Chapter 164: Leave some gifts for the devils ( words long chapter)
Kong Jie informed all the military commanders in the army of the brigade commander's order to retreat. After arranging the artillery and transport teams to retreat with supplies first, Kong Jie discussed with the military commanders how to retreat.
There are ways to retreat. One is to ignore everything and retreat quickly with all the troops and supplies.
One way is to arrange some personnel to take over the fortifications in Tongshi Town to block the Japanese invaders, interfere with them, and delay the time.
But there is plenty of time for retreat, so it doesn't matter whether the rear-end troops are left behind or not.
The brigade commander only asked the New Second Regiment and the Pioneer Regiment's new recruits to successfully retreat while retaining their strength.
However, there are no excessive requirements for the retreat method.
In other words, as long as the New Second Regiment has the confidence that it can escape unscathed after engaging in a battle with the troops of the Fourth Brigade, it is not impossible for it to use the existing fortifications to fight the Japanese.
However, Kong Jie directly denied the plan to block the 4th Brigade in Tongshi Town.
“It is absolutely impossible to stop the Fourth Brigade in Tongshi Town. At the beginning, we stopped the Fourth Brigade in Tongshi Town.
This is because the vanguard regiment will be able to arrive to provide support quickly, and the main attack direction of the 4th Brigade is Yuxi Town.
The 4th Brigade has to face siege from all sides, so we can rest assured to block the Japanese 4th Brigade in Tongshi Town.
But now the vanguard regiment has been transferred to Baihu Ridge, and the independent regiment in Yuxi Town cannot be dispatched to provide support.
Relying solely on the strength of our New Second Regiment, we are simply unable to stop the Japanese Fourth Brigade in Tongshi Town.
The Japanese Fourth Brigade had a large number of trucks, as well as tanks and armored vehicles.
If we block the attack in Tongshi Town, we will be surrounded by the Fourth Brigade if we are not careful.
By then, don’t let the Japanese destroy our New Second Regiment before we destroy the Fourth Brigade.”
"The blocking plan in Tongshi Town doesn't work. Think about it, is there any other way?
I dared not do anything and simply gave Tongshi Town to the Japanese, which was a shame for the trenches I dug."
Kong Jie knocked on his pipe to knock out all the ashes in it, and continued speaking.
"Everyone, think carefully. Is there any way to disgust the Japanese and minimize the losses?"
Although he was not the battalion commander of the New Second Regiment, Sun Zhigang still participated in the discussion as a coordinating force.
Sun Zhigang listened to what Kong Jie said and wondered what Qin Yangming would do if he faced this situation.
"If I were the leader, since Tongshi Town cannot be defended... wouldn't this be the same as before at Baihu Ridge?"
Sun Zhigang quickly thought of the time at Baihu Ridge. Because they had to retreat to Cangyun Ridge, Qin Yangming had to abandon Baihu Ridge and retreat to the Cangyun Ridge area with his troops.
The situation that Kong Jie and others are facing at this moment cannot be said to be exactly the same as the situation Qin Yangming faced at Baihu Ridge, but it can be said to be very similar.
Thinking of this, Sun Zhigang immediately spoke to Kong Jie.
"Captain Kong, I have a way that can not only disgust the Japanese, but may also cause considerable casualties to them."
Kong Jie listened to what Sun Zhigang said and immediately looked up at Sun Zhigang.
"Oh? Captain Sun, what can you do?
Tell me, don't worry, as long as you can come up with a way to disgust the Japanese, I will report the matter truthfully."
"Captain Kong, the situation we are facing now is basically the same as the situation our vanguard battalion faced at Baihu Ridge.
At that time, we had to give up Baihu Ridge because we needed to retreat to Cangyun Ridge.
Now we also need to take the initiative to give up Tongshi Town.
This situation is exactly the same.”
Kong Jie's eyes lit up when he heard what Sun Zhigang said, and he immediately spoke.
"Captain Sun, are you saying that when Captain Qin retreated from Baihu Ridge, he also left something for the Japanese?"
"Yes, that's right. When we retreated from Baihu Ridge, we left a lot of gifts for the Japanese.
I guess those little Japanese will definitely like it.
Although I was not the one who led the troops that left the gifts, I had a general idea of what was going on.
With just a few minor changes, we can replicate those operations in Tongshi Town."
