Liang Jian: Commander, save some for me

Seishiro Itagaki took a deep breath. Why were troubles coming one after another, giving him no chance to react? Where exactly was the problem?

"Division Commander?!" Seeing that Itagaki Seishiro did not answer, the Japanese brigade commander couldn't help but call out again.

"What else can we do but report the truth to the commander!" Itagaki Seishiro was completely out of options; he really had no way to deal with Kijin's troops.

Looking at the phone on the table, Seishiro Itagashi hesitated for a long time before picking it up and calling Commander Yoshio Shinotsuka.

After a while, Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Itahira-kun, you don't have bad news to report to me again, do you?!" Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice was icy, sending chills down one's spine.

"Commander, something has happened to Tani Hisao. He just sent a telegram saying that he was attacked by that Northeast Army..." Itagaki Seishiro explained the situation.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a deathly silence on the other end of the phone, followed by rapid breathing. From the breathing, it was clear that Yoshio Shinotsuka was extremely angry, so angry that he couldn't speak.

"Commander, Commander?! Are you, are you listening?!" Itagaki Seishiro couldn't help but ask, his heart filled with fear.

In just one day, the 33rd Brigade was in trouble, the Yamamoto Special Attack Team was gone, and now even Tani Hisao is in trouble. They have suffered heavy losses in just one day!
"That idiot Yamamoto Ichiki! He's gotten me into such big trouble!" Yoshio Shinotsuka's voice came through gritted teeth.

The root of all this is that Yamamoto Ichiki was exposed, which allowed the enemy to guess their plans and take advantage of their deployment, resulting in the current irreversible situation!
If Yamamoto Ichiki were still alive, he would definitely kill Yamamoto Ichiki with his own hands!

"Commander, I also bear responsibility for this matter, so please punish me!" Itagaki Seishiro quickly admitted his mistake and requested punishment.

"This matter has little to do with you. I agreed to the plan, but I didn't expect that the plan would run into problems from the very beginning. Sigh..." Yoshio Shinotsuka couldn't help but sigh as he finished speaking!
He knew very well that this matter actually had little to do with Seishiro Itagata; the greatest responsibility lay with Ichiki Yamamoto. Seishiro Itagata was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

"Itagaki-kun, next, we must stop Mujin. Even if we can't destroy them, we must cripple them! Otherwise, they will pose a great threat to us if they develop in the future!" Yoshio Shinotsuka could only place his hopes on Itagaki Seishiro.

"Hey! But Commander, according to our current deployment, sending only 40,000 men to encircle and suppress Mu Jin seems too risky. How about sending another brigade? I'd like to transfer a brigade from the 4th Division to participate in the encirclement and suppression!" Itagaki Seishiro suggested.

Forty thousand elite imperial troops were tasked with suppressing twenty thousand enemy soldiers. If it were an ordinary force, it would have been enough to suppress one hundred thousand enemy soldiers. However, since they were to suppress Mu Jin, forty thousand troops would not be enough, and there was even a possibility of heavy casualties.

“If we transfer the 4th Division’s brigades out, won’t the troop strength in Taiyuan be reduced? What if the enemy moves towards Taiyuan then?!” Yoshio Shinotsuka retorted. In the past, he would never have considered this issue, but now, the enemy’s strength was too great, and he could not afford to be careless.

“Commander, I can have the Osaka Division transferred to Taiyuan. Although they only like doing business, they won’t dare to surrender directly when the enemy comes to their door. So, with the Osaka Division here, Taiyuan will be fine,” Itagaki Seishiro said slowly.

Although the Osaka Division usually only likes to do business and make money, it still has combat power, and it is not weak. If the enemy dares to attack Taiyuan, the Osaka Division will have to fight even if it doesn't want to fight.

“They do have the strength, so let’s transfer them to guard Taiyuan!” Yoshio Shinotsuka agreed after thinking about it.

Because what Seishiro Itagami said made perfect sense. No matter what, the Osaka Division would never dare to surrender, otherwise the consequences would be something the Osaka Division could not afford.

Moreover, there are other troops besides the Osaka Division in Taiyuan City, so if the enemy dares to attack Taiyuan, they are courting death.

