Quartermasters can also fight the devils

"Brother Ouyang, I believe Li Zhengying can seize the opportunity. If they can seize the opportunity to harass the 9th Division headquarters, even if there is no result, the Japanese army will definitely withdraw troops from the city to guard the division headquarters. In this way, the offensive force in the city will be reduced, and the pressure on the defense line will be much smaller. What we need is time." Zhang Wenwu said slowly, looking at the city map on the table.

Ouyang Heng also knew that now he had to delay time as much as possible. Now he could only rely on Li Zhengying's luck. Whether he would succeed or not depended on God's will. Just like Zhang Wenwu said, it was not so important whether he could take down the Japanese 9th Division Command. It would be a victory as long as he could scare the Japanese army and force Yoshizumi Ryosuke to withdraw troops from the city to protect the division headquarters.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, commander of the 106th Division, is now helpless. He has sent out all the people he can. Although the troops in the city have advanced a little today, the speed at which the th Division troops in Wanjialing disappear is much faster than the speed of his own advancement.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke calculated that if the 106th Division continued to suffer losses at its current rate, his 106th Division would definitely not be able to capture Hongcheng before the th Division disappeared.

As for the task of destroying the New 22nd Army, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke has not even considered it now. Now, as long as he can drive out the New 22nd Army's troops in the urban area, he will already feel that it is a great victory. If he wants to destroy the New 22nd Army, he must at least transfer all of his 9th Division.

"Your Excellency the Division Commander, the 106th Division is losing troops too quickly. All our officers and men in the city have been trying their best to attack forward, but now it seems that we don't have enough time to rescue the 106th Division." Major General Jing Shuxuan complained with a frown as he looked at the telegram sent from the th Army Headquarters.

Major General Jing Shuxuanshi understood the meaning of the telegram sent by the 106th Army Command. The meaning was too obvious. It was to tell the th Division in Hongcheng to occupy Hongcheng as soon as possible, because due to your procrastination in Hongcheng, the th Division has lost so many troops. It made it sound as if the officers and soldiers of the th Division were being lazy.

"Mr. Jingshu, the troops of the 106th Division are too dispersed. The Chinese army is planning to divide them up, surround them, and then defeat them one by one. I guess Junrokuro Matsuura now wants to concentrate his troops for a breakout, but I don't think the Chinese army will let him do this easily. I think they should defend where they are instead of breaking out and attacking." Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke also put forward his own suggestions on the tactics of the 106th Division.

Major General Jing Shuxuanshi felt that his division commander was worrying too much. The breakout mission of the 106th Division was issued by the th Army Headquarters. It would be better for him to pay more attention to the battle in Hongcheng.

"Mr. Jing Shu, we should send a telegram to the 106th Army Headquarters, asking them to change their previous order and let the 106th Division defend on the spot. Only in this way can we get more time to capture Hongcheng. Otherwise, if the current situation continues, the th Division will never be able to wait for us to rescue it." Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke expressed his thoughts.

He felt that he must change the tactics of the 106th Division, which would be most beneficial to his th Division. Now the front-line troops in the city were exhausted. Although he let the front-line troops rest for half a day, this time was not enough for the officers and soldiers on the front line. He now also clearly realized that he would definitely not be able to occupy Hongcheng in a short time.

Major General Jing Shuxuan's eyes lit up when he heard the words of the division commander, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke. Yes, although sending such a telegram to the headquarters would make people feel that the 9th Division was a bit nosy and annoying, the current attack speed of the 9th Division was obviously impossible to complete the task assigned by the 11th Army Headquarters, and they must make advance preparations for the post-war settlement.

As for whether the 11th Army Command listened to the advice of the 9th Division, it is not important. What is important is that the 9th Division has already put forward the advice. If there is a post-war settlement, the 9th Division's responsibility will be much less.

Soon, the 9th Division's suggestion telegram was sent to the brightly lit 11th Army Headquarters. Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi looked at the telegram that the communications staff had just given him. Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, who was watching the staff officers' simulation on the sand table, asked without turning his head: "Mr. Yoshimoto, where is the telegram from?"

"Commander, this is a telegram from Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, the commander of the 106th Division. In the telegram, he suggested that the headquarters should let the th Division defend on the spot so that they can hold out longer." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi also told the contents of Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke's telegram.

When Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji heard what Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke said, he immediately became angry: "Damn it, Yoshizumi Ryosuke actually dared to question the order given by the headquarters. He should just focus on his Hongcheng. He has been attacking for so long but still hasn't captured Hongcheng. After the battle is over, I will definitely ask him how he commanded."

Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji knew the meaning of Yoshizumi Ryosuke's telegram. In fact, he had been considering letting the 106th Division defend on the spot and wait for rescue. Now the staff were also deducing the matter of the 106th Division defending on the spot, but this matter was not something Yoshizumi Ryosuke should worry about. This kind of situation of questioning the headquarters' combat methods must be stopped, otherwise the commanders of other units will also encounter such situations in the future.

"Commander, we are already formulating a combat plan for the 106th Division to switch from offense to defense. It seems that Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke has also thought of this. This means that the th Division in Hongcheng should not be able to quickly occupy Hongcheng according to the plan formulated by the headquarters. Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke is also buying more time for himself." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi also guessed the situation of the th Division in Hongcheng to be almost correct.

"Mr. Yoshimoto, this telegram from Yoshizumi Ryosuke is intended to buy more time for the 9th Division and to prepare for the summary after the battle." Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji saw things more clearly than Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi. He knew too well what these division commanders were thinking.

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto also reacted immediately after being reminded by Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura. He suddenly remembered that Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke was very pessimistic about the future of the 106th Division and was already preparing for post-war events.

"Tell Yoshizumi Ryosuke that the headquarters has been studying the defense plan of the 106th Division in the afternoon. Let him occupy Hongcheng as soon as possible and then take the troops to rescue the surrounded 106th Division." Okamura Neiji continued to put pressure on Yoshizumi Ryosuke. If you, Yoshizumi Ryosuke, want to reduce your responsibilities, then I will continue to give you clear responsibilities.

Li Zhengying outside Hongcheng also became busy after listening to the team members' reports. He asked Staff Officer Hao to take people to the place where the war horses were parked in the north to see if they could get any useful information. Then he asked Chen Sanpi to lead his team members to scout further around to see if there were any ambushed Japanese troops.

Although Zhang Wenwu gave him the right to deal with the situation on the spot, he still wanted to make sure he understood the situation. After all, his life and the lives of more than 200 suicide squad officers and soldiers were at stake, so it would be right to be cautious.

Staff Officer Hao, wearing a Japanese lieutenant's uniform, led five suicide squad members, also wearing Japanese uniforms, disguised as a patrol team and walked towards the woods to the north.

Sakurai Shota was a soldier of the Quartermaster Corps of the 101st Division of the Japanese Army. He was sent by his squad leader to guard the hundreds of war horses of the cavalry battalion. This job made Sakurai Shota very happy. After all, these horses were tied around the tree trunks, and he was just standing guard on the periphery, without any danger.

Sakurai Shota was hiding under a big tree, standing guard and enjoying the shade with a rifle on his back. He suddenly found a patrol team coming in front of him, which made him feel a little strange. Wasn't it said that all the combat troops had been transferred to the urban area to fight? The only one responsible for the defense of the 101th Division headquarters was a squadron of the st Division Cavalry Battalion.

"Soldier, which unit are you from? Have you found anything here?" Staff Officer Hao suddenly asked when he walked in front of Sakurai Shota. He decided to ask first to avoid the possibility that this Japanese soldier would ask him for the password.

Sakurai Shota was about to ask for the patrol's command, but before he could open his mouth, he heard the lieutenant officer leading the team asking him questions. Sakurai Shota stood at attention and answered reflexively, "Report, my name is Sakurai Shota, I'm from the 101st Division's Quartermaster Regiment, and I've been ordered to guard the cavalry brigade's horses here. I haven't found anything unusual here."

Sakurai Shota actually wanted to say that you were the only abnormality he had discovered in all these days. He had never seen any patrol team coming from this direction, and he hadn't seen even a patrol team in the past two days.

After hearing Sakurai Shota's answer, Staff Officer Hao immediately said, "Very good, Sakurai-kun, we are from the 9th Division. We just withdrew from the city to rest. We didn't expect to be assigned to patrol before we had a rest. As a result, we are not familiar with the roads here, so we walked here."

He had thought it through before. If this Japanese soldier said he was from the 101th Division, then he would say he was from the st Division. Anyway, it was impossible for him to be in the same unit as this Japanese soldier.

When Sakurai Shota heard that they were from the 9th Division, he thought it was no wonder that this patrol team came from this direction. It turned out that they had just withdrawn from the city and were not familiar with the roads here.

"Soldiers, how many war horses are you guarding here? Can you take care of them all?" Staff Officer Hao asked the team members to go and rest under the tree nearby, and he stood next to Sakurai Shota and asked pretending to chat.

Sakurai Shota thought that this lieutenant officer was a nice guy with a good temper, so he relaxed and said, "Sir, these are the war horses of our 101st Division Cavalry Battalion. These war horses are also very honest and easy to take care of."