Chapter 155: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 155 Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Nanxiang Youth Army Headquarters, Central Route Army Deputy Commander Lv Muzhi met with Left Wing Army Commander Chen Cheng, deciding to launch a joint attack on Yangxing Town.

According to the President's wishes, Hu Gongnan's First Army must participate in the Yanghang operation.

"The President wants the First Army to set an example for other units..." Chen Cheng said.

Lv Muzhi looked toward Hu Gongnan sitting to one side and asked: "Hu Gongnan, does the First Army have confidence?!"

Hu Gongnan was stunned, still not used to Lv Muzhi giving him orders; after he came to his senses, Hu Gongnan replied: "Yes! The First Army will absolutely not betray the President's trust... Commander Lu, please give the order!"

Lv Muzhi and Chen Cheng exchanged a glance: "For this operation, two divisions' vanguard forces will be dispatched to attack in the Yanghang area, with one division sent out from your First Army, and another division dispatched from Xue Yue's Nineteenth Group Army under the Fourth Army;

The two divisions must enter Yangxing Town before ten o'clock tonight, establish positions within Yangxing Town, and hold off the Japanese army in Yangxing Town!"

Hu Gongnan asked: "Hold off? Shouldn't we drive the Japanese army out of Yangxing Town?"

Chen Cheng explained: "With our manpower, we can indeed temporarily drive the Japanese army out of Yangxing Town, but once the Japanese retreat, the navy's naval guns and the army's heavy artillery will bombard Yangxing again; our artillery delivery capability cannot compare to the devils', and by then losses will be extremely heavy;

So what Wei Yue and I mean is that our army and the Japanese army should reach a clever state of symbiosis in Yangxing Town, engaging in a melee within Yangxing Town so that the Japanese army's artillery cannot exert its advantage, and do our best to eliminate the Japanese army's manpower."

Hu Gongnan asked: "What if the devil infantry directly retreats from Yangxing Town? Then their artillery can bombard at ease, right?"

Lv Muzhi said in a flat tone: "Then you retreat too; rest assured on this point, I will dispatch reconnaissance planes to carry out reconnaissance work; once the little devils withdraw, I will also have you withdraw, and won't let you suffer artillery fire for nothing;

Anyway, if the devils enter Yangxing Town, we enter too; if the devils retreat, we retreat too; I will dispatch mountain guns and field guns to support you."

Hu Gongnan asked with some worry: "If I retreat, won't the President punish me?"

"Don't worry; when the sky falls there's someone tall to hold it up; right now I am the commander, this matter is settled as such, no need for more words."

Hu Gongnan smacked his lips, originally wanting to speak, but in the end swallowed his words back.

After all departments finished their discussion, the Nineteenth Group Army dispatched the Thirty-Second Division of the Fourth Army, and Hu Gongnan dispatched the First Division of the First Army.

Lv Muzhi transferred two 105mm Field Gun Companies from Nanxiang, and two 105mm Heavy Mountain Gun Companies from the division's direct artillery, to Miaohang southwest of Yanghang to establish an artillery position.

The Southwest Air Force coordinated with the Guofu Air Force to take off and protect the artillery in establishing positions, and to reconnoiter the Japanese deployment in Yanghang.

The Japanese troops currently garrisoned in the Yanghang position number two units: one unit is the Kana Regiment of the 101st Division, and the other is the Kuranaga Regiment, previously mauled by the Third Division, totaling over four thousand men.

That evening at nine-thirty, behind Yangxing Town, Colonel Kana was in high spirits; having just arrived at the Songhu Battlefield, he had already achieved the merit of capturing Yangxing Town; it could be said this was the Japanese army's most presentable achievement on the Songhu Battlefield so far; this battle dealt a heavy blow to Chen Cheng's Civil Engineering Clique's Ninety-Eighth Division.

Meanwhile, Colonel Kuranaga looked bewildered; his own regiment, reduced to only two infantry companies by Liao Yaoxiang, was already incapable of undertaking an attack mission.

The surviving soldiers of the Kuranaga Regiment gave Liao Yaoxiang's troops a nickname: Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger!

Within the regiment, upon hearing of the Youth Army they changed color in fear; the Third Division commander, seeing this, directly assigned the Kuranaga Regiment to Yangxing to cooperate with the Kana Regiment in garrison duty.

"Colonel Kuranaga, why so downcast? We did win a battle!" The Kana Regiment held two cups of sake, walked up to Colonel Kuranaga, and handed one cup to Cangyong Chengzhi.

Colonel Kuranaga took the sake and downed it in one gulp: "Won a battle? Not necessarily; that's because you haven't encountered Lv Muzhi's Youth Army; his Liao Yaoxiang Brigade is simply a monster; we call Liao Yaoxiang Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger..."

"Kunaga-kun, why boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige? In East Asia there is only one empire, and that is my Great Japanese Empire!"

"Did you see my regiment? Aside from logistics personnel, only two companies remain; the Youth Army is invincible, and Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger is unbeatable..."

Seeing Cangyong Chengzhi looking dejected, Colonel Kana was furious: "How could the Imperial Army have a soldier like you? Serving with you is truly a humiliation!"

Boom boom boom!!!

While the devils were speaking, inside and outside Yangxing Town fell into a sea of fire; Lv Muzhi had emplaced twenty-four 105mm field guns and twenty-four heavy mountain guns at Miaohang, launching a fierce bombardment on the Yanghang position.

Yangxing Town instantly became a sea of fire; the Japanese soldiers of the Kana Regiment of the 101st Division all threw themselves down to dodge the shells, their faces tense.

These devils, having fought the Ninety-Eighth Division, had already concluded that the Xia Guo Army was incapable of retaking the position; they never expected to suffer such fierce bombardment tonight—this was truly unprecedented!

Yangxing Town had already been turned over by the devils' naval guns and army heavy artillery; now Lv Muzhi had concentrated forty-eight cannons to attack; in an instant the earth shook and mountains trembled, some places' soil turned so soft that one's lower leg could sink into the mud; the Japanese soldiers could be said to have experienced the pain of the Civil Engineering Clique's Ninety-Eighth Division.

After half an hour of continuous bombardment, the First Division of the First Army and the Thirty-Second Division of the Fourth Army took advantage of the night to launch an attack on the Yanghang position.

From the devils' perspective, they discovered that soldiers of the First Division of the First Army under Hu Gongnan, wearing German steel helmets, were launching an assault on Yangxing Town.

The Japanese soldiers of the Kana Regiment hurriedly organized firepower for a counter-assault; the knee mortars and Type 92s went into action together, the Type 38 rifles and grenade launchers were used simultaneously, firing at the soldiers of the First Division.

But the Japanese soldiers of the Kuranaga Regiment were not calm; seeing Xia Guo soldiers of the First Army also wearing M35 steel helmets, they thought it was another Youth Army unit.

The damage Liao Yaoxiang had inflicted on the Kuranaga Regiment was too great; the two surviving infantry companies could not forget the terror of the Youth Army.

"Not good! The Youth Army is here!"

"Liao Yaoxiang... that fellow is here again..."

"We're done for; Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger is here again..."

Many of the Japanese soldiers of the two companies of the Kuranaga Regiment hadn't fired several shots before they began to retreat.

Colonel Kana, seeing from the rear that the remnant soldiers of the Kuranaga Regiment actually dared to retreat directly, was furious: "Colonel Kuranaga, look closely; is this the troops you brought out?!"

Colonel Kuranaga dragged his heavy steps to behind the artillery observation mirror to observe, and actually saw First Army soldiers wearing German steel helmets; he said with a pained expression:

"Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger is here; another regiment is about to be wiped out..."