Compared with the happy atmosphere of Tang Qiuli and several corps commanders under him, reuniting after a long absence, and drinking and talking, General Ito Yanzaburo, the commander-in-chief of Japan's Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, who was desperately retreating south, was in a painful and depressed mood to the point of almost madness.

The Mogu raid ended with the loss of 150,000 soldiers in six divisions, Ito couldn't believe that none of the 150,000 people survived in the overwhelming artillery fire of the devil Tang Qiuli's troops, and the jade was shattered so completely that Ito was so painful that he didn't leave him with any hope.

The fiasco of Mogu made Ito no longer have the slightest hesitation, the Libao Grand Canyon defense line can block the attack of the independent division troops for a period of time, but what about later? Sending troops to slowly deplete in central Burma like this? The troops of the independent division advancing in the direction of Mandalay have already approached the city, and if they do not retreat south, the only passage will be cut off, and the fate that awaits them and their subordinates is to be surrounded here, and the result will be the same.

Ito is very aware of the situation he is facing, and he has only one night left for himself, and when it comes to dawn, Tang Qiuli, who is unforgiving, will definitely launch a fierce attack on the defense line of Libao Grand Canyon, and he can mobilize all his forces, and within a week, the defense line will not be broken through, and it can come from the east of Mandalay, intending to cut off the retreat of the imperial army troops and encircle the independent division troops on the line from Libao to Mandalay? What to block?

Even if the attack is successful, how long can it be supported by the current strength of the dispatch army in the face of the two-sided attack of the independent division's troops? Three days, five days, or half a month, and then what? Waiting for domestic reinforcements, Tang Qiuli is not a fool, he will not give himself such time, when the domestic reinforcements arrive, it is the time to sound the death knell of the doomsday of the Southeast Asian dispatch army.

Weighing the pros and cons, Ito made a painful decision to immediately retreat south to Rangoon. In order to avoid the fate of the dispatch army being surrounded by independent divisions, after making this decision, he did not plan to report his decision to withdraw south to the Tokyo base camp. You don't have to think about it to know the result, the order of the base camp is, "Hold on, hold on, even if it is all the jade pieces, and complete the plan of the Emperor's Burma battle." ”

At around 10 o'clock that night, Ito held a military meeting of senior generals at or above the commander level of the dispatch army in the war room of the headquarters of the Mandalay Dispatch Army. Ito didn't plan to discuss with his generals, he wanted to tell Sù a decision, an order that would put himself in a situation of no recovery by disobeying the military orders of the base camp, and Ito was prepared to bear all the consequences, just to keep the blood of the Southeast Asian dispatch army.

Ito also believes in his own generals. The high-ranking generals of the Japanese army who will understand their good intentions and recognize the dangerous situation they are facing will attend the meeting. Entering the conference room with heavy steps and an ugly face, everyone knew that the dispatch army was already facing a situation of being flanked by the troops of the independent division from the north and south, and today's meeting should be a meeting that would decide the life and death of the dispatch army.

This can be seen from the face of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and the generals sat down, and there was no nonsense, "Gentlemen, I believe it. As you must know, we are now facing a dangerous situation, the Libao defensive line is facing heavy pressure from the independent division, and Mandalay may be lost immediately, so I decided. Starting at 11 o'clock tonight, all the troops of the dispatch army will fully withdraw from the Libao defensive line, evacuate Mandalay, and retreat in the direction of Yangon, and the General Staff is responsible for formulating the retreat plan and the retreat sequence of the troops. ”

None of the Japanese generals spoke, but, in their hearts, they all agreed with the decision of the commander-in-chief, the situation on the battlefield, they all knew very well that if they did not retreat, it would be a dead end, but the arrogance of the Japanese soldiers, the spirit of bushido in their bones, let them avoid the word retreat, in the practice of the Imperial Japanese Army, there was never only the word "attack", and there was no retreat, retreat, for the Japanese emperor, it was a shame, and everyone was ashamed to mention it.

Although I agree with the commander-in-chief's order in my heart, no one agrees with it, this is the so-called face and self-esteem of the little devil, although it is a very correct judgment, but once it comes to the so-called "bushido" spiritual issues, they are all stubborn, at this point, I have to admire Ito's courage, dare to risk the world, dare to disobey the orders of the base camp, and make the right choice, in a certain way, Ito has surpassed all the Japanese generals.

Ito also knew that the thoughts of his generals did not object, so he agreed, he was very pleased, and then said: "Gentlemen, our retreat today is for a better battle tomorrow, at this point, it will not affect the honor of the Great Japanese Emperor in the slightest, only by surviving can we continue to serve the Great East Asian Holy War, be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, cherish our lives, and for the future of the empire, okay, gentlemen, please, after going back, immediately reorganize the troops, start to evacuate, and dismiss the meeting!" ”

The senior generals of the Japanese army present all saw that two tears flowed down Ito's loose eyes, and these Japanese officers stood up together, with solemn expressions, and replied loudly: "Hai! Completely obey the orders of the commander-in-chief! "There were a few officers, who could not hold back their tears, very smart, and no one asked whether the order to retreat was from the base camp.

