"It's time to eat, it's time to eat." The chubby chef Elder Niu still rang the shell shell outside the cafeteria at the same time as usual, and today's breakfast was the same as usual, it was still bread, omelette, steak, pancakes, just a few more buckets of milk. Lao Niu also has more than 20 cooks, who are responsible for the food of 800 big-nosed foreigners in this barracks, and there are several canteens like this in Lashio, and the barracks that Lao Niu is in charge of is the K18 field artillery battalion.

Hearing the shell casings outside the canteen being knocked out, the officer in charge of the morning drill blew the whistle, and the artillerymen, who were already sweating, finally breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately they were not trained by these fierce instructors. Lao Niu's canteen is actually not a canteen, because it is simply a wooden shed made of wood in the open space of the barracks, and a long table can seat dozens of people to eat at the same time.

The scene of hundreds of people eating is noisy, and the artillerymen come here not only to eat, but also a place for them to relax and communicate. "Cow, today's omelette is good, and the steak is also good, and it tastes good." Mark, the commander of the K18 Field Artillery Battalion, dipped the bread in the gravy on the plate and gave a thumbs up to the old cow, but the latter did not react to his praise, just holding a dry rag and looking out of the canteen in a daze.

"God" Mark saw that Lao Niu didn't take care of himself, and subconsciously looked at Lao Niu's line of sight, just after a glance, Mark suddenly got up and stood up. A puff of smoke has risen on the east side of the K18 field artillery battalion, there is no barracks there, some are just an outpost, smoke rises for no reason, there must be something wrong with the outpost. "Clay, you immediately take a team of soldiers to the outpost to see if it was the fire they lit." For the sake of safety, Mark did not just rely on walkie-talkies to contact, but directly sent a team of soldiers to verify on the spot.

Before Clay could get out of the barracks, the machine guns on the sentry tower went off, accompanied by the sound of scorching sirens, "Enemy attack, enemy attack, there are Japanese troops" The machine gunners on the sentry tower were firing fiercely, and the other sentries shaking hand sirens shouted that the enemy was attacking. The noise in the canteen disappeared in an instant, followed by the clatter of seats, and all the soldiers who were eating in the canteen rushed to the barracks to get their weapons.

"Collect, collect, collect things quickly, if there is a fight at this meeting, these things will all be destroyed if they don't get it right, and they will all cost money to buy." Seeing that the soldiers had all run away, Lao Niu threw the rags in his hands and beckoned his cooks to hurry up and pack up the things in the canteen. As he spoke, Mark had already commanded part of his vigilant troops to enter the outer position of the field artillery battalion, and the fierce gunfire and explosions made Lao Niu speed up their movements, the field artillery camp was only less than 10 kilometers away from Lashio, and if it was attacked by the Japanese army, the safest place would be the city of Lashio.

"Where did these damn Japanese monkeys come from? The damn outpost didn't even find out? Looking at the Japanese soldiers who appeared in the binoculars, Mark's face was full of anger, and the Japanese soldiers who suddenly appeared outside the field artillery camp looked like they could have the size of a brigade, Mark really couldn't think of how so many Japanese soldiers came here. Quickly report to the Lashio military station that the field artillery battalion was attacked by the Japanese, and the Japanese army was a large brigade, and no heavy weapons were found for the time being. Mark was a good commander of artillery battles, but he couldn't deal with field defense warfare, so he had to temporarily hand over the command to the officers of the alert troops, and he ran to direct his gunners to move mortars out to bombard these damn Japanese soldiers.

These Japanese soldiers cursed by Mark were all from the 25th Army commanded by Yamashita Fengfumi, and their actual number was the Fifth Search Wing under the Fifth Division, which was beaten by Zhao Zhi and them. After being defeated by Zhao Zhi and the others, the Fifth Search Wing was not punished by Yamashita Fengwen, but their remaining officers and soldiers received a new mission, Yamashita Fengwen ordered them to go out day and night to attack Lashio. The intact soldiers of the search wing could barely scrape together a force and a half of troops, plus the soldiers who were supplemented by Yamashita Fengwen, and the whole two brigades of Japanese troops went straight to Lashio.

When Yamashita learned the news of the defeat in the Battle of Midway, he was even earlier than Zhao Zhi, and when he ordered the 21st Wing to strengthen its firepower and take the Thunder Airborne Field, Yamashita Fengfu had already received a secret order from the base camp, asking him to lead the 25th Army to turn back to Singapore to strengthen its defenses and guard against a possible large-scale ground war by the US army. The reason why the Japanese army sent troops to Burma was only to block the Yunnan-Burma road to prevent supplies from entering China, but Burma and Singapore are not comparable at all, regardless of geographical location or resource reserves.

The attack of the 21st Wing was blocked, the 18th Division had been bitten by the enemy, the 42nd Wing and the 11th Wing were also intercepted and ambushed, and the whole battle situation was not very favorable to the 25th Army.

