Chapter Eighteen: Linked Stratagems

  Yamashita Koji waited for the Nohara squad for two hours, and also gave Chen Jifan a two-hour head start. After annihilating the Nohara squad, Chen Jifan judged that since the enemy did not see the Nohara squad return, they would definitely send troops to investigate, so Chen Jifan decided to implement a bold plan.

  He had Zhao Jun lead four rows to stay behind, and when the main force of the devils came out of the city to meet them, they would launch an ambush, creating the illusion that the main force of the "Divine Eagle" was still in its original position. They would fight while retreating, luring the devils further and further away. If the devils had any intention of retreating, they would turn around and pursue them, in short, they had to stick to the devils like a plaster. The next day, they rushed to Xiao Wangzhuang to join forces with the main force.

  Chen Jifan led the main force to detour and ambush outside Zhulong Town, waiting for the Japanese troops to leave the city and join forces with Zhao Jun after firing, and then responded to the special combat team that had been lurking in the town with Luo Yuguang, taking the opportunity to capture Zhulong Town.

  There are several factors to consider. Firstly, if the devils do not move or just take a symbolic look around, Chen Jifan will lead the main force to launch a full-scale feint attack on Zhulang Town, and with Luohan creating chaos in the town, I believe the devil's commander will definitely ask for reinforcements from Dabao Island. When Dabao Island returns, he will lead the entire regiment back to Xiaowangzhuang. Secondly, if they break into Zhulang Town, can the troops obtain valuable spoils of war in the shortest time possible? This depends on the reconnaissance ability of the special warfare team that infiltrated the town. Thirdly, there is the choice of retreat route. Zhulang Town is absolutely impossible to defend, even with ten times more troops, it would not be dared to defend. Once the devils' main force from Chuzhou surrounds them, the troops will have no way out. Going west is the shortcut back to Xiaowangzhuang, but they will definitely encounter Dabao Island's main force. Going south is not possible, and encountering two small teams led by Shandong Nearji would be a losing business that cannot be done. The north is all water, an absolute dead end, and is not considered. Finally, Chen Jifan carefully studied the map and decided to retreat from Zhulang Town in the southwest direction, which can avoid encountering Dabao Island's main force and quickly return to Xiaowangzhuang.

  Luo Yuguang led the special warfare squad, brought by Xu Yang, to successfully bypass the town and infiltrate Zhulon Town from the north. The gunfire of the main force ambushing the devils could still be faintly heard in the town, but the special warfare squad did not make any rash moves. The devils were mobilizing troops all over the streets, causing unrest in the town, and it was precisely this that no one noticed that an enemy unit had already infiltrated a corner of the north of the town.

  Two hours of lurking, the special warfare squad showed excellent discipline as an elite unit. Not a single person exposed their target, nor did anyone make any unusual noise, and the 14 team members were like a pack of wolves in the dark, quietly waiting for the opportunity to capture their target.

  Shanxi Jinjie no longer had the good mood he had at first, and he judged that the Nohara squad must have encountered an accident. A month ago, a squadron of the Imperial Army was said to have been ambushed by this "Divine Eagle" Chinese army and annihilated. However, until now, the intelligence department has not figured out their specific military strength, only from some minor details inferred that the number of people in this team is not many, at least not more than a hundred. But Nohara's squad encountered only a few dozen people, can a few dozen people really make an Imperial Army squadron unable to return? And why did they attack Zhulong Town with just a few dozen soldiers?

  It should be said that Yamashita's mind was still quite clear-headed, and if he could continue to maintain such a calm head, Chen Jie's bold plan might have fallen through. Unfortunately, Yamashita was also arrogant like many of his colleagues. Perhaps it was the news of the Japanese army capturing the capital of China that made all the officers and soldiers from top to bottom look down on the Chinese army with contempt.

  But war is war, and the arrogance of soldiers always has to pay a price, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, are no exception. Shanxia thought it was natural that these Chinese militia would definitely be driven by Daishan's pursuit and have nowhere to turn before launching a desperate attack on Zhulong Town, because once they succeeded in attacking, the stored weapons, ammunition, food and supplies in Zhulong Town would bring them back to life.

