Koji Ikeda changed his tactics, but he did not change his cautious style. For him, whose promotion has been assured, what he needs more at this time is to be steady, rather than to be rash like Kojiro Haraiji, who was carried away by jealousy and ambition.

In order to be sure, Koji Ikeda made an unconventional advance at night, but he also made extensive use of flares to clear the way, illuminating the marching route. Not only that, but when pursuing, they only bite the opponent with sharp soldiers, so as not to make the opponent out of their sight, and the main force is absolutely not out of the cover range of artillery fire.

Not only that, but he also changed the Japanese army's usual stinginess in the use of firepower in the past, and from time to time used artillery fire to cover a suspicious target on both sides of the mountain road, as well as all possible ambush troops.

Anyway, when he set off, Major General Ishihara Waner, who did not explain all the facts to him, had already said that as long as these rebels who dared to twist the tiger whiskers of the Kwantung Army could be eliminated, as many supplies would be consumed. It is precisely with the words of His Excellency the Deputy Chief of Staff Ishihara that the future Mr. Osaku is very generous in the use of firepower.

However, when Koji Ikeda chose to cover the firepower, he chose the dense birch forests that appear from time to time on both sides of the mountain road, and chose the slopes on both sides of the mountain road. However, he ignored the dense bushes that were closest to the mountain road, and could even be said to be under the noses of the Japanese army.

It is not that Koji Ikeda deliberately ignores the bushes, which are extremely lush, but even for Japanese people who are generally not very tall, they are less than half a person's height. It's just that in his opinion, for those bandits who are based in the mountains and forests, those birch forests that are connected to the mountains and make it difficult to see the situation in the forest even under flares are more suitable for those who are good at sneak attacks to hide.

As for the bushes under the nose, which are unobstructed under the flares, and are not even enough to hide a normal person squatting, they are too short for those who are despicable, who can only sneak attack, and never dare to fight face-to-face with the Great Japanese Imperial Army.

Koji Ikeda was the first among his classmates at the non-commissioned officer school to become the captain of the brigade, and he was about to be promoted to the captain of the Daisa, and he was the first to be admitted to the Army University, which is known as the cradle of Japanese generals, not only by his father-in-law, but on the contrary, he himself was also very shrewd.

Although he took advantage of the situation to change his tactics, he did not rush forward like his classmate who was carried away by jealousy. In addition to using a small force to pursue in parallel along the mountain, the main force always controlled the rhythm of the attack very well. And in pursuit, the artillery can always provide strong fire cover for the infantry.

But this time, his shrewdness was in the wrong place. The opponent has changed the way of fighting, but he is still sticking to the rules and looking at people with old eyes. Staring only at the birch forests that connect to the hillside, but ignoring the bushes that can also hide people. Who said that low bushes should not be hidden, and who said that ambushes must have a good place of concealment? When Koji Ikeda tried to understand this when people and horses were blown up by grenades flying everywhere, he was powerless to return to the sky.

However, at this time, standing on top of the artillery position, doing the same thing as Yang Zhen with the flares fired, and observing the effects of the shells that fell in the birch forests on both sides of the mountain road from time to time with a telescope, Koji Ikeda did not expect that the opponent who was about to give him a fatal blow would be ambushed under his nose.

Looking at the birch trees that appeared on both sides of the road from time to time and the branches that had been blown up in all directions, Koji Ikeda proudly brushed the neatly shaved snot at the bottom of his nose, and the frustration of not being able to accommodate armored vehicles because of the relatively narrow mountain roads had long since been swept away.

At this time, Koji Ikeda, who seemed a little complacent, was a little puzzled by the fact that he ordered the shelling of the woods that might be empty, and the precious shells of the Fei Empire were a little puzzled: "You don't understand the tactics. ”

"The opponents we face this time are cunning, and their samurai are not. I observed several summaries of their battles and found that these chines had never engaged in face-to-face positional battles with the purge troops. They are good at ambush warfare. Moreover, it is to use the terrain that can be used to conduct ambush warfare. ”

"And the terrain here is two mountains and one ravine, which is a good place for ambush warfare. However, the mountainous area here is somewhat special, the mountains are dominated by low bushes, but there are many birch forests at the bottom of the mountains. And most of these birch forests under the mountains are connected to the mountains. These mountain-linked birch forests not only provide an excellent shelter for these people, but also a place to retreat and defend. ”

"There is an idiom in China called beating the grass and scaring the snake, and there is also a saying called knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger. When I shell those birch forests, it can be said that I can scare the grass and snakes, and it can also knock the mountains and shock the tigers. It is to use artillery fire to make those anti-Manchu anti-Japanese elements who are trying to ambush us give up their cowardly intentions and fight a decisive battle with us in a regular manner. ”

Just as Koji Ikeda's words fell, several puppet Manchurian officers next to him, although they disagreed with his opinion in their hearts, still slapped their mouths and said, "High, really high." His Excellency Nakasa is indeed worthy of being a top student of the Imperial Japanese Army University, and this insight really impresses us very much. ”

Hearing the sycophants of the puppet Manchurian officers around him, although he heard a lot of these flattering words on weekdays, it made Koji Ikeda's face look a little indifferent, but it was really useful in his heart.

