Quartermasters can also fight the devils

As Commander He announced the news of the victory, the entire press conference became even more lively. Reporters kept asking about the operational details of this victory, and Commander He answered every question, appearing to be in a very good mood.

At the end of the press conference, Commander He had the captured Major Sato Jinnao, commander of the 137st Battalion of the th Regiment, brought to the podium and took photos for all the reporters. Now everyone believed that the victory Commander He talked about was real.

That morning, the front-page headlines of all major newspapers were reporting on the victory of the Fourth War Zone. At the same time, the photo of Major Sato Jinnao became popular throughout China due to the hot sales of newspapers.

When the Japanese intelligence department passed the news that Major Jinnao Sato, commander of the 137st Battalion of the 104th Regiment, had been captured by the Chinese army to the Japanese 132st Army Headquarters on the warship, all the Japanese officers in the headquarters were stunned. They had not received any combat report from the nd Brigade of the th Division until now.

How did the captain of the First Battalion get captured when there was no battle with the Chinese army? What about the other officers and soldiers of the First Battalion? Why is there no news at all?

But if you say that the Chinese government is spreading false propaganda, that is not true. The photos in the newspapers have been published, and the intelligence department has compared the photos in the newspapers with the archived photos of Major Sato Jinnao himself and has confirmed that it is him.

"Send a telegram to Lieutenant General Toshio Miyake, commander of the 104th Division, and Major General Juro Goto, commander of the 132nd Brigade, and ask them to explain to me what is going on?" Lieutenant General Kanro Furusho, commander of the st Army, roared loudly with a dark face. This matter was too embarrassing for him. As the commander of Japan in the Battle of Yangcheng, he only learned through the newspaper that an officer of his unit had been captured. This was a serious humiliation for him.

The expeditionary force and the headquarters have both sent telegrams asking what the situation is, but he still doesn't know where exactly this unit fought with the Chinese troops, what the battle went like, and how the captain was captured. He knows nothing about these things and he is going crazy.

In the headquarters of the Japanese 11th Army, which was responsible for the Battle of Three Towns, all the officers were discussing in a low voice what was reported in today's newspaper. Now they felt that they were not alone. You see, the troops of the 21st Army were almost the same as us after encountering the new 22nd Army of the Chinese government. A whole battalion of officers and soldiers were killed as soon as they came into contact, and the battalion commander was also captured. If the battle lasts for a while, it is estimated that there will be more "surprises" from the 21st Army.

The commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, was also discussing this matter with the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi, while drinking tea in his office. Now both of them were in a relaxed mood. The troops of the new 22nd Army of the Chinese government went to Yangcheng, so there would be no problem with their subsequent operations on the Nanxun Line. Now it was the turn of the commander of the 21st Army, Lieutenant General Furusho Kanro, to have a headache.

After receiving the inquiring telegrams from the 132st Army Headquarters and the 104th Division Commander Lieutenant General Miyake Toshio, the commander of the 137nd Brigade, Major General Goto Juro, and the Chief of Staff Colonel Kawakami Mamoru were also full of questions. The commander of the th Regiment, Colonel Mori Kyo, did not send them a telegram to say that there was a fierce battle with the Chinese army.

"Mr. Kawakami, has Captain Mori Joe of the 137th Regiment sent any combat telegrams? Did the telecommunications department miss any telegrams?" Major General Goto Juro, commander of the 132nd Brigade, looked at the chief of staff, Colonel Kawakami Mamoru, and asked seriously. He could imagine how angry the commander and the division commander would be now.

The Chief of Staff, Colonel Mamoru Kawakami, looked at the Brigade Commander, Major General Goto Juro, and answered seriously, "Your Excellency, the commander of the 137th Regiment, Colonel Mori Takashi, has not sent any telegrams about large-scale battles with the Chinese army. The last telegram he sent was saying that the troops had successfully occupied Zhongshan City, and the Chinese army retreated after a symbolic defense."

"Then where is his First Battalion? How come the commander of the First Battalion, Major Sato Jinnao, appeared in Chinese newspapers?" Major General Goto Juro, commander of the 132nd Brigade, is now full of anger.

The chief of staff, Colonel Mamoru Kawakami, thought for a moment and said, "According to the plan made before the war, the officers and soldiers of the 137st Battalion should be the first batch of the th Regiment to land. Their mission is to occupy the landing site, break the Chinese army's position on the beach, and then arrive outside Zhongshan City. They will also launch a tentative attack on Zhongshan City to find out the strength of the Chinese army for the subsequent attack of the main force of the regiment."

When the commander of the 132nd Brigade, Major General Goto Juro, heard that the 137st Battalion was the vanguard of the landing force, he ordered the chief of staff, Colonel Kawakami Mamoru, "Hurry up and send a telegram to the commander of the 137th Regiment, Colonel Mori Takashi, to ask him to send troops to contact his st Battalion and tell him the information in the newspaper. It seems that the st Battalion of the th Regiment is in danger. Ask him to find the surviving officers and soldiers of the st Battalion and ask what happened."

