Chapter 4: Sneak Attack on the Base (3)

  The devils in the stronghold were thrown into confusion for a moment, and the Eighth Route Army soldiers moved too fast. Before the little devils could form a counterattack, they rushed to the front of the devils, forcing them to give up shooting and only fight with the soldiers. For a time, both sides fought together. Li Xinmin led the first batch of soldiers who arrived to search the rooms one by one. The courtyard was handed over to Huang Yucai and others to clear out. Pushing open the door of a room on the west side, they found that this was the devils' bathroom. Several devils were washing in it, and from their posture, it seemed that they had just heard the situation outside and thought something was wrong. They seemed to have just wanted to go out and take up arms to resist. Li Xinmin raised his pistol and killed four devil soldiers with one shot each. The other soldiers didn't idle either. A burst of gunfire, and the room was immediately cleared. Only the devils' white corpses were left, either lying on the ground or floating in the pool.

  "Notify everyone to clean up the battlefield quickly!", Li Xinmin led the soldiers to clear the devils while conveying combat orders.

  Just as Li Xinmin led his men to search forward, several Japanese soldiers suddenly rushed out from the corridor behind the house. The leader of the Japanese soldiers raised his rifle and fired a shot at Li Xinmin's group. Li Xinmin quickly raised his vigilance and easily dodged the sneak attack by the Japanese soldier. He kicked away the rifle of the Japanese soldier with his foot, pulled out the dagger on his leg, and cut off the throat of the Japanese soldier with one knife. Then he stabbed another Japanese soldier in the heart with the same dagger. At the same time, Zhang Dawei from the third row swung his large knife and split a Japanese soldier's head into two halves. The remaining Japanese soldiers were shot dead by the other fighters. After glancing at the bodies of the Japanese soldiers on the ground, Li Xinmin led his men to continue searching forward. They carefully searched every corner and made sure there was no one left behind before returning to the front yard. The battle here had also ended, and they were clearing up the scene to see if there were any remaining survivors.

  "Linked up! All eliminated!" Huang Yuke reported to Li Xinmin with a smile, it's been a long time since he had such a pleasant battle, uh, should be the first time ever.

  "Notify the first squad to assemble and follow me to support the second squad. The third squad, immediately sweep the battlefield and take away all supplies that can be taken. If they cannot be taken, blow them up!"

  "Let Village Head Zhang and Village Head Wang inform the villagers around the outpost to come here to move grain, whoever takes it is theirs, take as much as they can!" Li Xinmin thought for a moment and then reminded sentry Li Shilong.

  Very soon, the first squad followed Li Xinmin's lead and quickly moved towards the second squad's position at Lao Ye Ling to provide support. Li Xinmin knew that the situation at the second squad was very tough, after all, they were facing a large enemy force from the Xincun stronghold. From the battle against the stronghold earlier, it was clear that the enemy had brought a significant amount of heavy firepower this time. Therefore, Li Xinmin's heart was racing with anxiety, unsure if the second squad could withstand the enemy's attack. As a result, they moved at an extremely fast pace. Although the soldiers in the back felt exhausted from keeping up, they gritted their teeth and followed closely behind, knowing that there were brothers waiting for them to provide support just ahead. If they arrived late, something unexpected might happen.

  "Hurry up! Keep up!" Even at this speed, Li Xinmin still felt it was not enough. This was largely due to the effectiveness of Li Xinmin's training for the soldiers in the previous phase; otherwise, some soldiers might have fallen behind by now.

  The second row, under Liu Wentao's leadership, quickly arrived at the designated location. After consulting with Gao Dabao, Gao Dabao took his special forces to find the best ambush site. After Gao Dabao left, Liu Wentao ordered the soldiers to lay mines on both sides of the ambush site and dig trenches on the high ground on both sides, waiting for the arrival of the enemy's main force. Just as they finished preparing, the enemy's main force appeared in front of Liu Wentao. Seeing the enemy appear so recklessly, the soldiers became anxious and urged Liu Wentao to take action.

