Chapter 16: The Shocking Story of Li Baoguo (Part 1)

  Just as the order to retreat was about to be transmitted, the loud explosion of the howitzer shook the entire valley. Matsuo quickly took cover behind a large boulder under the protection of his men, and the place where he had just sat was immediately covered by cannon fire.

  The intensity of the artillery fire far exceeded what Matsuo's troops could withstand, and the massive shockwaves from the explosions sent Japanese soldiers flying into the air, with severed limbs scattered everywhere. There was hardly a safe place anywhere, as the enemy's artillery fire seemed to have eyes, destroying all of the heavy weapons that Matsuo's unit had. Accompanying the howitzers were various mortars, which made people even more furious. These mortar teams seemed to be using their cannons like rifles, and would fire at anything they saw, no matter how many people there were, even if it was just one Imperial Army soldier.

  The howitzer almost plowed the entire valley with shells in just twenty minutes, and the guards around Matsuda were killed one after another. Even so, Matsuda was hit by a shell on his left leg. What's more infuriating is that due to the sudden and intense shelling, there was no time to ask for help from headquarters, and the wireless operator and the reporter had already been blown up.

  The bombardment finally stopped, and the devils had a feeling of waking up from a nightmare. In their haste to find weapons to resist, they discovered that the enemy was already in front of them. Many people were holding light machine guns, with grenade throwers following behind. Some devils hid on the ground, thinking of counterattacking, when suddenly they heard a "poof" sound and their heads exploded. Matsuo shouted: "Sniper! The other side has a sniper-----" Before he could finish saying "hand", he fell to the ground headfirst, kicked his legs twice, and died.

  The devils were really scared. The snipers everywhere were more frightening than the warriors who charged with machine guns. And there were grenade throwers following behind the machine gunners, hand grenades were free. In the hearts of the devils, they could only say: "Even we ourselves don't waste like this, isn't China supposed to be frugal? Why are they so wasteful?"

  This is the combat effectiveness of Nan Wei Ren's battle squad. The sniper focuses on finding dangers for the charging warrior, the grenade launcher is responsible for eliminating groups of ghosts, and the machine gun is a suppressive charging weapon. Then comes the charging warrior.

  National Army soldiers had never seen such a battle, and when they really clashed with the devils, the number of devils was less than 100, surrounded by guerrilla fighters.

  The nightmare for the devils has just begun.

  Nan Wei-ren watched the end of the artillery attack, saw that the devils had been wiped out by more than half, made some simple arrangements, and then took Wang Xue-hua to support Yang Ke. Leaving this place to Zhou Shi-cai and Jia Zhen-huang to command.

  When Yang Jie heard Zhou Shicai mention Nan Weiren's departure, he and Jia Zhenhao were discussing the implementation of the team leader's military training intentions. His views on Zhou Shicai and Jia Zhenhao involuntarily rose to a higher level.

  As a commander, one must be good at thinking, dare to take responsibility and bravely make decisions.

  Zhou Shicai and Jia Zhuohuang ordered the troops to surround the remaining devils, snipers were responsible for monitoring the devils' movements, other soldiers drew bayonets, ready to engage in one-on-one combat with the devils.

  Although they didn't understand each other's language, the attitude was clear. The devils were determined to die, fighting to the death for one and gaining an advantage with two.

  Zhou Shicai didn't care what the devils thought, and ordered a small team to line up. The devil's group also came out with the same number of people. On the guerrilla side, it was not about whether you were willing or not, but everyone had to come out in order, treating the real devils as sparring partners, which was Yang Jiong's final test. Zhou Shicai and Jia Zhenhuan raised their hands in approval. The main enemy of the team after its establishment would be the devils. If they couldn't bravely face the devils and shoot, they would definitely lose in future battles.

  Don't let opportunists join the revolutionary ranks. This one sentence shattered many people's illusions.

  Faced with this new way of training guerrillas, the National Army soldiers also showed great interest and gathered around to watch with their guns.

  The guerrilla fighters all knew this last drill question, so when Zhou Shicai ordered a small team to line up, each team also made preparations for the fight, and they kept encouraging and directing each other.

  As expected, a small team of warriors learned Yang Guo's pointed stabbing technique and launched a surprise attack on the devils, with many devils crashing into the team members' guns.

  Seeing this, the members of the two teams were full of confidence. Fortunately, Jia Zhenhao saw that this was an unexpected effect and repeatedly reminded his teammates to pay attention to changes and not to stick to the routine.

  When the two teams clashed, the little devils were after all seasoned veterans and quickly saw through the tactics. Relying on their superb stabbing techniques, they gave the team members a hard lesson, leaving three of them injured.

