Chapter 516: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 526: Pincer Attack on Matsumoto Regiment and Ise Reg

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

"Good, good, well said!" After hearing Lv Muzhi's statement, the old man quickly spoke up to praise him.

"Wei Yue has righteousness in his heart; I am deeply moved. Let all past grievances vanish like smoke!"

Regarding the old man's statement, Lv Muzhi naturally understood this was just empty talk.

An innocent man is guiltless, but possessing a jade brings him crime.

In the old man's eyes, possessing a powerful Youth Army was Lv Muzhi's greatest sin; how could their conflict be completely resolved with just a sentence or two?

However, Lv Muzhi naturally replied politely: "Of course. The most urgent matter now is to rescue the Expeditionary Force and prevent them from being annihilated by the Japanese Army."

At the same time, guard the border and stop the Japanese Army from invading Yunnan from Burma. What about Song Xilian?"

Upon hearing this, the old man quickly turned and waved to Song Xilian: "Commander Song, come over here!"

Song Xilian was currently the Commander-in-Chief of the Eleventh Group Army and concurrently served as the Commander of Kunming Defense.

His Eleventh Group Army originally had the 71st Army and the 66th Army.

Now the 66th Army had been incorporated into the Expeditionary Force, so Song Xilian still had the 71st Army, totaling three divisions, at his disposal.

These three divisions of the 71st Army were no ordinary units; their designations were the 36th, 87th, and 88th Divisions, formerly the only three genuine German-equipped divisions directly under the Central Government on the Songhu Battlefield.

Although the personnel inside had been replenished multiple times and some designations had been repeatedly abolished and restarted, it was enough to show how much the old man valued Song Xilian and the 71st Army.

"Commander Lv!" Song Xilian walked forward and saluted Lv Muzhi.

Lv Muzhi asked: "Has the 71st Army already marched toward the southwestern border region?"

Song Xilian nodded: "They were dispatched long ago, but due to marching speed, they won't reach Burma to provide support for a while."

"As long as they are dispatched, try to speed up."

"I will airdrop my Airborne Brigade into Lashio to ensure Lashio is not occupied by the Japanese Army, waiting for reinforcements to arrive at Lashio."

Song Xilian saluted: "Yes! I will immediately urge the vanguard of the 36th Division to speed up and enter Burma to provide support!"

Lv Muzhi looked toward the old man: "The troops we are sending to the Burma region include both the Youth Army and Song Xilian's 71st Army."

"These troops are outside the sequence of the Xia Expeditionary Force and have not greeted the British, so they shouldn't cause you any trouble, right?"

Upon hearing this, the old man realized Lv Muzhi was speaking with hidden meaning to him!

"How much trouble could it be? I'd love to swallow the British alive and skin them; I don't care whether the British are satisfied or not!"

"If the British are dissatisfied, just pull his soldiers back to Burma to reason with them."

"Wei Yue! Send troops and planes to support Lashio quickly; the Central Government will only remember your merits!"

"With so many people witnessing at the airport, if there is a problem and the British hold someone accountable, the Central Government will take full responsibility and will never push the blame onto the Youth Army!"

Seeing the old man express himself so readily, Lv Muzhi looked toward Song Xilian: "I am concentrating trucks at various factories in the southwest; I have already gathered over nine hundred trucks, and they are being transported here."

"Use these trucks to pull your vanguard to Burma to fight as soon as possible and defeat the Japanese offensive!"

Song Xilian was overjoyed: "The troops lack transport capacity; Commander Lv, you sacrifice the small family for the country, truly solving my urgent problem!"

Lv Muzhi gripped Song Xilian's hand: "Du Yuming wrote to me not long ago, telling me about some grievances he suffered abroad; I felt very uncomfortable in my heart."

"Fortunately, the Expeditionary Force has not yet suffered major casualties. Now that the British and Americans have both left, we Whampoa people must be even more united to give the Japanese Army a heavy blow!"