"Slow, gentlemen, please stay, I object!" A voice that seemed sharp and trembling because of excitement and anger suddenly sounded in the conference room, and Lieutenant General Yamaichi Takemura, chief of staff of Japan's Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, stood up with a twisted face, and stared at Ito Yanzaburo with a gaze that wanted to kill.

Ito glanced at Takemura without surprise, and then, ignoring him as if he were air, continued: "Break up the meeting, and immediately start preparing to retreat south to Yangon!" Takemura was really angry, in his opinion, Ito was no longer worthy of being a general of the Great Japanese Empire, which was obviously an act of disobeying the orders of His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp and fleeing from the battle.

He was angry and ashamed of Ito's decision, no imperial general would bow his head and admit defeat in front of the enemy, especially in the face of inferior Shina people, he would rather die in battle than say retreat, Ito's approach not only disgraced the imperial army, but also openly disobeyed the orders of His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp, "This shameful deserter, coward, coward!" The scum of the army," Takemura cursed Ito viciously in his heart.

Seeing that Ito didn't take himself seriously at all, Takemura simply jumped to the front desk, and said in a somewhat gloomy tone: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, I hope you can take back the order you just made, there is no order in the base camp to ask us to retreat to Yangon, your behavior is to flee without a fight, and you will go to court-martial, His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp will not forgive your decision, as the chief of staff of the dispatch army, I will not carry out your wrong order, this decision that has brought shame on the imperial army, and, I will truthfully report everything that happened here to the base camp. ”

Ito's eyes narrowed, but the cold light in his eyes suddenly appeared, and he smiled hard, under the dim light, the smile looked very hideous, and he almost roared and said: "Takemura-kun, from now on, you are no longer the chief of staff of the dispatch army, as the commander-in-chief, I will remove you from the post of chief of staff, guards, General Takemura needs to rest, you have to take care of him, if you make a little mistake, you can judge yourself!" ”

The four guards with big shoulders and round waists came up, and they couldn't help but add up the martial arts and dragged them out, Ito glanced at the senior generals who were stunned, his face sank, and said, "What? Do you want to question my command? "The generals dispersed in a hurry, there is a chance to live, that fool will be willing to break jade, although the spirit of bushido is good, but there is no head value.

Looking at the empty conference room, Ito sat heavily on the chair, sweating his underwear, he also pinched a handful of sweat, those young Zhuang officers, once they admit their reasons and resolutely oppose the retreat, Ito is not easy to forcibly suppress, plus, the Japanese Army has always had a tradition of restraint, and it is possible to seize their own military power.

Just by disobeying the order of the base camp, he can't stand, fortunately, nothing happened, outside, there was a hoarse shout from Takemura, like a mad dog, Ito frowned in disgust, for this chief of staff, Ito did not have even a little good feeling except for extreme hatred and contempt.

After thinking about it, Ito picked up the phone and ordered the engineer troops to lay mines on the defense line of the Libao Grand Canyon, and bury all the mines, explosives and shells that could not be taken away in all parts of the canyon to block the pursuit of the independent division troops from the direction of Mogok, "Let these mines everywhere blow up the soldiers of the independent division all over the sky, and it is best to send that devil Tang Qiuli to the west sky!" Ito thought viciously.

The Japanese army began to retreat, and it has to be said that the organization and discipline of the Japanese soldiers were still commendable, and the troops of more than 200,000 people withdrew from the Libao Grand Canyon defense line in an orderly manner.

While directing the troops to evacuate, Ito watched nervously the movements of Feng Jiwu's Eastern Front Battle Group, in order to make the retreat of the troops unblocked, he sent four divisions of alert troops to build positions in the eastern direction of Mandalay, time, for the Japanese troops, more precious than anything else, as long as the troops of the independent division carried out a flank attack, the withdrawal of the imperial army troops became extremely difficult.

After being entangled for two or three days, even if he wanted to withdraw, Tang Qiuli's main force, Tongguò Libao Grand Canyon, could he still let himself go? Therefore, the strength of the four divisions that Ito placed in the east of Mandalay was to block the attack of Feng Jiwu's troops and cover the retreat of the main force of the dispatch army.

Ito didn't expect that Tang Qiuli didn't intend to ask for his life, otherwise, he would have absolutely no reason to live, but the four divisions and regiments he sent to block Feng Jiwu sent Feng Jiwu a target for attack.

(To be continued)To be continued......