Chapter 296: Bolt From The Blue
“Kumamoto Division Commander, both of us have given the orders. Many of the wounded soldiers have consciously ended their own lives, and those who couldn’t do it themselves have sensibly let others do it for them.”
Muto Juichi and Major General Miyai arrived before the Kumamoto Division Commander with red eyes, their faces full of pain and anger. “Once the supplies are replenished, we must make these damned Eighth Route Army pay with blood for their blood debt!!!”
The Kumamoto Division Commander’s expression was equally pained and angry: “Rest assured, you two. Once we receive the supply replenishment, after urgent rest and reorganization, we will immediately turn around for bloody retaliation against the Eighth Route Army—kill them all, burn them all…”
The Kumamoto Division Commander did not finish his words when a staff officer quickly ran over and presented an urgent telegram with both hands: “Division Commander, this is the urgent telegram just sent from headquarters. It says our military train transporting supplies has been attacked by the Eighth Route Army.”
The military train transporting supplies has been attacked by the Eighth Route Army!!!
As soon as these words came out, it was like a bolt from the blue, exploding in the minds of the three from the Kumamoto Division Commander.
The three were instantly dumbfounded, their brains losing the ability to think.
We had just processed over three thousand wounded soldiers with immense grief; it hurt so much we could barely breathe.
We were just angrily cursing that once the logistical supplies were replenished, we would quickly take action against the Eighth Route Army again and thoroughly wipe this bunch of Eighth Route Army off the face of the earth.
And now, before we could even finish these harsh words, you tell us that the Local Eighth Route Army has attacked our military train transporting supplies!
Damn it!
The Local Eighth Route Army has gone too far with this.
This leaves no way out for our troops at all.
Without logistical supplies, the army has insufficient airdrop capacity and relies entirely on this military train for transportation.
If the military train transportation is gone, won’t our great army be completely pushed into a desperate situation!
“How is this possible? This absolutely cannot be!” Muto Juichi reacted, snatching the urgent telegram from the staff officer’s hand.
After reading the content, Muto Juichi stared fixedly at the words, unable to speak for a long time.
This military train even had three airplanes escorting it, and they still couldn’t protect it.
The Local Eighth Route Army was too cunning, using fake cannons to trick the airplanes out of their ammunition.
Major General Miyai leaned in to look at the content and volunteered: “Let me take the troops to reinforce.”
“Gongjing Jun, then I leave it to you.” The Kumamoto Division Commander had no objection.
The reason he wasn’t personally leading the troops was to guard these five cars of tungsten ore.
The Eighth Route Army clearly wanted to trap the great army until it was at the end of its rope, then seize the tungsten ore back.
As long as Major General Miyai could snatch back the supplies, this game wasn’t lost yet.
The Kumamoto Division Commander quickly allocated some ammunition from the troops to Major General Miyai’s forces, and also gave him the cavalry troops and mechanized troops.
That’s right.
The Kumamoto Division great army still had cavalry troops and mechanized troops.
However, when fighting the Eighth Route Army, the mechanized troops and cavalry often suffered attacks from Local Eighth Route Army rocket launchers, so their combat power couldn’t be brought into play, and they had been kept unused.
Now, to seize back the lost supplies, they could only rely on the mechanized troops and cavalry’s rapid mobility to get there.
What? The Kumamoto Division great army’s logistical supplies are cut off, they can’t eat, so why not kill warhorses for food?
In fact, half of these warhorses have already been killed.
But with the great army numbering tens of thousands, this mere half of the warhorses wouldn’t last long.
“Remember, the airplanes will scout the Eighth Route Army transportation team’s position.” Muto Juichi reminded Major General Miyai. “Once the transportation team’s position is discovered, head straight for the transportation team—that will definitely be the Eighth Route Army’s soft spot.”
“Yes, I know.” Major General Miyai nodded and quickly set off with his troops.
Major General Miyai led the mechanized troops and cavalry troops away from the main force, and many Japanese officers came to ask the Kumamoto Division Commander the reason.
To avoid affecting morale, the Kumamoto Division Commander said it was just arranging for Major General Miyai to go ahead and meet the military train supplies to prevent them from being attacked.
……
The pilots of the three Japanese aircraft returned to the airport at full speed, burning with shame and anger.
With ammunition reloaded, the three airplanes quickly took off again.
They returned to the battlefield where the military train had been attacked.
Here, the military train was parked intact on the railway, and the Eighth Route Army hadn’t even damaged it.
One of the airplanes did a low-altitude reconnaissance and found no trace of the Eighth Route Army.
Even the carriage doors were properly closed.
Since the doors were closed, it wasn’t clear if the supplies inside had already been looted.
The three Japanese pilots couldn’t figure out what trick the Eighth Route Army was playing.
You attacked the military train, and normally you would damage the military train, even destroy the railway.
Why not do that this time?
The three Japanese pilots couldn’t figure it out and stopped thinking about it.
They flew the airplanes, using their high-altitude advantage to search for traces of the Eighth Route Army.
Finally, in some woods, there was kitchen smoke.
