In the town office of Duliu Town, the lights are bright, and the front headquarters of the 108th Division is located here. There www.biquge.info a large number of divisional and regimental logistics, operations, and staff personnel are constantly flowing, but although there are many people, there are very few voices coming out of a two-story building.

In the battle hall on the first floor, in addition to the huge military map, there are traces of messiness everywhere. The clutter of papers, the telephone lines that were scattered all over the ground like dead snakes, and the blackboards with different words and numbers written on them, and more importantly, the staff officers with mournful faces. The phone rang suddenly, "Ring! Bell! "More than a dozen people in the room seemed to have immobilized people, and they actually stopped their movements at the same time.

The phone rang unrelentingly, and for a long time, the guy closest to the phone looked left and right with a bitter face, and finally picked up the microphone: "Moxi Moxi? Yes, I see, I see. As he spoke, he picked up his pen and scribbled a few numbers on a piece of paper, "Understood, thank you very much." ”

He put down the phone, lowered his head, didn't know who he was talking to, and read dryly: "The 132nd Wing Hai Laojun Division, newly added the dead, 26, and the newly disabled, 109." ”

A staff officer rushed to one of the blackboards, picked up chalk, mentally calculated, and quickly wrote the calculated results on it, which is a blackboard specially used to record the casualty figures of the 132nd Wing, such a blackboard, there are a full 4 pieces in the entire combat hall, which respectively record the casualty figures of the 25 brigades and independent tank squadrons belonging to the divisions and regiments participating in the battle today.

Looking at the numbers recorded above, the personnel staff officers wanted to cry without tears, it is now 7:30 in the afternoon, and the number of the field hospital in front has not been completely counted, there are already 366 people killed in battle, 417 people are injured to varying degrees, and this is only so far, it is only a number of 132 wings!

"The situation of the 132nd Wing...... What do you think? Hasn't it come out yet? There was a sudden shout from the stairs, and a staff officer looked up and hurriedly stood up and saluted: "Your Excellency Shaozuo." ”

Shao Zuo is Xiao Lin, head of the Personnel Staff Headquarters of the 108th Division, rushed downstairs while speaking, and hurriedly asked again, someone handed him the sorted out materials, he glanced back and forth, didn't care about saying more, and rushed back upstairs with the same cadence.

Xiao Lin quickly ran back to the second floor, walked to a door, and as if ignoring the two soldiers standing guard, he gasped a few times in the stairwell, and only when his breathing stabilized did he knock lightly on the door: "Come in." ”

Kobayashi pushed the door into the house, Shimoto Kuami was sitting in the chairman's position, and Chief of Staff Suzuki Toshiyuki was sitting on his right hand, Kobayashi put the information between the two lightly, then stood upright, saluted, opened the door lightly again, and walked out.

Suzuki waited for the division commander to read it, then picked up the paper, swept the numbers on it, and handed it to Nakano Naozo on the side, he was the brigade commander of the 25th Brigade, with the rank of major general, and when he saw the numbers on it, he stood up without saying a word: "Your Excellency the Division Commander, I ask that my 25th Brigade and the 8th Brigade of the 10th Division change ......"

"Calm down, Nakano-kun, your request is absolutely impossible to achieve!" Shimoto Kumanami made a cold ruling: "The actions of the troops under the Second Army were ordered by Commander Nishio, do you think that he will suffer losses for the sake of your brigade, will he agree to your child's playful approach?" ”

Nakano felt aggrieved in his heart, and winked at the fourth floor of Tomamichi on the side, and the latter was about to speak, when Shimoto Kumaya hurriedly said, "Nakano-kun's affairs don't need to be said again!" ”

"Yes......" Tommy had no choice but to make a helpless expression to his comrades.

"According to the order of the Second Army Headquarters, in the next two days, our army will launch a new round of attack operations against the Zhina troops entrenched in the front line of Yangjiazhuang and Gongyuanzhuang, and the combat goal is to repel the Zhina troops entrenched in the above two locations, and complete the assembly in the area between Yangjiazhuang and Gongyuanzhuang, and wait for the friendly forces to complete the clearance of Liuhe Town before proceeding to the next step."

There was silence for a moment in the battle room, and Nakano and Tomome looked at each other, wondering why the division commander suddenly stopped talking? Xia Yuan Xiongmi quickly came to his senses and continued: "The deployment and arrangement of the troops, Suzuki-kun will report to you later, here, I ...... There is another thing I would like to explain to you. ”

He pondered for a moment and said, "This time, the 108th Division suffered a serious fiasco, and it is difficult to escape the blame!" I have already submitted a telegram requesting disposition to His Excellency Nishio of the Second Army and His Excellency General Terauchi of the Front Army, and I will temporarily serve as the commander of the division until the order for disposition is issued......"

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, I don't agree with your decision! An occasional failure is not an incentive to deal with you. Nakano Naozo immediately said: "In the eyes of contemptible people, on the contrary, the 108th Division advanced our troops forward by more than 10 kilometers in less than 12 hours, which is also a proud record in any case!" ”

"Yes, I agree with Nakano-kun's words, if His Excellency the Division Commander is to be dealt with because of a slight loss, then what about the 10th Division, which caused the same or even more serious casualties?" The fourth floor of the 104th Brigade also echoed loudly.

