Chapter 77: Old Li is a cultured person
Yang Village, training ground at the entrance of the village.
The Wolf Warriors are practicing horse riding with the Cavalry Company.
Li Yunlong was pacing back and forth on the small mound at the entrance of the village, cigarette in his hand.
Every few steps, Li Yunlong would stop and turn his head to look at the intersection ahead, with an unconcealable look of worry between his brows.
There was a sound of footsteps behind me.
Looking back, it was Kong Jie and Zhao Gang who came together.
"Old Li." Zhao Gang said happily, "I just went to the 2nd Battalion to take a look. The soldiers are very enthusiastic about training, and the new recruits are making great progress. It's really pleasing to see."
Kong Jie said: "It's almost the same over at the 3rd Battalion."
Zhao Gang said: "Old Li, your method really works."
"Hehe, of course." Li Yunlong said proudly , "Since the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Regiment, I have been the regiment commander for so many years, how can the training experience I have summarized be bad?"
When Kong Jie heard this, he rolled his eyes.
You speak as if you are the only one who knows how to train troops.
Zhao Gang added, "A lot of soldiers were injured during training. I heard from Captain Zhang that during yesterday's assassination training, one of the new recruits had two ribs broken."
"It's nothing." Li Yunlong waved his hand.
"Tell the soldiers not to be afraid of getting hurt."
"It's better to get hurt in training than to die in battle."
Kong Jie suddenly asked, "Old Li, Xiao Wang hasn't come back today?"
"That's right." Li Yunlong frowned and said, "I'm waiting for you."
Zhao Gang said with some concern: "How about sending a battalion to support us?"
Li Yunlong hesitated when he heard this. Wang Ye was his top general and he could not afford to make any mistakes, otherwise the independent regiment would suffer heavy losses.
Just as I was hesitating, I suddenly heard a horse neighing from the intersection ahead.
When he turned his head quickly, he saw Wang Ye leading his war horse towards him.
Wang Ye had no cavalry because there were more than ten rifles on the horses' backs.
When he got closer, Wang Ye greeted them with a smile: "Captain, Political Commissar, Deputy Captain Kong, are you all here?"
"You kid." Li Yunlong said unhappily, "It's already noon, why are you back so late today? Don't you usually return to Yang Village before dawn?"
"Oh, isn't this a problem?"
Wang Ye smiled and said, "Didn't I promise Uncle Zhang yesterday to return him a Type 38 rifle?"
"But this time when I went to the Huting stronghold, I did kill four or five of the Japanese, but we didn't capture anything. I had no choice but to go to Niuzhuang."
Zhao Gang cried out in amazement, "Xiao Wang, you went to attack the Niuzhuang stronghold alone?"
"That's not the case." Wang Ye said quickly, "How could I dare to attack the Niuzhuang stronghold alone? I took advantage of the Japanese's unpreparedness and destroyed one of their checkpoints, and seized more than a dozen rifles and more than 200 rounds of ammunition."
Zhao Gang was still a little surprised. Although Xiao Wang said it very easily, the actual battle must be very dangerous.
Because the Niuzhuang stronghold was right next to the Zhengtai Railway, which was already the core area of the Japanese-occupied zone and only 20 kilometers away from Yangquan County, it would be easily surrounded if one was not careful.
Fortunately, Wang Ye returned safely.
But Zhao Gang still warned: "Xiao Wang, don't take risks again in the future."
"Yes! I promise it won't happen again." Wang Ye raised his hand and saluted.
Li Yunlong said: "Okay, it's good that you're back, go back to sleep."
"Yes." Wang Ye responded, and then asked, "Political Commissar, if I return one of the captured rifles to Mr. Zhang, it won't be considered a violation of discipline, right?"
"Of course that doesn't count."
Zhao Gang said: "We must do what we promised."
Watching Wang Ye walk away, Kong Jie shook his head and said, "This little Wang is really bold. He dared to go to the Niuzhuang stronghold alone to do a side job. He really doesn't take the devils seriously."
Li Yunlong said, "Niuzhuang is close to Yangquan County. We rarely harassed it before, so the Japanese and puppet troops there are bound to be careless. It's still possible to attack them unexpectedly."
Zhao Gang said: "This is called taking the enemy by surprise, as mentioned in Sun Tzu's Art of War."
Li Yunlong smiled and said, "Old Zhao, you are really becoming more and more like the political commissar of our independent regiment."
"What you are talking about is bullshit! I am the political commissar of the independent regiment." Zhao Gang said this before he realized that he had cursed without realizing it.
He then slapped himself lightly on the face.
