Chapter 50: An Unexpected Surprise, "Occupying" Liaoxian County

Not long after, Japanese airplanes taking off from the Taiyuan airfield entered the airspace above Liaoxian county town.

Eight fighter planes and four bombers could be seen circling in the sky, tasked by the 105th Regiment with first searching for the Eighth Route Army's artillery positions hidden in the mountains.

However, Zhang Yun's Independent Detachment had long since completed air-defense concealment for its three infantry and mountain guns, ensuring they would not be found by the enemy aircraft.

Realizing they could not locate the artillery positions, the Japanese planes began searching for other targets.

In the early stages of the War of Resistance, the Japanese air force was formidable. Sure enough, shortly after, the temporary command post where Zhang Yun had previously been stationed was struck by a bomb dropped by a Japanese bomber, turning it into a fireball with a deafening roar.

Subsequently, the Japanese fighter planes began attacking the Eighth Route Army's encircling forces outside the county town.

Although the formidable Major General Chen had arranged for three regiments of soldiers to besiege the county town from three directions, the soldiers, being experienced main force troops of the Eighth Route Army, had dug bomb shelters in their positions beforehand. Upon seeing the planes arrive, they all ducked into the shelters. Those closer to the rear also withdrew and hid in the surrounding mountain forests.

The Japanese fighters strafed the positions along the east, south, and west sides of the county town with machine-gun fire, but failed to find any targets to attack. Meanwhile, the bombers headed straight for the slopes on both sides of the road north of Liaoxian county town, dropping a large number of bombs onto the empty, hidden hillsides.

Terrified by the precise artillery strike from Zhang Yun's Independent Detachment, the Japanese regimental commander, Ichiro Kurosawa, misjudged Major General Chen's strategic intentions. He assumed the main force of the Eighth Route Army intended to annihilate his regiment within Liaoxian county town and would never leave the northern exit open for them to escape. Consequently, he concluded that there must be a large number of ambush troops hidden on both sides of the northern highway outside the town.

In reality, Major General Chen merely wanted to drive the Japanese away and had stationed virtually no troops on the northern slopes of the county town. As a result, the Japanese bombers ended up bombing absolute emptiness.

Having completed their bombing run, the Japanese bombers slowly turned around and headed back toward the Taiyuan airfield. However, eight fighter planes continued to circle above Liaoxian county town, occasionally strafing and suppressing the Eighth Route Army's surrounding positions.

Following this, the 105th Regiment, with a mere 1,200-plus men remaining in the county town, bolted like a stepped-on dog. They rushed through the northern gate of the county town and fled rapidly northward in the direction of Heshun.

From his command post hidden on the hillside, Major General Chen kept a close eye on the movements of the Japanese in the county town. Seeing the enemy flee, he did not order the various Eighth Route Army units to immediately pursue them from behind or enter the county town. After all, Japanese fighter planes were still circling above; launching a rash attack would make them easy targets for strafing, causing needless casualties.

Of course, Major General Chen's capabilities extended far beyond that. He had laid out three successive ambush points along the highway from Liaoxian to Heshun, and with his troops currently well-stocked with ammunition, he had more than enough firepower to deliver a few heavy blows to the retreating Japanese!

Meanwhile, the Eighth Route Army soldiers hidden in the positions outside the county town, having received no orders to attack, could only watch helplessly as the remaining troops of the 105th Regiment marched in full stride northward along the highway.

For a moment, the area surrounding Liaoxian county town fell completely silent.

***

Meanwhile, inside a bomb shelter, Zhang Yun was using a telescope to observe the movements of the Japanese and the fighter planes in the sky when he suddenly felt the loot-bonus system frantically refreshing its data.

Zhang Yun looked closely and discovered that his Independent Detachment had actually "captured" Liaoxian county town!