  As the team members watched the changes in the enemy's tactics, their understanding of the tactics they had learned also changed accordingly. Several team members continued to explore and study, directing and helping their teammates on how to change.

  The warriors finally understood the great energy technique implied in Yang Guo's transmission of the spear skills.

  The devils also found that no matter how they changed their tactics, the enemy always had a corresponding countermeasure. Every time someone went up, no one was stabbed to death by the enemy, and some were even pierced through the abdomen and thrown far away. Fortunately, the guerrillas immediately shot them dead with guns, sparing them from suffering. The devils knew this was the greatest mercy of the enemy's hands.

  Each time it ended in a bloody conclusion, which was more unbearable than being blown up by cannonballs. However, the opponent always fought one-on-one, and as long as our side didn't fire a shot, they would never use guns to solve the problem. The devils understood that this was their training ground, clearly new recruits, yet their bayonet skills were extremely high, and each one was eager to try, their will not diminished by the cruel fighting.

  The devils didn't know that whoever could kill the most devils in the shortest time would be promoted. Opportunities were equal, and everyone had a share.

  "What's the outcome?" Yang Guan asked with concern, "How many warriors were injured?"

  "Fourteen warriors were injured, including one who sprained his wrist in a panic," said Zhou Shicai.

  "How many civilians were mobilized to transport supplies? Are their food and lodging arrangements settled? Is it reliable?" Li Ying, being in charge of the guerrilla team's logistics, couldn't help but worry about these things.

  "After this, let Old Wang take care of it. He's also from a family of stewards, so he's familiar with the way things are done. You don't have to keep bothering me all the time." Yang Xiu said with a smile to Li Ying.

  "Alright, Brother Wang can take over now." Li Ying said with a smile to Wang Xuehua. "Don't look at the small number of our guerrilla team, but this logistics is really troublesome. Take this matter for example, they don't dare to bother me now, otherwise, humph!" She glared fiercely at Yang Jie.

  Zhou Shicai also knew that Li Ying was in charge of logistics, and told Yang Kuang to let Wang Xuehua take over. He turned to Wang Xuehua and said: "It's not clear how many people have been mobilized specifically now, but one thing you can rest assured is that some landlords have come forward to contact us, willing to bear all expenses and food supplies."

  "What? Is this really happening? When did landlords become so talkative?" Li Ying asked in surprise.

  "This is all thanks to Captain Nan, the local landlords say that without Captain Nan's protection, they wouldn't be able to withstand not just the Japanese, but even bandits. Now the guerrilla troops have some business, and can't make it themselves, so they're sending some money and grain as a token of their appreciation."

  Then Zhou Shicai introduced some of Nan Weiren's practices to everyone.

  "Things are not as good as you imagined, actually I just implemented a principle to the landlords: in front of national righteousness, there is no middle way, not resisting Japan is being a traitor. That's all." Nan Weiren said. In fact, he didn't say one more sentence, which was "being a traitor will be suppressed".

  When Yang Ji led the crowd back to the base, Chen Zhihao was busy directing people to find a place to settle these materials. It turned out that Li Baoguo had quietly eliminated the Japanese Western Camp outpost and collected a large batch of things, followed by the transportation materials from Lao Ye Mountain.

  "Brother Chen," Yang Wei couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight of Chen Zhihao's sweat-drenched face.

  Chen Zhihao looked up and saw that Yang Wei and Li Ying had returned with a group of people, and he was truly delighted from the bottom of his heart. It turned out that when Yang Wei was around, things hadn't seemed so complicated after all.

  "You're finally back, if you were a few days later I would have been exhausted to death." Chen Zhihao smiled and walked over, "These are ---"

  "First, let me introduce the new quartermaster - Wang Xuehua. I've already put him in charge of the logistics for our guerrilla team, so none of you need to worry about it anymore. Old Wang is a professional and will get everything sorted out with Li Fusheng's help; Yang Jie winked at Chen Zhihao, who didn't understand what was going on but knew there was more to the story. He cooperated by saying: "Alright, let Old Wang take care of it then. Fusheng, show him around and if anything comes up, just ask him directly."

  Li Fusheng has been involved in helping with the logistics since he arrived at Kangjia Town and never put it down again. At first, Li Ying was annoyed, but Li Fusheng actively helped Li Ying sort things out due to his gratitude. Later, Yang Jue simply let Li Fusheng be in charge of most of the logistical matters. However, because of his identity as a landlord, Li Fusheng was afraid of causing trouble for Li Ying and never took the initiative, always asking for Li Ying's instructions on big and small matters.

  Seeing Yang Jiong bring a man wearing a national army uniform to be the logistics manager of the guerrilla team, he couldn't help but admire Yang Jiong's bold use of talent. He also understood that Yang Jiong trusted and used him in the same way, it was just that he didn't dare to accept it. After asking Li Ying and Yang Jiong how they were doing, he took Wang Xuehua away.

