Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Hu Hai copied the documents about Changde among those carried by the combat staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, with a pencil he carried with him. As for the other documents, Hu Hai did not have so much time to copy them, and could only rely on his own brain to remember as much as possible.

As for taking all these documents back to hand them in to the division headquarters, Hu Hai didn't dare to think about it. You have to know that their reconnaissance squad is behind the Japanese army. If they just kill a few Japanese soldiers, the Japanese army may not be in any trouble. But if they take away these important documents, the Japanese army will not let their brothers go.

If the Japanese army concentrated its forces to encircle and suppress them, the brothers in his squad would definitely not be able to escape, and the intelligence they obtained from this reconnaissance would be completely wasted. This was something that an experienced scout like Hu Hai would never allow.

Things happened just as Hu Hai had expected. When Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, the operations staff officer of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, was hit by the black guns of Hu Hai and his men, his body fell off his horse. However, the horse that Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai was riding was not hit by the bullet, but ran away wildly.

War horses are very smart animals, with a very strong ability to recognize roads. So, when the combat staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai was hit by Hu Hai and fell off his horse, the horse was frightened and ran back to the headquarters of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army according to its memory.

The acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yoji Ichikawa, was also surprised when he heard the report from the guard soldiers of the division headquarters that an unmanned warhorse ran back to the division headquarters from outside. The acting chief of staff, Colonel Yoji Ichikawa, thought about it and realized that the division headquarters' operations chief, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, had ridden a horse to carry out the order of the division commander and contact the 65th Regiment. This couldn't be the horse that Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, the operations chief of staff, rode.

When the acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yōji Ichikawa, thought that something might have happened to his operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, he was frightened for a moment. If the returning warhorse was the one ridden by Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, then Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai was either ambushed and killed by the Chinese army or captured by the Chinese army.

However, the acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yoshiharu Ichikawa, knew that whether the combat staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, was killed or captured by the Chinese army, it would be a very unfavorable thing for the 13th Division of the Japanese Army.

Because, although the operations staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai was only a lieutenant colonel staff officer, his briefcase contained all the combat plans and orders for the battle between the 13th Division and the 11th Army of the Japanese Army.

If the documents carried by the combat staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai were seized by the Chinese army, the Sixth War Zone Command of the Chinese government would be able to clearly know the entire combat plan of the Japanese 11th Army in the Battle of Changde, and the consequences would be very serious.

Therefore, the acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yoshikawa Yōji, was so anxious that he immediately dispatched two cavalry battalions that were responsible for the guard mission at the headquarters of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army to search for the operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sakurai Saburo.

The acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yōji Ichikawa, also personally ordered the captain of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Iwashita Eiichi, "Captain Iwashita, the division's operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, is very important. He may have been ambushed by a small group of Chinese troops on his way to the 65th Regiment. You must find Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai at all costs, whether he is alive or dead. In particular, you must retrieve the documents that Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai carried with him. If you cannot find Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, you must not come back. Do you understand?"

After hearing the order from the acting chief of staff, Colonel Yoji Ichikawa, the captain of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Eiichi Iwashita, knew that this mission was a bit tricky. The operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, should have been killed by the Chinese army. However, the acting chief of staff, Colonel Yoji Ichikawa, was very clear about his meaning. This mission was to ensure that the documents carried by Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai were not taken away by the Chinese army. As for whether Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai was alive or dead, it was not important.

However, if the Chinese army took away all the documents carried by the operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, he would have to spend more time searching for them, which would be a very laborious and time-consuming task. But the acting chief of staff, Colonel Yōji Ichikawa, had already issued a death order, and the commander of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Eiichi Iwashita, had no choice but to accept the order.

The commander of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Eiichi Iwashita, led two cavalry battalions and galloped out of the camp of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. As soon as they left the camp, the commander of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Eiichi Iwashita, ordered the officers and soldiers of the cavalry to form a fan formation and search quickly along the road.

However, what made the captain of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Eiichi Iwashita, happy was that after a fan-shaped search by his two cavalry battalions, they soon found the bodies of the division's operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, and two soldiers on the side of the road in the woods. What made the captain of the 1st Cavalry Battalion even happier was that next to the body of the operations staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, was a very important document bag.

Major Eiichi Iwashita, commander of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, quickly brought the body and file bag of operations staff officer Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai back to the headquarters of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. Acting Chief of Staff Colonel Yōji Yōji also personally checked all the documents in the file bag. After carefully checking all the documents, Acting Chief of Staff Colonel Yōji Yōji found that there was no missing document in the file bag, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that the acting chief of staff, Colonel Yōji Ichikawa, had finally relaxed, the captain of the 1st Cavalry Battalion, Major Iwashita Eiichi, quickly asked, "Mr. Chief of Staff, do we need to encircle and suppress the Chinese troops that ambushed Lieutenant Colonel Saburo Sakurai, the chief of staff?"

The acting chief of staff of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Ichikawa Yoji, shook his head and said, "No need. This small Chinese unit should have run far away. Judging from the fact that they didn't even have time to take away the documents brought by Lieutenant Colonel Sakurai Saburo, this small Chinese unit encountered Lieutenant Colonel Sakurai Saburo by chance. Since the precious documents are not lost, there is no need to waste troops to encircle and suppress this small Chinese unit."