With the 114th Wing crossing the Pahang River and returning to the 18th Division, the first collision and contest between the 18th Division and the Independent Army was completely lost. For the 18th Division, it no longer makes sense to compete with the Independence Army, and the only destination of the 18th Division is Singapore.

"Report" A Japanese soldier who walked quickly to the temporary war room of Mutaguchi Yoshiya, a staff officer under Mutaguchi Yoshiya, who was responsible for gathering all kinds of information.

"Fujimura Daisa, what's the matter?" After all, Mutaguchi Lian is also an excellent general, and he has quickly adjusted the frustration of just experiencing the fiasco of the 114th Wing, and Mutaguchi Lian also knows very well that now is not the time when he should be depressed, and it is his duty and responsibility as a division commander to leave here safely with his troops and rush to Singapore.

"Your Excellency, the 1st Search Squadron, which has just gone out to reconnoitre, has sent back not very good news that a large number of enemy troops have appeared on the north bank of the Pahang River, and that there are also a large number of indigenous armed forces supported by the Independence Army behind us." Intelligence Dazuo replied quickly.

"Where are those indigenous forces?" Hearing this news, Mu Taguchi Lian was not very surprised, his division had crossed the Pahang River for more than ten hours, and the indigenous armed forces who had been fighting with the 18th Division should come to the back of their own division even if they were grinding hard. In fact, in addition to the Independence Army, Mutaguchi Lian is also not very optimistic about the so-called indigenous servant army raised by the Independence Army, and if all the armed forces in the Malay Peninsula can be compared with the Independence Army, Mutaguchi Lian also feels that he should retire.

"About ten kilometers northwest behind the rear guard," replied Osa, Fujimura, who served as an intelligence staff officer, very respectfully.

"Fifteen kilometers?" Mutaguchi also smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, our destination is Singapore, if there are no independent army troops, there is no need to pay attention to those indigenous armed forces, they dare not attack our rear guard troops head-on, so let them follow." Mutaguchi Ryoya's smile contained this faint hint of anger, there was no way for the dignified imperial army to take a small number of indigenous armed forces, if this was spread out and known by other imperial troops, the eighteenth division would still have a face.

"Report, Your Excellency Division Commander, Urgent Telegram from the Guards Troops" At this moment, a communications staff officer came over with a telegram that had just been deciphered.

"Give it to me" Mutaguchi Lian also had a bad premonition in his heart, and took the telegram handed over by the communications staff officer and looked down at it. "Yaga" Mutaguchi Ryoya, who had read the telegram, had a cloudy expression on his face, and he had just told his senior staff officer that he would not pay attention to the indigenous forces that appeared behind the rear guard, but the reality slapped himself hard. Just ten minutes ago, more than 400 indigenous armed forces attacked the rear guard of the 18th Division, and this time the indigenous armed forces were no longer just fighting, but chose the tactics of direct attack.

At the same time as the attack, the rearguard also discovered that there were independent army units behind the indigenous armed forces, and looking at the current situation and the information collected by the rearguard troops, Mutaguchi also made an unfavorable inference in his mind that the Independence Army was planning to completely eliminate the 18th Division in the area south of the Pahang River. Decided to cross the Pahang River, the retreat of the 18th Division has actually been cut off by the Independence Army, although it is not known how many troops the Independence Army has dispatched, but if the Independence Army wants to kill the 18th Division under its command, the other side should not use too few troops.

In just a few minutes, Mutaguchi Ryoya's temporary headquarters became extremely busy, and most of the search troops sent out after crossing the river had returned, but the information they brought back was extremely unfavorable to the 18th Division. At present, except for the east side of the coastline, the 18th Division has shown signs of the activities of the Independence Army troops on the south, north, and west sides, especially on the north bank of the Pahang River, and there are signs of a large number of Independence Army troops gathering.

In fact, Mu Taguchi Lian didn't know that Zhuo Fei didn't use too many troops in his hands, and the independent army troops that surrounded the 18th Division were only two independent army infantry divisions in the north and south directions, and the other people involved in the battle were either indigenous servant troops or local Chinese armed forces. In line with the principle of not wasting it, the Independence Army, with the tacit consent of Zhuo Fei, armed the local Chinese with a large number of ordnance captured in the five South Asian countries and conducted short-term military training for them.

After the Chinese purge operation carried out by the Yamashita Fengwen Southern Advance Corps in the Malay Peninsula, the Chinese living on the Malay Peninsula have long hated the Japanese army, so once these Chinese are armed by the Independence Army, they will quickly form a temporary armed force, and at the same time shoulder the responsibility of defending the rear and logistics supply lines for the Independence Army. Zhuo Fei never thought of relying on these Chinese armed forces to defeat the Japanese army, but the search troops sent by the 18th Division did not know this, and they only regarded the Chinese armed forces operating south of the Pahang River as an encirclement force sent by the Independence Army.

