The sound of artillery boomed outside Dongcheng, and the sound of gunfire was like exploding beans.

In the city and outside the Liu family courtyard, there were crowds of villagers watching.

Zhao Gang stood in the middle, passionately preaching the principles of defending the country and killing Japanese invaders.

Although the Japanese reinforcements had arrived outside Dongcheng at this moment, Li Yunlong was not panicked.

It had only been two or three hours since the independent regiment attacked the county town, and at most the Japanese reinforcements from Yushe County had arrived to reinforce them.

The largest Japanese army near Yushe County was in Licheng County, and the Japanese reinforcements in Licheng County were ambushed by the brigade commander and two main regiments.

The Independent Regiment's attack on Yushe County this time was different from the last time it was impromptu. All the Japanese reinforcements were blocked by the Eighth Route Army's main force or guerrillas.

Although I don’t know how the Japanese reinforcements from the direction of Liao County arrived so quickly, the Japanese with only two squadrons do not pose a threat to the current independent regiment.

Why are these two Japanese squadrons here? They are just bringing food.

More than 300 military horses and 50 mule carts were led to the backyard, and a steady stream of food was transported out of the yard.

Looking at the food, Mr. Liu's heart was bleeding.

But what made Mr. Liu even more frightened was that the big knife in Commander Li's hand made him so frightened that he almost fell to the ground.

He didn't understand at all why Li Yunlong still refused to let him go even though he had handed over all the gold bars and grain.

The people became excited and stared at Mr. Liu with an expression as if he wanted to eat someone, and shouted loudly to kill him.

Li Yunlong became a little impatient after hearing what Zhao Gang said, and stood in front of Zhao Gang.

Holding a ghost-headed machete, he shouted loudly: "I am Li Yunlong, the leader of the Independent Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. Some folks should have heard of my name. Today our independent regiment came to Yushe County for no other reason than to kill the Japanese."

, the second is to kill the traitors!"

"Anyone who surrenders to the enemy and betrays the country, bullies men and dominates women, lives in a land of fish and meat, kill them!"

After finishing speaking, Li Yunlong's blade swept across, and Mr. Liu's head immediately fell to the ground.

The surrounding villagers immediately cheered.

Li Yunlong handed the ghost machete to the guard without blinking.

"Old Li." Zhao Gang said helplessly, "I haven't finished my explanation yet, so you can't wait another two minutes..."

"You can't reason with traitors with your mouth, you have to use guns and swords." Li Yunlong said: "Old Zhao, tell the soldiers who are carrying the food to hurry up and take out some food to distribute to the people. I will go to the east gate to take a look.

"

…

Outside Dongcheng.

The Japs first exchanged fire with the Third Company of the Fourth Battalion. The Third Company found that there were many Japs and retreated to the fortifications.

The trench defenses dug by the Fourth Battalion to attack the city are now used to block Japanese reinforcements and engage in positional warfare.

As soon as the two Japanese squadrons came into contact with the Fourth Battalion, the two sides entered a confrontation.

The strength of the two Japanese squadrons is about 400, and the strength of the fourth battalion is also about 400. The strength of the two sides is almost 1:1.

As soon as the Japanese came up, they set up four mortars and two infantry artillery pieces and launched a fierce bombardment at the fourth battalion's position.

Artillery shells continued to fall on the Fourth Battalion's position, and the earth and shrapnel caused by the explosion of the artillery shells flew across the field, constantly killing the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion.

Major Motoaki Takeda looked at this scene through the telescope and suddenly showed a proud expression.

On his left and right sides were the arrogant Captain Saito and the calm Captain Maeda, who were also the captains of two squadrons and belonged to the Asano Battalion of the 4th Brigade.

Major Takeda said proudly: "The Eighth Route Army has always liked guerrilla warfare. Once they encounter positional warfare or encounters, their disadvantages will be highlighted, and they can only be passively beaten."

