Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 218 The disappeared military train!
"idiot."

"Damn Tubal."

Near Shouyang County, in a Type 93 armored vehicle, Colonel Li Dengxing looked at the telegram in his hand with a dark face.

He had just received a farewell telegram from the 3rd Infantry Battalion Captain Takaharu Ishii!
At four o'clock in the morning, Takaharu Ishii led the 3rd Infantry Battalion and prepared to launch an attack from the rear of the Eighth Route Army.

They joined forces with the locust army in Mengxian County and defeated and wiped out the Eighth Route Army attacking the county in one fell swoop.

but.

The 3rd Infantry Battalion had just come down from Shuishen Mountain and was approaching Mengxian County when it was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.

This Eighth Route Army unit seemed to know that the 3rd Infantry Battalion was at Shuishen Mountain, and had made preparations by setting up a pocket formation.

After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the 3rd Infantry Battalion failed to break out three times and suffered heavy casualties.

Seeing that there is no hope of breaking out, the 3rd Infantry Battalion will launch a desperate charge against the Eighth Route Army to be loyal to His Majesty Tianhuang.

If the Eighth Route Army had not ambushed the military train transporting military equipment and raw materials, Yangquan to Mengxian would not be far. When the 3rd Infantry Battalion was surrounded, he led the 77th Infantry Regiment to reinforce it and it might have been possible to rescue the 3rd Infantry Battalion.

However, at this time the Eighth Route Army was causing trouble on the Zhengtai Railway, and the commander of the First Army, Kazuki Seiji, ordered him to lead his troops to reinforce.

He could do nothing but watch the 3rd Infantry Battalion being devoured by the Eighth Route Army.

Three of the Douding trucks that came to reinforce from Yangquan were destroyed by landmines, resulting in nearly 3 casualties.

It was not until dawn that we arrived near Shouyang County.

Soon, Li Dengxing and his troops joined forces with the Japanese and puppet troops in Shouyang County, and rushed towards Songjia Village with murderous intent.

More than 2,000 Japanese puppet troops all rode in small trucks and were not ambushed along the way.

Coming from Shouyang County, we drove at full speed and arrived at Songjia Village in more than 20 minutes.

"Colonel Lideng, according to the request for assistance from Yamada Squadron last night, the military train was ambushed near Songjia Village."

After the armored vehicle stopped, Major Kanematsu Murase, the captain of the Shouyang military police, said to Li Dengxing in a deep voice as he got out of the vehicle.

Before Li Dengxing got out of the car, he saw an expression of disbelief and shock on Major Murase Kanematsu's face.

"Did the entire Yamada Squadron die in battle?"

Li Dengxing frowned. This was not good news.

The county seat of Mengxian had most likely been captured by the Eighth Route Army. The entire 3rd Infantry Battalion was destroyed, and if the entire Yamada Company was destroyed, the military train would be looted.

Then the locust army's losses this time are too great...

Not to mention being promoted to major general, even whether he could keep his position as the commander of the wing was a big problem.

Li Dengxing got off the armored vehicle with a grim face, looked towards the railway tracks south of Songjia Village, and his face suddenly showed an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"Where's the military train?"

After a full minute of silence, Li Dengxing asked in a low, gloomy voice.

"Military train... I don't know either..."

Major Murase Kanematsu shook his head, his tone full of disbelief and confusion.

There were traces of fighting everywhere on both sides of the railway tracks, and the ground was littered with the corpses of Japanese soldiers. The Eighth Route Army did not even spare the devil's clothes, and all of them were stripped away except for their crotch pants.

That’s fine, after all, the Eighth Route Army was notoriously poor, and stripping their uniforms was to be expected.

but!

In addition to the corpses of Japanese soldiers, the looted military trains, equipment and raw materials on them had disappeared without a trace. Even the one-kilometer-long railway tracks were gone, leaving only useless sleepers.

"Could it be that the Eighth Route Army has left?"

"For example, drive it into a tunnel and hide it?"

Beside Li Dengxing, a staff officer spoke with a speculative tone.

Major Murase Kanematsu raised his binoculars and observed for a moment. "That shouldn't be the case. That's where the Type 93 armored car at the rear of the train was blown up. With such a large crater, the tracks must have been blown off. There's also an even larger crater in front, which suggests the first Type 93 armored car was destroyed by a mine."

"It is absolutely impossible for the Eighth Route Army to repair the tracks and send the train away in such a short time."

"Then how do you explain this?" the staff officer asked. "If the train and equipment were blown up on the spot, there would definitely be wreckage left behind. But now there's not even a single part here. Could the Eighth Route Army have taken away all the train, tracks, and equipment?"

When Li Dengxing heard this, he was stunned. This was obviously beyond their understanding.

Given the road conditions in Shanxi Province, it's okay to transport the equipment by mule cart, but what about transporting the train and the tracks together?
Impossible, absolutely impossible.

This one kilometer of track alone weighs approximately 80 tons, not to mention the train, equipment, and raw materials, which weigh at least 1500 tons.

How could such a huge object disappear out of thin air?

The Japanese and puppet soldiers had already begun to spread out for reconnaissance, and at this moment a squadron leader ran over to report to Li Dengxing.

"Report to the colonel, the scouts found deep tire tracks over there."

The Japanese squadron leader pointed southeastward toward the railway tracks while reporting:
"According to the judgment of the senior scouts, it was probably left behind by the mule cart. The enemy has been gone for at least an hour."

