Chapter 185: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 185 Yangtze River Defense

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Chief of Staff replied: "Indeed not, we are the first force arranged to land at Baimaokou."

Nakajima Imao Division Commander heard this: "Commander Matsui Iwane is now somewhat desperate and grasping at straws; if the enemy has heavy troops stationed at Baimaokou, how could we possibly land smoothly?"

The staff officer nodded: "Indeed, Commander Matsui Iwane has suffered too many defeats in Shanghai City, which is why he has come up with such a radical fighting method; indeed, there is some gambler's mentality in it."

Nakajima Imao Division Commander did not hesitate, saying: "There is no need to fully execute Division Commander Matsui Iwane's orders; just send a few ships over to probe, and we will know!"

"Hai!"

Commander Matsui Iwane fantasized that with the Sixteenth Division, which had just arrived in Shanghai, as the main force, he would directly enter the Yangtze River, circle around to Chen Cheng's rear, land at Baimaokou, and give Chen Cheng a great encirclement.

However, Lv Muzhi had long since tightly blockaded the Yangtze River; the devils wanted to enter, but must pay a considerable price to do so.

The Sixteenth Division dispatched a cannonboat as escort, and a squadron of soldiers boarded various small boats separately, advancing to probe firepower toward Baimaokou.

And the main force of the Sixteenth Division, as well as Commander Lieutenant General Nakajima Imao Division Commander himself, were waiting for news in the rear.

Division Commander Nakajima held up binoculars, watching the cannonboat and small boats go farther and farther, estimating the situation on the Songhu Battlefield.

"I heard that on the Songhu Battlefield, there is a Youth Army; they have caused great harm to other divisions, not only physical harm, but also spiritual harm."

After hearing Division Commander Nakajima's words, the Chief of Staff answered based on the homework he had done in advance: "Yes, not to mention anything else, just say the regimental commander of the Sixth Regiment of the Third Division was driven mad by the Youth Army's troops;"

The Youth Army's troops have many nicknames among the Locust Army; for example, Liao Yaoxiang's troops directly defeated the Sixth Regiment on the front and were called the Empire's Ultimate Fierce Tiger;

Zhou Weiguo's tank troops charged back and forth behind our army, destroying one of our Heavy Artillery Regiments, annihilating two Cavalry Battalions, and heavily damaging one Xian Bing Battalion, and were called the Imperial Destruction Dragon;

Chu Yunfei's troops were called the Empire's Ghost by surviving soldiers of the Tianya Brigade.

Nakajima Imao was very curious: "The Empire's Ghost? Is this Chu Yunfei so terrifying?"

The devil Chief of Staff was very helpless: "It is not exactly that; the Tianya Brigade used special shells at that time, and Chu Yunfei's troops used gas masks to cope; it was late at night then, and a heavy rainstorm followed; Chu Yunfei's troops, wearing gas masks, shuttled through the night, and were mistaken for evil ghosts by some ignorant conscripts from the countryside.

But I think the real reason is still that Chu Yunfei beheaded a large number of Locust Army soldiers by the Huangpu River..."

After hearing this, Nakajima Imao was somewhat shocked: "Hmph! Beheading? I did not expect the Youth Army's strength to be so great; I heard that Zhu Xia Jun's Special Warfare Squadron has been transferred over; why not launch a decapitation operation against their commander Lv Muzhi?"

The Chief of Staff replied: "Lv Muzhi is as mysterious as our Commander Matsui Iwane... Also, Squadron Leader Zhu Xia Jun was thrown into the Blood Meat Crucible at Yangxing Town, forced to kill more than ten compatriots of the Sixth Regiment; I heard his mental state is not very good either..."

"Nani?! There are so many strange things on the Songhu Battlefield?! That the navy idiot bombarding the army seems acceptable too..."

Boom—

A loud noise came from the Baimaokou direction upstream; Division Commander Nakajima Imao and the Chief of Staff's conversation was forced to stop, and both looked toward the sound.

