"Weng buzzing..." The Japanese aircraft cruising in the sky also saw the smoke rising along the highway. They immediately lowered their flying altitude and cruised back and forth around the troops, hoping to find the artillery units hidden nearby by the National Salvation Army.

But no matter how they lowered their flight altitude, they could not find any trace of the nine mortars.

Several artillery battalion captains were also confused for a while. After being attacked by mortars, they immediately ordered their artillery units to prepare for counterattacks, and at the same time ordered artillery observers to find the opponent's artillery positions.

However, the artillery unit of the National Salvation Army only fired one round of artillery shells and then ceased activity.

There was no sound as the shells streaked across the sky, and several shells fell from the sky and hit the road.

No matter how much the observers recalled and studied, they could not even figure out the direction from which the artillery shells flew, let alone determine the specific location of the opponent's artillery position.

Colonel Ishida hid in the armored vehicle and waited for almost ten minutes before he saw a staff officer running towards him in a hurry: "Sir, the National Salvation Army is too cunning. Their artillery only fired one round of shells and then stopped shooting. We can't find them!"

"Report sir!" The telegraph operator also ran towards him at this moment: "The aviation force reported that no National Salvation Army artillery positions were found within two kilometers around us, and no organic National Salvation Army troops were found!"

Colonel Ishida shouted with a look of dissatisfaction: "How is this possible? Could it be that the National Salvation Army that just attacked us were ground rats and escaped under the ground?"

The artillery and aviation reports were right in front of them, and even they couldn't find the artillery unit that had just attacked us, let alone the others.

Facing Colonel Ishida's angry questioning, all the subordinates around him lowered their heads and said nothing.

What Colonel Ishida didn't expect was that his judgment on the National Salvation Army's artillery unit was actually right.

In order to prevent the Japanese artillery and aviation from finding the artillery unit that had just launched the attack, the Shouyang garrison dug a large number of individual bunkers about one kilometer from each road. The mortars were placed in the individual bunkers and the firing personnel were adjusted in advance.

Covered with camouflage, it blends in with the surrounding environment.

After receiving the order to fire, these gunners took less than five seconds to complete the three actions of taking off the camouflage, shooting, and re-camouflaging the mortar.

Because these artillery positions were far away from each other by roads, the Japanese artillerymen could not even tell the direction of the National Salvation Army's artillery units, and there was certainly no way to identify the camouflaged artillery positions.

As for the planes in the sky, it was because the artillery units were exposed for too short a time and did not produce much smoke during the bombardment. Before they had time to search for them, the artillery positions had been re-camouflaged and disappeared from the battlefield.

A captain next to him suddenly broke the increasingly solemn atmosphere in front of him. He looked at Colonel Ishida and suggested: "Sir, how about I send two infantry squadrons to search the surrounding area. As long as we search carefully, we will definitely find those who are hiding."

Artillery Corps!”

Colonel Ishida refused without hesitation: "No, our opponent is too cunning."

"They have the ability to hide their artillery units around us, and they can certainly hide their infantry as well. Now if we send troops to search for their artillery units, we might end up hitting their guns ourselves and die in vain!"

The captain did not give up his idea. He looked at Colonel Ishida and continued: "Don't we have planes? If there are really National Salvation Army ambushes hiding around, we can just force them out and let the aviation force cooperate with us to launch an attack from the sky.

Can kill them!"

Colonel Ishida did not answer immediately this time. He looked at his subordinates with a hateful expression and asked dissatisfiedly: "Do you think the National Salvation Army is that stupid?"

"You know clearly that there are our planes on the battlefield, but you are so dumb that you are gathering together and waiting for us to blow them up?"

"If I were the commander of the National Salvation Army, there would definitely be a large number of skirmishers lurking around us. If we sent troops to search for the artillery that just raided us, those skirmishers could just hide in the dark and continue to sneak attack us, hit and run, and expand the results of the battle.

