Chapter 249: Old Xu, I

At present, the only one who can give away weapons on such a massive scale is Jiang Anguo.

We're all fighting the devils, what's there not to give?

Of course, Jiang Anguo does have demands on these troops that have taken his favor, but that's a story for later.

With Jiang Anguo's current daily points, he could equip two German‑armed infantry divisions.

In Xu Guozhang's eyes, if all this were true, it would be an enormous blessing!

"Ma… ma… ma…" Xu Guozhang, so excited he could barely speak, the man who could roar on the battlefield and shake the heavens, now had his eyes slightly reddened.

He seized Jiang Anguo's arm and shook it vigorously: "Good brother! Good brother! I, Xu Guozhang, am convinced! Completely convinced!"

He suddenly let go, paced two steps in the room, then punched his own palm; all the hesitation and fear on his face were replaced by a resolute, all‑or‑nothing determination.

Sichuan people have a fierce grit, a pair of straw shoes, and dare to go to Shanghai!

"Ma ye! No more words!" Xu Guozhang gritted his teeth and said to Jiang Anguo, "Brother, you don't have to say anything! As soon as Officer Xue starts fighting at Yuyang, I, Xu Guozhang, will risk my life to accompany the gentleman! Even if we have to fight at Yichang, I'll see it through! With my 150th Division, 8,000 brothers, I'll go with you to storm that damn dragon‑and‑tiger lair!"

He paused; after all, as a garrison commander, he thought of a deeper issue: "But, brother, this fight at Yichang is a matter of stabbing the heavens. Relying on just our one division would be… Do you think we should inform the commanders of the Senary War Zone?"

Jiang Anguo had been waiting for exactly that sentence.

He nodded, a hint of an unfathomable smile appearing on his face.

"Of course we must inform them."

"But it's not us who will notify them." He looked at Xu Guozhang, a spark flashing in his eyes, "Instead, we will take this great gift and invite them to join this feast together."

Now sending Jiang Anguo to deliver weapons is impossible, because the straight‑line distance from Changde to Shipa is two hundred kilometers; transporting as much armament as the 150th Division requires is clearly unfeasible.

Unless we Air Drop them, which would need many transport aircraft and still might not be accurate; delivering equipment for one division would require at least one and a half divisions, and Shipa is too close to the Yangtze River, surrounded by mountains.

Jiang Anguo has a plan: let Xu Guozhang's 150th Division start fighting at Yichang first; such a commotion will certainly alert Shipa, which is only a little over ten kilometers from Yichang—an hour‑plus forced march is enough!

He looked toward the direction of the Shipa fortress on the map, already having his next target in mind.

Xu Guozhang's lofty vow of "risking my life to accompany the gentleman" still echoed in the command post, but as a division commander he quickly calmed from his excitement, reverting to the cautious veteran he always was.

He pointed at the map, his expression solemn as he explained to Jiang Anguo, his authentic Sichuan dialect brimming with the plainness and toughness of the mountain city:

"Brother, you know why we need to 'invite' the Senary War Zone? Because the Shipa on the west side of Yichang is not a place we can just walk into."

His finger jabbed heavily on the tiny spot named 'Shipa' on the map.

"Here is Hu Lian's 11th Division!"

"Have you heard of Hu Lian? He doesn't talk much, but in battle he's a reckless 'hungry tiger'! His 11th Division is the founding unit of the 18th Army, the direct line of Chen Cheng's 'civil engineering' branch, dubbed the 'Seed Army'! Every soldier is a hand‑picked treasure. They are now nailed at the narrowest mouth of the Yangtze River at Shipa, like a rivet hammered in."

In Xu Guozhang's tone there was a hint of reverence: "The whole 18th Army is arrayed behind them in layers. One army defending just this mouth is truly a fortress! It reminds me of when Liu Bei set up a six‑hundred‑li chain of camps at Yiling, hoping to use this natural barrier to block Eastern Wu's forces."

He sighed, then added: "Look at the Yangtze River here—cliffs on both sides, the water rushes fast. The Little Devil's warships can only slip in one by one, just like a slaughterhouse. If they want to advance overland to Chongqing, they must first gnaw through Shipa, then the 18th Army, then our layered forces. The price is so huge they wouldn't even dare to imagine it."

These words gave Jiang Anguo a clearer grasp of the situation. He finally understood why, after the Japanese Army occupied Wuhan, they hesitated to launch a decisive attack on Chongqing.

"So, you see," Xu Guozhang summarized, "Changsha is like a spear, constantly pressing on the waist of those Wuhan turtles. When Officer Xue causes a ruckus over there, the Wuhan turtles get a headache and can't shift all their forces to attack us. That's why we can hold this place peacefully."

Jiang Anguo nodded; he fully understood.

This is a strategic deadlock. The Japanese Army, restrained by Changsha, cannot advance westward with full force.

Otherwise they wouldn't have pushed so quickly early on; although there were some losses in the Battle of Wuhan, concentrating forces could have taken Chongqing. Yet Changsha has always been on Wuhan's side, so the Japanese attack routes are only two: the railway and the Yangtze River. Because of Changsha's threat and several failed attempts to seize it, the current stalemate arose.

And the Chinese Army, because of the Shipa fortress, has no intention of moving eastward. Or perhaps they understand their own strength: the Japanese have a 20,000‑man Type‑A Division stationed at Yichang, with aircraft, artillery, and naval gun support, whose firepower far exceeds that of the Nationalist forces.

The terrain restricts the Little Devil, and likewise the Nationalist troops.

In several counterattacks they achieved little, but they still tied down the Little Devil.

The terrain of Shipa, including Yichang, means that for Nationalist forces lacking Yangtze River superiority, trying to take Yichang is a tactic of adding oil.

Even a single division, let alone its full strength, finds it hard to deploy formations in Yichang; if a regiment after regiment attacks, that would be a gross violation of military doctrine.

Everyone knows how massive the losses would be once combat starts; neither the Chinese Army nor the Japanese Army can accept such losses, so the Japanese shifted their strategy to Southeast Asia.

The two sides thus formed a fragile, terrifying balance along both banks of the Yangtze River.

And now, Jiang Anguo is about to break that balance with his own hands.

Doesn't the Japanese Army have aircraft?

Jiang Anguo has aircraft even more advanced than theirs.

Cannons?

Then use mm Howitzer, 155mm Howitzer, bomb them straight back to their hometown.

"Old Xu, I understand." Jiang Anguo's gaze became sharper than ever, "Precisely because they are nailed solidly at Changsha, they cannot let the Japanese advance further west. Looking at it now, seizing this 13th Division Group head‑on is indeed hard. The Japanese division group at Yichang is equivalent to Officer Xue at Changsha!"

Yichang has blocked the exit from the river, while Changsha threatens the flank of the Japanese forces attacking Chongqing.