Where the blade points

Volume 3, Chapter 9

The news of Gu Tieshan's official appointment as chief of staff was like a boulder thrown into the dull and oppressive camp, creating ripples. Some questioned it, some watched from the sidelines, but most of them showed undisguised faith and expectation among the soldiers who had survived at Eagle's Beak Rock.

Gu Tieshan did not deliver any impassioned inaugural speech. The day after he received his appointment, at dawn, he returned to the camp covered in dew and placed a draft of the "Outline of the Brigade's Recent Military Training and Operational Guidelines," which he had prepared overnight, on Political Commissar Yang's desk.

This outline is concise yet carries immense weight:

I. Current Situation Analysis:

The situation of the enemy being stronger and us being weaker has not changed. Although the Japanese army's "iron wall encirclement" has been temporarily thwarted, its strength remains, and it is intensifying its mopping-up and infiltration efforts.

Our unit suffered heavy casualties in previous battles, had a high proportion of new recruits, lacked systematic military training, and had uneven tactical skills.

• Due to supply difficulties and severe ammunition shortages, it is not advisable to conduct large-scale, prolonged frontal operations.

II. Core Policy:

• Abandon defensive posture and avoid direct confrontation. Do not aim to seize a single city or territory, nor consider the annihilation of the enemy's manpower as the sole means.

• Implement the essence of guerrilla tactics: "small but ruthless, fast and accurate." Utilize detachments, battalions, and even companies as independent combat units, leveraging their mobility and flexibility.

III. Specific Measures:

1. Strengthen basic training: Starting immediately, a ten-day emergency military training program will be launched. The content will cover: mountain marching and concealment, basic shooting techniques, grenade throwing, basic bayonet fighting, terrain utilization, and basic tactical coordination. Instructors will be veterans of the former 29th Army and experienced soldiers.

2. Shift to a different operational mode:

• Target selection: Focus on attacking Japanese army logistics transport teams, communication lines, isolated strongholds, and small patrol teams.

• Tactical requirements: Intelligence first, precise ambush. Swift and decisive, strike and retreat immediately. The primary objective is to capture ammunition and supplies, not the number of enemy troops killed.

• Combat Units: Mainly composed of elite squads (ten to twenty people), equipped with a small number of automatic weapons and a sufficient supply of hand grenades.

3. Integration of intelligence and operations: Operational actions must be based on the intelligence work led by Comrade Shen Lanjun to ensure that they are targeted and effective.

After carefully reading it, Political Commissar Yang slammed his hand on the table, his eyes gleaming: "Excellent! Well said! Spot on! Let's do it this way! Comrade Tieshan, you will be fully responsible for training and combat command!"

Once the order was given, the camp immediately sprang into action, like a tightly wound machine.

Before the morning mist had even dissipated, loud commands and hurried footsteps echoed through the mountains and forests. Gu Tieshan personally demonstrated how to crawl low across open ground, how to use trees and rocks for cover when approaching the enemy, and how to conduct alternating firing and cover in groups of three. He improved upon the Northwest Army's simple and practical bayonet fighting techniques and personally taught them to the soldiers.

"Remember! Our bayonets aren't for show; they're for killing the enemy the fastest and easiest!"

"You can't just throw a grenade without aiming! Aim carefully before you throw it, and throw it into a crowd of people!"

"Fire steadily and accurately! Our bullets are precious; each one is worth a Japanese soldier's life!"

His training was rigorous to the point of being harsh, but no one complained. Because everyone could see that this newly appointed chief of staff was always the first to demonstrate and the last to rest. His old shoulder injury often ached on rainy days, but he never showed it.

Shen Lanjun's intelligence network was also operating with unprecedented efficiency. Despite his immense fear, Wang Degui managed to send out a message about a small transport convoy traveling from Heihe Town to a forward outpost. Although the message was not detailed enough, it indicated the approximate time and route.

Without hesitation, Gu Tieshan personally selected twelve soldiers with the best military skills, including Xiao Chen, to form an elite assault team.

"This is the first real-world test of our new tactics." Before setting off, Gu Tieshan's gaze swept over every young and determined face. "Our target is the ammunition and medicine on the Japanese transport trucks. Remember these sixteen words: approach the enemy covertly, open fire suddenly, fight quickly and decisively, capture and leave immediately! No one is allowed to linger!"

The commando team vanished into the dense forest like ghosts. Following intelligence, they had laid an ambush along a section of forest road the transport convoy was sure to take. Gu Tieshan divided his men into three groups, forming a simple inverted triangle ambush formation.

The wait was long and agonizing. When the roar of a truck engine finally came from afar, everyone held their breath.

Two Japanese trucks covered with tarpaulins, escorted by a small squad of about ten Japanese soldiers, slowly drove into the ambush area.

"beat!"

Gu Tieshan gave the order!

"Da da da—!" "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Machine guns and rifles opened fire simultaneously, bullets raining down on the truck cab and the Japanese soldiers guarding it! At the same time, several hand grenades landed precisely near the truck bed!

The sudden attack stunned the Japanese troops! The driver died instantly, and the truck veered and crashed into a roadside tree. Before the escorting Japanese soldiers could mount an effective resistance, they were pinned down by crossfire and unable to raise their heads.

"Charge!" Gu Tieshan charged out like a cheetah, heading straight for the truck bed. Xiao Chen and the others followed closely behind, quickly eliminating the remaining resistance with bayonets and pistols.

The entire battle lasted no more than five minutes.

"Inspect the vehicles and move the supplies! Quickly!" Gu Tieshan ordered, keeping a vigilant watch over both ends of the road.

The soldiers quickly lifted the canvas, revealing several boxes of rifle ammunition, two boxes of grenades, and some medical supplies. They carried the most valuable ammunition boxes and medicines, abandoning the other bulky items without hesitation.

"withdraw!"

The commando team, carrying their spoils, quickly disappeared into the dense forest on the other side of the road, vanishing without a trace. From the first shot to their complete withdrawal, the entire process took less than ten minutes.

When the Japanese reinforcements arrived, they only saw two dilapidated vehicles belching black smoke, Japanese corpses scattered all over the ground, and empty boxes that had been ransacked.

When the news reached the camp, there was an uproar! They had captured much-needed ammunition and medicine with zero casualties, and more importantly, they had verified the feasibility of the new tactics!

The initial victory greatly boosted morale. Subsequently, with the continuous intelligence support from Shen Lanjun, Gu Tieshan commanded several elite squads, wielding invisible sharp knives, to precisely stab the seemingly powerful bodies of the Japanese army time and time again.

They attacked a Japanese telephone line maintenance team, cutting telephone lines that stretched for several kilometers; they ambushed small groups of Japanese troops heading to remote outposts for troop rotation, seizing weapons and food; they even sneaked up to a Japanese temporary warehouse, harassing the garrison day and night with long-range sniping and snipes.

These operations were small in scale but frequent and timed strategically, making them difficult for the Japanese army to defend against and keeping them constantly on the run. The once arrogant Japanese army became extremely cautious in the areas under its control around Heihe, no longer daring to operate with small groups of troops.

The blade's aim wasn't to directly confront the behemoth, but rather to move around its body, constantly slicing at its claws and teeth, drawing its blood, and exhausting its energy. Gu Tieshan, this returning general, was using his unique art of war to carve out a path of hope for survival for this blood-soaked land, forcing this desperate army to the brink of despair.