Chapter 367

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

On Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko's face there was despair, unwillingness, and perhaps still a trace of pride and stubbornness as a member of the imperial family.

If he truly could not escape, he would have no choice but to turn and leap off the cliff.

The encirclement continued to shrink; several Japanese guards saw this and charged forward with bayonets fixed.

Bang bang!

A few crisp gunshots rang out, and the charging Japanese soldiers were directly shot down.

"Drop your weapons and you won't be killed!" the Youth Army soldiers shouted in not-very-fluent Japanese.

To facilitate the encirclement and suppression operation, Lv Muzhi had ordered simple Japanese language training for the participating warriors; phrases like "Hands up," "Drop your weapons and you won't be killed," "Put down your weapons," and the like were all trained.

The Youth Army soldiers noticed that Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko stood at the very back of the Japanese guards, as if ready to jump off the cliff at any moment.

"Platoon Leader! That devil's collar has two stars! He's a Lieutenant General! Must be that whatever Prince!" a Youth Army soldier shouted.

Truly, after searching everywhere to no avail, it was obtained without the slightest effort!

Finally found this Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko!

The two sides fell into a prolonged standoff; this news was reported to Lv Muzhi, and more and more Youth Army soldiers rushed over upon hearing it.

And this Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko could not bring himself to make the decision to jump off the cliff for a long time, perhaps unwilling.

Until Lv Muzhi arrived, and under the guards' identification, saw Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko hesitating at the cliff edge.

Raising his binoculars to identify him, Lv Muzhi was very certain this was that Prince of the Higashikuni Palace family from the intelligence!

Lv Muzhi was just preparing to capture him alive; unexpectedly, this Japanese Prince, seeing the Youth Army gathering place grow larger and larger, finally felt escape was impossible.

After lengthy mental preparation, Prince Higashikuni turned, faced the cliff, and leaped, jumping into the mist-shrouded cliff below!

"Prince!!!" The Japanese guards' miserable shouts rang out from the cliff top.

In the distance, Lv Muzhi and the others, watching this scene through binoculars, were also slightly stunned.

The remaining Japanese guards also one after another jumped toward the cliff below.

Lv Muzhi put down his binoculars, silent for a moment: "Immediately send people around to search the bottom of the cliff!

Alive we must see the person, dead we must see the corpse; turn the ground three feet deep, but also find Prince Higashikuni!!!"

Central China Expeditionary Army Headquarters.

Ever since bad news from the Huangchuan battlefield arrived in succession, General Hata Shunroku seemed to have had his spirit drained.

Facing the snowflake-like telegrams from all armies and units requesting aid or urging action, he appeared somewhat numb; more often he just sat in his spacious chair, staring blankly at the Huangchuan battlefield on the map.

Currently, Lieutenant General Gangcun Ningci, leading the offensive on the Yangtze River's north bank, is fiercely attacking Tianjiatun Fortress.

In Hata Shunroku's view, this is already a near-futile action.

After the Huangchuan battle, not only did the entire Dabie Mountains North Front battlefield collapse comprehensively; the situation on the Yangtze River led by Gangcun Ningci also saw major blunders.

Thoughts drifted back half a month; at that time, the Huangchuan situation was pessimistic but had not yet completely collapsed.

Gangcun Ningci, blocked at Tianjiatun Fortress, proposed a risky plan:

Since neither the naval fleet nor land assaults could break through Ma Dang Fortress, and the north bank was blocked by Tianjiatun Fortress, why not from the Yangtze River's north bank, upstream of the Ma Dang Fortress defense sector, find a suitable spot, secretly organize an elite force to directly cross the Yangtze, and land on the south bank.

In this way, they could completely bypass the rock-solid Ma Dang Fortress, advance along the Yangtze's south bank toward Wuhan, thereby breaking the stalemate.

This plan was bold, and indeed once gave Hata Shunroku a glimmer of hope to break the deadlock.

The unit executing this river-crossing outflanking mission was the 106th Division.

However, the devils crossed the river at night, but were discovered in the daytime.

After part of the 106th Division successfully crossed the Yangtze, they failed to rapidly advance into the depths as expected and threaten Wuhan's flank.

Instead, they lost their way in the complex mountains of the Yangtze's south bank, circled around in the Wanjiashan area, and finally crashed into Xue Yue's First Army Group's defense sector.

Xue Yue seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, concentrated heavy troops, and firmly encircled the 106th Division in the mountains around Wanjiashan.

After days of fierce fighting, the division's crossing force suffered catastrophic losses, nearly annihilated, achieving Xue Yue's famous Wanjiashan Great Victory in his military career.

Gangcun Ningci's high-hoped surprise force not only failed to achieve miraculous effect, but almost pointlessly buried a main force division, making the already difficult Wuhan campaign worse.

And now, the Huangchuan direction's situation has also completely clarified.

Lv Muzhi's Youth Corps and its friendly forces won a complete victory on the Huangchuan-Dabie Mountain Battlefield.

Not only did they capture Huangchuan, annihilate the main forces of the Imperial Guard Division and Fifth Division, rout Tokugawa Yoshitoshi's Air Corps, but they also thoroughly scattered and encircled the remnants of Prince Higashikuni's Second Army in the Dabie Mountains.

This meant the Japanese Army's strategic attempt to outflank and threaten Wuhan from the north, and coordinate a north-south pincer attack on the Fifth War Zone with Gangcun Ningci's Eleventh Army, had completely failed.

In fact, Hata Shunroku knew clearly in his heart that this campaign, long prepared, enormously costly, and entrusted with the final hope, had reached its end.

He and Gangcun Ningci had already agreed; the frontline offensive was merely barely maintained, and they were about to start planning to contract the lines.

Just then, a Communications Staff Officer tiptoed into the heavy-atmosphere headquarters, came before Hata Shunroku, stood at attention, and reported in a low voice:

"Commander... since yesterday evening, we have been unable to contact the Prince's personal radio.

We tried all backup frequencies and emergency contact methods... all failed."

One thought Hata Shunroku would have an intense reaction, but unexpectedly he appeared so calm at this moment.

This war has come this far; how many princes and barons have been written off?

Hata Shunroku didn't want to count; one more Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko in the Dabie Mountains seemingly didn't matter.

Hata Shunroku leaned back in his spacious leather seat, slowly closed his eyes; his face showed no rage, no grief, only a near-numb weariness and deep powerlessness.

He recalled his ambition upon taking office, recalled the Ma Dang Battle, Anqing Air Raid, Huangchuan Blood Battle, Tianjiatun Great Battle, Wanjiashan Great Battle...

Recalled the Bo Tian Detachment, Air Corps, Imperial Guard Division, Fifth Division, Sixteenth Division, 108th Division...

Countless great battles, countless unit designations, countless Gyokusai telegrams... this war, this final dance he directed, ultimately consumed how much of the Army's flesh and blood?

Enough.

Truly enough.

Hata Shunroku did not roar; he pulled open the drawer, touched the cold pistol inside the drawer, and said to the Staff Officer: "Connect General Kita's telephone."

The telephone connected quickly, Hata Shunroku