Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 214 Expedition, He Shili Returns
Shan State, Myanmar.

Boom~~
The huge cannon roared, and a huge hole was blown in the already incomplete fortifications. After several British soldiers who were hiding and trembling inside were killed, the remaining Indian soldiers immediately broke down and cried, dropped their guns, knelt on the ground and shouted "Price".

The same thing has been happening several times almost every day in recent times.

The British Empire's garrison in Burma was really a hopeless case. The British who came from the mainland were fine, as they knew that the Japanese abused prisoners, so although their equipment was a little poor, they still put up a stubborn resistance.

But this time and space is different. After learning that the Japanese army's target was Shan State, the British army here entered the Shan State city without hesitation. Relying on the city's terrain, they fought stubbornly against the sea of ​​Japanese troops.

Although the equipment is a little worse, relying on the Shan State City, they are still able to fight.

It was different with the Indians in the army.

As soon as there is a slight chance, they all surrender immediately.

The grassroots Indian soldiers were useless, and the only ones left were the British native troops who were middle and senior officers. No matter how unwilling they were to surrender and were willing to fight to the death, they still suffered heavy losses in a few days. The entire Shan State was reduced to ruins.

It looked like I couldn’t hold on any longer.

"The damn Japanese army has too many troops and too much firepower. We can't defeat them at all! Where are the Chinese? Where are the Chinese reinforcements? Don't we have a fucking railway? Why is it still so slow? I need reinforcements!"

"Chinese reinforcements are not coming. London is still hesitant and arguing over whether to allow Chinese troops to enter Burma to participate in the war."

"Oh~ Whoa! I finally figured it out. The real enemies of the British Empire aren't these Japanese, and they're not in Shan State. They're all in London! They're all in Downing Street! If the bastards over there are a little bit rotten, this place will be fucking rotten!"

"What should we do?"

"What else can we do? Fight! Didn't you see the photo? If you become a prisoner, the Japanese will burn you alive. Even if I die, I will never be a prisoner of these Japs!"

"Ah~, little devils, I'm going to fight you!!"

Just as the British troops were about to give up, they suddenly heard the sound of artillery shells falling to the ground, and they all fell on the Japanese positions.

Boom boom~
Boom boom~
Boom boom boom boom.

Buzz~buzz~
One after another, powered delta-wing aircraft slowly flew over. After landing, the soldiers on them immediately entered combat status and engaged in fierce fire with the Japanese army.

"Chinese? Are they reinforcements from Rangoon?"

"No, not from Yangon. This is... this is... reinforcements from Yunnan. The Chinese expeditionary force is here!"

"Didn't they say London wouldn't let them in?"

"I do not know."

"Coming in despite London's diplomatic rhetoric? Doesn't that constitute an invasion?"

"This is a shitty invasion! Let the Downing Street bureaucrats eat shit. Brothers, follow me and fight back, echoing our good brothers from China."

As they spoke, a group of British soldiers rushed out shouting and some of them smiled at them confidently: "Mudwormwood~"

The Japanese troops in the distance were stunned. Now more than four-fifths of the entire Shan State has been occupied by the Japanese army. The British army can only hold on in a not-so-big mine. In desperation, they saw the light and all of them fought bravely.

The Japanese army was obviously thrown into disarray by these inexplicable reinforcements. Moreover, the firepower of these Chinese was extremely fierce, and their artillery fire was extremely accurate, almost all of which landed on vital positions and caused casualties.

They were actually repelled by their backlash.

For a moment, all the surviving British soldiers were overjoyed, jumping up and down to celebrate that they had finally lived another day.

After a while, a Chinese soldier who could speak English came over, looked up at the sky, and said in a very arrogant tone, "Hello, may I ask which of you is Colonel Jack? Is he still alive?"

"I am, I am."

Colonel Jack, his face covered in plaster, quickly stepped out from the crowd.

"Hello, brothers from China, thank you so much for saving us. Thank you, thank you so much."

As he spoke, Colonel Jack stepped forward to shake hands with him.

Unexpectedly, the young general who could speak English did not give him any face at all. Instead, he pulled his hand back and said, "I don't deserve it. We are not the National Army, but the Yunnan Army. Thanks to your British diplomatic department, I have been transformed from a national army into a gangster."

"Ah this..."

Colonel Jack was extremely embarrassed for a moment and cursed those bastards in London more than a hundred times in his heart.

Those guys never disappoint when it comes to being inhumane. These garrisons stationed in insignificant colonies are effectively third-class citizens in Britain, with Parliament paying them no mind. The so-called reputation of the British Empire is far more important than these lousy soldiers, or even just lousy army soldiers.

