Raising the binoculars, I saw that on the highway less than 500 meters away from his position, a small group of heavily armed little devils were holding bright bayonets in a battle formation, advancing and searching at the same time.

However, Zhou Cheng soon found some flaws in the pair of little devils. Because although this pair of little devils looked fierce, their search didn't seem to be very careful. Maybe it was because the first sneak attack of Ono's squadron was carried out so smoothly, and I saw dozens of little devils lined up in two rows, and the bushes on both sides of the road were just symbolic of their surnames, and they did not conduct an in-depth search. So, after a while, the avant-garde squad of Ono's squadron walked less than 300 meters from the position and came within the range of the fighters of the second platoon.

"Company commander, do you want to fight?" asked the second platoon commander next to him.

"Don't worry, our positions have been concealed, you see, the little devil is still moving forward, I estimate that the little devil should not have noticed us, wait for him to walk in and then open fire, catch him off guard, give the main force of the little devil the illusion that we have heavy guards here, so that he does not dare to attack easily." Company commander Zhou Cheng carefully looked at the formation of the little devil and analyzed it for the second platoon commander beside him.

"Good Rat, pass the order, without my order, no one is allowed to shoot and expose the target, otherwise military law will be involved." The second platoon commander listened to the words of the company commander, immediately agreed, and ordered to the soldiers beside him.

In this way, the soldiers held the weapons in their hands tightly, stared carefully at the little devils not far away, and watched them walk from 300 meters to 200 meters and then to 100 meters When the little devils appeared less than 50 meters away from the position, even the voice of the little devils could be heard clearly, Zhou Cheng, who had been lying in the trench, nodded to the second platoon commander next to him.

"Second Platoon Leader, let's start!" Company Commander Zhou Cheng did not put down the binoculars and ordered coldly.

"Comrades, open fire" Hearing the order of the company commander, the second platoon commander shouted loudly at the fighters on the position. At the same time, his right finger steadily pulled the trigger of the rifle in his hand, and shot the first bullet of this battle at the leader of the devil squad who had been aiming for a long time.

"Da Da" followed by the sound of the second platoon's long guns were the three light machine guns in the platoon. Three light machine guns, distributed at different firing angles, simultaneously spewed tongues of fire at the place where the little devil was carrying.

"Ah, enemy attack, Baga, hurry, lie down" Because of the roar of the second platoon commander, the captain of the army was lucky to avoid the first bullet of the battle. However, just as he was reacting from the shock just now, the soldiers in the first few rows of his squad had already been knocked to the ground by the dense bullets of the other side.

Seeing the soldiers behind him, lying on the ground one after another under his own order, the squad leader breathed a sigh of relief. However, what made him desperate was that the [***] team on the opposite side had arranged the machine gun position so thoroughly, the position hit by the three light machine guns was impermeable, and the remaining dozens of people in his squad were suppressed by the fire of the opponent's three machine guns, and they couldn't move at all.

"Yaga! We were ambushed by the [***] team. Seeing that his squad was crushed in front of the position and could barely move after losing more than a dozen soldiers, the squad leader couldn't help but curse loudly.

"Machine gun cover, fast, all retreat, be fast." Following the order of the squad leader, the three machine gunners of the army were forced to muster up their courage, risking being hit at any time, set up light machine guns in front of them, raised their heads, and began to suppress the three light machine guns on the position of the [***] team on the opposite side.

Although the machine gunners were careful to fire, their precise and skillful shooting action still accurately fired the dense bullets into the positions of the three machine guns. The three machine gunners who were excitedly firing at the position of the second platoon were caught off guard and were hit by the machine gun fire of the Japanese army, and suddenly, the density of fire on the second platoon position was reduced by more than half.

"Yo Xi, retreat quickly, quickly" Seeing the three light machine guns on the position of the [***] team on the opposite side, the captain of the army couldn't help but be excited. But he knew that this situation was only temporary, and the spare machine gunners of the [***] squadron would definitely immediately shift their positions and conduct suppressive fire again. Thinking of this, the squad leader immediately ordered the soldiers around him to start retreating.

Seeing that the little devil began to retreat, Zhou Cheng, as the company commander, had nothing to do. In the end, the fighters could only speed up the frequency of their shooting, and try to leave some more of their corpses on the way of the little devils' retreat.

"Stop shooting" Finally, the captain of the army withdrew from the range of the fighters with the team that had lost more than half of the team. In order to save bullets and make his blocking battle last longer, Zhou Cheng immediately ordered the soldiers to cease fire and not waste precious ammunition.

"Second platoon commander, count the casualties of the troops, quickly, send all the wounded to the rear of the position, and also, send a soldier back to the village, let the first platoon enter the position immediately, I estimate that this attack is the main force of the little devils." Company commander Zhou Cheng ordered to the second platoon commander beside him.

"Yes, company commander, just a rough count, 8 killed, 4 seriously wounded, and about 10 lightly wounded." After the second platoon commander finished speaking, he turned around and went to arrange for the transfer of the wounded.

