Chapter 45: To Scheme is to be Schemed Against

  The surroundings of the road were very quiet, with no sound at all.

  The warriors have begun to turn around and leave, reporting what they found.

  Everyone's heart was extremely tense, and as soon as the Japanese army opened fire, most of these people would fall on the road.

  The Japanese never fired a shot, waiting for bigger fish and would not expose their firepower and position prematurely for these small fish.

  A line of warriors, after withdrawing from the road, each person's back was drenched with sweat.

  Lian Chang wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and quickly ran forward.

  On the empty ground, Yang Junran's face was somewhat tense.

  He wasn't worried about his own troops, but rather about Zhou Yulan's safety.

  "Commander, there are Japanese troops on all sides of the road ahead, and they're not few in number. The soil around us is freshly turned over, it seems they're hiding on both sides of the road." Captain Yang Junran's company commander rushed to his side, saluting quickly as he spoke.

  After finishing speaking, he took a deep breath, obviously having run for too long.

  "The Japanese army has learned to be cunning and knows how to ambush us. This time, we will give them a good lesson and let them know the strength of our troops." Yang Junran walked to the front of the map and said loudly to the officers.

  The officers followed Yang Junran and quickly walked to the front of the map.

  "Let's wait for a while and act together after the third battalion arrives." Yang Junran said, pointing at the map.

  The officers nodded and anxiously looked towards the direction of the distant county town.

  More than 10 o'clock in the morning, the troops of the Third Brigade also arrived.

  Yang Junran looked at the officers and quickly gave orders: "The tank regiment will quickly pass through the road and directly reinforce Commander Zhou Yulan in the mountainous area. The third brigade will attack along the left wing of the road, the first brigade will attack along the right wing of the road, and the cavalry regiment will serve as a reserve."

  The officers were given orders, saluted hastily and walked back to their posts.

  Forty tanks started their engines, waiting for the order to depart.

  Zhang Junzhe put on the armored infantry's helmet and quickly crawled into a tank.

  With Zhang Junzhe's gesture, the entire tank squadron began to move into action.

  A loud rumbling sound arose, and the tanks began to move forward along the road ahead.

  Machine gunners trained their tank machine guns on the flanks so they could fire at Japanese troops along both sides of the road.

  Tsukahara Kōji held up his binoculars and waited quietly for his prey to arrive.

  He believed that as long as Chinese troops entered their own ambush circle, they would definitely suffer heavy casualties. The thirty-six 75mm mountain guns were not to be trifled with.

  As he looked through the telescope, a familiar tank appeared in his line of sight, that of Tsukahara Kōji.

  "Halt! What's going on with the tank unit? Why are they appearing on the road?" Commander Nogaki Kōji shouted, reprimanding them for what he thought would expose their battle plan.

  But he did not know that his so-called ambush plan had already been detected by Chinese troops.

  Perhaps after the Japanese army cleared their own marching traces and set up such an ambush circle, they might have succeeded.

  But they didn't clean up, deep down inside, they still looked down on any Chinese troops.

  As the sound of machine guns grew louder, a staff officer rushed over to Tsunejiro Nishida and said, "Commander, it's a Chinese tank unit."

  "Hagane is our empire's tank." Takaoka Kōji was momentarily confused by the staff officer's words and slapped him on both ears.

  The adjutant who had been beaten quickly stood at attention and waited for Tsunokawa Kōji's reprimand.

  "Your meaning is that China has captured our tanks?" Sadao Tsunogake seemed to understand, and asked in a calm tone.

  "Yes." The staff officer didn't say any more, merely answering Koka Kōji's question.

  On the road ahead, tank machine guns were continuously firing at the grass thickets on both sides.

  Freshly plowed land became a focus of machine gun fire.

  Some of the Japanese soldiers saw such firepower and quickly hid. The rifles in their hands were useless against these tanks.

  As an independent mixed brigade, their infantry formation was greatly reduced. Under the independent infantry battalion, there were only three infantry companies, one machine gun company (with four heavy machine guns), and no artillery support. The only supporting firepower came from the brigade's direct-affiliated artillery company, which had twelve mountain or field guns.

  Watching the tank's rapid advance, Tsuneoki Nomura quickly gave the order to fire.

  The artillery battalion belonging to the Independent Mixed 2nd Brigade, with a total of thirty-six 75mm mountain guns, quickly began firing.

  Shells kept exploding on the road, and many shells even hit tanks.

  The tank advanced rapidly, without regard for the Japanese artillery's bombardment.

  A tank was hit on its track and can no longer move forward.

  The gunner quickly began firing, shooting out the shells inside the vehicle.

  Machine guns were continuously sweeping around them, they knew what their fate would be.

  The next few rounds of artillery fire had already destroyed the tank.

  The armored soldiers in the vehicle all sacrificed themselves.

  The two troops launched a swift attack under the cover of infantry artillery, continuously impacting the Japanese army's position.

