activa-t Chapter 32 Command Talents
Chapter 32 Command Talents
"Take this heavy machine gun and let's go meet the Japanese devils in the direction of Xiaowangzhuang!" Yang Zheng shouted to Luo Dashan after seeing that everything was ready.
Without saying a word, Luo Dashan waved his hand and summoned eight people, four carrying heavy machine guns and four carrying bullets for crane guns.
"Walk!"
Yang Zheng continued to lead the way, heading towards the direction from which the faint gunfire could be heard.
Luo Dashan and Zhao Dahu followed behind with a group of soldiers, leaving only a dozen seriously injured and a dozen or so lightly injured people at the scene.
Yang Zheng left them a light machine gun and the rifles they had as weapons for self-defense.
As for the civilians who were forced by the Japanese to repair the railway, they have long since disappeared.
After Yang Zheng and his men left, the lightly wounded personnel first settled the seriously wounded, and then gritted their teeth and began to clean up the battlefield.
Previously, due to the urgency of the situation, Yang Zheng and his men had only hastily taken some ammunition and a small number of weapons as replacements.
As the distance between them and Yang Zheng and his men decreased, the gunfire became increasingly louder and was rapidly approaching them.
Zeng Dahui clearly realized from the gunfire that the fighting on their side had ended, so he deliberately lured the Japanese soldiers this way.
"Speed up!"
Yang Zheng didn't waste any words, nor did he look for suitable terrain to ambush them, mainly because there weren't any particularly suitable spots. At a glance, the area was open and spacious, making it unsuitable for hiding.
After they ran about 500 meters further, they clearly saw Zeng Dahui leading a dozen men, firing back continuously, and then retreating rapidly to avoid being caught by the Japanese.
Every now and then, a burst of bullets could be seen flying over and landing behind Zeng Dahui and his men. It was only because Zeng Dahui and his men were spread out enough and agile that they were not hit by the Japanese soldiers.
At this moment, Yang Zheng glanced at the roadside terrain and saw a gentle slope to his right, with several large rocks scattered on it, offering a relatively open view.
He quickly gave the order: "Luo Dashan! Set up the heavy machine gun on the right slope! Lock onto the Japanese charge route! Spread out the light machine guns on both flanks to form crossfire!"
Grenadier, move back fifty meters and listen to my command: take out the Japanese machine guns and grenade launchers first!
Second platoon, utilizing the existing terrain, deploy in echelon formations. Riflemen, prepare for precise firing; do not engage at close range! First platoon, spread out and fire freely, providing cover for the heavy machine gun team!
The command was short and clear, and the teams responded immediately.
The heavy Type 92 machine gun was quickly mounted behind a rock at the top of the slope, its dark muzzle pointing towards the road; the light machine gunners crouched and scattered to both sides.
The grenade launcher squads carried their grenade launchers and retreated quickly; the infantrymen, with experienced soldiers leading the new ones, lay down or knelt, leaning against earthen mounds and stones, their gun muzzles all pointing towards the pursuing troops.
A simple yet well-structured defensive formation was completed in just one minute.
Not long after the formation was set up, the Japanese soldiers could be seen. There were about 4 or 50 of them, wearing yellowish-brown uniforms, about 500 meters away.
"Heavy machine guns, prepare!" Yang Zheng shouted the order.
But at that moment, the Japanese soldiers suddenly stopped, clearly having noticed the formation they had set up.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zeng Dahui and his group quickened their pace and soon arrived in front of Yang Zheng.
"Company Commander!!"
As Yang Zheng was about to pat him on the shoulder, he caught a glimpse of a dozen or twenty figures on the other side, dressed in the gray uniforms of their Eighth Route Army.
"Hmm?" Yang Zheng immediately picked up his binoculars and looked closely, discovering that the leader was Liu Tiegang, the deputy platoon leader of the third platoon.
"Old Liu and the others made it through safely too!" Zhao Dahu said happily, and everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
You see, there hadn't been any gunfire in the area Liu Tiegang was in charge of for quite some time, so they were very worried that something had happened to them. Now that they saw that they had reunited safely, they were relieved.