There were two kinds of Thunder troops fighting against the Fifth Division, one was the blue-eyed Jewish troops, and the other was the mercenary troops wearing German-style steel helmets cruising in the mountains and forests, all of which Yamashita learned from the forward troops. The strength of the two brigades could not defeat Lashio, but it could create a false impression of a large number of Japanese troops attacking Lashio, and the Guards Division, which had been secretly transferred back to Thailand by Yamashita Fengwen, was another clever move, Lashio encountered a large number of Japanese troops, and the Guards Division had not participated in the battle, which would create a false impression for the opponent, and the Guards Division had already diverted to Lashio.

The transfer of the tiger from the mountain was not only for the sake of the 25th Army, but also for the Taungoo defense line and a large number of Japanese troops in Rangoon, Yamashita Fengwen tried in vain to use the strength of the two brigades of the Fifth Search Wing to mobilize the mobile troops of the Thunder on the front line of Lashio and Mandalay to come to the rescue, so as to attract the forces of the Thunder to Lashio, so that the Japanese troops in Burma could leave safely. The Japanese army had Burmese guides recruited at Jingdong, and the journey from the Chan Plateau to Lashio was smooth, and it was only when they reached the outside of the field artillery camp that there was an accident.

After the Japanese attack force took the outpost of the field artillery battalion, one of the sentries who had not yet lost their breath pulled out his hand and threw incendiary bombs, which was the reason for the thick smoke that Lao Niu and Mark saw. The Japanese did not know that Mark's barracks were a field artillery battalion, and their task was to bluff to create the illusion of a large number of Japanese troops attacking, so all the barracks here in Lashio were their targets, and Mark's field artillery battalion was only their first target.

But they seem to have found the wrong target, Mark's barracks looks inconspicuous, but the firepower here is very strong, there are several machine guns alone, and mortars have joined the battle one after another, which is not a good thing for the Japanese army, which only carries the long-range firepower of grenadiers and light mortars. "Tanigawa, you and Hashimoto's squadron stay behind to contain their firepower, and the rest of the troops continue to attack Lashio, and we are going to stir this place into a mess." Nobuyoshi Fujimura, the commander of the 5th Search Wing, was the commander of the raid on Lashio, and with only 2,300 troops, he was ready to launch a multi-pronged attack on Lashio with a squadron size.

"It's not good, they're going to the city, push out all our artillery, and do a good job of fire support for the city." The opponent's firepower suddenly weakened, and Mark, who had been looking around with a telescope, immediately noticed the movement, and it was not difficult for anyone with a little military knowledge to guess the intentions of the Japanese army, and their target was the entire Lashio and not just his own field artillery camp.

The news of the Japanese attack has been learned by the entire Lashio garrison after the field artillery battalion opened fire and returned fire, which is the material distribution center of Thunder in northern Burma, Zhao Zhi has arranged a 5,000-strong Jewish army in Lashio, and there is also Mark's field artillery battalion to assist in the defense. However, due to the attack of the 25th Army, 4,000 Jewish troops of Lashio had been transferred to assist in the defense of Taunggyi to guard the direction of Chan State, and they were replaced by 3,000 militia troops, which was the reason for Mark's panic.

The number of invading Japanese troops was not clear, but what Mark saw through his telescope was an overwhelming earthy yellow, and there were only 1,000 regular troops, 3,000 militiamen, and Mark's field artillery battalion in Lashio, and he did not know that they could withstand the Japanese attack. Accepting the task of attacking Lashio, Fujimura Nobuyoshi and his Japanese troops had already regarded themselves as dead men, and they had a lot less scruples when they launched the attack, and under the command of Fujimura Nobuyoshi, the Japanese army soon attacked a place 5 miles away from Lashio Railway Station.

"Sir, when Lashio was attacked, it was only said that there were a lot of Japanese troops, but the number of Japanese troops was not stated, and the telegram also said that the Japanese army was only 5 miles away from the material accumulation site at the railway station, and our troops were desperately resisting, and Lashio asked for reinforcements." Less than half an hour after Mark's field artillery battalion fired back, Zhao Zhi received the news that his first reaction was that the 25th Army's Guards Division, which had not been fighting, had gone to Lashio, and if so, Lashio would be dangerous.

"Wait, you wait." Zhao Zhi had already ordered the defenders of Taunggyi and Mandalay to send troops to support Lashio, but before the radio soldiers could turn around and leave, Zhao Zhi suddenly stopped him. He had studied the past battles of Yamashita Fengwen, and although the rush battle was Yamashita Fengwen's forte, it was impossible for the defenders of Lashio to meet the Guards Division. Although the number of Japanese troops was not indicated in the telegram asking for help, it said that Lashio was still under control, and whether this would be a trick by Yamashita Fengwen's envoy, Zhao Zhi's heart was full of doubts.