  Japanese militarists themselves are a group of gamblers, 1894 gambled, 1905 gambled, 9.18 gambled, 7.7 still gambled... The gambler's mentality has already penetrated into the blood of every Japanese military officer. So Yamashita Tomoyuki also thought that his opponent was a gambler, putting the fate of an entire unit on attacking a heavily defended town.

  In a sense, Chen Jifang was indeed gambling, betting that the devils would underestimate his strength. However, this gamble was based on careful planning, so Shanxia was destined to fall flat on his face, with a big thud.

  When Yamashita Kikuo saw with his own eyes the more than 50 corpses of the Nohara squad neatly laid out in the wilderness, he was so enraged that he drew his sword. What kind of people were they on the other side? How could they have such strong combat power? To know that a single Imperial Army squad's combat power is almost equivalent to a Chinese government army company. At least one thing can be certain: these Chinese are not government troops, but just some scattered civilian armed forces, who lack ammunition and supplies. Because all the weapons of the Nohara squad were gone, even military canteens, helmets, and boots were looted. But how could ordinary civilian armed forces have such combat power?

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!", several deafening explosions brought Shan Xia back from his thoughts.

  "Report, several soldiers were killed while clearing Imperial troops' bodies when they triggered a hand grenade left behind by the Chinese."

  These "thunderbolts" placed under the corpse were Zhao Jun's masterpiece made from a few Japanese-made hand grenades. Before crossing over, Zhao Jun was already a well-known expert in traps within his unit. In his hands, even stones and wood could be turned into terrifying lethal weapons.

  The pursuit was unsuccessful, and instead, several Imperial soldiers lost their lives. Yamashita Kōsuke's spirit was on the verge of collapse. Those damn Chinese only knew how to use such despicable tactics and didn't dare face the Imperial Army head-on.

  "Orders! Units disperse, continue searching forward!" Shanxia believed he would definitely be able to find the direction of the enemy army.

  Zhao Jun and his four rows did not go far, they could even hear the explosion sound of "Guilei", for the "Shenying" warriors who had been fighting for days, these explosions were the most beautiful and pleasant sounds in the world.

  "Listen, this is called a ground plane. After this battle is over, I'll ask the platoon leader to teach me. Hehe, it's really enjoyable to see the devils sitting on the ground plane."

  "You say, those things you made in the bamboo forest are useful? A few bamboo sticks can be more powerful than bullets?"

  "Why bother with so much, just follow the queue and it's done. I've been a soldier for many years, but only here do I feel at ease. The little devils have finally met their match."

  Zhao Jun had no interest in the nonsense of his subordinates. He was carefully considering the route, that is, the route to lure these devils to pursue themselves relentlessly. One horse plain was definitely not feasible, and the brothers might become the devils' living targets. Fortunately, there were many local people in the team, and under Zhao Jun's inquiry, the route was finally determined.

  After settling the back route, the next step is to find the ghost son's bad luck.

  Zhao Jun took a rifle from the hands of the warriors behind him, loaded and aimed, then used his thumb to moisten with saliva in the wind to measure the wind speed. At a distance of 400 meters, Zhao Jun took a deep breath, then focused on aiming...

  The four rows of warriors saw the row leader perform his marksmanship in public for the first time, holding their breath and staring intently at the muzzle of the row leader's gun.

  "Bang!" A gunshot pierced the quiet night sky, and a bullet concentrated 400 meters away on the head of a devil lieutenant, leaving an inconspicuous blood hole on his head before flying away. The lieutenant fell to the ground with a thud.

  For soldiers, the sound of gunfire is an order. The two squads of over a hundred men at the foot of the mountain immediately took up defensive and counterattacking postures. In just a few short seconds, the enemy's gunfire was like raindrops hitting the front line of the four hidden positions.

  The fourth row of warriors was suppressed by the dense firepower and couldn't even lift their heads. The devils saw that the suppression was effective, so they raised their bayonets and started charging towards us. For the fourth row of warriors, this battle was like heaven and hell compared to two hours ago, from suppressing the devils to being suppressed by them. There's no way around it, the devils' Type 92 heavy machine gun had a longer range than any weapon on our side.

