At the headquarters of the Tianjin Dispatch Army, the commander-in-chief of the Tianjin Dispatch Army, Shirakawa Yoshinori, was furious in the war room.

"Baga, the emperor [***] people of a wing, can't take the middle [***] position defended by a regiment, you are all rice buckets, and you are all a shame for the empire!!"

Shirakawa Yoshinori said that he was angry, pulled out his saber, and frightened the guards next to him to step forward to stop him, but as a result, the commander-in-chief slashed at the sand table placed in the middle, just slashing the left flank position defended by the Southwest Army.

The trembling general in the conference room suddenly lowered his head even more in fright, no one would have thought that His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, who was known for his elegance in Pingyue, would be a different person today.

Even the commanders of the three divisions did not dare to raise their heads, especially the commander of the fourth division, Kazuo Hamada, who was responsible for attacking the position of the third regiment, and the commander of the Osa, Chiba Koichiro, stood alone on the side, hanging his head to the lowest. And Chiba Koichiro's face is even more red and swollen left and right, and it seems that he has been cordially greeted by the division commander Kazuo Hamada.

Shirakawa Yoshino seemed to be a little out of breath as if he was being oppressed by anger, and he breathed heavily and walked in front of Kazuo Hamada and Koichiro Chiba. "You two emperors [***] shame, do you have anything to say?"

After a fierce reprimand, as the commander-in-chief, he still needs to give the two people a chance to explain, of course, maybe any explanation is useless, the key depends on the attitude of the two.

"Report to Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, without any explanation, we will use the highest courage of the Emperor [***] people to launch a decisive charge, and we will definitely be able to take the left flank position."

Lieutenant General Kazuo Hamada, the commander of the Sixth Division, did not have the slightest timidity at this time, held his head high, suddenly stood up and saluted, and almost shouted out his answer in anger.

The same is true of Chiba Koichiro next to him, the attack failed, and the commander of the sixth division regarded him as a disgrace, and in order to preserve the vitality of the troops, he decisively ordered a retreat, and then looked for fighters, as a result, as soon as he returned to the division station, he was slapped twice in public by the division commander Hamada Kazuo, and bluntly said that he would be dealt with by military law.

At this time, Chiba Koichiro, as the commander of the wing, understood that in the eyes of the commander of the Sixth Division, in the eyes of the Tianjin Dispatch Army, it was unrealistic to retreat any strategy and choose the opportunity to move again. Just as when I was in the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, there were always two opposing factions in the school, one faction advocated the supremacy of offense, and the other faction advocated the supremacy of strategy and tactics.

However, as a soldier, he is still not afraid of death.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, I have no explanation. Then he will personally lead the charge of the wing and launch a decisive assault. ”

Shirakawa Yoshinori nodded, didn't say anything, then walked back to his seat, picked up a document, sighed faintly, and then raised his head and read: "Now read out the battle order issued by the military headquarters." ”

"Smack!" Stand on your feet neatly.

"Order, the 14th Division and the 16th Division must break through the frontal and right flank positions of the Kuomintang army before 3 p.m. on May 12, and must defeat these two divisions and drive them into Beiping.

It was ordered that the 6th Division, which had lost the battle, must destroy the left flank squadron of the Langfang position before 10 a.m. on 12 May, and must completely annihilate or capture it......"

After the meeting, Shirakawa Yoshinori left Kazuo Hamada alone.

"For the general attack in three days, what do you think about it, this is not a conference room, there is no need to avoid it." Few people know that it seems that Yoshinori Shirakawa scolded Kazuo Hamada at the meeting, but in fact, Kazuo Hamada was his student.

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, that Hamada will definitely take the left flank position, without any ideas." Kazuo Hamada paused slightly, but still answered the same way.

Shirakawa Yoshinori shook his head and picked up the operational telegram sent by the domestic military headquarters, for this Jinjing campaign, he, the commander-in-chief, could decide too little, the domestic military department almost controlled all the power, and the staff officers sent by the military headquarters of the dispatch army headquarters even controlled the command of the battle.