  Wang Xuehua and others turned around in a circle, and immediately understood why Li Ying called it bitter. The base's supplies were really too many and too chaotic.

  Yang Jie saw Chen Zhihao and Li Ying laughing at Wang Xuehua's back, saying: "Wang Xuehua is a talent, within a month, all kinds of things will be understood. These two are Li Xuerong and Li Xuetu brothers, both are experienced generals; this is Shen Zesheng, the director of the 17th Army Field Hospital, a very skilled surgeon; this is Li Kewei, the head of the 17th Army's firearms repair shop."

  Chen Zhihao looked at the Li brothers, who were both under 30 years old. One was tall and robust, while the other was short and slender, but both had a strong and fierce aura that could only be honed on the battlefield. Shen Zezhen, on the other hand, was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking refined and elegant, with an air of a scholar about him. In reality, Shen Zezhen himself was also a Tai Chi master. Li Kewei was particularly special - he was short and stout, with a large head and a short neck, and his legs were slightly bowed. However, according to Wang Xuehua, Li Kewei was someone even Xu Tingxiao looked up to, because of his extraordinary hands and brain. His pair of hands that could create wonders, and his brain full of creative ideas, made him look down on the world with disdain. What's more valuable was that he had a patriotic heart - when Xu Tingxiao offered him a high salary, he refused; but when Wang Xuehua said "Let's go fight the devils", he dragged him out from his hometown Guilin.

  After settling everyone down, Yang Jie called Li Fusheng over: "Have you bought the things I told you to?"

  "There are quite a few lenses, but I don't know if they can be used; twenty-four telescopes were bought, but at a high price. Li Fusheng said as he called for people to bring the things in,"These telescopes were obtained from the Japanese, and it is said that there was a thief who specialized in stealing Japanese military equipment to sell. A friend of mine sent a message yesterday saying that a British person could get this thing, and it's also relatively cheap."

  "Great, too great. Old Li, you have made a big contribution to the guerrilla team. Li Ying, give that small gun of Gong Ben to Old Li as a reward." Yang Ji said excitedly, "You go find that friend tomorrow and try to contact this British man, whatever he has we want it all, also ask him if there's anything else good, bring them together, don't worry about the cost."

  Yang Ji shouted "Old Li" and Li Fusheng's heart warmed up. He heard that he was going to be awarded a handgun, so he hurriedly declined: "No need, Captain. If there were no guerrilla troops, I, Li Fusheng, wouldn't be here today. Don't mention the reward again. The guerrilla troops didn't despise me for being from a landlord's family, and I'm already grateful. Being able to do things for the guerrilla troops makes me happy; this lifetime can know people like you, I, Li Fusheng, haven't lived in vain. In the past, I always thought about getting rich myself, now looking at you, what was that all about?"

  Yang Jie looked at Li Fusheng and said, "Old Li, resisting the Japanese is not about you or me, being able to think this way is patriotism. However, doing things for the guerrilla team will be dangerous, this gun is not just a reward, but also for self-defense, when the bullets are used up, go find Old Wang for more. Remember, take good care of yourself."

  "Ah." Li Fusheng was so moved that he almost cried, and hastily bid farewell to leave. Tears couldn't stop flowing down his face. At this age, it's still the first time someone cared about him like this.

  "Rock!" Yang Jie shouted.

  A boy of fifteen or sixteen slipped in, "Yes, captain."

  "Go and ask Li Kewe to come over."

  "Is it the one with the big head?"

  "Right, you little rascal, looking for a fight." Chen Zhihao smiled and said, he already knew Wang Xuehua's identity.

  Li Kewe came in, Yang Jing was holding Nan Weiren's sighter and looking at it repeatedly. Seeing Li Kewe coming in, he handed it to him, "Weiren, you tell Comrade Li Kewe about the structure of the sighter, see if he has a way to make some simple ones."

  "This is too complicated, you don't need to look at it. I've drawn a diagram with parameters, see if you can do it." Nan Wei Ren said, taking out a piece of paper from his body and handing it to Li Ke Wei.

  Li Kewei took it and looked at it, suddenly stunned, staring straight at Nan Weiren: "Is this your design?"

  "What's wrong?" Nan Weiren saw Li Kewe's eyes looking at him with some surprise, "It can be said that I just want to make manual work more convenient and simplify some things."

  "This has simplified some things?" Li Kewei said in surprise, "In theory it's no problem, I'll try to do it, these telescopes are probably all going to be dismantled."

  "This is what we bought to do this thing." Yang Jue said with a smile, "With you as the master, we don't have to grope around anymore. Let's take a look at this," he said, gesturing for Li Ying to bring out the object, which turned out to be an immature silencer.

