Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Chapter 197 Even if I wipe out all 4 battalions, I will buy you 2 days! 3-word chapter

Li Yunlong did not agree directly. After all, the risks involved were too great. Once a sudden war broke out, the consequences would be unimaginable. However, considering the overall situation, it was the only solution at present.

Li Yunlong slammed his fist on the table and said in a desperate tone: "College students, the current situation has left us with no extra options. No matter what, we must transport the machine tools and one and a half regiments of equipment out tonight. Tonight is our last chance."

"According to the speed of the Japanese counterattack, Zhang Dabiao will retreat to Erchaling tomorrow. Tomorrow night, the Japanese vanguard will arrive near Erchaling. We can't transport half a regiment's equipment under the Japanese's noses. By then, the Japanese only need to charge to cause huge casualties to us."

"College student, tonight's transfer operation is entirely your responsibility. I will find a way to allocate a company of troops to Ercha Ridge in advance and start building defensive fortifications in advance!"

Lin Zhenhua nodded. He had been a little nervous about persuading Li Yunlong before, but when he thought of the current situation of the independent regiment, he felt relieved. If he did not take some risks at this time, even with the equipment of a division, it would be difficult for the independent regiment to defend the base. At that time, they would probably be forced to break out, and a large amount of useless equipment would probably become the spoils of the Japanese.

"Lao Li, I have already notified the transport team and asked them to transport the machine tools away first. I have disassembled the machine tools I have obtained in the past two days. They can be transported back to the base in batches. Now there are only eight machine tools left in the mountain village. They can all be transported away tonight. Everything is going according to plan. I have only one request for you, that is to defend Ercha Ridge at all costs, at least until tomorrow night, before you can start retreating!"

Li Yunlong made a direct guarantee: "College student, I will personally go to Erchaling to command this blocking battle. Even if the Fourth Battalion is wiped out, I will hold on until the morning of the day after tomorrow, leaving you two days of transportation time."

Li Yunlong found that there was nothing to explain, so he hurriedly took his guard Xiao Ma to Erchaling. Lin Zhenhua was not idle either. He asked about the situation of the other seven mountain strongholds through the field telephone. In order to facilitate command, Lin Zhenhua took out all the telephone lines in the independent regiment's inventory and even used a section of telephone lines in the base area, so that the eight mountain strongholds could communicate directly by phone to arrange the transportation of equipment and machine tools.

"Sanwaizi, you will be responsible for contacting the other seven mountain strongholds and convey my orders as soon as possible. According to my estimate, the Japanese fighter planes will arrive in two hours. Each mountain stronghold must hide all supplies within an hour and reserve one hour in advance to deal with emergencies!" Lin Zhenhua explained with a serious face.

Li Sanwa immediately conveyed Lin Zhenhua's order. In order to ensure that there was no delay in the transmission of the order, Li Sanwa also specially found six soldiers to work with him to be responsible for conveying Lin Zhenhua's order.

At ten o'clock in the morning, all the mountain strongholds had completed all the air defense preparations, and the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns had been camouflaged, waiting for the arrival of the Japanese fighter planes.

Wei Dayong, who went to intercept Yamamoto's special forces team, searched for half an hour but couldn't find any trace of the team. When he was about to return, he saw a black spot flying rapidly in the distant sky. He quickly picked up the telescope and found that it was actually the Japanese fighter planes. He could clearly see nine fighters and six bombers, a total of 15 planes. However, Wei Dayong did not have a communication radio, so he couldn't notify Lin Zhenhua. Just as he was scratching his head in a hurry, Duan Peng also rushed over with his men.

"Monk, the Japanese fighter planes are too fast. Even if we run back to notify them now, it will be too late. I think we might as well make some noise and fire a few more shells at Maoerling. The sound of the explosion will definitely be heard far away. Maybe the college students can hear it. What do you think of my idea?" Duan Peng asked anxiously.

Wei Dayong thought this method was stupid. The sound of the exploding shells could not be transmitted very far in the mountains. They were carrying 60mm mortars and there were only eight shells, so it could not make much noise. Besides, even if Lin Zhenhua heard the sound, he would mistakenly think that they were fighting with Yamamoto's special forces. This would be completely useless!

Wei Dayong remembered the smoke signal that Lin Zhenhua had used in the independent regiment before. His eyes rolled and he thought of a brilliant idea.

"Duan Peng, there is no time to explain to you. Just do as I say. Take your men forward and light a pile of smoke signals every mile. Make sure to make a bigger noise!" Wei Dayong said anxiously.

Duan Peng was not stupid. He immediately understood that the monk was trying to convey the message to Lin Zhenhua on the one hand, and to confuse the sight of the Japanese bombers on the other. If there were really smoke signals everywhere, the Japanese bombers would most likely drop bombs randomly because they could not find the exact target. Such things had happened before.

