Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 223 Confrontation
More than 100 kilometers away from the Zuoqiu battlefield, in a hidden Eighth Route Army command post deep in the mountains, the atmosphere was originally somewhat solemn.

Under the dim light of an oil lamp, several senior commanders were gathered around a simple military map, discussing the current battle situation.

Suddenly, the curtain of the command post was flung open, and the deputy chief of staff, with barely suppressed excitement and a hint of disbelief on his face, hurried in, even losing some of his usual composure.

"Deputy Commander-in-Chief! Deputy Commander-in-Chief! A great victory! This is fantastic news!" The Deputy Chief of Staff shouted, his voice trembling, even before he got close.

The deputy commander, who was deep in thought while looking at the map, was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. He looked up and frowned when he saw his usually calm subordinate so flustered. He asked in a deep voice, "What's the matter that you're in such a panic? Tell me slowly. Is there good news from which direction?"

Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his excited emotions, but his voice still carried a hint of excitement: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief! It's the 770th Regiment of the 385th Brigade! They...they have successfully captured the Zuoqiu stronghold!"

"What? It's the Zuoqiu stronghold? When did the 385th Brigade develop such a strong attack capability?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed in the deputy commander's eyes. He certainly knew the importance of the Zuoqiu stronghold and how formidable its defenses were.

According to the original plan, the 770th Regiment's mission this time was mainly to harass and contain the enemy. There was no strict requirement for them to take the stronghold. After all, given the current equipment level of the Eighth Route Army, the cost of a strong attack on such a well-fortified stronghold would be too high.

"Yes! That's the tough nut to crack!"

Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo nodded vigorously and continued, "According to the urgent telegram just sent back by the 770th Regiment, they launched an attack on the Zuoqiu stronghold this morning. The battle was extremely fierce, and our casualties were heavy. At one point... at one point we were even prepared to withdraw..."

Upon hearing this, the deputy commander-in-chief frowned even more deeply, and couldn't help but feel worried for the soldiers of the 770th Regiment.

The deputy chief of staff changed the subject, his face showing even more excitement: "But! At the most critical moment, two planes suddenly appeared in the sky! They were very advanced planes that we had never seen before."

They used... used rocket-like things, and bombs, to blow up all the Japanese bunkers... to smithereens! They blew them to smithereens!"

"Airplanes? They bombed the bunker?" The deputy commander stood up abruptly, his eyes flashing with disbelief.

He knew that the Eighth Route Army currently had no air power whatsoever, let alone planes capable of destroying the Japanese army's fortified bunkers.

“Absolutely true!” Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo said decisively. “The telegram said that those two planes made the Japanese cry for their fathers and mothers, and almost all the main firing points in the stronghold were destroyed.”

Later, the comrades of the 770th Regiment launched a general offensive and, almost effortlessly, annihilated the remaining enemy forces in the stronghold, successfully capturing Zuoqiu! They seized a considerable amount of weapons and ammunition and even captured several terrified Japanese soldiers!

The other commanders in the command post also showed expressions of shock and delight upon hearing this.

This is simply a miracle that fell from the sky!

After the initial shock, the deputy commander quickly calmed down. His gaze swept across the map, finally settling on the location of Jinshaling Airport. In his mind, the image of the young and mysterious militia commander—Su Yaoyang—appeared.

"It's them……"

The deputy commander muttered to himself, his tone a mixture of understanding and complex emotions. He was almost certain that this suddenly appearing aircraft with its powerful ground attack capabilities could only belong to Su Yaoyang, a man of immense wealth and influence.

"Deputy Commander-in-Chief, are you saying... that the Shanxi militia's planes helped us?" Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo immediately realized what was going on and asked tentatively.

The deputy commander nodded slowly, a relieved smile on his face: "Besides them, I can't think of anyone else who has the ability to get such powerful aircraft without anyone noticing, and to appear on the Zuoqiu battlefield at a critical moment."

