Chapter 18: Withered and Rotten (Part 2)

  May 6th, at 2 o'clock in the morning, Tai'erzhuang North Gate City Building went down.

  At this time, the North Gate had become a sea of joy, many soldiers were excited to pick up their own weapons and fire into the sky, tongues of fire broke through the dark sky, making the stars shine red.

  Some soldiers at this time fired more bullets into the sky than they had shot down earlier when fighting with the Japanese. If it were in peacetime, these guys would have been locked up for at least a few days and slapped by their superiors. Ammunition is not to be wasted! But at this moment, even the strictest officers just smiled and watched from the side, without any intention of stopping them. What's more, many young officers with hot blood also became one of these excited and somewhat out-of-control soldiers.

  This victory is not a small one, the Japanese 40th Regiment, except for some small troops in Zhuangzi Village who are still resisting, can be said to have been completely wiped out. The small Japanese troops in Zhuangzi Village are also on their last day, which can be known from the fact that the gunfire in Zhuangzi Village has basically stopped at this time.

  Within three or four hours, annihilate a Japanese army brigade, this is the achievement that the Chinese army has never had since the "July 7" incident, although this Japanese army brigade was thoroughly defeated in the bloody battle many days ago, but this achievement is also a well-deserved victory.

  How could this not make the warriors who had fought bitterly for a long time cheer and jump with joy?

  However, Wen Songyuan, the main general, was not among these forgetful generals. At this time, he ignored Ma Siyuan's advice and led a cavalry company of only 60 horses from the Second Hundred Regiment to pursue the few dozen Japanese soldiers who had just escaped under the cover of night.

  "Commander, it's not advisable to pursue the fleeing enemy at night. Not only is it easy to be ambushed by the escaping enemy, but if we run into Japanese reinforcements, it will be even more dangerous. Our army has already won a great victory, Commander, you don't need to take risks personally." Ma Siyuan was persuading his superior, who was too enthusiastic about the battle.

  "A few dozen little devils who have lost their souls are nothing to worry about. The troops I brought with me are all cavalry, and even if we encounter a large Japanese army, we can quickly retreat on horseback, it's not a big deal!" Wen Songyuan was unusually resolute this time, the tone of his words clearly indicating that there was no room for negotiation in this matter.

  Ma Siyuan let out a light sigh, he knew that he couldn't stop Wen Congyuan's adventurous journey. In fact, emotionally, Ma Siyuan still understood why Wen Congyuan was being so stubborn. It's just that he, who had always been cautious and careful in his actions, couldn't agree with Wen Congyuan's reckless behavior on a rational level.

  All this was just for a flag, the regimental flag of the 40th Regiment of the Japanese Army!

  The Japanese army has always attached great importance to the dignity of flags in the military, especially the military flag representing a well-established unit, and would rather die than let it fall into enemy hands.

  When Japanese troops fell into desperate situations, they often burned their military flags first, lest they fall into the hands of the enemy.

  The Japanese army's flag, especially the flags above the regimental level, were extremely difficult to capture as high-level spoils of war. If the Independent 100th Brigade could capture the flag of the Japanese 40th Regiment, it would be a great achievement, not only proving that the Japanese 40th Regiment was annihilated by the Chinese army, but also causing a huge stir internationally and greatly boosting morale at home.

  It was precisely for this reason that when the 40th Division's divisional flag was obtained from the captured Japanese army, it had not been ordered to be burned by Lieutenant Colonel Shun. Instead, it was brought out of Tai'erzhuang by those few dozen Japanese who escaped the net, and Wen Songyuan made up his mind to personally take credit for this achievement of beheading the general and seizing the flag.

  No matter how hard Ma Siyuan tried to stop him, he couldn't move Wen Songyuan's heart in the slightest.

  Wen Songyuan still led the cavalry regiment to pursue the enemy on a starry night. As the deputy, Ma Siyuan could only report Wen's whereabouts to the brigade as soon as possible and ask for instructions on the next step.

  The war situation in Zhuangzi was different from what the generals at the North Gate had imagined. At this time, although the Chinese army had an absolute advantage in the battle of Zhuangzi, it was still early to completely solve the battle.

  The appearance of this situation is mainly due to the peculiar building materials used in Tai'erzhuang, where several hundred households' houses are all built with large and small stone slabs.