What Sun Zhigang said instantly aroused everyone's interest.
They all asked Sun Zhigang to explain what was going on.
Sun Zhigang did not keep the audience in suspense and immediately expressed his thoughts.
"First of all, we must take away all the food and other supplies. Not a single grain can be left for the Japanese. I don't need to explain this, everyone knows it.
The second is water source.
The Japanese Fourth Brigade had traveled a long distance and it was impossible for them to carry a large amount of water with them.
On the roads leading to Tongshi Town or Yuxi Town, the wells in those villages were blocked, so the Japanese could not replenish water from the wells along the way.
Therefore, we also need to block all the wells in Tongshi Town with sand and gravel, and never let the Japanese get even a glass of water in Tongshi Town."
Kong Jie listened to what Sun Zhigang said and was about to say that there was a river nearby, and even if the well was blocked, the Japanese could still go to the river to fetch water.
But when he saw that Sun Zhigang had not finished speaking, he stopped and prepared to wait until the other party finished speaking before speaking again.
"The second thing is the fortifications we dug out.
After the Japanese Fourth Brigade enters Tongshi Town, it will most likely become a new ambush site.
Therefore, we cannot let the Japanese take advantage of the fortifications we have built.
I suggest that we dismantle some of the houses and fill the trenches with bricks and stones.
We also cut up our sandbags and poured out all the sand.
Another thing is to bury booby traps in the trenches!
Especially in the anti-artillery holes, as long as the Japanese dare to repair the fortifications, they must first clear the mines.
Just think about it, the trenches are covered with bricks, stones and sand. In this case, it is extremely difficult to clear mines.
Moreover, the booby traps do not necessarily have to be real mines. You can just bury some explosives, bamboo tubes, or earthenware jars.
Without metal materials, the Japanese mine detectors would not work, and with interference from materials such as bricks and stones, the Japanese would not be able to clear mines even with mine rods.
If you want to clear mines, you can only rely on engineers to risk their lives to clear them slowly!
Booby traps can be buried not only in fortifications and trenches, but also in houses. As long as the Japanese dare to enter the houses to rest, they must be prepared to be bombed! "
"This is the suggestion I made. Do you have any questions?"
After Sun Zhigang finished speaking, the rest of the people present started talking.
But soon, Lao Qian, who was in charge of logistics of the New Second Regiment, put forward his own opinions.
"Captain Sun, your idea is good, but there are so many fortifications and houses in Tongshi Town.
Our explosives can't make so many mines." Sun Zhigang listened to what Lao Qian said and immediately answered.
"Political Commissar Qian, I have thought about the problem you mentioned. Landmines do not necessarily have to use explosives. Black powder can also be used. I remember there should be a lot of black powder in the warehouse, right?"
“Black powder?
However, most of the black gunpowder is used to make firecrackers. Although it has been adjusted, the explosive power of the black gunpowder is still not very strong.
It's fine if the amount is large, but if the amount is small, it won't be able to kill the Japanese at all."
A battalion commander of the new second regiment raised his doubts.
But now there is no need for Sun Zhigang to answer.
After Sun Zhigang finished speaking, Kong Jie understood what Sun Zhigang meant.
"I know what you mean. Black powder is not very powerful. If the amount is small, it won't be able to kill the Japanese.
But it can cause injury.
I have heard Ding Wei say this.
It is better to injure ten fingers than to cut off one finger.
The Japanese invaders were alone and deep in the territory, so they certainly would not carry many medical supplies and logistical personnel.
If a Japanese soldier was killed by an explosion, it would just be an extra corpse for him.
But what if the bomb injures the Japanese, breaks a leg, breaks an arm, or blinds their eyes?
Then the Japanese would have one more seriously injured soldier, and to take care of a seriously injured soldier, the Japanese would have to separate normal soldiers to protect the wounded.
If you want to carry out the operation with the seriously injured, you have to separate two normal soldiers. This is indeed a good idea.
However, Captain Sun, there is another problem, that is the water source. There is a river ten miles south of Tongshi Town. Even if we block the wells in Tongshi Town, the Japanese can still get water from the river. "
After listening to Kong Jie's question, Sun Zhigang immediately began to explain.
"Captain Kong, there are only a few places on that river where you can get water on a large scale, and the other side of the river is not flat land, it's all hills.
