Chapter 164: Don’t Worry About Losses, Just Do It
“According to the reconnaissance company’s statistics, last night’s shelling destroyed 127 Japanese trucks and 3 armored vehicles in total. 1,630 Japanese corpses were found in the valley, and as for the wounded, none were seen—they were probably all taken away by the Japanese.
According to the 1:3 casualty ratio, the number of Japanese wounded is at least over 2,000. By this calculation, last night’s shelling rendered at least one Japanese regiment combat-ineffective. This is a great victory!”
After receiving the report from the reconnaissance company, the operations staff officer of the first regiment excitedly said to Li Gaoyuan.
“This is indeed good news.” A smile also appeared on Li Gaoyuan’s face. In fact, even he himself hadn’t expected last night’s shelling to achieve such a major result. This should count as an unexpected delight.
He pondered for a moment and immediately said: “Immediately send the battle results to the Commander-in-Chief and ask headquarters for instructions on the next operational plan.”
The operations staff officer acknowledged and was about to turn to leave when Li Gaoyuan called him back. “Immediately order the troops to begin dispersing, especially the artillery regiment—they must hide well. I reckon the Japanese planes will be coming soon.”
“Yes!”
The operations staff officer saluted, then turned to go convey the orders.
After the staff officer left, Li Gaoyuan walked out of the tent and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, which cleared his mind a bit after a sleepless night.
But he still had no clue about what to do next.
Although the pre-dawn shelling caused heavy losses to the Japanese, such losses were not enough to hurt the 20th Division’s core strength. If the 20th Division continued to press forward, he couldn’t stop the Japanese with just the one regiment in his hands.
Fortunately, though, the second regiment would arrive by noon. With two regiments’ worth of troops in hand, even if they couldn’t win, they could fight while withdrawing without issue. But withdrawing dejectedly back to Wuta County like that would mean the mission had failed.
Just thinking about withdrawing like this made him particularly unwilling, as the 20th Division’s over 20,000 troops would then charge straight toward Wuta County.
In these past few months, he had seen with his own eyes how much effort Su Yaoyang had put into Wuta County. Once the two sides clashed there, all those days of effort would go down the drain.
Most importantly, Wuta County was the foundation of the Shanxi Militia. If Wuta County fell, the Shanxi Militia would immediately become water without a source or a tree without roots—they might really have to withdraw from Shanxi.
“No… I can’t just let them drive us out like this.”
Li Gaoyuan viciously threw his cigarette butt to the ground and said coldly: “Even if the 20th Division has three heads and six arms, I have to give them a try. Even if I have to fight the troops to the last man, I must knock out a front tooth of the little devils.”
“Someone come… Pass my orders: Order the troops to immediately withdraw to Wild Wolf Valley and set up defenses here. We must block the little devils here no matter what.”
“Regiment Commander, we’re not fighting for Xinxian anymore?”
“The little devils put their ammo depot in a residential area. What the hell are we supposed to fight with? Withdraw… Get the hell out of here to Wild Wolf Valley right now!”
“Yes!”
…………
“Commander-in-Chief, Li Gaoyuan reports by telegraph: He has decided to set up defensive positions in Wild Wolf Valley to block the Japanese army, and he also said that even if he dies in battle, he absolutely will not let the little devils cross the thunder pool by even half a step.”
“Oh…”
Su Yaoyang immediately stood up and walked to the large map hanging on the wall, spotting the location of Wild Wolf Valley at a glance.
Wild Wolf Valley was less a valley and more a stretch of hills—a large swath of sloping hillsides running from south to north, with the highway to Dingxiang and Wuta passing at their base.
And if the Japanese wanted to pass through, they had to take these hills; otherwise, with the defenders holding the high ground, even just mortars could pin them down alive.
After thinking for a long time, Su Yaoyang suddenly remembered something: “Right… what about our armored battalion? Since it’s daylight, why not send the armored battalion to actively attack the Japanese?”
“This…”
Pi Ruoyu hesitated before saying: “Regiment Commander Li says the Japanese took such a big loss, so they’ll definitely send planes for revenge. It’s too risky to deploy armored forces in daylight.
He thinks it’s better to save the armored forces for the most critical moment.”
“Hey… This Li Gaoyuan, I never realized he was such a miser.”
Su Yaoyang grumbled irritably.
Although he had some opinions about Li Gaoyuan’s approach, he could also understand it.
Armored forces were more precious than gold.
Take the Sherman tanks just equipped to the troops: one Sherman was worth $50,000, equivalent to one million silver dollars.
At the rate of one silver dollar buying 30 catties of rice, one Sherman tank could buy 300 million catties of rice. At such an exorbitant price, anyone would treat it like a treasure and hide it away.
If he impulsively got the armored battalion destroyed, Li Gaoyuan would probably be heartbroken enough to spit blood.
Infantry, on the other hand, was different. In these times, how much was a human life worth? How much was a rifle worth?
Hand each infantryman a rifle, train them for a few months, and they could go into battle. The cost-effectiveness compared to tanks was sky-high.
Fine, such a viewpoint would indeed be incomprehensible to 21st-century people, but for people of this era, it was normal.
Having been with the militia for so long, Pi Ruoyu had some understanding of Su Yaoyang’s temperament. Seeing his expression, he knew his boss had some issues with Li Gaoyuan.
So he advised from the side: “Commander-in-Chief… The armored battalion was something you built from scratch with your own hands, after all.
It’s also our most elite assault force, so its use must be handled with utmost caution. If I were commanding, I wouldn’t be willing to risk them either.”
“You guys…”
Su Yaoyang shook his head helplessly, then said: “Immediately telegraph Li Gaoyuan: Don’t feel bad about those tanks, and don’t be afraid of losses. The armored battalion was trained to fight the devils—if you hold back from using it out of heartache, that goes against my original intent in creating it.”
“Got it. I’ll convey your meaning to Regiment Commander Li.”
“Go on… Tell Li Gaoyuan to fight big.
And don’t worry about too many losses. Worst case, we all retreat to the mountains and fight guerrilla warfare, right?”
At this moment, Pi Ruoyu suddenly felt a bit admiring of Su Yaoyang. Though in terms of military quality or tactical command, Su Yaoyang was indeed far behind them, when it came to boldness and strategic vision, his boss surpassed him and everyone in the militia by a wide margin.
Especially his clear insight into the world situation, Japan’s domestic civil society, and the inter-service conflicts between the army and navy—he saw them crystal clear and had more than once pinpointed their flaws with a single remark. Just this alone qualified him to serve as a high-level advisor in the Ministry of Military Affairs.
After figuring this out, his gaze toward Su Yaoyang held even more respect.
So he said without hesitation: “Understood… I’ll go right now.”
