"Quick, machine gun! Machine gun!" Xie Chengrui shouted anxiously, "Put up the machine guns, hurry up! Hurry up!"

Countless figures jumped and ran towards the depths of the woods, while the light machine gun and heavy machine gun teams stayed behind and were quickly building simple positions.

"Boom boom boom..."

"Bang bang bang..."

There were loud gunshots and explosions in the south. Everyone's hearts tightened and their hand movements became faster.

"Mr. Li, go to the back and ask the brothers to set up another line of defense in the woods. If we can't hold on here, we can't let the little Japs threaten the main force." Xie Chengrui said quickly.

"Okay!" The situation was urgent, so Li Zhaoying agreed and ran into the woods.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Rumble..."

The sound of gunfire and the sound of horse hooves are getting closer and closer.

Zhang Shengqing, He Dingyuan, and Feng Jinzhang, the three of them personally controlled the heavy machine guns, were extremely nervous at this moment, fearing that something might happen to their brigade commander.

"Get ready, get ready, the brigade commander and the others are coming!"

Hundreds of brothers were running desperately on the plains, and behind them were the Japanese cavalry in hot pursuit.

Xie Chengrui's eyes widened and he stared at Jiangdong and the cavalry behind him without blinking.

The brigade commander ran closer and closer, but the Japanese cavalry following them were about to overtake them.

Although everyone was anxious, there was nothing they could do. Hundreds of brothers were standing between machine guns and cavalry. At this time, there was a high probability of accidental injury.

"Rumble..."

Although there were only a thousand cavalry, the indomitable momentum seemed like thousands of troops galloping. Everyone was breathing rapidly and their palms were sweating.

"Chief of Staff, what should we do?" Zhang Shengqing did not look back, his finger was on the trigger and he did not dare to pull it.

Just when Xie Chengrui was at a loss, all the brothers in the guard camp in front of the position fell to the ground with their heads in their hands.

"Hit!!!" Xie Chengrui almost used up all his strength in his voice.

"Da da da……"

The brothers who had been waiting for a long time did not hesitate to pull the trigger to the end.

The Japanese cavalry at the front of the queue had already spotted more than a dozen heavy machine guns at the edge of the woods, but the speed of the horses under them had already reached its maximum speed, and they could not stop at this moment, nor could they stop.

The Japanese soldiers felt cold all over, and the black muzzles of their guns were like the devil's mouth of death, trying to swallow them whole.

"Bang bang bang..."

Three Japanese soldiers who were at the forefront fell off their horses out of fear of death. Their bodies were trampled by countless pairs of iron hooves, and blood and minced meat were covered with the horses' hooves like rotten watermelon.

"ah!"

With no way out, the cavalrymen raised their sabers high and shouted to encourage themselves.

"Rumble..."

"Da da da……"

It seems that the bullets are not shooting at the little devils, but they are hitting the bullets themselves.

"boom!"

In an instant, the air from the north and the south collided in the center, and invisible waves rose up in circles between the sky and the earth. In the center of the waves, blood and fire were burning, and screams and roars continued to sound.

The speed of the bullet and the speed of the horse were superimposed, the two sides collided, and the center of the vortex suddenly became a Shura field.

The bullets hit the horse's legs, head, and belly. The poor horse fell to the ground with a scream.

The Japs on horseback flew straight ahead under the influence of inertia, but before the little Japs could be thrown to death, heavy machine gun bullets hit their bodies from all directions.

The bodies of the Japanese were beating up and down like dead leaves. Some people who were lucky enough not to die were beaten to pieces. They shook their heads and tried to stand up from the ground, but what followed was a rush of people.

Thousands of war horses, after countless screams of terror, were all buried under their hooves.

"Bang bang bang..."

The horse corpses on the ground tripped up more charging horses, and the horses charging at high speed from behind collided with those in front. The Japanese charging formation was completely confused.

.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of trampling horse hooves and gunshots above his head finally stopped, and Jiang Dong struggled to get up from the ground.

"brigadier!"

"brigadier……"

It was Wang Laohu and Xiaodouzi who were on top of him just now. At this moment, they were also a little frightened, and they were guarding Jiang Dong on the left and the right.

In front of them, the charging Japanese cavalry had disappeared, and only corpses and blood could be seen on the ground.

"woo woo woo woo……"

"Ahhhh..."

Countless injured horses fell to the ground and struggled, whining and whining incessantly, and their four hooves kept tapping.

Many wounded people on the ground groaned in pain. Among them were soldiers from the guard battalion and Japanese cavalry.

Almost all the injuries of the brothers in the guard camp were caused by the trampling of war horses, and some people were crushed under the horse carcasses and were trying their best to escape.

"Quick, save people!"

Jiang Dong staggered for a few steps and found that the soil under his feet had become extremely muddy and slippery. When he lowered his head and looked down, countless red and white objects came into his eyes. The scene of Shura on the battlefield was shocking.

