Chapter 19: The Shocking Revenge That Came Too Late

  After the Battle of Xubao, Li Baoguo not only obtained a large amount of military supplies but also gained great fame in the Yangquan and Datong areas. His troops quickly expanded to 1,500 people, and he supported the establishment of many local guerrilla forces. Due to the abundance of weapons, the equipment of the guerrilla forces was all Japanese-made.

  The remaining materials were equipped by Li Baoguo to Kang Jiabao and Zhao Wenyue's Weinan Brigade. Now, Kang Jiabao and Zhao Wenyue are celebrities in Weinan, not only have they incorporated various armed forces, but also recruited a large number of peasant sons to join the army, their military strength has rapidly expanded to 4,000 people, what they lack most is weapons and equipment. Li Baoguo's order arrived, Kang Jiabao was overjoyed, holding Zhao Wenyue's hand, "This is great, the boss is indeed the boss, how did he manage to get things done so quickly."

  Zhao Wenyu also admired Li Baoguo from the heart: "Where is the arsenal in Weixian? We can't do it, let's do it for him!"

  Two people looked at each other and smiled.

  Li Baoguo launched a special military training exercise: dividing the troops into fifteen small teams, with special warfare personnel serving as military instructors, using the enemy's strongholds as targets for training, and practicing various military skills.

  Each team finds its own "target" for military training and gathers for a confrontation after a month.

  This month has become a devil's holiday for the devils, they really don't know where so many guerrilla troops came from. Each stronghold was divided and surrounded, each small team set up their training ground next to the devils' strongholds. As long as the devils come out, it's a one-way trip, even inside the stronghold they dare not show their heads, they don't know when there will be a cold gun shot coming.

  When practicing bayonet drills, I wanted to find a real-life exercise with the devils, but it's too difficult. The devils would rather starve to death than leave their stronghold.

  The telephone lines between Datong and the garrison had been cut off long ago, and the communication soldiers who came out of Datong were also lost at sea. Later, a small team of Imperial Army was sent to protect the communication soldiers for repairs, but as a result, not one of the Imperial Army returned alive. The Garrison Commander, Miyazaki Masakiyo, found Yamamoto as a scapegoat, but he knew that if it wasn't for Yamamoto, the outcome would have been even more disastrous. Faced with the situation in various strongholds in the east, Miyazaki was indeed powerless to do anything about it. The Imperial Army was engaged in fierce battles in the south and could not withdraw too many troops to participate in this small-scale mopping-up operation. According to the situation, any military action with less than a battalion would be suicidal. It was impossible for Datong's garrison force to withdraw too many troops to cope with this war of attrition.

  What was most distressing for Miyazaki was that withdrawing troops from these areas was also impossible, and he could only order each garrison to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

  Some puppet troops began to flee, some puppet troops incited the devils to rush out of their strongholds and presented the devils as gifts to the guerrilla forces in order to gain merit.

  In a month, the fifteen strongholds in this area were won without a fight. The guerrilla troops squeezed out the devils from the strongholds and captured a large number of military supplies, and armed another batch of local guerrilla troops.

  When Li Baoguo was ordered to receive the Yan'an Political Work Team, the anti-Japanese form here was very good. As soon as the Yan'an work team entered the Datong area, Li Baoguo knew that the comrades of the local guerrilla troops immediately contacted Li Baoguo, and Li Baoguo smoothly joined forces with Liao Xudong and others.

  Liao Xudong arrived in the guerrilla-controlled area and found that the anti-Japanese situation here was much better than on the way, just by looking at the equipment of the troops here, which was even better than that of the regular Eighth Route Army.

  In Li Baoguo's words, we have arrived home. The little devils don't dare to provoke us here. Indeed, all the way here, everything I saw was a peaceful and harmonious scene of people living and working in peace and contentment, making one feel comfortable and relaxed.

  Due to Yang Guang's order to reorganize the troops, Li Baoguo reorganized his troops into two regiments and left a large number of weapons and ammunition for the local guerrilla forces before leading his troops back to their base. At the same time, he ordered Kang Jiabao and Zhao Wenyue to reorganize their troops, leaving behind local troops to hold their ground while the main force assembled in Kangjiatun.

