Chapter 56: Fierce Battle (Part 1)

  "My goodness! What a load of nonsense intelligence! What chemical weapons? The trucks were loaded with devils, it's clearly the enemy's trap!" The commander of the 386th Brigade couldn't help but feel heartache and angrily cursed as he watched his soldiers fall in droves.

  The devils' fierce attacks were repeatedly repelled by the soldiers of the 386th Brigade. Both sides then engaged in a tug-of-war on the battlefield, with the bodies of soldiers from both sides lying chaotically on the highway and in front of the Eighth Route Army's positions.

  "Attack! Wipe out these bandits!", Katō bellowed like a mad dog. The devils swarmed up to the position again, their eyes blazing with fury.

  "Brothers! Hold on for me! Our reinforcement troops are about to arrive!", said the second company commander guarding the front line position.

  It was thought that one brigade could easily wipe out the devils' transport team, but unexpectedly the devils came with so many people, and there were also a large number of devils hidden in the trucks. The total number of people added up to two regiments. With the strength of one brigade against two devils regiments with strong firepower support, the 386 Brigade's battle was somewhat laborious. Both sides fired fiercely, and the battle entered a stalemate.

  The 386th Brigade opened fire with the devils here, and the battle of Li Xinmin's troops in Zhangjiayuan could only be called tragic. After arranging everything, Li Xinmin sent out scouts to conduct close surveillance on the Lucheng direction.

  "Captain! Do you think the little devils will come?" Liu Wentao said beside Li Xinmin. "If I had to say, the devils won't come at all, we've been waiting here for so long, but haven't even seen a shadow of them."

  "Haha! You'd better learn a lesson! This clearly shows that there's something fishy going on inside, I bet the devils will definitely come from our direction, just wait and see when you'll be leading people to blow up the devils' trucks! You'll have your own battle to fight!" Li Xinmin said with a sly smile.

  Just as they were talking, scout Wu Dongsheng ran back quickly, panting heavily and saying intermittently, "Battalion commander! The devils are here!"

  "Take a rest first, and speak slowly!" Li Xinmin ordered. After Wu Dongsheng caught his breath, he reported the detailed situation to Li Xinmin. "The devils' convoy has arrived, only a few miles away from us. This time, all of them are trucks, over 100 vehicles, with dozens of them wrapped tightly in tarpaulins by the devils, while the other trucks were filled with devils, about two companies of men. However, their marching speed is very slow, it seems that these devils are extremely cautious." Wu Dongsheng said, pointing out the location of the devils on the map for Li Xinmin. After looking at the map, Li Xinmin knew that the devils would arrive soon.

  "Everyone, get ready to fight!" Li Xinmin ordered immediately. "Second Company Commander, are the explosives all set?" "Don't worry, Battalion Commander! Everything is ready!" "Alright! Later, you'll be in charge of commanding the demolition team to attack the devils' trucks wrapped in tarpaulins, blow them all up for me. I'll lead the troops to block the devils' attack and cover you." Li Xinmin quickly arranged the combat tasks.

  Just as they were talking, a series of explosions and intense gunfire suddenly came from the direction of Sunjiazhuang.

  "Company Commander, what's going on? Why are they fighting over at Sun Family Village? Aren't the devils supposed to be here?" Liu Wentao asked in confusion.

  "Heavens know, who knows what the little devil is singing about! Never mind, let's blow up this group of devils' truck first!" Li Xinmin replied jokingly. He was also very puzzled, how did they start fighting over there? Even earlier than here. Just by listening to the gunfire, you can tell how intense the battle is over there. The battle is so fierce, it means that those are all tough guys! At this moment, he couldn't care about that many things, let's just get rid of the devils here first.

  "Halt!", Lieutenant Shiraishi suddenly stopped the convoy, he jumped off the car and listened carefully to the distant gunfire, other officers saw him get off the car and also got off to gather around him.