Soon three smoke signals were lit up. The smoke rising into the sky could be seen from more than ten miles around. Lin Zhenhua also received a report from below. He immediately stood at the highest point of Heiyun Village and looked through a telescope. At the same time, he also spotted the Japanese fighter planes in the sky. He shouted hurriedly, "Someone immediately take up their positions. Japanese bombers are coming. Conduct air defense operations immediately!"

Lin Zhenhua came to the air defense command center and said to Li Sanwa beside him: "Order all anti-aircraft gun positions to take up their positions immediately. Focus on the enemy's bombers. The enemy's fighters have anti-aircraft machine guns. We must not let any of their bombs fall into the village. The enemy came prepared this time, and the bombs they carried must be very large. I'm afraid that the places we chose to hide our weapons before will hardly withstand the enemy's bombardment."

"Not to mention that each mountain stronghold is about 200 to 300 meters above sea level, and there are large tracts of open space above. As long as the Japanese pilots are not blind and have guidance from the ground, they can easily find the location of the mountain stronghold."

"The reason why Heshang and Duan Peng lit the signal smoke was to tell us that they failed to stop the Japanese Yamamoto special forces, so that we can prepare for air defense in advance!"

After Lin Zhenhua's explanation, Li Sanwa realized how serious the current situation was. He made a surprising suggestion: "College student, if we light a few more signal smoke signals around us, it will definitely interfere with the Japanese bombing and make it difficult for them to lock onto the target. We may even be able to trick the Japanese bombers. What do you think of my idea?"

Lin Zhenhua shook his head with a sigh and said with regret: "Sanwazi, if this was done half an hour ago, it would definitely interfere with the Japanese bombers. But now the Japanese bombers are about to reach our heads. It would be stupid to do such a stupid thing. It is equivalent to telling the Japanese that there is a problem with the place where the smoke signals were lit. The Japanese pilots are not as stupid as you think. Besides, the fighter planes can fly at low altitudes and conduct prior reconnaissance!"

"The only thing we can do now is to wait. As long as the Japanese pilots don't find the correct target, we won't fire. If we take the initiative to fire in advance, it will be a great help to the Japanese. I won't do such a stupid thing!"

In a bush west of the middle of Maoerling, Yamamoto Ikki angrily yelled at Koizumi Jiichiro beside him, "Koizumi, you bastard, I asked you to check the radio before, but you told me there was no problem with the radio, so what's going on now?"

Koizumi Jiichiro replied with sweat on his forehead: "Your Excellency, I suspect that some internal parts could not withstand the severe impact during landing and malfunctioned. I am already repairing it urgently. Give me another half an hour and I will be able to fix it!"

Yamamoto Ikki wished he could kick the guy in front of him to the ground. A fighter squadron and a bomber squadron carrying out a bombing operation from Taiyuan Airport were already overhead, but now they were unable to indicate the direction for each other. This meant that they had to take the risk of going close to Heiyun Village and firing flares into the sky from there. Just thinking about it would show how dangerous this would be.

Kojiro Hirata on the side was also very anxious. The closer he got to Black Cloud Village, the stronger the sense of crisis in his heart became. Maoerling was still five miles away from Black Cloud Village. Even if they marched quickly, it would take half an hour. He was afraid that the pilots in the sky could not wait that long.

"Mr. Yamamoto, we can't stay here any longer. The bombers are still waiting for our instructions. For the Empire, every drop of fuel is very precious. I estimate that Taiyuan Airport does not have much fuel in stock. The fighter planes carrying out this bombing operation are likely to have only half of the fuel, and they can't stay in the air for a long time!"

Kojiro Hirata's reminder made Yamamoto Ikki's somewhat wavering heart firm. When leaving Taiyuan City, he had already made a promise to Yoshio Shinozuka. If he retreated at this time, it would cause a serious blow to his reputation. He had no way to retreat now, and even if there were mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, he had to get through it.

It turned out that Hirata Kojiro's guess was correct. In order to implement the southward advance plan, the Japanese headquarters reduced the army's fuel supply, which reduced the amount of fuel allocated to Taiyuan Airport by half. In desperation, the airport logistics only added 60% of the fuel to the fighter planes that were carrying out the mission, which made the fighter planes' combat air time only one and a half hours. Now it has been delayed for more than ten minutes, and there is no target guidance on the ground. This makes Major General Kudo, who is in charge of the bombing operation, look very gloomy.

"Hayata, take the fighter squadron and conduct a low-altitude reconnaissance to see if you can find the target to bomb!"

"Hatoyama, take the fighter squadron to check the location where the smoke was released. Is it the target we want to bomb this time?"

"Inoue bomber squadron, make preparations for bombing. Once you find the target, start bombing immediately!"