Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 177: Battle Ends, Transportation Department Reform
On October 7, 1938, seeing that the encirclement was complete, Xue Boling issued the order for a general offensive.

The 106th Division was no match for the Blue Army, and its commander, Junroku Matsuura, originally intended to lead his troops in a suicide attack.

However, upon receiving a telegram from headquarters, it was learned that the 9th Division had already dispatched troops to reinforce them, while on the main battlefield, the 42nd Regiment led by Hasegawa Yukizo of the 101st Division and the 155th Artillery Regiment were also frantically attacking the 4th Army's positions, attempting to create an escape route for the 106th Division.

Upon receiving the telegram, Matsuura Junroku felt a glimmer of hope and decisively ordered his troops to break out towards Zhanggushan.

More than 6,000 Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded in the battle. The surviving Japanese soldiers retreated to Zhanggushan and waited for the 101st Division to open a rescue channel.

However, their hopes were soon dashed.

On the morning of October 8, the Third Flight Group dispatched more than ten aircraft to airdrop over two hundred officers into the Wanjialing battlefield.

These officers jumped out of the plane with great confidence, but they were not greeted with applause from the 106th Division.

Instead, it was the newly formed 39th Division machine gun company that had been lying in ambush near the airdrop site.

More than two hundred people became machine gun targets before they even landed. Some who managed to land were quickly surrounded and annihilated by the ambushing troops.

It can be said that all of the more than two hundred mid- to low-ranking officers died before they could even play their part.

Upon hearing the news, Matsuura Junroku felt as if his own father had died.

However, he still held out hope for the 101st Division. In order to hold Zhanggushan, he ordered the construction of fortifications to use the natural defenses to resist the Blue Army's offensive.

Zhanggushan was a strategic choke point in Wanjialing, and also the only hope for the 106th Division to survive.

On the night of October 8th, Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 305th Regiment of the 74th Army, gathered 500 brave warriors and used leg wraps as ropes to climb up the cliff behind Zhanggu Mountain.

The main force launched a feint attack with guns and cannons to draw the Japanese soldiers' attention.

By the time the Japanese soldiers realized that someone was sneaking up from behind the cliff, it was too late to react, and a major battle was inevitable.

In order to contain the Japanese firepower, Zhang Lingfu directly chose to engage the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat. His troops joined forces with the enemy, rendering their artillery and heavy machine guns ineffective.

After a night of fierce fighting, by dawn, the Kuomintang flag was already flying over Zhanggu Mountain.

The capture of Zhanggushan did not mean that the 106th Division was willing to give up on Zhanggushan. After dawn, Matsuura Junrokuro ordered that Zhanggushan be bombarded with artillery fire and contacted the 3rd Air Group by radio to carry out the bombing mission.

Although the 305th Regiment was outmatched in weaponry and equipment, it withstood the enemy's fierce attacks with sheer courage and determination. Zhang Lingfu was also wounded in the right leg by enemy shrapnel during this battle.

After a day and a night of fierce fighting, Matsuura realized he could not retake Zhanggushan. At this moment, the Blue Army surrounded them again, leaving Matsuura with no choice but to order a retreat.

On October 9th, the 106th Division, which was almost out of ammunition and food, retreated to Leimingguliu Village, awaiting final rescue.

At this time, soldiers under Ye Zhao, commander of the 66th Army, discovered that Japanese motorcycles were appearing near Leiminggu Liu Village, and that the Japanese had also erected antennas in the village.

Through intelligence analysis, Ye Zhao determined that this place was the headquarters of the 106th Division. Therefore, he also followed Zhang Lingpu's example and launched a night attack on Zhanggushan.

Under cover of night, he gathered five hundred warriors, stripped off their shirts, and sneaked into Leiminggu Liu Village. He ordered that anyone he encountered who was shirtless should be tapped on the shoulder as a signal, and anyone who was wearing clothes should be killed without mercy.

