Anti-Japanese War: Starting from Yaobai

Chapter 2989 The Four Vajras Weep from Exhaustion, Slowing Down the Offensive Plan for Dragon Boat Festival!
Commander Ito remained unfazed by Kitahara's teasing. Instead, he scoffed, "What's a Da'an coal mine if we can successfully execute the Dragon-Slaying Plan? I'd gladly sacrifice ten of them!"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than Onizuka Yuumei frowned and raised a new question:

"Ito-kun, I understand that this is a rare opportunity, but I think there is a problem we must consider first. If the Anti-Japanese Brigade successfully recruits a large number of new soldiers at the Da'an Coal Mine as a result, their strength will inevitably increase significantly."

And by then, they will be even more difficult to deal with.

In other words, even if some of our people infiltrated the anti-Japanese brigade, it would still be extremely difficult for us to annihilate them after their strength was increased!

Onizuka Yūmei's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the heads of the previously excited crowd.

Everyone fell into deep thought, and the meeting room instantly fell silent.

Commander Ito tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his brow furrowed, clearly also pondering this thorny problem.

Kujo Miyamoto lowered his head slightly, his eyes seemingly fixed on the ground.

But his mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution.

After a moment, he raised his head and slowly said, "Onizuka-kun's concerns are not without merit. However, we can prepare for two possibilities in advance. On the one hand, after the infiltrators enter the anti-Japanese brigade, we should delay their recruitment speed, the number of soldiers, and even the speed of their new recruit training as much as possible, so that their new recruits cannot quickly form combat effectiveness in a short period of time."

On the other hand, if the Da'an coal mine is attacked, we can kill a group of miners, which would greatly reduce the number of people they can recruit. What do you all think?

General Maruyama nodded slightly after hearing what Kujo Miyamoto said, and added, "In addition, we can also use intelligence agents who have infiltrated the Anti-Japanese Brigade to create some conflicts within the brigade and disrupt their morale, thereby weakening their overall strength."

Section Chief Kitahara nodded in agreement, saying, "I think this method is feasible. After all, the winter offensive is just around the corner. As long as the new recruits of the anti-Japanese brigade cannot form a fighting force before then, they will remain just a rabble!"

As Commander Ito listened to everyone's remarks, the worry on his face gradually eased, because the anti-Japanese brigade that had been giving him a headache was finally about to be dealt with.

Ito stood up and said, "Gentlemen, this may be the closest we've come to success in recent times. So I propose we go for a drink today. To celebrate our victory!"

"Hahaha!"

Everyone laughed along, thinking that Ito was right; this was indeed their closest chance to success, and it was worth celebrating.

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Meanwhile, Ma Hu and his reconnaissance team had spent nearly four days investigating the basic situation of Da'an Coal Mine.

As soon as he returned to his post, he immediately went to report to Duanwu:
"Captain, there are only two companies of puppet troops in Da'an Coal Mine, and neither of them are fully staffed. Each company has less than a hundred men. There is also a Japanese infantry company, so the total number of men is no more than one hundred and twenty."

However, there are more than 12,000 miners at Da'an Coal Mine.

This shows that the Japanese army is very weak, and they are struggling to manage the entire Da'an Coal Mine.

Furthermore, I also sent men to several Japanese strongholds near the Da'an Coal Mine, and the situation was similar—insufficient troops. Even the Japanese troops inside Songyuan Castle were few in number.”

As Duanwu listened to the careless report, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up, because just as he had guessed, the Japanese troops were now running out of manpower.

This is a good sign. If he continues to kill, one day he will wipe out all the Japanese devils.

So he said loudly, "Alright! Judging from the current situation, it shouldn't be difficult for us to take over Da'an Coal Mine. However, now is not the time to act." Ma Hu asked with a puzzled look, "Captain, why don't we attack? This is such a rare opportunity; if we miss it, it'll be gone forever."

Duanwu smiled and waved his hand, explaining, "Think about it, the Japanese have gone to great lengths to infiltrate our anti-Japanese brigade. If we take over Da'an Coal Mine now, wouldn't the Japanese infiltration plan fall through?"

At that time, I reckon the Japanese will be desperate and might launch an attack against us.

Therefore, we must give the Japanese a chance. We will only take action after they have planted their spies in the Da'an Coal Mine.

The Japanese will be hesitant to act rashly in order to infiltrate our forces, which will actually make our attack on the Da'an coal mine much smoother!

Upon hearing Duanwu's words, Ma Hu suddenly realized what was going on and excitedly said, "Captain, you've thought of everything! This move is brilliant; we've made the Japanese give us the Da'an Coal Mine for free!"

But at this moment, Duanwu waved his hand and said, "You can't be too happy yet. Those Japanese devils aren't all fools. They will definitely devise a plan to make us pay a huge price to take down the Da'an Coal Mine, and they will also successfully infiltrate their spies into our anti-Japanese brigade. So we must be cautious in this operation and never let our guard down."

"Yes!"

He accepted the order without hesitation and left immediately, awaiting the battalion commander's combat orders.

Of course, Duanwu wouldn't arrange everything yet. There were Japanese spies within the anti-Japanese brigade.

If he arranges everything now, Li Xiaolian will definitely find a way to send the intelligence out.

Therefore, even though the cards are out in the open, Duanwu still needs to catch the enemy off guard.

Meanwhile, the four top officers of the Special Higher Police had just returned to Kunming.

Because they walked all the way to Phoenix Mountain, they had to walk back, and they were all exhausted, like little kids. That's over 150 kilometers!

The four of them ran for a full day and a half before finally returning to Songyuan.

By the time they arrived in Songyuan, all four of them were exhausted. One of them went into shock and was rushed to the hospital for most of the day before being brought back to life.

But the four of them didn't dare to delay. As soon as the man who had been in shock woke up, they immediately drove back to Chuncheng.

At this time, Li Ru was also released. Because the Japanese operation went very smoothly, he was cleared of suspicion and was allowed to go home by the Japanese.

Li Ru immediately contacted Ma Ping'an and informed him of the situation.

However, the telegram was delivered to Duanwu by the communications soldier.

Because Li Xiaolian was with Ma Ping'an at the time, all the important intelligence was transferred to Duanwu. Duanwu immediately instructed the communications officer to reply: "Continue to monitor and pay close attention to all intelligence regarding the Japanese army, especially information concerning the Da'an mine."

Li Ru, being an exceptionally intelligent man, immediately guessed that the anti-Japanese brigade was likely going to attack the Da'an mine.

However, there is very little information about this, after all, he was just a doctor at the Japanese hospital in Songyuan, and these Japanese soldiers were wounded in battles with the anti-Japanese forces and were left in Songyuan.

Therefore, they were unaware of what was happening in Chuncheng, and even if they had known, they wouldn't have dared to speak of it casually, because it was top secret!