It seems our Commander Su has given us another big surprise!

"That was just in time! If it weren't for their intervention, the 770th Regiment might have..." Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo said with lingering fear.

"Yes, we must remember this kindness." After a moment's thought, the deputy commander-in-chief said to the deputy chief of staff:
"Immediately send a telegram back to the 770th Regiment, commending them for their bravery in combat. At the same time, instruct them to provide a detailed report on the course of the battle, especially the type, characteristics, and attack methods of the two aircraft. This intelligence is extremely important to us."

"Yes!"

"in addition……"

The deputy commander paused for a moment, then continued, "We need to think carefully about how to thank Commander Su."

He did us a tremendous favor this time! Not only did he relieve the 770th Regiment from siege, but more importantly, he demonstrated a completely new combat model: air-ground coordination… This has extremely important implications for our future operations against Japan!

The atmosphere in the command post became enthusiastic because of this unexpected good news.

Japanese First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan: Roars of Furious Defiance and Fury of Incompetence

Meanwhile, far away in Taiyuan, the atmosphere at the headquarters of the First Army of the Japanese North China Area Army was oppressive and deathly silent.

Yoshio Shinotsuka, the commander of the First Army, sat behind his large desk, his face ashen, clutching an urgent battle report that had just arrived from the front lines. His chest heaved violently, and the veins on his forehead throbbed, showing that his anger had reached its peak.

"Snapped!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka slammed the battle report on the table with a loud bang, startling the chief of staff and the operations section chief standing nearby.

"Baka yarou..." Yoshio Shinotsuka finally couldn't hold back any longer and exploded, letting out a deafening roar like a wounded beast! "Can anyone tell me! What on earth is going on?"

Our Zuoqiu stronghold was defended by a squadron of elite Imperial warriors and had a fortified bunker complex! How could it have been captured by those poorly equipped Eighth Route Army guerrillas in just a few hours?
Ah...can anyone tell me?

His spittle flew everywhere, and his bloodshot eyes were fixed on his silent subordinates.

The operations section chief, steeling himself, stepped forward and reported in a trembling voice, "Commander... according to... according to the reports from soldiers who managed to escape from the stronghold... the Eighth Route Army... the Eighth Route Army's attack this time received... received air support..."

"Airplanes?" Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice suddenly rose, his eyes filled with disbelief. "What did you say?! Where did these Eighth Route Army guerrillas get airplanes?! Could it be the Chongqing Air Force? When did they dare to fly into the heart of our Empire's occupied territory?!"

"No...it wasn't a plane from Chongqing..."

The operations section chief swallowed hard and continued, "According to... according to the survivors, those were two dark blue monoplane fighters they had never seen before, extremely fast and with extremely heavy firepower... They... they used a weapon similar to rockets and bombs to directly destroy the main bunker of the stronghold... Our warriors... suffered heavy casualties in the air raid... The defense system collapsed instantly..."

"A dark blue monoplane fighter jet... a rocket..."

Yoshio Shinotsuka's pupils constricted sharply! A name that he hated so much flashed through his mind... Su Yaoyang! The Shanxi militia! Besides that damned Su Yaoyang, who else could possess such advanced weaponry, weaponry that even the Empire coveted?!
"It's him again! It's that Shanxi militia again! It's that Su Yaoyang again!!!"

Like a venomous snake whose tail has been stepped on, Yoshio Shinotsuka's eyes flashed with a piercing light. He drew his command sword and slammed it down on the hard mahogany desk with a clang, leaving a deep gash!
"That bastard! That despicable attacker! He actually dared to use an airplane to attack our Imperial Japanese Army's stronghold! This is a blatant provocation against our Imperial Japanese Army! It is an unforgivable crime!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka was so angry that he was trembling all over, his face turning from ashen to purplish-red, feeling as if his lungs were about to explode!
He originally thought that with the strength of the Imperial Army and the upcoming reinforcements, they could easily crush the Eighth Route Army that dared to covet the Zuoqiu stronghold.