In the middle of the night, this group of daredevils stormed into the village and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

Meanwhile, Matsuura was still dreaming about how to take revenge on the Blue Army after escaping, when he suddenly heard shouts of killing outside.

The soldiers on guard escorted Matsuura Junroku to the back mountain in a hasty escape. Later, under the cover of the guards, Matsuura managed to escape alive.

According to the postwar recollections of Japanese soldier Nasu Ryo, the Blue Army suicide squad was less than 100 meters away from Division Commander Matsuura. Had it not been for the cover of night, Matsuura would have become the first general captured in the early stages of the war.
On October 10, Commander Xue directed a large force to sweep away the remaining forces of the 106th Division and telegraphed the Military Commission that the Battle of Wanjialing had been a complete victory.

This news caused an uproar across the country.

The Shanghai Daily published a news report from the Chongqing Central Daily, claiming that more than 17,000 enemy soldiers were killed in the battle.

However, the Japanese side claimed that this was a rumor. The Asahi Shimbun published a battle damage report, which clearly stated that due to the mistakes of the Japanese commander, the battle resulted in more than 3,000 deaths and more than 4,000 wounded, both light and serious.

However, just a few days after the Japanese report was published, the Shanghai Economic Times published a special news item.

The illustration in the news report shows Junroku Matsuura of the 106th Division lying seriously wounded on a stretcher, narrowly escaping inspection by the Blue Army.

Meanwhile, the news also clearly published an internal Japanese military report, which stated that the 106th Division had a confirmed death toll of 3,679, serious wounds of 4,427, and 9,488 hospitalized for various reasons in this battle.

It's quite mysterious that he was hospitalized for some reason. I wonder what illness he has, and also, I wonder which hospital can accept so many soldiers at the same time.

Upon the release of this report, major intelligence agencies in Shanghai immediately felt as if they had swallowed a large green fly.

This level of intelligence leak is like a blatant slap in the face for intelligence agencies.

This also resulted in the last shred of dignity of the Central China Expeditionary Army being ruthlessly trampled into the ground.

Of course, this report wasn't entirely without its benefits for Chen Yang.

The 106th Division's battle report was quickly delivered to the Expeditionary Army Headquarters, and after discussion by the Expeditionary Army Staff, the details of the failed operation and the losses were sent to the Mainland General Staff Headquarters.

The Expeditionary Army Staff believed that there were three reasons for the 106th Division's defeat: Matsuura Junrokuro's arrogance, misjudgment of the Blue Army's strength, and overestimation of the 106th Division's strength, and he should bear the main responsibility.

Secondly, the 11th Army Staff provided incorrect maps, which prevented the 106th Division from completing its infiltration mission in a short time, and therefore should bear secondary responsibility.
Third, the Southern Transport Department's First Section made a mistake in its transport mission, causing the 106th Division's supplies to be unable to be delivered on time. Matsuura Junrokuro chose to go into battle lightly equipped without sufficient supplies budget.

While Matsuura was certainly at fault, Matsushima Jun, the head of the First Section, was also held accountable. Ultimately, the government issued orders to dismiss Matsuura Junrokuro, dismiss Matsushima Jun, the head of the First Section of the Southern Transport Department, and demote Numata Tomizo, the operations staff officer of the 11th Army, thus bringing the incident to a close.

A few days later, in mid-October, while the people of Shanghai were still basking in the joy brought by the Battle of Wanjialing, bad news came from the south.

Guangzhou has fallen.

Yu Hanmou's 200,000 soldiers lost half of Guangzhou in less than half a month.

The fall of Guangzhou also brought extremely troublesome problems to the Blue Team.

Having lost the southernmost city of China, it means that China's maritime routes are now entirely under Japanese control.

If the Blue Team continues to hold out in Wuhan at this point, their supply lines could become problematic at any time.
Without effective protection, it could very well drag the million-strong army to its death.

