Episode 4: The Battle of Abandoning Guns and Vehicles

  Zhan Dongdong and his grandfather looked at the walnut ditch battlefield, he measured the undulating terrain nearby: "It seems that this bean war chariot is indeed very flexible, such a mountain road can also be like flat ground."

  "Yingying asked strangely: "Dongdong, how did you know about the bean war chariot sixty years ago?"

  "Hey, look at your grandfather," said Dongdong to Sakura, "The 'Bean War Tank' is a colloquial term for the Japanese war tank, named after its small and compact size, only 1.62 meters high, even shorter than you! And on top of that, it has a rounded turret like a bean. There were three main types of Bean War Tanks used: the Type 94, Type 95, and Type 97. In the early years of the invasion of China, the Japanese army was equipped with large numbers of Type 94 light tanks, which were armed with a 37mm tank gun and a machine gun, had a crew of two, and armor that was 12mm thick at its thickest point and 6mm at its thinnest. They could travel at speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour and had a range of 20 kilometers. Later in the invasion, they mostly used Type 97 light tanks..."

  Secretary Jiao listened to Zhan Dongdong's familiarity with World War II weapons and praised: "The sons of military families are indeed well-versed in military affairs."

  Zhan Dongdong humbly said: "I don't dare to claim that I have a good military background, but as a military enthusiast, I am qualified. I wonder if Secretary Jiao and County Magistrate Zhen know that there are several well-known military websites in China, where I often learn and publish some articles on military affairs..."

  Sakura took over: "There are several well-known military websites, many Japanese people know them, and I have also translated a few anti-Japanese articles from there to introduce to the country."

  Zhan Dongdong looked at Sakura and said in a calm tone but with clear words: "Sorry, Miss Sakura, we are anti-Japanese!"

  At the beginning, we didn't know what to call this tank either. Biao Ge called it "Lai Ha Ma" because it was covered in rivets and looked like a toad roaming freely in the fields and mountains. However, it was precisely these rivets that Biao Ge used to his advantage, turning the invincible tank into a paper tiger.

  "But at first it still caught us off guard... and several brothers were killed or wounded here."

  Da Yu shouted a halt, and said to Zhan Biao: "Brother Biao, it's here, we've lost four heavy machine guns."

  Everyone in the Walnut Gorge was tense, observing their surroundings. The roar of the Four Virtues' throats shook the solid air. Sharp-eyed San De had already spotted a figure lurking in the woods and glanced at Zhan Biao. Seeing that everyone was ready, Zhan Biao nodded slightly, and San De immediately shouted: "What's going on?" As soon as he shouted, the Japanese special forces, who were hiding and advancing, suddenly emerged from the mountain forest on both sides, swift and silent like flying arrows. They wanted to get closer to enter the best shooting distance. The bravery and boldness of the special forces were revealed in an instant, challenging people's psychology with their murderous aura and overbearing momentum.

  It was truly a critical moment, if not for Si De's reminder, the eight heavy machine guns would have been dismantled in just a few more minutes! If not for Si De's warning, the entire squad would have been exposed without defense to the Japanese special forces' six 96-style light machine guns... The consequences are unthinkable, Si De's contribution is truly immense.

  San De shouted to stop Si De, who was about to charge forward. The heavy machine gun and Zhan Biao's Czech gun in his hand opened fire quickly. Everyone else understood that they didn't wait for Zhan Biao's order to open fire, trying to block the enemy from getting close.

  Eight heavy machine guns and two light machine guns, whoever the special forces or daredevil troops are, can't withstand their firepower! Indeed, the special forces were well-trained and reacted extremely quickly. They immediately knew they had encountered a formidable opponent and all fell to the ground and crawled back into the woods. During this time, only two officers died under the heavy machine guns.

