More than 100 Japanese and puppet troops took advantage of the situation and pressed up to the top of the mountain. Suddenly, the sound of machine guns on the Japanese machine gun position stopped, replaced by the sound of bursting submachine gun fire. About three people appeared in Honda Takeo's telescope.
Ten members of the Eighth Route Army were using skillful tactical movements to shoot at the attacking Japanese and puppet troops.
In the rain of bullets, the bodies of the Japanese and puppet soldiers twitched and fell to the ground as if they had been electrocuted.
The deputy machine gunner of one heavy machine gun and two light machine guns was shot through the head by a sudden bullet as soon as he touched the gun.
The Eighth Route Army's submachine gun fire sent flying sand and rocks, and the Japanese and puppet troops fell in droves in an instant.
Suddenly, there was a sharp whistling sound coming from far and near overhead, and a row of artillery shells fell between the Japanese and puppet troops.
Boom boom boom——
Amidst the explosion, the Japanese and puppet troops were immediately enveloped in flames and smoke, leaving a pile of corpses on the hillside. A small number of the Japanese and puppet troops retreated.
Next to Honda Takeo, the Japanese staff officer wiped a cold sweat and said: "Major, this is definitely not an ordinary Eighth Route Army. Although this Eighth Route Army has a small number of people, it has rich experience in actual combat. They are all at the level of special shooters and have extremely high mental quality."
Stable, and there are snipers among them."
Takeo Honda was preparing to focus his grenades again to launch another attack on the top of the mountain.
The observer came over in a panic, his tone and steps quick: "Report to the Major, infantry artillery and field artillery have been pulled out from eight directions directly ahead!"
"Nani?"
Takeo Honda and his staff's expressions changed drastically when they heard this.
Infantry artillery and field artillery?
The case has been solved, and the Lijiagou stronghold was definitely taken down by these eight-pronged forces.
Only then did Takeo Honda realize that he had fallen into a trap. The Eighth Route Commander had the ability to take down the artillery towers, but from the very beginning he assumed a posture of besieging the stronghold for a long time.
It was obvious that he was fishing.
And he foolishly took the bait.
Too careless.
Takeo Honda's dull and painful head became more and more painful.
"How many more soldiers do we have?"
The staff officer replied: "There are still about 150 Imperial Army soldiers, 50 of whom are wounded, and there are about 100 Imperial Army soldiers."
During the shelling, most of the Japanese soldiers hid in gun towers and bunkers, while the puppet troops were shelled outside.
But the space in the gun towers was limited after all, half of the soldiers were wounded, and the gun towers and bunkers couldn't hold all the Japanese.
But now, the Eighth Route Army has pulled out the infantry artillery and field artillery, so the gun towers are not safe either.
Takeo Honda said in a deep voice: "Order that all the Imperial Army and Imperial Alliance Army move into the county."
The Japanese army still had a strong sense of shame. They described retreat as turning in and calling for help as a request for tactical guidance.
The staff officer was shocked and said: "Captain, do you mean that we have to abandon the stone box stronghold?"
"Fujii-kun." Honda Takeo looked at the staff officer with sinister eyes, "Are you going to stay and live or die with the stone box stronghold?"
"Hey, transfer to the county seat immediately!" the staff officer paused. The only way to stay is to die, so only a fool is willing to stay.
The Japanese staff officer named Fujii immediately issued an order to move into the county town. The Japanese and puppet soldiers took the wounded, weapons and ammunition and ran towards the path they came from.
Before escaping, the Japanese did not forget to burn the food in the stronghold that could not be taken away.
On the hilltop opposite the stronghold, Li Yunlong saw the Japanese and puppet troops escaping.
He immediately turned to the artillery battery on the top of the mountain and shouted loudly: "Fire a few cannons for the labor and management to send off the Japanese."
After receiving the order, the artillery battery immediately turned its muzzle and fired in the direction of the Japanese and puppet troops.
…
After the Japanese and puppet troops escaped, the new regiment occupied the Shixi stronghold without even firing infantry artillery and field artillery.
When Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang walked into the stronghold, Zhang Dabiao came over to report to Li Yunlong.
"Report to the regimental commander, there are dozens of wounded Japanese soldiers in the gun towers and bunkers, and they have all committed suicide."
"It should be a seriously injured person."
"All the seriously injured members of the puppet army are also dead. They should have been killed by the Japanese before they left."
Zhang Dabiao sounded a little disdainful. These puppet soldiers surrendered to the enemy and accepted the Japanese as their fathers. Their Japanese fathers slaughtered them like animals.
"But it's a pity that more than 100 Japanese and dozens of puppet soldiers escaped." Zhang Dabiao said again.
"It's a pity..." Li Yunlong waved his hand and said, "We will capture the county sooner or later. Not a single Japanese or puppet army can escape."
"Yeah, it's not a pity."
Zhao Gang said with a smile: "In this battle, we have eliminated the main force of the Japanese and puppet troops in the county. The remaining Japanese and puppet troops should not dare to go out of the city to support us."
Lu Yingjun strode down from behind Zhang Dabiao and gave Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang a military salute.
"Leader, political commissar!"
Li Yunlong's expression changed and he hurriedly asked: "Lv Yingjun, how many cannons did your sharp sword team capture?"
Grinning, Lu Yingjun said: "8 guns, 4 Type 92 infantry guns, and 4 Type 97 81mm mortars were seized."
