000 ordinary people who were rescued by the Independent Division were all dispersed!)

  "Haha! Laugh your ass off! Let the brothers replenish their ammo, switch to a more comfortable weapon, and blow up the rest!" Zhang Mingyu said calmly.

  "Commander, why blow them all up? These are a division's equipment!" Zhang Biao asked in puzzlement.

  "Not blown up, what can be taken away? Not blown up, are they to be left for the little devils? Grandma's bear, look at your conscience, you can't even bear to part with this equipment? When we get to Gansu, I'll equip you with a whole division to take." In fact, when Zhang Mingyu said these words, he also felt some reluctance, but there was no way out. They had to blow everything up.

  Lai San interrupted again: "Master, we have such weapons and ammunition, we can defend Zhoukou, so we don't need to blow it up."

  "What the hell, when did you become so talkative? If we defend Zhoukou and wait for the enemy's 30,000-strong army to arrive, can you hold them off? Stop your damn nonsense! Replenish all ammunition, then blow them up and retreat quickly. Anyone who disobeys will be shot!" Zhang Mingyu shouted loudly.

  "Yes!" Zhang Biao, Lai San and others each led their troops in a wolf-like rush to the warehouse.

  PS: Dear readers, this book has been collected by 2,000 people so far, but the daily recommendation is only over 100 on average. I'm very sad. Once again, I beg you all to give me a recommendation ticket every day, even if it's just one. Tears of gratitude, brothers!