Upon arrival at the designated location, all militias were assigned to combat units in all directions, based on the district in which their village was located. At the same time, Li Ziyuan also distributed the mines in his hands to these militiamen. Sixteen additional rounds of ammunition were given to each of them, as well as a grenade.

By the time the sky was bright, Li Ziyuan was ready for battle. According to the results of his reconnaissance, the Japanese puppet army would transport a batch of supplies every three days along this simple road. And today is the day when the Japanese puppet army transports supplies, and it is less than ten miles away from the nearest Hechuan stronghold of the Japanese puppet army.

After the sky slowly brightened, Li Ziyuan raised the telescope in his hand and looked towards the west of the improvised road below the mountain. Time passed little by little, but Li Ziyuan waited patiently for the target to take the bait. At ten o'clock in the morning, Li Ziyuan's long-awaited goal finally came.

However, when this team of Japanese puppet soldiers appeared in his binoculars, Li Ziyuan was stunned. Except for the fifteen carts in the team, the number of Japanese puppet troops escorted by this team was obviously wrong. The puppet army had only one platoon, but the Japanese army was formed by about one squadron and carried a heavy machine gun.

Looking at the Japanese puppet army that appeared in his telescope, the difference in the comparison of forces. Li Ziyuan was taken aback at first, could it be that the intelligence was leaked? But then he immediately reversed his own idea. If the intelligence was on the periphery, it would be impossible for the Japanese army to send only one squadron.

And the fact that the troops deployed in other directions have not issued an early warning at the moment means that the Japanese puppet army has not been found in other directions. His own deployment, but he has made a guard against other locations in the surrounding area. If it is a light and thin perimeter, then it is impossible for the troops sent by themselves to other directions not to move at all.

It's just that although it is not a leak of intelligence, the current Japanese army dispatched a squadron with reinforced firepower, which makes Li Ziyuan a little confused. It stands to reason that escorting fifteen carts and the puppet army dispatched a platoon, and the Japanese army dispatched a squad rifle group under a squad, which is generally the basic configuration. This little devil dispatched a squadron all at once, what is the situation?

The new situation that has emerged at the moment has made Li Ziyuan somewhat hesitant. The comparison between the combat effectiveness of one's own troops and the Japanese army, the Japanese army in one squadron needs at least one battalion to effectively solve it. But now he has the strength of two formed companies in his hands, once the battle is stalemate, the surrounding Japanese puppet army arrives quickly, and Liu Yanlai is really guessed by Liu Yanlai.

Just when Li Ziyuan was a little hesitant, Ma Yongcheng beside him also put down the binoculars and said to Li Ziyuan: "Old Li, something is wrong with the situation. The devil dispatched so many troops at once this time, either the devil is giving us a set, or the materials escorted by the devil are very important. Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the Japanese army may have a big operation. ”

"But anyway, this time the devil actually dispatched a squadron of troops. Lao Li, you must be cautious in this determination. Our forces do not occupy an absolute advantage, once the battle is stalemate, the surrounding Japanese puppet army quickly encircled, which is not a good situation for us. ”

This is the benefit of Ma Yongcheng, on the battlefield, he will remind Li Ziyuan to be more stable when he makes up his mind according to the changes in the situation, but he will never really interfere with Li Ziyuan's determination. This is also what Li Ziyuan admires most about this instructor, who always knows what he should do.

But Ma Yongcheng didn't expect that his reminder made Li Ziyuan make up his mind: "Old Ma, there is no turning back when you open the bow, since the troops have already pulled over, let's beat him." Even if you can't eat this squadron, you have to bite a piece of meat off them. ”

"It is unlikely that important supplies will be transported, and if they are important materials, the Japanese army should have dispatched trucks, not such mules and horses. The devils of this squadron appeared here, and it should be that the devils have some important actions that have been caught up by us. Since Lao Tzu happened to meet him, then there is nothing to say about it first. ”

Speaking of this, Li Ziyuan raised his binoculars again, looked at the Japanese puppet army who was slowly walking into his ambush circle, turned his head to the messenger beside him, and said, "Tell the two company commanders to let go of the scouts in front and concentrate all the firepower on me to fight their brigade." With less than a hundred meters of ambush distance, the first round of fire will knock out a third of their men. ”

After the correspondent hurriedly ran to inform Zeng Sheng and Qian Defu, Li Ziyuan said to He Huizhang beside him: "Lao He, your two heavy machine guns should also be aimed at the Japanese army to fight Lao Tzu, don't fucking waste bullets to fight those puppet soldiers." And don't fire your mortars first, use them when it's most critical. ”

"If the devil is beaten for a while, he will definitely find a hidden place to fight back first. When the time comes, your mortars are firing specifically to find their covert places to blow them up the road. Also, you gave the devil machine gun to Lao Tzu to staring to death, as long as he fired, he would kill me as soon as possible. We don't have a lot of shells, so don't be extravagant, you kid. ”

After He Huizhang nodded knowingly, Li Ziyuan turned on the fast and slow machine in his hand and put it in front of him, and raised the telescope to observe the mountain. His two companies were in ambush less than a hundred meters away from the road, and how much the first round of fire could be solved at such a close distance was directly related to the success or failure of the next battle.

For Li Ziyuan, today's battle is not just to solve the current predicament. There is another point that Li Ziyuan did not say explicitly when he reported to the military sub-district. He wants to use today's battle to test a set of tactics of close-range ambush warfare that he has developed during this period of time.

