Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 326-324: A crushing defeat of the Japanese regiment, and the interrogation of Japanese prisoners of war with dismembered bones.

Six Japanese Type 95 fighter planes flew into Texas airspace, their target being the village where fierce fighting was taking place.

If we let them come and cause trouble, the outcome of this attack will change.

Fang Wen was most worried about the morale of the soldiers of the 29th Army and the Security Regiment. He knew very well that the National Army was prone to herd mentality, and if local cowardice was caused by Japanese warplanes, it would likely affect more soldiers.

Therefore, it is necessary to stop Japanese warplanes from coming over.

Immediately afterwards, four Taishan escort fighters flew north and encountered six enemy aircraft.

Four monoplanes were outnumbered by six biplanes. The Taishan fighters had the advantage in performance, while the Japanese had the advantage in numbers. Ultimately, the balance of power would depend on the pilots' combat experience and operational skills.

Shao Deqing and Zhai Xiaojun launched the first attack, locking onto three enemy planes. Through their skillful flying techniques, they managed to avoid the enemy planes and then looked for opportunities to launch their own attacks.

On the other side, because his partner was Pan Jiafeng, Du Jiahuai was more cautious. Taking advantage of the fact that biplanes are not as good at vertical maneuvering as monoplanes, he actively climbed the altitude, trying to take advantage of the enemy's spatial visual difference to launch a surprise attack.

Pan Jiafeng followed Du Jiahuai in the same flight maneuvers, looking like long-time flight partners.

He was talented, although he couldn't have the same overall control and understanding of his own aircraft as Fang Wen, he had learned and absorbed the air combat knowledge that Fang Wen taught him.

And quickly master it for practical application.

This performance relieved Du Jiahuai, and the two became increasingly adept at cooperating.

The air battle ensued, and due to the superior performance of the Shrike and Il-16, the Japanese Type 95 biplanes were unable to break through this air defense line to support ground troops.

Soon, the right wing of a Type 95 biplane was hit by machine gun fire and broke off, flipping over as it crashed to the ground.

The one who hit it was none other than Pan Jiafeng, a rookie fighter pilot, who achieved his first kill.

The remaining five fighter jets also suffered a significant drop in morale after their comrades were shot down.

Since they couldn't break through and their opponents were too strong, they stopped fighting and turned back to escape.

The four fighter jets tasked with interception did not pursue the enemy, but instead maintained a defensive posture, patrolling and protecting this airspace to ensure the success of the upcoming battle.

(Japanese Army Type 2 Fighter II)
Above the village, Fang Wen piloted his gunboat while keeping an eye on the aerial battle.

Once the enemy plane was successfully intercepted and chose to escape, he felt that the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.

Although it was a battle of 1000 against 4000, the superior firepower and three-dimensional battlefield coverage made it impossible for the Japanese army to put up any resistance.

The same is true.

Under the cover of two Taishan Pine tanks, the ground troops continued to advance.

With air support from gunboats and aircraft, the Japanese forces were unable to obtain any effective cover in the villages.

Faced with such an attack, the Japanese army had no choice but to send four Type 95 light tanks to the front line of defense in an attempt to cover the infantry in a counterattack.

This behavior became the final straw that led to their defeat.

The narrow village lanes made the highly maneuverable Type 95 light tanks easy targets. Two of the light tanks were destroyed again in the artillery duel, and the remaining two also succumbed to the intense aerial fire.

12.7mm machine gun bullets came from high altitude, some of which penetrated the tank's thin roof, causing devastating damage to the Japanese soldiers inside.

Those two light tanks, following closely behind their companions, also became casualties in this battle.

However, the destruction of these four tanks was not entirely without effect.

Their wreckage blocked the path of the attack, preventing the Taishan Pine Tank from passing. It could only force its way through the wall of the adjacent mud house in an attempt to go around it.

While this allowed them to bypass the tank wreckage, it still slowed down the attack and gave the Japanese troops a chance to escape.

4000 Japanese troops hastily retreated from the village and fled north. Upon seeing this, Fang Wen immediately led the gunboat squadron to pursue them, while simultaneously issuing harassment orders to four fighter planes.