  "New soldiers retreat first, old soldiers cut off the rear!" Zhao Jun shouted loudly.

  After all, it's a new recruit. When retreating, they can't even do it in an organized and disciplined manner. If it weren't for the squad leaders reminding them, they would probably lose their guns too. Zhao Jun let out a sigh and silently cursed his bad luck. Why did the company commander assign this task to him?

  Yamashita carefully observed the movements of the enemy through his binoculars and found that they were just a mob, as their fleeing appearance could not be associated with a combat-effective unit. He wanted to let the troops pursue immediately, but the fate of the Nohara squad made him hesitate. Yamashita ordered the troops to maintain a certain distance from the Chinese forces opposite them, not to chase too tightly, so as not to fall into the ambush of the Chinese forces. The Japanese soldiers who had been baptized by the neat corpses of the Nohara squad understood their commander's caution and executed the order without any discount.

  Zhao Jun's mood was very complicated at this moment. He worried that the Japanese would really come after them with their lives, and whether the dozens of people under him could withstand it. But seeing the devils wasn't so urgent, he also worried that the devils would see through the strategy and turn back, in which case even the longest of plans might fall apart.

  Zhao Junyu urged the retreating troops to maintain their formation while ordering all machine guns to open fire on the devils. The devils stuck behind would never have expected that the fleeing Chinese still had such fierce firepower. Four machine guns fired simultaneously, forming a dense web of flames in front of the devils. Seven or eight devils at the forefront were instantly swept away, and the rest fell down to hide.

  Taking advantage of the gap when the devils were avoiding, Zhao Jun organized four rows to withdraw in an orderly manner along the route he had previously set, and how could he bring this group of devils there after more than an hour of hard work?

  For Zhao Jun, Chen Jifan was 100% at ease. This kid was personally selected from the grassroots company when he was in the Chengdu Military Region. Although he is often joking around, but when it comes to fighting, he is willing to use his brain and has a unique skill in setting up ambushes. I remember that during a military exercise, this kid single-handedly caused an entire platoon of pursuing troops to suffer "casualties", and finally returned to the unit unscathed. According to convention, the captain of the reconnaissance company is usually a lieutenant colonel, but the party committee of the battalion unanimously recommended that Zhao Jun, who was still a first lieutenant at the time, take on the role, and promoted his military rank to senior captain.

  The gunfire in Zhao Jun's direction changed from dense to sparse, indicating that the fourth row of troops had begun to pin down the enemy, and everything was going according to plan.

  Chen Jifan allocated the remaining men under his command, with 20 each at the south and east gates making a feint attack, while the main force launched an all-out assault on the west gate. The west gate was closer to Luo Yuguang's hiding place in the town, more importantly, the west gate outside the town had a bridge (which the devils did not know what happened on it), and the devils' defense was the weakest, and from reconnaissance, the west gate wall was not very strong.

  Snipers all in position, each locking onto the enemy's machine gunners and sentries on the wall. Jin Suo, a sniper, had been pestering He Chunxiang for a chance to participate in the battle, and finally won the opportunity, with Chen Jifang calling him over to assess his skills.

  Chen Jifan arranged all the grenade launchers and light and heavy machine guns in a nearly abnormal manner, waiting for the battle to start before using strong firepower to annihilate the enemy's living forces on the wall. Then, cover the blasting group to blow open the west gate. In order to rush into Zhulang Town at the first time, Chen Jifan prepared to concentrate all four submachine guns and light machine guns as a shock team, followed closely by the throwing grenade group, and launched a strong firepower attack at one point, just relying on the little devil's 38 big cover, it is impossible to resist.

  Another two hours have passed, and the sound of gunfire in Zhao Jun's direction has almost disappeared. Shan Xiaojie is so persistent that even Zhao Jun can't help but applaud for him, and the devil commander is really cooperating.

