Chapter 12: Fierce Interception

  "Comrades, which unit are you from?" A soldier ran over to Li Xinmin and his group to ask about the situation.

  "We are from the Third Battalion of the Special Task Force! This is our Commander Li! Which part are you from, brother?", Huang Yuke said loudly.

  "Commander Li, greetings! I am a communication officer from the Party School. The leader has ordered me to ask which unit is providing reinforcements. If possible, the leader hopes that you can help cover our headquarters' retreat and ensure its safe withdrawal from here." The communication officer immediately gave Li Xingmin a salute.

  "You can rest assured! Go back and tell the chief to withdraw at ease, the third battalion will never let a single ghost slip away." Li Xinmin replied.

  "I'll go back and report to the superior then." The communication officer turned around and ran towards the direction of the headquarters.

  "Report to the company commander! In front of our position, a large number of devils and puppet troops have been discovered, they are rapidly moving towards us." The scout reported.

  "Damn it! The devils' movements are really fast! We haven't even finished preparing and they're already here." Captain Zhang Dawei cursed.

  "It's probably that the headquarters hasn't gone far yet! If we retreat now, the devils will definitely catch up with our main force from behind. Now we can only hold on here and wait until the main force withdraws to a safe place before we can retreat." Li Xinmin said to everyone.

  "Three shifts long! How much haven't you arranged yet?" Li Xinmin asked Zhang Dawei.

  "Not many landmines have been buried yet! Machine guns are all set up!", "The first and second companies are guarding both sides of the third company's position, gathering people to bury landmines as quickly as possible, the more the better, we must finish before the devils arrive." Li Xinmin instructed solemnly.

  "Yes!", the three of them immediately went down to arrange their work, Li Xinmin didn't idle around either. Now there were only a few special warfare troops left by his side for him to command. He ordered the special warfare troops' members to freely move within the position to find targets and specifically take out the devils' landmines.

  Just as Li Xinmin and his men were busy, the main force of the devils had caught up.

  "Get ready for battle!", Zhang Daweigh commanded loudly, ordering his brothers to prepare themselves.

  At this moment, the three companies have made preparations. If Li Xinmin hadn't ordered each company to pay attention to conserving ammunition, it's likely that the soldiers would have already exchanged fire with the enemy. To gain more time, Li Xinmin had the soldiers lay a large number of landmines in areas where the enemy would pass through and in front of their positions. This could effectively slow down the enemy's advance and give the main force more time to retreat.

  Li Xinmin chose a location that was strategically important. The mountain road here is rugged and not suitable for large-scale troop movements, with steep cliffs on either side. Li Xinmin's third company built defensive positions on the high ground on one side, while the first and second companies' positions were on either side of the third company, responsible for securing the flanks and preventing enemy troops from launching a surprise attack from the sides.

  As for the rear, Li Xinmin would not let his guard down. Although the Taihang Mountains were right behind them, he still dispatched sentries and also sent out two special warfare soldiers to lie in ambush at hidden locations as covert sentries.

  When the devils approached the three-linked array, "Boom! Boom! Boom!", a burst of loud noises, instantly killing more than a dozen puppet soldiers. This was the devil's consistent style. As a commander who had received formal training, the devil's company commander, Taino Shin'ichi, had not yet approached Li Xinmin and others when he discovered the problem. He immediately dispatched the Huang Wei Army to advance in front of his own troops. It was precisely his cunning that saved the devils, but unfortunately, those Han traitors who called themselves the Huang Wei Army were instantly blown up by the landmines laid by the Eighth Route Army.

  This group of pseudo-soldiers who were afraid of death immediately retreated quickly, despite Tano Shinichi waving his command sword and ordering them to continue advancing from behind. However, no one was willing to charge forward, under the pressure of the devils' machine guns, the pseudo-army rushed towards Li Xinmin's place again, but the speed was not as fast as before.

  Another burst of thunderous explosions, and a dozen or so puppet soldiers were blown to the sky. Tanoike Shinichi immediately changed his strategy, ordering his troops to cease their attack and reporting the situation to Taheiyo Ichiro, requesting his support.

  Before long, the devils' supporting troops arrived. They immediately dispatched mine-clearing soldiers. These devils were formally trained engineers who held professional detectors and walked towards the minefield.

  "Bang! Bang!", several gunshots instantly took away the lives of the devils' engineer soldiers, completely disrupting the devils' actions.

  "Damn it!", Tano Tsuneyoshi cursed. "Advance!", but the same result, the dispatched engineer was quickly killed by Li Xinmin's special forces.

  In the end, Tian Zhiyin was enraged and directly ordered the puppet army to launch a charge against the position of the 3rd Battalion. At the cost of over a hundred lives, the puppet army finally approached the position of the 3rd Battalion.

  The mortar launcher let out a sharp cry, happily spitting out shells, instantly bombarding the enemy's troops. The situation was beyond the enemy's expectations, and for a time they were caught off guard, suffering heavy casualties. Under the coordination of artillery and light and heavy machine guns, the enemy found it difficult to advance. The enemy had no choice but to retreat again.

  "What a nuisance! Where did this bunch of country bumpkins come from?", asked Hirata Ichirō to Tanaka Shin'ichi.

  "It's unclear! I don't know which part they belong to. Our defense line was broken through by them, and we were pursued all the way here. I didn't expect them to have such strong firepower, this is not something that ordinary bandits possess!" Tano Tsuneyoshi replied.

  "Hmm! That's right!", "No matter what, they can't block the Imperial Army's path. Absolutely cannot let the Eighth Route Army's organs go, must break through the defensive line here, catch up with the Eighth Route Army's organs and thoroughly eliminate them." Lieutenant General Hirata Ichirō gave the order to die.

  "Charge! The devils are charging again!"

  "What? Are you still afraid of him? This time, we must thoroughly crush the little devil's arrogance." Captain Zhang Dawei curled his lip in disdain and glanced in the direction of the enemy.

  "Company commander, look! Another large group of devils are rushing here, and this group of devils even has cars!"

  "Give me a target! Don't waste bullets, the battalion commander is watching from our position! Don't lose face for the Third Company!"

  The devils also built a simple offensive position in front of the third company's position, with infantry guns and heavy machine guns set up. Then the attacks from both sides became a confrontation between artillery, and the fierce battle lasted for more than four hours. Both sides stopped firing, and the battlefield was chaotic, with corpses scattered all over the place. However, neither side fired another shot, and an eerie silence signaled that an even more brutal battle was about to begin. At this moment, the third company's ammunition had been depleted. Without artillery support, the next battle would be extremely difficult, and Zhang Daguang knew this very well.

  At this moment, the first and second lines of defense were also in a mess, and the devils' attacks on both sides were equally fierce.