Eight aircraft harassed the Japanese regiment from above, causing numerous casualties.

This was probably the first time the Japanese army had suffered a crushing defeat on the main battlefield. The defeated Japanese army even abandoned the wounded and fled north in a disorganized formation.

Fang Wen stopped the aerial harassment and the entire team returned to base only after they escaped Texas and the enemy forces that came to their aid appeared.

At the same time, orders were sent to ground troops to complete the battlefield cleanup within 20 minutes, and to immediately withdraw to Texas City if the deadline was not met.

Upon receiving this order, the soldiers of the 1st Company, 3rd Battalion, Taishan Independent Regiment strictly carried it out and relayed it to friendly forces.

Meanwhile, the victorious soldiers of the 29th Army and the Security Regiment did not heed the order to clean up the battlefield in twenty minutes. Instead, they scattered throughout the village, collecting various spoils of war.

Unlike the friendly forces who were searching for spoils of war, the soldiers of the Taishan Independent Regiment maintained their overall combat posture and moved out of the village to search in the direction in which the defeated Japanese troops fled.

Soon, some of the abandoned wounded Japanese soldiers were found, and they were taken prisoner and brought back to Dezhou City.

at dusk.

Fang Wen, returning to Jinan, once again piloted a gunboat to land on the canal outside Dezhou City.

This time, he came to Texas to participate in the interrogation of prisoners in order to understand the situation of the Japanese combat troops.

After getting off the plane, Fang Wen led Gong Xiuneng and 10 soldiers from the Independent Regiment into the city.

His arrival was met with a warm welcome.

The county magistrate of Dezhou City, the officers stationed in the 29th Army, the head of the security regiment, and a group of local gentry who remained in the city came to greet them.

Fang Wen responded calmly: "The crisis in Texas is still ongoing, there's no need for such formalities."

The county magistrate quickly replied, "Commander Fang's troops were incredibly brave and saved our Dezhou City. Of course, we must express our gratitude. However, what the commander said is true; the crisis in Dezhou is still ongoing, so we won't bother with these formalities. We can do that later. By the way, Commander Fang, what are your thoughts on the upcoming battle?"

His words were what everyone else wanted to know: the officers of the 29th Army stationed there, the head of the security regiment, and the local gentry all looked at Fang Wen.

"We're here to interrogate the prisoners. To develop a strategy, we need to understand our opponents," Fang Wen replied.

He then went to the Independent Regiment's temporary camp to interrogate Japanese prisoners of war.

The Independent Regiment's temporary encampment in Texas was located in the west of the city, a place in ruins with many houses destroyed by artillery fire. Although the fires had been extinguished, the air still smelled of smoke.

Looking at the scene here, Gong Xiuneng couldn't help but be moved.

He couldn't help but ask Fang Wen for help.

"Commander, my senior brother's Taoist temple has been destroyed. I want to go find him and see if he is alive or dead."

Before Fang Wen could answer, a man with a dark face and tattered clothes cried out from the roadside, "Uncle-Master, there's no need to look anymore. Master is already dead. I saw him get buried under a collapsed beam while trying to snatch the scriptures from the temple. The fire burned for half a day, and now we can't even find a complete body."

The man must be a surviving disciple of Gaozhen Temple. It seems that Gong Xiuneng's senior brother, the abbot of Gaozhen Temple, died during the Japanese siege.

Gong Xiuneng, a Taoist priest who emphasizes tranquility and cultivating one's inner energy, now has wide-open eyes, bloodshot eyes, and is unable to speak.

Fang Wen sighed. Just a few days ago, his senior brother Gong Xiuneng was still there, looking like a wise and venerable immortal. Now, however, he has come to such an end. For the Chinese people, this war has brought only hatred and pain.

He patted Gong Xiuneng on the shoulder: "Go and collect your senior brother's remains. Even if you can't bury him completely, at least you should bury him and erect a tombstone. Come back after you're done."

After speaking, Fang Wen led his team into the Independent Regiment's temporary camp.

