In Hutou Village, Xiyang County, the Japanese and puppet troops stationed in the village began to rest before nine o'clock.

Under the reflection of the bonfires, only patrols were left at Noda's station.

On the high ground where Chief of Staff Chen Zhengyu was hiding, everyone stared at the village without any sleepiness.

At 10:30 in the evening, the quiet station suddenly became lively.

The whistle of the troops gathering urgently, the swearing of the commander, and the neighing of the war horses... sounded in the station together.

The Japanese resting around the bonfire seemed to have eaten chicken blood, and instantly became excited, and ran towards his commander with a gun on his back.

"Chief of Staff, the Japanese in the garrison seem to be running away?" The observation whistle shouted in disbelief.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never believe that the Japanese army, who was in full swing, would suddenly withdraw, and chose to withdraw in the middle of the night. Don't they know that the country-savior army is the world, and withdrawing troops at night means hitting the gun by themselves?

In order to keep it a secret, only a few battalion company commanders saw the telegram sent by the regiment commander, so the observation post around them did not know that the regiment commander was attacking and pacifying. The Japanese army in front of them were ordered to return to the county town to aid.

Chen Zhengyu did not explain, and put down his telescope and began to issue an order: "Notify the militia troops along the way, and take the initiative to attack the Japanese while preserving themselves. The gunshots and landmines cannot be cut off, making the Japanese feel that our main force is moving around them and numb them!"

The front command of the Fourth Battalion of the National Salvation Army rushed in, and before he could stand firm, he hurriedly reported: "Battery Commander, the Japanese who were attacking us suddenly began to assemble, as if they were going to retreat!"

Chen Zhong became excited as soon as he heard this, staring at the observation post and asked, "Tell me more, what's wrong with the Japanese army attacking us?"

"The Japanese army's garrison suddenly became lively ten minutes ago. The Japanese held up torches and began to assemble. Artillery and baggage soldiers were placing mules and horses on the artillery and carts, as if they were about to leave here!" The observation post quickly described the scene he saw.

"Battery Commander, the regiment commander has really done it. The Japanese army attacking us will definitely return to help and pacify the county!" The deputy battalion commander was puzzled for a long time before sighing.

When he received the order from the regiment commander during the day, he felt that no matter how powerful the regiment commander was, he could not threaten to pacify the safety of the county town, and then forced the Japanese army to return to the county town to aid. Unexpectedly, the slap in the face came so quickly, and the regiment commander actually turned the impossible into a possibility.

However, the deputy battalion commander was not sad because of this slap in the face, but was very excited.

With the repeated insistence of the battalion commander, the Fourth Battalion was ready to deal with the Japanese army's return to the county town.

The three main companies, artillery companies, guard platoons, reconnaissance platoons, baggage platoons, and more than 400 militiamen who cooperated with the operation were all waiting on the path that the Japanese army must pass, waiting for them to hit the gun.

Even if they cannot completely wipe out all the Japanese devils who attacked the Fourth Battalion, they can still bite a bite of fat from them.

Compared with the shock of the deputy battalion commander, Chen Zhong believed in the regiment commander very much and had expected this scene long ago.

Soon the expression on his face changed from shock to seriousness, and he turned his head to order a few communication soldiers around him: "You go and notify all the participating troops along the highway immediately. The Japanese army began to retreat, so that they would prepare for battle immediately and try to kill a squadron of Japanese soldiers for me."

Colonel Watanabe is the direct opponent of Chief of Staff Chen Zhengyu.

The past few days of sweeping the National Salvation Army can be said to be the most depressing days since he joined the army.

When fighting on the front battlefield before, no matter how strong the opponent was, he would turn into a paper tiger when facing the bombardment of planes and heavy artillery.

The current opponent, the National Salvation Army, is completely different from the opponents they encountered before.

They were as cunning as a loach, and they didn't fight with themselves head-on.

On the battlefield, their artillery often gave up their positions before they had time to fire the artillery. After the artillery was over, they did not know where to get out, and continued to fight with their subordinates, or stared at the weaknesses and loopholes that they suddenly exposed, and attacked them, caught themselves off guard.

In the past few days, the sweeping troops have never wiped out a national rescue army unit in an organized manner, but have been severely damaged by the national rescue army.

When he received the order to withdraw troops and return to the county town, Colonel Watanabe was reluctant.

But the military orders cannot be violated, and the sweeping troops have indeed reached the point where they must retreat.

During the several days of continuous attack, the troops consumed a large amount of shells, and the reserved ammunition was only enough for one day.

In order not to turn the artillery in his hand into scrap iron, he was pressed and attacked by the National Salvation Army artillery battalion on the battlefield. The sweeping troops either waited for the brigade commander to send someone to send the shells, or went back to replenish the shells themselves.

The first path has been proven to be unworkable by the brigade commander.

Pingding City dispatched more than 400 people to protect the convoys, but they could not send the shells safely to the sweeping troops. In the end, they also compensated their wife and soldiers, resulting in Pingding County no longer sending extra troops to continue to escort the shells.

Moreover, Pingding City was in crisis.

The brigade commander Major General Honda was all pacified by the one-month combat supplies of the mobilization force. If an accident occurs, not only will the mobilization force lose command, but the ammunition supply will be completely interrupted, and there is no place to replenish it if you want to replenish it.

In order not to put the mobilization troops in desperate situation, Colonel Watanabe was reluctant to take his subordinates to marches back to help to pacify the brigade commander.

But this is also good. After the crisis of pacifying the city was lifted, the troops could also replenish the ammunition and continue to attack the National Rescue Army.

"Baoba..." The annoying gunshot suddenly brought Dazo Watanabe back to reality.

A second lieutenant from the vanguard unit came over panting: "Report to the captain of the corps, the National Salvation Army attacked us in front, and ran away after fighting. We had no chance to counterattack them at all!"

Colonel Watanabe was no longer surprised. He thought for a few seconds and made a decision: "It is important to return to the rescue and pacify the county. Don't worry about these sneak attackers. At most, they scratch us itch and will not threaten the safety of the team."

"When encountering this kind of sneak attack, it directly uses a light and heavy machine gun to counterattack them. After they are defeated, the troops will continue to advance!"

After the second lieutenant left, the troops continued to return to the county town.

Less than five minutes after leaving, the annoying gunshots rang again.

The vanguard troops reacted very quickly, and three machine guns fought back on the spot, and the dense firepower drove the sneak attackers away in an instant.

During this sneak attack and counterattack, the troops' march received almost no impact and were marching forward in a hurry.

Colonel Watanabe was very satisfied. At the speed in front of him, as long as the next march is nothing unexpected, the troops should be able to reach the surrounding area of ​​Pingding County before dawn.

"Boom boom boom..."

Three explosions suddenly sounded at the front of the team. Colonel Watanabe looked up and saw three balls of fireballs rising up from the ground.

The moving team stopped quickly, and the second lieutenant who had just arrived ran to Watanabe again, reporting with a panic look on his face.

"Wing Captain, we stepped on the landmines buried by the enemy!"

"Three mines exploded at the same time, and at least fifteen soldiers were killed and injured by the bomb! The squadron leader asked me to ask for the engineer's support!"
Chapter completed!