Chapter 42: Focus on Tonggu!

Jiang Anguo inhaled, truly his brain is too useless.

He summons commanders above company level every day, and they study the map together, mainly because one person looking at a map is too lonely.

If it must be painful, they suffer together; fortunately, officers at the company commander level can read the map, mainly the text, then explain it, and the annotations on the map become clear.

Study how to defend Lashu.

Lashu is also an important stop on the Dian-Mian Highway, the last stop on the Myanmar side; if Lashu falls, not only the highway is lost.

Most importantly, the Expeditionary Force's rear routes would be cut off.

Moreover, the marching route is already called the Strategic Transfer Route.

According to the map, you have only one road, indeed only one road, unless it's a hub like Mandalay; other cities happen to lie at the intersection of four roads.

But if you're on mountain roads, northern Myanmar is all mountain roads, especially Lashu and the Myitkyina area; once the rear is cut, it becomes dangerous.

Of course, you can choose to go into the mountains, but Wild Man Mountain has tens of thousands of people; after marching over a hundred days, many have died.

Roads are made by people, and many will die, especially in unmapped mountain regions.

He now realizes how exhausting it is to be a Commander, even as a Battalion Commander; of course, his Battalion's manpower is not much different from a Regiment Commander's.

For any domestic unit, a Battalion's strength can exceed 1,865 men, and that number is still growing.

Jiang Anguo is ready to allocate the titles of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Companies, because the Seventh is a Transport Company, the Eighth a Guard Company, and the Ninth an Artillery Company.

Of course, the organization of these three companies remains; later the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth will become three Infantry Companies, each with about 160 men.

Good fellow, this is really getting better.

Directly, Jiang Anguo's command size increased by another Battalion's strength; now Jiang Anguo, as a Battalion Commander, leads nearly twelve companies, a force of over two thousand men.

The Seventh Company Commander is Jin Jian, the Eighth Company Commander is Quan Zong, the Ninth Company Commander is Qian Jiaguo.

All three Company Commanders were directly obtained by Jiang Anguo through System Exchange, and the soldiers of the three companies are all system soldiers, which is far simpler than training Chanda's broken troops.

For this, Jiang Anguo spent 2,550 points and also received back 960 points; moreover, with three companies totaling 480 soldiers, they provide him 960 points daily, so in just three days he breaks even.

Actually Jiang Anguo also discovered that system‑exchanged soldiers who are at least Platoon Leaders have a trait.

For example, Jin Jian's trait is Jungle, Quan Zong's trait is Mountain, and Qian Jiaguo's trait is also Jungle.

Each trait differs, but Jiang Anguo's system cannot choose; they are randomly generated, and higher ranks yield stronger trait abilities.

It doesn't mean every soldier enjoys the trait; rather, commanders gain greater advantage when fighting in jungles or mountains.

By that calculation, just give him time; not only could he fight Japan in Myanmar, even driving the Japanese into the sea would be no problem.

Actually the daily training bullets are calculated by points, not many—just 500 points; 1 point exchanges for 20 rounds, and Jiang Anguo has over ten thousand points.

With gradual development, he can wipe out the Japanese.

The problem is he also has a machine gun; that wastes bullets—10,000 points equals 200,000 rounds, still not enough for a 200‑round machine‑gun burst.

Of course, he can't fight like that; when training soldiers, Jiang Anguo only used a 50‑round drum, and even if he opened fire, he couldn't sustain it without logistics, which is unavoidable.

"Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander," Lin Yi's voice came from outside.

Jiang Anguo looked up; Lin Yi had already run in.

"Battalion Commander, it's started," Lin Yi shouted, clearly excited.

"What started?" Jiang Anguo seemed to guess something, but said nothing.

"Myanmar is erupting; my Expeditionary Force 200th Division, on March 19 near Tonggu, struck the Japanese Devil vanguard, killing over a thousand enemies," Lin Yi announced loudly.

"Good." Everyone in the conference room shouted.

Everyone was pleased that the Expeditionary Force could kill Japanese in Myanmar.

It truly was a cause for joy.

Logically, Lin Yi, as the Transport Company Commander, should attend the discussion, but since he operates the radio, Jiang Anguo assigned him to train communications soldiers.

And Lin Yi happened to receive this message.

Actually, a radio broadcast is either classified; if not, nearby stations can also receive it.

Moreover, Lin Yi has another excellent quality: his map work is good; the map Jiang Anguo holds was drawn by Lin Yi, and he highly values these two strengths.

Communications and maps are crucial links, concerning army movements and combat deployment.

Jiang Anguo smiled, hoping Dai Anlan can hold on; nevertheless, the Expeditionary Force's strength is still solid, especially the th Division.

As long as the higher command doesn't act rashly, even if the th Division can't stop the Japanese Army, they can retreat safely.

Jiang Anguo nodded, took the letter, glanced at it; it mostly praised our forces killing the enemy, without noting our generals' losses. Jiang Anguo also understood that Anti-Japanese War Propaganda Work is vital; they cannot afford more defeats, they have already lost enough.

If everyone becomes hopeless, the war cannot be fought; surrender would be the only option.

"Lin Yi, keep monitoring Myanmar news, and inform me immediately if anything happens," Jiang Anguo said.

"Yes, sir."

The news quickly spread throughout the Independent Battalion; everyone was invigorated, realizing they were no longer broken troops but the th Division, even if the th Division is now in Myanmar, Tonggu.

Yet they are still the th Division, and the Japanese Devil's morale can be contagious.

Some soldiers even thought about begging for battle.

Jiang Anguo ignored it; honestly, he also felt a slight urgency to engage Little Japan in real combat.

But he couldn't rush; wait a while, not until the Expeditionary Force collapses, wait more, wait again.

The Japanese Army now surely knows the Expeditionary Force's organization, numbers, and weapons, while the Expeditionary Force doesn't even know how many opponents it faces.

Even midway, a Thai Army unit might break out from Thailand.

Jiang Anguo, as a domestic Expeditionary Force, has firepower far exceeding other Expeditionary Force units; he is a trump card. His two thousand men cannot greatly affect the Myanmar battlefield, but are enough to blunt Little Japan's vigor, preventing them from moving from Yunnan into China.