Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Commander Fang said excitedly: "In this way, it is estimated that it will be difficult for the Japanese to organize a strong offensive in a short period of time. This is too important for us."

Sun Mingyu nodded and said, "What the commander said is timely. This undoubtedly buys us valuable time."

Commander Fang went on to say, "But we can't be careless. Brothers on the front line must continue to strengthen their vigilance and closely monitor the Japs' every move."

"Yes!"

Sun Mingyu said, "General, you can rest assured."

"Oh, Commander, there is one more thing."

Commander Fang asked casually, "Any other good news?"

"That should be considered good news, right?"

Sun Mingyu said uncertainly: "What happened is that Li Guotao arrived at the frontline with a small force early in the morning."

"While scouting the situation, we discovered that a group of Japanese soldiers were gathering on the opposite Dingjia Mountain ridge, and they seemed to be observing the terrain."

"Li Guotao judged that these Japanese soldiers were not Japanese scouts, but probably some commander who came to the front line to understand the terrain, so he bombarded these Japanese soldiers with mortars."

"Because the fog had not completely dissipated at the time, I couldn't observe carefully, but this shelling should have killed more than a dozen Japanese soldiers, including some Japanese officers. I just can't confirm the specific situation for the time being."

"After being attacked, the Japanese soldiers immediately became angry and used artillery fire to bombard the hill where Li Guotao and his men were. It is said that the enemy's artillery fire was quite fierce, and it was obvious that they were enraged."

"Fortunately, Li Guotao was smart and had already moved his brothers away in advance, so we didn't suffer any casualties."

"And when the Japanese launched their retaliatory bombardment, their artillery positions were blown up for no reason."

When Commander Fang heard this, he couldn't help but frowned and said, "Are you suspecting there is a connection between the two?"

Sun Mingyu shook his head and said, "Based on the current situation, I don't see any necessary connection."

"But Li Guotao and his men probably killed the Japanese officers, which angered the Japanese and led them to launch a retaliatory artillery attack on us. As for why their artillery positions were bombed, we don't know. I'm afraid only the Japanese know the answer."

In fact, the Japanese are also confused now, because judging from the situation at that time, it did seem like they had been bombed.

But what puzzled them was why the Flying Tigers bombers chose to bomb in such foggy weather.

Moreover, they did not find any trace of the plane, nor did they even hear the sound of the plane, so it must have been bombed from high altitude.

The fog was so thick, and the bombs were dropped from such high altitudes, and most importantly, they were dropped so accurately that it really made the Japanese feel a little bit unbelievable.

Commander Fang smiled and said, "This Li Guotao is really restless. Maybe he will accomplish a great feat this time."

Sun Mingyu smiled and said, "Li Guotao is indeed a powerful guy, but we are not sure which Japanese officer was killed in the explosion this time."

Commander Fang said casually: "Then pay close attention to the news from the Japanese. If a high-ranking Japanese official is really killed in the bombing, there will definitely be a report over there."

"That's all we can do for now!"

……

Li Guotao looked at the direction of the Japanese positions in the distance and suddenly thought of a question.

This bombing destroyed two Japanese artillery regiment positions, and must have killed a lot of Japanese soldiers.

Why didn't any rewards appear?
[Warm Tips: Using item cards to kill enemies will not result in rewards.]

As soon as this thought came to Li Guotao's mind, the system prompt sounded.

But Li Guotao thought about it and it was right. Given the morality of the system, it would never allow such a big loophole to appear.

This prop card killed so many Japanese devils, which was already incredible enough. If it could give out a large number of rewards, he would just win without doing anything.

It seems that they have to rely on their own efforts and try to get more good stuff, so that they can hold out more safely until the future counterattack.

Li Guotao carefully observed the situation of the Japanese on the opposite side and saw that the Japanese on the front line had retreated hundreds of meters, but there were still enough troops left to defend the dangerous terrain.

Li Guotao judged that the Japanese would not launch a large-scale attack for the time being.

After putting down the telescope, Li Guotao said casually: "Let's go, let's go back first, I guess that's it for today."