He added: "I found that I can't hang out with you, Old Li."
"Otherwise, it won't be long before I become as foul-mouthed as you."
"What's wrong with using foul language?" Li Yunlong snorted. "If you want to lead the troops, you have to use foul language. Do the soldiers feel comfortable when you use flowery language?"
"For example, we need to take down a hill."
"You tell the soldiers, comrades, this hill is very important to us, we must take it. If you say that, can the soldiers cheer up? You have to say, brothers, take down this damned hill for me. If you can't take it, I will shoot you bastards with my gun."
"Hey, now that you mention it, the soldiers are excited."
"They will definitely rush up and scream."
After hearing this, Zhao Gang fell into deep thought.
Although Li Yunlong's words were rough, they seemed to make some sense?
Kong Jie smiled and said, "Political Commissar, don't listen to his nonsense."
"This guy is just a rough guy and can't do delicate work."
"A truly combat-effective force must rely on ideological awareness."
"If a few swear words could really improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, then wouldn't Zhang Zongchang have unified China long ago? This warlord knows even fewer words than Lao Li."
"Hey, Lao Kong, please stop making fun of me."
Li Yunlong said with a smile: "Old Li is now a cultured person."
"You are a cultured person?" Kong Jie said with a smile, "Just brag."
"You don't believe it?" Li Yunlong said, "I will go back to the regiment headquarters now to write a letter to Kuroshima Morita, and then release a puppet soldier to deliver the letter to the Huting stronghold."
After saying this, Li Yunlong walked towards the regiment headquarters.
Kong Jie was stunned for a moment and asked, "Are you really writing a letter?"
"That's not fake." Li Yunlong said, "Write it for real."
Li Yunlong looks rough, but he is actually very cunning.
This letter of challenge was mainly to provoke Kuroshima Morita.
Lure the Japanese to bring the Black Island Regiment to attack Yang Village.
Zhao Gang also asked curiously: "Old Li, what are you going to say in the letter?"
Li Yunlong smiled and said, "I told the old devil not to be lazy and to hurry up and practice kendo, otherwise he will not be able to last a round in a duel with me, Li Yunlong, which would be too embarrassing."
Kong Jie laughed and said, "Just brag."
Zhao Gang also laughed. What a mess!
Why duel? This is not the Middle Ages.
Besides, this is China, not Europe.
…
A few hours later, at the Huting stronghold.
Kuroshima Morita stood on the top of the artillery tower, holding a telescope and looking out, and found that there was no tree in his field of vision.
Today, more than a thousand Japanese soldiers from the Kuroshima Regiment and more than five hundred civilian laborers spent a whole day cutting down all the trees within a three-kilometer radius of the Huting stronghold.
The trees on the distant mountains were burned before they could be cut down.
Looking at the bare hills around him, Kuroshima Morita finally smiled.
"Yoshi, yoshi." Heishima Morishima thought proudly in his heart, now that I have cut down all the trees around, the Eighth Route Army will have no place to hide.
If the Tubalu dare to come again,
When the flares were fired high into the sky, the Eighth Route Army was immediately exposed.
By then, the heavy machine gun squadron's four heavy machine guns will be able to shoot the Eighth Route Army into a sieve with a sudden attack. What's the point of being smart and cunning? Yoshi.
Just when he was feeling proud, Xi Zhuyi came up quickly.
Behind Nishi Takeichi was Kuroshima Jiro.
Kuroshima Jiro still looked unhappy.
"Captain of the regiment." Xi Zhu nodded and said, "The commander of the Eighth Route Army Independent Regiment, Li Yunlong, sent someone to deliver a letter. This letter is specially for you."
"What? A letter to me?"
Kuroshima Morita was caught off guard.
Then he asked, "What's written in the letter?"
"This..." Xi Zhu was speechless for a moment.
However, Kuroshima Jiro growled without any scruples: "Li Yunlong asked you to practice kendo diligently and improve your skills, so that when he challenges you to a duel in the future, you won't be able to survive even one round under his sword."
"Baka!" Kuroshima Morita's face fell.
This Li Yunlong really went too far!
Kuroshima Jiro continued, "Captain, the Imperial Army soldier who delivered the letter told me that the independent regiment commanded by Li Yunlong is stationed in Yang Village, less than 40 kilometers away from the Huting stronghold. I request to launch an attack on Yang Village immediately, destroy the independent regiment and capture Li Yunlong. I want to chop off his head with my own hands."
"What attack?" Kuroshima Morita refused outright.
"This is just a trick by the Tubalu. Don't pay any attention to it."
