Chapter 184: Let the United States Send More Supplies Over

After learning that the 56th Division's Division Commander had been captured, Jin Gang Zong Si Lang sent telegrams respectively to the 148th Regiment at Xibu, Colonel Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu, and the 113th Regiment at Taunggyi.

Concerning the two regiments under the 56th Division, Jin Gang Zong Si Lang gave no concealment and informed Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu and Songjing Xiu Zhi of the 56th Division's present situation, and he himself also prepared to move north to chase the China Army.

"The Division Commander has been captured alive by the China Army's special forces; our main force has scattered. I will lead the remnants north to pursue, swearing to retake the Division Commander. If there is no subsequent radio order, each unit should decide for itself, do not cling to battle, and preserve the 56th Division's spark."

The last telegram was also the one in which Jin Gang Zong Si Lang decided to sacrifice himself.

This made both men realize the situation was unfavorable; the 148th Regiment, because the th Division's strong assault on Xibu forced it to retreat into the mountains north of Xibu, prepared to cooperate with the 56th Division's main force to attack the th Division's flank.

In the end, unexpectedly, even the Division Commander was taken away by the Expeditionary Force in one fell swoop.

Colonel Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu, commander of the 148th Regiment, stood before the ruins, the telegram paper in his hand crumpled. The once‑prosperous small town had long become scorched earth, and between broken walls and shattered tiles the smoke had not cleared, the air thick with corpse stench and the smell of gunpowder.

"Baka!" he shouted, smashing his fist into a half‑broken stone pillar, his knuckles bleeding.

The plan to seize Lashu collapsed completely, the Division Commander was captured, Jin Gang sacrificed himself… the 56th Division, it's over!

But there was no other way.

So, before Dai Anlan led his troops back to Xibu, Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu issued a retreat order.

At the same time, the Japanese Army's 15th Army commander Iida Shojirou also issued instructions to the 148th Regiment, ordering it to retreat to the area near Mandalay.

The Japanese clearly also knew that fighting the Chongqing Army's main force in the northern Burmese mountains was not a wise decision.

Xibu was already a small town; over two thousand Little Devils were consumed daily beyond count, and during the struggle for Xibu many of the local Burmese population also perished. Consequently, given Xibu's present state, it could not sustain so many Japanese soldiers, and the 56th Division's logistical supply was already difficult.

And the 113th Regiment stationed at Taunggyi faced difficulties even greater than those of Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu's 148th Regiment, the same problem of material supply.

Taunggyi is over five hundred li from Tonggu—or even Mandalay—and the mountain roads make material transport extremely difficult.

At that time the Allied Forces, preparing for the Mandalay Battle, learned that Taunggyi had been occupied by the Japanese; Du Yuming personally led the th Division and soldiers from the Fifth Army headquarters to assault Taunggyi, but after holding it for only one day they voluntarily abandoned it and issued a retreat order.

However, the results were clear: the defending Japanese 113th Regiment at Taunggyi lost more than one‑third of its manpower and withdrew from Taunggyi.

The main point, however, is that the original commander of the 113th Regiment, Colonel DaSuJiaShi, was killed in action when the Expeditionary Force attacked Taunggyi, slain by mortar fire from the regiment's own Eighth Company.

Of course, the entire regiment and the th Division, including Du Yuming, were unaware of this intelligence at the time.

Jiang Anguo also, because within the WarSystem he received a points notification, knew that the Little Devil's regiment commander was still very valuable.

The staff officer of the 113th Regiment, Songjing Xiu Zhi, temporarily assumed command of the unit; Songjing Xiu Zhi was extremely clever and also possessed the ruthlessness common to all Little Devils.

Even without receiving a retreat order, he had already led the remaining forces of the 113th Regiment to withdraw toward Taunggyi.

At the same time, on the retreat route, he received a radio order from headquarters, which spared him from being sent to a military tribunal after the war.

Of course, what he didn't know was that the road he took toward Tonggu would be more painful than going to a military tribunal!

