Chapter 106 Five Times the Enemy Force
Zhangye, who was standing by, couldn't help but be amazed when he saw the intelligence data about the Japanese reinforcements.
"A full-strength Goryeo regiment of 3,800 men, two puppet armies of about 2,500 men each, and an additional mountain artillery squadron."
"Oh my goodness, not counting the puppet army's mountain artillery, mortars and other artillery.
The Japanese had eight mountain artillery pieces alone.
There are twelve Type 92 infantry guns.
Six 90mm mortars,
There are also six 37mm anti-tank guns.
In terms of the number of artillery pieces, the Japanese alone have almost twice as many as we do."
"The puppet army also has a mountain artillery battalion.
Equipped with six Jin-made 13-style mountain cannons,
The two regiments have twelve 82mm mortars in total..."
"Nine thousand troops, our vanguard battalion only has more than two thousand people, battalion commander, the Japanese troops here are almost five times ours."
Looking at Zhangye's worried eyes, how could Qin Yangming not be worried too?
In terms of combat effectiveness, the soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion are at most on par with the Japanese.
In terms of equipment, except for rocket launchers and tanks, the vanguard battalion was not much different from the Japanese.
In terms of terrain, the Tongshi Town is flat. In this kind of terrain, the Eighth Route Army cannot fully utilize its advantages and can only fight the Japanese head-on.
"This battle is difficult to fight."
Qin Yangming looked at the simple sand table in front of him, frowned and lit a cigarette.
"Has Sun Desheng set out with the cavalry company?"
"Not yet. We are preparing weapons and equipment."
"Tell Sun Desheng to lead the cavalry company out and stay outside. Don't come back.
I don't care if he uses a mortar,
Or machine gun fire,
Or use a sniper rifle.
Let him kill as many Japanese as possible and delay their advance.
Tell him that he must not get involved with the Japs!"
"As for ammunition, let Sun Desheng take a batch of ammunition and find a place to store it."
"Yes!"
"Tell Li Erhu that when the Japanese artillery bombardment begins, find a way to figure out where the Japanese artillery positions are and blow up their artillery for me."
"Lao Qin, when the Japanese come here, it will definitely be dark. Can Li Erhu figure out where the Japanese artillery positions are?"
Zhangye, who was standing by, listened to Qin Yangming's order, hoping that Qin Yangming would think it over carefully and not make things difficult for Li Erhu.
Qin Yangming shook his head.
"I don't know, and he didn't calculate the trajectory at night.
But I believe he should be able to figure it out.
If he can't figure it out, he can only let the assault platoon go and find out the Japanese artillery positions."
"The Japanese have too many artillery pieces, which can threaten our tanks.
What if the Japanese used mountain artillery to blow off the tank tracks?
Then our tanks will become fixed turrets and will be blown up by the Japanese sooner or later."
……
The Goryeo Corps, which moved from the Shangdang area to the vicinity of Shiquan County, waited for the other two regiments of puppet troops to arrive at the designated location, and then began to enter Shiquan County.
Originally, the Korean Corps wanted to rush to Shiquan County by rail, but news came from the front line that the railway had been destroyed by the Eighth Route Army and it would take at least three days to repair it.
Therefore, the Korean Corps and the two puppet armies could only advance towards Shiquan County along the road.
In order to increase the marching speed, with the cooperation of the garrison troops in the counties of Shangdang, the Korean regiment obtained a large number of mules, horses and carts. Except for some puppet troops, the other Japanese soldiers either rode on trucks or rode on carts pulled by mules and horses.
Even most of the puppet soldiers put all their belongings on the cart except for their guns and a small amount of bullets.
After entering Shiquan County, Masao Musashi, sitting in a truck, looked at the darkness ahead and waved to signal the team behind to stop moving forward temporarily.
After the team stopped, a Japanese officer immediately got off a truck in front of the team and trotted to the side of Musashi Masao's truck.
"Hashimoto-kun, I remember there should be an imperial stronghold ahead, right?
What is the current situation at that base?"
Masao Musashi pointed forward and asked the Japanese officer next to the truck.
"Your Excellency, the town ahead is Tongshi. According to intelligence, Tongshi was attacked by the Eighth Route Army the day before yesterday."
“However, after the Eighth Route Army captured the stronghold, they did not occupy it but retreated.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Miyashita of Shiquan County was worried that the Eighth Route Army's goal was to surround the point and attack the reinforcements, so he did not send any more troops to occupy the Tongshi Town stronghold. "
"So why is it still unclear whether there are Eighth Route Army soldiers in Tongshi Town?"
"Your Excellency, we have received intelligence that there were traces of Eighth Route Army activities in Tongshi Town this afternoon.
However, the terrain near Tongshi Town is flat and is not a good place for blocking. The Eighth Route Army is not good at field battles on flat ground, and they should not choose to block our army in Tongshi Town.
I guess the Eighth Route Army should have set up an ambush in the nearby Yuxi Town, where the terrain is relatively undulating and not suitable for heavy equipment such as trucks to pass through."
Masao Musashi listened to the adjutant's answer and nodded: "Yoshi, Hashimoto-kun, how many ambushes do you think the Eighth Route Army will have in Yuxi Town?"
Hashimoto Chizan listened to Musashi Masao's question and said without thinking.
"Sir, according to intelligence, the ones attacking Shiquan County are the Independent Regiment and the New 1st Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. They have a maximum of 10,000 people.
Although they had cannons, it was not easy to attack Shiquan County, which had 2,500 defenders.
I guess the Eighth Route Army can only send out a battalion of 500 soldiers to ambush us."
"Well, go get the 28th Regiment of the Locust Association to prepare to attack Yuxi Town. I want to take the troops to Shiquan County for breakfast before six o'clock tomorrow morning!"
"Yes!"
……
In the Tongshi Town stronghold.
Qin Yangming stood on the artillery tower and looked through a telescope at the long marching column of the Japanese devils in the distance.
"One word march?"
"No reconnaissance team was sent out?"
"Battalion Commander, the Japanese vanguard is advancing towards Yuxi Town."
Zhangye, who was also observing on the side, saw that the vanguard troops of the Japanese reinforcements suddenly sped up and rushed towards Yuxi Town, and asked Qin Yangming with some confusion.
"No, Captain, what are these little devils doing?
Could it be that they didn’t even send out the scouts?
Don't you know we are in Tongshi Town?"
"I don't know what the devils mean. Are they underestimating the enemy?"
"I guess the Japanese thought that the blocking force here only had a few hundred people and was setting an ambush in Yuxi Town."
"Tell Li Erhu to open fire at position No. 1, aiming at the middle of the Japanese marching formation!"
"See if we can kill the Japanese commander with one shot."
"Yes!"
(End of this chapter)
