Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 154: Bloody Storm in Hangzhou Bay
Yue Qianli had just finished smoking a cigarette when communications officer Xu Puguang came over excitedly with a thin telegram in his hand.

"Commander, Captain Liao has good news!"

When Yue Qianli heard the good news, he instantly became alert. He guessed that this was the reason why the Japanese troops withdrew. Others also looked over with expectation.

Yue Qianli took it and looked at it, then praised it loudly:
"Well done!"

After praising, turn to others and say:
"Brothers, I have good news for you. The main force of the regiment set up an ambush east of Jiangwan and annihilated the Japanese cavalry regiment, killing more than 800 cavalry including the commander of the cavalry regiment, Colonel Morishita, and captured more than 300 horses, killing 500 horses.
Captain Liao and his men live better than us, and are eating stewed horse meat right now!"

After hearing this, everyone cheered. They were happier than eating horse meat themselves. This was a cavalry regiment. What was wrong with eating a few pieces of horse meat?
A second lieutenant platoon leader asked loudly:
"Captain, we have killed thousands of Japanese soldiers. Can we stew their meat?"

Yue Qianli raised his voice and said:
"Well, I will eat the meat of the barbarians when I am hungry and drink the blood of the Xiongnu when I am thirsty!

The Japanese meat was sour and tasteless, but the Japanese canned beef was very fragrant. I decided to add one beef for each person.

They eat horse meat, we eat beef!"

Everyone cheered again, their morale was boosted. There was really nothing that couldn't boost morale with one can of beef. If that didn't work, then two would do!

At this time, a material rationing system had been implemented in the headquarters building. The dry rations for each meal were just enough to fill the stomach. Now, adding a can of beef was the most practical reward for these soldiers who had been exposed to the hail of bullets.

The Japanese attack lasted for several hours, and they deployed thousands of troops. The number of corpses and seriously injured soldiers left behind was estimated to be more than 2. The soldiers were already starving.
They had been thinking of resting, but when they heard about horse meat, their stomachs started rumbling. Even Yue Qianli felt hungry, so they ordered the meal to be served, with a can of beef for each person. They were told to rest after they were full.

There were laughter and joy on the 527th Regiment's side, and the aroma of canned beef wafted in the air, but the Japanese's gathering place was gloomy and gloomy, and everyone was silently munching on salted fish rice balls.

Colonel Hitomi Hidezo was in an extremely bad mood, he had never fought such a cowardly battle before, he had no strength to use and was just wasting lives.

Major Hirose gritted his teeth and said:
"Your Excellency, the commander of the wing, the headquarters building is too solid. It is said that the Chinese used three German-equipped divisions and suffered tens of thousands of casualties before they could capture it.
This is all the fault of the Navy, they have too much money and burn the land!"

After hearing this, Hitomi Hidezo agreed with it deeply. He finally found someone to take the blame. He snorted coldly and said:

"The Navy Red Deer occupy more than 90% of the Empire's resources every year. They are incompetent at everything they do and eat everything without leaving any residue. They are a bunch of maggots of the Empire!"

It is a tradition for the Army and Navy to scold each other. Moreover, this time the 9th Division was just covering up for the Marine Corps, and ended up losing the 7th Wing.
If the 7th Regiment could not be rebuilt, the 9th Division would become a three-unit division, and would be demoted from a first-class division to a third-rate division. People including Hitomi Hidezo felt that its future was bleak.

Scolding the navy won't solve the problem, so after Hitomi Hidezo's attention was diverted, he started talking about business:
"Hirose-kun, how much combat power do we have now?"

Hitomi Hidezo finally stopped evading, and Major Hirose replied:
"Your Excellency, the commander of the regiment, we still have more than 3 soldiers left for combat, including 19 soldiers from the 2200th Regiment, more than 35 soldiers from the two battalions of the 36th and 1300th Regiments, and more than 300 casualties from the Engineer Regiment." Hitomi Hidezo's expression became serious again. The 19th Regiment had a full complement of 3785 soldiers, but only 2200 were left. This was an absolute loss, meaning deaths and serious injuries. If the losses of other regiments were added, the total number of casualties was more than 2.

Hitomi Hidezo selectively did not include more than 1 replacement soldiers in the count. These replacement soldiers who were not included in the organization were dead, and their lives were as worthless as dogs.

"Sir, the Chinese have also suffered heavy casualties. I estimate that they are no less than 1500 people. Considering the special situation of the headquarters building, this exchange ratio is acceptable."

Hitomi Hidezo nodded in agreement, and then said:

"Hirose-kun, we are now entering a siege battle. Let the warriors not be idle. They should take turns to assist the Engineer Regiment in digging tunnels in battalions, with a shift of four hours.
The other personnel surrounded the headquarters building with all their strength, and not even a fly could be allowed to leave, especially Yue Qianli, who must be seen alive or dead!"

Inside the headquarters building, Lin E, who rarely appeared, walked towards Yue Qianli with a serious face and handed him a telegram that had just been intercepted and deciphered;

Yue Qianli took it and looked at it. It was indeed what he was most worried about. He had already warned the government through Dai Yunong, but he didn't know whether the defense of Songjiang had been strengthened.

Hangzhou Bay cannot be defended, so Songjiang can only be defended. As long as we hold it for a few more days, the hundreds of thousands of troops south of Suzhou River will be able to retreat calmly, and the hard fight of the 527th Regiment in the urban area will be meaningful.

Thinking of this, he said to Lin E:
"Forward it to the CC executives as soon as possible. Don't drag me into this. Just say you intercepted it."

Lin E took the order and left. Yue Qianli's expression became serious again. Once Songjiang was lost, hundreds of thousands of troops would be defeated, and the Songhu Battle that had been fought for three months would end in failure. All he could do was to delay the 9th Division and maximize his influence.

The main force of the Japanese army was definitely going to attack Nanjing, but the vast occupied area in East China was almost a vacuum zone, with defeated soldiers everywhere, at least 30,000 if not 50,000;
These defeated soldiers were all veterans of hundreds of battles. He would gather as many as he could, and then take them to participate in the Battle of Nanjing, continuing to consume the Japs' elite veterans.

The city can be given to the Japanese, but they must pay a high enough price. His only goal is to kill the Japanese!

Thinking of this, his eyes became firm again. He did not have a very clever strategy. He just wanted to consume as many veterans of the Japanese as possible, and fight to the death in one city after another. When the veterans of the Japanese were almost consumed, their combat effectiveness would naturally decline.

In the waters east of the Zhoushan Islands, at the junction of the sea and the sky, a huge fleet is sailing slowly, and its flagship is the Kaga aircraft carrier.

In the command room, the commander of the East China Expeditionary Force, Matsui Iwane, was chatting and laughing with the commander of the 10th Army, Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke;
Matsui Iwane swept away his previous decadence and became energetic and high-spirited again. He talked about the map and said:
"Yanagawa-kun, I really envy you. You are about to make history. Even if you look around the world, there are only a handful of ocean-going landing battles that can exceed this scale."

Lieutenant General Yanagawa nodded and said:
"Matsui-kun, if we really count, the only thing that can be compared to this is the landing of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe more than a decade ago. This is the pride of the empire, and I am just lucky enough to have been there."

"Mr. Liuchuan, don't be too modest. Landing on Jinshanwei will definitely go down in history. Whether we can annihilate the hundreds of thousands of Chinese elites gathered south of Suzhou River and force them to surrender depends on you!"

(End of this chapter)