Chapter 171 Kasahara Koizumi has a brain On the outskirts of Tongshi Town, Kasahara Koizumi was originally unable to enter Tongshi Town in a short period of time, so he thought about rescuing the Yamazaki Battalion first, and then dealing with the affairs of Tongshi Town. However, unexpectedly, the Army Aviation sent a message that the Yamazaki Battalion had been completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, and the Army Aviation aircraft also observed that the Eighth Route Army was no longer transporting supplies outside of Heguzhen, and it was suspected that the arsenal had been withdrawn. The Yamazaki Battalion had been destroyed by the Eighth Route Army and the arsenal had been evacuated, so there was naturally no need for Kasahara Koizumi to lead his troops to Wangjiapo. So Kasahara Koizumi prepared to garrison his troops in Tongshi Town, waiting for the arrival of follow-up troops. In order to facilitate defense and allow the soldiers to have a better rest, Kasahara Koizumi naturally did not plan to garrison in the wild, and naturally wanted to enter Tongshi Town. After all, the 22nd Regiment was traveling light this time, and did not carry much supplies such as tents and fuel. So Kasahara Koizumi sent soldiers to investigate the positions left by the Eighth Route Army to see what the situation was like. Are there any Eighth Route Army troops still lying in ambush in Tongshi Town, waiting for them to relax their vigilance and then launch a surprise attack? As a result, the soldiers who investigated the position reported that the fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army had been completely destroyed and could not be used in the short term. The trenches dug by the Eighth Route Army were filled with bricks, sand, broken tiles, iron nails and other things.
If you want to repair the fortifications left by the Eighth Route Army, you must clear out all the debris inside the fortifications. However, in addition to throwing a large amount of debris into the trenches to fill them up, the Eighth Route Army also buried a large number of mines. Kasahara Koizumi sent out an engineering squadron to clear the trenches, but before the trenches were even cleared, several engineers were killed by mines. The engineers wanted to clear the mines, but it turned out that the mines buried by the Eighth Route Army outside the trenches were not made of iron, so the mine detectors were completely useless. The trenches were littered with iron nails, broken farm tools, broken axes and other iron tools, making it impossible for the mine detector to find the mines. Not many mines were found, and several Japanese soldiers in the engineering squadron were killed in the explosion. After seeing that there were a large number of mines buried in the fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army outside Tongshi Town, Kasahara Koizumi decisively gave up the idea of repairing the fortifications of the Eighth Route Army. After discovering that the mines buried by the Eighth Route Army were generally not very powerful, Kasahara Koizumi ordered the soldiers to drive trucks to lay sandbags on the positions, using the sandbags to detonate the mines while paving a road leading to the interior of Tongshi Town. After the road was opened, Kasahara Koizumi directly sent a squadron of Japanese soldiers into Tongshi Town to search the town. The result of the search was that more than seventy Japanese soldiers were killed and then they withdrew from Tongshi Town in disgrace. "Baga, the Eighth Route Army actually laid mines throughout Tongshi Town. Where did they get so much explosives?" Looking at the results reported from below, Kasahara Koizumi cursed angrily. The squadron leader who was responsible for entering Tongshi Town to search for the Japanese told Kasahara Koizumi. The entire Tongshi Town is suspected to be filled with mines. Many Japanese soldiers would explode the minute they pushed open the door of a house... There are also mines buried under some floor tiles, and they are very powerful... In particular, some mines are chain mines. There was one squad where half of the team was destroyed because someone stepped on a chain mine. "Send soldiers to sweep the nearby villages. I don't believe it. Can the Eighth Route Army also plant mines in all the nearby villages? Do they have an endless supply of explosives?" After seeing that it was impossible to enter Tongshi Town, Kasahara Koizumi decisively ordered his troops to begin a sweep of the area near the garrison in accordance with old tradition.