"Yes! I'll send a telegram to the Osaka Division right away and order them to come to Taiyuan to defend it," said Seishiro Itaga.

“Yes, go ahead and do it. I still need to explain to my superiors that I’ll probably be transferred after this battle. As for you, I’ll try my best to protect you before I’m transferred,” Yoshio Shinotsuka said.

Given this major incident and the previous events, he can't escape it; he has to be transferred, and he may no longer be able to command troops in combat.

But he also knew that to deal with Mu Jin's Northeast Army, he could only rely on Itagaki Seishiro. If others came, they would probably underestimate Mu Jin and make the wrong move again, resulting in more casualties.

"Commander, thank you." Seishiro Itaga was deeply moved. In fact, he had already resigned himself to being transferred and spending the rest of his life in prison. He never expected that Commander Shinotsuka would protect him like this.

"Enough of this talk, get on with your business!" Yoshio Shinotsuka said before hanging up the phone.

"Division Commander, is it reliable for you to send the Osaka Division to defend Taiyuan?!" The Japanese brigade commander couldn't help but ask. He really didn't trust the Osaka Division and was very worried that it might surrender to the enemy.

"There's no other way now. It would take a lot of time for the commander to transfer troops from other places, and it's simply not feasible. We can only pin our hopes on the Osaka Division."

We all know they don't like fighting, but the Osaka Division isn't going to take this lying down when the enemy comes to provoke them! "Itagaki Seishiro said.

He had this in mind, which is why he assigned the Osaka Division to defend Taiyuan. If the Osaka Division were to attack the enemy, he would naturally be very worried. But now that the Osaka Division is guarding Taiyuan, if the enemy dares to come to Taiyuan, they will inevitably provoke the Osaka Division.

"Besides, if all else fails, we can have someone impersonate the enemy and kill the Osaka Division members. That way, the Osaka Division will have no choice but to defend it even if they don't want to." Seishiro Itaga's face was full of malice.

If such a thing really happened, he couldn't be blamed. After all, if the Osaka Division were willing to serve, he wouldn't need to do such a thing.

"Division Commander, is this really the right thing to do?!" The Japanese brigade commander swallowed hard, terrified by Itagaki Seishiro's ruthlessness.

If it were to deal with an enemy, Seishiro Itagaki would have no problem doing this, but this is to deal with his own people.

"Hmph! That's all the Osaka Division's own fault! If they hadn't been shirking their responsibilities and not putting in any effort, would I have needed to devise this plan?"

"Alright, stop talking. Hurry up and send a telegram to the Osaka Division and order your troops to assemble and prepare to depart!" Itagaki Seishiro snorted and gave the orders.

"Yes, sir!" The Japanese brigade commander dared not say anything more and immediately left for the communications room.

…The 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, in the conference room.

The commander and political commissar are studying the map.

"Judging by the timeline, Li Jin's plan should succeed today," the political commissar said.

After all, according to Li Jin's plan, the other party would resolve everything within half a day, and it was already close to midnight.

"Yes, if this succeeds, Li Jin and his men will be able to wipe out an entire Japanese brigade and regiment, as well as the Japanese division commander!" The commander's lips curled up as he spoke.

"The main problem is that secret Japanese unit. If we don't eliminate this unit, we'll definitely be in big trouble later!" the political commissar said.

In contrast, he felt that annihilating the Japanese secret forces was of paramount importance, even more so than capturing the Japanese division commander alive.

The combat effectiveness of the secret unit that the Japanese used as their trump card is undoubtedly excellent. If such a unit were to fight against their forces, apart from Li Jin's special operations regiment, even the New First Regiment or the Independent Regiment would be no match for this unit.

The key point is that the enemy might find the headquarters and launch an attack, which would be the most dangerous situation. Therefore, as long as this secret Japanese unit exists, it will be a huge problem.

“You’re right, but I believe that Li Jin will definitely be able to annihilate the Japanese secret force!” the commander said. In his opinion, Li Jin’s plan was perfect.

From the very beginning, the attack on the 33rd Brigade put the Japanese in a passive position. The Japanese had only two choices: send Yamamoto's special attack team to support them, or ignore the 33rd Brigade and continue to protect the command post.

Between these two options, the former is clearly more likely, because Tani Hisao would never allow his brigade to be completely wiped out, so he would definitely send a secret force to support it.

