Chapter 142 Mountain Blockade "Captain Huang, Captain He of the county brigade is here." On the mountain, Huang Chengfei, the company commander of the 6th Company of the 771st Regiment, which was responsible for blocking the 4th Brigade, was observing the terrain and arranging soldiers to dig shelters. A soldier found Huang Chengfei with a middle-aged man who was wearing ordinary civilian clothes, an Eighth Route Army cap, and a large-eye box on his waist. Huang Chengfei listened to the soldier's report and turned around quickly: "Captain He, you're just in time." "Captain Huang, I have received an order to cooperate with the Sixth Company of the 771st Regiment. Please assign us combat missions!" Captain He was also very excited to see Company Commander Huang. The Shiquan County Brigade had just regrouped its men, but they did not expect that they would be assigned an important task immediately: to cooperate with the 771st Regiment to block the Japanese Fourth Brigade! Captain He was excited at the thought. Such an important task should have been the responsibility of the main force, but he didn't expect that it would be the turn of his county brigade. If they fight well, they might be able to apply for a status and have a regular organization, turning the county brigade into the main force of the Eighth Route Army. Huang Chengfei listened to what Captain He said, nodded, and began to talk about the task he had received. "My mission is to stop the Japanese troops here for three hours. Within three hours, no Japanese troops can pass through our defense line!" This was thanks to the regimental flag that Qin Yangming had initially captured, the large number of artillery pieces that he had provided, and the equipment that had been handed over in succession.
Now the main forces of the entire Eighth Route Army are well prepared. All the main force units in the organization basically have one light machine gun per squad and one or two heavy machine guns per company. Each platoon has one or two grenade launchers made by the arsenal, or is equipped with two or three grenade launchers. Some stronger troops even equipped company-level teams with 60mm mortars. Although the 771st Regiment followed the brigade headquarters and was mainly responsible for the defense of the Taiyue Military Region, it usually did not have much to fight in and captured very little. However, after the 771st Regiment was transferred to Shiquan County to take over the garrison work of the Independent Regiment. The commander of the 771st Regiment brought two bottles of strong liquor and forced Li Yunlong to fall down, then took from Li Yunlong a batch of equipment that Li Yunlong had obtained when he was encircling and suppressing the fleeing Japanese devils and puppet army traitors. Therefore, the 771st Regiment’s current equipment is higher than the average level of the Eighth Route Army. In particular, the Sixth Company, which was sent to the mountains to carry out blocking operations, also had its equipment specially strengthened. Now the entire 6th Company is equipped with two Type 92 heavy machine guns, ten Type 99 light machine guns, three grenade launchers, four grenade launchers, and one 60mm mortar. Because they were sent out to carry out a blocking operation, each soldier of the Sixth Company was issued with sixty bullets, and the light machine guns had three hundred bullets. Not to mention the heavy machine gun, which carried a thousand bullets! There are more than a hundred small grenades from the grenade launcher and the Japanese melon-shaped grenades that can be launched from the grenade launcher. The grenade launcher also has eighty small grenades. The 60mm mortar has fifteen shells. In the past, Huang Chengfei would have been so happy that he couldn't sleep all night if the Sixth Company had two more machine guns. Not to mention that the entire Sixth Company now has ten light machine guns and two heavy machine guns. There were also 60mm mortars, each with 15 shells. One year ago, the entire 771st Regiment had only two 60mm mortars, and all the shells added up to only 12. These twelve shells are precious. If you want to use them, you must get the consent of the regiment commander.
Now the Sixth Company has fifteen artillery shells, and it is entirely up to him, the company commander, to decide when to use them. But in just this one year, the 771st Regiment could be said to have upgraded its muskets to advanced cannons. All the miscellaneous rifles in the army, such as the old Hanyang-made rifles, were replaced. The main force was equipped with either the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's Jin-made Type 65 rifle or the Japanese's Type 38 rifle, thus unifying the caliber of the main weapons. Rifles such as the Hanyang-made old-sleeve rifles were handed over to local troops or new recruits' camps for training. The heavy weapons in the regiment were even more exaggerated. The 771st Regiment had formed an artillery company with a small mountain cannon and two Type 92 infantry guns, each gun had thirty shells. If we talk about firepower alone, the equipment of Huang Chengfei's Sixth Company is no worse than that of a squadron of the Japanese devils. It’s just that the number of people is not as many as that of a Japanese squadron. Now people from the county brigade have arrived and have been temporarily incorporated into the army. The strength of the entire Sixth Company is almost the same as that of a squadron of the Japanese devils. With this equipment and most of the soldiers in the 771st Regiment being veterans, Huang Chengfei even had the confidence to have a head-on battle with a field squadron of the Japanese on the plains! We even have the confidence to annihilate a squadron of Japanese devils! But now the regiment commander asked him to stop a brigade of the Japanese from the 4th Brigade. To be honest, Huang Chengfei was not sure that he could hold off the 4th Brigade for three hours. There was only one blocking position nearby, that of their Sixth Company, which meant that he had to rely on these two hundred people to block the attack of more than 5,000 Japanese soldiers. In particular, the scouts reported that the Japanese were carrying a large number of heavy artillery and tanks! Huang Chengfei took out the map and said to Captain He: "Although we have the advantage of terrain, if we fight the Japanese head-on, we won't be able to stop their attack with our numbers." "So I decided to lay a large number of mines on this road to slow down the march of the Japanese army." "The Japanese have a lot of artillery. If we can destroy some of their trucks, their speed will surely slow down..." "Captain He, please take your men to the southern hillside to deploy defenses. I will reinforce you with two Type 99 light machine guns, two grenade launchers, and 200 grenades." "The Japanese will definitely not send all their troops from a brigade to attack us at once. They will definitely send out vanguard troops to explore the way." "Once the Japanese vanguard enters our attack range, we will use the mines to consume a wave of their forces. Then once our light and heavy machine guns open fire, the Japanese will definitely move towards your side. The hillside on your side is quite steep, and it will be difficult for the Japanese to rush up, so you can throw grenades when the time comes." "If the Japanese vanguard is just a small team, then we will destroy this team as quickly as possible and lay booby traps before the Japanese main force arrives..." Just as Huang Chengfei and Captain He were discussing the combat mission, an Eighth Route Army soldier rode a horse and rushed towards Huang Chengfei's location. "Captain Huang, Captain Huang! Urgent order from the regiment!" (End of this chapter)