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On September 9, Xu's army, which had been "lost" for nearly half a month 28 kilometers away from the Yunnan border, was like a tiger out of a cage. With the cover of night and fully mechanized high-speed mobility, it marched nearly 10 kilometers in just one night. In the early morning before dawn, hundreds of cannons bombarded the Gukjak area of ​​Myanmar from 20 kilometers away.

Don't underestimate these 100 kilometers. This is a mountain march, passing through dozens of tunnels and bridges. The road conditions are not much better than the Yunnan section of the Burma Road, and it is a night march.

If it were the Japanese troops, they would not be able to cover even one-third of the distance in one night on such a road.

Moreover, Xu's army was not just marching, they also set up artillery positions and the armored regiment's attack formation before dawn.

In the past, when fighting in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, the troops were restricted by various conditions, especially the cannons, which were extremely powerful.

Although Xu's army's 152mm caliber anti-explosive bomb was only 150mm larger than the Japanese's 2mm caliber field heavy artillery, neither the explosives nor the shrapnel were of the same level.

So the former is almost twice as powerful as the latter!

Now that they have stepped out of the country, they are no longer stepping on Tang Dynasty soil, nor are they bombing Tang Dynasty cities, so Xu Le gave the order that as long as the guns are not pointed at their own people, they can bomb however they want, whether it is tanks, cannons, or mortars.

Even if you are bored, you can cut down a mountain for fun, of course, the premise is that it does not affect the combat!

Since the Japanese were planning to attack India through Myanmar, they naturally had to prevent Xu's army from causing trouble, so they sent heavy troops to defend near Lashio.

The focus of defense is naturally Lashio, followed by the second line of defense: Xingwei, 60 kilometers north of Lashio, and the last line is Guigang, 20 kilometers further north.

The Japanese in Guigang were none other than Xu's army's old rival, the 6th Division, and the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade.

The former 6th Division was beaten dizzy by the artillery battalion of the former Xu's independent regiment in Pu County. Not only was its artillery regiment completely destroyed, but one of its infantry regiments was also completely lost.

Later, because the Japanese were about to launch the Pacific War, they transferred the 6th Division to Southeast Asia and strengthened it into one of the only few mechanized divisions.

However, the mechanized division of the Japanese army is completely different from the mechanized division of Xu's army. It just has more trucks and armored vehicles with weak protection, and the number of horses is still thousands.

However, the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade is different. It has an infantry regiment, a cavalry regiment and an artillery battalion. The most important thing is that it has a tank regiment with more than 80 Type 20 light tanks and Type medium tanks, as well as more than wheeled armored vehicles.

The commander of the 6th Division, Kanda Masatane, knew that Xu's army would definitely attack Guigang in the near future, so he concentrated the strength of the entire division together.

This was the lesson he had learned in Pu County. He knew that the individual firepower of the Xu family army was very strong. If the troops were too dispersed, they would be slowly eaten away.

Moreover, since the division has been strengthened in terms of equipment, it has a large number of heavy machine guns and rapid-fire guns, as well as dozens of tanks.

The combination of these two situations made him, who had been trembling with fear after being beaten by Xu's army, regain his courage and felt that he could compete with Xu's army.

However, the shadow left behind is not easy to disappear, and the commander of the Burma Front Army, Masamitsu Saikawabe, and the commander of the Southern Army, Hisaichi Terauchi, have successively warned him not to take it lightly.

Therefore, he did not underestimate Xu's army too much. Since he moved the troops to Guigang for garrison, he would send out a reconnaissance squad every day to conduct reconnaissance along the Burma Road towards Yunnan Province.

However, Xu Le was playing hide-and-seek in the mountains with two divisions and a brigade, and was not moving on the main highway at all. In addition, the Japanese did not dare to get too close to the border, so Kanda Masatane had no news about Xu's army and thought that Xu's army was still in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

But even though he had overestimated Xu's army, he was still slapped in the face by reality. When shells from hundreds of cannons fell on his outer defense positions, if he had not seen the soldiers wailing everywhere, he would not have believed that Xu's army had actually run up to him without anyone noticing.

"How is it? Can you find out where the enemy's artillery positions are? Have you seen the enemy's troops launching a charge? Do you know how many troops the enemy has?" Kanda Masatane shouted while looking at the endless sky.

A captain beside him trembled and replied: "Reporting to the division commander, the scouts have advanced nearly 10 kilometers and have not found any trace of the enemy. The enemy's artillery positions are even more unknown. As for the troop strength... the troop strength is still unknown!"

A familiar, all too familiar scene.

His experience in Pu County was exactly the same as this. He couldn't see the enemy, the only thing he could see was the artillery shells filling the sky.

The difference is that there are more shells in the sky now than last time, and they are more powerful!

He did not lose his mind, but thought for a while and said: "At least it can prove one thing, the enemy's artillery has a long range. If it continues like this, I am afraid that we will be blown up before we even see the enemy!

Notify the 15th Brigade to have their tank regiment cooperate with our division's tank battalion to counterattack along the highway. The enemy is also a mechanized force and cannot stay away from the highway. We must find their position!

Telegraph General Kawabe Masamitsu and tell him about the difficulties we are facing, and ask him to send the Air Force to help us fight! "

The captain responded immediately, and after passing on the order, he said with joy: "Division Commander, you have waited for so long, and finally got this chance for revenge. We will definitely be able to intercept Xu's army here!"

Kanda Masatane patted the captain's shoulder with a look of relief and said, "Kameda Jun, your brother died in Pu County under the artillery fire of the Xu family army. This is your chance to avenge him. Let us fight together for His Majesty the Emperor!"

.....

At this moment, Xu Le, who was 25 kilometers north of Guigang, was leisurely eating breakfast, while Wei Junjun was massaging his shoulders from behind.

"I say, you are now a marshal, not the young marshal you once were. There are artillery fires in front of you, and you still have the mood to eat breakfast here. How big is your heart?"

From the sound of his voice, it could be determined that Wei Junjun was very reluctant to massage Xu Le's shoulders.

But there are only two women around Xu Le, one is her, and the other is Zhou Jiajia!

Zhou Jiajia is Xu Da's person, so Xu Le couldn't possibly let Zhou Jiajia massage her shoulders, otherwise he was afraid that Xu Da would pour cold water on his head while he was sleeping. Helplessly, she could only find Wei Junjun!

In the spirit of a soldier's duty to obey orders, Wei Junjun obeyed orders obediently no matter how reluctant he was.

I thought to myself that I had taken good care of Xu Le for more than half a year, and even wiped his body countless times, so what would pinching his shoulder mean?

Xu Le burped comfortably and said, "Do you think I want this? I tell you, as long as they are in our army, they all hope that I can enjoy comfortably all day long. Because this means that all the operations will go smoothly, and they don't need me, the commander-in-chief, to take action. Only then can they feel at ease and concentrate on fighting.

I seemed to be enjoying it on the surface, but actually I was very panicked inside!

Moreover, this is tantamount to my trust in the officers under me. If I interfere in everything, it will be difficult for them to display their abilities and grow!

Now the troops have no worries. As the supreme commander, my task from now on is to tell my subordinates where to fight. As for how to fight, that is their business!"

Listening to Xu Le's sophistry, Wei Junjun was about to continue complaining, but when he thought about it carefully, it made so much sense!