  Tsukaoka Kōji's face was one of shock; he knew his troops had been exposed.

  "Charge, charge at once!" Kengoro Yokota shouted loudly, trying to settle the matter with a cavalry squadron.

  More than 200 war horses galloped forward, charging towards the Chinese troops.

  Yang Junran held up his binoculars, realizing that something was amiss.

  "Liang Fei, dispatch a cavalry regiment to intercept the Japanese cavalry, withdraw one cavalry regiment as reserve, and have the remaining two regiments quickly outflank and attack the Japanese artillery positions." Yang Junran knew the threat of artillery to his troops and quickly issued orders.

  Liang Fei, having received the order, quickly ran towards his cavalry.

  In a short while, one thousand five hundred war horses charged forward.

  Yang Junran wanted to charge with his bayonet, but he knew that he needed to command the overall battle.

  The Japanese army hidden on both sides of the road suddenly turned their guns and aimed at the Chinese troops advancing on their flank.

  Kang Lianqin held a large knife and rushed to the front of the team.

  The ten 92 infantry guns of the artillery battalion provided continuous firepower cover.

  Ten Type 92 heavy machine guns were quickly set up on high ground and fired wildly at the Japanese positions.

  The First Brigade faced the Second and Third Independent Infantry Battalions of the Mixed Brigade of the Second Route Army.

  A force of over 1,700 men had only eight heavy machine guns as firepower.

  "First company, get your damn machine gun platoon over here, don't hide it!" Kang Lianqin shouted loudly as he saw the troops being blocked.

  The battalion commander looked at the troops behind him and shouted quickly: "Machine gun company, get your asses up here and die with me!"

  Three Type 92 heavy machine guns were quickly brought over by soldiers and began firing at the Japanese positions.

  Type 97 90mm mortar was quickly set up and bombarded the Japanese army's firepower.

  Supported by machine guns and mortars, the battalion launched another attack.

  Within two hundred meters of the Japanese army, each company's grenade launcher began firing mini-grenades.

  In the distance, Yang Junran held up his binoculars and couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. The combat effectiveness of the First Brigade was obviously much higher than that of the Third Brigade.

  The First Division has now reached the front of the Japanese army's position, while the Third Division's artillery fire has just begun.

  Toka Kōji stood on high ground, constantly watching the battle situation on both sides of the road.

  The Chinese cavalry has begun to block the attack of two squadrons, and a considerable number of cavalry troops are attacking the artillery positions around their brigade headquarters.

  Toka Kōji sneered, if he didn't have tanks in his hands, the Chinese cavalry might pose a great threat to him, but since he had thirty-six tanks at his disposal, he wasn't afraid of these cavalrymen armed with rifles and sabers.

  "Order the tank corps to attack, intercept the Chinese cavalry troops, order the artillery to reinforce the front battle, and the first battalion to join the battle." Tsuneaki Suga quickly gave orders.

  The orderly received the order and quickly ran out.

  Thirty-six tanks sprang into action, firing shells at the galloping warhorses.

  Liang Fei saw the tank and quickly shouted loudly: "Disperse."

  The originally concentrated war horses quickly dispersed and chaotically moved forward in all directions.

  The artillery on the high grounds continued to fire and the attacking troops were suppressed by firepower, starting to retreat in disorder.

  The Japanese army suddenly opened fire and suppressed the advancing troops.

  Kang Lianqin saw that the first battalion was being beaten back and loudly shouted: "The first battalion is not afraid of death, follow me up. The second battalion makes a flanking attack."

  The machine gun battalion and artillery battalion behind started firing again, covering the charge of the troops in front.

  A battalion commander held a bayonet and personally charged at the front of the troops.

  The warriors quickly began to launch an attack on the position, with each company's light machine gunners holding their guns and continuously sweeping the position, covering the charge of the troops.

  A shell exploded in the midst of the charging troops, and many soldiers fell under it.

  But no one paid attention and still followed their superiors to launch an attack on the Japanese army's position.

  "Communications officer, send a telegram to Commander Zhou Yulan and ask about the situation there." Yang Junran shouted loudly with red eyes.

  The communications soldier saw his superior officer seemingly about to get angry and quickly became busy.

  Before long, he received a telegram in response.

  "Commander, General Zhou's telegram has arrived. The Mongolian army is launching a diversionary attack on the outer perimeter, and the female soldiers are fully confident that they can hold out until dawn. If our troops encounter resistance, they can engage in combat without any problems." The communications soldier rushed over with the telegram to report.

  "Send telegram to Zhang Junzhe's tank regiment, stop the plan to go to the mountainous area, quickly return and support, assist the cavalry regiment in destroying the Japanese artillery positions and tank troops. Order the first division, third division, each to dispatch two infantry guns, quickly reinforce the cavalry regiment for battle." Yang Junran issued the order after receiving the intelligence.