  When Yang Jie heard Liao Xudong talk about his feelings after entering Weixian, he was really happy for Li Baoguo.

  Everyone returned to the base, Yang Jie and Chen Zhihao wanted to entertain their comrades from Yan'an, but were stopped by Liao Xudong: "We are all one family, why be so polite? Let's talk about work instead."

  Yang Jie immediately understood that Chairman Mao and Zhu Lao had instructions, smiled and said: "Good. Let's have a simple dinner tonight, and let the comrades from Yan'an taste some of our captured canned goods, Japanese flavor." As he spoke, he gave Chen Zhihao a wink.

  Chen Zhihao smiled and said, "Are there any instructions from the Chairman and General Manager?"

  Liao Xudong took out two things from his backpack and handed them to Yang Qiang, saying: "Your face is quite big, the chairman and the old general both brought gifts. This book 'The Art of War' was given by the chairman, this small pistol is from the old general. These are letters from the chairman and the old general."

  The chairman was very concerned about this growing guerrilla force and personally made personnel arrangements. Liao Xudong took office as the chief of staff of the guerrilla force, Li Ying took office as the deputy commander, Geng Xiaoming served as the director of the political department, and other personnel were arranged by Yang Qiu and Chen Zhihao.

  "Lao Liao, what kind of talents are these people who have come this time?" Chen Zhihao

  "What you wanted has all arrived, each department of the army has someone, and some experienced party representatives have also come from the local area. It seems that the Chairman and the Old General have made a big investment."

  Yang Jie knew that at this time, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region had been established for less than a year. In March 1943, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region sent Deng Hua's detachment into Pingxi and established four anti-Japanese joint county governments and party working committees, making Pingxi an anti-Japanese base with initial scale. In May, according to the orders of the Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, Song Shilun's detachment in northwest Shanxi and Deng Hua's detachment in Pingxi formed the Fourth Column of the Eighth Route Army, with Song Shilun as commander and Deng Hua as political commissar. They were ordered to advance into eastern Hebei in June. At that time, Wei County was a military and political blank area, where our party, the Kuomintang, and the Japanese army had no power to take care of. Yang Jie's appearance made Chairman Mao feel sensitively that this inconspicuous place should be nailed down, which could advance northward to Beiping and other places or move northward to Chahar to threaten Rehe.

  "Xiao Yang, Xiao Yang," Chen Zhihao called out a few times as he saw Yang Wei's mind wander. "What are you thinking about?"

  Yang Jiong smiled awkwardly, "I was thinking why this ghost has been so quiet all the time. It's said that ghosts love to take revenge."

  Li Ying glanced at Yang Wei and took over the conversation: "Last time, the devils were busy with the Battle of Xuzhou and couldn't spare any troops. After the Battle of Xuzhou was over, they followed the National Government to Wuhan to set up a battlefield, so it's unlikely that they can spare any troops for the time being."

  Chen Zhihao looked at Li Ying: "It seems that our intelligence department is really capable, and they even got such important information." Yang Jie and Li Ying exchanged a stunned glance. What kind of important information was this? History had always been like this.

  It was immediately clear that at a time when news was scarce, this was indeed important.

  Yang Guang's intention was to reorganize the troops into nine main regiments, divided into three columns; in addition, garrison regiments, special regiments, core regiments, instructional teams and other logistical units were set up at the base. There were also special warfare teams that carried out special tasks.

  Liao Xudong and Gong Xiaoming were shocked when they heard this, so many!

  Yang Jie smiled at the two: "Now we just lack political commissars. Originally, we concentrated people with some culture in the troops to study our party's policies and theories, then assessed and scored them, and finally Chen Zhengwei would interview them to determine the candidates. You've come, so this matter of political commissar will be handed over to Old Geng. Old Liao and Commissar Chen, you come to reorganize the troops, I'll take charge of the military assessment with Li Ying. Let's try to finish it within a month. The devils don't give us much time."

  Yang Jie knew that in September and October 1939, the Japanese army had assembled 50,000 troops in twenty-five routes to launch a large-scale siege on Wutai, Fuping, Laiyuan and other places in the border area of Shanxi, Chaha'er and Hebei.

  It is now mid-July on the lunar calendar, and the devils' large-scale attack is not far off.

