Chapter 7: Waltz of Death (Part 1)
Although Cheng Jiaji and others had mentally prepared for the intensity of the Japanese second attack, no one expected the Japanese attack to be so wild and fierce. This time, Yamaki did not disperse his forces again, except for a company that was stuck in the exit of Houjiazhuang and made a distracting attack on the Chinese army in Houjiazhuang. The other two infantry companies, under the cover of the crazy artillery fire of the battalion's direct-affiliated artillery company, formed several small square arrays with bayonets and rushed forward to Qianzhuangkou.
The Shanmu detachment had only four infantry companies, and at once threw half of the total force into the main direction. More than 300 devils rushed forward to Zhuangzhuangkou without counting the casualties. The light and heavy machine guns and mortars of the Chinese army swept and blasted the little devils one by one, but the Japanese still pressed forward to Zhuangzhuangkou at the cost of their lives.
Yamaki's plan was very simple, he just wanted to use two infantry companies to launch a frontal assault on Qianzhuang, he believed that with the fighting power of these two infantry companies and the comprehensive support of the artillery battalion, even if they could not defeat the Chinese army defending Zhuangkou, it would be enough to attract all the Chinese troops to Qianzhuang Zhuangkou. At that time, the company deployed in Houzhuang and the reserve company would launch an attack together in Houzhuang. In Captain Yamaki's view, this plan had a success rate of over 80%.
In fact, the Japanese understanding and application of Bushido are quite ordinary, but this move is indeed very effective. The combat effectiveness of the Japanese devils at the beginning of the war cannot be compared with that of the robust soldiers recruited from Japan in the late stage of the Anti-Japanese War. Not only were the soldiers professional military personnel, but also many low-level officers below the battalion commander were war maniacs with strong military qualities and a strong sense of dedication. As soon as they let go of their hands and feet to fight, the Cheng Jiaji Brigade immediately felt tremendous pressure.
When the Japanese army launched its second attack, Cheng Jiakui was inspecting Yu Juncai's unit at Qianzhuang Village. He did not leave his position and did not give orders with hand gestures. With sufficient self-awareness, Cheng Jiakui knew that even if he had many ingenious ideas on this battlefield, what he could do for the time being was not to treat himself as an ordinary soldier.
"From now on, Third Brother, you take command. I'll go down to the front line, and just treat me as an ordinary soldier."
After Juncai finished speaking, Cheng Jiaji took a German-made 9K rifle from Ma Sanbao's hand and walked forward in big strides along the front line, with several bodyguards closely following beside him.
Until Cheng Jiaji had walked dozens of steps, Yu Juncai finally reacted, looking at Cheng Jiaji's back, his heart was filled with a mix of emotions and for a moment he couldn't even speak. Moreover, he, who was usually very strong-minded, was also moved by the trust Cheng Jiaji had in him from those words.
Yu Juncai, although he had a shallow foundation in the temporary 16th Army and could only rely on Cheng Jiaji's patronage to establish himself, as a professional military officer who came from the ranks and received regular German-style military education, he was actually very disdainful of Cheng Jiaji's military abilities and those around him. He believed that Cheng Jiaji was just clever in some small ways, but if it came down to real military capabilities, he would be exposed.
But today, Cheng Jiaji has already given him too many surprises. This time, he was suddenly ambushed by the Japanese army. If it were an ordinary officer who came up through connections, at this point they would either be fleeing for their lives or in a relatively safe place stubbornly passing down these unproductive orders to their subordinates.
But Cheng Jiaji, although he usually looks like a spoiled brat, when it comes to the crunch, he shows up and is quite impressive. Soon after taking over, he ran to the front line to inspect, which was beyond the expectations of Yu Juncai and his old brothers. Now, he has reasonably given up commanding this battle as the highest commander on the battlefield (that's not just nominal command, it can only be real blind command). Instead, he picked up a rifle and went down into the trenches.
Yu Juncai knew that if the brothers on the front line saw Cheng Jiaji fighting alongside them, they would have a certain kind of emotion and feeling. He had also been an ordinary soldier before, so he naturally knew that Cheng Jiaji, this officer who had never withheld money or food from his subordinates and occasionally even gave them extra treats, was quite popular among the common soldiers. This time, with such a beautiful move, there would definitely be many honest soldiers who would admire Cheng Jiaji even more in their hearts, and after that, there would be even more people in this unit who would look up to Cheng Jiaji, which was not good for Juncai's ambition.
Yu Juncai didn't harbor any resentment towards Cheng Jiaji's actions, after all, among the millions of troops in the National Army, how many regimental commanders would be willing to mix with ordinary soldiers in the trenches amidst intense artillery fire? Just for this reason, although Yu knew that Cheng was too popular and detrimental to his own ambitions, he still felt that having a commander like him was much better than one who would flee 500 meters at the sound of gunfire and then return to give orders over the phone.
As Cheng Jiaji approached the Japanese mortar position, which was like a plowed field after being bombarded by shells, the Japanese firepower had also weakened. After all, it was a long-distance raid, and Yamaki's unit couldn't bring too much ammunition. Even one of the 92-style infantry guns originally equipped with the artillery company was left behind at the branch department due to the need for secrecy in the surprise attack. The shells of Yamaki's unit were not many, and in fact, this firepower preparation had already consumed more than a third of the shells that Yamaki's unit brought to Dawangzhuang this time.
No matter how arrogant the mountain woods were, he, who was deeply infiltrating alone, dared not to fire all his precious shells in the second charge.
It should be said that the Japanese artillery and infantry coordination was still very tacit at this time, and as soon as the artillery fire stopped, a group of devils carrying bayonets had already charged to within 100 meters of the position under the cover of light and heavy machine guns.
Under the gaze of Chinese soldiers with incredible eyes, their battalion commander Cheng Jiaji jumped into a simple trench that could not fully protect him, raised his rifle and fired three shots at the Japanese. Unfortunately, except for the first shot, which was less than two meters away from a ghost, scaring him to lie down on the ground, the other two shots were unknown where they went, and these three bullets of his were completely wasted.
But for the soldiers who were fighting against the Japanese on the front line, as long as Cheng Jiaji, this high-ranking officer in their eyes, was fighting shoulder to shoulder with them in the same trench, it was enough. Everyone imagined that if such a big young master like Commander Cheng was not afraid of death, what was there for them to fear? The morale of the National Army in the trenches was greatly boosted.
Cheng Jiaji certainly knew that apart from spiritual encouragement, material rewards must also be provided. Immediately, he ordered the opening of a reward system: 20 yuan for every Japanese soldier killed and 50 yuan for every Japanese officer killed. The Chinese soldiers were overjoyed, ignoring the Japanese army's advances, and their morale was higher than that of the Japanese for the first time since the war began.
Everyone was in high spirits, only Cheng Jia Liu Shao secretly counted the number of Japanese heads, his heart racing with excitement. If the war zone didn't reimburse them for this expense, it wouldn't be a small amount. These guys wanted to wipe out all the Japanese who had rushed up, and if they did, he would have to sign an IOU. He even thought that if they could just beat the Japanese to the point where they turned around and ran, that would be good enough. After all, every additional Japanese soldier killed meant 20 fewer dollars in his own pocket. This team was really spending money like water!