Unexpectedly, the enemy received air reinforcements and even destroyed the Zuoqiu stronghold, rendering the Empire's efforts in this area futile.
This is simply a shame!
"Investigate immediately! Find out exactly where Su Yaoyang got these planes! How many more of these planes does he have? Where are their airports located? I want to blow them all up! Blow them all up!" Yoshio Shinotsuka brandished his command sword, roaring like a madman.

The operations chief stepped forward: "Commander, we know the location of the Shanxi militia's airfield, but bombing it is not very realistic. Have you forgotten the air battle a few days ago?"

Upon mentioning that aerial battle, Yoshio Shinotsuka instantly calmed down.

After several air battles, Japan's air power in Shanxi suffered heavy losses twice and has not yet fully recovered. Now, the Army Air Forces are all afraid of fighting the Shanxi militia. Colonel Tetsuji Iga, the commander of the 60th Squadron, even publicly stated that they would not engage in large-scale air battles with the Shanxi militia's air squadrons until the Empire sent more advanced fighter planes to Shanxi.

This kind of rhetoric, which could be described as fear of the enemy, even received support from many pilots, which made Yoshio Shinotsuka so angry that he couldn't sleep for several days.

The elimination of the Zuoqiu stronghold, along with the ghostly appearance of the F4U "Corsair" fighter jet, was like two resounding slaps to Yoshio Shinotsuka's face.

This brought his anger, which had been building up from repeated setbacks at the hands of Su Yaoyang and the Shanxi militia, to its peak.

Su Yaoyang and the Shanxi militia he led had long since evolved from an insignificant local armed force into a major threat, and could even be said to be the most threatening and troublesome enemy that the First Army faced in the entire Shanxi region!
This Su Yaoyang is like a rock in a latrine, both smelly and hard!

Not only does he possess superior equipment far exceeding that of other Chinese armies, but what's even more frightening is that he seems to have an endless supply of astonishing new weapons.

From the initial powerful heavy artillery to the later P-47 "Raiden" fighter jet, and now to the more advanced and fiercely armed F4U "Corsair" fighter jet... every time Yoshio Shinotsuka thought he had figured out the other party's trump card, Su Yaoyang would always bring him a new "surprise", or rather, a "shock".

Yoshio Shinotsuka often stared at military maps late at night, gritting his teeth as he pondered how to completely remove this thorn in his side.

He even fantasized about mobilizing the entire main force of the First Army, along with the air force's relentless bombing, to launch a devastating general offensive against the Wutai Mountain area, uprooting Su Yaoyang and his Shanxi militia, and erasing them completely from the map of Shanxi!

However, the ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny.

The situation in Shanxi was far more complex than he had imagined.

This place not only houses his First Army and that damned Shanxi militia.

Although Yan Xishan's Jin-Sui Army suffered repeated defeats, it remained a formidable local force, occupying a vast territory and population.

Meanwhile, the elusive and guerrilla-savvy Eighth Route Army, like a persistent leech, kept causing trouble in the First Army's occupied areas, harassing transportation lines, eliminating small strongholds, and keeping them constantly on the move.

Not to mention the army nominally belonging to the central government, as well as various local armed forces, bandits, secret societies, and other groups of varying sizes and backgrounds across the country. These forces not only had conflicts with each other, but also sometimes temporarily united to fight against the Japanese army due to common interests.

The whole of Shanxi is like a huge quagmire, with various forces intertwined and mutually restraining each other.

Yoshio Shinotsuka knew that if he rashly mobilized a large force to deal with the Shanxi militia, it would inevitably leave other forces vulnerable, giving the Jin-Sui Army, the Eighth Route Army, and other adversaries an opportunity to exploit the situation. In that case, he might not only fail to eliminate Su Yaoyang, but would also backfire, causing the entire situation in Shanxi to spiral out of control.

