Chapter 162: Luodian Town 1

The map was nailed down with horse‑shoe nails on the mottled tabletop, and Li Nian'an's fingertip traced the winding blue line around Luodian Town—Yunzaobang River's tributary glimmered a grim white in the moonlight. Independent Division staff officer Jiang Mingyuan held up a lantern shrouded in black cloth, fine dust drifting in its halo.

"The enemy's 11th Division main force, the 43rd Regiment, has already seized most of Luodian," Jiang Mingyuan said hoarsely, "the Tian Gu Detachment is advancing along the Hu‑Tai Highway, trying to link up with the main force to form a pincer."

Li Nian'an did not look up, his finger tapping on several nameless heights on Luodian's southeast side: "Here, and also here. For the Tian Gu Detachment to encircle quickly, it must pass through this network of rice paddies. How is the soil?"

"Terrible—once it rains it turns to paste, heavy equipment is hard to deploy," replied Li Dashuan, the Independent Division's First Battalion commander, a veteran of the Fifth Army with a scar burned by artillery on his face.

"Terrible is good," Li Nian'an finally sat upright, his youthful face half‑lit by the flickering candlelight, "Issue orders: First Battalion and Second Battalion, move immediately to the line between Panjia Bridge and Gu Family Residence, using the existing river embankments to build reverse‑slope positions. Do not make conspicuous works; hide fire points behind abandoned houses and burial mounds. Third Battalion will serve as reserve; assign the entire engineer company to the front, have them overnight lay booby traps and bamboo‑spike fields, turning this rice field into a swampy hell."

"Commander," Li Dashuan hesitated, "our division has just replenished with over half fresh recruits; sending them out like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to pull them back…"

"We need the enemy to think we're disorganized," Li Nian'an cut him off, his gaze sharp, "they're a German‑style model division, accustomed to head‑on positional warfare. We'll not; we'll adopt the guerrilla essence of those people, entangle them, wear them down. Remember, every bullet, every grenade must hit the blade's edge. Without my order, no one may retreat, but no one may also hold a position to the death! All companies and platoons stay mobile, focusing on cold‑gun and cold‑artillery harassment."

The orders issued, the troops moved like a stream in the dark night, silently seeping into the assigned positions. Li Nian'an personally inspected several key fire points, whispering to a Maxim Heavy Machine Gun nest camouflaged with ruined temple walls: "Fire must be sudden, redeployment swift. After one burst, shift location; don't linger."

At dawn on August 21, southeast of Luodian, the morning mist over Panjia Bridge had not yet lifted when the enemy Tian Gu Detachment's vanguard squad appeared. Earth‑colored figures moved cautiously along the rice‑field dikes, the tracks of a Type 95 Light Tank rolling through the mud, emitting a heavy gasp.

The First Battalion position was eerily quiet. New recruits clutched Hanyang Rifles, fingers knotted white, while veterans squinted, gauging distances.

"Hold steady… move a bit closer…" Li Dashuan's voice traveled through the makeshift telephone line to each company.

When the enemy vanguard stepped into the minefield, a series of mild explosions rang out, sounding more like firecrackers. The enemy commander evidently took it lightly, assuming it was merely a small‑unit harassment, urging his troops to push through faster.

Just as their formation showed slight disorder and they stepped into the deepest part of the rice field, Li Dashuan swung his hand down sharply: "Fire!"

Light and heavy machine guns hidden on the reverse‑slope of the riverbank suddenly spat flames; bullets swept the rice field like scythes, toppling a swath of enemy troops. Simultaneously, mortar shells whistled down, striking precisely the enemy infantry formations and tanks attempting to deploy. Mud and blood sprayed together.

The enemy tank tried to suppress with its hull‑mounted machine gun, but the target was extremely obscured, gunfire echoing from all directions. One tank unfortunately ran over an engineer‑laid reinforced explosive charge; its tracks were blown off in an instant, leaving it crippled on the spot as a live target.

The combat took on a bizarre rhythm. When the squad mounted a strong attack, the Huaxia Army's firepower would wane or vanish, as if shattered. When the enemy paused to regroup or rescue the wounded, cold guns fired from unexpected angles, targeting officers and machine‑gunners.

At the same time, the enemy 11th Division Headquarters, Lieutenant General Shanshi Zongwu, the division commander, listened with a grim face as the staff reported: "The Tian Gu Detachment has met fierce resistance around Panjia Bridge and Gu Family Residence; the Chinese Army's tactics are stubborn, fully exploiting the terrain, progress is slow, casualties near a hundred."

"Baka!" Shanshi Zongwu slammed his fist on the table, "Intelligence shows the enemy we face is only a newly formed division of the Fifth Army, its commander still a child! That Tian Gu fool!"

The chief of staff whispered, "General, this enemy force seems unlike other Chinese units. They don't hold a fixed line, are highly mobile, and their firepower deployment is methodical, as if… trained in German style, yet blended with other tactics."

Shanshi Zongwu walked to the map, staring at the area around Luodian: "Order Tian Gu: do not get tangled! Concentrate force, launch a fierce attack at a point, tear open a breach! Also, urge the Naval Aviation to conduct covering bombings on suspicious zones! I don't believe bombs can't crumble these rat holes!"

In the days that followed, the southeast sector of Luodian became a true meat grinder. The enemy relied on overwhelming firepower, especially the ship guns and relentless aerial bombardment, leveling village after village, forest after forest. The sky was often stained black by the smoke of explosions.

But Li Nian'an's Independent Division clung to the positions like chewing gum. They abandoned a linear surface defense, instead constructing countless small, dispersed, concealed strongpoints. Every company, squad, and even combat team enjoyed considerable autonomy, using shell holes, ruins, and gullies to skirmish with the enemy.

By day, under fierce artillery and aerial strafing, they stubbornly held the line. Li Nian'an's only order was: "Trade space for time; fight house by house, trench by trench, at the company and platoon level, inflicting maximum casualties on the enemy's living forces, delaying their attack rhythm."

At night, it was the Independent Division's domain. Small elite squads repeatedly launched night raids, using grenades, swords and captured enemy weapons to creep, blow up supply convoys, and assault artillery positions. Enemy soldiers began to develop a 'night terror,' the wind sounding like the cry of cranes.

Li Nian'an's figure appeared at the frontmost line. He was not simply reckless; many times, during enemy attacks, he decisively ordered portions of the force to fall back to pre‑planned second‑line positions, causing the enemy's heavy artillery to often fire into empty space. His command post was hit by shelling several times, yet he always managed to relocate a few minutes in advance.