Chapter 69

  The Japanese army's troops moved forward for about seven or eight kilometers, the terrain became more treacherous, the squadron leader took a deep breath, ordered the troops to stop, and began to consider whether they should return. Just as he hesitated, there was a loud gunshot, the squadron leader clutched his chest, and fell off his horse.

  At the sound of gunfire, I instinctively dropped to the ground. Seeing my superior officer fall from his horse, I rushed over to assist him - it was only natural. But with this movement, the two groups became clearly divided. The sound of dense gunfire erupted from the side, and many Japanese soldiers who were still worried about their superior's safety fell to the ground one after another. Finally, seeing that it wasn't just a stray bullet, I also lay down to avoid the hail of bullets.

  As soon as the gunfire stopped, the Japanese army quickly counterattacked, with machine guns and rifles repeatedly sweeping suspicious targets, shooting until rocks were shattered and dry grass was flying everywhere. However, no one was seen, so they had to stop firing and move forward to check on the company commander, who had already died. This made the Japanese army even more furious, and they fired another barrage of gunfire at the mountain cliff, not stopping until their necks ached from fatigue.

  The commander of the Imperial Guard Regiment took the opportunity to make a gesture to the two company commanders, telling them not to move. The Japanese army was tired and found that the Imperial Guards were all lying on the ground motionless, so they started kicking them up.

  Suddenly, a loud shout came from the top of the cliff: "Cover your eyes!" As soon as the words fell, there were several light rustling sounds, and the mountain path was instantly white. The Japanese soldiers were stunned, then covered their faces and began to wail "My eyes! My eyes!"

  The mountain path's backwind was not small, the white fog quickly dispersed, and suddenly a dozen or so figures with gas masks on their heads flashed out from between the rocks, holding twenty rounds in their hands, firing wildly at the Japanese army, and then disappeared with a whoosh.

  Everything seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, and the Imperial Japanese Army slowly lifted their heads, looking at the Japanese soldiers beside them, almost disbelieving that in the twinkling of an eye, the usually strong Japanese had been killed or wounded by more than half. The experienced soldiers understood that the other side was scattering quicklime, and they had even given advance warning, it seemed they didn't want to be cleaned up together, a faint sense of gratitude arose in their hearts.

  "Brothers, this little devil is too hateful! In peacetime they eat and drink well, but in battle they let us charge forward as cannon fodder! Brothers, don't be foolish, the little devils don't treat us as human beings at all, stop sacrificing your lives for them!"

  "Niu San? This kid is still alive!" The Huangpu Army heard the voice above their heads was Niu San's, and they all inexplicably became excited.

  "Brothers of the Imperial Allied Army, I am Xiao Ming, the second master of Fei Hu Zhai! The Japanese are right next to you now. If you kill them, you can survive! Otherwise, we will throw hand grenades. Hurry up and take action, my patience is limited! One..."

  The Japanese soldiers couldn't understand what they were saying, and anxiously shouted, with some of the soldiers who could see clearly starting to fire upwards. The battalion commander was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle: in this 4-5 meter wide cliff, if the enemy threw down 20-30 hand grenades, their own men would lose their combat effectiveness, and at that time they would still be slaughtered, or...

  A company commander beside him whispered: "Battalion Commander, let's go! We won't be spared by the little devils when we get back, our lives are at stake!"

  The squad leader was still hesitating when a voice came from above, "Second..."

  The battalion commander gritted his teeth and said in a low voice to the regimental commander: "Alright, get the brothers ready!"

  Just as they were about to count to three, the company commander shouted: "Brothers, let's go against the little Japanese!" After finishing speaking, he took the lead in opening fire and shot the two Japanese soldiers in front of him. The others saw their superior take action and didn't want to fall behind, so they stood up one after another and opened fire on the Japanese army. The Japanese were completely unguarded, and in the blink of an eye, they were killed clean.

  Xiao Ming stood on a boulder and looked down, laughing: "Great! There's a valley ahead, strip the little devils naked and throw them down to feed the wolves!"

  Everyone worked together to strip the Japanese soldiers on the ground bare, carried them and threw them down into the valley. After finishing, they stood there waiting for instructions.

