xymnovel Chapter 14 Armed to the Teeth
Chapter 14 Armed to the Teeth
Nothing happened that night. On October 1st, the third day after the battle, Chen Xiaoquan and Zhao Dahu continued their work as usual, while Yang Zheng continued to refine his plans and waited for the arrival of the newcomers.
Perhaps sensing his expectations, the newlyweds appeared at the village entrance around 9 a.m.
"Company commander, four blacksmiths have arrived at the village entrance. They say they are Master Li's apprentices!" Quan Man, who was guarding the village entrance, ran over and reported, panting.
Yang Zheng raised an eyebrow, walked to the entrance of the blacksmith's shop, and, seeing Li Dachui busily working with sparks flying everywhere, shouted loudly, "Master Li, four blacksmiths have come to the village entrance, saying they are your apprentices!"
Li Dachui paused, put the hammer he was swinging aside, wiped his hands, and walked over: "Company Commander, it must be my apprentices! I didn't teach those four guys for nothing. From now on, we'll be much faster when we fight."
Yang Zheng nodded and said with a smile, "Alright, Master Li, I'll go and bring them in."
Although they were summoned by the system, Yang Zheng also discovered that they were all flesh-and-blood people with thoughts, so joining the Eighth Route Army was worthy of his respect.
After bringing the four blacksmiths in and handing them over to Li Dachui for arrangements, he went directly to Zhou Shunzi's house and found Zhou Dachui.
We started by discussing with him hiring villagers to help build some houses outside the village, which would serve as the troop's base and later the location of the blacksmith's shop.
It's not really suitable for a blacksmith shop to be crammed into a small hut all the time. It's fine now that there are only a few people, but if there are more people, it won't be able to operate properly. So we need to make preparations in advance.
Zhou Dachui agreed very readily, as it happened to be the off-season for farming, and the villagers had plenty of time.
Even the houses that were damaged yesterday have already been repaired by the villagers on their own today, without any intention of troubling the Eighth Route Army.
Just as Yang Zheng finished arranging this matter, he happened to see a large group of soldiers in military uniforms walking towards Changning Village with empty hands.
Yang Zheng was overjoyed and immediately went over.
"Sir, we are veterans of the Northeast Warlord Army..."
Yang Zheng asked them about their backgrounds one by one and did a background check. In fact, he knew very well that these people were summoned by the system. He asked them in such detail because he was curious.
According to them, they heard gunshots the day before yesterday. They quietly went to investigate and found that the Eighth Route Army was killing Japanese soldiers there. After discussing it, they decided to all come and join the Eighth Route Army to fight against the Japanese together.
They were all scattered soldiers from Northeast China, and the highest-ranking one of them was a deputy squad leader named Zeng Dahui.
The good news is that this group is extremely skilled in positional warfare and is very familiar with all kinds of firearms. As long as they are given guns, they can quickly form a considerable fighting force.
Yang was overjoyed and immediately called Zhao Dahu over to settle the 36 veterans from Northeast China. Then, they joined the new recruits in training.
Zhao Dahu was practically bursting with excitement. Last night he was worried about the heavy losses of his soldiers, and today he had recruited so many. It was a wonderful surprise!
"Company Commander, we really have to kill the Japanese! The more we kill, the more spoils we get, and the more talented people we can attract to join us! These guys are all skilled, no less capable than our old soldiers!"
Yang Zheng laughed and kicked him, cursing, "Then you damn well better get them trained. When Chen Xiaoquan comes back tonight, we'll discuss the reorganization of the troops and our next move."
"Hehe!" Zhao Dahu chuckled, then patted his chest and assured, "Just you wait and see, Company Commander!"
After making these arrangements, Yang Zheng led Luo Dashan and the other eight people to the Japanese stronghold, where they met Ono and his companion, who were taking turns resting and monitoring.
"Company Commander, after observing for the past two days, there should only be 30 or 40 Japanese soldiers in this stronghold, along with about 30 traitors assisting them, controlling and plundering the surrounding villages."
Yesterday afternoon, two Japanese sentries led three puppet soldiers out of the stronghold. I followed them, but they were scared off by the sentries firing. No one else came out after that.
Yang Zheng nodded. He knew about what happened last night; Chen Xiaoquan had reported it to him. However, the Japanese were too vigilant, and the puppet troops were too clever, so they were unable to capture them.
This is also why Yang Zheng came here today—to find out the truth of the matter.
He picked up the binoculars he had seized the day before and looked around. The entire stronghold was an irregularly shaped rectangular courtyard, about the size of two basketball courts.
In the middle of the courtyard, there is a two-story watchtower, made of brick and stone. The top of the tower is equipped with searchlights and a lookout tower, and there is also a pile of sandbags. Behind it is a machine gun position, and the second floor below also has several narrow firing ports. The firepower is not weak and is enough to cover the entire courtyard and a large area around it.
Outside, there was a two-person-high rammed earth wall, with barbed wire strung on top.
Similarly, around each of the four sides of the wall, there was a simple wooden sentry shed, where two puppet soldiers stood on duty.
Inside the wall, there were several low barracks, which were probably the residences of the Japanese soldiers and their puppet troops.
The entrance to the outpost was on the south side, with a large gate that looked like it was made of wood and covered with iron. Outside the gate was a moat, about one meter wide.
Yang Zheng slowly moved his binoculars, silently estimating: there were at least eight or nine machine gun crews and observation posts permanently stationed in the pillbox; plus the Japanese soldiers moving around in the courtyard, there were about twenty or thirty. Including the puppet troops, Ono's estimate of a total of sixty or seventy men was reliable.
This stronghold, like a venomous fang driven into the earth, is not large, but it is heavily fortified and has a layered firepower configuration (the pillboxes and machine guns control the area, while the walls and sentries control the points). If we were to attack it head-on, with our limited manpower and firepower, we would probably only end up with a mouthful of fangs.
A night raid was also impossible. Yang Zheng didn't have exceptional personal abilities, and although his men were brave, they weren't superhuman. A searchlight and a machine gun would only lead to their deaths in this open space.
So the only thing we can do is provoke them. Tomorrow, we'll lead half of our company, carrying all the captured weapons, and swagger past them.
If the Japanese soldiers chased them, they would beat them up. With the current firepower and personnel quality of the Eighth Company, they could easily fight a small Japanese infantry squad in the field.
Of course, if they didn't come out, that would also achieve Yang Zheng's goal: to draw the Japanese soldiers' attention away and let them know that the Eighth Route Army had left and gone somewhere else.
After all, the Japanese had never encountered an enemy who dared to station troops under their noses before, and they were used to being arrogant and conceited.
And this psychology is the easiest to exploit.
As long as the Japanese think they've really left, given their nature, they will inevitably send troops to sweep through the area near Changning Village in retaliation.
Then, it would be another opportunity for their Eighth Company to ambush and grow stronger. They might even be able to easily take over the entire stronghold by surprise.