Chapter 72: Capture of Linqing Feikuang Net

  Liu Feng, Lin Team Leader and Chen Zhengwei all leaned over the map to take a good look. After a while, Liu Feng raised his head and said: "Commander Luo is right, Wu Shengzhong doesn't know our tactics at all, he has never suffered losses from us, so I think we can completely defeat Linqing County. Moreover, since our special warfare battalion has 500 people, we can completely ambush the reinforcements coming from Xiazhen County, Gaotang County and Liaocheng."

  "Alright, let's do it this way," said Captain Lin.

  Chen Zhengwei said: "The battle of Linqing is a relatively large action, should we report it to our superiors?"

  "In that case, Luo Changbing, you take a few men to Linqing County first to do some reconnaissance, including which places on the roads from Xiajin County, Gaotang County and Liaocheng are suitable for ambushes." Liu Feng instructed.

  Chen Zhengwei said: "These places also have some of our guerrilla troops, we can contact them and ask for their help."

  "Wait until all the intelligence is clear and then report it to the Eighth Route Army headquarters, it's not late," said Liu Feng.

  "Alright, it's settled then."

  ……

  The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the chief of staff of the advance enemy army received a telegram from the special warfare battalion and came to find the commander-in-chief: "Commander-in-Chief, Liu Feng and others are preparing to attack Linqing."

  "What? Linqing?" The commander-in-chief hastily went to look at the map, "Linqing is surrounded by the 1st and 7th divisions and the 110th brigade. And there are no regular Eighth Route Army troops nearby. This battle won't be easy to fight!"

  "General, Liu Feng and the others think that the 7th Brigade has never suffered at their hands, so they don't understand their tactics. Linqing is within the jurisdiction of the 7th Brigade, and Wu Shengzhong, as a major general, will definitely not ask for assistance from the 1st Brigade and the 110th Division in order to save face. He can only mobilize troops from surrounding counties such as Xiajin, Gaotang, and Licheng to reinforce. Liu Feng and the others plan not only to attack Linqing but also to defeat the reinforcements from several other counties."

  The commander frowned and said, "Are you kidding me? The four counties' little devils combined have at least one battalion, and the puppet army has at least three thousand people. With so many troops, how can their five hundred men handle it? And didn't Han Xicun and his men leave anyone to defend?"

  The Chief of Staff said: "Han Xicun, Liu Feng plans to leave only one company to defend and let the 223rd Regiment assist in the defense. The remaining troops, led by Liu Feng with a hundred men, will launch a night raid on Linqing, while more than three hundred people will ambush the reinforcements coming from Xiajin County, Gaotang County, and Licheng. They plan to lay landmines on the highway and still adopt the method of annihilating the original team, wiping out the reinforcements."

  "Can a hundred men take Linqing County by playing a disorderly zither?" said the commander-in-chief.

  The Chief of Staff said, "Liu Feng plans to use the same tactics he used to take down Guangping, crossing the city wall into Linqing. All members of the Special Forces have this capability. They will also cut off the telephone lines in Linqing County first, get rid of the little devils' telegraph personnel, and make them send out distress signals as late as possible. According to their intelligence, the defense in Linqing County is very lax, and there are basically no large-scale anti-Japanese armed activities in this area, so they can't think of being attacked at all. I think this battle has a good chance of winning. It's very beneficial for us to expand our influence with the Eighth Route Army."

  The commander carefully read the telegram, thought for a moment, and said: "Let them pay attention to safety, if not, retreat. Don't fight hard with the little devils!"

  ……

  Black night, another gloomy day, outside the city wall of Linqing County, Shandong Province, a piece of darkness.

  One hundred agile figures clad in Japanese military uniforms, arrived at the foot of the city wall. First, Liu Feng and Luo Changbing grasped the brick seams on the city wall with their hands and climbed up to the top of the wall, then threw down several ropes, and one hundred people silently climbed up the wall along the ropes.

  Liu Feng left two snipers on the city wall, then divided his troops into three routes. One route was led by himself to the Japanese devils' military camp, one route was led by Luo Changbing to the puppet army's military camp, and one route was led by Yu Daqing to occupy various strategic locations.

  Due to the lack of preparation and laxity of the Little Devils in Linqing County, Liu Feng's action was extremely smooth. After he killed the two sentries at the gate of the Little Devils' military camp, more than 30 people sneaked into the Japanese military camp without being detected.

  The remaining work was easy to do, each barracks had a dedicated sniper and machine gunner on guard, with someone throwing a dozen or so hand grenades into each barracks.

  Soon, the whole day was filled with the sound of explosions within Linqing County, and upon hearing the explosions, Luo Changbing also launched an attack on the puppet army barracks like Liu Feng did. Yu Daqing quickly occupied and took control of all key departments in Linqing County.

  Luo Changbing was not like Liu Feng, who had a soft spot for the puppet army and often spared their lives. Luo Changbing showed no mercy to the puppet army, killing the sentries at the military camp before using snipers and machine guns to block the doors of the barracks and throwing in large quantities of hand grenades.

  Then it was the slaughter of the puppet army that ran out of the barracks. The battle had just started for less than ten minutes, and all the puppet troops in the military camp had surrendered. And most of the scattered puppet troops outside the military camp, including those guarding the city gate, had run away. Hiding back home, no one dared to come out.

  Only a small number of puppet troops were pressed to support the Japanese army camp by one or two little devils at each city gate. However, they were shot and fled in disarray by several snipers arranged by Liu Feng on the road ahead of time. After several little devils were killed, the puppet troops dispersed without anyone urging them on.

  Liu Feng's raid was very focused on preventing the little devils from sending out distress signals, and first blew up the little devil staff officer who was on duty at the telegraph office.

  The little devil's squad leader was killed by Liu Feng himself, who personally dragged him into the room and stabbed him to death.

  The little devils, after suffering such a blow, still did not give up their resistance and launched a gun battle with the troops of Yingfang and Liu Feng. However, their quality was far from that of Liu Feng's special forces. In about forty minutes, all the little devils in a company were killed.

  Liu Feng cleared the Little Devils' military camp, and Luo Changbing annihilated the puppet army in the military camp, capturing nearly 200 puppets. Yu Daqing occupied all the key departments of the county seat and also captured the Zhengjin Bank's Linqing branch.

  The remaining work was naturally to identify the Japanese puppet property in the county town, move the ammunition from the small devil's arsenal, and various properties from the Zhengjin Bank. Those captured puppet troops were naturally free labor, no need to pay them. When they found out that they were attacked by Liu Feng, they became extremely honest. It seems that Liu Feng's name has already spread to Shandong. The puppet troops' rumors about Liu Feng became more and more mysterious. It seemed as if he could wipe out thousands of devils with just a wave of his hand.

  Chen Zhengwei also found the local underground party organization and organized the villagers to participate in the transportation. Although they had made preparations in advance, the transportation work still took two days and nights. On the third day, Liu Feng felt that it was almost done, and he sent a telegram to his superior, Ryūgō Rei, the commander of the battalion stationed in Gaotang County, under the name of Tanabe Taro, the captain of the Xiao Guizi company in Linqing County, saying that Linqing County had been attacked by a large number of Eighth Route Army troops and was about to be lost, requesting tactical guidance.