Chapter 89: Lashu

The Expeditionary Force has already completed post‑war accounting; in Taunggyi it discovered over a thousand Japanese corpses, and judging by that the Japanese numbered about a regiment, and it also found a Japanese artillery regiment.

Unfortunately, the artillery regiment's guns were all rendered useless in the first wave of Japanese aircraft bombing, leaving only a few Type‑92 infantry guns, which were taken away directly by Du Lvming's unit.

The other confiscations were also countless.

After Quanzong learned that the troops were to head north immediately, it promptly notified everyone to gather the retrieved soldiers' bodies and bury them en masse.

The identification tags on the dead soldiers' necks were ripped off; these tags indicated the soldiers' identities, and even system‑summoned troops have names, blood, and flesh.

The burial site was on a hill at the northeast corner of Taunggyi.

No written markers were made; Quanzong feared that after they left, if the Japanese returned and saw the soldiers' graves, they would desecrate the bodies.

After only marking it on the map, Quanzong led its unit to join the looting of Taunggyi.

Quanzong even directly surrounded several large households in Taunggyi, ransacked a lot of food from them, and ignored any money.

Quanzong wasn't trying to be a bandit; the loot from bodies was so meager that it was better to simply rob those big households in Taunggyi.

The Burmese treat the Japanese army as gods, and later some of those Burmese will suffer.

Of course, while doing this, Quanzong was very careful; after storming Taunggyi at dawn, it had already sent people into a large household and killed the Burmese left inside.

The Burmese big household also feared death and fled desperately outside the city as soon as the war began.

While the Burmese were still away, Quanzong took everything it could, and even what it couldn't carry was handed over to the passing th Division and Fifth Army units.

As for the Burmese it killed, Quanzong felt no remorse; the Burmese should go to hell together with the Japanese, including the British.

After a brief rest, the Expeditionary Force soldiers didn't even have time to pause.

The troops split into two routes: the th Division headed north, while Du Lvming's Fifth Army direct units returned to Mandalay.

Jiang Anguo had already received the battle report from the Eighth Company.

The victory was glorious, and Jiang Anguo replied by telegram, telling Quanzong that they had dried out Little Japan's regiment commander.

This made Quanzong's regiment extremely delighted; they hadn't expected such luck, a single shot killing the regiment commander, who was a Japanese colonel.

A colonel is roughly equivalent to a senior‑grade officer.

Even Watanabe Masao, upon learning that DaSuJiaShi was killed by a mortar, only ordered the 113th Regiment to defend on the spot, because it was all coincidental and no one could stop his mad actions.

The Empire's great cause will be altered in its next operation.

The more he thought about it, the more excited Watanabe Masao became.

Jiang Anguo received both good news and bad news.

April 24, 9 a. m.

A very bad report came from Lashu: Lin Wei fled, and not only Lin Wei, but also Gan Lichu of the Senary Army and Zhang Zhen of the th Army abandoned their units and ran away.

"They're literally a bunch of trash." This was completely beyond Jiang Anguo's imagination; the Japanese hadn't even reached Lashu, and Jiang Anguo only recalled that the Japanese would capture Lashu by the end of the month.

He never imagined that even before the Japanese troops were seen, the people had already fled.

At least fire a few shots to hinder the Japanese.

According to the information Quanzong sent, the Japanese had little rations—only two or three rice balls, all sour, plus a few biscuits.

This shows that the Japanese 56th Division's offensive also lacked logistics.

An army lacking logistics cannot wage a protracted war.

"Trash!" "Trash!" "Trash!"

After Jiang Anguo shouted 'trash' three times, he finally felt a bit better.

"Now, who is Lashu's defensive commander?" Jiang Anguo asked immediately.

"The battalion commander, I don't know." Meng Fanle shook his head; even learning that those officers had fled was already difficult.

"Who is the highest‑ranking officer?" Jiang Anguo rephrased, but Meng Fanle had not answered yet.

Hu Xianqun entered from outside, smiling wryly, and said, "Brother Anguo, don't make it hard on the men below; I have bad news: I am now the highest‑ranking officer in Lashu, everyone else has fled."

Indeed, only Colonel‑level commander Hu Xianqun remains; all officers above regiment commander have fled.