"

"Our planes are in the sky, no matter how powerful they are, they can't just stare at one or two National Salvation Army soldiers and fight them!"

"The final result is that not only can we not find the artillery unit that the National Salvation Army has hidden, but we will also lose a large number of infantry during the search. In the end, we lost both my wife and our troops!"

After listening to the co-captain's analysis, the brigade commander couldn't think of any reason to refute and had to choose to compromise.

Half an hour later, the stagnant Japanese and puppet troops continued to move forward.

As the rear troops slowly disappeared at the end of the road, the escorting aircraft also left here. More than a hundred figures appeared one after another in the wilderness and bushes on both sides of the road. Some were holding rifles, some were holding light machine guns, and

Someone was carrying mortar parts, and after they merged together, they quickly disappeared into the nearby woods.

"Boom, boom..." At this moment, the Japanese forward troops once again stepped on the landmines buried on the road by the National Salvation Army.

The moment black smoke rose from the ground, a dozen puppet troops around him were blown up at the same time.

Everyone was bombed and dripping with blood, but the final results were different.

Some people were lying motionless on the ground, either stunned or killed by the explosion. Some people were covering their wounds and fell to the ground screaming, with very painful expressions...

The bloody scene immediately frightened the puppet troops behind them, and they did not dare to move forward with their rifles in hand.

"Bageya Road, who told you to stop!" the little Japanese second lieutenant who was supervising the battle behind shouted in dissatisfaction.

Seeing that the puppet army in front had no intention of advancing, he decisively pulled out the box of bastards and pulled the trigger on a puppet army.

As soon as the gun fired, the puppet soldier who was targeted by the second lieutenant fell to the ground, his eyes widened, showing a shocked expression of disbelief.

He never thought that one day he would die in the hands of the Japanese...

The Japanese second lieutenant didn't care about that. In his eyes, the puppet army was just cannon fodder that pretended to be casualties among his subordinates. No matter how many people died, it didn't matter to him.

After firing, he watched other puppet soldiers continue to threaten: "The troops continue to move forward, otherwise he will be your end..."

"Machine gunners are prepared. If the Imperial Army does not carry out the order, direct military action will be taken!" The last sentence was the order given by the second lieutenant team leader to his subordinates.

As soon as he finished speaking, the machine gunner on the side held the crooked handle in his hand, pulled the bolt, loaded the bullet, and got ready to shoot...

Under the threat of death at close range, dozens of puppet soldiers had to choose to compromise...

The puppet troops continued to advance for more than 10,000 days. Although the sound of landmine explosions sounded every seven or eight minutes, their marching speed was not affected. The only change was that there were many corpses of puppet troops abandoned by the Japanese army on both sides of the road.

Seriously wounded.

They still have a big battle to fight next, but the Japanese are not so kind and carry dozens of seriously wounded puppet soldiers to march and fight.

After walking forward for almost an hour, the team that stretched for several kilometers stopped again. The road in front was once again destroyed by the National Salvation Army.

At the same time, the "rumbling..." explosion of mortar shells reached Colonel Ishida's ears again.

This time they received a total of twelve artillery shells. In order to prevent the National Salvation Army from sneaking up on the search force he sent out, he lost his wife and lost his troops. Colonel Ishida continued to choose to swallow his anger and gave up the idea of ​​counterattack by his subordinates.

As a result, we encountered the same attack again before dark.

As night fell, the Japanese and puppet troops stopped advancing and found a nearby village to set up camp. They stopped making intermittent sneak attacks.

Although the troops did not suffer any sneak attacks last night, Colonel Ishida was frightened by the endless sneak attacks used by the National Salvation Army during the day. To be cautious, he still sent out three times the number of patrols and guard posts.

At ten o'clock in the evening, most of the Japanese and puppet troops, including Colonel Ishida, fell asleep.

In the huge camp, apart from the crackling sounds of bonfires and the footsteps of patrolling soldiers, the only sound left was the snoring of Japanese and puppet soldiers sleeping...

