"Give the little devils a bayonet to each person, don't leave a living mouth, and then retreat immediately" Seeing that more than a dozen little devils were wiped out in an instant, they didn't even have time to fight back. The team leader couldn't help but be excited, and ordered to several team members around him. Immediately, the team members who packed up the little devil's weapons and ammunition quickly withdrew from the battlefield under the leadership of the team leader. Of course, when the troops were leaving, these team members did not forget to leave some gifts for the little devils who came to reinforce them.

Sure enough, just as a dozen fighters withdrew from a distance of about 500 meters, several violent explosions were heard behind them, but this was no longer the business of this team. Because they were reloading their ammunition and attacking the next team.

After the commander of the Lifan Wing of the Yue Army sent two brigades of mountain-searching troops, it has lasted for an hour and a half until now. However, within an hour and a half, the mountains and forests on both sides of the entire marching column and among the cornfields continued to sound bursts of gunfire. Until now, not a single soldier has been seen to bring back the victory.

Gradually, as time went on, the gunfire in the woods became more and more intense. The commander of the army and the commander of the division, Seishiro Itagaki felt more and more that something was wrong, and finally, with the approval of the division commander, sent a large group of reinforcements again to see what was going on in the woods.

However, the situation was even worse than they expected. A brigade that was once again sent out by the division commander Itagaki Seishiro did not quickly return the news in the dense forest as a few people imagined. An entire brigade of elite imperial troops, as if they were sheep in the mouth of a tiger, once again caused more dense gunfire in the woods.

"Baga. What the hell is going on, why is there such a dense gunfire in the woods. How many Eighth Route Army are there around us, and how many are there" Listening to the constant gunshots around him, the division commander Itagaki Seishiro also began to get anxious, and asked several wing commanders around him.

"Hi, Your Excellency Division Commander, I think we must now order all troops to retreat at once. In my opinion, the current situation is completely a trap set by the Eighth Route Army. The three brigades we had just sent out had already fallen into each other's trap and had to retreat immediately. Otherwise, the imperial army of the three brigades will pay a heavy price in casualties," said the commander of the 43rd Infantry Wing, who had not spoken all this time.

"Nani? Oba-kun, why do you have such an idea? Listening to the words of the captain of the Oba wing, the division commander Itagaki Seishiro frowned and asked eagerly.

"Hi, Division Commander. I think that around us, the Reading Force must have placed a unit that is good at mountain warfare. Otherwise, with the strength of the two brigades of the Imperial Army, even the two main regiments of the Eighth Route Army would not be our opponent. And now, we have a total of three brigades, and we are completely immersed in mountain warfare. That can only illustrate one thing, and that is that an elite unit of the Reading Force Division is arranged here. Wait for the Imperial Army soldiers to continue to enter the mountains and forests, and then they will use the terrain to wipe them out," said the captain of the Oba Wing, after sorting out his thoughts.

"Baga must be the special operations team of the Reading Division, it must be them" After listening to the co-captain's explanation, the division commander Seishiro Itagaki slapped his head violently and exclaimed loudly.

"Yes, division commander, the special operations brigade that must be the reading division around us must be them, I have heard about it when I was in Taiyuan. This unit of the Reading Division is a soldier who has been carefully selected by them throughout the division and has undergone special training. In terms of combat effectiveness, definitely surpassing our Imperial soldiers. Listening to the words of the division commander, the other two wing commanders echoed one after another.

"Baga, since we know that our opponent is the Reading Force Special Operations Brigade, what are you doing in a daze? Quick, send all the heralds, in short, exhaust all the methods, order all the troops to retreat immediately, quick" Listening to the words of the two wing commanders, Itagaki Seishiro couldn't help but get anxious and shouted at the three wing leaders in front of him.

"Hi, Your Excellency Division Commander" Immediately, dozens of heralds rushed to the dense woods under the orders of their respective commanders.

Finally, after ten minutes, a small squad of Imperial soldiers carrying the wounded and the remains of soldiers finally dragged their tired bodies out of the dense woods and walked towards this side.

"Eight Geyalu, your squad, how did you carry so many corpses, what the hell happened in the woods" Seeing that there were obviously more corpses than wounded, the squad saw it. The division commander, Seishiro Itagaki, could no longer care about the majesty of the division commander, and ran in front of a captain squadron leader with three wing commanders, and asked loudly.

"Your Excellency, Commander of the Reporting Division. We are the strength of a squadron, and now there is less than a squad left. There are still many corpses of Imperial warriors in the woods, and we simply can't afford to rush them back. The Eighth Route Army in the woods is too powerful, they are out of nowhere, and there are a lot of crossbow arrows, if you are not careful, you will be quietly wiped out by their crossbow arrows" The squadron leader of the army saw that it was the commander of the division, and hurriedly saluted and said.

"Nani? A squadron with less than a squad of troops left? Baga, how is it possible, your conscience is greatly bad, it is absolutely impossible" listened to the answer of the squadron leader in front of him. The division commander Itagaki Seishiro was full of disbelief and yelled loudly at the squadron leader in front of him.