  "This is no problem, I can get someone to use some old rubber steel wire to make it, we've done it before." Li Kewei surprisingly said he had seen silencers before, seeing the crowd's surprise, "Originally used by special agents, made a batch before."

  From then on, no matter who it was, nobody looked down on this ugly-looking gun repair shop owner again.

  Several days passed, and under Yang's leadership, the troops were reorganized into six regiments. Qin Yahai's second detachment also completed its training and was reassigned by Yang, who took 100 men from it and 200 men from the first detachment to form a base instructional regiment. Chen Zhihao also selected personnel from various places to form a base political education regiment, which was specifically responsible for the ideological education of soldiers.

  Three teams composed of guerrilla backbone from all over the place, under the guidance of the instructional team, learned new tactics and strategies, with high enthusiasm and combat effectiveness improved in a very short period of time.

  Four teams were formed from local bandits and remnants of the National Army, focusing on learning anti-Japanese principles. Yang Jisheng, Chen Zhihao, and others personally taught them, explaining everything from practical examples to grand theories without getting tired. They also combined the military discipline of the Eighth Route Army with the principle that resisting Japan must rely on the people, lecturing these men in a very down-to-earth way. Among these men, they launched large discussions and debates, fully promoting democracy, allowing everyone to speak freely, and slowly, through free speech, they came to understand Yang Jisheng's principles. This free atmosphere was educational in itself, as these men had never experienced such equal treatment before.

  In a few days, the most complex team's thoughts were unified as never before. Chen Zhihao accepted Yang Xun's suggestion and quickly developed a batch of party members and backbone forces among these people.

  Yang Jie also announced the training assessment promotion methods for various troops, and all military cadres were selected from assessments, which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the troops' training.

  Half a month later, Yang Jing was in the villa which is now the command post of the regiment, arranging the details of the troop assessment a month later. Chen Zhihao was busy with the preparations for the establishment of the Weixian Anti-Japanese Democratic Government.

  Hu Yijin, who was in charge of the base's vigilance, arrived. Hu Yijin is now the commander of the Base Security Regiment, and the soldiers of the Security Regiment are all drawn from the special forces team of Li Baoguo, Nan Zewen, Gao Junping, and others. Their combat effectiveness is strong and fierce, and they are all seasoned veterans who have been tested in battle. They are absolutely loyal to the anti-Japanese cause. This was also Yang Jue's last guarantee measure, learned from historical lessons, to deal with a large group of devils. The Security Regiment could protect the command post safely or hold off the devils' attack for a day.

  "Report!" Hu Yi shouted loudly. Despite his unusual relationship with Yang Wei, Hu Yi still strictly followed the rules and reported loudly at the door.

  "Come in." Chen Zhihao approached the door, "Old Hu, what's up?" Although it had only been a few days, Chen Zhihao liked Hu Yi's straightforward personality.

  "Report to the political commissar, Captain Li Baoguo has been ordered to receive the Yan'an work team and they have arrived. They are currently resting in Xiao Zhouzhuang awaiting orders." Hu Yi was reporting to Chen Zhihao, but his eyes were glancing towards Yang Jie's desk, where Yang Jie was hunched over drawing something.

  Chen Zhihao was overjoyed to hear that the Yan'an work team had arrived, as the anti-Japanese government was in urgent need of personnel. Seeing Yang Wei lift his head from the table, he said to Yang Wei: "Little Yang, call Li Ying, let's go see the comrades of the Yan'an work team."

  "Alright. Shi Tou, go invite Li Dui and Wang Zong." Yang Xun said to the outside, Shi Tou responded with a sound and left. "Old Hu, have you sent the radios to each unit? When will Gao Junping arrive?"

  "Director Wang has counted the number of transceivers that can be equipped to the regiment, now only equipping the first and second battalions, and then there are the special warfare squads. Captain Gao will also arrive in a day or two."

  "Now this is going to be a bother," Li Ying said as she stepped inside, "These two didn't even give us early notice, now they're telling us, what a nuisance."

  "What?" Yang Wei asked.

  "Li Baoguo brought over 4,000 people at once, and it's said that there were another 2,000 who didn't bring any because they had no weapons. Gao Junping also brought over more than 2,000, leaving behind a garrison of over 700." Li Ying said with a smile as he looked at Wang Xuehua who had just entered the room. But unexpectedly, when Wang Xuehua heard this, he burst out laughing and said: "I thought it was how many people, only 6 or 7 thousand, our guerrilla troops lack nothing except for people. If we get 10,000 to 80,000 more, that's no problem."

  Everyone burst out laughing when they heard this. The happiest person was Yang Wei, because Wang Xuehua's work over the past few days had truly satisfied him.