At this time, Ono Jiro was indeed looking at the battlefield not far away with a shocked face. Because he couldn't believe that a small squad of elite imperial troops had suffered more than half of the casualties in such a short period of time and was forced to withdraw from the battlefield.

"Baga, what's going on with you, why are the troops losing so much." Seeing the squad leader who came to him with the remnants of the soldiers, Ono Jiro scolded with his head and face.

"Your Excellency the captain in the report, our avant-garde squad was ambushed by at least one company of Chinese troops, and we were caught off guard, so we were caught off guard" (the reason why it was a company was because in the squadron [***] at that time, a platoon was generally equipped with a light machine gun, not to mention the inferior Eighth Route Army) Looking at the squadron leader with an angry face, the squad leader quickly explained.

"How is it possible for the [***] squadron of a company, how can the [***] squadron know about our actions." Listening to the words of the avant-garde squad Zhang, the squadron leader was full of surprise and no longer paid attention to the team leader with an aggrieved face.

"Vice-Captain, what do you think?" asked the squadron leader as he looked at the vice-captain next to him, who was also full of surprise.

"Well, Your Excellency Squadron Leader...... I think that in the process of our march, we were discovered by the Chinese, so there was a company of troops of the [***] team in ambush at the entrance of the village, and they had only one purpose, that is, to drag us down. Give the people of the village enough time to retreat. The vice-captain replied. However, it was clear from his tone that the vice-captain did not want to withdraw his troops because his plan of action was discovered. Because, as a soldier of the Empire, promotion and military rank are undoubtedly a very great temptation.

"Yo Xi, I also agree with the vice-captain's analysis. It's just that how can the Eighth Route Army of this company block one of my reinforced squadrons, besides, Zhuangquan Village has a very large population, just with the ten minutes provided by the Eighth Route Army, can they all withdraw? Squadron Leader Ono Jiro was not frightened by the battle just now, but looked at the position not far away with disdain on his face and said.

"Hey, Your Excellency Squadron Leader's analysis is very correct, the Eighth Route Army of a company on the opposite side can only block us for more than ten minutes, and we will definitely be beaten to pieces, please give an order to Your Excellency the Squadron Leader, I ask to personally lead a squad of troops to launch a charge, and break through the position of the [***] team in front of you in one fell swoop." The deputy captain patted his ass and stood up to ask the squadron leader Jiro Ono for his life.

"Yo Xi, Vice Captain, yours is the real soldier of the Empire, yours is not" Ono Jiro glanced at the Vice Captain with appreciative eyes, and then pointed to the avant-garde squad leader in front of him.

"Deputy Captain, the task of breaking through the position of the [***] team in front will be handed over to you, the first squad, the second squad, the heavy machine gun squad, and the mortar squad, all of which are at your disposal, and the remaining two squads are used as reserves." Ono Jiro immediately ordered.

"Hey, please rest assured, Your Excellency Squadron Leader, this time I will definitely break through the position of the [***] team." The vice-captain replied with a military salute to Ono Jiro.

"Go, vice-captain, I'm waiting for your good news," said Ono Jiro patting the excited vice-captain in front of him.

"Hey, machine gun squad, mortar squad, first and second squads follow me," the deputy captain commanded the squad leaders behind him. Soon, more than 100 troops, under the leadership of the deputy captain of the army, came to a distance less than 300 meters from the position and stopped.

The soldiers of the heavy machine gun squad quickly looked for a favorable position in this place, set up three heavy machine guns, and even test-fired at the position at the entrance of the village, until the ground was dusty, and then the fire ceased. More than a dozen soldiers of the mortar group quickly began to build an artillery position about a few dozen meters behind the machine-gun position. The remaining squad of nearly 100 troops, under the leadership of the deputy captain himself, began to organize a new attack formation in front of the position.

Soon, five minutes passed in a hurry. After receiving the report of the preparation of the heavy machine gun squad and the artillery team, a smile appeared on the corner of the deputy captain's mouth and gave the artillery group the order to open fire.

"Tongtong" two dull mortar discharges sounded, and two shells flew out of the barrels, in a parabola, and flew towards the position of the Eighth Route Army with a whistling sound.

"Boom" Two huge explosions sounded, but because it was only a test firing of devils, neither shell hit the fortifications.

"Quick, leave the guard post, the others will retreat immediately, quick" Seeing that the little devil was preparing to shell, the company commander Zhou Cheng shouted an order to the second platoon that was waiting in the base area and the first platoon that had just arrived.

However, no matter how fast a person is, it cannot be faster than the firing speed of a mortar. Just when the soldiers got up and were about to retreat, another whistling sound reached the ears of the company commander Zhou Cheng, and the two corrected shells accurately fell among the retreating soldiers.

"Boom" Two huge explosions sounded, and a large number of fighters fell where the shells had just fallen.

"What are you doing in a daze, retreat quickly, you don't want to live" Seeing that the soldiers were staring blankly at the place where the explosion had just exploded after the shell exploded, the company commander Zhou Cheng couldn't help but scold at the soldiers of the two platoons that accounted for most of the recruits.