  "Alright, now put down your weapons and move forward. Niu Lianchang will be waiting for you up ahead. We'll talk when we meet!" After finishing speaking, Xiao Ming led Niu San to head downhill.

  Seeing the battalion commander, Niu San hastily introduced: "Battalion Commander, this is the second master of Feihu Fort, Xiao Ye! Xiao Ye, this is our Battalion Commander Hu!"

  Xiao Ming smiled slightly and bowed: "I am Xiao Ming, nice to meet you, Commander Hu!"

  "Hu Dazhuang hastily returned the courtesy: 'I, Hu Dahai, have offended your mighty power, please forgive me, Master Xiao! The favor you granted me today, sparing my life, I, Hu, will never dare to forget from now on!'"

  Xiao Ming smiled and said, "Commander Hu is being polite, we are all Chinese after all, so of course we can't treat you like the little devils! However, before the Japanese army withdraws, I have to trouble you brothers a bit. Please ask Commander Hu to restrain his subordinates and not make any rash moves, lest there be some misunderstanding!"

  "Hu Dahai hastily said: 'This is what should be done, please rest assured, if anyone dares to make trouble, I, Hu Dahai, will not forgive him first!'"

  Xiao Ming smiled slightly and said: "This is for the best! Commander Hu, please!"

  Watanabe waited outside the Wolf's Gorge until sunset, but no one returned. His heart sank with the sun. Seeing that it was already late, he had to dispatch someone to stand guard outside the Wolf's Gorge and led his men back to the Flying Tiger Fort to camp for the night, preparing to request air support from the aviation troops the next day: The superior officer's order was to annihilate the people of the Flying Tiger Fort within three days, not to occupy a useless mountain stronghold. Moreover, many excellent Imperial soldiers had already sacrificed their lives!

  However, early next morning, the commander-in-chief sent a telegram: Withdraw immediately and do not take any further action to provoke the Flying Tigers Fort, and the task of encirclement was also cancelled!

  Watanabe couldn't believe his ears, took the telegram from the chief of staff and read it again and again, feeling a chill in his heart: Is the commander-in-chief dissatisfied with his performance? Has his brigade commander reached the end of the road? Does he need to disembowel himself when he returns?...

  Commander-in-Chief had a report from the Chief of Staff early this morning: Last night, various county towns near Feihu Mountain were attacked by unidentified armed elements. The targets of the attack included garrison military departments, constabulary, police stations, hospitals and even innocent Japanese merchants and residents. The attackers even launched suicidal attacks, causing heavy casualties on our side!

  Finally, the chief of staff concluded: "Your Excellency, there is no doubt that this was done by the Flying Tiger Fort's bandit troop!"

  The commander was stunned for half a day, and from the battle report sent back by Duobian, he had no way to deal with Feihu Fort. Killing civilians and using special weapons had thoroughly enraged Feihu Fort, this time it's really riding a tiger and finding it hard to get off!

  "So, what's your countermeasure?" The officer suddenly spoke up and asked the chief of staff.

  "Shall we consider gathering all the besieging troops and annihilate them in one blow?" The chief of staff said cautiously.

  "Are you saying that we should throw nearly 20,000 imperial soldiers into the mountains and have them be defeated one by one?" The commander suddenly remembered Mukamura's report: if the Flying Tigers were to enter the mountains, it would take a division of troops and a week's time to thoroughly eliminate them!

  This is not just a matter of the emperor's face, if we enter the mountains, we will be led by the nose and unable to exert our own firepower advantage. I've heard that the enemy is very skilled in close combat, who knows what will happen around us if we get bogged down for ten days or half a month? If we turn back to attack those hostile forces that take advantage of the situation, won't all our previous efforts be wasted?!

  "Your Excellency, I'm stupid and can't think of any other way to eliminate them! The Chief of Staff's face was solemn. "However, the best solution is to retreat, find a way to trap them, and then negotiate with them, and we will not invade each other in the future!"

  The commander closed his eyes and thought for half a day, then suddenly said: "Alright, retreat, the encirclement plan is also cancelled! That foolish Toranosuke, his troops probably have no morale left!"

  "Fall back!" Watanabe was drenched in sweat, and after a long time, he finally squeezed out a word from between his teeth. Calming down, Watanabe gave the order: to bombard Wolong Gou with artillery; to burn down the village, barracks, and Feihu Fort; and after the troops withdrew, to blow up the road at Heifengxia. "Let these despicable Chinese people wail in the cold wind!"

