Chapter 382: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 392 Saving is a Favor, Not Saving is a Duty

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The Miyagawa Rengo of the Japanese Army's 21st Division was left behind to cover the retreat, but their heads were still being harassed by Youth Army aircraft, and troop command was chaotic.

To avoid airstrikes, Japanese soldiers ran east and west, and various units were mixed together; for a time, the soldiers of the Miyagawa Rengo could neither gather nor organize an effective blockade.

As a three-unit division, the 21st Division had only three infantry groups.

Seeing Sakai Matsudaira riding a horse with his Guard Company begin to withdraw to the rear, the other two groups followed suit and retreated.

Many soldiers of the Miyagawa Rengo, left behind to cover the retreat, were mixed into the other two groups, sneaking away to withdraw to the rear.

Colonel Miyagawa looked at the mess below: "What a joke, they won't even assign me the division's artillery, and I'm supposed to rely on just myself? What do I have to stop the enemy's tanks!"

A battalion commander came up and said: "The unit is severely short of men; many were swept away by the main force!"

The other battalion commanders also came up to complain, saying many soldiers of their own battalions had followed the main force and secretly fled.

Colonel Miyagawa had no choice; since he had accepted the blockade order, the blockade still had to be carried out.

"Blow up the train locomotives on the railway line, move the blown-up carriages onto the road to create obstacles!

At the same time, use explosives to blow up the road and slow the enemy's advance!"

The Japanese left behind by the Miyagawa Rengo could only comply, beginning to create obstacles on the road.

There was no time to dig trenches now; they could only blow big holes in the road.

In less than ten minutes, the Youth Army's tank pursuit force arrived.

The soldiers of the Miyagawa Rengo fired back with their guns, while concentrating the artillery the regiment could use to attack the Youth Army's tank group.

The Japanese Army took the initiative to attack; Sun Liren used the vehicle radio to order the fleet to leave the road, advance into the fields on both sides, and launch an attack on the Miyagawa Rengo.

Rat-tat-tat!

Boom-boom-boom!

Tank cannons and vehicle-mounted machine guns fired at the Japanese dragging themselves across the Great Plain.

The luckier Japanese could hide in the big holes blown open by explosives and fire back.

Colonel Miyagawa hid in a shell crater, poked his head out to look: the Youth Army's tanks were mighty and mighty, showing no intention of stopping at all.

A squadron of tanks charged straight at the artillery position, then continued moving to pursue.

The other tanks rolled over the Miyagawa Rengo's trenchless defensive line and likewise marched eastward triumphantly.

The loudspeakers on top of some tanks were still broadcasting surrender persuasion in Japanese on a loop.

"The Youth Army treats prisoners well; please Japanese soldiers lay down your weapons, leave the road, and your lives will be guaranteed!"

"The Youth Army provides warm lodging and sufficient food; please proceed west along the railway line and surrender to the Youth Army troops you encounter!"

"You can't escape anymore; futile struggling will only increase casualties..."

The Japanese soldiers were all stunned; it seemed they were not the Youth Army's target.

Seeing this scene, the Youth Army's tank force used tracks, tank cannons, and machine guns to directly break through their defensive line, then continued pursuing in the direction of Lieutenant General Sakai Matsudaira's flight.

Seeing this, Colonel Miyagawa gathered his troops.

Sun Liren's hundred-plus tanks chased straight east; that east definitely could not be gone to.

The west was Lanfeng, which had just fallen and was already Lv Muzhi's territory, even more impossible to go to.

Colonel Miyagawa decided to rely on his own two legs and flee in two routes, south and north.

One route fled north toward Shandong, which was still the North China Area Army's territory.

One route ran south toward Anhui, which was the Central China Expeditionary Army's territory.

The plan was set; the Japanese scattered in a rush and fled in all directions again.

The troops led by Zhou Weiguo arrived later; according to aviation reconnaissance, vehicles were sent to pursue the scattered Miyagawa Rengo.

After arranging all this, the main force continued east, following behind Sun Liren's main force to pursue the Japanese.

Sakai Matsudaira rode a horse; how could he have imagined that the Miyagawa Rengo would scatter so quickly?

