Chapter 211 Chu Yunfei's Feelings "Captain, commander, the damned Japs are fighting us. All the soldiers on the first line of defense have perished together with the Japs!" At the Eighth Route Army's blocking position at Tieshanling, Zheng Shicheng listened to what a platoon leader beside him said, and his eyes turned red as he looked at the first line of defense that was already littered with corpses and covered with bullet holes. Zheng Shicheng never expected that the Japanese would not care about his own lives in order to break through his defense line. The Japanese had already rushed into his defense line, but he continued to fire. The Japanese clearly wanted to fight him directly and use their military superiority to break down his defenses. Under the Japanese artillery fire that lasted for half an hour, an entire company of soldiers on the first line of defense died together with the Japanese. When the smoke cleared, there was no one standing on the entire battlefield. "Second Company, get into position!" Looking at the first line of defense where sandbags were blown everywhere, Zheng Shicheng had no time to feel sad, because the Japanese rushed up again. He could only let the second company enter the first line of defense that had been basically scrapped and continue to counterattack the Japanese. He led his soldiers to strengthen the second and final line of defense on the top of the mountain. If this last line of defense is lost, it means that the Tieshanling position will be completely captured by the Japanese.
"We have to hold off the Japanese for at least two hours... I don't know if we can hold them off..." Zheng Shicheng looked at the time. Originally, he needed to hold off the Japanese for at least five hours. At the beginning, Zheng Shicheng thought that holding off the Japanese for five hours would not be a difficult task. But now that the Japanese were fighting to the death, Zheng Shicheng began to worry whether he could still hold off the Japanese for five hours. "Damn it, never mind. Even if the whole army is wiped out, as long as we can kill enough Japanese soldiers, the effect will be the same! Isn't it just a trade? Little devil, I'll trade with you! One for one, I don’t lose! I want to see how many of you Japs are able to fight with us! Comrades, the Japanese are playing a game of exchange with us, wanting to trade our lives for ours! Comrades, kill one and you’ll break even, kill two and you’ll make a profit! " "Follow me into the position!" After Zheng Shicheng handed over the command of the third company to the instructor, he personally led the soldiers into the position to prepare for the next wave of attack from the Japanese. …… "Kill him!" "Charge, charge!" Kitada Daishi's eyes were red at this moment. The previous wave of charge directly filled up an entire battalion, and most of the soldiers were killed by their own artillery fire. After several charges, only half of the infantry were left in the entire brigade. Now seeing that the Eighth Route Army's positions had been destroyed by artillery fire, Kitada Daishi immediately ordered the remaining infantry to launch a charge towards Tieshanling. He planned to take over the entire Tieshanling in one go. At the same time, the artillery of the Beitian Battalion at the foot of the mountain took advantage of the fact that the follow-up troops of the Eighth Route Army had not yet entered the position and the smoke and dust on the mountain had not yet dissipated, and quickly pushed the artillery over and prepared to fire at close range. The machine gun squadron also began to set up heavy machine guns, raising the muzzles as high as possible so as to shoot at the Eighth Route Army on the mountain. Under the command of Kitada Daishi, the last complete squadron of Kitada's battalion, along with the remaining infantry, launched a charge against the Eighth Route Army on Tieshanling. ……
Zheng Shicheng, who was on the mountain, also led his troops into the position, repairing the position as much as possible while preparing to block the attack. "Damn it, this heavy machine gun was blown up. Come and see if it can be repaired!" "Hurry up and check if there are any heavy machine guns that can be used!" After Zheng Shicheng brought his men to the first line of defense, the first thing he did was to arrange for the soldiers to find heavy machine guns. Without heavy machine guns, the firepower of the Type 99 light machine gun was simply not enough to suppress the Japanese charge. "Battalion Commander, two heavy machine guns were destroyed. All of the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns are broken. Only one Type 24 heavy machine gun is still usable, but the water tank of that heavy machine gun is leaking." After listening to the soldier's report that there was still one heavy machine gun that could be used, Zheng Shicheng excitedly ran to the side of the Type 24 heavy machine gun. Below a machine gun position, a heavy machine gun was pulled directly off the position and fell into the trench. Next to the heavy machine gun were the bodies of two soldiers wearing Eighth Route Army uniforms. Judging from their appearance, one is young and the other is slightly older. "Captain, these should be the heavy machine gunners. When the Japanese bombarded, they pulled the heavy machine guns down, then lay on top of them and saved them with their lives." Zheng Shicheng listened to what the soldier next to him said and looked at the bloodstains on the heavy machine gun. How could he not realize what was going on? It is obvious that when the Japanese first started shelling, the heavy machine gunners wanted to lift the heavy machine gun into the anti-gun hole to avoid being damaged by the Japanese shells, but the anti-gun hole was blown down by the Japanese. In order to protect the heavy machine gun and prevent it from being destroyed by the Japanese shells, the two heavy machine gunners lay on the heavy machine gun and protected it with their bodies. "Bring up the heavy machine gun!" Zheng Shicheng took a look at the bodies of the two heavy machine gunners and spoke in a deep voice to the soldiers beside him. "Yes!" Several soldiers worked together to pry open the arms of the two dead soldiers, lifted the heavy machine guns from under them, and replaced them on the heavy machine gun position. "Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander, the liaison officer of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army is looking for you!" Just as Zheng Shicheng was personally operating the heavy machine