  This is equivalent to saying that in Zhuangzi, several hundred stone houses were built. To control the entire village, one must take these stone houses into their own hands one by one.

  If it weren't for this, the troops of the 31st Division would not have been able to withstand the Japanese army's fierce attack for so many days. Now these "strongholds" are also providing shelter to the multiple small units of the Japanese army that are surrounded by Chinese troops.

  These small groups of Japanese soldiers hiding in the stone houses, struggling to survive, made it difficult for the Chinese army, which had a numerical and firepower advantage several times that of the enemy, to deal with these fish in a jar.

  Yu Juncai, who was directing the operation on site, had always considered himself a wise general and did not want to recklessly charge like Wen Songyuan at the North Gate. He immediately called off the attack.

  A while ago, the officers and soldiers at the North Gate heard the gradually stopping gunfire, which was the result of Yu Juncai ordering a temporary halt to the attack.

  Yu Juncai was thinking hard about a way to eliminate the devils hiding in the stone house without causing too much damage to our side. At this time, Cheng Jiaji and Xie Hong came to the battlefield with a group of people from the forward command post under the protection of an enhanced company.

  "Boss, when can we end this battle?" Cheng Jiaji asked Yu Juncai. In his heart, he didn't really want to rush to the front line at this time. It wasn't that he was afraid of stray bullets or scattered soldiers, but rather that the battle had already been fought for a long time. As someone in charge, he should let his subordinates do their job and achieve their goals, why did he need to come to the front line and compete with them for credit?

  Cheng Jiaji was not interested in running to the front line to point fingers at the war when victory was already within his grasp.

  However, Commander Xie was very enthusiastic about inspecting the battlefield on the eve of this victory. He insisted on taking Cheng Jiaji along and even brought the reporters arranged by the war zone commander to Yu Juncai's command center, despite the fact that the battle in the village had already been decided. It can be seen that Commander Xie wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to show off his commanding skills. As for his personal safety, Commander Xie was still concerned about it. Although he knew that Yu Juncai's command was not within the range of the Japanese army's machine guns at this time, and the Japanese troops in the village had been heavily surrounded by the Chinese army in several isolated stone houses, Commander Xie still brought a reinforced company of bodyguards.

  Under the reminder of a careful staff officer at the Forward Enemy Command, General Xie also ordered the entire constabulary battalion that had been guarding the position with the 31st Division and had not participated in the battle to clear out the remaining Japanese troops along the route of the battlefield inspection by the Forward Enemy Headquarters.

  After making these arrangements, our brave General Xie arrived at the front line to share the hardships with his officers and men.

  "It must have heavy artillery, otherwise the casualties of our officers and soldiers will be too great. Please report to Commander-in-Chief Zhang's headquarters immediately to dispatch a few heavy artillery pieces!" Under Cheng Jiaji's hint to open the door wide, Yu Juncai immediately made this request to General Xie in front of the war correspondents with utmost respect.

  Xie Hong, who had come to solve the difficulties on the battlefield, was naturally unwilling to shirk responsibility in front of reporters. He hastily ordered someone to urgently telegram the war zone headquarters, requesting that several large cannons be sent to the Tai'erzhuang frontline.

  Naturally, the time it takes to adjust the artillery is a bit longer. According to his estimation, it would take about two hours to bring in artillery from nearby troops, which should be enough. (As far as he knew, the Second Army Group had a 75mm field artillery company that was always hidden away.)

  Of course, Cheng Jiaji didn't plan to return these big guns immediately after using them. If there weren't a few powerful cannons in hand, during the imminent counterattack, once encountering the enemy's strongholds, the Independent 100th Regiment would have to use human flesh to fill the gap! Since they're here, let me use them for a few more days first.

  Perhaps it was the war zone headquarters that attached great importance to Tairen Village, or perhaps Xie's command network played a role. In short, four 75mm field guns from a battalion were ordered to arrive at Tairen Village in half an hour.

  The cannon on the shelf, in just ten minutes, neatly resolved the largest remaining Japanese troops in the village. The other few saw the situation or fought to break through, or destroyed their weapons and committed suicide one after another, and the remaining Japanese troops in the village were all resolved at once.

  Just as Cheng Jiaji let out a sigh of relief, a seriously injured cavalryman from the 200th Regiment rushed back from outside the village and brought him some very bad news.