  Yamashita now has only one thought, that is to catch the Japanese devils at all costs, otherwise how can he explain to the Wild Squadron and those Imperial soldiers who were ambushed by the Japanese in the bamboo forest. Just half an hour ago, a piece of bamboo forest made him lose more than a dozen brave warriors again. Some were nailed to the ground with bamboo, some were killed by the Japanese-laid bamboo rafts, some fell into the traps dug by the Japanese, their bodies full of bamboo, and others were blown up by the ubiquitous "landmines" made of hand grenades... The death was very tragic, and what can't be tolerated is that the morale of his soldiers has reached an all-time low. So no matter what, he can't let them slip away from under his nose, otherwise he's done as a commander.

  "Begin!" Chen Jifan commanded.

  In an instant, a loud explosion and gunfire erupted outside Zhulon Town. The grenade launcher pinpointed the solid firepower of all Japanese troops on the surrounding wall. The artillery formation of "Shenying" had undergone a dramatic change in just three days, making it unrecognizable. The operation of the Japanese 89-style grenade launcher was extremely simple, and ordinary people could master it after a few attempts. If this weapon were used today, it would be an essential equipment for African civil wars and terrorist attacks. With Li Anjie, a regular artillery officer in command, the power of "Shenying" grenade launcher was comparable to that of the Japanese troops.

  If there is one thing that distinguishes the "Divine Eagle" from the guerrilla forces of the time, it should be that the "Divine Eagle" has a dedicated sniper. In the 21st century today, sniper warfare has been listed as a key special operations project by various countries, and all military powers are sparing no effort to train their own "battlefield death gods". An excellent first-class sniper can even change the outcome of a battle. The devils were very lucky because among their opponents was one of the world's best snipers at the time and his apprentices.

  Wen Chuanhao focused on taking care of the enemy's mortar, which is better than a grenade launcher in terms of range and accuracy, whether it's a bullet gun or a shotgun. The grenade launcher can only withstand the beating in front of it, and if the devil's mortar is not eliminated, the combat effectiveness of the grenade launcher will be greatly discounted.

  As soon as the battle began, the devils launched a counterattack. However, Fumikawa Hiroshi never allowed the devils' mortars to fire even a single shell. Instead, the devils piled up corpses next to their two mortars. In the end, the devils abandoned these ill-fated iron objects and relied on light and heavy machine guns for firepower support.

  The battle is getting more and more intense, which can be seen from the increasingly dense bullets on both sides. The number of casualties on both sides began to rise continuously, with the enemy's casualties being greater, despite their geographical advantage. "God Eagle" can use grenade launchers to "take care" of the enemy's machine guns in addition to machine guns. The explosive squad suffered heavier casualties due to less training in this area, and the soldiers' tactical movements were not standardized. Many people were knocked down by dense bullets halfway through, and the scene often seen on TV where someone was shot several times but still managed to crawl did not occur. Anyone who was hit by a machine gun had at least 4 or more bullets, with only one outcome: immediate death.

  In just a few minutes, the blasting squad lost 7 warriors, Chen Jifan was so heartbroken that he punched the ground heavily.

  When both sides were at a stalemate, intense gunfire and explosions came from the town, Luohan finally took action, damn it, what was he doing so early.

  Luo Yuguang led the special warfare squad to lie in ambush for more than three hours, until no devils' patrol teams could be seen on the streets. Zhulong Town had a small population, and every household closed their doors at night, not even a watchman was present, occasionally a few barks of dogs were heard, but nobody would pay attention to it.

  The special warfare squad, led by Xu Yang, carried out infiltration reconnaissance throughout the town. The enemy's forces were concentrated only at the town gate and the town government office, while the rest of the area was a vacuum zone. Luo Yuguang judged that there must be something fishy about the town government office, because the enemy had never relaxed its guard over it. The entrance to the town government office was heavily guarded, with machine guns placed at all high points, and roadblocks and machine gun emplacements were set up at the entrance.

  Luo Yuguang carefully counted the number of devils through the telescope. The telescope was brought over during the crossing and had night vision function, all the arrangements of the devils in front of the town hall were clearly visible. Good guy, 35 people, 5 light machine guns, it seems that there must be a big fish here. Battalion commander, why haven't you come yet? Luo Yuguang's heart was itching.

