Chapter 140: Dai Anlan to Lashu

Lashu, inside Jiang Anguo's temporary command post.

"Hang this knife up for me," Jiang Anguo casually handed a bright shining command sword to the guard beside him.

It is the symbol of a Japanese Army regiment commander, a trophy he seized in Bamo from Kumike Seiichi. Besides the regiment command sword, Jiang Anguo also collected that unlucky man's binoculars and sidearm.

Now it may look like just a pile of metal, worth little, but fifty years later it will be bragging material before the next generation. Look, this is what grandpa snatched from a Japanese major's hand back then!

"By the way, ask Zai An's Fourth Regiment Song Mengqin whether this Zai An artillery strike found a Japanese officer's sword," Jiang Anguo suddenly remembered something and asked casually.

Man!

It's greed.

Having a staff officer's command sword, still not satisfied.

"Yes," the Messenger immediately took the order and left.

To be honest, Jiang Anguo hasn't properly annihilated a full Japanese regiment yet. He's actually quite curious: if you really cut out a regiment, what does the legendary Japanese regiment flag look like? Is it true, as rumors say, that burning the flag would completely collapse the unit's command structure?

Unfortunately, he had hoped for a thrilling showdown with the 56th Division, but Shi Xiaomao's few shells knocked out the enemy command post and drove the Japanese back.

Actually, this can't be blamed on Jiang Anguo for not achieving a big battle; the Southern Army never intended to keep fighting in Myanmar.

From the start, the Southern Army's strategic goal wasn't northern Myanmar; it was just to have the Fifteenth Army seize a line in Mandalay.

At this point, the Southern Army's strategic focus has shifted to New Guinea and the vast Australian continent. In Myanmar, all they need is to cut the Dian-Mian Highway and complete the mission.

What they didn't expect was that the British Army was so vulnerable, and although the Expeditionary Force had elite units like the 200th Division, the other troops were uneven in combat power and command was chaotic, allowing the Japanese Army to advance unimpeded.

Fortunately, Jiang Anguo sent troops to block the 56th Division tightly and stabilized the situation at Lashu.

In Chongqing, a Radio Order also told Lin Wei to return to Lashu to take charge, but the high official was too timid to set foot in Myanmar. As a result, up to now the highest-ranking officers at Lashu are only two colonels: Jiang Anguo and the armored corps' Hu Xianqun.

In fact, under the support of Luobo, Hu Xianqun is led by Jiang Anguo.

The key is as a Tank Soldier: without tanks it's impossible, and Jiang Anguo happens to have tanks, while the Independent Regiment has few tank drivers.

Jiang Anguo arrived at the command post he built at the airport, looking at the massive operational map. He held red and blue pencils, marking each confirmed intelligence symbol, especially in Xibu, where he drew a heavy blue circle around the 200th Division's position.

He hadn't prepared to inquire further about each unit when hurried footsteps came from the doorway. Meng Fanle burst in, sweating profusely, even forgetting to report, and shouted loudly: "Regiment Commander! Dai Anlan senior colonel has arrived!"

"What?!"

Jiang Anguo was looking at the map, and the pen in his hand fell onto the chart.

Dai Anlan? My own brother‑in‑law?

Without time to think further, he rushed out of the command post toward the airport.

The runway was muddy after the rain, but he couldn't care less.

In the distance, beside a transport plane that had just landed, medical staff were hurriedly carrying a stretcher down. On the stretcher, a hand was raised high, holding an IV bottle, the saline dripping drop by drop.

Jiang Anguo sprinted a few steps forward and at a glance saw the person on the stretcher.

That typical square‑shaped face was now so pale it had no hue of blood, brows tightly knit; even in a coma one could see he endured immense pain. The bandages around his waist and abdomen were stained dark red with blood.

"Commander, we need to get Senior Colonel Dai to the hospital immediately!" Doctor Lei Ao said, arriving first.

Jiang Anguo nodded and said gravely, "Alright, hurry. I'll be there right away."

The hospital wasn't located inside the airport nor in Lashu's crowded city, but was set up at the former supplemental barracks camp Jiang Anguo had.

This was purely a tactical consideration. The airport is the primary target when the two armies clash; the Japanese Army's first wave of bombing was certainly to destroy air superiority. If the hospital were also at the airport, it would be a joke with wounded lives, handing heads to the Japanese.

Jiang Anguo then jumped onto a Jeep, tightly following the truck transporting Dai Anlan.

The wheels kicked up dust, and Jiang Anguo's heart rose with it.

Lashu's field hospital was fairly standard; though it couldn't match a rear‑area regular hospital, it was far better than Xibu. Xibu had nothing, even just after a round of bomber "care," the city was littered with collapsed houses and rubble. Getting effective treatment there was an impossible task.

That Dai Anlan can now be transported to Lashu is a blessing in misfortune.

The convoy soon reached the hospital. Doctor Li Qing, already prepared, was dressed in surgical attire, waiting at the doorway. The bullet was still inside Dai Anlan's body and required immediate surgery.

This operation was performed jointly by Li Qing and Lei Ao, two top doctors produced by the system.

Jiang Anguo did not enter the operating room, but stood in the corridor, pacing anxiously. Time passed minute by minute, each minute feeling like a century.

Finally, after about two hours, the red light above the operating room door went out.

Li Qing and Lei Ao pushed the door open, removed their masks, their faces showing a hint of fatigue but a relaxed expression.

Jiang Anguo immediately went up, grabbed Li Qing's arm, and asked, "Li Qing, Lei Ao, how's Senior Colonel Dai?"

Dai Anlan is actually the husband of Jiang Anguo's elder sister Jiang Anwen, making him Jiang Anguo's brother‑in‑law. Though Jiang Anguo had seen Dai Anlan in photos before, and his time‑traveler status made the relationship feel odd, the most unbelievable thing for Jiang Anguo was that uncle of his.

"Commander, rest assured," Li Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead, smiled, and said, "The surgery was successful, the bullet has been removed, Senior Colonel Dai is out of mortal danger, and just needs a period of recuperation."

"Huh—"

Jiang Anguo let out a breath, feeling a huge stone in his chest finally set down.

"That's good, that's good," he said repeatedly, "From now on we'll need to trouble you, take good care of Senior Colonel Dai, and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Rest assured, Commander, we understand," Lei Ao nodded solemnly.

Jiang Anguo, through the glass window, glanced at the still‑comatose Dai Anlan on the bed, his eyes complex.

Dai Anlan truly could fight, and he fought hard battles. In the original timeline, when Xibu was blocked by the Japanese and a breakout attempted, Dai Anlan was severely wounded, eventually causing the 200th Division to retreat north, crossing that deadly primeval forest, and he heroically fell in battle on the way home.

But here, with Jiang Anguo and the Independent Regiment's advanced medical team, Dai Anlan's life, Yama no longer can take him. The flag of the 200th Division will never fall!

(What I can't hold back is the Japanese 13th Division at Yichang; back then I studied in that division, blocked at the entrance to Sichuan.)