"Hey, division commander, what I'm saying is true, these Eighth Route Army faces are all painted like ghosts, and they are wearing clothes made of leaves and branches. As long as we lie on the ground, we can't see them at all, but they can see us clearly and attack us at any time" At the mention of the Eighth Route Army in the woods, the squadron leader's voice began to tremble, obviously very afraid of the battle just now.

"Baga! Impossible, how could the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army be so strong. It can't be, it must be your command error, trying to make excuses and shirk responsibility. Baga, I'm going to kill you, and you are not allowed to disturb the morale of the army again" As he spoke, the division commander Itagaki Seishiro had already drawn his command knife. A flash of sword light slashed at the neck of the squadron leader in front of him.

"Division commander, division commander" Just when the squadron leader closed his eyes and waited for his body to be separated, a burst of exclamation reached his ears, and the command knife with a cold light did not cut his neck, but stopped in the air. The squadron leader opened his eyes with a panicked face, only to see his own wing commander, hugging the arm of the division commander and saving his own life.

"Division commander, please don't be angry, we will get more information when all the troops come back. If he really lied about the military situation, it won't be too late for us to deal with it," the wing commander loudly advised.

"Baga, yours wait first. If it is really a lie about the military situation, I will personally cut off your head in front of the entire division," the division commander fiercely put away his command knife and said.

However, the final result still made the division commander Seishiro Itagaki extremely disappointed. Because, in the next hour, although there are troops returning to the main forces one after another. However, almost every unit returned with a large number of dead soldiers. More importantly, on the faces of every soldier alive, the division commander saw a lot of fear for his enemies.

"Report to the division commander, the losses of the three brigades have been counted," said Captain Kuri Rice with a sad face, and came to the division commander with a straight face, Seishiro Itagaki said.

"Well, speak" Seishiro Itagaki nodded, not saying a word.

"Hey! Division Commander. The first two brigades of the Imperial Army we sent out. Four of the formed squads were wiped out, and the corpses of the Imperial Army were not brought back. In the two brigades, a total of 743 Imperial soldiers were killed, 117 Imperial soldiers were seriously wounded, and the rest were basically wounded. The last brigade to be reinforced, 326 Imperial soldiers killed, 76 seriously wounded, and 139 lightly wounded, the three brigades lost a total of 1,069 Imperial soldiers and 193 were seriously wounded. Directly caused 1,262 soldiers of the Imperial Army to lose their combat effectiveness," Captain Kuri replied with a sad face.

Because, these lost soldiers were all soldiers of his own wing. It can be said that after the battle just now, his 21st Infantry Wing has lost more than half, and many squadrons have almost become a shell force, or even a whole army has been wiped out. The entire 21 Infantry Wing almost lost its combat effectiveness.

"In less than two hours of Baga's tightness, we again lost a brigade and a half of elite imperial troops. Combined with the losses from the shelling, in less than a day, we lost two brigades of elite imperial troops. "After listening to the report of the wing captain, Seishiro Itagaki scolded loudly.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Wing Commander. Now there is less than an hour left before dark, and the soldiers are unusually tired, should they camp on the spot and rest, and continue the march tomorrow. After the division commander's anger had subsided a little, the captain of the chestnut rice wing suggested in a low voice.

"Baga, you can't stop to rest. We are now right within the range of the Eighth Route Army's shelling. If we stop to rest, we will undoubtedly become a target for the artillery of the Eighth Route Army. All soldiers were ordered to eat dry rations while marching, and to be sure to get out of the range of the Eighth Route Army's shelling before dawn tomorrow. After listening to the advice of the captain of the chestnut rice wing, the division commander immediately objected.

"Hey, division commander, I'll go and give the order right away. Order the troops to speed up the march and strive to get out of the cannon range of the Eighth Route Army before dawn," replied Wing Commander Kurihan.

"Yo Xi, go and order all the soldiers to keep their marching distance, and don't stop when they encounter the shelling of the Eighth Route Army, give me to continue to advance." The division commander, Seishiro Itagaki, nodded and continued to order.

"Hi Your Excellency Division Commander" Captain Kuri Fan turned around and ran towards the troops not far away. In less than a few minutes, the troops, which had been stopped for more than an hour, moved again. However, at this time, the marching column of the Yue army was suddenly shortened by a large margin, and more importantly, there were more than 200 stretchers in the entire ranks

And so, on the ensuing march, although the troops were constantly shelled by heavy artillery battalions. However, due to the dispersion of the army, coupled with the order that the army must march even in the event of artillery bombardment, the losses of the army can be said to have been minimized. However, no matter how low it was, the fierce shelling still caused a lot of casualties to the army.

And just when the main force of the Fifth Division led by Seishiro Itagaki was marching with difficulty under the artillery fire of the Reading Division. After several days and nights of rushing to the main force of the 2nd Division, a huge encirclement was finally formed around the heavy artillery wing of the Yue Army. The army of more than 3,000 people was tightly surrounded in it.

