Zhang Qing, who was rushing forward with his troops, could hardly believe his eyes.

When did the Japanese army become so capable of fighting, fleeing for their lives as soon as they exchanged fire, is this still the elite of the Chinese army!

Although he didn't understand it, Zhang Qing didn't let go of this opportunity to beat the water dog.

Since you don't want to fight head-on, then I'll chase you behind your ass and beat you off, and you can get rid of a layer of skin.

"The second platoon continued the assault, captured all the puppet troops, and then quickly retreated. Three platoons and all the machine gunners, follow me to hunt down the devils! Zhang Qing immediately ordered.

When Zhang Qing led his troops to desperately chase and kill the devils, Laiyuan City suddenly rushed out of a squad of Japanese soldiers and ran to the battlefield with a gun in hand.

After chasing for two or three hundred meters and killing seven or eight devils. The Japanese troops who were frantically retreating in front collided directly with the Japanese troops who were leaving the city.

Before Zhang Qing could react, a heavy machine gun was set up by the Japanese army on the official road in front of him, and then there were four crooked handles set up next to him, and the machine gunners were all lying on the ground, ready to shoot at any time.

Zhang Qing's face turned pale in an instant, and he shouted: "It's not good, we were fooled!" ”

"The little devil has a receiving force, everyone retreat quickly!"

"Da Da Da!" Before the order was finished, the sound of the devil's heavy machine gun strafing sounded, followed by a scream in his ears. Seven or eight soldiers of the Eighth Route Army fell on the official road, and each of them was beaten with several blood holes, and blood kept gushing out, and they were dying.

Fortunately, after several bloody battles, the company has matured, especially the machine gunners who rushed to the front every time.

As soon as several light and heavy machine guns of the Japanese army fired, they held the machine guns in their arms, and covered each other while firing and retreated.

Under their counter-attack, the Japanese machine-gun fire immediately became intermittent. There were still more than 20 left, and the Eighth Route Army immediately seized the opportunity to retreat to the rear. Despite this, the third platoon that followed Zhang Qing to chase and kill the devil still lost a lot of people, and less than fifteen people escaped alive in the end.

"Little devil, sooner or later I will kill you and avenge the sacrificed soldiers!" Facing the subordinates who suffered heavy casualties, Zhang Qing's face instantly became gloomy. A pair of eyes stared at Laiyuan City, clenched his fists, and scolded loudly.

At this time, Zhou Zhengyang, the commander of the second platoon, came over and reported in a heavy tone: "Company commander, the problem has been investigated!" ”

"These Japanese puppet troops came out of the Dongyang stronghold, and they received an order from the county seat last night to abandon the stronghold and return to Laiyuan City with all the equipment and supplies!"

"Abandon the stronghold!" Zhang Qing immediately thought of the order given to everyone by the battalion commander before leaving.

"In this sortie, you only have one task, to kill and injure a large number of devil veterans, so that no devil will have anyone to form a mixed brigade."

"Could it be that the Japanese army has grown out of the purpose of this attack of the independent battalion, deliberately abandoned the stronghold, and concentrated the veterans in the county town to form their mixed brigades!" Zhang Qing frowned and muttered to himself.

Soon, a touch of firmness appeared on Zhang Qing's face.

"It must be so! The devil is too cunning, he must be able to see our purpose! ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Qing's face had become serious unconsciously, and then continued: "No, I definitely can't let so many veterans return to the county seat smoothly. The battalion commander said that a devil veteran can bring more than three recruits, and there are four or five hundred veterans outside the city, and all of them can form two infantry brigades when they return to Laiyuan City! ”

"Company commander, what should we do then?" Zhou Zhengyang also realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately asked.

"Walk in three steps: baggage squad, escort the captured and captured prisoners back to the station immediately, let him report my inference to the battalion commander, and by the way, tell the battalion commander that I plan to contact two or three companies to ambush the devils who want to return to the city around the county seat!"

"The second step is to pick out all the locals in the company, one local with two soldiers, and immediately reconnoiter to the villages around Laiyuan City where the remaining Japanese puppet army strongholds are located, and report back immediately if there is a situation."

"The third step is to contact the second company, the third company, the guard platoon, and the artillery platoon, and immediately concentrate on the county seat. Since the devils want to transfer the troops outside the city back to the city, then we will wait outside the city, and they will fight one army and kill as many devils as possible! ”

At the headquarters of the Japanese brigade in Laiyuan City, the chief of staff was reporting to Ono about the battle that had just taken place outside the city.

"It seems that our consideration is correct, the reason why the Eighth Route Army took the initiative to attack is to consume a large number of our veterans!" Ono affirmed, with a rare smile on his face.

Then he asked the chief of staff rhetorically: "You just said that our garrison sent a team out to respond, and also brought heavy machine guns, and took the Eighth Route Army by surprise outside the city, eliminating many of them!" ”

"Hey, that's true, the Eighth Route Army is so arrogant, it doesn't even take the Imperial Army of Japan in its eyes, and it dares to get close to the county town where the Imperial Army of Japan is stationed, it's like an early death!" The chief of staff affirmed.

The smile on Ono's face was even stronger, and he was very satisfied and praised: "That squadron leader did a good job, I know how to seize the fighter, I admire him." Isn't the brigade still short of a captain? Promote him up! ”

"In addition, this kind of operation should be spread among all the troops defending the city. The towns outside the city, because we are short of troops, can be abandoned for the time being. But not around the county, we have heavy machine guns, mortars, infantry artillery, mountain artillery, field artillery! As long as it is covered by artillery fire, there must be no signs of the activities of the Eighth Route Army. If there is an Eighth Route Army, send troops when it is time to send troops, but remember to bring a radio and call for artillery support in the city at any time! ”

"In addition, inform the troops defending the city in the four directions that there must be the Eighth Route Army around the county seat, and they will definitely not let the troops outside the city withdraw smoothly. As long as the troops outside the city enter the area covered by artillery fire in the city, the defending troops must immediately send troops to respond to prevent the Eighth Route Army from ambushing our troops returning to the city. ”

The Japanese troops, who received Ono's order, immediately began to move. A reinforced squad is prepared at each city gate, ready to go out of the city to meet at any time.

The mountain artillery brigade and the mortar brigade were not idle, and quickly set up their artillery in the open space in the city, and the three mountain artillery and three mortars were aimed in one direction to provide artillery support to the troops returning to the city at any time.

Less than an hour after the reconnaissance unit sent out by Zhang Qing left, a soldier rushed over out of breath.

"Battalion commander, another Japanese puppet army is coming, two squads of the Japanese army, one company of the puppet army, with ten carts! Half an hour to get here, the march is very fast"

Zhang Qing frowned and didn't speak, and a soldier who was monitoring the city gate also rushed over: "Battalion commander, I also have a situation here, a devil who strengthened the team, with two heavy machine guns and a mortar, suddenly left the city and marched north!" ”