Chapter 31: The Ambush Concludes Successfully

In an obscure little valley, Li Yunlong lay in ambush on the hillside, unaware that the brigade commander was waiting for him and plotting to turn the tables on him.

Little did he know what a miserable face he would be making later; for now, he was in high spirits, having finally caught sight of the Japanese soldiers he had been longing for.

A scout crawled over, keeping his body low. "Regimental Commander, a group of Japanese soldiers is about to enter the ambush zone. There are about two squads, and the leader appears to be a lieutenant!"

"Good! Pass the word immediately: prepare for combat!"

"Let the enemy's reconnaissance squad pass through. Wait until we open fire, then have the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth squads block both ends of the valley. We’ll catch them like turtles in a jar!"

Li Yunlong’s spirits surged. He quickly issued the orders, then drew his Mauser pistol and flipped off the safety.

"Rat-tat-tat... rat-tat-tat..." Before long, the sound of Nambu light machine gun fire echoed from the distance—the Japanese were conducting a firepower reconnaissance.

Moments later, two sidecar motorcycles rumbled into the valley, spaced about ten meters apart. Each motorcycle carried three Japanese soldiers, with a Nambu light machine gun mounted on the sidecar. The gunner scanned the surrounding terrain from time to time, firing a burst of bullets into any suspicious-looking spot.

The soldiers of the reinforced company held their breath, their eyes locked on the path behind the motorcycles. Soon, the lead Japanese soldiers, carrying Arisaka rifles adorned with Rising Sun flags, appeared in sight. They trotted in a double-column formation, the hundred-meter-long line slowly entering the valley.

"Haha, an unexpected bonus! Fortune smiles upon us!" Li Yunlong first set his sights on the lieutenant riding on horseback, then, to his surprise, noticed that this half-squad of Japanese had brought a mortar—it looked like a Type 97 90mm mortar!

"Everyone pay attention! Do not give their mortar team time to set up. Take them out immediately!"

After whispering the order, Li Yunlong aimed at the lieutenant. "Fire! Bang!"

As Li Yunlong fired the first shot, the four MG-42 light machine guns on the hillside and the Garand rifles of the first and second squads opened fire simultaneously. Bullets rained down like a downpour. Caught completely off guard, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, with large sections of their column wiped out in an instant; over twenty soldiers collapsed, never to rise again.

"Enemy attack!"
"Take cover! Take cover!"
"Return fire with the machine guns!"
"Grenade launchers, hurry!"

The Japanese soldiers roared in agony, scrambling to find cover, but their movements, while swift, were not fast enough to mount a counterattack. Instead, they found themselves on the receiving end of heavy fire, pinned down in the valley.

The Japanese machine guns and grenade launchers were the primary targets. Under Wang Chengzhu's precise shelling, the grenade launchers were quickly taken out one by one, and the highly anticipated mortar was left abandoned in the corner of the battlefield. Every time the Japanese tried to dash out to retrieve it, they only added more corpses to the pile.

To make matters worse, the Japanese commander had been riddled with bullets by the machine guns from the start, leaving the soldiers to fight in disorganized groups under the command of their sergeants. Such intense firepower was unprecedented for these Japanese soldiers, causing them to lose all sense of calm judgment.

"Iwagishi-kun! It’s the regular Chinese army! It’s their German-equipped unit!"
"We need tactical guidance!"
"We need to retreat!"

A sergeant, his face splattered with blood, crawled laboriously toward the senior sergeant and shouted. Under the overwhelming firepower, Japanese soldiers were dying by the second; in just a few minutes, over fifty had already fallen.

Sergeant Iwagishi roared, "Baka! Oda! Are you afraid of death?! You are of the Great Imperial Japanese Army! Now is the time to sacrifice for His Majesty the Emperor! You..."

Before Sergeant Iwagishi could finish, a bullet pierced his brow with precision. Red and white matter splattered onto Oda’s face. Oda was stunned for a moment, and then the fear he had been suppressing took hold. He shrieked at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, scatter and retreat! Retreat!!!"

This time, no one contradicted him; the Japanese junior officers were all dead. Now, the remaining thirty-odd Japanese soldiers scrambled to their feet and fled in terror toward the way they had come.

Seeing this, Li Yunlong shouted, "The Japs are trying to run! Charge!"

Unfortunately for them, they didn't get far before they were driven back by the third and fourth squads and a heavy machine gun unit that had already blocked their retreat. At the other end of the valley, the fifth and sixth squads, having finished off the soldiers on the motorcycles, pushed forward as well.

As Li Yunlong led the first and second squads down from the hillside, the final dozen Japanese soldiers had no choice but to rush blindly through the bone-chilling creek and climb the opposite slope. The tides had turned; the Japanese died one after another as they fled for their lives. With the last soldier collapsing on the hillside with a howl, the ambush reached a successful conclusion.

"Hahahaha! That was a satisfying fight!" Having finished the battle in a mere ten minutes, Li Yunlong happily holstered his pistol and snatched up the Japanese lieutenant's command sword.

"Huzi, tell Captain Tian and his men to come over and clear the battlefield quickly!"

Watching Huzi run off, Li Yunlong shouted, "Every squad, assemble! Count the casualties! Prepare to move out!"

Soon, the soldiers of the reinforced company had gathered. The tally revealed that, unexpectedly, there were no fatalities, only a few minor injuries and one soldier seriously wounded. Li Yunlong was extremely satisfied with this outcome. "Leave all the wounded behind. Wait for Captain Tian; he will send them to the rear hospital!"

"Everyone else, our target is the Xiaowangzhuang watchtower. Forced march—move out!"

As they passed the mouth of the valley, Li Yunlong spotted the two sidecar motorcycles. One was wrecked, but the other remained intact. His eyes lit up. Pointing at the pristine motorcycle, he asked, "Is there anyone here who knows how to ride this?"

One soldier stepped forward. "Reporting, Commander! I rode one in the Northeast!"

"Good! Old Li is going to ride a motorcycle for once!" Li Yunlong climbed into the sidecar with a grin. The soldier mounted the bike, tinkered with it for a moment, kicked the starter hard, and the engine roared to life.

"Vroom!" With a twist of the throttle, the motorcycle sped off, Li Yunlong shouting excitedly as he caught up with the soldiers ahead.

"This thing really saves energy!" After riding for a while, Li Yunlong began to wonder if he could get some gasoline from Brother Xu.

Not long after Li Yunlong and his men departed, Captain Tian and the transport team arrived at the valley. The militiamen gasped in shock at the sight of Japanese corpses scattered everywhere and the vast amount of abandoned weapons and ammunition.

The wounded soldiers who had been left behind greeted them. Captain Tian immediately arranged for them to be transported to the rear hospital. Then, with a wave of his hand, he commanded, "What are you staring at? Hurry up and clear the battlefield! Regimental Commander Li is waiting for us at the next engagement!"

"Time is tight and the task is heavy. Leave the small, scattered items for now—hurry, hurry, hurry!"