  The number of troops gathered around the base has exceeded 15,000, and the guerrilla forces under its jurisdiction have exceeded 40,000.

  Yang Jie and Li Ying suddenly trained the soldiers of the basic corps and the instructional team, and then these excellent soldiers from all over the world conducted military quality training for the whole army.

  After the reorganization of the troops, the three brigades were led by Li Baoguo, Nan Weiren and Gao Junping as brigade commanders, with Ma Bin, Zhen Hongtai and Gu Nai Fu serving as political commissars, and Qin Yahai, Zheng Junguo and Zhou Shicai as deputy brigade commanders.

  The commanders of the nine groups were appointed by the branch department, and the political commissars were appointed by the command center. The special task force guard teams of each branch were formed by the branch itself, with the base responsible for providing firearms.

  Zhao Wenyu, commander of the Garrison Brigade, Hu Yi, commander of the Special Operations Brigade, Zhou Deqin, commander of the Basic Training Brigade, Xu Meiyu, commander of the Instructional Corps, and Li Xuerong, commander of the Base's Special Warfare Unit, also known as the "Xun Tian" (Cruising Sky) Battle Team.

  Nan Wenhua's special warfare team is called the Phoenix Team, Li Baoguo's special warfare team is called the Flying Tiger Team, and Gao Junping's special warfare team is called the Cheetah Team.

  The troops were completely disorganized and reorganized, and after the assessment, the list of results was provided to the branch department for reference. In this way, a month later, the troop reorganization was completed, and the nine regimental commanders were: Jia Zhenghuan, Kang Jiabao, Zhao Xiren, Jin Fu, Wu Linchang, Zhang Weiqun, Qin Jie, Ji Huizhong, Wei Minggu, and Feng Guan.

  After the reorganization was completed, one brigade was stationed in Wei County to guard the west and south of Wei County; the second brigade was stationed in Pingxi area, waiting for an opportunity to develop northward to Tianjin; the third brigade was stationed in Zhuolu, developing towards Xuanhua and Zhangjiakou.

  After deployment, each detachment went to its garrison. Nan Zhi Li Bao Guo Gao Jun Ping and three others stayed behind to train the special warfare team.

  At this time, Li Kewe had already sorted out the technical parameters for making silencers and sights. The gun repair shop was expanded into a base arsenal, but there was only an empty shell, no production equipment, just some repair equipment left behind. Li Kewe told Yang Jie that as long as he had machine tools, he could make anything he wanted. Now they can only be made by hand.

  Silencers were made in larger quantities, with each battalion having around a hundred, but scopes could only be allocated to a dozen or so. Li Fusheng's son, Li Hongyuan, had already established contact with the British merchant and could get some binoculars, which would be used to assemble another batch of scopes.

  "The main task now is to find a way to get the production line of weapons, whether it's buying or robbing, at least we need to know where this thing is." Yang Wei said to Li Ying and Nan Weiren, "And medicines, the field hospital personnel from Lao Ye Shan are complete, but there is no equipment and medicine. Director Shen has found me several times. This time, Zhao Junyi from Yan'an also found Old Liao and others several times."

  Dean Shen is the famous Shen Zesheng, originally named Shen Guirong. After completing his studies and returning to China, he felt that the country was in a state of crisis and changed his name to Zesheng, symbolizing his determination to save the nation and benefit the people.

  "Medicine is easy to say, as long as Captain Li finds out where the enemy's hospital is, we can move it over. The key is the production line of weapons, one is information, and two is that thing can't be easily brought over like medicine." said Nan Weiren.

  "I'll first let people ask about the hospital's situation and take care of one thing at a time," said Li Ying.

  "Report," a little squirrel poked his head in from outside, shouting.

  "Come in. Squirrel, what's up?" Squirrel was a little orphan that Chen Zhihao brought back once when he went out on an errand, with no name and no surname, only accompanied by a small squirrel, everyone called him Little Squirrel, later became Chen Zhihao's messenger, often practiced martial arts with Shi Tou. Considered as half of Yang Jie's apprentice.

  "Director Zheng asks you to go to the war room, the chief of staff has arrived." Squirrel said, his eyes searching around the house, "Captain, where is Shi Tou?"