Koji Ikeda waved his hand to stop the intention of the puppet Manchu officers to continue filming, and waved his hand: "Order the artillery to move forward, and the infantry to hurry up, and definitely not let these people escape." Although Kojiro-kun's ability to command operations is low, the battle plan this time is still well formulated. Since Kojiro-kun is no longer able to command the battle, it would be better for us to complete this battle plan for him. He ordered the troops to close the open breakthrough before those anti-Manchu and anti-Japanese elements. ”

Koji Ikeda gave the order, and naturally no one in the surrounding days dared to disobey it, so he hurriedly gave orders to his troops according to Koji Ikeda's request.

Seeing that although the Japanese puppet army seemed a little cautious, they resolutely walked towards the ambush circle that he had carefully constructed, Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. Now for him, the most worrying thing is the few sappers who are ambushing near the weathered stone and preparing to detonate, so as not to be discovered by the Japanese puppet army on the mountainside on both sides of the mountain road.

But so far, good luck seems to continue to be on Yang Zhen's side. Although there is the help of flares, the brightness of flares is still different from that of daytime. In addition, when Yang Zhen was in the secret camp of Lao Heidingzi Mountain, he had carefully trained the concealment of the troops. The people in the engineer platoon are all veterans from the secret camp of Lao Heidingzi Mountain, and they know how to hide themselves in this situation The safest way.

However, good fortune will not always stand on one of the two sides of the battlefield, and fate will be fair to everyone. Just when half of the main force of the Japanese puppet army walking on the mountain road had already walked through the weathered stone and entered the ambush circle, the Japanese puppet army marching on the mountainside was the first to encounter the heavy machine gun position arranged by Yang Zhen on the mountainside.

When the heavy machine gun sounded in front, Yang Zhen's heart jumped suddenly: "Isn't it that the Japanese puppet army on the mountain and below the mountain are advancing in parallel?" How could the devils on the mountain arrive first? ”

For Koji Ikeda, his tactics of scaring the snake are not what he thinks, but they are barely part of the success. At least he found the traces of his opponent, and he can be sure that the main forces of the opponent. The reason is simple, judging by the sound of gunfire coming from the mountainsides on both sides, the opponent placed at least six heavy machine guns on the mountainsides on both sides.

This number of heavy machine guns is not something that the small unit that has stopped them before can have. According to the configuration of the Guannai China Army, the one with such a number of heavy machine guns is at least one elite regiment of the Central Army. If they are left in their so-called miscellaneous troops, it is possible to make a single division.

Before Koji Ikeda left, His Excellency the Chief of Staff, who was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the encirclement and suppression, repeatedly told him that this anti-Manchu anti-Japanese element had captured an imperial arms train at the Reed River station. Although the train was blown up after the fact, it is unclear exactly how many weapons were seized by the chinensis. But one thing is certain, for the people of China, who have no arsenal and no logistical supplies, they will take away the weapons and equipment on the train as much as possible.

As an officer of the Imperial Army, Koji Ikeda could tell from the sound of gunfire that the machine guns that his opponent was currently firing at the mountainside were the Type 92 heavy machine guns of the Imperial Army. Koji Ikeda could even easily conclude that the heavy machine guns were part of the large number of weapons carried on the arms train that was captured at the Reedhe station.

Listening to the dense machine-gun sound coming from the mountains on both sides, Koji Ikeda managed not to let his brow furrow. In his heart, he scolded those railway garrisons for being waste, and actually let so many weapons and ammunition fall into the hands of those anti-Manchu anti-Japanese elements, and were used by those damned anti-Manchu anti-Japanese elements against the Imperial Japanese Army. These wastes should all be seppuku and apologize to His Majesty the Emperor.

The troops on the mountainside were the first to make contact with the enemy, but they did not change Koji Ikeda's battle plan of running the mountain road and the mountainside three roads in parallel. In his opinion, although the main forces of those anti-Manchu and anti-Japanese elements were captured by themselves, their main forces were not arranged on the mountainside.

Perhaps, those heavy machine guns were used by those hateful anti-Manchu anti-Japanese elements to shed their shells and use them to get rid of themselves. It may even be used to set up an ambush circle to block your own pursuit, but it just happened to be discovered by yourself first.