The cavalry unit sent by the 27th Division to meet Lieutenant General Sakai Matsudaira arrived, picked up this old Japanese, had him mount a war horse, and prepared to gallop to Dangshan Fortress.

But this old Japanese Sakai Matsudaira had just mounted the horse when a string of bullets came from the distance.

Then came the rumbling sound of artillery fire.

"Japanese infantry, twelve o'clock direction, distance one thousand meters!"

A vanguard of the tank force led by Sun Liren arrived first, directly discovered the huge Japanese force gathered here, and then opened fire without hesitation.

A medium anti-aircraft vehicle modified from a Sanhao Tank, with four mm cannons on top, opened full fire on the dense Japanese before them!

This place was already close to the Japanese Army's Dangshan Fortress; if they didn't strike here now, there would be no chance.

The vehicle-mounted machine guns also strafed the distant Japanese crowds.

The Youth Army's tank force got closer and closer, crashing straight into the Japanese crowds without hesitation, causing a huge riot in the Japanese ranks.

Sakai Matsudaira's war horse was startled by the artillery fire; the war horse reared up, directly throwing this old Japanese off the horse, he fell to the ground, nearly fainted, and suddenly lay unconscious on the ground.

Two medium anti-aircraft vehicles drove to the side of the Japanese cavalry; war horses, as the Japanese Army's most reliable means of transportation at present, must be destroyed first!

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang~!

A large number of mm shells shot into the Japanese cavalry ranks; Japanese and war horses were torn into four divisions and five splits, and the surviving war horses and cavalry were dazed, scattering with a boom, no one caring about Lieutenant General Sakai Matsudaira lying on the ground gasping for breath.

More and more Youth Army tanks arrived later, flanking toward both sides of the Japanese ranks.

In the air, Youth Army fighters carpet-bombed, causing huge panic among the Japanese.

Inside the distant Dangshan Fortress, the division commanders of the 26th and 27th Divisions sat in command here, listening to the commotion in the distance.

26th Division Commander Lieutenant General Atsushi Tanaka asked: "Should we send troops out to support them!"

27th Division Commander Lieutenant General Honma swallowed: "Unnecessary, we have already sent out a relief force; helping the 21st Division is a favor, not helping is our duty, we just need to hold this Dangshan Fortress, no need to go out and send ourselves to death!"

26th Division Commander nodded; this Dangshan Fortress was built by the little devils through large-scale construction, developed over half a year.

The core was for anti-tank and anti-armor use.

Inside the fortress, firepower was abundant, with many anti-tank cannons installed.

Outside the fortress, trenches several meters wide and dozens of kilometers long were dug to prevent tanks from crossing.

It was to prevent Lv Muzhi's Youth Army from retaking Xuzhou along the Longhai Railway.

"Transmit the order down: hold our own fortress, preserve strength, no reckless sorties allowed!"

Sun Liren was now leading armored troops, ordering them to maneuver onto the Japanese Army's retreat route, blocking the road the devils were retreating toward Dangshan Fortress, awaiting Zhou Weiguo's infantry for support.

Tanks and tanks directly rolled over the Japanese soldiers' limbs, like ancient cavalry, charging through the Japanese crowd.

The Japanese Army seemed to be holding a marathon race with Sun Liren's armored troops, as if competing to see who would reach Dangshan Fortress first.

But this marathon race was indeed quite bloody; Sun Liren, as a "participant," rolled over many Japanese soldiers "participating together" along the way.

Soon, Sun Liren's armored troops, over one hundred and fifty tanks, rolled over the Japanese force of nearly ten thousand directly once, ran ahead of the devils, and finally began to turn around.

The little devils saw that the Youth Army's tank force had actually run ahead of them, and they all turned back, scattering toward the north and south directions.

Zhou Weiguo's troops soon arrived, chasing and capturing the fleeing Japanese soldiers everywhere.

Lieutenant General Sakai Matsudaira lay on the ground for a long time without recovering his breath; when he finally caught his breath and sat up, he discovered that his surroundings were already surrounded by Youth Army soldiers.

Sun Liren's tank stopped in front of Sakai Matsudaira, the tank commander leaned half his body out from the commander's position, and loudly asked: "Lieutenant General Sakai, are you ready to farm for the Youth Corps?"