I'm killing enemies with my sword and exploding equipment

Zhaojiayu.

When Zhao Gang received the telegram from the Special Forces Regiment forwarded by Li Yunlong, he was obviously shocked.

Although it cost thousands of people to annihilate an enemy regiment, it was nothing for the special forces regiment.

But for our army, it is definitely another great victory that deserves to be publicized.

But it is obvious that, like Li Yunlong, what shocked him even more was that the Special Forces Regiment lost 42 heavy artillery pieces with a caliber of 75 mm or above.

Such a huge loss made Zhao Gang feel that if things went wrong, the leaders of the headquarters might have to punish Yang Yuanshan.

After all, our army is in great shortage of large-caliber artillery!

He thought about it and immediately decided not to report the special forces regiment's results until after the war was over.

By then, there will be more gains to cover up, and the leaders may ignore the losses.

He is still very confident in the combat effectiveness of the special forces regiment and believes that they will definitely achieve extraordinary results.

However, the enemy situation in Shimen City can be simultaneously reported to the brigade headquarters for the leaders' reference.

After figuring this out, he ordered the telegraph operator to send the message.

……

At this time, another telegraph operator stood up and reported:
"Political Commissar Zhao, Commander Kong of the New Second Regiment called and said they have made defensive preparations at Shuiquan."

The New Second Regiment hurriedly arrived at Shuiquan more than a day ago, and has since been building fortifications in preparation for the attack by the Japanese army.

“Okay, forward this message to Lao Li and the Special Agents Group.

With the New Second Regiment backing up the Special Forces Regiment at Shuiquan, Commander Yang and his men can retreat at any time, and there shouldn’t be a need to fight so fiercely and lose so many heavy artillery.”

……

Huangping Town battlefield.

The time goes back to more than 2 hours ago.

On the Japanese side, Major General Hideki Yoshino, commander of the 49st Infantry Brigade of the st Division, was fully commanding the th Regiment, which was originally on the attack. They withdrew in disarray from the crazy bombardment of the rd Battalion of the Special Service Regiment and the nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion.

Then he shouted angrily:

"Nomura Takuma, hurry up, take someone to count the number of people!

Medics, save the warriors immediately! "

At this time, a lieutenant colonel officer stood up with a sad face and answered:
"Your Excellency, the Brigade Commander, Your Excellency, the Wing Commander has died!
Even the body could not be brought back!"

This person was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Hideki Yamashita, Chief of Staff of the 49th Regiment.

Hearing his words, Yoshino Hideki suddenly felt sad.

Under his command, there are two colonel regiment commanders!
Now, everything has been ruined in just a few hours. It's outrageous!

But now is not the time to be sad, he quickly ordered:
"Yamashita-kun! Count the number of people immediately and reorganize the team!

I want to know how many brave warriors you have in the 49th Regiment!"

"Hi!"

Yamashita Hideki agreed and immediately went down to take action.

……

Not long after, he came back to report:
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, we only have 1100 warriors left who can still fight.

The other seven or eight hundred people were all wounded, some with minor injuries and some with serious ones."

"What? Are you saying that we lost at least 1500 people this time?"

Yoshino Hideki was furious and grabbed Yamashita Hideki by the clothes and shouted at him.

The saliva sprayed all over the other person's face.

When his 49th Regiment arrived in northern Hebei from Liaodong, it had a full staff of 3800 people.

During the mopping-up operation in central Hebei, about a hundred people were lost.

Marching westward from Shimen, they encountered ambushes from various tribes in northwestern Shanxi along the way and lost two to three hundred people.

So when he led the team into battle just now, the entire regiment had about 3400 people.

But unexpectedly, there are less than 2000 people left now, including seven or eight hundred wounded!
What a huge loss!
Yamashita Hideki was frightened by his mad and cannibalistic appearance.

I didn't even care about the bad breath in his mouth.

He nodded tremblingly:
"Yes, it is!"

Upon hearing this, Yoshino Hideki pushed Yamashita Hideki away and roared to the sky:

“Bagya Road!
Damn Tubalu!

I will tear you into pieces!!!"

……

Of course, cursing won't solve any problems.

Yoshino Hideki was like a beaten dog. After howling wildly for a long time, he had to force himself to calm down.

He knew that his military career was definitely over.

Now the first priority is to find a way to save your own life.

Seeing the defeated soldiers in front of him, all of them had lost their morale and looked irritating, he rolled his eyes and shouted sternly:
"Mr. Yamashita, I order you to immediately organize the warriors into two battalions.

Except for the seriously injured who can be transferred to the rear, all the lightly injured must return to the team and prepare to participate in subsequent operations!