It was a dilapidated courtyard where more than a hundred soldiers from the Independent Regiment gathered, built stoves, and cooked meals on the spot.

Two Taishan Pine Tanks were parked outside the yard, and tank crew members were cleaning the tank armor and the carbon deposits in the gun barrels after firing with rags.

As Fang Wen and his entourage entered the courtyard, the soldiers immediately stood up and saluted him, saying, "Greetings, Commander."

"What are you eating?" Fang Wen asked with a smile.

“It’s military rations provided by the regimental headquarters,” a soldier replied.

The military rations for the Taishan Independent Regiment were conceived and developed by Fang Wen when he was delivering food to the Red Army.

Each soldier is provided with three days' worth of standard military rations when on duty.

This military ration included a whole compressed biscuit, a strip of dried meat, and a serving of seasoning.

During marches, soldiers can directly consume compressed biscuits and dried meat strips. These compressed biscuits, made using a cold forming machine, are very compact, filling, and provide the body with the necessary nutrients and energy. However, during rest periods, these rations have other practical uses: boiling water, pouring the compressed biscuits into the water, adding seasonings, and you have a pot of thick soup, which can be cooked with various locally gathered ingredients.

Now, the soldiers of the Independent Regiment are making this kind of thick soup, then adding vegetables and noodles, so they can have a bowl of hot noodle soup to fill their stomachs.

Fang Wen served himself a bowl and tasted the flavor.

The seasoning is salty, fragrant, and spicy, with a hint of Sichuan peppercorn numbing sensation, and the broth also has a meaty aroma. It tastes pretty good when eaten with noodles.

After confirming that the military rations were sufficient, Fang Wen went to the place where the prisoners were being held.

He looked inside and saw two Japanese officers imprisoned there, their bodies bound with ropes and unable to move.

"Just two prisoners?" Fang Wen asked.

"There are still a few more seriously injured. We feel that if we bring them back, we probably won't get any information out of them, and it will only waste our medicine. So we'll just give them a quick death," the company commander of the 1st Company of the 3rd Battalion replied.

"Yes. That's right." Fang Wen nodded. "Did these two prisoners reveal anything?"

"No, he's very stubborn. We gave him a good beating, but he still wouldn't listen and kept cursing, so we just tied him up and gagged him."

Fang Wen's face turned cold. Even as prisoners, they were still so arrogant.

These hardliners have likely committed considerable crimes in North China.

He ordered a soldier to bring one out, loosen the ropes, and as soon as the officer was freed, he began to hurl profanities at the officer.

Fang Wen, who understood Japanese, became even colder: "Give him the beating."

Immediately, two soldiers pinned the officer to the ground and began punching and kicking him.

Even so, this guy remained stubborn and refused to cooperate no matter what was asked.

At this moment, Gong Xiuneng walked in from outside.

He whispered to Fang Wen, "Commander, my senior brother's remains have been found. I've asked my junior brother to erect a tombstone and make a grave for him. I heard that there are some problems with the interrogation of Japanese prisoners. I have some methods to make him talk."

"You have a way?" Fang Wen asked in surprise. What kind of way could a Taoist priest have?

“I practice martial arts. Time flies in the mountains, and I practice a wide variety of things. One of them is a technique for dislocating tendons and bones, which can be used for interrogation.”

Seeing how confident Gong Xiuneng was, Fang Wen told Gong Xiuneng to take action.

Immediately afterward, Gong Xiuneng stepped down and coldly faced the officer.

He channeled his hatred for his senior brother onto the military officer.

Starting with his fingers, Gong Xiu can use his bone-dislocating technique on each bone, dislocating and setting them in place.

As each joint was dislocated, the Japanese officer was covered in large beads of sweat from the pain.

The scene left the soldiers of the Independent Regiment speechless; just by watching, they could feel the pain involved.

Gong Xiuneng dislocated all the joints from his hands to his feet.

The Japanese officer lay limp on the ground like a boneless person.

Although he was not bound by any ropes at this time, he was completely unable to move.

Even the slightest tremor in the body can cause misalignment of joints throughout the body, doubling the pain.

