The Chief of Staff was now in front of the brigade commander, and saw his anger slowly calmed down. He took the opportunity and reported carefully: "Sir, we have 273 artillery soldiers, 95 heavy machine gun troops, 28 engineers, 39 baggage soldiers, 33 wounded soldiers, and only one guard squadron and two broken infantry squadrons left in the infantry, with a total of less than three hundred people."

The brigade commander did not respond, and he was still immersed in the grief of heavy casualties in the army.

The Chief of Staff continued to report: "The army suffered heavy casualties, especially the combat troops, almost two-thirds of them were killed. If we continue to stay here, it is not ruled out that the National Salvation Army will eat us in one bite. So Bei Zhi begs the brigade commander to evacuate Zhangzhuang Town after dawn to end this failed sweep!"

Hearing the word "evacuation", the brigade commander finally made a move.

He raised his eyebrows, looked ferocious, and gritted his teeth. He subconsciously wanted to get angry and curse, but in the end he ended up holding on.

Now that I am not strong enough, I either retreat, be killed by my opponent, or send troops from other places to reinforce the battlefield and save the defeat.

Don’t even think about the third road. If you analyze the troops in the surrounding county towns, you will find that they have no troops to reinforce themselves, unless they don’t want those county towns.

It is definitely not OK to be killed here by an opponent. I am a major general brigade commander, not an ordinary officer. If I am completely wiped out by the National Salvation Army here, the entire empire will be shamed and face will be damaged.

After thinking about it, I now have no other way out except retreating.

"Sir..."

Seeing that the brigade commander's expression fluctuated for a moment, but soon became silent again, the brigade commander had to continue speaking.

"It's past four in the morning and it's about to dawn for more than an hour. If you decide to retreat, the troops will be ready now."

"It's better to call air force. After dawn, we marched quickly under the cover of the plane and left here without giving the national rescue army a chance to attack us again."

"We also need to notify the troops transporting ammunition. We will not be used during the day and directly respond to us near the Pacification."

"They did not succeed yesterday, and they also lost their troops and generals. The Eighth Route Army, which cut off our logistics supply line, must have been hiding on the roadside and staring at them. Instead of getting on the road again, they were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army, it would be better to stay in the county town and hold the troops."

The brigade commander's face became paler and paler. Finally, he sighed. He seemed to have been several years old and replied helplessly: "Then let's retreat!"

"Send a telegram to the Air Force Command now and request support..."

"Send another telegram to Pingding. Today's ammunition supply will not be sent. The troops are on standby in the county town and are ready to leave the city to pick us up at any time!"

"The remaining troops in the garrison are ready to retreat. We will leave as soon as the plane arrives. We will take away all the things we can take away, and all the things we can't take away will be blown up. We must not leave them to the National Savior Army."

"The reason why they have such strong combat power now is that they seize the weapons and equipment of the Imperial Army played a great role!"

The Chief of Staff replied very seriously: "Don't worry, sir, the humble position will be arranged!"

At nine o'clock in the morning, the roar of the escort plane began to sound over Zhangzhuang Town.

A small black dot appeared at the edge of the sky first, then slowly grew bigger, and finally turned into an airplane coated with plaster flags.

After hovering over Zhangzhuang Town for two circles, the Japanese military base began to become lively.

More than fifty Japanese men left the garrison first, held the rifle in their hands, held the light machine gun in their arms, walked out in battle correspondence, and then marched along the main road towards the county town, very vigilant.

When you see a suspicious target, you can shoot when you start a rifle, or hold a light machine gun to shoot, completely as if you are facing a great enemy.

After leaving the station for more than 100 meters, dozens of Japanese soldiers came out. Their formation was much more chaotic and their vigilance was worse. Among them, there were many wounded people with rifles on their backs and light machine guns carried on their shoulders, and they marched out of the station in a hurry.

The heavy machine gun troops followed immediately, with three machine gunmen carrying heavy machine guns. Each heavy machine gun was followed by four or five ammunition soldiers carrying ammunition boxes, and there were a total of four heavy machine gun teams.

Next were artillerymen, barrels, brackets, and chassis. The gunners were separated from their shoulders. Behind the gunner were ammunition hands, carrying boxes filled with shells, which were obviously more ammunition hands than those of machine guns. They also had four mortar teams.

