Not even a moment after Major General Noboru Kunisaki's command vehicle left the city, heavy snow began to fall in the sky. Less than five miles further, Communications Staff Officer Second Lieutenant Haruki Kato ran out of breath and reported: "Your Excellency, General, Osaka Yamada
An urgent call came in. A road bridge from Chaohu to Hanshan was damaged by the Chinese. We requested support from the engineering brigade."
"Baga Yalu." Chief of Staff Yasuda Colonel said angrily, "The Chinese people are too unfriendly to the imperial army, they will die!"
"Yasuda-kun, there is no need to be angry." Major General Noboru Kunizaki said calmly, "It's just a bridge. It won't be able to stop the imperial army for long. Our engineers will be able to repair it soon."
"Order." Kunizaki Noboru said and then turned to Kato Haruyoshi, "The engineering brigade rushed to the accident site immediately to repair the bridge."
"Hai." Kato Haruyoshi suddenly put his feet back and stood at attention, then turned around and left.
Major General Noboru Kunizaki watched the communications staff officer go away, suddenly raised his head to the sky, and said quietly: "This sudden heavy snow is likely to bring great difficulties to our march."
…
Major General Noboru Kunizaki's worries finally came true.
Heavy snow fell all day long, and the entire southern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces suddenly turned into a world of ice and snow. The snow on the road from Chaohu to Hanshan was knee-deep! The huge convoy of the Guoqi detachment could only run along the front car.
Move forward carefully and slowly through the wheel tracks, otherwise it will easily slide out of the roadbed and roll over.
At night, the snow crushed by the car in front began to freeze, making it impossible to march.
Even so, situations continued to occur along the way, either this truck had a problem with its refrigerant and broke down, or that truck's anti-skid chain fell off, and the car turned sideways on the road. In such a large convoy, as long as one of them broke down,
If there is a problem with a truck or armored vehicle, the following convoy will have to stop and wait.
As a result, the marching speed was greatly affected, and it was not even as fast as the infantry brigade.
It is only 40 to 50 miles from Chaohu to Hanshan. Normally, the Guoqi detachment could arrive in more than an hour. However, due to a group of bandits blowing up a bridge on the way and the snow on the road, the Guoqi detachment finally left.
It took two days, and it was not until the evening of the second day that we drove into Hanshan County in embarrassment.
…
But these are things for later, let’s not mention them for now.
At the same time that the Kunisaki detachment headquarters left Chaohu and headed for Hanshan, the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 21st Regiment, which was the vanguard, also set off from Hexian County under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Yanagida and headed north along the highway towards Jiangpu Town.
…
The fertile Jiangzuo Plain has now completely turned into a snowfield.
The highway leading from He County to Jiangpu has also been completely covered by thick snow. If it weren't for the guardrails on both sides of the highway, no one would be able to find the exact location of this highway.
On a gentle slope about four to five hundred meters away from the road, there were three inconspicuous bumps on the smooth snow surface.
If you look closer, you will find that there are three big living people lying here. However, the white cloth covering their bodies blends well with the surrounding snow, so it is difficult to find them. Of course, these three people are Yue Weihan.
, as well as his guard company commander Hua Hanlin, and guard Tang Dashan.
As for the more than 100 soldiers from the guard company, they were nervously digging roads and destroying bridges at the back.
Of course, Yue Weihan and the others would not take action themselves. They had nothing to do anyway, so they went to the front to look out.
On the road ahead, the Japanese convoy could be seen in the distance. Hua Hanlin breathed hot air into his frozen hands and said to Tang Dashan: "Datang, can you blow up the mines modified by cannonballs?
"
"It can be blown up, of course it can be blown up." Tang Dashan said, "In that corner of the Northeast, I often steal artillery shells and modify them into mines, and then secretly take them into the mountains to make traps. What kind of wild boar? Black Blind Man has blown up people of all ages, as well as big
Where is the tiger?"
"Just brag." Hua Hanlin didn't believe it, "Can this grenade really be turned into a landmine?"
"Isn't that good?" Hanlin didn't believe it, so Tang Dashan said anxiously, "The mines I modified can be spirited, regardless of whether they are stepped on by a blind man, a wild boar, or a big tiger bites.
It’s going to explode!”
"Boom!" As soon as he finished speaking, a loud bang came from the road ahead.
When Hua Hanlin and Tang Dashan looked up anxiously, they saw that the three wheels of the leading Japanese car had been overturned by the huge air wave generated by the explosion. The three Japanese sitting on it were thrown far away and fell into the air.
After the snow, there was no movement. He was probably killed by the shock wave.
The other two tricycles, an armored car and three large trucks that followed immediately stopped. Forty or fifty Japanese infantrymen in cotton coats jumped out of the trucks and screamed.
They quickly dispersed, each occupying a favorable position and began to guard the scene.
Hua Hanlin instinctively tightened his grip on the Type 38 rifle wrapped in white cloth.
"Don't move." Yue Weihan lowered his voice and said, "These are just minions waiting for the big fish to come out of the hole."
After careful observation for a moment, the Japanese did not find anything suspicious, so they used light machine guns to fire randomly at the surrounding snowfields. This was the so-called fire reconnaissance.
The fire reconnaissance technique is quite effective when used to deal with those Taoist armed forces or the newly formed guerrillas. Once the shuttle sweeps over, they will jump up and run with a sure shot, but it is useless when used to deal with the elites of the national army like the Baoshan Regiment.