But even so, he couldn't shout out; his jaw joint was also dislocated, making it impossible for him to make a sound.

Having gone this far, Gong Xiu returned to Fang Wen's side and whispered, "Commander, the pain of a broken hand is unbearable for a normal person. Let's just wait for him to suffer. Before long, he will confess honestly."

Fang Wen shook his head: "One person's testimony is not reliable. If we bring the other one out as well, don't you still have the Tendon-Splitting Hand? Use it on him."

Then, Gong Xiuneng brought out another captured Japanese officer and performed the act on him.

Unlike the bone-dislocating hand technique, which causes joint misalignment, the tendon-separating hand technique targets the major tendons in the body.

Gong Xiu then inserted his fingers into the prisoner's muscles, forcefully manipulating the tendons within. Under his technique, the large tendons on the prisoner's body actually produced a cramping effect.

The bulging muscles in my arms, calves, and thighs caused intense pain, a pain no less severe than a dislocated joint.

After the two forms of torture were applied, the two Japanese prisoners of war lost their previous tough attitude and their eyes revealed pleading.

But that's not the time yet. The real purpose of the Dislocating Bone Technique is to drive them to despair in continuous pain and force them to destroy their last line of defense.

This will take at least an hour.

An hour later, the two prisoners lay limp on the floor of the room like mud.

Gong Xiu was able to manually restore the misaligned jaws of the two prisoners.

After regaining their speech, the two immediately begged and pleaded to cooperate, their previous arrogance completely gone.

Fang Wen asked in a cold voice, "Tell me about the situation of your unit and its strategic action plan."

The two prisoners were eager to answer, afraid that if they answered too late, the other would take the opportunity away.

This was exactly what Fang Wen wanted. He had the soldiers take the prisoners to the two rooms on either side and record their information.

Realizing that they were being tested to verify the truth of their confessions, the two prisoners, fearing punishment for lying, confessed honestly.

Fang Wen looked at the two almost identical testimonies and thus learned about his opponent's situation.

The attack on Texas was launched by the 10th Division.

The 10th Division was a Class A division, one of the 17 standing divisions of the Japanese Army. It was previously stationed in the Tohoku region and was the main force of the Kwantung Army.

Their attack route this time started from Tianjin and advanced down the Jinpu Railway.

The 39th Regiment attacked Dezhou City and was defeated by Fang Wen.

This intelligence was incomplete, and Fang Wen wanted to know more about the 10th Division.

Subsequently, Gong Xiuneng stepped forward to interrogate them, and upon seeing him, the two prisoners confessed everything.

According to them, the 2th Division had a total of more than 3 men.

It has two directly subordinate regiments: the 39th Regiment and the 40th Regiment.

There is also the 33rd Infantry Brigade, which includes the 10th Regiment and the 63rd Regiment.

In addition, the 10th Division also has: cavalry, artillery, engineers, supply, communications, medical units, as well as a field hospital, two artillery regiments, two machine gun battalions, and two armored companies.

The tank and artillery units that fought alongside the 39th Regiment were transferred from the division and were not owned by the 39th Regiment itself.

Upon seeing this, Fang Wen's expression turned serious.

The enemy was far stronger than he had imagined; the Taishan Independent Regiment probably couldn't withstand such a force.

The main problem was the lack of supporting troops. Only a small portion of the 29th Army was stationed in Dezhou City. To deal with the 10th Division, it would probably require the entire 29th Army to cooperate.

But how could that be? The 29th Army had already been scattered.

The awkward situation left Fang Wen feeling helpless.

With his three-dimensional combat command system and mechanized firepower suppression, he could have leveraged his battlefield advantages.

But right now, we have no soldiers available.

The Northwest Army and the Northeast Army were both bogged down in the war by the Japanese army and could not extricate themselves, while the Nanjing government's forces were concentrated in Shanghai.

The only reliable source of manpower was the Sichuan Army, Yunnan Army, and Hunan Army from the southwest region.

Have the troops from these areas already been deployed to the war zone?
(End of this chapter)