We, the warriors of the Locust Army, must not be afraid of the enemy and shrink from fighting just because of a few minor injuries!"

Yamashita Hideki certainly didn't dare to disobey his order and nodded quickly:

"Hi!"

……

After arranging the troops' affairs, Yoshino Hideki, with a sad face, climbed down the ridge with a few guards, and walked along the road to the division headquarters in the rear.

On the road, we saw three or four damaged tanks retreating under the guidance of torches.

Standing at the hatch of one of the tanks was a major officer he knew. He asked curiously:
"Inaba-kun, how is the situation of your tank regiment?"

When the major officer Inaba Eita saw him, he quickly ordered his vehicle to stop, then climbed out of the tank himself, came up to him, and respectfully reported:

"Your Excellency, our First Tank Regiment has been almost completely destroyed.

Currently, there are only four tanks left that can still fight."

“Nani???”

Yoshino Hideki was confused.

I almost thought I heard wrong.

An entire tank regiment was annihilated, is this really not a joke?

But he saw the sad expression on Inaba Eita's face, which didn't seem to be a joke, so he quickly asked Colonel Akita Tomohiro, the commander of the tank regiment:

“Inaba-kun, what about Akita-kun?

Did he also die?"

"The tanks of the commander and the chief of staff were hit by the artillery of the Eighth Route Army and were all destroyed."

Inaba Eita answered honestly.

“Bagya Road!
Damn Tubalu!"

Yoshino Hideki roared.

My face was full of anger, but in my heart, I don’t know why, I felt a little happy.

It turns out that it's not just their First Infantry Brigade that's in such a miserable state. The First Tank Regiment seems to be in a much worse situation than themselves!

In everything, the biggest fear is comparison!
Even though he had lost all his artillery pieces in his infantry brigade, he still had two infantry battalions left, right?

Compared to the tank regiment with only four tanks left, it is still much stronger, right?

Thinking of this, he felt that he would be able to hold his head straight in front of the division commander Saburo Nakazawa later.

After figuring this out, he quickly said to Inaba Eita: "Inaba-kun, your losses are so huge, you must report to the division commander as soon as possible!
We must not delay and ruin the division commander's deployment."

Inaba Eita had no idea of ​​what was going on in his mind, so he nodded honestly:
"Hey! Brigade Commander, I'll be there right away!"

Then he turned around and got on the tank, ordering his vehicle to continue rumbling forward.

Seeing the four tanks heading towards the division headquarters, Yoshino Hideki couldn't help but smile.

Then he continued to walk forward slowly.

That speed is even slower than a turtle.

His trusted guards followed him for more than 10 minutes, but found that they had not yet walked 300 meters.

One of the brave ones couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, shouldn't we speed up and report to Your Excellency, Division Commander?
Why—”

"Baga! Shut up!
I don't need you to teach me how to do things!"

Yoshino Hideki roared.

Originally, he wanted to slap the other person hard.

But considering that the other party was his confidant and his own safety depended on their protection, he forced himself to hold back.

The guard felt very aggrieved after being scolded, but he didn't dare to say anything more.

I can only bow my head:

"I don't dare to be humble!"

……

After walking for half an hour, Yoshino Hideki still did not return to the division headquarters of Saburo Nakazawa.

It was not until the other party could no longer bear it and sent a messenger to find him that he followed the messenger to the division headquarters.

On the way, he ran into the tank regiment major Eita Inaba, whom he had met half an hour ago.

But at this moment, the other person's originally fair face had swollen like a pig's head.

Looking at the blood-red slap mark, he knew that he must have been beaten by Saburo Nakazawa.

I couldn't help but secretly feel happy in my heart.

I thought to myself: The division commander must have vented a lot of his anger.

Then if I report it right away, I shouldn’t get beaten, right?
After all, he is a major general in the Imperial Army!
Different from the little major Inaba Eita!
However, he pretended to be shocked and confused and asked:

"Inaba-kun, what's wrong with you?"

Inaba Yingtai was full of grievances, and almost cried out when he heard his question.

He answered quickly and inarticulately:
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, I am fine."

Seeing others suffer misfortune is more satisfying than getting promoted yourself.

Yoshino Hideki secretly laughed while continuing to pretend:
“Inaba-kun, it looks like someone hit you in the face?

This is too much!

You just fought with the Eighth Route Army. Although you didn't bleed, at least you sweated!
How could I do this to you???"

Seeing him standing up for him, Inaba Eita was so moved that his eyes were filled with tears.

I almost told you the whole story.