With the successive arrival of various units. The entire encirclement has been slowly narrowed by order of the commander Gao Yuan. Of course, the supreme commander of the army, the chief of staff of the division and regiment, did not find out about this. The Imperial Army, still with an entire army of 3,000 soldiers, slowly crawled on the road that had been completely destroyed.

"Report to the commander, the commander of the Reading Regiment Wang called, and the Reading Regiment detour troops have successfully converged with the Second Regiment. Our encirclement has been formed, and we ask for the next operational guidance," a communications staff officer came to Gao Yuan in front of the temporary headquarters of the 2nd Division of the plateau, holding a telegram he had just received.

"Huh? So fast, at least two hours faster than I expected. Okay, great. In this way, Staff Officer Li, you immediately send a report to the political commissar Zhao of the 1st Division, and ask him to take the guard battalion to get out of contact with the little devil immediately. At the same time, after the withdrawal from the battle, the guard battalion will serve as a reserve for the entire campaign, ready for battle at any time. Listening to the words of the communications staff officer, Gao Yuan was excited for a while, and ordered to the communication staff officer Li in front of him.

"Yes, Commander"

"Staff Officer Wang, immediately according to the telegrams sent by the three regiments and the intelligence of the guard battalion of the first division, the distribution of the enemy's and our forces will be quickly marked on the ground drawings to facilitate the command and coordination of the troops." Seeing the departing communications staff officer, Gao Yuan commanded to one of the operational staff officers of the command.

"Commander, complete the task within five minutes" As he spoke, Staff Officer Wang had already picked up a pencil and marked it on the map while looking at the telegram in his hand. In less than five minutes, Staff Officer Wang put down the pencil in his hand.

"Commander, all the dispositions of our forces have been laid out on the ground map. Now the army is marching at a rate of 5 miles per hour. However, according to the telegram sent by the guard battalion of the 1st Division, it seems that the little devil has no intention of camping tonight. Staff Officer Wang pointed to the location of the army's baggage logistics unit on the map and said.

"Five miles an hour, and after three hours, it's fifteen miles. It just so happened that Zhouzhuang was about fifteen miles away from the current position of the army. Here it is, the terrain here is very suitable for the offensive of the troops. The battlefield is here. "When Staff Officer Li saw Zhou Zhuang, Gao Yuan slapped the table violently and said affirmatively. Because his brigade headquarters was stationed here before the plateau expanded with his troops, it can be said that he knew the terrain here well.

"Commander. Hearing the shouts of the plateau, Staff Officer Li, who had already finished sending the telegram, hurriedly ran into the temporary headquarters.

"Well, now record the battle order, and then send it to the three regiment commanders immediately" Gao Yuan nodded and said to the communications staff officer in front of him.

"Yes, Commander," he said, and Staff Officer Li had already opened the folder he was carrying. At the same time, a pencil was also in his hand, ready to record the command.

"Order a regiment, leave a battalion of troops, and continue to surround and monitor the army. The remaining two battalions, led by the regimental commander, immediately rushed to Zhouzhuang and carried out an ambush south of Zhouzhuang. The Reading Regiment left a battalion of troops marching synchronously on the left flank of the Yue Army, monitoring and encircling the Yue Army. The remaining two battalions immediately rushed to the west of Zhouzhuang to ambush. The second regiment left one battalion to march simultaneously on the right flank of the army, and the remaining two battalions rushed to the south of Zhouzhuang to ambush. In addition, the cavalry battalion of the headquarters immediately rushed to Zhouzhuang, and north of Zhouzhuang, looked for suitable terrain for cavalry charging and ambushed. After receiving the order to attack, he directly broke through the main force of the army from the tail of the army, and reduced the enemy's living force and destroyed their formation. All the mortars of the three regiments should be concentrated, and an artillery cluster position should be built south of Zhouzhuang to provide artillery support at any time, and the three regiment commanders will be sent out now," the commander Gao Yuan, commanded to the communications staff officer Li in front of him.

"Yes, Commander, I'll send the report right now." Staff Officer Li took the telegram in his hand and turned around and left the headquarters.

"Staff Officer Wang, immediately notify the guard battalion, and the headquarters will immediately transfer to the top of the mountain, two kilometers south of Zhouzhuang. There it is possible to observe the situation of the entire battlefield, which facilitates the direct command of the troops in battle. Tell the guard battalion to move quickly, and after two hours, I must enter the new command headquarters and direct the battle. Gao Yuan ordered loudly, turned around and picked up his matching gun, and walked outside the headquarters.

"Yes, Commander, I'll arrange people right away," Staff Officer Wang replied loudly. Turn around and run out of the command to deliver orders.

Two hours later, under the protection of a guard company of soldiers. Commander Gao Yuan rode his war horse and soon came to the door of the headquarters that had just been built.

"Report to the commander, the Zhouzhuang front-line headquarters has been built, please check the commander" has not yet reached the door of the headquarters. Operational Staff Officer Wang hurriedly ran out of the headquarters and said loudly.

(To be continued)