Night fell.

The Independent Regiment's temporary camp fire flickered weakly.

Jiang Anguo leaned against a tree trunk, wiping his sniper rifle; the damp environment caused great wear on firearms, and he suddenly laughed, "Meng Fanle, are you thinking about Xiao Zui again?"

Meng Fanle, who was bent over organizing the ammo box, flushed red at the words and stammered, "Regiment commander, I… I didn't…"

"Stop it." Jiang Anguo raised an eyebrow, "Last time you took my two cans of Beef to the Lashu hospital 'to visit patients', did you think I didn't know? You even said it was for my sister; is Xiao Zui your sister?"

The surrounding soldiers laughed boisterously.

The veterans from Chanda all knew that Meng Fanle's feelings for the hospital nurse Xiao Zui were no longer a secret. And although Jiang Anguo was, in name, Xiao Zui's "older brother", he actually regarded her only as a younger sister, with no other thoughts.

Meng Fanle scratched his head and laughed foolishly, then straightened his expression and lowered his voice: "Regiment commander… there's something I've been wanting to ask."

He looked left and right, confirming no one was near, then said: "That telegram… why did you tell the Japanese about the movements of the American Aircraft Carrier?"

No more than five people in the entire regiment knew about this, because the one who sent the telegram was Meng Fanle.

Jiang Anguo, the moment he captured the Japanese 56th Division's radio station, had already thought of doing this; he knew clearly that the Japanese Navy could not defeat the American Navy, and the disparity in national power meant that one or two victories only delayed Japan's defeat.

Jiang Anguo stopped his actions, stared at the dancing flames of the campfire ahead, and after a long pause spoke:

"This war has gone on too long, too hard, and too many have died," he said in a low voice. "The British use us as a shield, the Americans use us as a stumbling block. They want us to hold back a million Japanese troops, while they themselves build aircraft and tanks in the rear."

Jiang Anguo had one more point unsaid: the Americans only wanted to hide behind the Japanese to profit from the war, but watching Japan gradually swallow Chinese territory made him realize the danger; once Japan truly occupied China, it would become a massive behemoth capable of challenging the United States across the Pacific.

After Japan began invading China, the Americans continuously sold oil, rubber, steel and other strategic materials to Japan.

It shows the Americans wanted to stand behind the scenes and reap the greatest profit from the war.

Only when the Americans deemed Japan's ambitions too great, seeking to move south into Indochina, did they begin to use diplomatic policy to force the Japanese out of the Chinese battlefield, maintaining the borders as they were before the July 7 Incident.

Once war starts, how can it be stopped?

This led to the Pearl Harbor incident.

Jiang Anguo merely did one thing: he increased the Americans' hostility toward the Japanese.

Jiang Anguo lifted his gaze, his eyes blazing, and said: "We alone cannot hold out until the day their machines start moving. So I must force their hand, make them know that if they do not send more weapons and more supplies, once the Chinese battlefield collapses, the Pacific will become their graveyard!"

"Meng Fanle, on the Chinese battlefield we have restrained nearly three million troops; once these troops are fully released and deployed to the Pacific, the Americans would have to suffer millions of casualties to defeat Little Japan."

Meng Fanle was stunned.

In fact, it was precisely the Japanese strategic adjustment that made the Chinese mainland relatively quiet in 1942, with no major battles except the Zhejiang‑Jiangxi campaign.

Because the Southern Army was formed by drawing elite units from the Chinese expeditionary forces, this Japanese unit numbered over 400,000; if that number rose to one million, even the Americans could not protect Australia.

PS: Someone asked why we don't wipe out the Little Devils; the fact is that unless you have an ambush on all sides, you cannot encircle a unit. Of course you can maneuver, but the problem is that the map of Myanmar, which I have posted many times, is dense primary forest—how can you maneuver through it? Stragglers are inevitable; this is war, unless it's a place like Iwo Jima.