  Yang Jiong patted the squirrel's head: "Go find Uncle Hu Yi."

  Yang Jie and others entered the combat room and found the atmosphere very tense. They asked, "What's going on? Are the devils making a move?"

  "Look, the Central Military Commission has sent a telegram directly," he said, handing Yang Jingyu a telegram. "This time the devils have made a real move, and a mixed brigade has come from Zhangjiakou."

  "A report," a staff officer came in from outside the door, handed Li Ying a document, saluted and turned to leave.

  Li Ying took a look and smiled with satisfaction. To Yang Jue and others, he said: "This time, the commander of the Mongolian Garrison Army, Lieutenant General Renzawa, is under the command of the first warlord, Yano Yuichi, who has jurisdiction over two infantry brigades and one independent field artillery brigade, totaling approximately 8,800 people. The commanders of the infantry brigades are Inamura Toshikazu and Takahashi Shintaro, and the commander of the artillery brigade is Tanaka Ichiro. The troop deployment situation is ---"

  Liao Xudong became more and more excited as he listened, this intelligence was not only detailed in terms of firepower and personnel numbers, but also described the combat style of each level of commander. It's worth noting that the gathering of enemy troops is uncertain, which shows that the person collecting intelligence is particularly familiar with the Japanese army in Zhangjiakou.

  "How did you get such accurate intelligence?" Liao Xudong asked involuntarily, completely unaware of Yang Jiong's expression after hearing his question.

  "A faint smile from Li Ying: 'Bought it.'"

  "Really bought it?!" Liao Xudong and Gong Xiaoming exclaimed in unison.

  "It seems that our battle plan is about to come in handy." Chen Zhihao also knew that Li Ying didn't want to say too much inside information, so he interrupted.

  "Report, telegram!" A staff officer walked in and handed Li Ying an intelligence report before leaving.

  "It's the situation in the direction of Beiping, two large teams of devils have arrived." Li Ying looked at the telegram and handed it to Chen Zhihao.

  Liao Xudong and Gong Xiaoming did not know that Yang Wei and others had made sufficient preparations. Faced with the pincer attack of the devils from two roads, and the devils' army was numerous, they also remembered the old tactics of the Eighth Route Army, using local troops to entangle and harass the devils' large team, and the main force jumped to the outside line to wait for the opportunity to annihilate the weak enemy.

  But before Liao Xudong could speak, Yang Jie had already begun issuing orders: "Nan Weiren Li Baoguo, act according to plan," he said, nodding for Li Ying to hand something over to Nan Weiren. "This is the location of the weapon supply points along the way, and the defensive formation is set up on high ground. Hold off the devils for seven days, and after seven days let them pass through Dongjiafang area. Be careful not to let the devils cross the Yang River at Shalingzi, forming a pincer movement across the river, or it will be difficult to block them."

  "Yes! Understood!" The two turned around and left. They had been waiting for this day for a long time, as they were one of the planners.

  "Brother Chen, it's up to you and Old Liao to deal with the devils in Beiping. Bring along the big gift for the devils, let the little devils have a good time."

  "Alright. Old Liao, when the time comes, I'll let you see the treasure of our guerrilla team." Chen Zhihao said with a smile.

  "Zhao Wenyu, you just stay at home and pay attention to the devils in Wei County making trouble."

  Zhao Wenyu nodded in agreement.

  "Gao Junping has already led a team to deploy the battlefield. I and Lao Geng brought the 1st, 3rd and Special Troops to wipe out the devils in Zhangjiakou."

  Gong Xiaoming flipped through the battle plan in his hand, nodding in response. This was an extremely detailed battle plan, with even some details clearly explained, as well as contingency plans.

  But when he finished arranging the task and walked out of the combat room, Gong Xiaoming only understood that only a few people could see this combat plan, and it was not allowed to be taken away from the combat room.

  Li Bao-guo and Ren Yu led the team to the north of Xuanhua, where they met with Liu Jia-an and Gao Jun-ping's special forces at Smoke Tube Mountain. The special forces gathered here were now the elite of the entire guerrilla force.

  Gao Junping left behind Deputy Captain Kang Nianshan, who had participated in the special warfare team since the Battle of Kangjia Town. Under it were three special warfare companies and a battalion's garrison troops, with Battalion Commander Zhu Zhenkun, Deputy Battalion Commander Li Yuankang, and Political Commissar Wang Xue.

