Chapter 33: The Astonishing Heart-Grabbing Battle (Part 1)

  Li Ying glanced at the outside of the door, where the sunset shone in at an angle, casting a slanted shadow of the sentry at the entrance into the room. The air was filled with the scent of harvest, as the peasants had hidden their harvested crops in the mountains and those that hadn't been harvested yet were being helped to be hastily gathered. Without the exploitation of the landlords, this year was the happiest for them. Gao Junping's suppression of the landlords was extremely cruel, and anyone who showed even a hint of suspicion would be shot; some landlords had even been disguised as bandits and eliminated by him. Only those who clearly supported the Eighth Route Army were spared.

  The devils had been quiet for a whole day. It wasn't until noon the next day that news came from Nan Weiren, and the devils began to advance towards Zhuolu via the Xuanhua Yanghe Bridge. Without any obstruction, the devils' march was swift, and by dusk, the devil's vanguard had already passed through Zhuolu and begun to garrison at Dongjiafang. Li Ying and others had long since retreated into the mountains, where they converged with Nan Weiren and others to monitor the devils' movements.

  A small reconnaissance team sent out to scout the enemy occasionally sends back messages. After the enemy crossed Zhuolu, they divided their troops into two routes: one route followed the Sanggan River westward; the other route headed south towards Wei County.

  Although Yano's troops were defeated and the arsenal was bombed, the gains were also great. Not to mention the elimination of some resistance forces, the wealth plundered from bandits and villages was enough to justify itself to the garrison headquarters. He also clarified a major problem that had been troubling him for a long time, which turned out to be the special warfare detachment of the Weixian guerrilla force causing trouble for himself, and further solidified his trust in Okamura's judgment.

  The march of the past day has proven that even with special forces like this small but powerful unit, the guerrillas are no match for the Imperial Japanese Army. According to the prisoners' confessions, the special forces have lost at least half of their men, and the guerrillas' peripheral forces have been largely wiped out. Now, all they need to do is reach Weixian, eliminate this bandit force, and provide indirect support to Okamura while attracting the main force of the Eighth Route Army to gather in the direction of Weixian. Hehe... just thinking about it makes Yano unable to help but laugh on the car.

  The garrison officer, Village Chief Tanaka, tried his best to persuade him to spend the night in the county town, but Yano refused without hesitation. Is it safe with a guard of 6,000 troops within a radius of less than ten miles? With 6,000 troops and various supplies, wouldn't those guerrillas be scared to death?

  The night fell in a peaceful atmosphere, and according to plan, Yano let the vanguard troops station at Dongjia House, which was the throat of entering Weixian. In front of them were the great mountains, it was safer to pass through the great mountains during the day after all, the Imperial Army soldiers were not familiar with such great mountains. Ah! It's hard to find a mountain like this in our own country, Japan is indeed a small country, even its mountains seem petty.

  It's already September 10th, the moon has just appeared on the horizon of the big mountain, and the earth is much brighter. The autumn night indeed has some chilly air, team members are huddled together for warmth, someone covered themselves with grass branches. Li Ying, Li Baoguo, Nan Weiren three people quietly checked the post once, at dusk, Yang Jie came to report that there was a task tonight, requiring all team members to be ready to depart. But time has passed for a long time, still no movement.

  Back to the temporary cave, Li Shi brothers and Wang Guixi Kangnianshan are not there, estimated to be inspected. The moon quietly gazes at this forest full of vitality, gently sprinkling its light into every corner. In some corners where the moonlight cannot reach, the grass occasionally moves slightly, probably due to the night wind blowing.

  Suddenly, a short cry of an eagle came from the mountain below, as if it was startled by the moonlight and cried out, but there was no shadow of the eagle in the night sky. A head suddenly popped out of the grass thicket, turned towards the mountain below and flashed a flashlight twice for a very short time.

  Several figures appeared on the mountain road.

  Li Ying listlessly stared at the entrance of the cave, while Li Nan and others leaned against the ammunition box to rest.

  Suddenly, purely on intuition, Li Ying stood up, startling the others in the room. Yang Guang's figure quickly appeared at the entrance of the cave, and Li Baoguo and Nan Weiren exchanged a surprised glance - was this really telepathy?

  When Yang Jiong came in, Li Ying almost rushed into his arms. No longer caring about the presence of others, she grabbed Yang Jiong's hand and held it tightly, for a moment unable to say anything. Her eyes were slightly moist, her lips trembling, and her eyes filled with sorrowful resentment.

  In life, you are his; in death, you must be mine! Li Ying's heart kept repeating this sentence, although Yang Jue couldn't hear it, but Li Ying's heart had already soaked through to Yang Jue. Seeing this, Yang Jue knew that Li Ying was blaming him for not telling her where he was going. He slightly nodded to the few people following behind him, and they quietly smiled and slipped away.

  Yang Jie gently stroked Li Ying's hand, her hand was not as delicate and smooth as Liu Qingqing's, but the warmth that came from it was the same as Liu Qingqing's, even deeper and more profound, making Yang Jie's heart tremble.

  Li Ying slowly nestled in his arms, quietly savoring the rare happiness. Outside the cave, autumn insects hummed softly, a gentle breeze blew warmly, and the autumn moon shone brightly, a refreshing scene.

  "Don't let you do this! Alive, you are hers; dead, you must be mine! I... " Li Ying's beautiful face flowed with big drops of tears because of the mention of death, "Without you, I would be empty..."

  Yang Jie knew what it felt like to be empty! When Liu Qingqing was not around, he felt a little empty, as if life had lost everything, as if people had lost their spiritual soul. Empty, it's really the highest feeling of love. Yang Jie couldn't help but hold Li Ying tightly, "Yingzi, we still have a mission."

  Yang Jie brought the accurate location of the Yano Commander's residence, and met Fu Mali Te's war team in Xuanhua. Gao Junping also arrived during the crowd's greetings. With him came Gong Xiaoming, deputy commander of the First Brigade Qin Yahai, political commissar Ma Bin, who was transferred from Yan'an Basic Cadre Team; Deputy Commander of the Third Brigade Zhou Shicai, Political Commissar Gu Nai Fu, who was allocated from the local underground party organization department; Special Warfare Dragon Roar Company Captain Yun Zesheng, Deputy Captain and Instructor Ji Yongqing.

  "Now, I announce the battle plan: Tonight at 12 o'clock, the battle will start on time. At that time, I will lead the enemy into the predetermined position. Old Geng will be in charge of blasting. One group will be responsible for annihilating the devils who may break out of the encirclement outside the position. Three groups will ambush here and wait for the devils to enter the mountain area, then attack them from behind. The Special Operations Team and the Sky Battle Team will be responsible for wiping out the devils' logistics units. Kangnianshan's troops will follow the assault team and ambush in the small woods west of Xiliu Village, waiting to receive the assault team after they retreat from the village. Fu Mali's troops will ambush at this position, Wang Guixi's troops will ambush at that position, you are responsible for opening up the road for the assault team to retreat and blocking the devils who pursue them. The Iron Blood Company will leave Xu De behind, the Blood Blade Company will leave Liu Jian behind, the others will be led by Yun Zesheng, attacking from the south to Dongjiafang, waiting to open up a path for Fu Mali and Wang Guixi's troops. Assault team roster: Yang Jie, Li Baoguo in the first group at the front, second group Li Xuerong, Li Xuetu, third group Li Ying, Xu De, fourth group Hu Yi, Liu Jian, Nan Weiren, Gao Junping in the last group. 15 minutes to prepare, action!"