Mengmao Town is located in the central area of Ruili, located on the north side of the Tropic of Cancer, and belongs to the southern subtropical humid monsoon climate. The area under its jurisdiction is basically mountainous terrain with a vertical and horizontal river network, which is very unfavorable for the rapid assault of large troops.

After completing the task of blocking the attack with great difficulty and making the village behind him safely transferred, Dai Anlan led the remnants to retreat to the area of Mengmao Town, which was the defense line of the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Yunnan Garrison Division.

The information urgently sent back by the radio station of Dai Anlan Company made the second division of the garrison move as a whole, and the third regiment directly chose Mengmao Town, the place where the British army must pass through to the north, to set up a blocking line and wait for the main force of the division headquarters to arrive.

"Dianlan!"

Dai Anlan, who was bandaging the wound on his face in the medical center, heard the shout, and knew that his regiment commander Qiao Pusheng was born, this regiment commander was not a bear, he was transferred from the main force to the garrison, and it was he who asked Dai Anlan to come over, specially promoted, and became a company commander.

In fact, with the results of the special students of the Huaxia Military Academy, Dai Anlan is very good. However, unlike the local warlord troops, the Southwest Army was an out-and-out elite division, and the main force was all trained for many years. With his actual combat experience, he could not enter the Guards Division, and even in the three main divisions, he served as a deputy platoon commander at best.

As soon as the words fell, Qiao Pson walked into the medical center with a few people.

"Report to the head of the regiment, the task of blocking the island has been successfully completed." After Dai Anlan returned to the regiment headquarters, he only reported the results of the battle to the battalion commander, but he didn't expect the regiment commander to come to see him in person, which made him a little embarrassed. I didn't see who was behind the head of the regiment.

"Stand upright, salute!!"

Jobson walked into the infirmary and ignored the others, instead turned around and stood by the door, saluting those who came in behind. Dai Anlan, who graduated from Huaxia Military Academy, jumped in his heart, the superior leader came? Subconsciously, it is a side-by-side salute.

Of the few people who walked in, he knew only one, and it was a person he would never forget.

"Dai Anlan, the commander of the second company of the second battalion of the third regiment of the second division of the Yunnan garrison division, reports to the principal!!"

Dai Anlan's whole person was like being struck by lightning, it was actually Zhang Shusheng and Principal Zhang who came to the front line in person, and his heartbeat accelerated for a while, and the blood of the whole person burned from his feet to his head, boiling.

For Zhang Shusheng, Dai Anlan has a very special feeling, when he was not old enough and couldn't even get his identity certificate, he used the only privilege of the entire militia at that time to approve himself to sign up first and then the political trial, otherwise, he would definitely miss that session, and now, he will not fight the British in Ruili, and he should still listen to the instructor's class in class. Of course, what this principal did in the next two or three years made him feel even more sincerely admired.

As with the exchange between the cadets of the military academy, this principal will bring real hope to this ruined and troubled nation. And he will be a small follower of him and embark on the road of fighting for the nation.

"Well, I haven't seen you for a few years, and your original little hairy head is also a company commander. Yes, yes, I heard that you and your company just fought a battle with the British. Zhang Shusheng first looked around this field medical center, and found that the environment was very tidy, many medical equipment were neatly placed, and some standing medicines were well stocked, and the wound on Dai Anlan's face had been simply bandaged and pasted with a piece of gauze.

"Report to the headmaster, we fought for six hours in a second company and held off the attack of an Indian battalion. It's just that the casualties of the troops are large......" Speaking of the casualties of the troops, Dai Anlan, as the company commander, still bowed his head with some guilt, everyone hoped for a big victory, but the fact was that in the face of the poorly trained Indian battalion, the company still suffered the loss of the British mountain artillery.

"The garrison division is a newly integrated unit, and I am very satisfied with such results. What thoughts or discoveries did you make after this battle? Speak to the principal! Zhang Shusheng comforted, how can there be no casualties in a war, and no matter how well-trained the army is, it is also composed of people, not heavenly soldiers. What he wanted to hear was the front-line battle report that Dai Anlan personally recounted, which was not the most intuitive reflection in the battlefield report.

Dai Anlan saw a large group of officers who he didn't know waiting for him and said, there were several lieutenant colonels and colonels, and even saw a major general, although he didn't recognize it, but the young man's tiger energy made him full of confidence, "This time we are fighting with the Indian battalion, judging from the color of the skin, this unit is mainly composed of Indians and white descendants, but the officers are all British." Their infantry weapons were pretty much the same as ours, with Lee Enfeld rifles and Blossom grenades, but no sharpshooters. The battalion also had fewer mortars, but instead had a mountain artillery battery. The training of the Indian battalion was not even comparable to ours, and if it weren't for the great losses caused to us by their mountain artillery, relying on the superior terrain, a company of veteran oils would have been able to hold them back for at least a day......"

After listening to Dai Anlan's brief description, Zhang Shusheng couldn't help but nodded, this is similar to the Indian battalion in his impression, the Indian army has repeatedly proved that it is not good at fighting in later generations, and it is their duty to bully the weak and fear the hard. Although the garrison division is a newly integrated unit, it is not composed of a few bandits at random like other central [***] lords, but a combination of well-trained reserve troops and experienced veterans of the Dian army and the Gui army.

Of course, Dai Anlan's battlefield command is also good, and he can come up with a way to deal with all kinds of attack methods of the British [***] officer. Coupled with the advantages of soldiers' training quality, mountain topography, and local warfare, this small battle in which fewer wins more can be regarded as a very representative surname.