He smiled bitterly, pushed away his chair, and stood up: "Today's meeting, that's all for the time being, next, please ask Chief of Staff Suzuki-kun to preside." Suzuki-kun, please! ”

Toshiyuki Suzuki immediately stood up and bowed respectfully: "Hey! ”

When Shimoto Kumaya walked out of the conference room, Suzuki Toshiyuki straightened his waist, looked around, and said, "Tomorrow's battle arrangements are as follows......"

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In front of the ruins of the battlefield in Nanxiao Tower, the commanders of the 10th Division, including Ryosuke Isoya, Atsuro Umemura, Takehei Nagase, and Eijiro Tajima, folded their hands and bowed to the land soaked in the blood of the martyrs of the Imperial Kingdom!

Ryosuke Isoya's thin body trembled slightly, and his face was covered with crystal tears; The captain of the 39th wing, Numata, cried even softly, fell to his knees, touched the ground with his forehead, and howled in a lost voice! "I'm sorry, Hiromoto-kun, I'm sincerely sorry!"

In terms of casualty figures, the 10th Division was far inferior to the 108th Division, but Ryosuke Isoya suffered a loss and was completely annihilated in one of his integrated squadrons! This is a very serious incident, because with the combat strength of the Japanese army, the mutual cooperation of friendly forces, the spirit of the troops, and the firepower allocation, even if it cannot be defeated, there is no problem in retreating, especially in a plain area like Qingxian, which is even more suitable for the Japanese army to deploy. Who knew that it was in this situation that a whole squadron was eaten by someone ?!

The news has not yet been transmitted back to China, but Ryosuke Isoya knows with his knees that it will definitely cause an uproar! Counting the battle in Nanfuzhao some time ago, the 10th Division, known as the 'model of modern divisions' led by himself, has suffered two defeats, and the total number of casualties added up is almost forty percent of the total strength!

With such serious casualties, it is impossible not to find a scapegoat -- Ryosuke Isoya knows that he, the commander of the division, is afraid that he will come to an end.

After a while, Ryosuke Isoya wiped away his tears, beckoned to Kawasaki, Tsukuda, and Guda, who were standing on the side, and called them to him, and said, "Tell me in detail about the battle that day?" ”

"Yes." Kawasaki told him in detail about yesterday's battle, he was the last person to talk to Hiromoto, and when he said that Hiromoto had asked him on his deathbed to complete the goal of 'fighting for the country and conquering China', his eyes were red again.

Atsuro Umemura sighed and nodded, patted Kawasaki on the shoulder, and asked, "Do you know the military status of the Shina soldiers?" ”

Tenant took the initiative to say: "It has been ascertained, it is the 132nd Division of China, which happened in Nanfuzhao at the beginning of the month, and there is also the participation of the division's subordinate troops. ”

Ryosuke Isoya thought about it for a long time, and he knew that if he still wanted to continue to serve as the commander of this damn division, the only way to survive was to completely exterminate the 132nd Division! This is not only a move to avenge the squadron to which Hiromoto belongs, but also a journey to save yourself! Thinking like this, he gritted his teeth even more and asked, "Where is the current position of the Chinese army?" ”

"It has been preliminarily determined, in the town of Liuhe." Atsuro Umemura said, beckoning, someone took the map, opened it in front of him, and said: "Moreover, according to our observations, it is very likely that the Shina side will use Liuhe Town as the base and have a decisive battle with our division in the town. One of the most important bases is that when they got up this morning, the Air Force found a large number of people in China at the south gate of Liuhe Town. The divisional staff speculated that in order to protect these people from the war, the soldiers had moved all the people from the towns overnight. ”

Ryosuke Isoya was shocked, "Is that for sure?" ”

"Yes, for sure."

Ryosuke Isoya's gaze swept over the map, and he nodded slowly: "There is a set!" ”

Atsuro Umemura nodded and said, "Yes, Your Excellency, according to our analysis, only by completely clearing the enemy in Liuhe Town can our army continue to move south. Otherwise, the presence of such a force will be a great danger factor for both the flanks and the rear line of our army. ”

"Obviously, this is also the effect that the people of China are pursuing."

"Then, do you want to inform Xia Yuanjun?" Atsuro Umemura asked, "At the critical moment when our side and the soldiers of China are fighting for Liuhe Town......

"No, the radius of Liuhe Town is less than 1 square kilometer, and such an area is simply impossible to accommodate two divisions to assemble and fight. What's more, this battle in Liuhe Town will be a shameful battle for the 10th Division, and I must not allow anyone to participate in it and obstruct our army's revenge action! ”

"Yes, I see!" Atsuro Umemura immediately nodded and said, "I will immediately contact the military headquarters and the front army headquarters and arrange the battle plan, and the operation can be launched in two days at most." (To be continued.) )