Koji Ikeda stubbornly believes that it is not the main force of the opponent that Yamagami is resisting. Judging from the sound of gunfire, although his opponent had a large number of heavy machine guns, the sound of rifle fire was very rare.

Moreover, in the past, whether he was fighting against the Anti-Japanese Union or against various other anti-Manchu and anti-Japanese forces, the unique gunfire of various German-made pistols used by his opponents in large quantities, or imitations made by the Chinese themselves, which they called fast and slow machines or box guns, had never been heard.

In Ikeda's view, the resistance fire on the mountainside was nothing more than a pawn used by the rebels to design a small ambush in order to slow down their own footsteps. Their real main force should still be preparing to flee in a certain direction.

Because there is no army, it will rely on a few heavy machine guns to crush the enemy's attack. Without infantry, it would be extremely stupid to rely solely on machine guns to solve the battle.

Therefore, although a dense number of gunfire rang out on the mountainside, Koji Ikeda did not order the people who marched up the mountain to support the people on the mountain, but ordered the main force to speed up.

In Koji Ikeda's opinion, since the opponent, who is inadequately equipped, has taken out six heavy machine guns to block himself at once, and has been so stingy that he has run out of money for them, and there is no place to replenish the bullets so much, then it proves that the opponent's main force must be nearby. Those six heavy machine guns on the hill were just buying time for their main forces.

In fact, countless practices have proved that good luck on the battlefield is only a moment. Since you don't grasp it, it will never come again. Almost without hesitation, Koji Ikeda refused his subordinates' reinforcements on the mountain, and instead stubbornly ordered his troops to quickly continue the pursuit along the original route.

Just as the main force of the Japanese puppet army, which suddenly accelerated a little, rushed over the leg of the mountain where explosives were buried and covered with weathered stones, a violent explosion, together with the flying stones set off by the explosion, smashed the back half of the Japanese army's marching column into a mess.

The weathered stones, which had been rained down by the violent explosion, could not be used for any construction, but there was basically no problem with smashing people. The hundreds of puppet troops in the second half of the entire Japanese army marching column were smashed by the overwhelming debris and broke their heads and bled out. Even many unlucky eggs were directly hit in the head by the larger stones that flew in, and went up to the western sky. The steel helmet can only be used to protect against a single piece, and has no resistance to these large stones, even the size of a grinding disc.

Before Koji Ikeda, who had escaped by walking in the middle of the group, reacted to the rain of stones, a series of violent explosions sounded on the mountain road ahead. The shock wave set off by the explosion lifted His Excellency, who was still a little arrogant just now, directly off his horse.

"Baga, what's going on?" If it weren't for the guards' ability to control his frightened mount in the fastest time and drag him by a hand, Koji Ikeda, who was almost dragged to death by his own horse, got up from the ground, looked at the dead and wounded subordinates who were blown up, and almost didn't bite his mouth full of teeth.

Before he could recover from the shock of the explosion, there was the sound of cannonballs breaking through the air. With the sound of shells breaking through the air, like Koji Ikeda, the Japanese puppet army, which had not yet recovered from the violent explosion, was again caught in a rain of mortar shells.

"Your Excellency, mortar." It was still the quick-eyed guard who knocked down Koji Ikeda, who was looking at his dead and wounded subordinates all over the ground, and quickly fell on the back of his commander despite the strict hierarchy in the Japanese army.

Koji Ikeda almost cried when he finally waited for the explosion of the shells to subside, and when he pushed away the guards who had been blown up into hedgehogs by shrapnel flying everywhere, and saw the tragic situation of his subordinates after the baptism of mortar shells for a while.

Under the onslaught of explosives and mortar shells, Koji Ikeda escaped the defeat of less than 30 percent of his remaining 1,000 men who had escaped the detour from the mountains on both sides. Of these 30 percent, at least half of them are more or less injured.

After continuous blows, Koji Ikeda, who suffered heavy casualties, had long since lost his original arrogance.

As Koji Ikeda watched his dead and wounded men in a daze, he had not yet figured out how to deal with the situation in front of him. Suddenly a dense cloud of grenades flew out of the bushes on both sides of the mountain road that he had ignored before. Unlike the cannonballs, these grenades made almost no sound from the time they were thrown to the time they hit the ground and exploded. Especially in the dark night, when the flares were lost, the defeated Japanese puppet army did not know that the dead man who had just left had returned to his head again.

Without the cover of the guards this time, Koji Ikeda was unable to escape the threat of death once again. After being blown into four or five pieces by four or five grenades at the same time, Koji Ikeda no longer had to worry about how to defeat these despicable bandits and turn the tide.