"Sir, our engineers have dug up a mine buried in the Eighth Route Army's position. Look at this!" Shinichi Kikuchi, deputy commander of the 22nd Regiment, walked up to Kasahara Koizumi with a clay pot about the size of a rice bowl, which was used to hold wine, and spoke to him. Kasahara Koizumi looked at the mine that Kikuchi Shinichi brought over, took it and examined it carefully. Since the engineers were able to deliver the mines here, they must have had their fuses removed and there was no risk of explosion. Otherwise, Shinichi Kikuchi would not dare to send such a landmine that could explode at any time to Kasahara Koizumi. So Kasahara Koizumi didn't worry at all and took the pot mine and started observing. Looking at the mouth of the pottery jar that could only accommodate two fingers, Kasahara Koizumi curiously inserted his finger and then rotated it along the mouth of the jar. When Kasahara Koizumi pulled out his finger, he saw some black powdery substance on the white glove on his index finger. “Black powder? The mines made by the Eighth Route Army's black gunpowder?" Looking at the powder on the gloves, Kasahara Koizumi could tell it was black powder without even smelling it. Shinichi Kikuchi nodded after listening to what Kasahara Koizumi said, and then answered. "Yes, sir, the engineers reported that most of the mines buried by the Eighth Route Army were made of various strange materials, and the explosives filled in the mines were all black powder. According to the inspection of the engineers, it should be the black gunpowder used by local Chinese civilians to make firecrackers. If our soldiers accidentally step on this type of mine, the power of the mine explosion is unlikely to kill our soldiers, but it can injure our soldiers, with the soles of their feet being shattered at the very least and the legs being broken at the worst. Moreover, the Eighth Route Army connected multiple mines in series and buried sub-mines. When engineers were clearing mines, many of them were blinded or had their hands blown off by the sub-mines under the mother mines. Listening to what Shinichi Kikuchi said, Kasahara Koizumi handed the mine in his hand to the guard beside him and spoke calmly. “The Eighth Route Army wanted to use landmines to prevent us from entering Tongshi Town to garrison. The Eighth Route Army did not want us to use Tongshi Town to resist their attack. If we force our way into Tongshi Town, we will have to clear the mines in the trenches and inside Tongshi Town. If we forcefully clear the trenches, the mines will explode. Although they won’t kill our soldiers, a seriously injured soldier will drag down two normal soldiers…” When Kasahara Koizumi said this, a hint of disbelief flashed in his eyes. Seriously injured soldiers will only drag down normal soldiers when the troops are transferring, retreating, or breaking out. If it was just a garrison, then one normal soldier would be more than enough to take care of five seriously injured soldiers. As for the issue of drug consumption... that is something to be considered after the battle is over, and it is completely irrelevant now. Among the three situations in which seriously injured soldiers would drag down the troops, breaking out is the most serious. Whether they are retreating or transferring, it means that they are still in control of the overall situation and the advantage is on their side. There is no problem in leaving some soldiers to protect the wounded. Breaking through is not the only option... If they abandon all the wounded and break through, then after all the wounded are captured by the Eighth Route Army, the Eighth Route Army will definitely use this incident to carry out propaganda and undermine the morale of their Great Japanese Locust Army. If you abandon the wounded during a battle and send them to the enemy, what will other soldiers think of you? In ordinary troops, if you dare to give such an order to abandon the wounded, the morale of the army will be broken! Unless the commander who gave the order was also wounded and abandoned himself. After all, although the Japanese's ordinary troops are crazy, it doesn't mean that these people are idiots. They fought desperately, and I got injured. So they just abandoned the wounded? What do you think the normal soldiers would think? How could a normal soldier fight with all his might? On the battlefield, swords have no mercy and you will be abandoned once you are injured. Then who will listen to you? If you fight, you might get hurt, and then be captured, and if you get hurt more seriously, you might die... If you don’t fight, you may be captured, or you may succeed in escaping, but you may die later. If you surrender directly... not only will you not get hurt... you won't die later...
