The battle in Mandalay was in full swing. The two sides seemed to be at loggerheads. No one gave in. Kanda Masaka continued to add troops to the city, and the defenders continued to shrink. After three days of fierce fighting, most of the city fell. Under Japanese control, Lieutenant General Kanda was very excited.
At the headquarters of the Sixth Division, Lieutenant General Kanda is studying the battle situation with several commanders.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the defenders have been compressed into a very narrow area in the southwest, and most of the surface buildings in the city have been controlled by the imperial army;
All the marmots from the Independence Army were driven into the tunnel, and they almost hollowed out the entire city. Now the Imperial Army has basically occupied most of the ground buildings..."
Chief of Staff Imai Colonel reported the situation in the city to Kanda Masane in detail, and he nodded repeatedly.
Mandalay was much harder to fight than he thought, almost forcing the Sixth Division to use its full strength.
Colonel Tsuchiya, commander of the 6th Engineer Regiment, had an ominous premonition in his heart. He always felt as if his nose was being held by an invisible hand. This made him very uneasy, so he reminded Lieutenant General Kanda:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, I always feel that something is wrong. It seems that the Chinese are hiding an ulterior conspiracy!
Three of the four infantry regiments of the Imperial Army have been deployed, and all the engineering and baggage regiments have been deployed. Now there is only one 47th Regiment left around the division and regiment headquarters, and the others are technical arms and personnel from the division and regiment headquarters. Although the artillerymen of the 7th Heavy Artillery Brigade still have more than 10,000 people, the number of combat troops with strong combat effectiveness is less than 5,000. If the fight continues like this, I am worried-"
Kanda Masane raised his hand to stop Colonel Tsuchiya and said coldly:
"Tsuchiya-kun, you should understand the principle that a person who travels a hundred miles can only take half a mile. What the two sides are fighting now is who can last for the last five minutes!
The main forces of the New First Army, the New Second Army, and the New Third Army of the Expeditionary Force were all restrained by the left and right armies of the Imperial Army. Mr. Sakurai on the left said that they could defeat the enemy in front of them in at most two days, and with the 6th The division will hunt for Mander City.
Don’t think that Chu Xiong is too miraculous, he won’t spread the word to make an army;
Order to wait for the 47th Regiment and the Baggage Regiment, and then deploy two brigades to support the city, putting maximum pressure on the defenders! "
Colonel Tsuchiya was still unwilling to give in and continued to persuade:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, no! If two more brigades are deployed, there will be only two field brigades left next to the division headquarters. It is very dangerous. Chu Xiong is famous for being cunning and cunning——"
Before Kanda Masane could refute, the captain of the baggage and heavy alliance stood up and said:
"Tugu-kun, you are trying to boost others' ambitions and destroy your own prestige. The battle between hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides is all about strength. In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks are in vain!
The current competition in Mandalay City is who can last for the last five minutes. As long as the imperial army takes all the surface positions and then clears out the Chinese hiding in the tunnels, there is no problem in annihilating the defenders. "
Kanda Masane was like a gambler with a red eye, he would bet on it as long as he still had a chip in his hand. In the end, he accepted the advice of the captain of the baggage alliance and joined two more brigades. The gambler's nature was fully exposed.
At the Expeditionary Force Headquarters, Chu Xiong was counting soybeans on the map. It seemed that the enamel cup would never be finished. Old Man Shi, who had been spinning around anxiously, snatched it away, grabbed a large handful and stuffed it into his mouth. After swallowing it, he shouted anxiously:
"Old Chu!
If we don't take action, all the defenders in the city will be lost, and we will miss the best opportunity to take action. Now we have at least a 90% chance of winning! "
Chu Xiong handed the empty enamel cup to Zhong Guoliang, and the meaning was self-evident - another enamel cup.
After the old man cursed angrily, he continued to spin in circles. There was really nothing he could do against Chu Xiong.
An hour later, Zhao Paner hurriedly walked in and reported:
"Chen Yan called, the Japanese have once again sent two more troops to the city!"
A smile finally appeared on Chu Xiong's face. The time he was waiting for was ripe, and he said to Zhong Guoliang:
"Old Zhong, notify Sun Fumin and Li Chenxi to come over for a meeting!"
After hearing this, Mr. Shi stopped spinning and waved his fist excitedly. When he wins this battle, he will have a star on his shoulder;
There was nothing wrong with annihilating the Sixth Division and adding a star. He believed in Franklin's generosity.
An hour later, Sun Fumin and Li Chenxi arrived excitedly. They had been very frustrated these past few days.
Chu Xiong didn't waste any time and directly explained the combat mission:
"Commander Sun, your armored division used the cover of darkness tonight to secretly move to the starting position near Lashio to stand by;
At 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, the flying detachment will launch an attack on the Japanese 18th Division and 56th Division attacking Lashio, focusing on bombing their artillery and baggage troops;
The mechanized division of the New First Army took the opportunity to launch an attack and defeated the Japanese right army in one fell swoop. The main force of the First Army followed suit.
The armored forces only attack from north to south, and the transport vehicles bring enough fuel to accompany the support, all the way to Magui, and cooperate with the New Second Army and the New Third Army to defeat the Japanese left and right armies;
After piercing through, return with carbines and drive the Japanese troops toward the northwest of the Emerald Kingdom——"
The more Stevie listened, the more wrong he became. He stood up and interrupted Chu Xiong's words:
"Chu, why did you drive the Japanese troops to the northwest instead of toward the bright light?"
Chu Xiong knew that Old Man Shi would ask this question, and quickly explained to him:
"Old Shi, if you drive these tens of thousands of defeated troops toward Liangguang, it will inevitably increase the difficulty of the next counterattack against Liangguang. Don't you want Liangguang?"
"Chu, if you drive tens of thousands of defeated troops to the northwest, aren't you worried about them going north to attack China's Dian Province?"
Chu Xiong said with a smile:
"Then we have to wait until they get out of the Savage Mountain alive. Without supplies, even if they get out of the Savage Mountain by chance, how many tens of thousands of people will be left? Do they rely on these thousands of remaining soldiers to forcefully cross the Nu River? There are a hundred thousand troops waiting on the other side of the river. Woolen cloth."
Old Man Shi said again:
"Then they will continue to go west and defeat Asan Kingdom!"
Chu Xiong shrugged and said:
"There are only tens of thousands of remnant soldiers. John Bull has hundreds of thousands of well-equipped troops on the border of the Asan Kingdom. They are waiting in full formation. The Japanese are intercepting them in front of them and pursuing them in the rear. They have no supplies themselves, so they will be wiped out easily.
It is far better than letting them retreat to the light and create trouble for attacking the light. "
Stevie thought about it. At that time, there would be at most 20,000 to 30,000 remaining soldiers, and John Bull would have no difficulty in blocking them, so he did not insist on it anymore, because this plan was the most beneficial to the counterattack and the recovery of the entire Emerald Kingdom.
The blood in his chest boiled at the thought of being able to counterattack the light soon. The troops he commanded would be the first Allied force to launch a counterattack. This alone was enough to make him shine around the world...
Thinking of this, Stevie waved his hand and said:
"Chu, just do it!"
A vague smile appeared on the corner of Chu Xiong's mouth. The shrewd Sun Fumin next to him seemed to have guessed Chu Xiong's intention, but he chose to keep his mouth shut wisely.
"There's no reason why hundreds of thousands of John Bulls can't stop 20,000 to 30,000 defeated Japanese soldiers..."