  "Xu Yang, pick a few skilled ones to sneak around to the back of the town hall with you. I don't care what method you use, just find a way to get in, got it?" Luo Yugang commanded, pointing at the location behind the town hall.

  "Yes!" Xu Yang turned and left.

  "Come back! After you go in, don't make any rash moves. As soon as I make a move here, you guys will give me a fierce beating from the inside out. We can't let the devils establish a defensive line and exhaust us, we can't afford to be exhausted. In short, beat those little devils until they're in disarray, humph! Town hall, I've got you right where I want you!" Luo Han said viciously.

  The special forces team heard the sound of intense gunfire all around the town, and one by one, their faces lit up with excitement.

  "Commander Lian, you've finally arrived," Luo Yuguang said to himself after putting down the binoculars.

  "Everyone is present, prepare for battle!"

  After the battle began, Luo Yuguang took advantage of the chaos to run to the nearby street and shouted loudly in both Chinese and Japanese: "The Divine Eagle has arrived, the Divine Eagle is attacking!"

  The devils guarding the front of the town hall were still somewhat flustered upon hearing the news that "the Divine Eagle has launched an attack", and several excited devils who tried to stick their heads out were knocked down by a hail of bullets.

  The warriors under Luo Yuangang were all seasoned veterans who had crawled out of piles of dead bodies, and although they were a bit fewer in number, their ability to dodge bullets was top-notch. So the enemy's fierce firepower didn't cause any casualties on this side. Of course, it was impossible for just over ten people to try to attack the town hall alone.

  Xu Yang was the one who stabbed the devil from behind at this time, machine guns, submachine guns and hand grenades all greeted the devils. The devils never dreamed that there were still enemies behind them, and the firepower was extremely fierce. The devils, who were caught off guard, were quickly wiped out.

  The special warfare team successfully assembled in front of the town government office. Luo Yugang ordered a search of the town government office at the fastest speed, and after confirming that there was no resistance from the devils, he had Xu Yang lead 5 people to guard the town government office, while he himself led the remaining team members to attack the west gate where the gunfire was most intense.

  The enemy's forces were all deployed to guard the walls, and not a single enemy soldier could be seen on the streets. Luo Yu-gang followed the sound of gunfire, firing his gun along the way, wanting to make the enemy think that a large force had arrived, causing even greater panic among them. Sure enough, five or six enemy soldiers carrying Type 38 rifles rushed out from the corner of the street, coincidentally encountering Luo Yu-gang. The outcome was predictable: Luo Yu-gang's submachine gun fired before the enemy could raise their guns, and then the machine gun behind him joined in.

  Having eliminated the five or six devils, they encountered no further obstacles on their way. When they arrived at the west gate, many of the devils had already been killed, with two devils carrying down the wounded and several others sending up ammunition.

  "Fire!" Luo Yu's rifle fired a single shot, and the wounded devil fell to the ground. The special warfare squad swept over with a burst of gunfire, sending the devils, along with their wounded comrade, to meet the God of Heaven ahead of schedule.

  The gunfire attracted the attention of the devils, and some devils quickly turned their guns to shoot at the back. This suddenly reduced the pressure on Chen Jihong's front.

  The enemy's firepower suddenly weakened, and Chen Jifan knew the reason without guessing. He decisively ordered the explosion of the town gate, and all firepower was used to suppress the devils.

  The blasting team did not disappoint this time, and only two people went up to successfully blast open the town gate. The town gate of Zhulon Town was also made of wood, and it was much worse than the city gates of big cities.

  Chen Jifan ordered the grenade launcher to attack the devils on the wall with all its might, while he himself led the team to charge towards the town gate. The company commander took the lead, and the morale of the "Divine Eagle" was high as a rainbow. Except for the snipers and grenade launchers providing cover, the rest swarmed towards the city gate. People kept falling down on the road, but Chen Jifan didn't have time to care about that - he had to seize the moment.