This time, Zhang Shusheng specially rushed to the front line of Ruili, not to take a vacation, but to organize a key surname battle in Ruili. Only then did he take Zhuge Sheng, the instructor of the second division of the garrison, and Tie Sanqian, the commander of the division, to Mengmao Town urgently. Zhang Shusheng landed in Kunming by plane to the temporary airport in Ruili, while Zhuge Sheng and others went on the road lightly and walked in front of the main force of the Second Division.

"Dai Anlan, now the principal has a ready-made exam question for you.

Judging from the intelligence, the British plan for this operation in the southwest will be the British Fourth Division in India, the British Royal Gurkha Second Regiment, as well as the British Fifth Indian Division and an Indian Reading Brigade. The total number of people is more than 30,000.

So, as someone who experienced the first resistance battle, what would you choose to do? ”

Dai Anlan pondered for a long time, and even took out the small map in the army's bag, took a pen and compared it to it, and only raised his head and said: "The most difficult thing for the British to deal with should be their fourth division, as long as we can defeat this army, then, I think we can concentrate superior forces and teach the British a painful lesson." ”

This kid still has a hand, Zhang Shusheng nodded secretly, although he looked a little immature, but judging from his age and experience, it was very good, "The British rely on not only their fourth division, but also the Royal Gurkha Regiment specially brought for mountain warfare this time, this is a field force." Judging from the intelligence from various aspects, the British do not know much about our Southwest Army, and in their opinion, a force of tens of thousands of people is enough to fight to Kunming!!

Of course, if you look at the troops of Zhang Dashuai in the northeast, or the troops of several marshals in Guangdong, their tens of thousands of troops even seem too much.

So, you're very right, what we have to do is concentrate our superior forces and teach the British an unexpected lesson. ”

This is also the most important purpose of Zhang Shusheng's visit to the front line this time.

The construction of the southwest is imminent, and once the British are allowed to drive straight in, their own foundation will be over. Ruili's front line is already the bottom line of this war against Britain.

What Zhang Shusheng had to do was very simple, after taking the backbone of the staff to the front line in person, he came up with the final battle plan. After coming to Ruili's territory, the information gathered from many sides strengthened his idea, no matter what, even if he took a risk, he would teach the British a painful lesson.

"As the early blocking force this time, I have brought you a batch of good things, the second company is fighting hard, and the division commander Zhuge must give priority to supply." Before Zhang Shusheng left, he gave Dai Anlan a small care. When he came this time, the bomber detachment that accompanied the team brought a batch of mortars and infantry guns that were in short supply to the Second Division, and although it was too difficult to transport planes and the number was small, it was able to raise the firepower level of the Second Division by a certain level.

It wasn't until Zhang Shusheng left that Dai Anlan put down his saluting hand, and found that his palms were full of sweat, and he couldn't help laughing at himself, it was really nervous to face idols.

“…… Iron Division Commander, Instructor Zhuge , this time your second division must come up with a posture of desperate resistance of the main force. We can't give the British any chance to divide their troops, you just drag it a little bit, and you have to attract me the tens of thousands of them. ”

Although the first line of Ruili Mengmao Town is the fastest route to enter Kunming and the best transportation, Zhang Shusheng is still unwilling to take a big risk. Only by putting on a posture of resisting the enemy with the main force could the British not risk being counter-surrounded by the blocking troops and rashly divide their troops to Kunming.

"Don't worry, chairman, with my Tie Sanqian here, it doesn't matter if he is British or Indian, don't think about it." Tie Sanqian is not very good at speaking, and after two sentences, he looked at Zhuge Sheng.

"Even if the main forces do not arrive in time, the 2nd Division will hold back the enemy." Zhuge Sheng simply stated his position. This elegant bandit-born instructor is extremely strict, although the military has been transferred several times, but the soldiers he has led are very convinced.

Zhang Shusheng: "Well, Ruili's field airfield will be one of the cards in this Mengmao Town Campaign, and at most one squadron of bombers will be deployed there to provide you with air fire support." ”

"Great!!" Zhuge Sheng and Tie Sangan couldn't help but be overjoyed, originally thought that this was a stone to the death battle, but they didn't expect the chairman's plan to be so thorough, even the air force was stationed at the temporary field airfield, it seems that this time it was really going to mobilize the main force to give the British a lesson that will never be forgotten.

Then, with Zhang Shusheng's participation, the principal officers of the Second Division took up their batons one after another, and after fiddling on the actual combat sand table, they came to a unanimous view on this blocking combat mission.

Zhang Shusheng said solemnly: "The meaning of the staff is similar to everyone's opinion, the most important preparation for this blocking operation is to build fortifications, the Indian division, the vanguard of the British, will arrive here tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and you still have one day." I can tell you unequivocally that the magnitude of this combat mission will be unprecedented, and not only the main forces, but even the Guards Division, which was formed at the same time as you, will send troops into the battle. I hope you guys don't let me down!! ”

"Yes!!"

The main commanders and fighters of the Second Division saluted one after another, although the Second Division could not do anything else, but this trench digging was really no worse than the main force. At that time, an important training subject for the reserve forces was to dig field trenches, and each person had an engineer shovel, and it took several years to dig and train, and as for the veterans of the Yunnan Army and the Gui Army, most of them were also from peasant backgrounds, and they did their work in a good way. Not to mention the main forces, even this garrison division is not necessarily inferior to the ability of the Germans to dig fortifications.

"Our goal is to teach the arrogant empire a lesson that will never be forgotten."

Zhang Shusheng made up his mind.

(To be continued)