  "Captain Miura! It seems that Commander Katō and his men have already engaged the enemy, it looks like the fish has really taken the bait." Lieutenant Commander Ishihara said to Squadron Leader Captain Miura.

  "Not bad! Lieutenant, now that the fish has bitten the hook, can our truck speed up and move forward? ", Miura asked. They were very careful on this road, afraid of being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army. Since Katō's place had already exchanged fire, it meant that there was no problem here, so they didn't need to slow down their speed anymore, but could quickly move forward and transport these supplies to Licheng as soon as possible.

  "Not bad! Judging from the sound, the number of Eighth Route Army troops fighting against Major General Kato and his men shouldn't be too small. It seems they might run into a bit of trouble!", Ishihara said, looking in the direction of Sunjiazhuang.

  "Ishihara-kun, don't worry, the commander has already informed other units and they will provide support to Major Kato's team at once upon receiving the order," a Japanese military officer said.

  "It seems that these bandits won't be able to escape!", "Notify the troops to advance at full speed, strive to enter Licheng before 7 o'clock." Shi Yuan turned around and got on the truck he was riding in, the convoy sped up under his command, rapidly heading towards Li Xinmin's location.

  "Here it comes! Everyone take cover!", the enemy's truck slowly appeared in Li Xinmin and his comrades' line of sight. The soldiers involuntarily gripped their weapons tightly, waiting for Li Xinmin's attack order.

  When the devils' trucks were fully within their attack range, Li Xinnan gave a loud order, "Fire!", and the soldiers immediately launched the most intense attack on the devils' trucks on the highway below. Hand grenades fell from the air like hailstones, several shooters, under Li Xinnan's command, quickly shot at the truck drivers, killing several of them, while others were either wounded or scared off, running down from the vehicles and hiding behind them.

  "Demolition team! Go and blow up the enemy's trucks!", seeing that the enemy had already been disrupted, Li Xinmin immediately ordered the soldiers to destroy the trucks. Liu Wentao led the soldiers carrying explosives prepared in advance, rushing down from the high ground, charging into the enemy's formation.

  "Block! Protect the truck!", Captain Ishihara, who was guarding the convoy, immediately saw the intention of the Eighth Route Army. He quickly ordered his soldiers to find cover and counterattack against the Eighth Route Army's offensive, protecting the supplies on the truck.

  Just as Ishihara had gathered his soldiers, a bullet ended his life, hitting him in the head. From several other directions, more bullets flew in, striking his body. Ishihara fell to the ground, twitched a few times and died. The counterattack that was about to take shape was disrupted once again by Li Xinnian and his men, causing panic among the soldiers. Someone shouted, "It's bad! The company commander is dead!", and the Japanese abandoned their trucks, fleeing in all directions. Those who continued to resist were firing wildly.

  "Great marksmanship, Captain!", soldier Yan Zhi couldn't help but praise Li Xinmin as he took his rifle back from him. He had just witnessed Li Xinmin take his own rifle and with one swift shot, kill that Japanese officer.

  "Quickly cover the blasting group!", Li Xinmin said to Yan Zhi, who was still in a daze. Yan Zhi busied himself loading bullets and firing at the devils below.

  Actually, at the time Shi Yuan got off the stone, several gun barrels were already aimed at him. It was just that the soldiers hadn't fired yet when Li Xinmin solved Shi Yuan with one shot. The few shots afterwards were fired by the soldiers. The chaotic devils were mowed down in batches by the soldiers' machine guns, and those devils who were not killed fell to the ground, screaming in pain, their voices like pigs and dogs being slaughtered.

  Li Xinmin and his men chose this ambush point, which was much higher than the highway, with a steep slope. The devils had a hard time climbing up. The Eighth Route Army soldiers above could easily shoot down at them. Liu Wentao and his men successfully rushed into the devil's truck group, next to the arriving trucks, they planned to put explosives on the trucks, but after trying several times, they failed.