Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 121 Replenishing Supplies
Kaga aircraft carrier, East China Expeditionary Force Headquarters
Matsui Iwane was in high spirits when he saw the good news. Moreover, he was even happier. After more than two months of fighting, the Battle of Songhu finally made significant progress. The Chinese army retreated to the south of Suzhou River and handed over the city to them.
Another great news is that the headquarters formally formed the East China Expeditionary Army, which is at the front level, on the same level as the North China Front Army. He is now a full-fledged front commander.

The Chief of Staff, Major General Iinuma Mamoru, also took the opportunity to flatter the emperor:
"Commander, as the Huaxia government has transferred all its main forces to East China, the focus of the Empire's war against China will shift from north to east. East China has become the main battlefield, and our East China Expeditionary Force will be the key to determining victory or defeat on the Huaxia battlefield.
With the main force of the Chinese Nationalist Army retreating to the south of the Suzhou River, the battle in Shanghai has become a foregone conclusion. The primary task now facing the East China Expeditionary Force is to annihilate the hundreds of thousands of elite Nationalist troops gathered in the south of the Suzhou River, then march straight into Nanjing, force the Chinese Nationalist Government to surrender unconditionally, and complete the feat of destroying the country!
This feat will go down in history, and you will become the most famous general in the empire in three thousand years!"

He was very pleased with what Iinuma Mamoru said, his current rank was General, and the next higher was the honorary rank of Marshal, which no one had obtained so far;

If the East China Expeditionary Army destroys China, his promotion to Army Marshal will be a piece of cake. This unparalleled honor is within reach, and he is now confident that he can achieve his goal.

"Iinuma-kun, now is not the time to celebrate. The hundreds of thousands of defeated soldiers gathered south of Suzhou River still need to be annihilated.
Telegraph each division, asking them to rest and recuperate on the spot, to create the illusion that they are no longer able to fight. At the same time, spread some false information to make the Chinese high-ranking officials believe that the Imperial Army had suffered serious depletion of manpower and supplies in previous battles and was no longer able to launch a new offensive.

We must stabilize the Chinese people and not scare them away. The main divisions will only confront the enemy on the north bank of Suzhou River, and use small-scale battles to attract the main force of China to the Suzhou River.

The city's defense was taken over by the Marine Corps, and the 10th Army had been secretly assembled. The various units along the Suzhou River North line as well as the intelligence, propaganda, and diplomatic departments must cooperate in implementing tactical deception to cover the landing of the main force of the 10th Army in Hangzhou Bay.

We must seize Songjiang at lightning speed and outflank the defenders south of Suzhou River..."

In Jiangwan, the main force of the 88th Division, which was responsible for the rear mission, had also withdrawn, leaving only the 527th Regiment to cover the rear. The 524st Battalion of the 400th Regiment, with more than people, led by Xie Jinyuan, the brigade's staff officer, advanced to Zhabei and held the Sihang Warehouse.

Xie Jinyuan was also promoted to deputy commander of the 524th Regiment, which was said to have 800 people. Their mission was to complete the Kuomintang's "political warfare". As long as they were there, Shanghai would not be considered fallen, and the League of Nations would not be able to find fault with them. It has to be said that Sun Yuanliang was very good at playing tricks.

The order he gave to Yue Qianli was to hold Jiangwan for a day and wait for the main force of the 88th Division to cross the river before taking the opportunity to break out.

He couldn't make it too clear. He believed that with Yue Qianli's clever mind, he would definitely know which direction to break out. He was reluctant to give up the 527th Regiment, the main force.

After the National Army retreated across the board, the Japanese army was busy taking over the urban area and did not launch an attack on Jiangwan. The territory was too large to be taken over in a short time.

During this time, Yue Qianli changed into civilian clothes and took a squad of soldiers to the International Settlement. When Custer saw him, he gave him a tight bear hug and said excitedly:

"Yue, I'm glad to see you again. I was really worried that you would be killed by those damn dwarfs. Then I would not be able to explain to Robert."

Yue Qianli rolled his eyes and said:
"I see that what you are worried about is losing a financial sponsor. Time is running out, so I won't waste my time talking to you - yes, just as you think, I am here to give you money!
I need a batch of arms, 2 rifles, 300 submachine guns, 200 machine guns, 98 Kar200 sniper rifles, 2 long-handled grenades, and 200 million rounds of various bullets. This is the specific list. Please calculate how much it will cost. "

Custer was so happy that his mouth stretched to his neck. It turned out that the God of Wealth had come. He had a batch of good goods in his hands, all smuggled in, including contraband mortars and radios. However, he had spent a lot of money on this batch of goods, so he said in embarrassment:
"Yue, the city will soon be controlled by the Japanese, and they have strict control over weapons--"

Yue Qianli held up two fingers impatiently, and then said without question:
"I want it tonight at double the price. I will send troops to pick it up outside the concession. If you dare to say another word of nonsense, I don't mind beating you into a pig's head."

Custer shrank his neck exaggeratedly and said, "It's not nonsense to say that we are happy to cooperate with you!"

Yue Qianli directly gave him a middle finger. This kid talks more nonsense than Robert.

The two of them quickly agreed on a price, and Custer took the opportunity to sell his 20 mortars and 5 radios. Yue Qianli smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed. These were good stuff, and he wanted them all, at double the price.

The deal cost Yue Qianli a total of 200 million Eagle Dollars. Of course, this was rounded off, so the Yue Group would naturally pay for it.

The Yue Group is now a behemoth, with total assets exceeding 100 million yuan, and is still expanding rapidly, so this amount of money is really nothing.

"Castor, find a way to get me some more munitions as backup. I'll come to you when I need them. The total value should be no less than 500 million Eagle Dollars. Is that difficult?"

"Yue, we Eagles never have a problem with money. As long as you can afford it, I may not be able to get tanks, planes, and cannons, but light weapons are no problem. The Japanese have no say in the International Settlement."

Yue Qianli finally felt more comfortable with Custer. When he left, his middle finger turned into a "V" shape. Custer shrugged and raised his middle finger towards Yue Qianli's back. He never suffered any loss.

"Don't stick your finger behind my back, Custer, or I'll break it."

Custer withdrew his finger guiltily. It seemed that Robert's warning was correct. This killer had eyes behind his back.

After Yue Qianli left, he went to find Smith's agent in Shanghai and asked him to take out several truckloads of supplies from the warehouse;

These were all what he had deposited before, enough to produce 100 Type 40 rocket launchers, 10 Type 107 rocket launchers and 2 artillery shells, in addition to a large amount of medicines and field rations. He now had a special baggage train, so there was no problem carrying these supplies.

The current public concession is still under the control of the concession authorities, and the Japanese dare not show their teeth to them. He has long since bribed the high-ranking officials of the concession authorities, so the import and export of these materials is not a big deal at all.

That night, these supplies were sent out of the concession, and Yue Qianli and his men received them smoothly, which gave him the confidence to launch urban guerrilla warfare in the city.

At 527 a.m., the th Regiment secretly left Jiangwan under the cover of darkness. However, they did not cross the river as Sun Yuanliang expected, but advanced into the city in battalion units.

After buying several radios, Yue Qianli equipped them to the battalion level. The 88th Division had a communications team at the regiment level. Yue Qianli had also received targeted training after seizing a radio before, so he had a dozen radio operators in reserve, so there was no problem with simple sending and receiving of messages.

(End of this chapter)