"Boom" two more shells fell, setting off a rain of blood again. Finally, when the little devil dropped the fifth round of shells, the fighters, except for the guard posts left behind, finally retreated to a few dozen meters behind the position.

"Quick, count the casualties, damn, it's really unlucky, before the fight started, so many soldiers were killed by the shells of the little devils." Company Commander Zhou Cheng shook his head speechlessly at the two platoon commanders in front of him.

"Company commander, 8 of us were killed in our platoon, and 10 of us were killed in one platoon" After a while, the two platoon commanders came to Zhou Cheng with depressed faces and reported the casualty figures.

"Alas, they're all recruits, and the soldiers are ordered to check their weapons and ammunition, and bring all the ammunition with them later." Zhou Cheng shook his head and ordered.

At this time, the two mortars of the Yue army had fired more than a dozen rounds of shells at the position in a row, and the carefully camouflaged positions of the soldiers had been completely exposed in front of the Yue army after the shelling of the little devils.

"Company commander, the little devil has begun to attack" At this time, the sound of a guard post came from the position.

"All of them, enter the position immediately, quickly" came to the position, and saw the position that had been completely exposed in front of the little devil, Zhou Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. Because the mortars brought by the little devils were only 81 mm mortars, and did not cause much damage to the fortifications of the position, the fighters quickly returned to their combat positions after entering the position. The reserves, which originally left a squad, were all replenished to the position because of the dozen or so fighters who had just died.

At this time, nearly 100 Japanese troops lined up in a straggler formation, and were slowly advancing in parallel to the position step by step, and when the Japanese army approached the position less than 200 meters, the three heavy machine guns of the Japanese army as a cover opened fire, and the dense heavy machine gun fire suddenly dusted the position. Faced with dense enemy fire, the fighters had to keep their heads down.

"Fire" Seeing that the little devil had entered the best range of 100 meters, Zhou Cheng did not hesitate and immediately ordered to fire. The sudden and dense array of guns on the position knocked down a dozen devils at the front at once, but because the attack formation of the Yue army was very scattered, the intermittent fire of the six light machine guns did not cause much damage to the Yue army.

At this time, the mortars of the Yue army also opened fire, and one after another the shells continued to explode among the soldiers, and the already dense firepower on the position was even weaker at this time, and at this moment, the Yue army had already taken advantage of the weak firepower of the two platoons to attack less than 50 meters in front of the position.

"Quick, grenades, grenades," Zhou Cheng, the company commander, shouted loudly, and at the same time, he also put down the shell gun in his hand and kept throwing grenades at the army in front of him.

A dense explosion sounded in front of the position, and the front of the position, which was less than 100 meters wide, was immediately covered by the smoke of grenade explosions. When the smoke cleared, the little devils, who had already attacked less than 30 meters in front of the position, finally dropped dozens of bombed corpses in the grenade and retreated.

"Quick, count the casualties and ammunition, the little devils have lost less than half a squad, they will definitely attack again immediately, quick, don't retreat any more, just let the soldiers hide in the trenches." Zhou Cheng looked at the little devils who retreated in an orderly manner, and ordered to the two platoon commanders who came to report in front of him.

Sure enough, not long after the order was passed down, the devil's artillery fire came, and the two platoon commanders came to Zhou Cheng with worried faces.

"Company commander, we still have 28 people in the platoon who can fight, except for the machine guns, the average of bullets per person is less than 10 rounds, there are only 25 people left in the second platoon, and the bullets are still an average of 8 rounds per person, grenades, an average of two per person." The two platoon commanders respectively briefed Zhou Cheng on the casualties of their platoons.

"Such a big casualty, alas" Hearing the casualty figures, the company commander couldn't help but exclaim.

"Company commander, if the guidance can't come over for reinforcements, with our current strength and ammunition, we can at most hold on to an attack like the devil just now." A long line replied.

"Let the soldiers be ready for battle and hold on as long as they can, it has been almost an hour now, and if nothing else, in less than half an hour, the cavalry battalion of the headquarters should be rushing to reinforce it." Company commander Zhou Cheng comforted himself.

However, half an hour earlier, the company's correspondent had already ridden a fast horse and rushed to the regimental headquarters to request reinforcements. In the face of such an important place as Zhuangquan Village being attacked by devils, the regimental headquarters also attached great importance to it, and after receiving the news, it immediately sent a report asking for help to the cavalry battalion operating in the First Army Division. At the same time, a battalion of troops was drawn from the periphery of the regimental headquarters and quickly reinforced Zhuangquan Village in a rapid march.

At this time, the reinforcements of a battalion of the regimental headquarters were already less than five miles away from Zhuangquan Village, and similarly, the cavalry battalion operating in the military region was also hurrying to this side, and it was expected that it would take another 20 minutes to rush over. In other words, as long as Zhou Cheng led his troops to delay the Yue army for a maximum of twenty minutes, the end of Ono's squadron was doomed.

Company commander Zhou Cheng looked at the corpses of the soldiers lying on the battlefield and the smiling soldiers, gritted his teeth, and decided to continue to hold on.

(To be continued)