Yue Weihan and the others ignored him at all and allowed the little devil to waste machine gun bullets.
The fire reconnaissance lasted for several minutes. The little Japanese found that there was still no movement around, so he stopped shooting.
After a few more minutes, the closed door of the armored car finally opened, and a Japanese officer wearing a woolen army coat bent down and got out.
More than 400 meters away, Yue Weihan and Hua Hanlin pulled the trigger almost at the same time!
Just two gunshots were heard, and the Japanese second lieutenant was shot in the forehead and face at the same time. There were four blood holes in his big head, two of which were at the back of the head, the size of goose eggs!
Almost at the same time that Yue Weihan and Hua Hanlin pulled the triggers of their rifles, the crooked handle in Tang Dashan's hand also fired. He fired a long shot and immediately knocked down three Japanese soldiers!
After a long shot, Tang Dashan rolled sideways and slid down the gentle slope.
Long before Tang Dashan, Yue Weihan and Hua Hanlin had already gone downhill first.
When the Japanese soldiers' retaliatory fire broke the gentle slope into pieces and scattered snow, Yue Weihan and the others had already slid down the gentle slope and slipped into the ditch that had been explored in advance at the bottom of the slope for escape.
The Japanese soldiers were obviously irritated and immediately separated into two groups of infantry and chased after them.
Yue Weihan and the others did not fight back. They just ran forward along the winding ditch. This place was still within the range of the heavy machine gun of the Japs armored car. Only idiots would stay and fight with the Japs! As long as the heavy machine guns were out
If these dozen little devils dare to chase after them at any given range, then Yue Weihan and the others will no longer be polite.
However, Yue Weihan's wishful thinking finally came to nothing.
The dozen or so little devils were very alert and stopped chasing them after only pursuing them for more than 200 meters. Apparently, they had already felt that the three Chinese who were attacking by surprise were difficult to deal with, and they would definitely suffer losses if they pursued them further.
…
On the road from Hexian to Jiangpu, the Yanagian Brigade Headquarters.
Because the wheels of a baggage truck skidded and rolled over in the middle of the road, the entire marching convoy came to a halt. Yanagida Nakasa, who was hiding in the armored vehicle, was watching through the window as the soldiers nervously loaded and unloaded supplies and rescued the accident baggage truck.
Truck, Communications Staff Lieutenant Takeda suddenly ran in a hurry and came to the armored vehicle.
"Sir, urgent report from the forward team!" Second Lieutenant Takeda suddenly put his feet back and stood at attention.
Lieutenant Colonel Yanagida returned the military salute and said: "Where has the forward team reached?"
Second Lieutenant Takeda said: "The forward team has arrived at Qiaolin Township, but they were attacked by Chinese special forces in Qiaolin Township. Second Lieutenant Dongxiang was shattered on the spot."
"Baga Yalu, China's special forces!?" Lieutenant Colonel Yanagida's brows suddenly frowned, "Your nonsense, how can the Chinese have special forces?"
"Hai." Second Lieutenant Takeda lowered his head suddenly, then put his feet back and stood at attention.
"Order, the Dongxiang squadron stops advancing, the fourth squadron speeds up, and the two units merge before attacking forward!"
Lieutenant Colonel Yanagida's military quality is quite good. From the incident when the Dongxiang team was ambushed, he basically realized that this China Army was not an ordinary China Army. This was probably the legendary China Baoshan Regiment. At this time, he
Sending a small team as the vanguard would be a bit risky.
…
Jiangpu Town, southern suburbs.
In just half a day, many bunkers appeared outside the regiment headquarters. These bunkers were large or small, round or square. The big ones could accommodate dozens of people, while the small ones could only accommodate two or three people! Moreover,
These bunkers are all made of masonry and cement, and their surfaces are all dark blue, which is quite an eyesore on the plain white snowfield.
"Quick, quick, quick, spread the straw on top, and then sprinkle it with snow! Quick!"
Regiment deputy Liu Yi was leading the soldiers of the guard company to cover large and small bunkers with straw.
The purpose of covering it with straw is mainly to confuse the Japanese reconnaissance planes in the sky. If this bunker is covered with straw and sprinkled with snow, from the outside, it will look like a stack of straw in the field.
Not far away, Zhao Xinyi, the war reporter who made the declaration, walked over accompanied by Liu Xin.
Zhao Xinyi said: "Liu Xin, there is still so much cement here, why not build more bunkers?"
"We don't have enough manpower." Liu Xin sighed and said, "Our guard company only has more than 400 people in total, and the regiment has taken away more than 100 people. The rest have to dig trenches and build bunkers.
Where can I get busy?"
"Not enough manpower?" Zhao Xinyi turned her beautiful eyes and suddenly said, "Maybe I have a way."
Liu Xin didn't believe it: "Xinyi, what can you do?"
Zhao Xinyi said: "Liu Xin, don't forget that I am from Pukou Town, and my uncle has some friendship with the mayor of Jiangpu Town. As long as the mayor is willing to come forward, he can recruit thousands of people at least."
"Thousands of civilians?" Liu Xin said in surprise, "That will help us a lot."
Zhao Xinyi said: "I'll go find the mayor right now. Liu Xin, just wait for my good news."