  The Japanese special forces team was led by a captain named Fujita. He was surprised to see that Zhang Huabiao had taken precautions and thought it unexpected that this group of Chinese soldiers were so cunning, pretending to be unaware, but as soon as they took action, it was a hail of gunfire from heavy weapons. Fujita knew the ferocity of the National Army's machine guns and quickly abandoned his plan for a surprise attack, reluctantly executing the "Tiger Out of the Mountain" plan instead. He ordered all team members to retreat a short distance before opening fire. The special forces' accurate shooting immediately brought down three New Fourth Army soldiers.

  At this time, the 12 horse-drawn carriages had been saddled up and all the materials had been loaded onto the vehicles. Peng Paolong gave the order to use light machine guns to suppress the Japanese army, while the horse-drawn carriage team pulled heavy machine guns to retreat northward. Zhan Biao wanted to say something, but before he could speak, he shouted: "All anti-Japanese guerrilla squads, cover us!" Then without hesitation, Zhan Biao led eight men including Zhangzi, jumped off the horse-drawn carriages and seized nine light machine guns to cover the retreat of the horse-drawn carriage team. Fujita slowly pursued them.

  As they were about to exit the northern end of Walnut Gorge, Zhan Biao instructed Qiang Zi a few words before running towards the horse carriage team, shouting: "Commander Peng, we can't move forward anymore!" Commander Peng gave the order for the horse carriage team to stop.

  Zhan Biao rushed up to Peng Pai Zhang and the three squad leaders, saying: "Don't you think something is off? The devils are chasing but not hitting us, and they never hit our horses. This is too unusual. They must have an ambush ahead, aiming to annihilate us completely. Since the Japanese army has taken your unit as my anti-Japanese guerrilla squad, listen to me."

  Peng Pai Chang was also a very clever and resourceful person, as soon as he heard it, he understood that there was indeed something fishy going on here, so he said to Zhan Biao: "Alright, Class Leader Zhan, what do you say we do?"

  Zhang Biao shouted to the soldiers: "The pursuers are a special unit of the Japanese army, estimated to be around thirty people. We have more than fifty people and our equipment is no less than theirs. We can't let them chase us, now we won't retreat, we'll fight back against them, test the results of our ten-day training. Then we will withdraw from the south."

  "Now we will listen to Monitor Zhang's command. Heavy machine gunner and deputy shooter, prepare for real combat operation."

  Fujiwara didn't expect that just as they were about to succeed, the Shina army was about to enter the armored vehicle formation outside the mountain pass, but suddenly turned back and counterattacked. The heavy machine guns on the horse-drawn carriages began to fire intermittently. Even more unexpected, two Czech light machine guns suddenly appeared in front of them and opened fire at close range, causing six special officers who were advancing to fall down instantly.

  Yu Zai Biao felt that there was a conspiracy ahead of the Japanese army, so he arranged for Qiangzi and Sande to ambush here, waiting for the Japanese army to catch up and take advantage of the situation to open fire.

  Qiangzi and Sande succeeded, and Daju and Ermin also turned back to chase. The new fourth army and guerrilla members of the horse team also rushed back to join the battle against the Japanese special forces.

  Zhan Biao's mind moved, and the troops changed from passive retreat to active counterattack. The battlefield situation underwent a fundamental change overnight. Once again, it verified Zhan Biao's reasoning when he kicked Xiaoyu in the buttocks while facing the pack of chasing dogs: as long as the cat arches its back and shows its might, the dog will immediately stop its pursuit. Zhan Biao was someone who had raised dogs and liked dogs, so he was very familiar with this habit of theirs.

  This time it was Fujita's turn to be pursued, and he led the remaining twelve officers in a disorderly retreat back along their original route, under the firepower of light and heavy machine guns, rifles, and pistols commanded by Zhang Biao.