  "Nian Shan, have the devils arrived at Sha Lingzi? Has the bridge in that area been blown up?" Nan Wei-ren asked.

  "The devils hadn't arrived yet, at first the devils were very arrogant, letting us find an opening, one night, we set up a minefield in front of the devils' main gate, the most proud mine-laying method of Gao's team, the entire devil squad stepped on landmines before the devils in the front triggered them, all at once all the mines exploded, good grief, awesome! An entire company of devils was completely wiped out."

  Li Baoguo smiled and said to Zhu Zhenkun and others, "This time we brought some new tricks, also the masterpiece of Gao's team. Let the devils have a taste later."

  "Bridge!" Nan Wuren stared at Kang Nianshan with wide eyes, "I'm asking about the bridge?"

  "Bridge?" Kang Nian Shan lowered his head and glanced at Wang Xue, "Not yet-"

  Li Bao and Nan Ren stood up at the same time, "Let's go take a look!"

  Kang Nianshan and others arrived on the main road only to discover that Nan Weiren, Li Baoguo and others had actually come by car, with all 14 cars being special warfare team members dressed in Japanese military uniforms.

  Shalingzi is a town located south of Zhangjiakou, only one mile away from Yanghe River. The whole town has more than 1,000 people, but now it's occupied by the vanguard of the devils. The townspeople have all escaped. To the south of the town is Yanghe River, with a big bridge spanning both banks. To the north of the town, there is a main road that leads directly to Zhangjiakou. Now this road has been completely destroyed by Kangnianshan and others, and the devils are everywhere capturing people to repair the road. In the northeast of the town, there is a hilly area with all kinds of trees, lush and dense.

  Chushalingzi heads southeast along a major road that runs along the Yang River and leads directly to Xuanhua. The terrain is flat, making it unsuitable for ambushes.

  At this time, Nan Erh-chen Li Pao-kuei was observing the situation in the town from a forest northeast of Sha-ling-tzu. The devils had already deployed one company on the other side of the bridge, constructed fortifications and were waiting in battle array.

  Shalingzi Town also set up roadblocks and defensive works at the town entrance, with two squadrons stationed in different areas within the town.

  "It seems that the tall gatehouse is the main base of the devils, look at how many devils are coming and going." Nan Weiren said. Li Baoguo held up his binoculars and said while looking, "The devils' defense formation is very clear, the focus is on the bridgehead in the south of the town, both east and west sides are fake, one company headquarters is in the stone house at the bridgehead, another one is..."

  "Another one is in a dilapidated courtyard at the north end of the town, near the second house on the left side of the main street," said Wang Xue.

  "Yes, right there." Nan Er said, "This little devil is quite strange, actually choosing a place like this."

  "Great!" Li Baoguo smiled and said, "I think it's okay. Old Nan, you come to assign tasks. Time is as usual."

  "Alright." Nan said, "Lao Kang, take the men to the road where the enemy's main force is coming and lay landmines. Bring that new gadget along. First, take out the enemy's sentry, at 6:30, remember, 6:30, start attacking the enemy troops, but just make a show of it, don't launch a deep attack, don't get yourselves killed, just make sure the enemy doesn't notice the gunfire here is okay. You can bring the small cannon to make a bigger noise. At 7:30, withdraw on time, no lingering."

  Kang Nian Shan nodded, "Take half of the people and go, the rest will stay here and continue fighting."

  Nan Rendian nodded in agreement. Kangnianshan led his men away.

  "Zhu Zhenkun, you lead the men to raid the road-repairing devils and release the ordinary people; then set up an ambush on both sides of the northern highway at Shalingzi, to support Kangnianshan and prepare to intercept the devil's reinforcements."

  Zhu Zhenkun, Li Yuankang and Wang Xue got up and left.

  "Xiao Guozi, bring all the Lianzhangs here." Li Baoguo said to a fifteen or sixteen year old boy beside him. This was a little beggar he had taken in at Zi Hua Mountain.

  Nan Ren saw that everyone had arrived, drew a map of Shalingzi Town on the ground, and began to assign tasks.