This tactic was a tactic that he and He Sanliang painstakingly pondered after several failed ambushes on the combat effectiveness of his troops and the Japanese army, as well as the differences in weapons and equipment, as well as the tactical characteristics of the Japanese army. Specially designed to mitigate one's own casualties when it is necessary to fight a close ambush battle.

After the scouts composed of a three-person tactical group and a squad of puppet troops of the Japanese army in front of them passed, the Japanese troops with a very open formation slowly walked into Li Ziyuan's ambush circle. Seeing that the Japanese army queue was very open, putting on an obvious anti-ambush tactical formation, Li Ziyuan, who knew that he had no way out, finally raised the fast and slow machine in his hand and gave the signal to fire.

With the sound of Li Ziyuan's gunshot, dense gunfire rang out on the highway that the Japanese army was rushing to repair west of Hechuan. Zeng Sheng and Qian Defu two companies, concentrated all the light machine guns and rifles, and under the cover of two cross-firing heavy machine guns behind them, they all opened fire on the Japanese ranks. At the first time, the heaviest firepower was called towards the Japanese army.

Although the formation of the Japanese army was very scattered when they were marching, some of the soldiers' guns were also pointed at the mountain roads on both flanks. However, the machine gun firepower used by Li Ziyuan in the first wave was quite intensive. With the addition of a volley of platoon guns, the first wave of fire knocked down more than 20 Japanese troops.

But despite the sudden blow, the Japanese squadron did not panic at all. Instead, they immediately looked for a hiding place, returned fire at the position where Li Ziyuan was ambushed, and organized a small force to immediately launch a counter-charge, trying to drive away the eight roads that were ambushed on the side of the road.

After the Japanese launched a counter-charge, according to Li Ziyuan's deployment, the light machine guns of the two companies and the heavy machine guns of He Huizhang suddenly stopped firing. It was only when the Japanese counter-charge forces rushed to a distance of 30 meters from the ambush position that the mines planted in front of the position were sounded, and the overwhelming grenades smashed towards the Japanese troops.

And the mortar in He Huizhang's hand also suddenly fired at the same time. One by one, they accurately landed on the Japanese shelter, and drove the Japanese troops who were hiding behind the concealment and drove back to the road to cover the counter-charge. His two heavy machine guns were resurrected again, firing with accurate fire at the Japanese troops who had been driven back to the road.

This tactic was developed by Li Ziyuan and He Sanliang, who spent a lot of painstaking research. Fighting the Japanese ambush was not an easy task. Especially when the Japanese army is marching, once it puts on a battle formation to prevent ambushes, it is definitely a hard bone.

There is no fixed replenishment, and if you can't capture the ammunition, your own ammunition is one shot less than one shot, which is your own fatal wound. And it is not easy to capture ammunition and weapons in the fight against the Japanese unless some special methods are developed. Even if it is an ambush war, it is not an easy task, and fighting the Japanese army is generally more expensive than captured.

And Li Ziyuan didn't like to fight white-knuckle battles with the Japanese army, except that the Japanese army was skilled in white-knuckle combat and had strong individual fighting ability. He always believes that white-knuckle combat is a lose-lose battle. In particular, the Japanese army's Type 38 rifle, with its long body and bayonet, often has an advantage in white-knuckle combat.

Ambush warfare is generally close combat, and the penetration of 65 bullets is too strong, and the closer the distance, the less lethality will be to the Japanese army, and it is often a two-eyed shot. And this kind of injury cannot completely incapacitate an army like the Japanese army. The lethality of 79 bullets is the greatest, and it is the first choice for ambush warfare.

However, if you fight with the Japanese army with bayonets and use rifles with 79 bullets, even if it is the Hanyang-made and Yuannian style with the longest gun body, it will be a great loss to fight with the Japanese army with bayonets. Li Ziyuan didn't think that the big knife could really take advantage of it in the white-knuckle battle, if it was still okay to dart.

So whenever possible, Li Ziyuan was easily unwilling to fight a white-knuckle battle with the Japanese army. Although white-knuckle combat is a very important training item for Li Ziyuan's department, Li Ziyuan is unwilling to fight bayonets. Not only is it often difficult to take too much advantage, but knife wounds are even more difficult to heal than those of Type 38 rifles.

After careful study with He Sanliang, Li Ziyuan came up with such a tactic according to the current equipment of his troops. Concentrate your firepower on him first, and kill and wound the Japanese as much as possible. Then all the machine guns stopped firing, one was to save bullets, and the other was to lure the Japanese to launch a counterattack.

According to the terrain of the chosen ambush site, the mines were planted at a distance of 30 meters from the position, and when the Japanese counterattack was launched, they were greeted with mines and grenades. And with the fast-firing barge guns and submachine guns, they were used to deal with the Japanese tactical team's slipping through the net. At this time, the machine guns were firing, concentrating their fire on the second echelon of the Japanese army.

At the same time, in view of the fact that the Japanese army was killed or wounded, it was chosen whether to launch a full-front counterattack. Of course, this premise is that the Japanese artillery did not participate in the war. If the Japanese artillery participates in the battle, this tactic will allow the Japanese stragglers, under the cover of artillery fire, to overwhelm their positions at once.

The Japanese artillery, especially the 92 infantry guns, dared to fire within a distance of less than 50 meters between the skirmish lines of the two armies. Once the troops were suppressed by Japanese artillery fire, a Japanese charge at a distance of thirty meters arrived. Therefore, Li Ziyuan's tactic, if there were Japanese artillery participating in the battle, he would never dare to use it.