  Songshan closely watched the gunfire in Walnut Gorge, initially within his expectations. A surprise attack on a strongman like Zhan Biao would not work. The gunfire gradually moved northward, indicating that Hong Hu's ambush was successful. However, the subsequent changes left him perplexed - why did they start fighting again? The gunfire drew closer and closer. Songshan now deeply felt proud of his own wisdom in deploying six Type 94 tankettes, which he led forward to meet the enemy at the mountain pass, with a small team of Japanese soldiers armed with bayonets following behind. Moreover, he had previously arranged that if the enemy attempted to break through to the south, the northern tanks would immediately follow and encircle them.

  Far away, I saw Fujita covering his arm and running out of the mountain pass with only three special team officers behind him. Matsuyama picked up the binoculars and looked at their backs, shouldn't there be sixteen more officers following? What, the ones who followed were the steel-helmeted Chinese government army?! The tiger was blasted out, but it bit back, they annihilated my 16 special forces officers?! Matsuyama became furious again!

  Zhan Biao led the way, carrying a machine gun and followed by more than 30 soldiers. Peng Pai Zhang led over 10 people, driving horse-drawn carts, closely following behind. But when they saw the six approaching armored vehicles in the distance, everyone was stunned. Everyone here had heard of the infamous Japanese military tanks, some called them "tanks" and others "armored cars", but no one thought they would actually encounter them, and everyone couldn't help but feel a little tense.

  The Type 94 Te-Ke looks very agile and compact. This tank has a unique shape, with a longer front hull, a searchlight on the left side of the turret roof. The turret and rear hull are integrated, with a rounded turret top covered by a circular armor hatch. The whole vehicle is low in profile, about as tall as a person. There are rows of rivets protruding from the hull, apparently Japan's welding technology was not yet up to par at that time.

  Zhan Biao held up the binoculars and said, "Isn't that a toad? Its whole body is covered in warts. It seems like ordinary guns can't penetrate it."

  Peng Paolong took a look and saw that the enemy was waiting here, with a somewhat resentful expression towards Zhang Biao. However, a report from a soldier behind him made his expression change to one of admiration: "Commander Peng, more than ten tanks like this have come in from the northern mountain pass, along with over a hundred devils, and they've already given chase."

  Zhan Biao's tone had changed to that of Commander Peng: "Leave four 92-style machine guns, you immediately retreat to Xiao Liangshan, we will meet there. Hurry up, can't delay a moment!"

  Peng Pai-chang looked at the approaching bean war chariot and understood that this was not the time to be indecisive. If the ten war chariots behind him were to exit the mountain pass, there would be a risk of complete annihilation. Executing the cover-up mission was indeed more suitable for Zhang Biao's men, who had enough ability to escape. He took a deep look at Zhang Biao and immediately left four carts loaded with Type 92 heavy machine guns, then led all the soldiers and guerrilla fighters on the other eight carts to gallop away.

  Zhan Biao led his eight men to lift the heavy machine gun onto the ground, with two people per vehicle, and opened fire on the six bean war cars. The bean war cars were getting closer and closer, with sparks flying everywhere, but they seemed to be unscathed. Songshan watched as most of the horse-drawn carriages retreated, but under Zhan Biao's heavy machine gun fire, they couldn't even split up.

  Zhan Biao ordered: "Crossfire, wipe out the infantry behind the toad, don't leave a single one."

  Four heavy machine guns spewed flames towards the Japanese infantry, and by the time the 94 tanks arrived on the scene, only a dozen or so Japanese soldiers were left following behind. The bean tank, also spewing fire, unleashed a barrage of shells and bullets that almost killed all four horses of the horse-drawn carriages, leaving only two civilians desperately holding onto one yellow horse.

  Behind them, from the Walnut Gorge, burst out ten invincible Type 94 tanks and a large number of Japanese troops, who were about to surround Zhang Biao's men. Zhang Biao saw this and made a swift decision, glancing at the four heavy machine guns with almost no bullets left and one horse cart: "Brothers, abandon your guns and retreat! Get on the horse cart! Throw hand grenades in all directions for cover!"