"Hamada, as a division commander, you should have more of your own reading and thinking. Although His Excellency Nogi Noshinori is highly respected throughout the Empire, at our level, we should not only recognize Nogi-kun's supreme bravery, but also realize that it is impossible to win the war by blindly relying on brute strength, and the same was true of the Nogi army back then. ”

"This ...... Teacher, what do you mean? ”

Shirakawa Yoshinori took a deep breath and said to the student he liked very much back then, "We naturally have to carry out the orders of the military department, but we also have to see some problems in this.

Some important members of the military department in China are very worried about the military presence in southwest China, especially after they announced that they would go north to resist the war, and many important military officials even suggested launching an early attack in southeast China to delay them from going north. His Excellency Namijiro Ryu presented to the emperor that military action must be limited to the north of North China to prevent excessive stimulation of the Chinese political axe in the southwest.

This is also why the orders received by the sending troops are inconsistent. From the beginning of the rapid attack to occupy Tianjin, to the subsequent Langfang raid, the performance was also heroic, once defeating the two so-called main divisions of the Chinese.

Then, when there was definite information that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing to mobilize a large army for a major battle, the country ordered a temporary suspension of the offensive rhythm, resulting in the escape of the [***] squadron, which had been easily annihilated. The military department wants to finish its work in one battle and use a greater victory to gain the right to speak for some people in the country. Therefore, the next two divisions were assembled without any effort and prepared to board the ship. The plan of the military headquarters was that the strength of five divisions would completely defeat Chiang Kai-shek's 100,000 miscellaneous army.

When the Chinese southwestern political axe finally formed the 19th Route Army and headed north, the military headquarters ordered that a fierce attack must be launched on the station of this southwestern regiment, test their depth, and destroy them.

Judging from the information I received from some military friends in China, the military department wanted to test the combat effectiveness of this southwestern army that was rumored to be miraculous, and on the other hand, it wanted to strike at Zhang Shusheng's combat determination by quickly annihilating them, after all, this area was Chiang Kai-shek's territory, and in the words of their Chinese, Zhang Shusheng's approach was to endure hardships and not to please them, and the military department believed that Zhang Shusheng was most likely sending troops for political purposes, rather than determined to resist, once we completely wiped out this regiment, The subsequent northward march is a formality. ”

"I see, no wonder this battle has become strange since the rapid occupation of Tianjin, I didn't expect there to be such a complicated situation here, thank you teacher for explaining." Kazuo Hamada is not a stupid person, the battle during the day has proved that this southwest regiment is indeed well-equipped, it can be said that it is much better than the emperor [***] team, "Teacher, I also found that the southwest army is generally equipped with a rapid-fire weapon between a hand-pulled bolt rifle and a submachine gun, and the reserve of this weapon is about 10 rounds, which can shoot at a very fast speed. Often, the Imperial soldiers shot once, but they could shoot two or three times, which was a terrible gap. In addition, there is a strange artillery on their positions that can attack both the sky and the ground. Of course, there is also a kind of artillery that can be used alone, and the tail flame is like a fire dragon, which I have never heard of.

Not to mention the problem of weapons, as long as there is enough money, this Chinese southwestern warlord can also buy it from the West. However, the most surprising thing is that the training level of their soldiers is obviously much stronger than Chiang Kai-shek's squadron, and compared with the emperor's [***] team, it is not much different. ”

Shirakawa Yoshinori nodded, he didn't know these things before, until a secret telegram from the military department was sent to him, informing him of the relevant information, he didn't understand what was going on, "Today I will tell you something that is only limited to our master and apprentice." In fact, the military department carried out in-depth spying on the southwest of the Chinese very early. The results show that they not only established a modern industrial system in the past two decades, but also opened military schools around 1916 and began to train modern troops. The principal of their military academy, you also know, Cai Yi, who used to study at the Imperial Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

In addition to modern military academies and modern military training, their modern industries have produced a range of advanced products, which are exported to Western countries, from automobiles to general merchandise. Although these products were hardly exported directly to the empire itself, they were actually sold into the empire by some Western merchants. Some chaebols in the empire commonly use these products with American or German labels in their homes, but they are actually produced in the southwest of Chinese. You may not believe it, but my wife just bought a washing machine last month, and as a result, I found a few Chinese words 'Made in China' on the manual. ”

"This ...... Teacher, is it a Sakura brand washing machine? Kazuo Hamada was shocked, and suddenly remembered that a washing machine had been added to the family two months ago, and his wife and daughter-in-law thought it was very easy to use, saying that it had greatly reduced the workload of the family.