Seeing Lv Muzhi asking for nothing in return, a warm current rose in the old man's heart: "I will ask the Flying Tigers to assist in escorting your transport aircraft; this is one of the few ways I can help!"

Lv Muzhi's transport aircraft loaded the third batch of Youth Army paratroopers in Kunming, and under the escort of the Flying Tigers, flew to Lashio again.

According to Lv Muzhi's estimate, his Airborne First Brigade would be able to complete all drops into Lashio for combat by tomorrow afternoon.

Plus Du Yuming's Fifth Army retreating from Mandalay to Lashio, and Song Xilian's 71st Army marching from the country to Lashio, could ensure the Japanese Army could not invade Xia Guo's territory.

Over the skies of Lashio, the third wave of paratroopers was dropped at dusk.

On the small airfield of Lashio, a transport aircraft landed.

The Brigade Commander of the Youth Army Airborne Brigade, Major General Lv Ziqing, got off the plane, and Lieutenant General Zhang Zhen, the Commander of the 66th Army, personally came to welcome him.

The biggest reason Zhang Zhen attached such importance was that the Youth Army paratroopers were now the absolute main force defending Lashio.

Three waves of paratroopers dropped over two thousand four hundred Youth Army soldiers, while Army Commander Zhang Zhen had only a few hundred troops he could mobilize.

Plus Lv Ziqing was Lv Muzhi's eldest nephew, so Zhang Zhen naturally valued him greatly.

"Brigade Commander Lv is truly a godsend! I admire you!" Zhang Zhen stepped forward and shook hands with Lv Ziqing.

Lv Ziqing gripped the other's hand: "Although Army Commander Zhang has no available troops at hand, you remained calm in the face of danger. When my vanguard battalion landed, I saw you personally leading troops to burn supplies, avoiding leaving these supplies to the Japanese Army."

Zhang Zhen smiled bitterly: "I almost burned all the supplies. When the Youth Army arrived, I started fighting the fire with all my might. The entire city's military and civilians put in great effort before extinguishing the flames."

Lv Ziqing nodded, turned to a major officer and said: "Let the transport aircraft fly back."

The major's expression changed: "Brigade Commander, this transport aircraft brought you here. Why not leave this transport aircraft in Lashio? In case the situation turns bad, you and Army Commander Zhang could also..."

Lv Ziqing insisted: "Let the pilot fly the transport aircraft back. Transport capacity is limited; use it to transport more paratroopers. There is no need to leave a plane for us."

"I am here, to live and die with my brothers!"

——————

In the dense forest, two Japanese Army colonels sat under a big tree resting.

"Regiment Commander of Matsumoto Regiment! It's getting dark. We have no time left; let's night attack Lashio!" Regiment Commander of Ise urged.

The two light-equipped vanguard regiments of the 56th Division, with over six thousand men arriving here, had now joined together.

Regiment Commander of Matsumoto Regiment said helplessly: "We can only do this. According to the Division Commander's intelligence, Dai Anlan's 200th Division is pursuing us from behind! What a madman!"

Regiment Commander of Ise had a hateful expression: "Behind Dai Anlan, there is also the main force of Du Yuming's Fifth Army. I see this is Du Yuming's arrangement. They are completely determined to die if they fail, actually daring to directly pursue us."

Regiment Commander of Matsumoto Regiment stood up: "Fortunately, the Division Commander's tank units are pursuing Du Yuming's Fifth Army!"

"As long as we occupy Lashio, we can trap Dailan and Du Yuming, and the Division Commander will come around from behind to encircle them—victory will be ours!"

Regiment Commander of Ise also stood up: "Exactly! Use night battle against the Youth Army! This is a tactic we excel at!"

"If we don't take Lashio in time, I fear we will be pincer-attacked by the Youth Army and Dailan from front and rear!"

The Matsumoto Regiment and the Jingxiu Regiment agreed to launch a night attack simultaneously, storm into Lashio City in one fell swoop, annihilate the more than two thousand Youth Army troops inside the city, and block Du Yuming's Fifth Army's route back to the country!

