Mau State, Myanmar

Captain Inoue, who was on duty in the 55th Infantry Wing of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army, received an urgent order that surprised him, saying that the 18th Division, which was operating in the vicinity of Xinpingyang at the western end of the Hukang River Valley, had formed a mixed search group and engaged in a fierce battle with the Chinese troops attacking from the direction of India, and ordered the 55th Wing, to which he belonged, to immediately make preparations and reinforce in the direction of the Hukang River Valley at any time.

In fact, the Japanese army deployed the main force of the 55th Wing in Mao State in order to prevent the Chinese Expeditionary Force from counterattacking northern Burma from India through the Hukang River Valley. Although they were surrounded and suppressed by the expeditionary force, some of the Japanese troops fled back, and the fleeing Japanese troops confirmed that the expeditionary force was indeed going to go out of the Hukang Valley through the mountain road.

Mau State is a small town in northern Myanmar, but its location is quite important. In the Chinese Expeditionary Force that entered Burma for the first time in 1942, the commander of the 200th Division of the Fifth Army of the Expeditionary Force, Dai Anlan, died here. Maobang is located in the middle section of the Manmi Railway, the northern artery of northern Myanmar, and can go north to Myitkyina, the headquarters of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army, and to Mandalay, the ancient capital of Myanmar. To the west from Mao State is the entrance to the valley of the Hukang River and the Mong Pass. Heading west, the valley is crossed by an improvised road built by the Japanese army, leading to the throat at the western end of the valley, the New Plains, from where you climb the notorious Savage Mountain, opposite the base of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India. The Hukang River Valley was the only passage for the Chinese Expeditionary Force to counterattack northern Burma from India.

Before Inoue could react, the second message had already arrived: the mixed search squadron had been heavily damaged, the leader of the search team, Lieutenant Araki, had been killed, and the Japanese-Burmese mixed brigade stationed in Shinpeiyang had been blocked from Shinpingyang, and the main force of the 55th Wing was ordered to immediately set out for reinforcements. After reading the message, Inoue's first reaction was: The Chinese came well.

The two telegrams received by Inoue were both true, the first message was sent by the remnants of the Japanese army who fled back to Xinpingyang in the jungle, and the second message was sent by Zhao Zhi after he took Xinpingyang, forcing the Japanese prisoners to send it, with the purpose of attracting the Japanese 55th Wing to send troops to reinforce Xinpingyang. Because Zhao Zhi had already contacted Ye Tian, his infantry battalion had been gathered together, and the loss was not very large.

The current location of Ye Tian's infantry battalion is Linbin at the northern entrance of the Hukang Valley, which is also a very important location in the Hukang Valley. Zhao Zhi's terrain and firepower on this side had a great advantage over Ye Tian, so Zhao Zhi attracted the Japanese army to send reinforcements from Maobang, and Ye Tian's infantry battalion wanted to take the opportunity to take Linbin and completely open the gate of Hukang Valley.

Speaking of Zhao Zhi's battle to take New Pingyang, it was like a farce, Edward just fired a round of mountain artillery at New Pingyang according to Zhao Zhi's request, and then Uncle Guo's snipers blocked all the ways out of New Pingyang. They rushed in with their submachine guns, and the Burmese soldiers stationed there surrendered on their knees.

It was not that the Burmese soldiers were unwilling to resist, but that they were frightened by the wounded Japanese soldiers who fled from the woods back to New Pingyang. The Japanese troops of the Japanese search squadron, which was once invincible in the New Plains, were all selected from the best of the mixed brigade. The Burmese soldiers did not expect that such an invincible guy would also run for their lives like wild dogs, one by one covered in blood, and the equipment and rifles on their bodies were lost, and they ran back to Xinpingyang and shouted for reinforcements and retreat.

Under such circumstances, the Burmese soldiers could not surrender after a series of earth-shaking artillery bombardments, and dozens of submachine guns that were fighting like light machine guns rushed into the town. The last time the expeditionary force entered Burma, the Japanese and Burmese soldiers who attacked were not abused and killed, and in their opinion, as long as they could save their lives, fighting the Japanese army was the same as surrendering to the expeditionary force.

It's a pity that they met Zhao Zhi, Zhao Zhi, who never fought according to common sense. After Zhao Zhi killed more than a dozen Burmese soldiers and Japanese soldiers, he finally found the Japanese army's telegraph operator, forcing him to send a telegram to Mao Bang that the expeditionary force had been discovered on the front line of Xinpingyang, and then used the excuse that Xinpingyang was attacked by the expeditionary force, and asked the mixed brigade that was still fighting outside to defend Xinpingyang.

The mountain position that Zhao Zhi and the others now occupy is the only way for the mixed brigade of the Japanese army to return to Xinpingyang, and Zhao Zhi wants to give a great gift to the Japanese army there. Forcing the captives to move all the materials hoarded in Xinpingyang to the mountain position, Zhao Zhi gave the Japanese army a fortified clear, and the locals living in Xinpingyang were driven into the Hukang Valley with guns by the soldiers, anyway, they are not Chinese, and their life and death do not care about Zhao Zhi's affairs.

The doglegs were born to raid homes, not only found weapons and equipment hoarded by the Japanese army, but also found a large amount of explosives and oil in a hidden place. It took three trips for all the prisoners and idle soldiers, including the dozens of mules and horses, to empty the new Pingyang before the mixed Japanese brigade reached the mountain position.