Li Guotao judged that the sudden change disrupted the Japanese's pre-war deployment, so the Japanese were now shrinking their defense line and it was impossible for them to continue the attack.

As for the defenders, they have limited manpower and it is impossible for them to launch a counterattack, so there is probably no hope today. There is no point in staying here any longer, so they might as well go back and rest early.

On the way back, Song Weiguo said with a puzzled look on his face: "I still can't figure out what happened?"

Li Guotao said nonchalantly: "Who cares? Anyway, even if the two artillery regiments of the Japanese devils are not completely destroyed, they must have suffered heavy losses."

"So many poison gas bombs have been destroyed. This is a good thing for us."

Chen Jianghe suddenly said, "In my opinion, the Japanese just wanted to use poison gas bombs. How immoral."

"Even God couldn't stand it anymore, and a thunderbolt struck their artillery position."

"No, there should be two mines. One here and one there."

"Haha~!"

Everyone couldn't help laughing.

Li Guotao just smiled slightly and didn't say much.

Li Guotao looked up at the sky. The fog had basically dissipated.

If there really is a God, then beasts like the Japanese should not exist in this world.

[Ding Dong~! Congratulations on killing a Japanese major general. A morale card was revealed.]

[Morale Card: Use this card to improve your own morale, increasing your own combat effectiveness by 24%. It can cover all friendly units within a radius of kilometers from the host, and lasts for hours. After the time limit expires, there will be no sequelae.]

The sudden system prompt made Li Guotao stunned for a moment.

Because he was sure he had done nothing.

On second thought, could it be that the old Japanese soldier who was injured in the explosion before was also dead?

His guess was good.

Major General Sadamasa Ota was also seriously injured in the explosion. He was rescued and rushed to a field hospital for treatment.

However, due to his severe injuries, the old Japanese soldier could not hold on for long and suddenly died just now.

So Li Guotao added another major general to his roster.

Li Guotao was very excited. He was just operating a Type 97 mortar and fired three rapid shots, that is, three shells. These three shells killed a colonel, a major general, and a lieutenant general.

This is simply a huge profit.

Li Guotao did not expect that the military ranks of those Japanese devils were so high. This was a complete surprise.

Moreover, the morale card that exploded this time can increase the combat effectiveness of friendly forces within a radius of 10 kilometers by %.

This prop is too amazing.

Moreover, the so-called morale of this prop is an illusory thing. Even if you use it, you don’t have to worry about being discovered to be abnormal.

Li Guotao thought about it carefully. Once this prop card is used, as long as he stands in Hengyang City, he can basically cover the entire 10th Army. At that time, the morale of the soldiers will be greatly boosted, and their combat effectiveness will be increased by %. They will definitely be able to kill more Japanese and preserve their own strength, which is also very beneficial for the final decisive battle.

But when should I use this card?
Normally speaking, the earlier you use it, the better the effect.

Since this card is effective for friendly forces within a ten-kilometer radius, the more people the better.

However, as the battle progresses, the 10th Army will suffer more and more casualties, and the longer it drags on, the fewer people will be left.

So normally, it should be used as soon as possible, and when the battle is fierce during the day, so as to kill the enemy on a larger scale.

But if we consider the abnormal factor of Li Guotao, when the final counterattack comes, Li Guotao can directly summon all the troops obtained by lottery.

So if we use it at this time, can it have a greater effect?

Li Guotao thought about it, and then asked the system: "System, is this item effective for the summoned soldiers?"

[Warm Tips: After being summoned, the troops summoned by the host are just like normal people. All props are effective for them. They can also be injured, killed in battle, or even fall ill, just like normal people.]

"That's good!"

Li Guotao nodded slightly.

If this is the case, waiting until the last minute to use it may be a good choice.

Let's see how the situation develops.

The props have been automatically stored in the system warehouse. Today can be said to be the day with the greatest harvest.

But this kind of good luck doesn't happen every day.

But for the Japanese, this kind of bad luck does not happen every day.

The news reached the Japanese headquarters.

Yokoyama Yong asked in surprise: "What did you say?"