At that time, we only need to bury mines at the water point and arrange soldiers with good marksmanship to ambush on the other side of the river.
If the Japanese dare to get water, just shoot them!
There are no shelters around the water point, so the Japanese soldiers who are getting water are sitting ducks. If we have few people, we can use guns, and if we have many people, we can use cannons!
If we didn’t have to fetch water from the river in the future, I would have thrown it directly into the river…”
Sun Zhigang thought about it and finally didn't say the rest.
“Not only that, whenever the Japanese invaders arrived at a place, they would definitely raid all the surrounding villages.
But we have moved all the people nearby to the rear.
We don't need to worry about the Japanese harassing the civilians, and we can also organize a group of elite small troops to specifically fight the Japanese and carry out mopping-up operations in those villages.
It's impossible for the Japanese to send a large team to raid a village.
Now our Eighth Route Army's light weapons and equipment as well as the strength of its soldiers are in no way inferior to those of the Japanese devils.
Just strengthen the firepower of the small force responsible for the attack and equip them with more weapons such as pistols.
Moreover, we are familiar with the nearby terrain. It can be said that we have the advantage of time, place and people. If the number of people is equal, we can easily wipe out the Japanese troops sent out to carry out a mop-up operation.
Even if we can't eat them, we can still take advantage of the Japanese and quickly retreat without any losses to the troops."
"Yes, yes, yes. Also, there are no coal mines in Tongshi Town. If the Japanese want to make a fire to cook, they must use firewood.
We can gather all the firewood nearby and burn it if we can't take it away.
Or you can stuff two sticks of explosives into the firewood. As long as the Japanese dare to light it, they can taste the freshly baked explosive rice!
If nothing else, at least the cooking devils can have enough to eat!"
"In addition to laying real mines, we can also bury things that cannot be taken away as fake mines..."
"How about setting the copper stone town on fire?
Leave nothing for the devils?"
"No, Tongshi Town has been burned down. The Japanese will definitely not enter Tongshi Town, and then the mines we buried will be useless.
However, we can destroy most of the hidden spots in Tongshi Town. When the time comes, we can ambush the Japanese here in Tongshi Town and prevent them from using the buildings in the town to fight street battles with us."
After Sun Zhigang made a suggestion, other people in the command center also put forward their own suggestions based on Sun Zhigang's suggestion.
Generally speaking, each one is more brutal than the other.
Some people also suggested putting the Japanese soldiers inside Tongshi Town, then piling up a large number of flammable items in the town and directly setting fire to Tongshi Town.
Some people said that a batch of food was left inside Tongshi Town, mixed with some poison, specifically for the purpose of poisoning the Japanese.
Soon, with everyone's discussion, the retreat plan was finalized, and Kong Jie quickly issued orders, asking all troops to deploy according to the plan that had just been formulated.
……
On the outer defense position of Tongshi Town...
Destruction is always easier than construction.
It may take most of the day to dig a qualified trench, but it may only take ten minutes to destroy a trench.
Soldiers from the New Second Regiment used carts or wheelbarrows to transport a large amount of dismantled bricks and stones from the town and filled the trenches.
Some soldiers used bayonets or machetes to cut through the sandbags on the surface of the trenches and poured some of the sand and gravel inside directly into the trenches.
Suihe stuffed a grenade made in the border area into the sandbag, fixed the pull ring, and put the sandbag away.
As long as the Japanese dared to move the sandbags, the grenades inside would explode.
Some soldiers were stuffing stones, iron sand and other objects into pottery jars, then pouring in gunpowder and inserting a modified grenade as a fuse.
The pits that originally buried the conscience cannons were not wasted. Some sharpened wood was inserted into the bottom of the pits, and then branches were laid on top of the pits and covered with a layer of sand.
Even the stone slabs on the roads inside Tongshi Town were dug up and filled with explosives.
The New Second Regiment and the Pioneer Regiment's new recruits camp spent a little more than two hours, and all the work was completed when the Japanese vanguard troops were still ten kilometers away from Tongshi Town.
Kong Jie stood outside Tongshi Town, looking at the town that was already filled with murderous intent, and muttered to himself.
"Little devils, I hope you like the gift I prepared for you!"
"All troops retreat!
Go to Yuxi Town quickly!"
(End of this chapter)