"Report to Division Commander, one of our cannonboats, while escorting, triggered a water mine laid in advance by the enemy; the cannonboat has sunk to the bottom of the Yangtze River!"

Boom boom boom!!! Clang clang clang!!!

Urgent artillery fire and heavy machine gun fire came urgently from the Baimaokou direction; the shore defense cannons, machine guns, heavy machine guns, and other weapons of the Baimaokou Fortress were attacking the small groups of Japanese soldiers riding small boats passing by.

In the Baimaokou area, the River Defense Force arranged by Lv Muzhi was deploying combat, beating the devil's probing force into disarray.

After the cannonboat triggered the water mine and sank, many small boats were also shattered by large and small cannons.

It was very obvious that before opening up the situation on the main Songhu Battlefield, advancing into the Yangtze River was not a wise choice.

"Division Commander, the enemy's Yangtze River Defense is arranged very tightly!"

After receiving the news, Division Commander Nakajima Imao was unwilling to continue advancing; he waved his hand: "Turn around! Report to Commander Matsui Iwane: the enemy has laid water mines and heavy troops at Baimaokou; my Sixteenth Division finds it difficult to land; we have already changed to land at Shizilin and join forces with Fujita Susumu's Third Division!"

On the Mutsu Battleship, Asahiko looked at Matsui Iwane, then at Gu Qingchuan; he did not expect that his first battle since arriving here would fail.

Asahiko cursed: "Damn it, this Lv Muzhi is truly calculating everything!"

Gu Qingchuan hurriedly said: "It's fine, Your Highness; the Sixteenth Division was only probing; my navy will deliver naval gunfire to Luodian, and surely open a road for the army."

Division Commander Matsui Iwane also supplemented: "I have already dispatched the Shigetō Detachment to the Pudong Area on the opposite bank of the Huangpu River, trying to attract Zhang Fakui's main force from Hangzhou Bay to Pudong."

Asahiko also smiled embarrassedly: "It's fine; Yangxing Town is still in a melee now; notify them to withdraw all Locust Army soldiers from within Yangxing Town, then bombard with naval guns and annihilate all the Chinese troops inside!"

"Hai!"

The little devils immediately took action, wanting to stage a big move on the front battlefield of Shanghai City to cover the Japanese Tenth Army's landing operation plan in Hangzhou Bay.

For a moment, after the Sixteenth Division's probing attack on Baimaokou failed, the devils played three more cards.

First, to bombard Chen Cheng's Luodian remotely with naval gunfire without reservation; second, to withdraw all Japanese troops still in a melee within Yangxing Town to facilitate naval gunfire bombardment; third, the Japanese Shigetō Detachment landed in Pudong to attract firepower, provoke Zhang Fakui of the Right Wing Army, and trick him into moving his main force away from Hangzhou Bay.

Whichever of these three, one could discover that the little devils avoided Lv Muzhi's main force.

After suffering setbacks one after another at Lv Muzhi's hands, the little devils began to shift their target.

"Brother Weiyue, what are the little devils up to? They are completely treating our Central Route Army as air!" Qiu Qingquan asked.

Lv Muzhi signed his name on the logistics list with his head down, looked up and said: "What else could it be? They were beaten scared; the little devils placed the breakthrough elsewhere; since this morning, the little devils' naval gunfire has not stopped; it seems they are truly desperate; just the gap in this one navy, no matter how well our Youth Army's land skills are practiced, it's useless."

Qiu Qingquan asked: "Then what should be done?"

"Yangxing and Jiangwan, retreat if necessary; Luodian can be defended for a while; the Hangzhou Bay area must prepare to meet the enemy."

"Retreat? Then what about the Principal?"

Facing Qiu Qingquan's question, Lv Muzhi answered straightforwardly: "Let the Principal shed some blood; he will understand on his own."