After receiving the telegram from the brigade commander, Colonel Maori Qiao, commander of the 137th Regiment, jumped up from his stool. He was sweating all over. This was really a weird thing. The st Battalion was still in contact with him last night. He and the officers and soldiers in the regiment did not hear any fierce gunfire or explosions coming from the direction of Shunde City.

But the brigade commander sent a telegram saying that the leader of the 1st Battalion, Major Sato Jinnao, was captured by the Chinese army, and the Chinese newspapers said that the 1st Battalion was completely wiped out. Was this a trick? The 1st Battalion had more than a thousand officers and soldiers. How could the Chinese government's new 22nd Army wipe them all out without firing a single shot? And in just one night.

After thinking for a while, Colonel Maori Qiao quickly ordered all officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion to search and advance in the direction of Shunde City. To be on the safe side, Colonel Maori Qiao specially called the captain of the Second Battalion, Major Kurokawa Aku, to the regiment headquarters.

Colonel Mori Joe also told Major Kurokawa Aku that the captain of the 1st Battalion, Major Sato Jinnao, had been captured by the Chinese army and that there was currently no news about the 1st Battalion. He asked him to find the officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion to find out what was going on. If they were blocked by the Chinese troops, they should quickly prepare for defense. He would take the 3rd Battalion and part of the field artillery regiment that had already landed to support him.

Major Kurokawa Akusa of the Second Battalion was also leading his troops to search cautiously towards Shunde City with full of doubts. After leaving the city, he called several squadron leaders under his command together. He asked everyone if they heard any fierce gunfire from the direction of Shunde City last night, but everyone said that they did not hear any gunfire last night. This made Major Kurokawa Akusa confirm that it was normal that he did not hear any gunfire last night, and at the same time he was curious about what had happened to the First Battalion.

As soon as the officers and soldiers of the 137nd Battalion of the 100th Regiment came out of Zhongshan City, they were discovered by the reconnaissance soldiers of the nearby New th Division. The news soon reached Li Zhengying's ears on the pontoon bridge. After learning that the Japanese army had set out from Zhongshan City, Li Zhengying waved his hand and led all the officers and soldiers to disperse in all directions. Only an isolated pontoon bridge recorded the comings and goings of the officers and soldiers of both sides.

"Division Commander, the Japanese army in Zhongshan City has dispatched a battalion. They are heading towards Shunde City, but their advancement speed is not very fast. It seems that they have also received the news. They are probably out looking for the battalion of soldiers they had seen before, haha." Ouyang Heng looked at the telegram he had just received and said happily to Zhang Wenwu who was looking at the map.

Zhang Wenwu nodded after hearing what Ouyang Heng said. He pointed to the map and said, "Brother Ouyang, the Japanese are too cautious. We need to speed up their operations. In particular, we need to mobilize all the Japanese troops in Zhongshan City and eliminate all the Japanese troops in this regiment before the subsequent landing troops of the Japanese army have landed. In this way, the Japanese army will be very cautious in their subsequent actions, which will be of great help to us in delaying time."

Ouyang Heng also thought for a while and said: "Then Commander, when this battalion of Japanese troops arrives at the blocking position in front of us, we will have our troops hit them hard? In this way, the Japanese troops in Zhongshan City will definitely come to reinforce. The Japanese army has a good habit, that is, they will rescue when there is help."

Zhang Wenwu looked at Ouyang Heng and said with a smile: "Brother Ouyang is right. We must make good use of this good tradition of the Japanese army. After the Japanese army sees our gifts last night, they will definitely cooperate with our ideas, haha."

The officers and soldiers of the 137nd Battalion of the th Regiment, led by Major Kurokawa Aku, searched and advanced to the edge of the pontoon bridge. What puzzled Major Kurokawa Aku was that they did not see a single officer or soldier from the st Battalion along the way. There were no officers or soldiers from the st Battalion stationed even near the pontoon bridge. This was too abnormal.

"Sir Captain, we checked the pontoon bridge and didn't find any problems. However, we found a place more than 30 meters downstream of the bridge that showed signs of troops staying there. It should be that the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion had stayed here." A squadron leader came to Major Kurokawa Aku and respectfully reported their findings.

Major Kurokawa Aku nodded. Judging from the signs, the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion should have continued to move forward via the pontoon bridge, so he ordered a small team of officers and soldiers to be left behind to guard the pontoon bridge, while the remaining officers and soldiers continued to search for the First Battalion via the pontoon bridge.

Major Kurokawa Aku led his troops and continued to search forward carefully. Half an hour later, the troops searching in front sent a message saying that officers and soldiers of the First Battalion had been found, and asked the battalion commander, Major Kurokawa Aku, to go to the front and take a look.

Major Kurokawa Aku and the officers and soldiers around him trotted to the place where the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion were found. When he saw them, he was stunned. These were indeed the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion, but the scene that greeted his eyes was really unacceptable.

In the original camp of the First Battalion, the bodies of Japanese officers and soldiers who had been skinned like chickens were piled up in several piles. In front of them was a large wooden sign that read "The Tomb of the Japanese 104th Division."