Resistance against Japan: Starting with the local militia

Chapter 44 Night Raid on the Japanese

The stronghold in Zhaojiahe was quiet late at night; the Japanese soldiers had already gone into the tents set up by the puppet troops to rest.

Whether it was the arrogance born of their consecutive victories on the battlefield, or the fact that the Japanese soldiers simply didn't expect any foolish group in their occupied territory to dare provoke them, this small Japanese squad left only one soldier outside to patrol and keep watch.

However, just in case, Tang Xiaohu and Qin Yang conducted an extra search to see if the Japanese had set up any hidden sentries. After a thorough investigation, Qin Yang found only one Japanese soldier on duty.

"Heh, these Japanese devils are really arrogant. They really think no one dares to mess with them." Tang Xiaohu sneered.

The puppet troops who followed the Japanese didn't receive the same treatment as the Japanese soldiers. A group of them lay on the ground around a campfire, draped in their uniforms. Several other puppet troops were patrolling nearby, walking unsteadily, looking so tired that they could barely walk straight.

The civilians captured by the puppet army were locked up in a fence made of barbed wire.

Tang Xiaohu felt relieved to see that the civilians were being held alone in one place, at least he wouldn't be afraid of accidentally hurting civilians during the attack.

As the time for the attack drew closer, Tang Xiaohu ordered the soldiers of the First Company to prepare for battle. Judging from the situation tonight, there was no need to deploy the artillery company.

"Company Commander Qin, I need your help with the sentry posts at the outpost. You're familiar with this kind of thing," Tang Xiaoshuo said to Qin Yang.

"Commander Tang, don't worry, leave it to us," Qin Yang said confidently.

"Once the sentries are taken out, we'll rush into the Japanese tents immediately and wipe them out. The puppet troops are a bunch of spineless cowards; I can control them with just one platoon," Tang Xiaohu said to Qin Yang.

"Okay, we'll do it your way. I'll go prepare now." After saying that, Qin Yang led the reconnaissance battalion up the mountain.

Although Qin Yang's company was organized as a company, it actually only had the strength of a platoon. Because the special operations battalion had extremely high requirements for the combat skills of its soldiers, the reconnaissance battalion had only absorbed a company at most.

As night fell, the soldiers in camouflage sneaked up right under the enemy's noses, and the enemy didn't even notice them. Suddenly, the reconnaissance battalion soldiers leaped up, swiftly and decisively dispatching the sentries without making a sound.

After the sentry post was cleared, Tang Xiaohu led the other soldiers in quietly infiltrating without making a sound. Following the pre-arranged plan, the main force stormed the Japanese tent, while another squad headed towards the puppet troops.

Tang Xiaohu lifted the tent flap, and inside, one by one, the Japanese soldiers were fast asleep.

Tang Xiaohu took out the bayonet hanging on his body, which gleamed coldly with a white light, and slashed it towards the Japanese soldier's neck.

Like Tang Xiaohu, the other soldiers thrust their weapons at the Japanese soldiers in front of them. These Japanese soldiers, never expecting a night attack, would never wake up again in their sleep.

Even Tang Xiaohu hadn't expected the operation to be so easy, smoothly eliminating the Japanese soldiers in the stronghold without alerting the existing Japanese battalion. It seemed the blocking force arranged by the regimental commander wouldn't be needed.

Just as Tang Xiaohu was thinking, the sound of machine gun fire suddenly came from outside the tent.

Tang Xiaohu hurriedly left the tent and headed towards the puppet army's territory. Just as he entered, he heard a company commander shouting.

"You all better behave yourselves. If you still want to resist, this is what will happen to you." The company commander pointed to several dead bodies of puppet soldiers on the ground.

More than 100 puppet soldiers, surrounded by a row of people, were squatting on the ground, their hands covering their heads, trembling with fear, afraid that the person speaking in front of them might kill them if he was displeased.

"As a Chinese, how could you risk your life for the Japanese devils? Are the Japanese devils your fathers or your ancestors? You've really disgraced the good sons of Shanxi."

"For the sake of us all being Chinese, I won't make things difficult for you. As long as you behave yourselves honestly and promise never to be puppet soldiers again, I won't make things difficult for you." The company commander stood in front of the group and kept lecturing them.

"Company Commander, what happened just now?" Tang Xiaohu asked as he rushed over.

"Battalion Commander, you're here. The raid on the puppet troops went quite smoothly. We surrounded them, and those spineless cowards surrendered as soon as they saw us pointing guns at them."

"However, their company commander must have been under some kind of spell, acting like a die-hard Japanese loyalist. He led a few men to try and ambush us, but our soldiers spotted them and shot them dead."

"Well done! These traitorous dogs shouldn't be let off lightly either. Anyone who dares to resist should be executed on the spot. Damn it, they're not going to fight the Japanese devils to the death, but they're really ruthless with their own people. Bah!" Tang Xiaohu said, cursing.