——————

Squeak~ squeak~ squeak~

In the dark jungles of Northern Burma, unknown insects chirped everywhere.

The Japanese Army moved like ghosts, taking neither the main road nor the path, but traveling only through the jungle, distinguishing the road ahead by starlight and moonlight alone.

The Japanese Army had even removed the bayonets from their rifles, to prevent being discovered by reflected moonlight.

Just as the Japanese Army was about to emerge from the forest, a Japanese scout stopped, and the hundreds of Japanese soldiers behind him also stopped in unison.

"Squadron Leader Takeshi, after leaving the jungle, the small hill about one hundred and fifty meters ahead is the Youth Army's position! Take this position, and we can directly attack Lashio City!"

Squadron Leader Takeshi looked at the scout and asked softly: "Is the intelligence accurate?"

The scout nodded: "Very accurate. I personally reconnoitered it during the day, but this stretch of over one hundred meters has no cover at all—it's extremely dangerous!"

Squadron Leader Takeshi gritted his teeth and looked at the Japanese soldiers beside him: "Pass the word down: everyone fix bayonets, charge straight up, no shouting, and absolutely no flares!"

These words were passed back again and again, and over one hundred and eighty Japanese soldiers successively drew bayonets from their waists and fixed them to their rifles.

Squadron Leader Takeshi drew his command sword, and without shouting, simply waved forward.

Immediately, over one hundred and eighty devils raised their rifles and charged out of the jungle, rushing toward the small hill over one hundred meters away.

The Japanese Army did not dare shout, but ran with their heads down through the darkness.

In the Japanese Army's plan, this squadron would charge the hill ahead of them, and might be discovered by the Youth Army at a distance of thirty or forty meters.

The Japanese squadron would suffer some losses, but by taking the enemy by surprise, they could still storm the hill held by the Youth Army and force them into close-quarters combat and hand-to-hand fighting.

Subsequently, a main force of over a thousand men from behind the jungle would seize this opportunity to launch a full-scale attack and break through the firepower blockade outside Lashio City in one fell swoop.

Squadron Leader Takeshi held his command sword high, his feet seeming to fly, running faster and faster.

Suddenly an explosion sounded in his ears, but Squadron Leader Takeshi ignored it and kept running.

When the second explosion sounded, the Youth Army's flares were already hanging high in the night sky.

It's over! We've been discovered!

It turned out the Youth Army had laid landmines at the edge of the jungle; some Japanese soldiers were lucky enough not to trigger them, some triggered tripwire mines, and some stepped on pressure mines.

The explosions of the landmines directly conveyed military intelligence to the Youth Army.

Rat-tat-tat!

The various firepower points of the Youth Army on the hill began to open fire.

Under the illumination of the flares, the M1919A4 Machine Gunner swept fire at the Japanese soldiers running desperately down the hill.

Flares were fired one after another into the night sky.

All Japanese soldiers were exposed without concealment on the open ground, and the Youth Army used Garand Rifles to pick off the Japanese soldiers with aimed shots.

Lashio had military supplies stockpiled by the Expeditionary Force, among them relatively portable mortars.

There were both 82-millimeter mortars produced domestically by Xia Guo and some 60-millimeter mortars supported by the United States.

These mortars were used to defend Lashio, and now were used to deal with the Japanese Army coming for a night raid.

Boom boom boom!

Mortar shells exploded all over the open ground, blowing the charging Japanese soldiers into the air one by one.

Beaten to this extent, the Japanese Army still did not fire back, carrying out the charge order.

Squadron Leader Takeshi raised his military sword and began shouting to encourage them.

"For Emperor Tenghuang, Banzai!"

The Japanese Army, bayonets fixed, could only grit their teeth and charge forward.

But under the dense bullet rain of the Paratrooper Unit, this was all in vain.

As the machine guns ceased fire, the vanguard of the Japanese Army's night raid force, over one hundred and eighty men, was totally annihilated.

Regiment Commander of Matsumoto Regiment in the rear knew his night raid objective had been exposed, and could only order a strong attack!

