Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Just as Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito was thinking about how to quickly defeat the defense line of the Chinese army in Hongcheng, Chief of Staff Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama hurried into the tent with a sharpened bamboo stick in his hand.

"Your Excellency the division commander, many soldiers of the attacking troops in front were injured by the small traps dug by the Chinese army. The Chinese army also laid these sharpened bamboos in these small traps. The most hateful thing is that the Chinese army actually smeared some toxins on these bamboo pieces, which has now caused some panic among the officers and soldiers on the front line." Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama put the bamboo pieces in his hand on the table and said to Masayoshi Ito with an anxious look on his face.

"What? A bamboo piece? There's poison on it? What kind of poison is it?" Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito said with surprise, looking at the inconspicuous little bamboo piece on the table.

Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama then explained what he had discovered to Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito. It turned out that when the Japanese officers and soldiers were attacking forward along the streets and the edges of houses, they would occasionally step into a trap that the Chinese army had dug long ago. This trap was not big or deep, basically a small hole slightly larger than a person's foot, with some very sharp bamboo strips inserted in the pit.

At first, the officers and soldiers who stepped into the trap did not care too much. After all, the lethality of these bamboo strips was limited. At most, they would pierce the military shoes and the feet. After a slight bandage, they could continue to fight. However, these officers and soldiers who stepped into the trap began to foam at the mouth and convulse in the next few minutes, showing signs of poisoning, which made all the officers and soldiers attacking on the front line feel inexplicably panic.

After all, this kind of unknown toxin is what worries people the most. Death is not scary, what is scary is living a life worse than death.

"Have the doctors in the field hospital seen it? Do they know what kind of toxin is applied on it?" Lieutenant General Masaki Ito knew that if this matter was not handled properly, the officers and soldiers attacking on the front line would always be in fear, and the effectiveness of the attack would be greatly reduced.

"I have taken a few bamboo strips sent back from the front line to the doctors at the field hospital. They don't know what toxin the Chinese used. Some of the poisoned officers and soldiers sent to the field hospital have died, others have begun to develop red spots on their bodies, and many more have started to have high fevers." Nishiyama Fukutaro also quickly introduced the current situation, but he didn't know what toxin this was.

"Damn it, those damn Chinese only know how to use such despicable means. They are not samurai. I must catch their commander and kill him." Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito was very angry. Who was this Chinese officer guarding Hongcheng? How could he do so many disgusting things and make him have to bear it? He was so unethical.

Despite the scolding, Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi still had to find a way to solve this problem, otherwise the morale of the frontline troops would be badly affected. He looked at the bamboo pieces on the table and thought for a long time. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and said to Major General Nishiyama Fukutaro: "Nishiyama, go and ask everyone to pad their military shoes with iron pieces, so that they can prevent this vicious trap of the Chinese."

After hearing the division commander's idea, Fukutaro Nishiyama's eyes lit up. Yes, the division commander's idea was good. He asked the officers and soldiers to use iron sheets to protect their feet. As for what to do if there were not so many iron sheets, Fukutaro Nishiyama had already thought of a solution following the division commander Masaki Ito's idea, which was to use more thick cloth or something that could be filled in the shoes. As long as the thickness of the soles was made thick enough, they could avoid being harmed by the poisonous bamboo pieces in the Chinese traps.

As the method devised by Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito was implemented in the front-line troops, the officers and soldiers on the front line finally succeeded in getting rid of the terrifying traps set by the Chinese army. Moreover, all the officers and soldiers were very grateful to Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito for this idea. This made the height of all Japanese officers and soldiers increase a lot.

Of course, this method also has a small flaw, that is, it is easy for Japanese officers and soldiers on the front line to sprain their ankles after stepping on the trap. But for the officers and soldiers on the front line, this is already the best solution. Between spraining their ankles and losing their lives, they still choose to sprain their ankles. What's more, this can also increase their height, which can greatly improve everyone's self-confidence.

When the day's fighting was over, the two attacking forces of the Japanese army had advanced nearly 800 meters in the city. Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito was not very satisfied with the speed of today's attack, but he also knew that the officers and soldiers in front had tried their best, and the Chinese army's defensive blocking strength in the city was very strong.

But he felt that at this speed, when would he be able to completely occupy Hongcheng? It was estimated that even if the entire Three Towns Battle ended successfully, his 101st Division might still be fighting with the Chinese army in Hongcheng. What's more, the combat objectives of his 101st Division and 106th Division were not just to occupy Hongcheng. After occupying the Nanxun Line, they needed to attack westwards to cut off China's Yue-Han Railway.

Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were very satisfied with today's results. Their goal was to slowly delay the Japanese army and make them continue to consume their strength in Hongcheng. When Commander Xue of the First Corps led his troops to surround them from the outside, that would be the end of the 101st Division.

However, things never develop as expected, and accidents always happen; it is just a matter of sooner or later.