The three Japanese pilots quickly lowered their altitude and flew low over the woods.
The woods weren’t dense, and through the gaps inside, they spotted the transportation team.
“Stupid yet clever Chinese people, truly making it hard for us to decide.”
The three Japanese pilots were basically certain this was the Eighth Route Army transportation team. They had snatched supplies from the military train and were hiding in these woods.
Normally, the three pilots should immediately attack the woods, ideally with incendiary bombs to burn the entire woods clean.
But that would also incinerate all the supplies the Eighth Route Army transportation team had snatched from the military train.
These supplies were the Kumamoto Division great army’s lifeline; incinerating them would mean incinerating the Kumamoto Division great army’s hope of survival.
So, in the end, the three Japanese pilots did not attack the woods.
They just took turns circling and monitoring over the woods, then sent back the position coordinates.
……
Seeing that the three Japanese aircraft had discovered the woods but didn’t attack, instead just adopting a monitoring stance.
Cheng Xiazi once again admired Liu Weidong: “Scholar, this trick of yours to hoodwink the sky is brilliant. It both covers our real transportation team and keeps the Japanese aircraft here—truly killing two birds with one stone.”
It turned out that the so-called transportation team in those woods was just Liu Weidong’s camouflage: straw men dressed in Eighth Route Army military uniforms or civilians’ clothes.
Of course, there were a few soldiers and civilians inside; they lit the kitchen smoke to attract the Japanese.
With the Japanese aircraft taking turns monitoring here and no longer scouting elsewhere, they wouldn’t discover our transportation team.
“No choice, we have no anti-aircraft weapons, so we can only think of strategies as much as possible.” Liu Weidong looked at the airplanes circling over the distant woods, his gaze sharpening. “The nearby Japanese reinforcement troops in all directions are few in number—not even enough to stick in our teeth. The real troublesome Japanese reinforcements will definitely be peeled off from the Kumamoto Division. They won’t be few in number, and to salvage the supplies, they’ll all be frenzied, with combat power surging. Our battle to block the enemy will face great pressure.”
Cheng Xiazi’s gaze also sharpened as he said: “What are we afraid of? We hold the advantageous terrain, have ample ammunition, and have additional troops supported by headquarters leader. Blocking these Japanese invaders for one night is more than enough.”
“Regiment Commander, urgent telegram from the intelligence officer!” At this moment, a signalman handed the newly arrived telegram to Liu Weidong.
Normally, a regiment-level unit like Liu Weidong’s wouldn’t qualify for a radio.
But this mission was special—they still had to disassemble the locomotive for the Border Region Arsenal—so headquarters specially assigned a radio to Liu Weidong.
Liu Weidong took it immediately, looked down, and his gaze sharpened again: “As expected, heavy troops have been peeled off from the Kumamoto Division great army side: two mechanized regiments, two cavalry regiments, carrying infantry, and they’re hurrying over. Although guerrilla teams are harassing and delaying them along the way, the effect isn’t very good.”
“Screw being afraid, I’ll block them.” Cheng Xiazi spat into his palm and said to Liu Weidong, “You go handle the remaining work on the military train side.”
“I’ll block them instead.” Liu Weidong said seriously, “The Japanese are coming fiercely; we can’t just charge blindly. You go handle the remaining work on the military train side.”
In the end, Cheng Xiazi didn’t argue with Liu Weidong. Blocking the enemy’s heavy reinforcements was tough work, and the scholar’s brain was sharper than his own.
“Alright, I’ll go handle the military train side.” Cheng Xiazi nodded.
……
“Brigade Commander, telegram from Army Aviation.” Major General Miyai was riding in the command vehicle when the signalman handed him the new telegram.
Major General Miyai took it and looked; his tense expression relaxed: “Good, the airplanes have found the Local Eighth Route Army transportation team. They’re hiding in Wolf Forest and don’t dare come out.”
A nearby staff officer said happily: “At our current speed, we’ll arrive at Wolf Forest right around dusk. At that time, the Local Eighth Route Army transportation team might be just about to leave, and we’ll catch them right there.”
“We still need to speed up and arrive ahead of time.” Major General Miyai said impatiently, “I have a feeling there are definitely Eighth Route Army troops setting up obstacles ahead to stop us. We need to seize the time.”
Normally, mere two or three airplanes couldn’t possibly stop the Eighth Route Army transportation team from leaving.
Yet the Eighth Route Army transportation team was completely hiding in the woods without leaving, clearly waiting for nightfall.
They couldn’t possibly be unaware that reinforcements were rushing over quickly from this side.
And yet they stayed in the woods—that could only mean one thing: there were definitely heavy Eighth Route Army troops blocking the road ahead.
The nearby staff officer said: “Brigade Commander, if we speed up, the casualty numbers will rise faster.”
Along the way, there were constant delays and harassment from Eighth Route Army Guerrillas, with casualty numbers slowly climbing.
Once the speed increased, it would mean even greater pressure and definitely higher casualties.
“No choice, this is a cost we must bear.” Major General Miyai gritted his teeth; the current situation left no better options.