"Da da da... dong dong dong..." A burst of sudden gunshots instantly broke the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the camp.

Just like a conditioned reflex, the sleeping Japanese and puppet soldiers opened their eyes all at once and quickly squatted on the ground. The rifle in their arms was also held flat in their hands at this moment, the bullets were loaded, and they stared at the surroundings with a vigilant expression.

"Da da da..." The sound of gunfire rang out from the southeast of the station, and many mortars were involved in the battle. From time to time, a ball of fire rose up on the battlefield shrouded in darkness.

Colonel Ishida rushed out of the room and saw a subordinate rushing towards him. He asked anxiously: "What's going on with the gunfire in the southeast? Why is it getting denser and denser? It doesn't look like a sneak attack at all. Could it be that the National Salvation Army wants to attack?"

us?"

"Sir, this is a sneak attack, not an attack!" the subordinate reported nervously.

"The National Salvation Army is hiding in the dark and attacking us from a long distance with light and heavy machine guns. The security forces are organizing firepower to counterattack. We will definitely be able to repel them!"

Colonel Ishida's heart immediately relaxed as he raised his throat: "That's good, I thought the National Salvation Army planned to attack us under the cover of night and fight us decisively."

"If the firefight in the southwest is just a sneak attack, then there is no need for me to be overly cautious. We have an absolute firepower advantage. Even if the patrols and guard posts do not leave their positions, the troops can use firepower to repel them!"

"Since there is nothing else, I will go back to sleep and let the troops in the camp take time to rest. I have a hunch that there will be a tough battle waiting for us tomorrow. Only when the soldiers are well rested can we win this battle!"

Colonel Ishida returned to the room and lay down on the bed again. Before he could close his eyes, three consecutive explosions rang in his ears.

As a battle-hardened veteran, Colonel Ishida knew from the sound that the impact points of the three shells were less than fifty meters away from him.

His sleepiness was instantly wiped out. He stood up from the bed, opened the door and trotted towards the headquarters.

The subordinates who had just left appeared in front of Colonel Ishida again.

Compared with the calmness before, he was obviously a little more panicked at this moment. He reported nervously: "Sir, there is an artillery position of the National Salvation Army near us... boom, boom..."

Before the report was finished, the second round of explosions had already followed.

Compared with the explosion just now, the impact point of this round of artillery shells was closer to the headquarters.

The guard captain on the side immediately became nervous and hurriedly ordered: "It's too dangerous here, protect the captain and leave here immediately!"

"Why panic!" Colonel Ishida threw away the two guards guarding him and cursed with dissatisfaction.

"The enemy only has three mortars, so what's the fuss? I don't believe we are so unlucky that three mortars can destroy the headquarters."

"And we also have artillery that can carry out counterattacks. Once they destroy the National Salvation Army's artillery positions, the danger will be gone!"

"Inform the artillery unit to counterattack immediately, and be sure to destroy these mortars for me!"

"I guess these mortars attacked us during the day. They were too cunning during the day and we had no chance to destroy them. I didn't expect that they would dare to show up after dark, so don't blame us for being rude!"

"I'm humble, go and give the order now!" The subordinates quickly accepted the order!

In fact, the artillery unit had already begun preparations without Colonel Ishida giving the counterattack order!

Just like last night, a mortar squadron and a mountain artillery brigade have been on standby since the troops set up camp.

The artillery is set up on the position, and the artillerymen sleep guarding the artillery. If the camp is attacked, they can enter the battle within half a minute.

As soon as the gunfire fired from the southeast direction of the camp, the two artillery units were ready for battle.

However, there were very few artillerymen participating in the battle at the crossfire point, and it was not their turn to take action yet, so the two troops were always on standby. I secretly prayed in my heart that the National Salvation Army would quickly dispatch artillery to attack the camp, so that they would be useful.

Perhaps because the Japanese's prayers took effect, three mortar shells quickly hit the center of the camp.
To be continued...