gun and organizing the soldiers to block the Japanese invaders who were charging again, a soldier came to Zheng Shicheng with a soldier wearing the uniform of the Shanxi Suiyuan Army. "Oh? Friendly forces are coming? welcome! It’s a pity that we can’t offer you tea here!” Hearing the soldiers say that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had sent people over, Zheng Shicheng spoke in a sarcastic tone. The Shanxi Suiyuan Army was clearly behind the mountain. If the Shanxi Suiyuan Army was willing to cooperate in blocking the Japanese, then the Japanese would have just launched a covering artillery bombardment on their positions. The Shanxi-Suiyuan Army definitely had the opportunity to find the Japanese artillery positions and then use their mountain artillery to blow up the Japanese artillery positions. But the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army stayed at its position like a rock. Zheng Shicheng really couldn't understand why they couldn't truly cooperate together to fight the Japanese since they were all Chinese troops. If the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army could cooperate well with the Eighth Route Army, even if they did not take the initiative to send troops, as long as they did not do anything behind the scenes, perhaps the Japanese in Shanxi could have been driven out! The liaison officer of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army who came over heard the dissatisfaction in Zheng Shicheng's words.
Although Zheng Shicheng kept saying welcome, the liaison officer could still hear the other party's rejection. But the liaison officer was not angry. He was from Shanxi and he was a soldier, but he could not protect his own territory. Watching the bloody battle between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese devils from behind, he felt very uncomfortable. "Captain Zheng, you, the Eighth Route Army, have been fighting for so long. Our regiment commander suggests that you withdraw from your positions and rest. Then our 358th Regiment will be responsible for blocking the Japanese!" "I'm sorry, the order I received is to lead my troops to block the Japanese here for at least five hours. Within five hours, even if it's just one second, I can't lead my troops to retreat! Thank you for your kindness, friends! We will never withdraw from our position until the mission is completed!" The liaison officer listened to what Zheng Shicheng said and spoke quickly. "Captain Zheng, you are less than half of a battalion now, and there is an entire brigade of Japanese invaders below you! We have received intelligence that the Japanese 9th Brigade is rapidly gathering towards Tieshanling. What you will be facing soon is no longer just a regiment of the Japanese, but an entire brigade! And the Japanese planes have already taken off, you won’t be able to hold out here for long! Captain Zheng, we in the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army really want to fight alongside your Eighth Route Army, and we also want to kill the Japanese. But we cannot disobey the orders from above. The best way now is for you, the Eighth Route Army, to withdraw from the position, and then hand over the position to our Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and you retreat to rest. Then we will fight here, and then you, the Eighth Route Army, can rush up and fight together! In this case, it means that your Eighth Route Army actively cooperated with my Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in the battle, not that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army cooperated with the Eighth Route Army in the battle. Captain Zheng, would you consider it?" The liaison officer said to Zheng Shicheng what Chu Yunfei had told him. As the saying goes, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. The people in Shancheng did not allow the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to cooperate with the Eighth Route Army in fighting. However, if the Eighth Route Army cooperated with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in combat, the situation would be different. Therefore, Chu Yunfei wanted this group of Eighth Route Army to retreat and rest first. After the Japanese entered the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's blocking circle, this group of Eighth Route Army would take the initiative to enter the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's position and fight together. In this way, he could not only use the bravery of this group of Eighth Route Army to boost the morale of the 358th Regiment of his Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Not only can this group of Eighth Route Army soldiers legitimately use the supplies of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, but Chu Yunfei can also provide artillery support openly. After all, the Eighth Route Army has come to cooperate in the battle, it is impossible that they will not even replenish basic ammunition. They are helping you defend your territory. This is not the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army cooperating with the Eighth Route Army in combat. After all, the Japanese had run to the territory of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, so the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army couldn't just let the Japanese pass without fighting. What if the Japanese attacked the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army by the way? Are we going to ask the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to stop resisting and surrender directly? Who dares to give this order? But the problem now is that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army must fight the Japanese within its own defense zone and cannot enter the Eighth Route Army's defense zone. Therefore, Zheng Shicheng now needs to lead his troops to temporarily retreat and enter the defense zone of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Only in this way will Chu Yunfei have a reason to take action against the Japanese. Otherwise, if he mobilized troops without authorization to cooperate with the Eighth Route Army in the battle, even if the superiors acquiesced, if it was leaked by someone with ulterior motives, Chu Yunfei would not be able to bear the responsibility. So Chu Yunfei could only settle for the second best and hope that Zheng Shicheng could lead his troops to retreat to the defense zone of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Zheng Shicheng understood what the liaison officer meant.