The charging Japanese cavalry was hit head-on by heavy machine guns. The machine gun bullets treated horses and soldiers equally. Almost all the Japanese cavalry and horses in the front row fell to the ground, but more cavalry behind did not stop. This made the front row

The bodies of fallen men and horses were trampled into paste.

Blood, minced meat, and soil were mixed together. In the center of the battlefield, every time Jiang Dong took a step, a lot of flesh and blood would seep into his shoes.

"brigadier!"

Hundreds of people rushed out of the woods, led by Major General Xie Chengrui, chief of staff of the Independent Brigade.

"Brigadier, are you okay?"

Jiang Dong shook his head, the smell of gunpowder smoke and flesh and blood made him sick, "Save people first!"

The brothers resisted the desire to vomit and walked into the meat paste battlefield, rescued the injured brothers and killed the dying Japanese soldiers.

"Brigadier, most of the Japanese cavalry have been wiped out, and only a hundred or so people escaped from both sides of the battlefield." A faint smile appeared on Xie Chengrui's face. How arrogant the little devils were before, they are now in such embarrassment.

Jiang Dong put his hand on the barrel of the heavy machine gun, feeling the faint residual warmth coming from it, "Well, what are the casualties?"

"More than a hundred brothers died in the guard camp. Most of them were trampled to death by Japanese war horses. There were also dozens of injured."

The sun was gradually setting in the west, and the Japanese cavalry in the distance was cautiously looking this way. Jiang Dong glanced at the heavy machine gun battle line and said:

"I don't know if the Japanese still have a large group of cavalry. Let the brothers reinforce their positions. We must hold on until dark at least. After dark, the cavalry will lose its mobility advantage and the large forces will continue to retreat."

The main force of the Japanese infantry was far away in Xiaoxian and Xuzhou, and it was impossible to reach the battlefield before dark.

In the last hour before dark, the Japanese army gathered thousands of cavalry in front of the woods. However, they only watched from a distance and had no intention of launching an attack.

"Haha..." Jiang Dong smiled mockingly, "It seems that the little Japanese cavalry has lost its courage and is nothing to be afraid of. One regiment will stay behind, and the rest of the troops will continue to retreat."

"Where to evacuate?" Xie Chengrui spread out a map.

Jiangdong pointed to an area on the map and said:

"Here! You will lead the troops and retreat to this position first."

"Ah!" Xie Chengrui looked at where Jiang Dong pointed,

"It's in the east, and it's very close to the Japanese base camp. It's too dangerous. Why not continue north or west?"

"After leaving the woods behind us, there is a large plain. On the plain, we can't hide from the Japanese reconnaissance planes, nor can we outrun their cavalry. We took advantage of the darkness at night to bring the troops to this location to hide, and wait for the Japanese troops to leave.

After that, we will lead our brothers to retreat northward."

Xie Chengrui still hesitated, "There are four to five thousand of us, so many people can be hidden in that place!"

Jiang Dong patted the old man on the shoulder, "Lao Xie, believe me, this is the best choice at present. The strength in our hands cannot be lost on the way to retreat. I have to lead my brothers to do bigger things!"

.

Until it was completely dark, the Japanese cavalry did not make any move.

At eight o'clock that night, Chichai Yaezo, who had come from Xiao County after a long journey, was so angry that he ignored the advice of his officers and insisted on leading a regiment of Japanese troops into the woods in the dark.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Boom boom boom..."

A fierce firefight broke out in the dark woods, and countless firelights pierced the darkness and spread far outside the woods.

About half an hour later, the Japanese cavalry outside the woods found the infantry brothers retreating in disgrace. Many of them were wounded, and the team seemed to be missing nearly a thousand people.

After the Independence Brigade withdrew, Jiangdong asked his brothers to place booby traps in all directions of the forest. The Japanese soldiers hit mines as they walked. Although they did not cause many casualties, the morale of the soldiers was at rock bottom, and they were trembling with fear at every step.

When the frightened Japanese troops reached the depths of the woods, they were suddenly fired upon by dense bullets from all directions. The Japanese troops were immediately stunned and soon became chaotic.

When Akashiba Yaezo regrouped the team, the gunfire in the woods suddenly stopped, and nothing could be seen or heard in the pitch black surroundings.

But as long as the Japanese army continued to move forward four to five hundred meters or the team dispersed, the gunshots in the woods would start without warning, as if there were countless ghosts wandering around the Japanese soldiers, ready to take their lives at any time.

After a few times, the Japanese soldiers became frightened, and Akashiba Yaezo had no choice but to lead the team out of the woods. His angry military actions sent away hundreds of imperial warriors.

After the experience of being hit this time, the main force of the Japanese 9th Division, which was coming one after another, gave up the plan of fighting at night. Tens of thousands of troops surrounded the entire forest and waited for dawn.

[Author's digression]: The story will enter a new stage: army construction and base area development.
Chapter completed!