Chapter 305: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 305 Where to Go

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

"Your Excellency Division Commander, could it be that we have become the bait set by the Front Army Headquarters?!" Chief of Staff Tei Bujakuki asked, looking as if he had just awakened from a dream.

Isogai Rensuke looked at the reply telegram from Colonel Sakai of the Fourteenth Division, and in his mind he had completely filled in Terauchi Hisaichi's final plan.

Everything was clear enough to make one's heart turn cold.

Perhaps at the very beginning, General Terauchi Hisaichi had great confidence in both the Tenth Division and the Thirteenth Division, believing that these two divisions could not only ensure their own safety but also continuously pressure the Xia Guo Army, drawing the Xia main forces to gather at Xuzhou.

But now, as soon as the Youth Army forces arrived at the North China Battlefield, they dealt a tremendous shock to the North China Area Army.

On General Terauchi Hisaichi's chessboard, the Tenth Division and the Thirteenth Division had already become two pawns that could be sacrificed at any moment, even bait to draw in the Xia Guo Army's main force!

In order to devour these two pieces of fat meat, the Tenth Division and the Thirteenth Division, the Xia people shifted troops east and west, blocked to the north and defended to the south.

Li Zongren, Lv Muzhi... they piled all the troops they could mobilize, like scattering beans, all in this region centered on Xuzhou.

The Central Army, Sichuan Army, Northwest Army, Northeast Army, Guangxi clique, Yunnan clique units... everything was indeed proceeding as General Terauchi Hisaichi had envisioned, with the Xia main forces gathering at Xuzhou.

To annihilate the hundreds of thousands of troops gathered at Xuzhou, General Terauchi Hisaichi decided to organize his limited forces into an encirclement targeting Xuzhou.

As for Isogai Rensuke's Tenth Division and Dizhou Libing's Thirteenth Division, in the eyes of the Japanese high command, to put it nicely they had thrown themselves into the game, but to put it bluntly they had been made into cannon fodder to draw fire.

Isogai Rensuke felt a deep sense of powerlessness; a respectable Lieutenant General of the Empire like himself had ultimately failed to become the player, and instead had become a man lost in the game.

He had finally awakened now, but like an insect caught in a spider's web, the more he struggled, the less he could escape.

Previously he had pinned his hopes on a breakthrough advancing from north and south, but now it seemed to be nothing more than a sweet and tempting big pie painted by the Front Army to steady themselves and let them continue to serve as bait.

The Fourteenth Division had probably already swung around to the west side of Xuzhou along that Longhai Line railway, and was about to slip the final noose around the Xia great army gathered at Xuzhou.

Just as Isogai Rensuke was stunned, Chief of Staff Tei Bujakuki received a telegram from the front: "Your Excellency Division Commander!"

Isogai Rensuke came back to his senses and looked at his chief of staff.

Chief of Staff Tei Bujakuki read aloud while checking the telegram: ", the Seto Detachment... Major General Seiya Kei's telegram reports that the detachment's core position has completely collapsed, enemy infantry is infiltrating through multiple routes under artillery cover, our army's organization has been thrown into disorder, and we cannot organize effective resistance!"

Another piece of bad news!

Isogai Rensuke's face no longer had much ripple; nothing mattered anymore. The Tenth Division, having served as bait, could not escape no matter what.

"Also... the observation post reports that the enemy's heavy artillery group fire... is extending toward our division headquarters direction! The nearest impact point is less than two kilometers away!" the chief of staff continued reporting.

Isogai Rensuke looked up, and through the observation hole of the cover, he could already see the artillery fire in the distance—that was precisely the power unleashed by Lv Muzhi's rocket artillery.

But in the Japanese understanding, what Lv Muzhi used should be that kind of common tube artillery, except that the number of cannons far exceeded his understanding.

That was not regular heavy artillery coverage; that density, that firepower pouring down in an instant, was simply like igniting an entire arsenal at once and scattering it over.

Lv Muzhi... just how many cannons had he hidden?

"Division Commander, since the Fourteenth Division's Rapid Detachment is not cooperating, should we break out on our own?" Chief of Staff Tei Bujakuki still clung to a sliver of hope, hoping to find a glimmer of survival through a breakout.

"Cancel the breakout plan." Isogai Rensuke, facing death, said calmly: "Our retreat route is blocked by the Youth Army's First Army; even if we grew wings we could not fly out.".

"Send a telegram to General Terauchi Hisaichi: the Tenth Division's breakout is hopeless, all officers and men have resolved to die here rather than surrender, pinning down the Xia main force before us; please have the Fourteenth Division hurry to swing around to the west of Xuzhou and complete the encirclement of Xuzhou;

as long as we can annihilate the Xia main force, the Tenth Division will die without regret!"

The order was issued, and the headquarters fell into dead silence; the officers' faces showed a moment of shock.

Some officers who were slow on the uptake only then realized that they had already become bait to draw in the Xia main force!

This was nothing less than selling out the Tenth Division!

But in the end no one raised an objection, after all no reinforcements were coming, and besides holding their ground they had no way to break out.

Division Commander Isogai Rensuke's judgment was also the judgment they knew most clearly in their hearts but were most unwilling to admit: they had indeed been abandoned.

At least before the Front Army's greater strategic objective, they had become a price that could be sacrificed.

North of Taierzhuang, the Rocket Artillery Battalion's firing position.

Lv Muzhi put down his binoculars; the smoke pillars rising in the direction of the Tenth Division in the distance were somewhat sparser than just now.

The observation post reported that the Seto Detachment had basically been crushed, and Tang Enbo and Sun Zhen's forces were mopping up the remaining enemies and expanding the breakthrough.

Li Zongren's face glowed with excitement: "Wei Yue, this 'Sichuan-Chongqing Girl' is truly formidable! Once the Seto Detachment collapsed, Isogai Rensuke's flank was completely exposed!"

"Just now we received news from the south: the Japanese Thirteenth Division is also nearing its end, and the Central China Expeditionary Army's reinforcements have been temporarily blocked south of the Huai River by the forces of the three additional armies we dispatched."

But Lv Muzhi did not show much joy; reliable intelligence showed that the Japanese Twentieth Division was rushing south along the Jinpu Road, apparently preparing to reinforce the Tenth Division.

"Hasn't De Gong noticed something amiss?" Lv Muzhi asked: "The Fourteenth Division is closest and best equipped, yet they only sent a Rapid Detachment to make a show, and they retreated after hitting a wall.

Instead they had the more distant Twentieth Division hurry over to reinforce—such forsaking the near for the far, De Gong, what do you think the devils are up to?"

Hearing this, Li Zongren's expression turned serious; he turned to look at the staff officer: "Go quickly and check where the main force of the Japanese Fourteenth Division is?!"

Lv Muzhi said: "Actually no need to check; the main force of the Fourteenth Division is now circling around our rear, and their target must be to cut off the Longhai Railway west of Xuzhou!"

Li Zongren's heart gave a jolt; what Lv Muzhi said was exactly what he himself had been worried about.

Although he had this suspicion in his heart, seeing that the Fourteenth Division had sent a mechanized Rapid Detachment south to reinforce, plus the good news that the Tenth and Thirteenth Divisions were about to be annihilated, his original worry had been diluted somewhat.

Now Lv Muzhi reminded him again, and Li Zongren also began to worry about the prospects of this great battle, and even began to worry about the ultimate fate of Xia's final six hundred thousand main force!