In this way, any action taken by the Japanese would be within Li Jin's expectations, and there would be no surprise in annihilating the Japanese secret force.

"That's true. Li Jin's ability to formulate plans is indeed quite strong. He makes good use of various methods. To be honest, if we hadn't known about the Japanese secret unit in advance..."

"Li Jin probably can't see through the Japanese plan either." The political commissar suddenly changed the subject.

"Indeed, the Japanese plan was very insidious. If Li Jin hadn't known about the secret force and had discovered the location of the Japanese command post, he would most likely have chosen to attack."
"At that time, we will inevitably fall into the Japanese trap. Not to mention Li Jin, even if we didn't know about the existence of this secret unit, we would probably suffer a setback." The commander nodded and said.

It must be admitted that the Japanese plan was quite sophisticated, which also shows that the person who devised the plan was no ordinary person.

"So, taking down this secret unit is very important. If we can also take down the Japanese command post and capture the commander of the 6th Division alive, that would be even better," the political commissar said with a smile.

He wanted to see all of these things, which was a bit greedy, but he felt that Li Jin had a high probability of succeeding.

"Sir, sir, a telegram has arrived from the Special Operations Regiment!" At that moment, a telegraph operator rushed in!

"Give it to me quickly." Upon hearing this, the commander immediately stood up, took the telegram from the telegraph operator, and began to read it.

The leader's smile never stopped as he finished reading the content.

"What did I tell you? Li Jin really didn't disappoint me! The Japanese secret unit has been wiped out by Li Jin!" the commander laughed.

"Let me see it." The political commissar was also eager to see the contents of the telegram.

"Not only were the Japanese secret units wiped out, but the 33rd Brigade was also destroyed, and the headquarters of the 6th Division was also taken down." The commander continued, genuinely pleased.

"Good, very good!" The political commissar also praised Li Jin repeatedly after reading the telegram, not expecting that Li Jin had actually done these things.

"If we're making a rough estimate, Li Jin and his men wiped out at least 20,000 Japanese soldiers in one day! And they were all Japanese soldiers at the level of a Class A division! Li Jin has done a great service!" the political commissar said.

In this major battle, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese.

"This is indeed a good thing, but such an event can only happen once, and it's quite difficult to replicate it."
Moreover, the Japanese suffered so many casualties, including the loss of a secret unit. Their fear wasn't just a simple matter; they were also furious and humiliated.
The more they felt that if they didn't eliminate Li Jin's unit, the more trouble they would face. Therefore, the Japanese would inevitably send a large force to encircle and intercept Li Jin and his men. "The commander said with a solemn expression.

Li Jin and his men then found themselves in a difficult situation, but this was part of their initial plan: Li Jin was responsible for drawing away most of the Japanese troops, creating opportunities for other units.

“Indeed, they are facing considerable trouble.” The political commissar nodded in agreement.

"I think we should send another regiment to help Li Jin," the commander said slowly.

“But several regiments of the 386th Brigade are currently on missions, and we can’t spare any manpower to help.” The political commissar frowned. The New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment were helping Li Jin, while the 772nd Regiment and the 771st Regiment were also engaged in fighting the Japanese in order to cooperate with Li Jin’s plan. They didn’t have any extra regiments to help!

"I remember Ding Wei's 28th Regiment, which seems to be not too far from Li Jin's side. I'll discuss it with the commander-in-chief and transfer the 28th Regiment there as well," the commander said slowly.

He knew that the 386th Brigade couldn't spare any manpower to help, but there were other units that could, such as Ding Wei's 28th Regiment.

"Commander, Ding Wei's 28th Regiment has grown to about 5,000 men, and its combat strength is no weaker than that of the Independent Regiment. If we can send the 28th Regiment to help, it will definitely work."

The problem is, Ding Wei's 28th Regiment also has an important mission, right? Will the General agree to transfer him to help?!" The political commissar frowned as he spoke.

He would gladly agree to send Ding Wei's 28th Regiment to help, but in this major operation, each regiment has important tasks, especially a powerful main force regiment like Ding Wei's, whose mission will be far from easy. That's why he's worried that Ding Wei might not be sent to assist. (End of Chapter)