But what about the Japanese?
When formulating the plan, Yang Zheng chose this place as their meeting point because the Japanese troops from Xiaowangzhuang and Heifeng'ao would definitely have to pass through here to provide reinforcements.
but now……
Yang Zheng didn't bother to think about it anymore. He figured he'd find out everything once Liu Tiegang and the others arrived and he asked them.
Meanwhile, the Japanese soldiers in Xiaowangzhuang were still hesitant, clearly having spotted the heavy machine gun and quickly deduced that the Japanese forces at the Datian stronghold had either been routed or completely wiped out. This made them take the Eighth Company's strength much more seriously.
Within minutes, Liu Tiegang and his men quickly approached. He ran up to Yang Zheng and, before Yang Zheng could ask, said, "Company Commander, the Japanese have been cornered by our traps and are still eating our dust!"
"Oh?" Yang Zheng was somewhat surprised. He looked at Liu Tiegang and the soldiers behind him and found that there were no casualties.
Liu Tiegang has underestimated his own abilities!
Yang Zheng also realized what was happening and began to think that perhaps Liu Tiegang was more suitable to be the platoon leader than Zeng Dahui.
At the same time, he already had some expectations about the warriors summoned by the system.
There is no doubt that every soldier is an elite veteran, but among them there are still some command talents.
While thinking about these things, Yang Zheng quickly arranged for the three platoons of soldiers to enter the formation, ready to deal with the Japanese attack at any time.
Almost immediately after the arrangements were made, yellowish-brown figures appeared on the road where Liu Tiegang and his men had come from. After waiting for a while, they found that there were about forty or fifty people, which should be the size of an infantry squad.
The two infantry squads spotted each other and quickly decided to rendezvous.
Soon after, they clearly had a quick exchange.
They quickly deployed themselves on a low embankment and a few isolated rocks not far away, without rushing to attack, but instead observing the Eighth Route Army's well-prepared position.
"Wow, these little devils have gotten smarter. They didn't just charge straight at us." Zhao Dahu whispered, lying on a ridge and watching the Japanese movements in the distance.
Yang Zheng held up his binoculars, carefully observing the other party's every move.
The approximately one hundred Japanese soldiers did not huddle together, but quickly split into several distinct small groups, spaced tens of meters apart, forming a loose front for attack.
Each small group consisted of about ten people, with a light machine gun set up at its core.
The machine gunner lay prone behind him, the assistant gunner fed ammunition from the side, and three or four riflemen were distributed in an irregular skirmish line in front of and to the flanks of the machine gun, serving as cover and assault force.
This formation, from a distance, resembles a surging yellow tide, but up close, each individual locust is poised to move or fire at any moment, just like the locust metaphor—not dense, yet all the more difficult to lock onto and deal with.
"See that?" Yang Zheng put down his binoculars and said to Luo Dashan and Zeng Dahui beside him, "This is a standard probing attack formation by the Japanese. They're using light machine gun squads to provide fire support from behind, while the riflemen in front are advancing in shifts to probe our firing positions and defensive strength."
Sure enough, after a brief pause, a sharp whistle rang out from the Japanese positions. The two small groups located in the center and on the right were the first to move.
Four or five riflemen in front suddenly leaped out from their hiding places, moving in an irregular zigzag pattern at extremely low altitudes, using every shallow pit and mound of earth on the ground to leap more than ten meters before quickly lying down.
Almost as soon as they lay down, the two machine gun crews behind them started firing their lightly-handled guns, spraying bullets like water onto the front of the Eighth Route Army's position and several possible ambush positions, providing suppressive fire.
The bullets made the dirt in front of Yang Zheng and his men pop and spray up clouds of dust.
"Get down! Don't show your heads! Don't fire without orders!" Yang Zheng shouted in a low voice, his voice quickly echoing across the position.
The soldiers pressed their bodies tightly against the ground, letting the Japanese bullets fly over their heads.