"Not bad." Shirakawa Yoshinori said with a wry smile, "The products of the empire have fallen into great difficulties in the Chinese market, and the trading companies represented by some yarn factories have continued to close down, and the products of the empire can not be sold in southwest China, which is now the richest, and the goods of Britain and France have been squeezed out under the rule of the Nanjing National Government.

Relying on this strong foreign trade, their strength is already very strong, and nearly two decades of trade have armed them with a powerful army. Their main forces are already generally equipped with a semi-automatic rifle named 'Zhonghua', a new type of rifle between a traditional rifle and a submachine gun, which has not yet been equipped on a large scale even in Western countries. There are simply too many of its advantages.

Moreover, their troops are already undergoing armor reform, and the air force and navy have also been greatly developed, which can be seen from the fact that they were able to drive out the British in Hong Kong. There are not many of them, but they are all elite. ”

Kazuo Hamada was surprised, "Teacher, why have you never heard of this information?" The Chinese art of war says that knowing oneself and knowing the other side will win a hundred battles, we know nothing about the opponent, how to fight? ”

"Some people in the military department have withheld the information, and only a very small number of people know about it, just imagine, if a so-called China, which has always been portrayed as the sick man of East Asia, is recognized by the authorities as a formidable opponent one day, this will be a great blow to the morale of the military.

Some newcomers to the military clamored to occupy the entire so-called China, but His Majesty the Emperor meant that the empire did not need the southwest of China, but the north of North China. Only by occupying the vast area north of North China could the empire achieve long-term development. The armament is reorganized, and the military movement lasts forever. ”

"Thank you for telling the students." Kazuo Hamada only knew at this time how fierce the competition between the high-level forces of the empire was, even the military department, which seemed to be an iron plate, also had all kinds of voices. Only the benefits of invading China are their common goal.

"Hehe, it doesn't matter if you lose occasionally, I know you very well about Hamada-kun. When people are old, when they meet former students, they inevitably have to teach a few lessons. Shirakawa Yoshinori finally got to the point, "I think you also see the shortcomings of this southwestern regiment, they lack artillery, they lack air power. Attack bravely, I will mobilize more artillery and aircraft for you, of course, in order to satisfy some people in the military department, in order to shape the soul of Yamato and develop the spirit of bushido, Chiba Koichiro's decisive charge is still needed, and it may not be possible to achieve a direct victory. ”

Kazuo Hamada only realized at this time that some people in the military department still wanted to see the spirit of bushido like His Excellency Nogi Noshinori back then. "Teacher, don't worry, I will definitely take the left-wing position of the Chinese."

Until Kazuo Hamada left, Yoshinori Shirakawa still stood by the window, he felt that he might really be old, just because Hamada was his beloved student, just tell him these things that should not be let him know? Perhaps, it was something else. After a long time, he sighed, "Some people are destined to be sacrificed!" ”

Langfang, the garrison of the 3rd Regiment of the Southwest Army.

In the daytime battle, the losses of the third regiment were not small, and dozens of wounded soldiers were inhabited in the field hospital, but because the individual medical kit was very effective, the mortality rate of the wounded soldiers was very low, unless it was fatal on the spot or bleeding too much, basically saved a life, and was sent to the rear only when the condition improved.

Most of these people were injured during the artillery bombardment of the Yue Army and the attack of the 45th Infantry Wing of the commander of the Sixth Division of the Yue Army.

When dealing with the brigade in front, the troops fought smoothly, and it was not until the 45th Wing of the rear army launched an attack that they felt a lot of pressure. At that time, the army gave up the decisive charge and only fired at the soldiers of the third regiment from a distance, using the number of people to make up for the gap in individual weapons.

