Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 242 Tacit understanding
Taiyuan, the headquarters of the First Army of the North China Area Army.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like you could wring water out of it.

Yoshio Shinotsuka was sitting behind his desk with a livid face.

On the table, the telegram that had just arrived from the front lines, reporting the defeat of the 24th Division and the escape of its commander, Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa, with his remaining troops, struck him like a merciless slap in the face.

In less than a day, a Class B division was utterly defeated?

What a disgrace! This was the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered on the North China battlefield since he took over as commander of the First Army!
His chest heaved violently, the anger and humiliation in his heart almost burning away his reason.

He has ordered the Independent Mixed Second and Fourth Brigades, as well as the 20th Division which is on its way to be urgently transported, to encircle Xinxian County at all costs!
He wanted to wash away this shame with the blood of those "Shanxi militia" soldiers! He wanted to crush that Chinese commander named Su Yaoyang, along with his troops, completely under the walls of Xinxian!
Just as he was plotting how to lay a trap to completely annihilate the Shanxi militia, a communications officer rushed in, carrying a newly deciphered telegram, his face bearing a strange expression of disbelief, surprise, and confusion.

"General...urgent intelligence!"

Yoshio Shinotsuka raised his bloodshot eyes and impatiently took the telegram.

However, after just one glance, he was completely stunned.

The telegram contained a simple message: According to reports from our undercover agents and confirmation from aerial reconnaissance, the main force of the Shanxi militia that occupied Xinxian County is... in full retreat.

Instead of pursuing the remnants of the 24th Division, they abandoned the strategically important county town that they had just captured with blood, and their main force was rapidly moving south!
"Nani?"

Yoshio Shinotsuka almost thought he had misread it. He read the telegram several times to confirm that it was correct, and then he was completely bewildered.

What... what kind of operation is this?
What exactly is Su Yaoyang trying to do? He went through so much trouble to defeat the 24th Division, just to have a one-day trip in Xinxian County?
Was he so terrified by the approaching Imperial Army that he chose to flee?

This sudden news disrupted all of Yoshio Shinotsuka's previous plans and calculations. For a moment, he was both amused and exasperated, feeling like a boxer who had been holding back his strength, only to throw a punch and hit nothing.

Before he could recover from this "surprise," the office door was suddenly pushed open again.

The one who rushed in this time was Major General Hideyoshi Kusuyama, the chief of staff who had not been transferred to the First Army for long.

At this moment, Hideyoshi Kusuyama's face could no longer be described as confused; it was an expression of utter horror, as if he had seen a ghost!

"Commander... Something terrible has happened!" Major General Miyano even forgot to salute. He rushed to the map and, with trembling fingers, stabbed it hard!
"The Shanxi militia... After abandoning Xinxian, the Shanxi militia did not return to Wutai Mountain."

They…their army of tens of thousands suddenly turned around, like a sharp knife, and charged straight…straight towards Meng County!

"Om..."

This news was like a bombshell, exploding in Yoshio Shinotsuka's mind!
He felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, his mind went completely blank, as if all the blood in his body rushed to his head at that moment!

Xin County... Meng County... Retreat... Turn around...

These seemingly unrelated words spun and collided wildly in his mind, and finally, they suddenly pieced together a chilling and terrifyingly clear intention that sent shivers down his spine!

That bastard... that guy named Su Yaoyang... he's not running away!

He is using the "bait" of abandoning Xinxian County in exchange for the "real benefit" of attacking Mengxian County!
He was telling himself: I have no interest in your lifeline, the Tongpu Railway; I'll return it to you. But I'll gladly accept your warehouses and coal mines to the south!
This...this is not war!

This is a blatant, unreasonable, and predatory strategic blackmail carried out in front of the entire North China Front Army!
"puff……"

Yoshio Shinotsuka could no longer suppress it. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost spat out a mouthful of blood!

He felt he had been deeply insulted; the commander of the First Army had been humiliated by the enemy with such ridiculous contempt.

"Bageya Road..."

A furious, distorted roar echoed throughout the First Army Headquarters.

…………

Su Yaoyang had neither the mood nor the time to pay attention to Yoshio Shinotsuka, who was far away in Taiyuan and was probably so angry that his blood vessels in his brain had burst.

To him, Yoshio Shinotsuka's anger was nothing more than background music to his impotent rage, which was bound to play after the plan succeeded; it was insignificant.

His gaze had already passed over the map and landed on his real target... Meng County.