  "Form up! Let's fight! The devils are right in front of us!" Warrior Da Kui looked at Liu Wentao with urgency, staring at his mouth, waiting for him to give the order to attack.

  "Wait a bit longer! We haven't reached the best position yet. Alright, nobody move, wait for my command!"

  "Yes!" The warriors replied in hushed tones.

  Just as the devils had all entered the Eight Route Army's ambush circle, Liu Wentao raised his pistol and fired a shot, then shouted "Fight!", at which time hand grenades fell from the sky like hail, mercilessly landing among the devils, instantly killing and wounding countless of them, throwing them into chaos. However, these devils were after all a regular army that had undergone long-term formal training, and after experiencing a period of confusion they quickly organized an effective counterattack under the command of company commander Fujiwara Masakazu. At this time, light and heavy machine guns plus mortars unleashed a barrage against our side. The devils' company commander Fujiwara Masakazu's eyes were now red with rage - he had never suffered such a great loss before! In this area, he had always been invincible, but today he finally got his comeuppance.

  "Bastards! Give me fire! Repel these bandits!" Fujiwara Shōichi yelled like a beast, waving his command sword, but things didn't go as planned. In the chaos of battle, Fujiwara discovered that his artillerymen had been shot dead. You see, being an artilleryman isn't something just anyone can do - it requires training, and not just anyone can launch shells onto the enemy's position.

  "Damn it! Give me a charge! Repel the Eighth Route Army!", under the repeated charges of the devils, they finally took a favorable terrain from them, where Fujiwara Shōichi immediately organized the soldiers to form a simple defensive offense, so that they wouldn't have to expose themselves to the Eighth Route Army's gunfire. Although Liu Wentao led the warriors in a desperate resistance against the devils' charge, after all, the devils' firepower configuration was beyond their reach.

  "Keep going! Just ahead is where the second squad clashed with the devils. Shall we charge over?" Huang Yuke looked at Li Xinmin.

  "Tell the warriors, load all the bullets for me and put on bayonets. This time we'll attack from behind the devils and let them know who's the ancestor!", "Notify the soldiers in the back, we'll go around to the devil's back from the front and launch a direct assault from behind."

  The troops quietly infiltrated to the rear of the devils, and after a brief ambush, the devils put all their energy in front, they never thought that there would be troops appearing in their rear.

  "The bugler sounded the charge, and the others followed me in a rush!" With one loud command, "Ding-ding! Ding-ding! Da-da! Da-da!", the clear sound of the bugle echoed across this small battlefield. The Eighth Route Army soldiers, like fierce tigers descending from the mountain, charged into the enemy's position with their guns at the ready, led by Li Xinmin. By the time Fujiwara Shōichi tried to organize his men to resist, Li Xinmin and his comrades were already engaged in a fierce melee with the enemy soldiers. Fujiwara Shōichi waved his command sword and shouted orders for the enemy to resist, but just as he was shouting, a bullet pierced his brain, and his body fell to the ground due to inertia.

  "Second row of brothers! Follow me in the charge!" Liu Wentao shouted and rushed out of the position with his gun, bringing his brothers to charge in as well. They mixed with the devils in a fierce battle. Although the devils had a significant advantage in equipment, they didn't have the command of an officer in this melee situation. As a result, the devils were quickly eliminated by the soldiers one by one, and the remaining devils also met their end at the hands of the soldiers.

  After the battle, as soon as the war was over, the Eighth Route Army soldiers were all tired and sat down to rest. Li Xinquan immediately ordered everyone to clean up the battlefield and withdraw from here.

  "Hurry! Everyone get up! Clear the battlefield! The enemy's reinforcements are almost here, we have to leave immediately!"

  Li Xinmin was also very tired, but he still managed to hold on and quickly swept the battlefield. Li Xinmin then led his troops back to Yang Village.