Chapter 18: Withered and Rotten (Part 1)

  The first to make contact with the Japanese army was Wen Songyuan's Left Route Army, under the lead of a reinforced company temporarily formed by former Jianghu personnel. The attack had only just begun for over ten minutes when the vanguard of the Left Route Army tore open a gap over 150 meters wide and more than 200 meters deep in the Japanese defensive line.

  These old hands in the Jianghu, doing this kind of killing on a dark and windy night, are the most enjoyable. What's even more detestable to the Japanese army is that these Chinese people are still wearing authentic Japanese military uniforms.

  Relying on their solid sneak attack skills and deceptive disguises, the vanguard company of the Left Route Army advanced very smoothly. In just over ten minutes, a battalion of Japanese devils was easily defeated by these people using all sorts of clever tricks.

  By the time the Japanese army realized it was a surprise attack by the Chinese military, the left route army had already rushed to within 300 meters of the Japanese regiment's headquarters. At the same time, the right route army also rushed into the depth of the Japanese defense line. For a while, the sound of gunfire was loud, and the whole village was like boiling hot oil, with people shouting and making a big commotion.

  The first to clash with the Left Route Army was a Japanese patrol unit of company size.

  After all, being on the front line, coupled with the fact that the daytime battle was not going well, the Chinese army had also deployed an unknown number of reinforcements before dusk, and the Japanese were still quite vigilant. Except for the first-line troops, the newly appointed regimental commander, Shunsho Keiji, also arranged a squadron of patrol troops on the second line of defense. If only a few hundred Chinese daredevil troops launched a surprise attack, the relatively intact squadron of Japanese troops could still hold out for a while. In Shunsho's opinion, as long as this squadron could hold out for half an hour, the entire Japanese garrison would be able to complete its assembly and deliver a crushing blow to the Chinese troops who had launched the surprise attack. From this point on, Shunsho's command ability was much stronger than his predecessor, and he did not have the arrogant and overbearing bad habits that were common among the high-ranking commanders of the Japanese army at that time.

  However, Lieutenant General Shang Zhen, although he had made what he thought was a flawless deployment, never expected that the Chinese army would still have such strong combat power after more than ten days of bitter fighting. The night raid arranged by Cheng Jiaji, from the troops invested by the Chinese army, can be called a strong raid without exaggeration. More than three times the enemy's forces, even if it was a frontal attack, would have been enough to make the devils drink a pot under the circumstances that the Japanese air force did not intervene. Not to mention that with such an advantage in forces, the Chinese army still adopted the night raid tactics, which is very unchivalrous. This time, the Chinese army played a big joke on the "Great Imperial Army of Japan".

  It just so happened that the Japanese army's complete guard company was head-on with the vanguard of the left route army. The Chinese army discovered the Japanese army first, and Wen Songyuan, who led the team himself, let Tian Jiafu, a native Japanese captain, use standard Japanese with even the accent of most officers and soldiers from the 10th division's hometown to ask about the password for tonight. This trick deceived the simple-minded Japanese army, and when the Chinese army opened fire on the Japanese army, the Japanese were still unaware of what was happening, standing there waiting for death. The left route army vanguard company was mostly equipped with automatic firearms, and in less than five minutes, the Japanese company, which had more than 130 people and had just been transferred here at dusk today, was basically annihilated. This was no longer a battle, but rather a massacre.

  The sound of gunfire, the left route army was even more unscrupulous. The left route army directly deployed several troops and rushed to the depth of the Japanese army's defensive line at the same time. One of them happened to rush into the vicinity of the Japanese army's brigade command, although they were unable to directly destroy the Japanese army's command center in Zhuangzi Village. But also forced Spring Shōji Chūsa to urgently relocate the brigade command post, resulting in the loss of unified command of the 40th Brigade of the Japanese Army in Zhuangzi Village.

  After the gunfire broke out, all Chinese troops participating in the night raid launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army. The Japanese army, which had lost unified command from the beginning of the battle, was initially able to fight back on its own. However, the numerical disparity between the two armies was too great, and the Chinese side was well-prepared while the Japanese side was hastily responding, so the initiative on the battlefield was completely in the hands of the Chinese army. The main force of the Japanese army had already begun to shrink into defensive positions.