  The news of the Imperial Army's withdrawal from Feihu Fort spread quickly through the streets and alleys of various counties. Ye Maozi and others were skeptical, deciding to return and take a look first. Ye Maozi had taken more than 20 people out, but only returned with 12!

  Xiao Ming arrived at Fei Hu Village, only to see that the once majestic stronghold had been reduced to ashes. The mountains behind were also scarred and battered. Ye Maozi Ma Liu and others seethed with anger.

  "Notify the big households that the Japanese army has retreated, but they still need to stay in the mountains for a few days. Tell Old Lü and Old Lin to let those puppet soldiers come out and clear the roads! Old Cat, go around and take a look at what the little devils are doing. Damn it, let them know what it means to be barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes!" Xiao Ming gave the order coldly.

  The night cat quickly returned to report: The Japanese army is recruiting civilians to dig trenches around Feihu Mountain.

  Xiao Ming was shocked: "This Japanese is trying to trap us to death! Ma Liu, lead your men to guard the mountain stronghold. If those puppet troops dare not listen to orders, kill them without mercy! Wa Zi, inform Da Long, and follow me out to take a look!"

  The Japanese army indeed dug trenches outside the Er Long Ridge, on the road leading to Liu's mansion, in order to cut off the Flying Tigers' connection with the outside world. However, this project was disrupted, and since the day it started, there were constant gunshots at the construction site.

  The other side first fired a warning shot, the civilians heard the gunfire, threw away their tools and ran. The puppet army in charge of supervision was frightened and opened fire for a while, but did not find anyone, and then drove the civilians back to continue working.

  Gunfire broke out again, this time the bullets were shot under the feet of the puppet army, the puppet soldiers were shocked and ran away, but were forced back by their superiors, urging the civilians to speed up construction.

  Xiao Ming was furious and told Da Long: "Aim for his legs, if that doesn't work then go for the kill! I don't believe this little devil won't show his head!"

  After killing and injuring dozens of soldiers, the pseudo-army could no longer hold on and refused to go to the construction site again. The officers had no choice but to seek help from the Japanese army: Originally, the cold weather was already slowing down the progress of the project, and if things continued like this, it was likely that the project would not be completed by this time next year! The Japanese troops stationed in Ping City also felt that the situation was serious and sent a small team of Japanese soldiers to assist in maintaining order.

  As soon as the Japanese army arrived, they stationed themselves in several strongholds around Feihu Mountain, patrolling during the day and returning to rest at night. And indeed, since their arrival, the construction site had not been disturbed for two consecutive days, and progress had accelerated significantly. This made the Japanese somewhat complacent: the Flying Tiger Fort was already weak, and upon seeing our imperial army, they didn't flee in fear?

  "Are you all ready?" Xiao Ming held a telescope in his hand, observing the situation on the cannon tower while asking Shan Wazi beside him.

  "Alright! Ma Lianchang personally led the team and brought out six infantry cannons, two at each stronghold, plus mortars, enough to make the little devils drink a pot of it! Also, the machine gun squad has arrived, just waiting for Ma Liu's signal!" Shan Wawa had a schadenfreude expression. You destroyed our mountain stronghold and still want to dig trenches to trap us to death, you think Flying Tiger Stronghold is too easy to deal with?

  Ma Liu's men were responsible for clearing the sentry posts and covering the artillery. On such a cold day, the fake soldiers on duty had already gone to find a place to warm up, and in recent days, the Flying Tiger Fort's cold guns had also made them fearful, no one dared to come out and touch their heads.

  Things went smoothly, Ma Liu received the report, everything was ready, and he gave the signal for artillery fire.

  With the rumble of cannons, shells accurately hit the brightly lit stronghold in the cold night, and the watchtower collapsed with a loud explosion. The barracks were reduced to ashes, and the enemy fled in disarray...

  Ma Liu grabbed a dizzy and disoriented pseudo-military captain who had run to the wrong place, and said viciously: "Go back and tell the Japanese that our family has something to say. The devils have burned down our mountain stronghold, we will take down ten of their county towns, let the little devils clean up and wait!"