Next is the infantry artillery squadron and mountain artillery squadron. The number is exactly the same as Zhou Cheng's previous analysis. There are a total of six mountain artillery and four infantry artillery, pulled by mules and horses, and a large number of gunners and ammunition hands are followed by. Almost everyone carries an ammunition box on their shoulders, and the long team stretches for a full two hundred meters.

Immediately afterwards, there were mortar troops and heavy machine gun troops, with a total of three mortars and four heavy machine guns.

After they finished walking, there were infantry behind the palace, with more than a hundred people...

More than 700 Japanese Japanese broke out of the base in a mighty manner, and under the cover of the plane, they quickly moved towards the county town.

The brigade commander walked with the mountain cannon squadron in the middle of the team, and his expression was obviously much relaxed than a few hours ago.

Since you have already failed, it is meaningless to think too much, and it will only increase your worries.

He now only has one idea to bring the troops back to pacify.

But the National Salvation Army obviously did not want his dream to come true. Less than a kilometer away from the base, the sound of a mine explosion reached the ears of the brigade commander.

In order to reduce the losses, the troops could only stop temporarily and send more than 20 engineers to the front to clear mines.

Unfortunately, the engineer searched forward for two or three hundred meters without finding another landmine.

Without mines, the engineer's vigilance was obviously relaxed.

Just as they were about to put away their tools and return to the army to find the brigade commander to report to the end of this meaningless action, a series of dull heavy machine gun strafing suddenly rang out in front of the team.

The engineer squad had poor response ability in the battle, and they were caught off guard while preparing to finish work, and their vigilance was even worse. Four or five people fell down as soon as the gunshot sounded.

The forward team that followed was about to fight back, but the gunshots had already stopped abruptly, as if the sneak attack had not happened just now.

"Captain, the enemy had just sneaked into our heavy machine guns, which were arranged two hundred and fifty meters ahead of the team!" A leader Cao from the vanguard team reminded.

He is a veteran, with strong combat power, rich experience, and quick response ability in the fight. Although the heavy machine gun was exposed for only two or three seconds, he still clearly judged the specific location of the heavy machine gun.

"Shot all grenade launchers over there, kill the enemy's heavy machine gun firepower point... By the way, guide the planes in the sky to bomb the targets. If they can't kill them with grenades, they will use the plane to blow them up!" The vanguard captain ordered with anger and hatred.

The heavy machine gun is mounted on the edge of a small wood. If the Japanese vanguard walks here, they will definitely conduct searches and fire reconnaissance, and the heavy machine gun team is fully exposed.

Therefore, the heavy machine gun squad picked the Japanese and went to the front of the engineer team and did not give the Japanese vanguard team a chance to search here.

After one bullet board was empty, three machine gunners carried the heavy machine gun and drilled into the forest, and then moved towards the next machine gun position under the cover of the forest...

The Japanese counterattack artillery fire seemed very fierce, and they were blowing loudly, but they did not play any role, so they could only hear a sound!

When the Japanese vanguard troops knocked grenades one after another into the forest, the mountain cannon squadron walking in the middle of the team was also bombed!

A total of five mortar shells flew from one kilometer away to the official road. Although only one shell hit the roadside and injured several artillery soldiers, it scared the others around, and the brigade commander himself was also very scared.

The artillery was ordered to counterattack on the spot, but the National Savior Army who attacked them stopped after only one round of shells. The shelling came very suddenly. Almost no one could confirm the flight trajectory of the shells. They could only determine the approximate position of the artillery position, and there was no way to counterattack.

The artillery was unreliable, and the brigade commander could only place his hope on the plane above his head.

The aircraft that received the order immediately focused on areas where the artillery positions might exist.

Looking down from the air, the ground was covered with green everywhere, and even personal figures could not be seen, let alone artillery positions.

After the night attack in Zhangzhuang Town, the National Salvation Army searched the battlefield and found a total of six mortars.

Chen Zhengyu equipped them all with mortar companies in one breath, and then strengthened them to each company in squad, cooperated with infantry to attack the Japanese retreating troops, ensuring that each company had one or two mortars.

The five mortars that just launched the attack were all the mortars that Chen Zhengyu strengthened to the first battalion. They were placed in the middle of the bushes. Except for the muzzle exposed, the gun body was hidden by shrubs.

The gunners squatting beside them were also wearing camouflage hats made of branches and thatched grass, with branches all over them, half-squatting beside the mortar, blending with the surrounding environment, and they could not be found even if they stood dozens of meters away, let alone the Japanese pilots at altitude of hundreds of meters.