Not to mention those Indians, if he hadn't known that the Japanese tortured prisoners and were extremely cruel, he would have dropped his gun and surrendered long ago.

With just a few simple words, Jack almost figured out the origins of this Chinese army, and he also understood more and more why these people were so hostile to him.

Originally, China was very willing to send an expeditionary force. When they heard that 200,000 to 300,000 Japanese had come to Burma, they were not particularly panicked.

There are plenty of people in China.

Fighting anywhere means fighting. Fighting in Myanmar will make it easier to obtain international aid from Britain and the United States. Yangon will definitely do its utmost to support them. To be honest, this war may be easier to fight than in the country.

After all, once Yangon is lost, China will no longer receive external aid. This is a tough nut to crack no matter how much effort it takes.

Since the Japanese army has mobilized on such a large scale, this must be the battlefield where the decisive victory between China and Japan will be decided.

The Fifth Army, the Sixth Army, the Sixty-sixth Army,
General Du, General Gan Lichu, General Zhang Zhen, and division commanders Liao Yaoxiang, Dai Anlan, and Sun Liren, an army of over one hundred thousand strong, have already assembled. Even the vanguard troops have arrived in Kunming, and their luggage has been packed to board the train.

As a result, the British Foreign Office suddenly issued an order not to allow entry, leaving these hundreds of thousands of troops stranded.

This left the national army extremely speechless and embarrassed.

After repeated negotiations for more than half a month, there was still no result.

The British themselves did not have a unified opinion. Even when the situation in Shan State took a sharp turn for the worse, there was still a group of diehards who insisted that even if Myanmar was completely lost, the Chinese would not be allowed to come in.

Then things just froze there.

Seeing that Shan State was about to be completely lost and the 100,000 British troops in Myanmar were about to be annihilated, Chongqing was still able to hold on, but the Yunnan Army was really not going to stand for it.

The Yunnan-Burma Railway is the lifeline of the national war of resistance!

Your aorta is about to be cut off, and you are still hesitating here and worrying about some bullshit diplomatic rhetoric?

Besides, once the Japanese army takes over Shan State, these more than 200,000 Japanese troops don’t necessarily have to attack Yangon.

Maybe they will attack Yunnan.

So when General Long faced the diplomatic order not to send troops, he directly called the British Embassy in English and said, "Fuck you."

Then he resolutely used his Yunnan Army as the main force and sent all the troops he could.

Seeing that General Long was so bold, the Gui army, although most of their troops were fighting in other battlefields, still managed to gather a division to come and help.

Because of Zheng Yi's direct assistance, the military strength of these two people is now much stronger than before, and the most important thing is that they have greater independence.

In this way, they gathered 100,000 people to hold the fort, and the commander was General Lu, the second-in-command of the Yunnan Army.

Because they disobeyed military orders and so completely disregarded the face of the British Foreign Office, the domestic side was still quite wary of the remaining power of the British Empire and was afraid of causing displeasure in London, so they had publicly declared them rebels.

They said they were destroying the unity of the all-out war of resistance.

Although we all know that this is just a political statement, of course everyone will be unhappy.

Who would feel good about being reduced from a national army to a bandit army?
In particular, they were clearly here to rescue the British army. Although they seemed to have their own political purposes, they were indeed here to rescue. It was so uncomfortable to have such a cold reception.

These British people are terrible at fighting, but they still act so arrogantly. Who wouldn't be angry?
Jack and other British soldiers could certainly understand the anger of the Yunnan Army. To be honest, if they were in their shoes, they would also feel very angry.

"That...that...ha, your artillery is really good, so accurate, all the shells fell on the Japanese firing points, right? Even in our British army, there are not many who can have such accurate artillery coverage capabilities. It's amazing, this must be a world-class artillery brigade."

If you feel embarrassed, the first thing you want to do is to praise something to ease the embarrassment.

Upon hearing this, the Yunnan Army soldier puffed out his chest with great joy and said, "That's right. Let me tell you, although we Chinese are poor, our soldiers are actually no worse than you British."

Jack: "Yes, yes, that's not bad at all. You are much better than us. Look, as soon as you came, all the Japanese devils were driven away."

The Yunnan Army soldier then said with a bit of embarrassment: "But this artillery brigade doesn't belong to our Yunnan Army, but... now, it should be considered as belonging to the Southern Alliance."

"SAARC?"

"That's the SAARC Patriotic Overseas Chinese Support Division, and its commander is He Shili. They've sent their troops back again."

(End of this chapter)