Three choices...Whoever dares to give such an order will just have to wait for the army to completely collapse. By that time the army will be routed and no one will be able to break out successfully. Therefore, when the army breaks through, it must take the wounded with it, but taking the wounded with it will seriously slow down the marching speed of the troops. And this is a strategy that is comparable to an open conspiracy. Open conspiracy, that's because I have told you all my plans, you make your own choice, but no matter what you choose, you have to fall into the trap honestly. And this plan has a solution. That is, the morale of the troops is high, the wounded soldiers are aware of their situation and are willing to stay behind to cover the main force, which directly eliminates the main force's worries and can also assist the main force in breaking through! Thinking of this, Kasahara Koizumi found it more and more incredible. "The Eighth Route Army actually wants to annihilate our Fourth Brigade!" When Shinichi Kikuchi heard Kasahara Koizumi suddenly say that the Eighth Route Army wanted to wipe out the 4th Brigade, he found it a little unbelievable. "Sir, what did you say?" Seeing that Shinichi Kikuchi had not yet reacted, Kasahara Koizumi pointed at the Tongshi Town in front of him and explained to Shinichi Kikuchi. "Kikuchi-kun, look at Tongshi Town. Doesn't the whole town look like a giant cage?" "Tongshi Town is a place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend, especially since it is surrounded by plains. The attacker can deploy a large number of troops to attack Tongshi Town. The defenders can only rely on the fortifications of Tongshi Town to resist, but now we cannot enter Tongshi Town. This means that we have lost the only defensible location in this area. The Eighth Route Army won't let us enter Tongshi Town. I guess they want us to face the Eighth Route Army's attacks from all sides on this flat land! By then, the Eighth Route Army only needs to send out troops to guard the hills around the No. 1, and then we will be the tiger trapped in the natural cage of Tongshi Town..." While explaining the current situation to Kikuchi Shinichi, Kasahara Koizumi recalled the situations he had encountered along the way and also collected intelligence about the island in conjunction with the 4th Brigade. Kasahara Koizumi came to a shocking conclusion. "The high-ranking officer of the Eighth Route Army in Yuxi Town is just a bait. The real purpose of the Eighth Route Army is not to destroy the Yamazaki Battalion to protect the arsenal! Their goal is to lure the Fourth Brigade to Yuxi Town, and then use the terrain advantage of Yuxi Town to destroy our Fourth Brigade!" Shinichi Kikuchi was shocked when he heard the results of Kasahara Koizumi's analysis, and then he quickly spoke to Kasahara Koizumi. "Captain, how is this possible? The Eighth Route Army wants to destroy our Fourth Brigade? Our Fourth Brigade is so powerful that even if the Eighth Route Army mobilized all the troops in the Shangdang area, it would be impossible to destroy half of our Fourth Brigade, right? Even the Kimura Brigade was destroyed by the Eighth Route Army because they underestimated the enemy and were allowed to sneak into the camp by the Eighth Route Army who could speak Japanese, which eventually led to the destruction of the camp. But now, how could our 4th Brigade make the same mistake as Kimura’s Brigade? In a head-on confrontation, the Eighth Route Army's weapons and equipment alone would be no match for our Fourth Brigade." Seeing Kikuchi Shinichi's face full of disbelief, Kasahara Koizumi did not get angry or impatient. After all, sometimes subordinates are dumber than you are, which is a very normal and reassuring thing.
"Kikuchi-kun, you can no longer look at the Eighth Route Army with the same eyes as before. The Special High Section reported that the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army had obtained a large amount of ammunition and equipment supplies from somewhere unknown. I didn't really believe this information at first, but from what I've seen along the way, it seems very likely that it's true. Along the way, the Eighth Route Army avoided direct fire with us. They always fired a burst of machine gun fire from a distance, or retreated quickly after fighting for a few minutes. Until we reached the Eighth Route Army blocking position outside Yuxi Town, where we encountered a decent blocking. The Eighth Route Army's artillery, as well as the number of heavy and light machine guns, are completely different from those of the previous Eighth Route Army. So I guess that the equipment level of the nearby Eighth Route Army troops, or the level of light weapons equipment, is no worse than that of our army. If I'm not mistaken, Yuxi Town is the ambush circle prepared by the Eighth Route Army for our Fourth Brigade. Once we officially enter the ambush circle, the Eighth Route Army will definitely attack us with extremely powerful firepower. When the time comes, I will definitely ask the brigade commander for support. Then the brigade commander led the remaining troops into the ambush circle, and the Eighth Route Army sent another troop to go around and cut off our retreat. At that time, due to the terrain restrictions of Yuxi Town, we could not bring into play the advantage of our heavy weapons, and we could only rely on light weapons and the Eighth Route Army to fight. However, because the Eighth Route Army was on the defensive, they were able to use their heavy weapons. Moreover, the strength of the Eighth Route Army is no less than that of our warriors. We were ambushed after marching for one day, while the Eighth Route Army was well-rested and had the advantage of geographical location, and their numbers were larger than ours. Kikuchi-kun, how long do you think my Fourth Brigade can hold out under the circumstances I described?" “Don’t worry about the support of the other two brigades. Since the Eighth Route Army has decided to ambush our Fourth Brigade, they must have made plans. Either you can stop two brigades, or you can destroy the Fourth Brigade before the other two brigades arrive!" (End of this chapter)