The puppet soldiers squatting on the ground became even more obedient, fearing that they would be killed by the new commander.

"Battalion Commander, what should we do with these puppet troops?" the company commander asked as he walked alongside Tang Weiguo.

"Hand over their weapons and personnel to the Eighth Route Army. Our task is to move supplies. Go and notify the logistics personnel to come and move the supplies immediately. Oh, and have the soldiers move the puppet troops to another place to keep them. They can't know our numbers. Hey, isn't there a big pit near the stronghold? I think it's perfect for them to stay in." Tang Xiaohu instructed.

"Yes, Battalion Commander, I'll take care of it right away."

Before long, the transport team arrived with horse-drawn carts and oxcarts. Under the command of the logistics personnel, the soldiers of the replenishment regiment and the people of Wolong Mountain loaded the cement, stones and other weapons piled up at the stronghold construction site onto the carts and moved them toward the military camp on Wolong Mountain.

The puppet troops nearby had already herded Tang Xiaohu to the pit where he was, just like herding chickens.

On the other side, over at the Eighth Route Army unit, Tie Tou was muttering to Zhou Zheng Biao;

"Battalion Commander, why haven't these guys made any moves yet? Are they going to stand us up? There's been no sign of them at all."

"I don't think they'd go that far. Tell everyone to stay alert and charge as soon as you hear gunfire." As soon as Zhou Zheng-biao finished speaking, he heard the sound of machine gun fire in the distance.

Tie Tou also heard the gunfire and, overjoyed, shouted to Zhou Zheng Biao, "Battalion Commander, there's gunfire! Shall we charge?"

"Alright, all soldiers of the First Battalion, charge! Kill them all!" Zhou Zheng-biao shouted with a murderous look on his face.

Just as Zhou Zheng-biao was about to charge, the sentry on guard shouted breathlessly, "Battalion Commander, they sent someone to inform us that they've finished the battle and are asking us to hand over the spoils."

"What?" Zhou Zhengbiao exclaimed in shock upon hearing the voice.

"The battle is over before I even got to the front lines? What kind of god-like force are they?" Zhou Zhengbiao asked, his face full of questions.

"Let's go take a look." Zhou Zhengbiao led his soldiers toward the stronghold.

When Zhou Zheng-biao arrived at the stronghold, he saw Battalion Commander Tang's troops cleaning up the battlefield, throwing the Japanese soldiers' corpses aside one by one. In addition, a group of soldiers mixed with civilians were carrying supplies from the stronghold.

Tang Xiaohu saw Zhou Zhengbiao arrive with his men and walked over:

"Battalion Commander Zhou, we'll need your help to move our supplies onto the trucks. We'll take the supplies and prisoners of the puppet troops as payment."

"No problem. Tie Tou, you take the first company to receive the weapons and prisoners. The rest of you help Battalion Commander Tang move supplies," Zhou Zheng Biao ordered.

"I'll go right now." Tie Tou led his team to receive the weapons with an excited look on his face, while the rest of the men joined the army of movers.

"I never expected your unit to be so powerful, to take down this Japanese squad so easily." Zhou Zheng-biao was still in shock. He knew that fighting a Japanese squad would have required immense sacrifices, yet they were astonished to find no one injured or killed. Their fighting prowess was truly astonishing.

"We were lucky today. I didn't expect it to be so easy. Those Japanese devils are too arrogant and conceited. Their sentry posts were set up too carelessly, and our people managed to sneak in. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy to take them down," Tang Xiaohu said modestly.

"Your unit is indeed more capable. I hope we can cooperate more in the future," Zhou Zheng-biao said.

"Okay, I hope we can cooperate more in fighting the Japanese in the future."

"Battalion Commander Zhou, the captured civilians have all been rescued. We'll have to trouble you to handle the rest."

"No problem, our original purpose was to save them."

"Report, Battalion Commander, the Regiment Commander has given an urgent order." A communications officer ran over and handed Tang Xiaohu a letter of command.

After Tang Xiaohu looked at it, he asked to notify the company commander to come over.

"Battalion Commander Tang, what happened? Do you need our Eighth Route Army's help?" Zhou Zheng Biao asked Tang Xiao Hu with a serious expression.

"It's nothing serious, we have a new mission, and we'll have to trouble you guys to move the supplies again," Tang Xiaohu said.

"Battalion Commander, what do you want with me?"

"You lead the first company to stay behind at Zhao Jiahe to ensure the safety of supplies. I will lead the rest of the personnel to meet up with the regimental commander."

"Yes, battalion commander."

"Battalion Commander Zhou, I'll be going now. I'll leave you all to help out here." With that, Tang Xiaohu bid farewell to Zhou Zhengbiao and left.

Tang Xiaohu, who had left, called over the messenger and gave the order:

"Communicator, notify Company Commander Qin and the blocking company, the artillery company to proceed to the Longting stronghold immediately."

"Yes, battalion commander."