Meng County, South Gate.

The Japanese garrison commander in the county town, Shinsuke Yamada, was leisurely picking his teeth with a toothpick, leaning against the battlements of the city gate, lazily basking in the afternoon sun.

The artillery fire coming from the direction of Xinxian has stopped for a long time.

In his view, it was nothing more than the 24th Division's predecessors routinely "sweeping away" those ignorant Chinese guerrillas.

As for Meng County, located in the rear, it was as peaceful as the empire's own territory. Apart from occasionally having to deal with those disobedient puppet troops, his life couldn't be more comfortable. However, just as he was drifting off to sleep, the earth suddenly began to tremble subtly and rhythmically.

"Ok?"

Shinsuke Yamada frowned in confusion. He pressed his ear against the cold city bricks, and the vibrations became clearer, accompanied by a deep rumble, like the roar of countless wild beasts.

"Was it an earthquake?" he muttered, straightening up and looking towards the official road outside the city.

With just one glance, the leisure and ease on his face froze instantly.

On the distant horizon, billowing smoke and dust obscured the sky! Within that massive cloud of smoke, a dozen menacing Sherman tanks, painted a grassy green like steel behemoths, were arrayed in an attack formation, charging at high speed toward the walls of Meng County with unstoppable momentum!
what is that? !

Shinsuke Yamada's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints!

He had been a soldier for many years, but he had never seen such a huge and terrifying... tank!
"Enemy attack...enemy attack..."

He used all his strength to let out a distorted, shrill scream!

The Japanese and puppet troops on the city wall were thrown into chaos by the sudden alarm. They rushed to their posts, trying to use their Type 38 rifles and Type 96 machine guns to fight against the rapidly approaching torrent of steel.

But it was too late.

The Shanxi militia's First Armored Regiment, acting as the vanguard, didn't even give them a chance to catch their breath.

When John's command tank rushed to within 800 meters of the city gate, he didn't even bother to use machine guns to clear the live targets on the city wall. Instead, he issued the simplest and most brutal order over the radio.

"All tanks! Target the city gate tower! Three rapid-fire rounds! Bomb it into the sky!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"

The turrets of more than a dozen Sherman tanks turned towards that pitiful, old city gate tower almost simultaneously.

The next second, more than a dozen 75mm tank guns roared deafeningly!

More than a dozen high-explosive grenades, trailing a piercing shriek, slammed heavily onto the city gate tower of Meng County like a dozen merciless hammers!

The violent explosion instantly shattered the relatively sturdy brick and stone structure into pieces! Debris, wood chips, and mangled human remains were thrown more than ten meters into the air by the massive shockwave, and then rained down like raindrops.

Company Commander Shinsuke Yamada, who was screaming just moments before, along with his entire squad of soldiers, were blasted into a shower of flying minced meat in the first round of artillery fire before they even had a chance to let out their final screams.

The soldiers guarding the city wall were completely terrified by this hellish sight.

Before they could recover from the shock of the shelling, the tanks turned their fire on the city walls themselves. Shell after shell struck the walls with pinpoint accuracy, wiping out the machine gun positions that attempted to resist, guns and all.

After just over ten minutes of shelling, the southern city wall of Meng County was riddled with holes and could no longer mount any effective resistance.

"Bangdang..."

A tank rammed through the shattered city gate and charged into the city.

Following closely behind were countless soldiers of the Shanxi militia, carrying Garand rifles and Thompson submachine guns, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

Some Japanese soldiers tried to resist, but were immediately met with a hail of bullets.

Even worse, a small detachment of Japanese soldiers, led by a sergeant, occupied a courtyard, intending to use it as a base for resistance and inflict casualties on the attacking Shanxi militia soldiers.

Unfortunately, their idea was good, but the actual result was unexpected.

The Chinese didn't engage in a firefight with them at all. Instead, they sent out several tanks, which, upon approaching, razed the entire courtyard to the ground with their tank cannons.

After a few 75mm high-explosive shells were fired, there was no more resistance in the yard.

The battle was a one-sided massacre from the very beginning.

This small county town, garrisoned by only a Japanese company and a puppet army battalion, was as fragile as a paper lantern in the face of the Shanxi militia's luxurious iron fist composed of tanks and automatic weapons.

Less than two hours.

When Su Yaoyang's command vehicle slowly drove into Meng County, the battle was completely over.

A brand-new flag of the Republic of China was already fluttering in the wind on the roof of the puppet county government.

(End of this chapter)