The various news brought back by the search force was extremely unfavorable to the 18th Division, but Mutaguchi was not very anxious in his heart, although the Independence Army had a situation of encircling the 18th Division on the south bank of the Pahang River, but the current situation was not as critical as when the 18th Division attacked the Philippine American army. When facing the US troops in the Philippines, the 18th Division under his command was surrounded by nearly three divisions of the US Army, but he still calmly killed the US troops facing the enemy head-on, and also took advantage of the situation to repel the US troops on both flanks.

Mutaguchi was already planning to go straight to Singapore regardless of the rest, after all, Singapore had not yet been broken by the Independence Army, and there were still imperial troops and fortifications in the city of Singapore that could be used. In fact, deep down, Mutaguchi Renya himself is a little afraid of the Independence Army, because the Independence Army does not play its cards according to common sense at all, and the 114th Wing, which has already suffered heavy casualties, is a living example. What made Mutaguchi Lian also feel invincible was the attack methods of the independence army, especially the appearance of a large number of indigenous armed forces, which made Mutaguchi Lian even more annoyed, these aboriginal troops that exist like fleas are really hateful, but his rearguard troops have nothing to do with these indigenous troops.

Although this is not the first time that Mutaguchi Lianya has carried out the so-called strategic transfer, that is, the so-called escape, this time it makes Mutaguchi Renya feel so guilty. "After the 114th Wing was left behind, the other troops immediately accelerated and headed south to Singapore." After some deliberation, Mutaguchi finally gave the order. Sasaki Daisa, who temporarily took over from the previous commander in charge of the 114th Wing, immediately trembled, but the soldiers took it as their duty to obey orders, and Sasaki still decided to carry out the order given by Mutaguchi Ryoya, even if this order would wipe out the entire 114th Wing.

The 18th Division has three infantry wings, and so far, only the 114th Wing has really exchanged fire with the Independent Army troops, compared with the other two infantry wings of the 18th Division, the 114th Wing is already familiar with the tactics of the Independent Army troops, and this is the main reason why Mutaguchi Renya decided to break the 114th Wing. At the repeated request of the new wing commander Sasaki, Mutaguchi Lian, who was still a little conscientious, also added a brigade to the 114th Wing, and left two bases of ammunition for the 114th Wing.

To replenish the strength and ammunition of the 14th Wing that served as the post-break mission, all Mu Taguchi wanted was that the 114 Wing could watch the back of the 18th Division well, but Mu Taguchi Lian didn't know that such a big move of the 18th Division did not escape the eyes of the reconnaissance force of the Independent Army. Soon, the information of the 18th Division's abnormal movement was sent to Zhuo Fei, and Zhuo Fei, who had read this information, also quickly issued an order, requiring the independent army troops on the north bank of the Pahang River to cross the river immediately, and also asking the indigenous servant army on the south bank of the Pahang River to launch an interception and harassment tactics against the southbound 18th Division.

Mutaguchi always believed that the indigenous servant army that appeared on the south bank of the Pahang River was just an ordinary armed force supported by the independent army, but he did not know that most of these indigenous servant troops equipped with Japanese-style weapons had been trained for more than half a year, and in a sense, there were a considerable number of soldiers in the indigenous servant army, far stronger than the Japanese recruits.

In fact, Zhuo Fei only hoped that the indigenous servant army troops on the south bank of the Pahang River would be able to contain the 18th Division for at least one day, and it only took one day for the Independence Army troops that had completed their assembly on the north bank of the Pahang River to cross the river and head south. Zhuo Fei is now playing the tactics of crowds against the 18th Division, he knows that the indigenous servant army has no way to really keep the 18th Division, but the indigenous servant army that can be mobilized on the south bank of the Pahang River has more than 50,000 people, Zhuo Fei knows that the 18th Division can definitely defeat the indigenous servant army that intercepted them, but even if it kills 50,000 sheep, it will take time.

What Zhuo Fei needs most at the moment is time, the ammunition supply from Ruili needs time to reach the Malay Peninsula, the fighter planes assisted by the US government need time to be modified before they can be put into battle, and the mixed fleet ordered to go south from Yangon Port needs time to come to Malaysia to help in the war. All of this revolves around one important point, that is, time, and Mutaguchi Ryoya suddenly rushed to Singapore with the 18th Division regardless of the speed, which has completely disrupted Zhuo Fei's arrangement.