"Where are the cannonballs? How many are there?"
Zhao Gang looked happy. The eight captured guns could almost be organized into two artillery companies.
Currently, a standard mortar company has 6 mortars, but 4 mortars are barely enough.
Lu Yingjun replied: "There are a few shells. I haven't counted them carefully. There are only about 500 rounds."
Zhao Gang said happily: "500 rounds is a lot. Your sharp sword team has made great achievements this time."
"Let's talk about meritorious service after we go back." Li Yunlong said, "Huzi, go and call the Second Battalion Commander, the Third Battalion Commander and Wang Chengzhu over here."
"Yes!" Huang Erhu turned around and walked towards the outside of the stronghold.
Soon, Zhang Dabiao, Zheng Yu, Chen Dugu, Wang Chengzhu, Lu Yingjun and Zhao Gang surrounded Li Yunlong.
The cavalry company was intensifying its training after being expanded into a cavalry battalion and did not participate in this battle.
Li Yunlong said directly: "In the battle just now, the Lijian detachment captured 8 Japanese guns, 4 of which were Type 92 infantry guns and 4 of which were mortars."
In addition to Zhang Dabiao, Lu Yingjun and Zhao Gang, Zheng Yu, Chen Dugu and Wang Chengzhu suddenly showed excitement.
Especially Wang Chengzhu's face was a little flushed. Although he was just an artillery company commander, he actually lived the life of an artillery battalion commander.
These 8 guns will be incorporated into the artillery battery, and the number of artillery pieces in the new regiment's artillery battery will be 24. He will soon live the life of an artillery regiment commander.
Li Yunlong continued: "Since the main force of the Japs in the county has been eliminated and 8 more guns have been captured, we can speed up the attack."
"Now let me assign tasks."
Li Yunlong picked up a bayonet and used the bayonet to draw a simple sketch on a flat place.
"This is the county seat of Liao County. There are four strongholds around the county seat, namely the stone box, the pipe head, the pavement, and the bottom of the small ridge."
"Three of your battalions will form a commando team to pull out the strongholds. At the same time, they will attack the three strongholds around the county town: Guantou, Pushang and Xiaolingdi."
"The first and second battalions are each equipped with 2 infantry guns and 3 machine guns. The Xiaolingdi stronghold is a small stronghold, equipped with 1 infantry gun and 3 machine guns."
"In addition, each battalion is equipped with four 60mm mortars."
"The remaining 1 field gun and 2 machine guns moved together with the regiment headquarters. The political commissar and I led the guard platoon and the sword detachment to pull out the gun tower along the highway."
"After you take down the strongholds in your respective directions, you must continue to attack and advance."
"Let's try our best to destroy all the Japanese strongholds and gun towers outside the county town today."
Second Battalion Commander Zheng Yu worriedly said: "Captain, there is only a guard platoon and a sharp sword detachment beside you. There are less than 100 people. What if the Japanese concentrate their forces to attack here?"
Li Yunlong snorted: "That's easy to handle. Labor and management are still afraid that the Japanese won't come out."
…
Although Liao County is not small, most of the forts and strongholds are concentrated around the county seat or built on the highway.
The Japanese artillery towers on the highway had long been removed by the New Regiment.
The plan to end the stronghold was originally expected to take a whole day, but the new regiment took over the Japanese stronghold outside the county before noon.
After the Japanese stronghold was taken away, the New Regiment launched another attack on the Japanese artillery towers outside the county town. As a last resort, Takeo Honda had to let the Japanese and puppet troops in the artillery towers outside the city move into the county town, giving up six of the New Regiment's troops in vain.
Seven gun towers.
During this period, the Japanese and puppet troops who were besieged by the New Regiment in the county were trembling and very nervous, fearing that the Eighth Route Army would launch an attack on the county.
However, Li Yunlong considered that attacking the county seat would cause too many casualties, and even if he could forcefully capture the county seat of Liao County, it would be a loss-making deal.
After taking down all the artillery towers and strongholds around the county, Commander Li led his troops to leave with satisfaction.
When Honda Takeo received the news of the Eighth Route Army's departure at the Military Police, he slumped down on his chair and let out a long breath, his face full of the expression of surviving the disaster.
…
Yangcun, Xinyi Tuan.
Night falls.
Li Yunlong led the soldiers back in mighty force.
Today the new regiment was dispatched, not only killing a large number of Japanese and puppet troops, but also cleaning up all the strongholds and gun towers around Liao County.
Now, apart from a few artillery towers in distant villages and towns, only the county town of Liao County still has a small number of Japanese and puppet troops.
In the regiment headquarters, several battalion commanders and direct company commanders were holding a small meeting.
Second Battalion Commander Zheng Yu reported statistical data to Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang.
"Today we have taken down 4 strongholds and 19 artillery towers. We have killed about 300 Japanese soldiers and about 400 puppet soldiers."
Zhao Gang and the company commanders of each battalion had smiles on their faces, just like farmers who had just returned from harvesting grain in the fields.
Today, it can be said to be a remarkable achievement.
The corners of Li Yunlong's mouth curled up almost to the base of his ears, and he almost smiled crookedly.
A stronghold counts as 3 machine guns, and a gun tower counts as 1 machine gun, for a total of 31 machine guns.
In addition to the 4 Type 92 infantry guns and 4 mortars captured today.