Li Dengxing took a deep breath, his face livid as he said, "How did the Eighth Route Army manage to transport the trains, equipment, and rails? We'll find out if we catch up with them." "Send a telegram to headquarters immediately to report the situation here."

The Japanese staff officer quickly drafted a telegram, gave it to Li Dengxing to sign, and then handed it to the telegraph soldier.

The ticking sound of the telegraph suddenly began to ring.

"All troops, pursue immediately!"

Colonel Li Dengxing gave the order with murderous intent.

The Japanese and puppet troops immediately followed the wheel tracks and chased after them. Since the Eighth Route Army was taking the horse trail, which was a narrow road, the Japanese's small trucks could not pass through, so the Japanese and puppet troops could only chase after them on foot.

at the same time.

About 10 kilometers southeast of Songjia Village.

A platoon leader of the New 1st Regiment's transport team led more than 30 soldiers in a mule cart and stopped under a forest to rest.

Every big mule was panting after pulling 1000 kilograms of stones and marching for two hours. Ordinary mules would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

Before the battle began, Li Yunlong ordered the transport team to drive the prepared large mules and march quickly along the horse trail in the southeast direction.

The platoon leader untied the rope on the big mule and gently stroked the mule's head. The big mule felt the comfort of its master and rubbed its head gently on the platoon leader's hand.

The platoon leader and the soldiers took out some good food for the big mule to eat, and after drinking some water, the big mule regained some strength after replenishing its energy.

"Let's do it right here. Take the big mule and retreat!"

The platoon leader immediately led the soldiers and the big mules and ran towards the southeast of Shanxi.

When they reached the top of a hill, the platoon leader turned his head to look at the cart in the woods and the stones on the cart, and grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

When the Japanese catch up with us, we will definitely give them a big surprise.

What is the commander thinking? Why can he always make the Japanese run around in circles?
……

Taiyuan.

Japanese First Army Headquarters.

It was already dawn, and Kazuki Seiji, Tanaka Takayoshi and several Japanese chiefs of staff were sitting around a small table eating breakfast while waiting for news.

The Japanese ate Chinese food, including steamed buns, meat dumplings, tea eggs and soy milk made by Chinese chefs.

There was no news for a long time, and Kazuki Seiji was absent-minded, so Tanaka Takayoshi said:

"Commander, don't worry. The 77th Infantry Regiment stationed in Yangquan will arrive at Songjia Village in two hours at most."

"The Eighth Route Army dared to launch a surprise attack on the Locust Army's train. They are simply courting death. Once the 77th Infantry Regiment arrives, it will be the end of the Eighth Route Army."

Xiangyue Qingji nodded, feeling a little better, and picked up a meat bun on the plate on the table and started eating.

"General."

At this moment, the communications staff rushed in with two telegrams in his hands:
"Lieutenant Colonel Shuichi Okamoto, commander of the 6th Air Squadron, and Colonel Koi Noboru, commander of the 77th Infantry Regiment, sent telegrams almost simultaneously."

Xiangyue Qingsi paused and said, "Read it."

The communications officer read out, "The 6th Flight Squadron has detected signs of combat 10 kilometers west of Yangquan, but no military train has been found. An aerial search of the surrounding area has yielded no results. The 6th Flight Squadron is returning to the airfield."

Although the Japanese fighter planes and reconnaissance planes were not equipped with radios, their bombers were generally equipped with radios.

Xiangyue Qingji frowned: "We found traces of battle, but no ambushed military train. What does this mean?"

Not only Kazuki Seiji, but even Tanaka Takayoshi and a group of Japanese staff officers could not help but look at each other in surprise.

Tanaka Takayoshi asked in a deep voice, "What did Colonel Koito say?"

The communications officer read another telegram, "The Yamada Squadron has been completely destroyed. The Eighth Route Army has looted the train, tracks, and equipment and is transporting them to southeastern Shanxi. We are pursuing them. Your Majesty the Heavenly Locust is aboard, and the Great Japanese Locust Army is aboard."

Xiangyue Qingsi thought he had misheard and stood up suddenly. "What did you say? The Eighth Route Army transported all the trains, rails, and equipment to southeastern Shanxi?"

"That's impossible!" Tanaka Takayoshi's face was filled with disbelief. "Do you know how heavy the military train, rails, and equipment are? Without a railway, how could the Eighth Route Army transport them to southeastern Shanxi? Not even the Locust Army could do that!"

A combat staff officer asked solemnly, "Could it be that the decoder translated the wrong message when translating the code?"

“There were no transfer errors.”

The communications staff was well prepared for this:

"I've already spoken to the communications captain of the 77th Regiment via radio. He said the military train, equipment, and a kilometer-long stretch of track at the battle site of Songjia Village have all vanished. Some wheel tracks extend southeastward toward Shanxi. First Colonel Li Dengxing has led his troops in pursuit. We can now rule out the possibility that the Eighth Route Army drove the train away and hid it in the tunnel..."

"idiot!"

Lieutenant General Xiangyue Qingji angrily overturned the dining table, and the buns, steamed buns, soy milk and tea eggs were scattered all over the floor:
"Chase me!"

"The Eighth Route Army can't get far if they carry heavy loads on the march!"

"Order the 6th Flying Squadron to return and bomb the Eighth Route Army's transport convoy!"

(End of this chapter)