  The small groups of Japanese troops that were cut off and surrounded by the Chinese army were often quickly annihilated one by one. Even if a position was temporarily difficult to capture, the main force of the Chinese army did not get entangled with the small group of Japanese troops, but instead used corresponding troops to surround the Japanese first, while the main force continued to pursue and annihilate the Japanese troops.

  The Chinese army is getting more and more courageous in battle. Especially the temporary regiment of the Second Army Group fully demonstrated the Northwestern Army's tradition of excelling at night battles and close combat, using big knives to chop off Japanese heads with great ease. Some Shaanxi veterans who had made up their minds to "be born in Shaanxi and die in Shandong" became frenzied in killing, and one after another, they strung the beheaded Japanese skulls onto their waists using the shoelaces of the Japanese soldiers, passing them through the ears. The ferocious appearance of having two eyes blazing with fury, with a Japanese head hanging from their waist, had a bit of the flavor of the Qin army's "left hand holding human heads, right hand grasping live captives" 2,000 years ago, causing the Japanese to flee in terror at the mere sight. (It's strange, the Japanese aren't afraid of death, but they're most afraid that after their heads are chopped off, their souls can't return home. Maybe they're afraid that after dying, they'll become lonely ghosts and wild spirits in China, and be sent down to the 18th level of hell by Yanluo Wang.)

  After being discovered by Wen Congyuan, this situation was immediately ordered by his subordinates to cut off the heads of dozens of Japanese people who had been killed, and a company was selected to choose a few people to hold them on bayonets, intentionally letting the Japanese army see, and then launch a fierce attack. This move accelerated the collapse of the Japanese army even more, not only did the Japanese troops in front of the left route army scatter, but also the Japanese troops in other directions fled towards the outside of the village. The resistance will of the 40th Regiment of the Japanese Tenth Division, which had been invading China since the "July 7" Incident and only knew how to advance without knowing what retreat was, was completely disintegrated at this point.

  The Japanese troops retreated from various places in the village and fled desperately to the north gate of Taierzhuang. Even Shunjo Keiji, the new commander of the regiment who had just taken office for less than a few hours, was also wrapped up in the defeated army and escaped outside Taierzhuang. The Chinese army followed the deployment of the pre-war enemy headquarters. As soon as the Japanese army began to collapse completely, the main force of the Chinese army continued to pursue the retreating Japanese troops fiercely. For small groups of Japanese soldiers who fell behind during the retreat, only corresponding forces were sent to surround them and prevent them from escaping. Obviously, the established strategy of the Chinese army was to concentrate its forces to annihilate the main force of the Japanese army. As for other scattered Japanese troops, they would be surrounded on the spot first, and then cleaned up when the main force returned.

  There were nearly 700-800 Japanese soldiers fleeing in defeat, being driven by the various Chinese troops behind them, and they rolled and crawled to escape towards the north gate of Taierzhuang. Lieutenant Colonel Spring Shang saw this scene of defeat and couldn't help but burst into tears. In the history of the 10th Division, there had never been a unit that was beaten so badly by the enemy on the battlefield. (However, the lieutenant colonel's sentimental feelings did not last long, as the Chinese troops behind them charged again. To avoid becoming a headless corpse, the lieutenant colonel immediately stopped his emotional outburst and rushed to the north gate of Taierzhuang on horseback. The lieutenant colonel was carrying the fate of the entire regiment on his shoulders, so naturally he had to take the lead and go to the north gate to gather the troops?)

  At this time, a Japanese army battalion that was not full-strength still controlled the north gate of Taierzhuang. As long as the Japanese could escape from here, they would still have a glimmer of hope. However, the Chinese army, which had won a great victory and was in high spirits, would let them get their wish? That's a question mark!

  There is still one more chapter around midnight tonight.

  Everyone says that I have been updating slowly these days. What can I do, brothers? I still need to go to work, and this week is very busy, but I will guarantee more than 4,000 words per day. Today, I have already sent the contract to Starting Point, and it will be launched soon. At that time, I will definitely speed up the update. Also, please ask everyone to subscribe and vote for me when the time comes.

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