Battle Spoils (Capture of Liaoxian County Town):
Weapons and Equipment: 347 Liaoning Type 13 rifles, 14 Mauser automatic pistols, 198,654 rounds of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, 2,034 rounds of 7.63mm pistol ammunition, 9 Type 92 heavy machine guns, 19 ZB vz. 26 machine guns, 2,302 hand grenades, 15.5 grenade launchers, 23 infantry gun shells, 21 Type 41 mountain gun shells...
Currency: 375 kg of gold, 15.56 tons of silver, 293,452 yuan in fiat currency...
Foodstuffs: 1,404 tons of flour, 110 tons of meat, 12.6 tons of leafy vegetables...
Metals: 28.64 tons of copper, 980 tons of iron, 3.56 tons of lead...
Building Materials: 87 tons of cement, 77,392 cubic meters of timber...
Others: 0.5 radio stations, 4,534 bolts of cloth, 1,287 pieces of workshop machinery and equipment, 789 spinning wheels...

For a moment, Zhang Yun was somewhat taken aback. When he opened the map interface, he discovered that his last squad of reconnaissance soldiers happened to be inside the Japanese headquarters, having presumably seized it during the chaos.

At that moment, the Japanese had completely evacuated the county town, while the various units of the Eighth Route Army remained temporarily stationed in their positions due to the circling Japanese fighters. Consequently, during those brief ten-odd minutes, the only personnel in the entire Liaoxian county town recognized by the system as regular troops were the two scouts from Zhang Yun's Independent Detachment. They had captured the core of the county town, causing the system to default to Zhang Yun's two scouts having "captured" the town!

Zhang Yun was overjoyed. This was a harvest he had never anticipated—and a colossal one at that!

After all, the timing was an incredible coincidence!

If the Independent Detachment's scouts had not captured the Japanese headquarters during those ten minutes, the capture milestone could not have been confirmed;

If two or three other Eighth Route Army soldiers had broken into the county town during those same ten minutes, the Independent Detachment's personnel would have been fewer than those of the brother units, meaning they wouldn't have been considered the primary force and still wouldn't have enjoyed the "capture" loot bonus.

***

With no way to explain the existence of the system to others, Zhang Yun had originally thought his forces would need to grow to several thousand men, capable of independently or at least primarily leading a siege, before he would have another chance to "capture" a county town. He never expected to achieve another "capture" through sheer coincidence.

Well, at this moment, Zhang Yun even felt like thanking the Japanese fighter planes in the sky. To show his gratitude, he might just treat them to some fireworks with anti-aircraft guns next time they met!

Having received this sudden surprise and with nothing else to do, Zhang Yun checked the total volume of unclaimed supplies currently stored in his loot space.

Cumulative Unclaimed Spoils:
Weapons and Equipment: 912 Liaoning Type 13 rifles, 28 Mauser automatic pistols, 567,643 rounds of 7.92mm rifle ammunition, 10,145 rounds of 7.63mm pistol ammunition, 12 Type 92 heavy machine guns, 28 ZB vz. 26 machine guns, 2 Type 92 infantry guns, 1.4 Type 41 mountain guns, 6,450 Gong-type hand grenades, 20.5 grenade launchers, 1,000 rounds of 60mm mortar shells, 680 infantry gun shells, 540 Type 41 mountain gun shells, 1.56 tons of TNT explosives...
Currency: 612 kg of gold, 27.45 tons of silver, 3,560 Japanese yen, 494,509 yuan in fiat currency...
Foodstuffs: 3,678 tons of flour, 498 tons of meat...
Metals: 56.685 tons of copper, 1,623 tons of iron, 10.58 tons of lead...
Building Materials: 129 tons of cement, 133,780 cubic meters of timber...
Others: 1 radio station, 9,780 bolts of cloth, 2,532 pieces of workshop machinery and equipment, 1,346 spinning wheels, 980 kg of pharmaceuticals, 240 gas masks...

It seemed that upon returning to his base, he must establish arsenals and civilian factories as quickly as possible. On one hand, the workshop machinery and equipment needed to be converted into small-scale, essential military and civilian production equipment, utilizing the captured copper, iron, explosives, and other materials to mass-produce bullets, shells, grenades, and rifles. On the other hand, he could fully exploit the information gap to quietly convert the captured supplies into newly produced ammunition.

Otherwise, the road to cashing out supplies would be a long and arduous journey; how could one possibly "loot" such massive quantities of ammunition and supplies simply by attacking enemy strongholds?