Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 192 Response
"Commander-in-Chief... Good news... Great news!" The operations staff officer practically ran into the command post with his bandages still on, shouting to Su Yaoyang, "The Eighth Route Army... the Eighth Route Army launched a night attack on Xinxian last night... Xinxian... Xinxian has been captured!"

"Did the Eighth Route Army take Xinxian County?"

Su Yaoyang, who was dozing off, jumped up from his cot, his face full of surprise.

He raised his hand to look at his watch, which showed that today was June 10th. That meant that the Eighth Route Army only spent two days preparing before taking Xinxian County in one fell swoop. Their speed was too fast!

It should be noted that he had once considered taking over Xinxian County, but the Japanese used the people of Xinxian to blackmail him, and he was forced to retreat. But now the Eighth Route Army has successfully done it.

This matter may seem simple, but it involves a unit's reconnaissance, operational, and execution capabilities, and also reflects the unit's comprehensive capabilities.

"It seems that the road to strengthening the Shanxi militia is still long and arduous!" Su Yaoyang thought to himself.

"Sir... what should we do now?" the operations staff officer asked.

"What should we do?" Su Yaoyang sneered, "Strike while the iron is hot. If we miss this opportunity, we'll be punished by heaven."

"Pass on my order: the entire army, prepare yourselves! The moment the Japanese begin to retreat, give them a good beating!"

"Understood!" the operations staff officer responded loudly.

He understood Su Yaoyang's meaning, of course. The only way out for the 20th Division, which had lost the support of the armory, was to retreat. Otherwise, if they continued to stay here, the fate of the 20,000 troops would be to starve to death.

So they have no choice but to withdraw their troops. Given that, isn't it natural to kick a man when he's down?

…………

Deep in a pine forest, the needles rustled in the wind, like countless whispers.

Sunlight filters through the dense canopy of trees, casting dappled shadows on the ground like a torn net.

Beneath the dense forest, rows of Sherman tanks lay silently in the shadows, their tracks deeply embedded in the soft humus, their gun barrels covered with pine needles and tiny insect carcasses.

The soldiers leaned against the tree trunks in twos and threes. Some were idly carving the bark with their daggers, while others stared blankly at their watches. Every tick of the second hand felt like a cut on their tense nerves.

The air was filled with the bitter smell of pine resin and the pungent smell of diesel fuel.

A thin layer of dust had accumulated on the camouflage netting of the anti-aircraft guns, and whenever the wind blew, it would raise a cloud of choking dust.

The infantrymen sat around a shallow, hastily dug pit, their helmets carelessly tossed aside. They mechanically chewed their rations, their eyes occasionally glancing toward the open area beyond the forest, where the sunlight was blindingly bright.

John squatted on a protruding tree root, the map spread out on his lap, the pencil marks blurred by sweat.

He felt a tightness in his throat, as if something was stuck there, something he couldn't spit out or swallow.

A sharp metallic clang rang out in the distance, followed by muffled curses. Everyone stopped what they were doing, strained their ears, but then fell into a deathly silence.

Nearly two thousand men from the tank battalion, the first battalion of the first regiment, and the air defense battalion had been lying in ambush in this nameless dense forest for ten days. During these ten days, they did nothing but eat and sleep. The first few days were alright, but as time went on, what they thought was a pleasant life gradually turned into restlessness and unease.

He couldn't hold back any longer and said to Li Qingxiang, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment, who was not far away, "Li... why haven't we heard anything from the boss yet? Should we send him a telegram to ask?"

"No!" Li Qingxiang said firmly, "The commander-in-chief said that we must maintain radio silence and not send telegrams to headquarters unless absolutely necessary. If our position is exposed, all our previous efforts will be in vain." "But ten days have already passed. Aren't you worried at all?" John asked anxiously.

"Nonsense, who isn't anxious?" Li Qingxiang rolled his eyes at him. "But an order is an order, and we absolutely cannot disobey it."

John said helplessly, "I really don't know where you learned this rigid personality from."
Isn't it said that Chinese people are the most flexible and adaptable? How come they're not even as good as me, a foreigner?

However, his complaints only earned him a cold shoulder from Li Qingxiang.

John, growing angrier by the thought, went to a tent not far away. The tent was not large, and there were only two radio operators chatting inside.

John arrived at the tent entrance and saw two idle radio operators. He swallowed back the words he was about to say.

"Eh……"

He sighed softly and was about to turn around and walk back when he heard the radio in the tent suddenly emit a series of urgent beeps, and at the same time, the red light started flashing.

The two radio operators, who were chatting idly, suddenly changed their expressions, quickly put on their headsets, and began to busily operate the equipment.

Five or six minutes later, the telegraph operator picked up the telegram and stood up when John rushed over. "What's going on? Whose telegram is this? What does it say?"

The telegraph operator did not answer, but simply handed him the telegram paper.

The telegram contained only one short sentence: "The 20th Division is preparing to retreat. Your unit is ordered to be ready at any time and await orders to launch an attack!"

"it is good!"

John was overjoyed. "These damned Japanese monkeys are finally going to retreat. It's time for us to strike!"

Just as the Shanxi militia were gearing up to deliver a crushing blow to the 20th Division, which had lost its supplies, Yoshijiro Umezu was also raging in his office.

“Incompetent…idiots…useless…a bunch of useless trash…”

He never imagined that the place where he had stockpiled weapons would be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.

Logically speaking, this should be an impossible situation. Armory is usually heavily guarded, making it very difficult for the enemy to break in. Even if the enemy were to attack with a large force, they could at least detonate the armory and perish together with the enemy. How could the enemy have managed to steal the armory?
Ushijima Sanetsune is no longer suitable to remain in the position of division commander, Umezu Yoshijiro thought to himself.

However, that's something to consider later. The most urgent task is to figure out how to safely withdraw the 20th Division.

He knew without a doubt that the Shanxi militia were already itching to take advantage of the 20th Division's retreat to give them a good beating while they were down. But they underestimated the Imperial Army. Did they really think that without the armory, the Imperial Army would become a drowning dog?

Thinking of this, he sneered: "Someone... pass on my order: immediately order the Independent Mixed Second Brigade to assemble and rush to Wolf Valley tonight to support the 20th Division's retreat."

Furthermore, I have telegraphed the 20th Division to immediately begin a rotational withdrawal tomorrow morning. I have already ordered the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade to provide support for them; they must be extremely careful!

"Hai!"

(End of this chapter)