Chapter 498

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Colonel Ruan Linqing led his troops to capture a Thai regiment, and the news reached Hanoi several hours later.

The Combined Command Headquarters was jubilant.

With the Youth Army's intervention, the situation in this national defense war of Zhongnan State finally began to turn around.

"Great! With the Youth Army intervening, Zhongnan State has nothing to worry about!" Prime Minister Fan Jing's unease over the past few days finally vanished with the good news.

Lv Muzhi compiled information from all sides and found the Japanese Army's behavior truly abnormal.

Lv Muzhi's air force had patrolled near the railway line, shooting down a reconnaissance aircraft sent by the Japanese Navy, while another Japanese Army reconnaissance aircraft escaped.

By rights, the Japanese Army should have known the Youth Army had sent tank units to attack the Thai First Division.

But the Thai First Division seemed unaware, waiting in place to be beaten, and the Japanese Army sent not a single soldier or round of ammunition to support them.

And in subsequent operations, not a single Japanese soldier was captured or killed; obviously, the Japanese Army, relying on their vehicles, had run ahead of the Thai Army.

Doing this was clearly sending the Thai Army to their deaths!

"It seems a blackmailing drama is being staged between Japan and Thailand!"

Sun Liren thought for a moment: "The Japanese are cunning enough; I think this is more like using someone else's knife to kill."

"We've bled the Thai Army dry, and the Japanese are moving into Thailand to take over the nest!"

Prime Minister Fan Jing was very pleased: "Doing this isn't bad for us either; no matter how you calculate, we can win this national defense war!"

"After this war, the Zhongnan Army and the Youth Army should strengthen exchange and cooperation!"

Strengthening cooperation between the two armies had already been discussed, such as stationing a large number of staff officers in the Zhongnan State's army to help train personnel and weapons, and so on......

And the Youth Army's scope of activity was no longer strictly limited to north of the Red River.

However, Lv Muzhi's attention had already been drawn by the Japanese Army's movements; the Japanese Army had already begun to impatiently invade Thailand.

Obviously, a storm launched by the Japanese Army would soon sweep across the entire Southeast Asia region.

One month later, Bangkok, Thailand.

The Japanese Army's massive fleet sailed into the port, claiming to conduct a "friendly visit" to Thailand.

The scale of this friendly visit was truly too large; the Mutsu Battleship, accompanied by over a dozen cruisers and destroyers, entered Thailand's territorial waters.

Bangkok's port could not accommodate so many warships; many warships could only anchor in the outer sea.

Although Thailand also had a navy, that little bit of assets was truly not enough for one salvo of the Japanese Navy.

Helplessly, Thailand's highest leader, Prime Minister and Marshal Lawan accepted Japan's "friendly visit."

The Japanese cruisers and destroyers sailed into Bangkok's port, disembarking a regiment of Japanese soldiers from the ships, along with a large number of automobiles, tanks, motorcycles, and military supplies.

Where was this a friendly visit? Wasn't this just coming to settle down?

Marshal Lawan stood on the wharf, watching Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito, the Fifth Division Commander, walk down from the warship.

"Lieutenant General... welcome!" Marshal Lawan squeezed out these few words very unwillingly.

Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito was instead very happy: "Marshal Lawan, I am delighted that you personally came to welcome me!"

"I have heard of the plight of the Thai Royal Army; regarding this, I feel very regretful!"

Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito glossed over it with his words, but in reality it was a disaster for Thailand.

The Thai First Division ultimately could not escape back to the country; half of its forces were annihilated, and half captured.

And when the Youth Army and the Zhongnan State Army advanced to beneath Vientiane City, the two hundred thousand Thai Army planned to abandon the death defense of Vientiane City, choosing to cross the Mekong River southward and withdraw back to the country.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese engineers dismantled the bridge after crossing the river, actually blowing up the floating bridge, resulting in these twenty thousand people finally being killed or captured, with only a few hundred swimming back to the country.

Afterwards, Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito claimed it was a misunderstanding and had those few engineers shot to settle the matter.

But the Thai Royal Army had only twenty thousand people left; on the land of over five hundred thousand square kilometers nationwide, only this force was stationed.

The Japanese Army took the opportunity to blackmail, using the pretext of protecting Thailand from Zhongnan State's attack, and under the name of "friendly visit," forcibly stationed in Thailand.

Regarding this, Marshal Lawan had no choice but to put on a smiling face toward Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito: "Thank you, the Japanese Empire extended a helping hand at my most dangerous moment."

After speaking, Marshal Lawan also shook hands with Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito, and the two saluted each other.

"Is this regiment of soldiers used to defend my Thailand?" Marshal Lawan asked.

Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito coughed: "Cough cough, that's right; not only them, my entire Fifth Division will move here!"

"What?!" Marshal Lawan was greatly shocked.

After replenishing its manpower, the Fifth Division's strength was expanded again to thirty thousand, more than the total number of Thailand's entire army!

"Don't you welcome them?" Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito asked with dissatisfaction.

"Hehe, how could we not welcome them? It's just that so many people, it's not easy to arrange garrisons..."

Marshal Lawan dared not show dissatisfaction.

Now it was a weak country being bullied.

He had to worry about the Zhongnan State Army crossing the national border to retaliate for Thailand's previous invasion.

And worry about the Japanese using force to directly wipe out his own army.

The current Japanese Army's methods toward Thailand were still relatively mild.

And they fought under the name of joining hands to defend against Zhongnan State, which could also fool the domestic people a bit.

Lieutenant General Nakamura Akito sighed: "I have my difficulties too!"

"I was originally stationed in Saigon; although Zhongnan State did not send a large army to attack, they often sent guerrilla forces to harass."

"You've seen guerrillas, right? But you've absolutely never seen guerrillas equipped with submachine guns and rocket artillery."

"Plus, the locals in Saigon are ungovernable, and much of the grain cannot be requisitioned; I truly haven't slept a wink in Saigon."

"After thinking it over, it's better to directly move the Fifth Division to Thailand."

"First, to help you withstand Zhongnan State's harassment; second, to further highlight the friendship between Japan and Thailand!"

Nakamura Akito laughed heartily, patting his hand onto Marshal Lawan's shoulder.

Marshal Lawan could only force a smile, likewise placing his hand on Nakamura Akito's shoulder: "Long live Thai-Japanese friendship, together realizing East Asian prosperity!"

Crack crack, the reporters hurriedly snapped this scene and published it in the newspapers.

The news spread throughout the world.

The Japanese footsteps came from Zhongnan State in the East to Thailand, clearly determined to stick a foot into Southeast Asia.

Regarding this behavior, Britain, the United States, and other countries severely condemned it.

The United States announced an oil embargo against Japan, while persuading the Dutch East Indies to stop exporting oil to Japan.

This move could be said to have struck Japan's fatal weakness.

According to Japan's domestic oil reserves, they could last at most one year; after one year, the Japanese Army's vehicles would no longer run.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese Army had only two choices.

One was to obediently wait until the oil reserves were exhausted, and the army would be defeated without fighting.

Two was to exert full force, bring Southeast Asia into the bag, and independently mine oil from the land of the Dutch East Indies.

Obviously, Japan chose the latter; they secretly organized the Southern Army and expanded the Navy just to keep the chariots of aggression running.