However, at this time, the messenger who was leading Yoshino Hideki interrupted their conversation:
"Your Excellency the Brigade Commander, the Division Commander is still waiting for you, please don't waste your time!"

This time, Yoshino Hideki didn't dare to act like a troublemaker anymore and could only follow the other party and hurried to the division headquarters of Saburo Nakazawa.

On the way, he naturally felt a little nervous.

……

As soon as he entered the division headquarters, Yoshino Hideki felt that the atmosphere inside was very solemn.

The division commander Saburo Nakazawa, the division chief of staff Mando Takahashi, the commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Masao Yano, and the commander of the 1st Engineer Regiment Colonel Yuya Nishijima all had gloomy faces and said nothing.

Only his chief of staff, Jiro Uchiyama, saw him coming and gave him a worried look.

Fortunately, he had made sufficient mental preparations and was not frightened by the situation. He quickly raised his hand to salute Nakazawa Saburo:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander!"

Nakazawa Saburo looked at him coldly with a dark face:
"Yoshino-kun, what do you think of your command today?"

Yoshino Hideki knew that the annihilation of the First Regiment was his own fault, so he could only bite the bullet and admit his mistake:

“Your Excellency, the Division Commander, I underestimated the Eighth Route Army and did not remind that idiot Uchida Hiroshi, allowing him to lead the brave warriors of the First Regiment to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, ultimately resulting in their entirety being annihilated.

This is my mistake!
Please punish me, Master Division Commander!"

His words apparently seemed like he was admitting his mistake, but in reality, he was putting all the blame on the damned Hiroshi Uchida.

Everyone present was smart, so they all naturally understood the meaning.

Everyone couldn't help but frown.

Everyone thinks that this guy is really cunning!

However, he took the initiative to admit that he made a mistake in command, so it was not easy for Saburo Nakazawa to scold him directly.

I could only hold back my anger and continue to ask:
"So how many people are left in your 49th Regiment?"

Seeing the other party asking such a fatal question, Yoshino Hideki trembled in his heart and answered with a stiff upper lip:

"Not counting the hundreds of wounded, there are still... two battalions."

Upon hearing this, Saburo Nakazawa mistakenly thought that the losses of the 49th Regiment were not great, and the expression on his face immediately relaxed a little.

He quickly asked again:

"Yoshi! Yoshino-kun, how many combat-capable soldiers are left in your First Brigade?

Can we still put together a team?"

He thought that if he could gather all the people from the 49st Brigade Headquarters into the th Regiment and re-form a full-strength infantry regiment, then it would be tolerable.

Although the First Brigade suffered losses, it at least retained basic combat effectiveness.

I could barely explain it to Okamura Ji-ning.

However, when Yoshino Hideki heard his question, he felt a cold sweat running down his back.

But this matter cannot be covered up.

He could only answer with gritted teeth:

“No, I can’t!
In my First Brigade, there are only two battalions of brave warriors left who can still fight."

Hearing his words, Nakazawa Saburo immediately screamed:
“Nani?!

There are only two teams in total???"

Then he jumped up and down and roared:

“Yoshino Hideki!
You idiot, you have ruined the glory of my First Division. You should immediately pledge your loyalty to His Majesty the Heavenly Locust!"

He felt that his career as a division commander was over.

We haven't even reached Shuiquan yet and we've already lost our tank regiment and almost an entire infantry brigade. What the hell is going on?
……

Yoshino Hideki was scolded and quickly defended himself:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, it is my honor to serve His Majesty the Heavenly Locust!

But I have to remind you that the defeat of our First Brigade today is entirely due to the excessive firepower of the Eighth Route Army!
The fact that Akita-kun's tank regiment was completely destroyed is proof of this!"

When he mentioned the 1st Tank Regiment, Saburo Nakazawa's surging anger suddenly stagnated.

A powerful tank regiment was completely wiped out, and the 1st Infantry Brigade lost 70% to 80% of its troops. It seemed that they were just brothers in distress.

Division Chief of Staff Takahashi Mantang noticed the awkward atmosphere and quickly stepped out to smooth things over:
"Mr. Yoshino, please first explain clearly how you led the 49th Regiment to attack the Eighth Route Army!
Didn’t the messenger say that after you received the order from the division commander to abandon the attack, you immediately executed it?
Why is there such a huge loss? "

Hearing his question, Saburo Nakazawa resisted the urge to draw his sword and chop Yoshino Hideki to death. He stared at the other party with his bright eyes, waiting for an answer.

Yoshino Hideki did not dare to be negligent, and quickly added fuel to the fire and narrated how powerful the artillery fire of the Third Battalion of the Special Forces Regiment was.

...(End of chapter)