The 101th Division of the Japanese Army, led by its commander Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, advanced rapidly all the way and won victory after victory with the cooperation of the Hata Detachment on the flank. After the 106th Division successfully occupied Ruichang according to the combat plan formulated by the th Army of the Japanese Army, it waited for the st Division and the th Division fighting on the Nanxun Line to complete their respective tasks, and then attacked westward together to cut off the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

However, the division commander, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, could not wait for the 101st Division or the 106th Division to arrive in Ruichang, which he found a bit unbelievable. So he sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the th Army. As a result, the reply from Commander Okamura Yasuji made him feel that it was far from the truth.

The 106th Division is now entangled with the Chinese army between Wuning and De'an, and has not been able to break through the Chinese army's defense line. The 101st Division is even more outrageous. Their strategic goal of attacking Hongcheng has only been to occupy the two gates of Hongcheng and advance less than meters into the city today.

The most outrageous thing is that the 101st Division lost a regiment commander and three battalion commanders on the first day of the attack. When did the Chinese army become so powerful? If it hadn't been for the telegram sent by Commander Okamura Yasuji, he would definitely not have believed a word of it.

The 17th Division was one of the regular divisions of the Japanese Army and was also a Type A division. The title used by the unit was "Wu". The division commander, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, was also an ardent warmonger.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke felt that there was nothing for his troops to do in Ruichang. Seeing that the 101st and 106th Divisions were fighting so fiercely with the Chinese troops, he privately ordered the 106th Brigade to attack the Minshan Mountains and then go straight to the rear of the Chinese army on the Nanxun Road to help the th Division break through the Chinese army's defense line.

The 30th Army of the Sichuan Army was defending Minshan. This unit was reorganized from the security team of the original Sichuan Province. Its combat power and equipment were quite appalling. They did not expect that the Japanese army would suddenly attack Minshan. As a result, the unit was defeated at the first blow of the Japanese attack. The only good thing was that they telegraphed the news that a large number of Japanese troops suddenly appeared in Minshan to Commander Xue of the First Corps.

After receiving the telegram from the Sichuan Army, Commander Xue's first reaction was that the Sichuan Army was lying about military intelligence. Where did these large numbers of Japanese troops come from? He estimated that they were just a small group of Japanese troops. The Sichuan Army lied about the size of the Japanese army in order to cover up its own defeat. So he asked Commander Yu of the 74th Army to send a regiment of troops to drive back this small group of Japanese troops and cover the safety of the flank of the Chinese defenders who were fighting fiercely with the 106th Division on the Nanxun Road.

To be on the safe side, Commander Yu of the 74th Army asked the nearby 51st Division to send the 151st Brigade to complete the task of driving out the small group of Japanese troops. The commander of the 151st Brigade, Zhou Zhidao, also led his troops to meet the Japanese troops, but as soon as they fought, the 151st Brigade was beaten back step by step. This confused the commander Zhou Zhidao. Didn’t they say it was a small group of Japanese troops? Why did it feel wrong?

So he quickly led his troops to fight and retreat, and at the same time sent a telegram for help to Commander Wang of the 51st Division. After receiving the telegram for help from the 151st Brigade, Commander Wang found it a little unbelievable, so he got ruthless and led the entire 51st Division to fight against this Japanese army.

Unexpectedly, the 51st Division could not withstand the attack of the Japanese Army and was beaten back continuously. At the same time, Division Commander Wang finally realized that the Japanese Army facing him was the 74th Brigade of the 74th Division, so he immediately called Commander Yu of the 51th Army to bring his troops to reinforce. After all the troops of the 74th Army arrived to support, the st Division was rescued. However, the entire th Army could not withstand the attack of the th Brigade of the Japanese Army in the wilderness without any fortifications and was beaten back continuously.

Commander Xue of the First Corps then quickly ordered the troops fighting the 106th Division on the front line to retreat and reorganize the defense line. The Japanese Sixth Brigade, after helping the 106th Division a lot, retreated to its previous starting point, Ruichang.

After the 101th Brigade returned to Ruichang, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, commander of the th Division, personally led the th Brigade south along the Nanxun Line, preparing to help the st Division attack Hongcheng.

The disruption caused by the Ninth Division disrupted the previous combat plan of the First Corps. With the help of the Ninth Division, the 106th Division had pushed the attack line to Wuning. In this way, the First Corps was getting farther and farther away from Hongcheng, and it could no longer be said to be an external line.

Hongcheng has now been basically completely surrounded by the Japanese army. Commander Xue doesn't know yet that a brigade of the 9th Division, led by their division commander, is about to join the battle in Hongcheng.

Zhang Wenwu and all the officers and soldiers of the New 22nd Army now have no idea what the situation is on the outside front. There is no need to panic about the upcoming arrival of the 9th Division. Their current mission is to hold on to Hongcheng until the last man.

(Thanks to the gifts from 往事. Can't bear to look back, the Duke of Wei who loves beef jerky, the braised cat??? who loves to eat, Tianle, and Lu Yilin who likes to chop melons! Thank you all for your support and encouragement! I wish you all good luck in your work!)