Gan Lichu and Zhang Zhen made a good start; the two retreated into Lashu, and together decided to withdraw toward Yunnan with their personal retainers, even requisitioning valuable transport vehicles.

Lin Wei, Expeditionary Army Staff Corps Chief, Lieutenant General.

Hmm, all the lieutenant generals left, and a group of major‑general staff also retreated with Lin Wei.

"Really no one left." Jiang Anguo asked Hu Xianqun with a puzzled look.

Hu Xianqun shook his head, "No one left, brother Anguo."

"Send orders: assemble all of Yao Quanyi's company to defend Lashu." Jiang Anguo issued the command at once, picking up his pistol from the table and loading a round.

There was no time for further thought; when he arrived at Lashu again, it was a wreck.

Chaos, extreme chaos—front‑line stragglers and later arriving defensive units, everyone couldn't locate their own commander, so it was pure disorder.

The generals fled; regiment commanders naturally interacted more with division and army leaders, and upon sensing trouble, they also ran away.

Alright, now Lashu only has the battalion commanders of six battalions and the soldiers beneath them.

In terms of manpower there are over 3,600 troops, roughly a regiment's strength; if they could mount a defensive stand, they could inflict very effective casualties on the Japanese 56th Division.

Unfortunately, the Staff Corps actually retreated like that.

Lashu's entry into Chinese territory has only one route: the Dian‑Mian Highway.

Layered interceptions would inevitably inflict massive losses on the Japanese.

No large force is needed, which is why Jiang Anguo only deployed two companies at the forward position to block the Japanese advance.

Conversely, placing too many troops at Position 1 would cause higher casualties when the Japanese shell.

In stark contrast to the Chinese army are the Burmese in Lashu, some even gloating.

Jiang Anguo saw the mountain of supplies and knew they couldn't be discarded.

Bang bang bang.

Jiang Anguo fired three shots into the sky; the chaotic Expeditionary Force soldiers all looked up at Jiang Anguo's troops.

Jiang Anguo stood with Hu Xianqun by his side; Hu Xianqun happened to be wearing a rank insignia, his rank was Colonel, and instantly everyone assumed Jiang Anguo was a higher‑ranking officer than Hu Xianqun.

"What chaos? From now on, all soldiers return to their own units, Battalion Company Commander, gather at my side, report your units; the defense of Lashu will be taken over by my th Division," Jiang Anguo smoothly took the Horn handed over by Xiao Si.

Jiang Anguo deliberately added the th Division at the end, fearing he could not command the troops.

When they heard "th Division", they fell silent again; who doesn't know that the th Division won a battle at Tonggu.

Jiang Anguo thought it insufficient, because the Taunggyi campaign ended too quickly and unfolded rapidly; therefore, he would use the Taunggyi campaign to thoroughly conduct propaganda and instruction for this army.

Otherwise these soldiers would not only fail to form any combat power, but would become Jiang Anguo's burden.

"Tell Yang Qi to ready his weapons and arm all our personnel at Lashu," Jiang Anguo issued command after command.

Yang Qi, Transport Company Company Commander.

Jiang Anguo must arm the forces at Lashu, even the Expeditionary Force's new 28th Division and the new 29th Division's six companies; there are many troops, and Jiang Anguo truly does not dare to employ them.

In fact, Jiang Anguo had previously hidden 1,600 people at Lashu, equivalent to ten companies, all equipped with Mauser K98k Rifles; at the time, due to secrecy, the weapons were stored in the camp. Now they only need to retrieve the weapons, machine guns and mortars, and they can form combat power.

Jiang Anguo made a mistake this time; the previous issue was insufficient firepower, and this time it is a personnel deployment problem.

The entire Independent Battalion, all matters big and small, he handled alone, clearly becoming insufficient.

The combat organization system developed problems, causing the command of all units to require his sole coordination.

This operation earned over 13,000 points, and Jiang Anguo, not being stingy, directly exchanged for twenty battalion‑level officers, major positions.

Jiang Anguo is also a Colonel Battalion Commander, so he can only exchange officers of the same rank.

Higher ranks, such as Regiment Commander‑level officers, must wait until he becomes a Regiment Commander before he can exchange them.

PS: To the northwest of Lashu lie Bamo and Myitkyina in succession; retreating further leads to the border.