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The Yunnan-Burma Highway starts in Kunming and passes through Anning County, Lufeng County, Chuxiong County, Zhennan County, Xiangyun County, Huangyi County, Yangbi County, Yongping County, Baoshan County, Longling County, and Mangshi Town, and finally enters Myanmar through Wanding.

It then goes south to Lashio, an important city in Myanmar, and connects with the Myanmar Central Railway, leading directly to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.

The total length of the highway is 1146 kilometers, with 959 kilometers in Datang and 157 kilometers in Myanmar.

Since the Japanese invaded Vietnam and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was interrupted, the Yunnan-Burma Highway soon became the only transportation channel connecting the Tang Dynasty with the outside world. Many foreign materials entered the Tang Dynasty through this channel to meet the needs of the National Guard's war of resistance.

Because of the changes in the situation in Asia and the Japanese victory at Midway, the Japanese withdrew their main forces in Southeast Asia to Burma, not only severely damaging the Tang Dynasty's expeditionary force, but also pursuing the expeditionary force all the way along its retreat route.

At this moment, the Japanese had already crossed two natural barriers in western Yunnan: the Nujiang River and the Lancang River.

Two divisions of the 60th Army of the Yunnan Army were fighting the Japanese in Yongping County to defend the first Datang county on the east side of the Lancang River: Yongping County.

If the Japanese occupied Yongping County, they would have a place to rest and recuperate, and then the main force of the Japanese could go straight to Kunming.

Shanyang Town in Yonghe County was the defense line that the Yunnan Army vowed to defend to the death.

"Commander, the Japanese have already managed to cross the river with about two regiments. The pressure on the frontline soldiers is too great. The 182nd Division requests support!"

At the 60th Army Command in Yonghe County, Commander An fell into deep thought after listening to the report from the communicator.

"Haha, support, everyone wants support, I also want support. But who can give me support..."

The army chief of staff asked, "What are the losses of the various units on the front line?"

"The 184th Division has lost three positions, and its strength is less than half. The 3nd Division has only lost one position, but its remaining strength is less than one-third, and the few remaining cannons were blown up by the Japanese planes!"

"Forget it!" Commander An sighed, then put the pistol on the table into the holster on his waist and shouted, "Burn all the confidential documents, everyone pick up your guns and follow me to the front line for support."

The chief of staff stepped forward to stop him: "Commander, no! There are less than 100 people left in the headquarters. These are the last seeds of our 60th Army. We can't plant them all here! You take them to retreat first, I will go to support them!"

Army Commander An shook his head slightly and said, "I have made up my mind. Yonghe County may not be saved, but as an army commander, I must live and die with all the soldiers to comfort the glory of the soldiers!

I cannot retreat, and neither can the 60th Army. Behind us are the people of Yunnan Province, and their lives and deaths depend on us!"

The chief of staff stopped talking and picked up a gun.

As the Chief of Staff, it was his duty to protect the Army Commander, and he did!

But he is also a soldier of the Tang Dynasty, and it is his responsibility to defend the country together with the commander.

"I hope Xu's army can hurry up. All I can do is defend... "

With these words, all the remaining members of the 60th Army Command followed Commander An to the front line.

......

At the Shanyang position, the Japanese troops who had crossed the Lancang River had established a temporary command post in a hidden place on the shore.

The two regiments that crossed the river were the 18th Regiment of the 55th Division and the 4th Regiment of the 8th Division, both of which were elite troops.

However, their lives were not easy either. Faced with the Tang army's stubborn defense, they suffered huge losses in their attempt to force a crossing of the Nujiang and Lancang rivers.

The two regiments had lost half of their original strength, so although they were called two regiments, they actually only had the strength of one regiment.

However, they did not attack western Yunnan on a whim, but had planned it for a long time. There were more than 10 bombers in the sky continuously bombing the Tang Dynasty positions, and there was artillery support behind the Lancang River, so they were able to cross the river smoothly.

The commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 55th Division pointed at another colonel and shouted angrily: "Why is your 8th Regiment's attack speed so slow? As long as you organize a fierce attack, Shanyang position would have been captured by us long ago! It's almost dark now. If we still can't take Shanyang as a defensive position, we will have no place to defend on the shore and may very likely encounter a counterattack from the Tang army!"

The 8th Infantry Regiment was the 4th Division's. The commander waved his hands, rolled his eyes and said, "Jin Gu-kun, there's a saying in the Tang Dynasty: You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. When have the soldiers of the 8th Regiment ever been afraid? When have they ever charged without the shadow of my men?"

After hearing what Captain Ogawa said, Captain Kanaya of the 55th Regiment gritted his teeth. He couldn't find any reason to refute.

The 8th Regiment did not miss any of the attacks and even deployed a considerable number of troops, but they were all gathered at the edge of the offensive line, under the pretext of protecting the flank of the 55th Regiment.

He knew that when the battle damage was reported after crossing the river, it was said that the 8th Regiment had lost half of its troops. He went to the wounded camp and saw that except for a few lightly injured, the number of those killed in the battle was less than two hands.

"Okay, Mr. Ogawa. You and I both know that the Empire attaches great importance to this plan. Now we have two options. Either you and I join forces to launch a fierce attack on the Tang army in Shanyang, which will give us at least an 80% chance of defeating it. Or we retreat to the other side of the Lancang River before dark to avoid being ambushed after dark.

But let me be clear, once we withdraw to the other side, it will be more difficult to cross the river next time. You, the 8th Regiment, must take on the main offensive force!"

However, Colonel Ogawa seemed not to have heard what Colonel Kanaya said, and his mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

There is only an 80% chance of success, which is a bit small. Moreover, it is a strong attack, and there will definitely be a lot of casualties. What if it fails? My subordinates will suffer heavy losses, how can I plunder local specialties?

"Mr. Ogawa! What are you still thinking about? Have you forgotten the telegram from the Tang army that we intercepted? A Tang army called the Xu family army is on its way to support us. Although we don't have any intelligence about the Xu family army, judging from the tone of the Tang army officers in the telegram, they seem to have placed all their hopes on the Xu family army. That is definitely not an ordinary army!

We must capture Yongping County before Xu's army arrives!"

After Colonel Kanaya's reminder, Colonel Ogawa remembered this matter and started thinking about it again.

The success rate was already only 80%, and now there is an unknown factor like Xu's army, so we can't fight even more.

But we have to obey the orders from above!

Got it. Division Commander Kenzo Kitano said that the main force for the attack on Yunnan Province was originally the 18th Division, and our 4th Division is the second echelon. If we can't gain anything by fighting hard, we will pretend to be sick and not be the cannon fodder.

Moreover, the task given from above was to advance along the Burma Road, and there was no mention of fighting Xu's army.

No, this battle is not worthwhile and there is no profit!

Promise Jingu first, and when I go to pass on the order, my subordinates should know what to do!