"Reporting to the Commander, Lieutenant General Sakuma Hitoshi, the commander of the 68th Division, was inspecting the front line when he was suddenly attacked by an enemy mortar shell and was killed."

"In addition, the division chief of staff, Harada Sadazaburo, and the brigade commander, Major General Ota Sadamasa, also died."

"Nani?"

Yokoyama Isamu's face was full of disbelief and he sat down on the chair.

It was originally thought that Hengyang could be captured in three days, but after three days of the general offensive, not only did we suffer heavy casualties, but we also failed to advance even a single step. That would have been fine.

Now a division commander, a brigade commander, and two generals were also killed on the Hengyang front.

Yokoyama Yong was very angry.

The Japanese officer next to him quickly consoled him: "Commander, calm down. This was a complete accident."

Yokoyama Yong said angrily: "Bagayaka, I will tear these bastards into pieces."

At this time, another Japanese officer said: "Commander, there is another matter."

"Shortly after Lieutenant General Sakuma and his men were attacked, the positions of the artillery regiments of the 68th and 116th divisions of the Locust Army were bombed by enemy aircraft, causing heavy losses. The artillery of the two artillery regiments and a large amount of ammunition and other supplies were basically all destroyed."

"Nani?"

Yokoyama Yong's face became even uglier, and he asked, "Where did the bombing come from? Hengyang is foggy, why did their planes choose to bomb at this time?"

The Japanese officer replied helplessly: "I don't know, but the front line reported that they didn't see the enemy planes, nor did they hear any sound, but the bombs did fall from the sky. It should be a high-altitude bombing by enemy planes."

"The initial assessment is that this may have been a bombing by an enemy heavy bomber."

Yokoyama gritted his teeth and cursed, "A bunch of good-for-nothings."

A Japanese colonel said: "Maybe the enemy did it on purpose."

Yokoyama Yong said angrily: "Humph, you are talking lightly. In such a thick fog, how can they drop bombs accurately? Logically speaking, they are at high altitude and there is no way they can find our artillery positions."

The Japanese soldiers present were all speechless.

This matter is indeed a bit strange.

But no one could give a reasonable explanation.

Yokoyama Yong waved his hand and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about this."

"There are two things that need to be resolved now. The first is that the command system of the 68th Division has suffered a devastating blow."

"The division commander has died. Who will command the 68th Division next?"

A Japanese major general said: "The current commander of the 68th Division is Major General Shima Genkichi. I think we can let him temporarily take over the position of division commander and command the 68th Division."

Yokoyama Isamu frowned slightly. Before, Shima Genkichi had just arrived in Hengyang and suffered a defeat. Yokoyama Isamu originally wanted to deal with him, but because the war was imminent, it was not appropriate to change the generals in the middle of the battle, so he did not touch him.

But now the commander of the 68th Division is dead, and another brigade commander is also dead, and he is unable to transfer anyone else to serve as acting division commander at this time. Then Shima Genkichi seems to be the most suitable, or even the only suitable candidate.

Another Japanese colonel looked at Yokoyama Isamu's expression and seemed to have guessed his thoughts. He quickly said, "Commander, now that things have come to this, I'm afraid this is the only way to go."

"The two divisions on the Hengyang front can be handed over to Lieutenant General Wang Iwanaga of the 116th Division for unified command, and let Shima Genkichi command the 68th Division."

Yokoyama Isamu nodded slightly. He was not very confident about Shima Genkichi. Before, the two divisions were fighting independently, but now it was not impossible to let Iwanaga Wang command them together. Shima Genkichi would not dare to have any objection. With Shima Genkichi coordinating, he was not afraid that the 68th Division would not obey Iwanaga Wang's command.

Yokoyama Isamu pondered for a moment, then ordered: "Send a telegram to Iwanaga Wang immediately and ask him to be responsible for the unified command of the 68th Division and the 116th Division."

"In addition, I will personally send a telegram to Shima Genkichi to explain everything clearly."

"Hayi~!"

The Japanese officers present responded in unison. (End of this chapter)