But he really didn't want to believe what the other party said, because Zheng Shicheng was an old Red Army soldier. Haven’t the troops in the mountain city done enough to stab us in the back? Not to mention the regiment commander's order, what if the Shanxi Suiyuan Army lied, and then he led his troops to retreat to the Shanxi Suiyuan Army's defense zone, and then was directly sold out by the Shanxi Suiyuan Army? By then, not only would their lives be in danger, but their positions would also be lost. “Please thank your Captain Chu for his kindness on my behalf. I appreciate it, but please forgive me. I have received an order to hold this place for five hours. Even if there is only one second left, I will not retreat! Second Captain, show him away! " "Yes!" "Captain Zheng! Eh! " Seeing that Zheng Shicheng was so stubborn, the liaison officer could only sigh helplessly and then left the first line of defense of the Eighth Route Army's blocking position in Tieshanling. After leaving Tieshanling, the liaison officer rode his horse quickly back to the blocking position of the 358th Regiment and reported the situation to Chu Yunfei. "Captain, the Eighth Route Army doesn't trust us..." Fang Ligong listened to the liaison officer's report, sighed, and spoke to Chu Yunfei beside him with some helplessness. "We can't do anything. What they did in Shancheng is really too much. Now the Eighth Route Army basically won't trust us. Even in Jincheng, even though our Shanxi Suiyuan Army has mobilized a lot of troops there, we have exchanged fire with the Japanese. However, there are still many Eighth Route Army troops in the Shangdang area who remain vigilant towards Jincheng. Even the Shangdang area is like this, let alone our side? If we can truly fight together with the Eighth Route Army, to put it in a bigger picture. Our Shanxi-Suiyuan Army helped the Eighth Route Army to block the Japanese troops in the direction of Jincheng and Zhongtiao Mountain. Then let the Eighth Route Army fight the Japanese with all its might. With the current strength of the Eighth Route Army, it is possible that these three Japanese brigades will be swallowed up by the Eighth Route Army. After swallowing up the three brigades of the Japanese army, the Eighth Route Army will then help block the Japanese troops coming from the direction of Taiyuan. Then we will be able to take Jincheng and Zhongtiao Mountain back from the Japanese. To put it in a smaller scale, if we were able to cooperate with the Eighth Route Army in combat, then when the Japanese just now covered the Eighth Route Army with artillery fire, we could directly find the Japanese artillery positions and let our artillery blow up the Japanese artillery positions! Without artillery, I wonder what the Japanese can use to attack our positions! What a pity... Now we can only watch the Eighth Route Army being defeated bit by bit by the Japanese in front of us... These losses are all our China's national defense forces. Those soldiers who died were all from Shanxi." Chu Yunfei looked at the Eighth Route Army positions that were once again covered by the Japanese artillery fire, and couldn't help but close his eyes, unwilling to look any longer. He was worried that if he continued to watch, he would not be able to help but order the artillery battalion to fire. At that time, not only will he be implicated and dismissed because of this matter, but many people in the headquarters will also be implicated. Then, it will be difficult for the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army to take the initiative to fight again. (End of this chapter)