This truly is a case of "a single hair can affect the whole body"!
What made Yoshio Shinotsuka even more distressed was the predicament of insufficient troops.

Although the First Army is known as the elite of the Imperial Army, there are simply too many areas in the vast Shanxi that need to be garrisoned, including railway lines, important towns, strategic strongholds, and resource-producing areas. Each of these places requires a large number of troops to maintain occupation and suppress resistance.

In addition to the continuous attrition from battles and the troop withdrawals to meet the needs of other battlefields, Yoshio Shinotsuka's available forces were always stretched thin.

He sent earnest telegrams more than once to General Terauchi Hisaichi, Commander-in-Chief of the North China Area Army, and to the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo, detailing the difficult situation in Shanxi and the great threat posed by Su Yaoyang and the Shanxi militia, and requesting reinforcements.

Hopefully, at least two or three more elite divisions can be transferred to Shanxi, giving him enough troops to launch a decisive offensive.

However, Terauchi Hisaichi's responses always disappointed him.

The North China Area Army's operations were too sprawling, stretching from Beijing and Tianjin to Shandong, and from Henan to Suiyuan, requiring troops everywhere. Moreover, with the Chinese military and civilians' resistance growing stronger and the international situation subtly changing, the pressure on the Japanese army across the entire Chinese battlefield was constantly increasing.

The strategic focus of the headquarters gradually began to shift towards the south and the Pacific region.

Under these circumstances, Terauchi Hisaichi would naturally not easily grant Shinotsuka Yoshio's request for reinforcements.

He believed that Yoshio Shinotsuka was making a mountain out of a molehill and exaggerating the threat posed by the Shanxi militia. In his view, what could a mere local militia possibly do, no matter how well-equipped? As long as they were dealt with steadily and their living space was gradually compressed, they would eventually be wiped out.

Therefore, despite Yoshio Shinotsuka's repeated requests, Hisaichi Terauchi only symbolically assigned him an additional division—the 24th Division.

Although the 24th Division was nominally a standing division of the Imperial Army, its personnel quality and equipment level were still somewhat inferior to those of the true main field divisions. Moreover, the strength of one division was merely a drop in the ocean for Yoshio Shinotsuka, and was simply insufficient to support him in launching a large-scale annihilation campaign.

Upon receiving Terauchi Hisaichi's reply, Shinotsuka Yoshio was so angry he nearly vomited blood on the spot. He knew that expecting his superiors to provide him with enough troops to deal with Su Yaoyang was no longer an option.

Left with no other choice, Yoshio Shinotsuka had to deploy the newly transferred 24th Division to the Xinxian-Wuning line.

Xinxian and Wuning are located to the north and northwest of Wutai Mountain, respectively, at the border between the Japanese-controlled area and the area where Shanxi militias were active.

Deploying the 24th Division here serves two purposes: firstly, it strengthens military pressure on the Jinshaling direction, creating a deterrent effect; secondly, it acts as a barrier to prevent Shanxi militias from infiltrating and expanding northward.

At the same time, Yoshio Shinotsuka also ordered troops stationed in Yangquan, Shouyang and other places to strengthen their defenses on the south and east sides of Jinshaling.

In this way, the Japanese army formed a loose encirclement around the Jinshaling area, creating a standoff with Su Yaoyang's Shanxi militia.

Su Yaoyang was unconcerned about the Japanese army's actions. He immediately dispatched the Second Regiment to Xiangding, and then sent the newly formed Fourth and Fifth Regiments to form a defensive line along the route from Xiangding to Daixian. He himself led the First, Third and Sixth Infantry Regiments and two armored regiments to guard the Wutai Mountain area. If the Japanese dared to come, he would definitely give them a good beating.

What puzzled Su Yaoyang was that the Japanese never launched an attack on them.

Days passed by, and soon it was 1940...

(End of this chapter)