While the higher-ups were still debating whether to "continue holding out or retreat to the rear," Hu Zongnan, who was stationed in Xinyang, made a grave mistake.

Following the victory at Wanjialing, the Japanese army accelerated its siege of Wuhan.

The 59th Army, led by General Mei Hua, was ordered to hold off the enemy in the Huangchuan area for ten days.
After completing the mission, they were ordered to retreat on October 18.

Afterwards, the Japanese army captured Huangchuan and marched straight towards Xinyang.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Hu Zongnan immediately led his troops to retreat, which inadvertently put Li Delin in a difficult position.

At the same time as Xinyang fell, Hu Zongnan also arbitrarily transferred the seven divisions that were blocking the enemy away and retreated to Nanyang City.

This decision left Wuhan wide open, forcing the higher command to finally decide to preserve their strength and wage a protracted war, trading space for time.

Therefore, on October 22, the Military Commission issued an order for the Blue Army to withdraw from Wuhan.

However, in order not to leave Wuhan intact for the Japanese, the Blue Army set a fire during their retreat.

The fire burned for two days and two nights. By the time the main Japanese force arrived in Wuhan, all that remained was a devastated city, a ruin of walls and rubble.
In Shanghai, news of the Japanese army's capture of Guangzhou and then Wuhan naturally caused jubilation among the Japanese.

Some even predicted that the Japanese would be able to capture the mountain castle by the end of the year.

However, as the head of the transportation department, Chen Yang had already keenly sensed that something was wrong.

After the Battle of Wuhan, the supply of goods transported domestically seemed to become unsustainable.

It can be said that the supplies supplied each month are decreasing, and the bases in the north are even required to supply supplies to the south.

Based on the AI ​​in Chen Yang's mind's analysis of recent transport data, the Japanese army is unlikely to launch a battle of the magnitude of the Battle of Wuhan, at least in the short term.

Therefore, it is absolutely wishful thinking to think that we can take over the mountain city by the end of the year.

Chen Yang originally wanted to send this news back to Shancheng, but after thinking about it, he realized that these things were based on his analysis and there was no concrete evidence to support them.

If the higher-ups ask, am I supposed to say that I made all of this based on my own judgment? Guess what kind of expression Boss Dai will have then.
So Chen Yang gave up and gradually got used to the work and life in the transportation department.

Late October, Southern Transportation Department.

Chen Yang had just entered the office when he received an order from Kenjiro Oshima to go up to the conference room on the third floor, where he was to receive important news.

Chen Yang didn't dare to delay and quickly went up to the third floor after putting down his briefcase.

The minister's office is on the third floor.

Chen Yang stood at the door, carefully straightened his clothes, and then reached out to knock on the door.

"Come in," came Kenjiro Oshima's voice from inside.

Chen Yang pushed open the door, his eyes inexplicably trembling, surprised because there were two other people standing in the office.

One of them was...

"Section Chief Chen, you've arrived just in time. Let me introduce you. This is Ino Yusuke, the logistics officer from the Military Police Headquarters." Kenjiro Oshima pointed to the man in front and said to Chen Yang, "He was specially recommended by the logistics department."

"Section Chief Chen, please take care of me." Yusuke Ino bowed slightly, acting as if he didn't know Chen Yang at all.

Chen Yang was not surprised and quickly bowed in return.

Kenjiro Oshima slightly raised his hand and said, "Section Chief Chen, I've called you here to inform you of some good news."

"The local government has already approved the Southern Transportation Department's rectification plan."

"The previous First, Second, and Third Lessons will be abolished and uniformly planned as Army Transportation Lessons."

"The Logistics Department has carefully reviewed all your performance since joining the Southern Transportation Department and believes that your abilities are very suitable for the position of section chief."

"As for the two deputy section chiefs, you should be familiar with Nagashima no Hiroshi. As for the other deputy section chief, it will be Ino-kun."

"Do you have any questions?"

(End of this chapter)