What made Zhao Zhi happiest was that he got back more than 100 shells of 75 mountain artillery in Xinpingyang, and Zhao Zhi originally wanted to use these mountain artillery shells to fight Mengguan, but he decided to use all the mountain artillery shells here. The reason is actually very simple, there are too many people in the Japanese mixed brigade that returned to Xinpingyang, which is 5 or 6 times that of Zhao Zhi's side, and there are a large number of mortars and grenadiers on the opposite side, and Zhao Zhi does not want to die in vain.

As the sun set, leaning on the sandbag, Zhao Zhi played with a Japanese katana in his hand, which was a short knife similar to the samurai's ribs. This is a dog found in a Japanese-style room, Zhao Zhi guessed that it should be the highest commander of the Japanese army stationed in Xinpingyang, Lao Tzu picked it up, if you have the ability, come and get it. Zhao Zhi brandished a short knife and put on a few very heroic postures, but it attracted a burst of laughter from the dogs.

The scouts who came out had already sent back the news that the Japanese mixed brigade had only less than three miles of mountain positions, and it seemed that they had stayed in the valley three miles away for a long time before coming straight to the mountain position. Zhao Zhi guessed that the mixed brigade of the Japanese army must have met the Japanese army who had fled during the march, and he couldn't figure out the bottom of Zhao Zhi, so he stopped to make a battle plan, and this time he was going straight to the mountain position.

"Prepare" After receiving the news from the scouts again, Zhao Zhi ordered to prepare for battle. The company from the infantry battalion was placed by Zhao Zhi in front of the mountain position, where there were forts and trenches, and they would be the main force of the anti-Japanese army in the front. The infantry company has nothing to complain about, they are already familiar with positional warfare, unlike the direct subordinate company, which has always been a mobile warfare.

Uncle Guo's riflemen and scouts jumped out of this area early, and Zhao Zhi put them on the side, once the tide of battle was reversed, they would slam the Japanese artillery positions from the side, so as to achieve the goal of suppressing the Japanese army with firepower. The number of the mixed brigade of the Japanese army is too large, Zhao Zhi will not be stupid enough to think that he can annihilate them with just this little person in his hand, and it is very good to be able to contain the Japanese army here.

The signal flag of the Japanese army appeared in the sight, some soldiers with good eyesight could already see the sharp soldiers of the Japanese army, and there was silence on the mountain position, everyone was holding the gun in their hands, and their eyes were looking ahead for the Japanese charge. "Shelling, concealment, shelling, concealment" the old cannon ran wildly in the trench with binoculars, shouting incessantly. The Japanese still used the old tactics of first shelling and then charging the infantry, and if the infantry lost, then the artillery bombardment.

A few guard posts were left behind, and the rest were transferred to the forts and forts, and the whole mountain was lifeless except for the wind that blew through the ridge. The sound of mortar shells breaking through the air was swept through the air, and a series of explosions of "boom", "boom", "boom" and "boom" sounded on the mountain ridge, and mud, shrapnel, and gunpowder smoke splashed up on the mountain ridge, turning the mountain position as lively as a waterway dojo. Contrary to the expectations of the Japanese army, the mountain position was generally silent and there was no movement at all, and this situation made the Japanese have no choice but to stop the shelling.

A small group of Japanese soldiers poured out of the Japanese line, and ran up the mountain ridge step by step, and the position was full of veterans of the year. The cat's waist, hunched back, and feet are small broken steps, the fingers are already on the trigger, and the rifles are all ready to be loaded with bullets, and at the slightest movement, they can shoot immediately.

Zhao Zhi was lying on the air hole of the fortress and looking out, the telescope in his hand moved back and forth, and saw that the Japanese army had just sent a team, and the corners of Zhao Zhi's mouth began to curl an arc. Zhao Zhi's most shot is the Japanese army's pig burst tactics, if the mixed brigade below fights to the death and comes up with their strongest pig burst tactics, all of them will be pressed up at once, Zhao Zhi is really difficult to deal with. Tactics like the Japanese army's current refueling are what Zhao Zhi wants to see the most.

The boulders on the anticline of the mountain ridge have already been cleared by the captives, and the large pieces have been blown up with explosives, and the small pieces have been pulled up the mountain ridge by people and horses to become mountain artillery bunkers. This was Zhao Zhi's first gift to the Japanese army, and he wanted the Japanese army to stain the slope of the slope red with blood.

Getting closer and closer, less than 100 meters from the mountain position, a few snipers left behind by Uncle Guo began to shoot. Although the gunfire was sparse, the hit rate was really high, and almost every shot would have Japanese troops fall. The Garand gunners were not idle, they were not good at moving targets, but they could still hit the wounded Japanese soldiers who had been shot and were screaming and rolling on the ground.

As a reserve for snipers, Garand gunners also have a lot of soldiers with good marksmanship, and the distance of 100 meters is enough for them to use. As soon as the gunshots rang out, the wounded and fallen Japanese wounded were hit by bullets again, not killing them, but only hitting their hands and feet, making them lose their combat effectiveness and mobility. This was Yan Shijun's idea, rather than killing them, it was better to just wound and cripple them, so as to break the Japanese army psychologically. /AUT