After hovering back and forth over the artillery position for three times but not finding the bombing target, the Japanese pilot had to give up searching, and he had no choice but to tilt the wings and tell the ground troops that he could not bomb.

The brigade commander kept staring at the plane in the sky, hoping that it would gain something, but in the end he could finally wait for a desperate outcome.

It was as if I was slapped and couldn't fight back, my face was full of aggrievance!

"Boom boom boom..."

The explosion sounded again in my ears, and the sound was significantly weaker than before.

The brigade commander shouted as soon as he heard this: "It's a grenade launcher, and there are grenade launchers from the National Salvation Army nearby. Heavy machine guns and grenade launchers troops immediately fight back and kill these grenade launchers."

A grenade launcher nearest commander of the brigade answered helplessly: "Sir, the enemy's grenade launcher is too scattered. At least six grenade launchers attacked us just now, and they belonged to six different grenade launchers positions. Only one grenade was fired. We cannot determine their specific location!"

The brigade commander really couldn't stand it anymore.

I just got two attacks, but it was because the troops could not lock in the specific position of the opponent and could not counterattack. In front of me was the third attack by the National Salvation Army. If I could not fight back, it would be a slap in the face.

He cursed without hesitation: "If you can't find their specific location, you have to fight back."

"Three grenade launchers hit a target at the same time. Use grenades to compare all the positions where the enemy grenade launchers may be hiding. Even if the blind cat hits the mouse, he will have to blow up several soldiers of the National Savior Army to death. You must not be beaten so passively!"

In the wilderness and bushes of more than 200 meters next to the Japanese army, two soldiers formed a grenade tube group, covered with branches, wore thatched camouflage hats, integrated with the surrounding environment, hugging the grenade tube quickly moved to the forest not far away.

The Japanese army was too far away from them, and even with a telescope, they could not be found.

Although the three grenades were constantly smashing down, they were like fireworks for farewell, and they had no meaning!

The battlefield returned to peace after two minutes, and the Japanese army embarked on the journey again.

But it stopped soon after a string of explosions.

The brigade commander was so familiar with these voices that he gritted his teeth with hatred: "Bageya Road, why is it another landmine..."

"Didn't the Engineer Squad say there are no mines ahead? What happened to the explosion just now?"

"Order the engineer squad to go ahead to clear the mines immediately. If the mines are detonated on the next march, the engineer squad must bear all responsibilities!"

"Hi..." A messenger immediately ran towards the engineer team.

At this moment, the forward team brought bad news that made him even more desperate.

The official roads ahead were destroyed, and it was okay to leave, but it would be difficult for mountain cannons and infantry cannons.

After hearing the bad news, the brigade commander subconsciously reacted that he destroyed all mountain artillery and infantry artillery, and led his troops to march back to pacify.

But as soon as this idea appeared, it was denied by the brigade commander himself.

The mixed brigade did not have many artillery equipment, only a mountain artillery brigade composed of three mountain artillery squadrons, a rapid-fire artillery squadron, and five infantry artillery squadrons, a total of twenty-six direct-fire artillery.

Some of them were destroyed in the previous battle, and now there are less than twenty sects left.

Among them, six mountain cannons, four infantry cannons, and six rapid-fire cannons are all here. If they order to destroy them, the artillery troops under the brigade will be gone and will definitely not be able to replenish them within a few months. During this period, the combat effectiveness of the brigade will plummet.

If attacked by the enemy, it would be too dangerous.

After thinking about it, the brigade commander still gave up this idea of ​​self-destructing combat power.

But his brows became deeper and deeper, because marching with artillery means that the speed of the troops would become very slow before the official road was completely restored.

The sneak attack just now means that the National Salvation Army will not let itself back to pacification easily. The longer the troops delay on the road, the more often they will be attacked.

As expected, the destroyed official road ahead was created by the National Salvation Army, with the purpose of slowing down the marching speed of the troops and having more time to attack themselves.

Once you decide to keep all the artillery, you will be fooled by the National Salvation Army and take the initiative to enter the trap they set up.

"In addition to spare ammunition, we destroyed all the extra ammunition. All ammunition players without mission support the forward team and help them repair the official road. The speed must be fast."

"Other troops are more vigilant. Once attacked, they will immediately use mortars and heavy machine guns to fight back and repel them."

"Notify the air force to find enemies around us from now on and kill them!"
Chapter completed!