Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 186 Report Summary
The telegram was short, less than two hundred words, but its contents were quite explosive.

Simply put, the Eighth Route Army was planning to launch an attack on Xinxian County in order to relieve the pressure on the Shanxi militia. The telegram was signed by Brigade Commander Chen of the 386th Brigade.

After reading the telegram, Huang Guantao snorted: "It seems that the Eighth Route Army has its eye on the military supplies in Xinxian County and plans to take advantage of our fierce battle with the Japanese to loot them."

"Hey...you can't say that."

Su Yaoyang waved his hand, "A gentleman judges by actions, not intentions. Their attack on Xin County at this time, regardless of their motives, has objectively helped us. How can you say they are taking advantage of our misfortune?"

Huang Guantao said angrily, "If we hadn't been here to hold back the main force of the 20th Division, why would they have dared to attack Xinxian?"
Besides, look at the telegram; it didn't mention at all whether we'd get anything after taking Xinxian. Isn't that disrespectful?

"What are you saying? We've fought in Xin County before. The Japanese devils wanted to drag the entire county down with them to their armory, so we had no choice but to withdraw."

If the Eighth Route Army was able to take Xin County, that's their skill; why should we be envious of them?

Besides, even if we got those Japanese junk, we wouldn't have any use for them.

Huang Guantao thought about it and realized that made sense, but he was still somewhat indignant: "In short, they're just not loyal. Even heroes in the underworld know to pay their respects and offer a token of apology when they go to work on someone else's turf. What did they do? They only sent a telegram. What is that? Is it a notification?"

Seeing Huang Guantao's somewhat indignant expression, he shook his head helplessly. Shen Gongbao was right; prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain, and it's not easy to change it.

He summoned the communications staff officer and sent a telegram back to Brigade Commander Chen.

In the telegram, he not only explained that a few days ago they had sent people to try to blow up the Japanese arsenal in Xinxian County, but the Japanese had kidnapped civilians and forced them to retreat, but also informed him of the battle reports from the recent battles with the Japanese army, reminding them to be more careful.

After drafting the telegram, Su Yaoyang suddenly said to Huang Guantao, "Old Huang... what do you think about making a copy of the video recordings of our battles with the 20th Division these past few days and sending them to the Eighth Route Army together?"

"Hmm..." Huang Guantao frowned, somewhat puzzled as to why Su Yaoyang would do this.

In recent days, in addition to expanding the Shanxi militia, Su Yaoyang has also established a photography team.

The purpose of this photography team was to film the daily life, work, and battles of the Shanxi militia, although many people thought this was unnecessary and a waste of money.

But Su Yaoyang understood that these video recordings might not seem significant now, but they would be invaluable historical materials in later generations, priceless to historians studying the Republican era.

In recent days, he personally dispatched several photography teams to film the battle in Wolf Valley from all angles, capturing a large number of precious war scenes.

The reason he sent these battle scenes to the Eighth Route Army was to give them more reference material and to let them understand what it was like to engage in large-scale positional warfare against the Japanese army.

This wasn't because Su Yaoyang looked down on Li Yunlong and his men. He knew very well that the Eighth Route Army's battles against the Japanese army were almost entirely based on guerrilla and mobile warfare, lacking experience in large-scale positional warfare. Giving them these things now was a way to let them experience positional warfare as early as possible.

He didn't care much about the consequences, which could be considered a case of doing good deeds without asking about the itinerary.

…………

Ushijima Minoru looked at the three people standing in front of him, a strange chill flashing in his eyes.

The command post at this time contained more than just these few people; it included Chief of Staff Colonel Hisazo Kinemura, Major General Yoshio Uezuki (commander of the 40th Brigade), Colonel Ichiro Morimoto (commander of the 79th Infantry Regiment), Colonel Kenji Suzuki (commander of the 80th Regiment), and a host of other mid- to high-ranking officers, as well as the divisional staff. After a long silence, Ushijima Sanetsune finally spoke.

"The three of you worked all day and this is the report you gave me?"

1082 men were killed, 1241 wounded, and a number of weapons were lost.

At the end, Ushijima Minoru's voice suddenly rose by more than ten decibels as he slammed the report in his hand in front of the three men and roared.

"Even if I sent a pig, it would have fought better than you. And you still have the nerve to write a report and send it to me!"

The three men lowered their heads and remained silent. Takagi Yoshito, as the brigade commander, raised his head and spoke first: "Division Commander, today's battle was indeed due to our poor command. As the brigade commander, I bear the greatest responsibility. No matter how you punish me, I will have no complaints."

“You do indeed bear the greatest responsibility!” Ushijima Sanetsugu said bluntly, “The fact that this battle turned out like this is naturally your fault as the brigade commander. I will mention this in my report to Commander Umezu.”

Yoshito Takagi bowed and said, "Hai, thank you for your kindness."

The reason he specifically expressed his gratitude was that since Ushijima Minoru said so, it meant that he did not intend to pursue the matter of today's defeat on the spot, but rather to save face for them. If they could make contributions in the next battle, this stain could be erased.

Ushijima Minoru rubbed his temples, a look of exhaustion on his face: "Tell me, why did today's battle turn out like this?"

Yoshito Takagi turned to look at Koichi Koto and Tsuneo Kobayashi, who were the direct commanders of today's battle, so their words would naturally be the most convincing.

"Hai!"

Li Dengxing stepped forward and recounted the day's battle in detail. His words were very insightful, without embellishment or his own subjective emotions.

He spoke for more than ten minutes, and Ushijima Minoru and the officers at the command headquarters listened very attentively.

After he finished speaking, Yoshio Uezuki asked, "Kito-kun, do you think the biggest reason for today's failed attack was the sudden appearance of those anti-aircraft guns by the Chinese army? Is that right?"

"Yes."

Li Dengxing said solemnly, "Although I am very reluctant to admit it, I have to say that it was precisely because of those anti-aircraft guns that our two regiments failed in their attack."

The Chinese anti-aircraft guns had a long range and great power. Many of our soldiers were blown to pieces by shells fired from a kilometer or two away before they even saw what the Chinese looked like.

Most importantly, ordinary fortifications, such as sandbags and trees, are no match for anti-aircraft shells. Often, a barrage of shells would shatter the soldiers hiding behind these fortifications along with the fortifications, leaving no trace of their bodies.

Furthermore, due to the distance, we can't even retaliate unless we can use heavy artillery to destroy all those anti-aircraft guns!

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent...

(End of this chapter)