Overall, though, a big win.

At present, the combat objectives of the Third Regiment, in addition to assisting the two divisions to hold Langfang, are mainly to wait for the arrival of the main force of the Third Division, and to allow the officers and men to accumulate and sum up more combat experience for the follow-up combat units.

The heavily guarded regimental bunker ushered in an officer dressed in an ordinary southwestern military uniform, and judging from his rank, he was only a second lieutenant.

"Salute! Dai Anlan, head of the third regiment. ”

"Special forces, He An."

Dai Anlan moved into the temporary office of the bunker, and an unusual person came, dressed in an ordinary second lieutenant military uniform, but it was hard to imagine that he was a major general of the Southwest Army.

Dai Anlan has also been fascinated by the special forces in the southwest for a long time, but unfortunately, he thinks that his ambition is not in the field of special forces operations, otherwise he would probably be like some military school classmates, determined to enter the Dragon Tooth Special Forces Brigade or the Tiger Special Forces Brigade.

He An in front of him felt that he had no battlefield killing momentum at all, and he didn't look like a soldier who had been on the battlefield for a long time, but like an ordinary person, an ordinary person who had been dealing with flowers and plants for a long time.

Extremely ordinary, even if you take off your hat, no one will think that this second lieutenant is a fake. He An, who is in his thirties, even looks a little short, 167 tall, thin face, and thin figure, no one will associate him with a major general captain of a special forces.

There are no soldiers in a hundred battles, Dai Anlan suddenly thought of a sentence he had read, saying that if a soldier can fight repeatedly without dying, he will be a soldier in one battle, a general in ten battles, and no soldiers in a hundred battles, he is already a sublimated soldier.

Such a soldier is even more terrifying, if it is a battlefield commander, this kind of historical famous generals and the like are enough to sweep the world with an army and achieve great things for the king. If it is a soldier, this kind of person must be a killing machine, and there is no enemy on the battlefield.

And as an officer of the special forces, one can imagine how terrifying his combat power is.

"Since the main force of the Third Division has not yet arrived, the military headquarters asked us to assist the Third Regiment to block the early attack of Yue himself." He An has not changed at all in the past ten years, he is extremely indifferent, he is silent, except for work, he rarely speaks three words to people, even if it is this kind of work of handing over the surname, he is extremely concise.

Dai Anlan also knew that the other party's style was capable, so he turned on the light above his head on the spot, walked to the map on the small table, gave a brief introduction to the battle situation in the past few days, and also told the difficulties faced by the third regiment.

"At present, the most important of these difficulties we are encountering is the artillery of the Chinese army, which has posed a great threat to us, and a considerable number of casualties are caused by artillery attacks, and we lack the strength to counterattack. I don't know if Major General Ho's troops can help in any way. ”

"No problem."

He An replied bluntly, when Dai Anlan analyzed and introduced it just now, he had already thought about it quickly, these problems are a problem here in the Third Regiment, but in their special forces, they are just regular training subjects, and they are not a big problem, "Tomorrow you had better launch a counter-charge, so that the artillery experts under my command can roughly determine the location of my artillery." ”

Dai Anlan nodded, as an excellent commander, of course he knew that the heavy army was hoarding in the Langfang area, and every step was a crisis, and the special forces did not have so much time to spy and reconnoitre. However, when the army attacked Langfang with the strength of three divisions and regiments, the artillery units were certainly not uniformly and centrally arranged, and they needed to find out the key targets before they could act.

"Tomorrow I will have a battalion of troops launch a counter-surprise feint against the 45th Infantry Wing of the enemy's 6th Division to induce artillery bombardment. The battalion commander of our third regiment artillery battalion is also a veteran artilleryman, and he can assist the experts of the special combat team when the time comes. ”

"Good."

The two agreed on a plan that the three regiments would launch a feint the next day to induce the enemy to carry out artillery bombardment.

As soon as the morning dawns, the feint counter-raid begins!

(To be continued)