"Your Majesty, Major." Captain Maeda said hesitantly, "The Eighth Route Army can capture Yushe County. I'm afraid there are more than just these troops. Should we wait until other reinforcements arrive before attacking?"

Captain Saito said: "Maeda-kun, I'm afraid you were frightened by the Eighth Route Army. It doesn't matter if there are many people in the Eighth Route Army. Fighting never depends on the number of people. Since entering the North China battlefield, there has never been a time when our Fourth Brigade has not defeated several times the number of people.

Kishina's army? Besides, Commander Shinozuka gave us an order to reinforce us at all costs. Do you, Maeda-kun, want to disobey Commander Shinozuka's order?"

"Saito-kun, you misunderstood." Captain Maeda explained, "What I mean is that we hold off the Eighth Route Army until the follow-up reinforcements arrive."

Major Takeda snorted coldly: "Stop arguing!"

The two squadron commanders suddenly did not dare to speak.

"This battle must be fought." Major Takeda said sternly, "Otherwise, if the Eighth Route Army slips away, you and I will not be able to explain it to Commander Shinozuka. However, we must also be prepared to retreat at any time. Once we find that something is wrong, we will retreat immediately.

Liao County!”

"Hi!" The two squadron leaders paused at the same time.

In fact, Takeda also felt a little embarrassed at this moment, even though he received the order to bring two squadrons for reinforcements and rushed to Yushe County.

But the embarrassing thing is that Yushe County has been captured at this time, and not even a shadow of the troops rushing to support from other roads is seen.

Let's fight, but we're afraid there will be too many people on the street.

Withdraw, but I'm afraid that my superiors will be held responsible later.

At this moment, Major Takeda felt like he was riding a tiger.

"Stop the bombardment!"

Then, Major Takeda drew out his command sword: "Attack!"

Two squads of more than 100 Japanese soldiers, holding sharp bayonets and looking fierce, hurriedly rushed towards the position with their bodies bowed.

This wave was just a test attack to test the number of people on the opposite side and the distribution of firepower points. It did not use all the troops.

On the position, the soldiers of the fourth battalion stood up from the trenches, their rifles stretched out of the trenches, all light and heavy machine guns were set up, and all grenade caps were unscrewed.

"No one is allowed to shoot without my order!"

"Put the devil closer and then hit him!"

With calm eyes, Guan Dashan lay down in the trench and used a telescope to observe the distance of the Japanese. The Japanese had already entered within 500 meters.

Although the Fourth Battalion of the Independent Regiment was established only a short time ago, except for the backbone, most of the soldiers in the battalion have not fought many battles, and their combat effectiveness is at the bottom among the five main battalions of the Independent Regiment.

However, as the veteran main battalion commander of the independent regiment, Guan Dashan has extremely rich command experience and a very sensitive sense of smell.

It had been more than ten minutes since the fourth battalion had exchanged fire with the Japanese. The regimental commander must have heard the noise, and the communications troops must have reported the situation.

The artillery battalion and several main battalions of the independent regiment had not made any movement at this time, indicating that they were already outflanking this group of Japanese soldiers.

What the Fourth Battalion has to do now is to hold the Japanese back!

At 300 meters, the Japanese machine gunners lay down behind the bunker, set up the 92-style and crooked handles, and fired short bursts of "ta-da-da" fire as fire cover.

The Japanese continued to advance with bayonets in hand.

100 metres.

50 meters.

30 meters.

"beat!"

Seeing the Japanese entering within 30 meters, Guan Dashan gave the order to open fire without hesitation.

Snapped--

Guan Dashan fired first and knocked down a Japanese soldier.

Then, gunshots like exploding beans rang out in the trenches, and light and heavy machine guns roared wildly.

The grenades flew towards the heads of the Japanese as if they were free of charge.

The Japanese who were bowing forward fell down in a large area like mowing grass.

The Japanese, who were originally probing for an attack, immediately retreated when they were attacked by intensive firepower.

Major Takeda, who was watching this scene through the telescope, couldn't help but frown.
Chapter completed!