The Matsumoto Regiment and the Jingxiu Regiment split into three routes and advanced toward Lashio City to attack.

Inside Lashio City, Brigade Commander Lv Ziqing and Army Commander Zhang Zhen, upon hearing the news of the Japanese night raid, were constantly dispatching troops to various defensive positions to strengthen the defenses.

Lv Ziqing thought of the Unity Party Guerrillas, which Lv Muzhi had instructed about—a force that could be used.

"Army Commander Zhang Zhen, immediately request the Unity Party's Shan Guerrillas to harass the Japanese Army's rear."

"They are familiar with the terrain and will be of great help to us."

"The Japanese Army, under dark conditions, facing attacks by the Unity Party Guerrillas, will easily misjudge the enemy situation!"

Zhang Zhen and the messenger of the Shan Guerrillas had met before, and both sides had agreed on a contact point.

"Good! I'll send someone to contact them immediately!"

——————

Actually, there was no need for the Youth Army and Zhang Zhen to speak up; the Unity Party's Shan Guerrillas had already begun to act.

They had received the highest directive from the Central Government of the Unity Party, to prevent the Japanese Army from occupying Shan State.

This highest directive was issued by Sun Liren to the Prime Minister of Zhongnan State......

When the Japanese Army night-raided the Youth Army's position, the Unity Party Guerrillas roamed and attacked behind the Japanese Army.

This was a special guerrilla force, more than half of whom were monks wearing red robes.

In Burma, where everyone chants Buddhist prayers, monks were an excellent cover identity.

These monks possessed both captured British weapons and Sten Submachine Guns, Hanyang 88s, and bolt-action rifles from Xia Guo.

Rat-tat-tat!

Boom boom boom!

Behind the Japanese Army's Matsumoto Regiment and Jingxiu Regiment, fires broke out everywhere, filled with the sounds of hand grenade explosions and gunshots.

As locals, the Shan Guerrillas were familiar with the terrain. With ten years of rich experience fighting the British colonial army, they led the Japanese Army around in circles in the jungle.

The Siden Submachine Guns in the guerrillas' hands had strong firepower in the close-range jungle environment, leaving the Japanese Army dazed and confused.

In the dim environment, facing such firepower, the Japanese Army mistakenly believed they were surrounded by the Youth Army.

For a time they even fell into a situation of being attacked from all sides, and the offensive targeting the Youth Army weakened.

This greatly reduced the pressure on Lv Ziqing and his paratroopers.

Fighting until the next morning, the Japanese Army still did not break into Lashio City.

Lv Muzhi airdropped another eight hundred paratrooper troops into Lashio City, further strengthening the Xia State defense forces before the Matsumoto Regiment and Jingxiu Regiment.

And behind these two regiments, Dai Anlan's 200 Division had already caught up!

Thus, these two lightly equipped regiments of fewer than six thousand men were pincer-attacked front and rear by the Xia State Army.

In front were more than three thousand paratroopers airdropped by Lv Ziqing; behind were Dai Anlan's 200 Division with eight thousand men remaining.

More than sixty kilometers behind Dai Anlan, Du Yuming led the main force of the Fifth Army and stopped directly in his tracks.

On the road Du Yuming had also recruited a scattered division of the 66th Army; he did not plan to advance north to join Dai Anlan in a pincer attack on the Japanese Army's Matsumoto and Jingxiu Regiments.

An infantry regiment and a tank battalion of the 56th Division were closely pursuing behind him.

Du Yuming decided to block and even repel them here, buying time for Lv Ziqing's paratroopers and Dai Anlan's 200 Division, so that their two forces could encircle and annihilate the Matsumoto and Jingxiu Regiments.

"Cable Lu Commander and Dai Anlan: I will deploy defenses along the line from Xipu to Mengya to block the pursuing mechanized units of the 56th Division."

"Request the Youth Army paratroopers and the 200 Division coordinate to annihilate the Matsumoto Regiment and Jingxiu Regiment around Lashio, ensuring the Expeditionary Force's retreat route back home is smooth sailing!"