Chapter 5: The Yangtao Village Massacre

  On the way back to Yang Village, guard Li Shilong couldn't help but smile, "Squad leader! This time we've really made a profit!"

  "With just this little thing you're satisfied? You look great!", Li Xinmin laughed.

  "Hahaha!" Others also laughed, yes! This operation was too perfect, never had such a smooth battle before, everyone's heart was very happy, Li Xinmin was also very happy now. The results of this battle were extremely rich, and the gains from this one time could equip Li Xinmin's entire company fully, and all the soldiers in the company could change their weapons.

  "No guns, no cannons, the enemy will create them for us!", Li Xinmin unconsciously hummed this song.

  "Hey, Battalion Commander! What's this song you're singing? I've never heard it before!" Li Xindong was drawn over by Li Xinmin's singing.

  "What's this? This is the Guerrilla Squad Song!", "Guerrilla Squad Song? I've never heard of it! It sounds great! Commissar Li, sing it out loud so we can all hear it." Li Shendong was eager to hear the song, so he hastily asked Li Xinmin to sing it.

  "Want to hear?", Li Xinmin asked Li Chenlong with a serious face.

  "Uh-huh!" Li Chenglong nodded vigorously.

  "No way! I'm a conditional one. If you want to hear me sing, you have to learn it first. How about that?" Li Xinmin teased Li Chenlong.

  "Go on! Continue! You sing quickly!", Li Chenlong hastily replied.

  "Listen up!" Li Xinmin cleared his throat and began to sing the guerrilla team's song, "We are all sharpshooters, every bullet kills an enemy, we are all flying troops..."

  In this way, the warriors withdrew happily from Yangcun Village. As soon as they returned to Yangcun Village, Li Xinmin informed everyone to hold a meeting to count the situation of this battle.

  "Ha! This time we've really made a profit! When we counted just now, the goods were piled up like small mountains."

  "Haha! That's right, Old Zhang! This time we didn't capture fewer supplies! How about it? Have you counted them all?" Li Xinmin asked.

  "Hmm! All accounted for," replied Zhang Dabao, a tall and powerful man.

  "This time we captured 2 Type 92 heavy machine guns, 6 Type 96 light machine guns, 6 grenade launchers, and 207 rifles. We killed a total of 238 devils, including the devil's company commander, Fujihara Shōichi. In addition, we also captured a large amount of supplies." The third platoon leader Zhang Dawei reported seriously to Li Xinmin, with a proud smile on his face, after all, this time's harvest was too great.

  "Hmm! How about our casualties?" Li Xinmin then asked about the casualties of the troops.

  "Our side suffered 27 deaths this time, and another 5 were seriously injured, with 8 minor injuries," Zhang Dawe said disapprovingly.

  Li Xinmin couldn't help but sigh as he glanced at Zhang Dawe and the others, "Alas! Injuring a thousand enemies while suffering eight hundred losses ourselves!"

  "It seems that our training is still not enough! Although this time's gain is great, but our loss is not small either!"

  Zhang Daquan and the others wanted to say something, but they looked at Li Xinmin and didn't speak up. In their eyes, this wasn't anything significant. After all, in this era of war and chaos, everyone who joined the Eighth Route Army was willing to risk death to drive the devils out of China. They were even willing to sacrifice themselves to kill the devils. However, Li Xinmin didn't want to see things this way. In his eyes, how could the devils' worthless lives be compared to the brothers by his side? He had been constantly demanding that the soldiers intensify their training over this period of time, hoping to narrow the gap between them and the devils. Now he understood that the soldiers' training was still insufficient, and there was still a gap between them and the devils. However, this was much stronger than before. He believed that after another period of training, the soldiers would definitely be able to surpass the devilish soldiers.

  "Distribute all the equipment, and leave other supplies that are enough for us to use. Send the rest to the regimental headquarters with someone, it's useless to stay here. We can't just eat meat ourselves, we also have to leave some soup for our brothers to drink!" Li Xinmin instructed Huang Yuke and others.

  "Got it, Commander! We'll get right on it!", "Also, let's report our battle situation here to the battalion headquarters!"

  The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army's Special Operations Brigade, at this moment, the brigade commander, political commissar and other leaders are all in the brigade headquarters listening to the third platoon leader Zhang Dawei report on the battle situation. Everyone is stirred up by his words, as if they had personally experienced the entire battle, and after hearing him out, they can't help but applaud.

  "Great! It's really wonderful!", "Yes! This Li Lianzhang is quite something!", The other leaders all started discussing Li Xinmin.

  "Haha! Good! Wonderful!" The captain burst out laughing with great abandon.

  "Yes! This battle can be used as a model example." The political commissar beside him also couldn't help but praise repeatedly.

  "That's right! Although you've achieved quite a good result this time, tell Li Lianzhang not to be proud of it. He must pay close attention to the movements of the devils. The devils are still not to be underestimated, and we must beware of their counterattack." The political commissar then seriously exhorted Zhang Dawei.

  "Yes! I'll definitely bring it!" With that, Zhang Daweiguo finished his report and led the soldiers back to Yang Village, where he relayed the superior's orders to Li Xinmin.

  In the following days, Li Xinmin led the soldiers to train day and night without stopping. In addition, he also sent scouts to gather intelligence around them in order to wait for a better opportunity to fight. In Li Xinmin's view, the battle with the devils must be launched at the best moment. Although they were training quietly in Yangcun Village, at this time, Yangtao Village was shrouded in dark clouds, and a storm was about to break out there.

  In the last battle, although no one from Yangtou Village participated in the fight, many villagers went to the stronghold to transport food. Unfortunately, there was a stubborn traitor in the village who secretly ran to the enemy's side to inform on them. The enemy was already searching everywhere for the culprit of this incident with the intention of revenge. This led to the tragic case of "Bloodbath at Yangtou Gorge".

  The devils surrounded the Yangtaogou village at dawn under the guidance of the traitors. Although the villagers were highly vigilant during this period, Village Chief Wang arranged a few people to take turns keeping watch at night. Before the devils entered the village, the villager on night watch discovered that the devils were about to enter the village and immediately beat the gong and shouted "The devils have entered the village!"

  At one time, the whole village was stirred up, and everyone took food and led their children to escape into the mountains. However, this time the devils were led by traitors and had already surrounded the village early on. When the villagers saw that they could not escape, they ran back and forth. In the end, the villagers were caught by the little devils in a big open space in the east of the village.

  "Old man! Stop pretending, speak up! Where are the Eighth Route Army troops who raided our base? If you confess, Master Tai will not treat you unfairly. Otherwise, we'll kill everyone in this village." Han traitor Da Huangya, showing his ugly yellow teeth, like a sick wild dog, grabbed Wang Village Chief's clothes and kept asking about the news of the Eighth Route Army.