Chapter 124: Reinforcements Arrive
Looking at the icons lighting up on the panel, Su Yaoyang’s lingering ripple of tenderness instantly vanished without a trace.
The long-awaited heavy artillery and aircraft were finally available. If he had had a squadron of fighters a few days ago, the mere Eighth Brigade would not have dared to act arrogantly in front of him.
What a pity（liao read third tone）……
Although the aircraft could be redeemed, it was still of no help in quenching the immediate thirst. Even with aircraft, training a qualified flight team would take at least one or two years.
The profession of pilot has been a high-end troop type since its inception. To soar in the blue sky, one needs sufficient theoretical knowledge, excellent physical fitness, and day-after-day hard training to become a qualified air knight.
Since air power cannot be considered for the time being, let’s get a batch of heavy artillery first. The American Long Tom seems pretty good.
By the way, yesterday he had just gotten two thousand new recruits from Li Zongren. After supplementing 1,200 new recruits to Li Gaoyuan, Li Tao, Hou Tianyou, and the others, the remaining 800 would be assigned to the artillery battalion and air defense battalion.
Hmm… John’s tank company also needs some supplements, and some of their Renault tanks need to be replaced.
The armor of the Renault tanks is still too thin. How about replacing them with a batch of Shermans?
But I heard this thing has the reputation of being a “Ronson lighter” that ignites at the slightest touch. If equipped, wouldn’t it lead to heavy losses?
Su Yaoyang closed his eyes to rest, but his mind was racing at high speed, and he actually fell asleep in a daze.
This couldn’t be blamed on Su Yaoyang. Last night’s battle was simply too intense. Once the two women, who both wanted to bear his child, got serious, few men could withstand it.
Although Su Yaoyang’s physical fitness had been strengthened much more than ordinary people after being modified by that big-headed doll, he still couldn’t withstand the two women demanding him as if sucking his marrow.
Plus, he hadn’t had a good rest these days, so it was normal to fall asleep accidentally.
When Su Yaoyang opened his eyes, the Willis Jeep had already crossed the pontoon bridge and stopped in front of the Guandi Temple.
After getting out of the car, he walked into the command post set up in the Guandi Temple. Smelling the familiar smell of gunpowder in the air, Su Yaoyang’s spirits lifted, and the battlefield state returned to him.
“Regiment commander… you’re back!” As soon as he entered the command post, Huang Guantao came up and saluted him.
After returning the salute, Su Yaoyang asked, “Old Huang, nothing major happened in the two days I was away, right?”
“No.” Huang Guantao shook his head. “In these two days, although the Japanese launched several attacks on us, they were all thunderous roars with little rain and were easily repelled by us.
If I weren’t worried it was a trick, I would have led men to counterattack.”
“You really dare to think.” Su Yaoyang glared at him. “Have you had enough of good days and forgotten your own weight?
The opponent is the Japanese Eighth Brigade, with several thousand troops no matter what. Charging straight over would just be delivering heads.”
Huang Guantao smiled sheepishly, scratched the back of his head, and said nothing.
To be honest, he had indeed thought about it, but considering that if the counterattack failed, the Japanese opposite would press over, and losing Taierzhuang would ruin the entire Xuzhou Campaign—he’d be the sinner.
The two walked and talked, then sat down in the corner.
As soon as they sat down, the orderly brought a cup of boiled water.
As he was leaving, Su Yaoyang called him back, took a pack of tea leaves from his pocket, and said to him, “Go… boil a pot of water for me and Deputy Regiment Commander Huang.”
“Yes!”
“Yo… Regiment commander, your trip back to Xuzhou was quite fruitful. You even have tea leaves now.”
“Hey… you wouldn’t believe it, this pack of tea was ‘borrowed’ from Commander Li’s office.
Never mind if it’s expensive or not, at least the taste should be good, otherwise it wouldn’t be worthy of the theater commander, right?”
While they were talking, the orderly quickly brought a pot of boiled water.
The two chatted while brewing tea.
After a sip of tea, Su Yaoyang nodded: “Hmm… indeed good.”
Although he didn’t know much about tea and brewed it haphazardly, the aftertaste of bitterness turning sweet and lingering was real after a sip.
“Boom…”
Just as he wanted to continue speaking, a huge explosion suddenly sounded in the distance. The sound came from over a li away, but even at such a distance, they could still feel the ground shaking violently.
Both men’s faces changed, and they said in unison: “Heavy artillery!”
“And it’s 150 caliber. The Japanese reinforcements have arrived.” Huang Guantao’s face also changed slightly.
The 10th Division’s only four Type 89 heavy guns had been destroyed by the tank company at Feng County, which was also the main reason why 33rd Brigade Commander Seyaguchi Kei was recalled to the homeland.
In the following days, the Japanese could only exchange fire with 75mm mountain guns and the security brigade. Without Japanese air support, they would have been bombed senseless by the security brigade’s 105 howitzers long ago.
Now the 150 heavy artillery fire suddenly sounded, proving that Japanese reinforcements had arrived.
Sure enough, soon continuous explosions rang out, lighting up the distant sky red.
Huang Guantao stood up: “Regiment commander… since you’re back in command, I’ll return to the 4th Battalion.”
“Okay!” Su Yaoyang was not a sentimental person either. He also stood up and extended his hand. “I won’t keep you. After this battle, I’ll treat everyone to drinks.”
“Hahaha…” Huang Guantao also laughed: “Then I’ll wait for the regiment commander’s wine.”
The two men’s hands clasped tightly together.
“Take care!”
“Regiment commander, take care!”
Huang Guantao saluted him and turned to leave.
Watching Huang Guantao’s departing figure, Su Yaoyang suddenly gained a deeper understanding of this era.
In this war-torn age, an casual parting often meant eternal separation.
Just like why Song Mei threw aside her girlish shyness last night and joined Xiao Lu in pleasing him—wasn’t it out of fear that he might not return, wanting to leave him an heir?
By the same logic, who could guarantee Huang Guantao would come back alive this time?
Precisely because parting is so sorrowful, that Republic of China number one playboy Xu Dashiren wrote《Farewell to Cambridge》.
Cough cough… off topic.
Pulling his thoughts back, since the Japanese heavy artillery had arrived, the 16th Division must have too. Next, they would definitely launch a fierce attack on Taierzhuang, and he would probably be busy.
Sure enough, in the next less than an hour, the Japanese deployed heavy artillery and aircraft for a three-dimensional attack on Taierzhuang, and the battle once fell into a stalemate…
