Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Seventy-five kilometers south of Bayan City, this was originally a small town in Mongolia, similar to a trading market. Every year, a large number of herdsmen would send their cattle and sheep here in exchange for vegetables and some daily necessities.

After the Fuso Kwantung Army occupied Mongolia, the native women of Mongolia were sent to comfort stations and suffered humiliation, while the able-bodied men were sent to various mines, factories and other places to become slaves, working day and night for Fuso. This small town called Dal Town was abandoned, and usually only some small Fuso troops used it as a permanent base.

As the war continued to deepen, an infantry squadron originally stationed here had been withdrawn to Bayan City, and that afternoon, the cavalry regiment under the Minggu Division arrived here and continued to search for the traces of the Zhenxing Division troops nearby. With the continuous sacrifice of small-scale reconnaissance troops, the cavalry regiments and squadrons under the various major regiments have now replaced the role of the reconnaissance troops, using their own mobility to search for the traces of the Zhenxing Division troops on the grassland.

"Captain Gao Cang, look, the wheel marks on the ground were clearly left not long ago, indicating that there are traces of enemy forces nearby. Just yesterday, one of our reconnaissance troops lost contact nearby."

Takakuramoto bent down and carefully observed the wheel marks on the ground. There were obviously a large number of trucks and jeeps leaving marks here, crisscrossing each other. This showed that a troop with a large number of vehicles had passed by here not long ago.

"Let the cavalry of the first squadron spread out, with Dal Town as the center point, and radiate to the surrounding 15 kilometers to search for traces of the enemy!"

"Hai! Captain."

The 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Meiko Division under Takakura was composed of two cavalry battalions, a transport battalion, a motorized infantry battalion, and two cavalry squadrons, totaling 3,600 people.

The cavalry squadron sent out by Gao Cang rode on real horses. In a vast and flat place like the grassland, the ancient cavalry units sometimes played an unexpected role. In the event of a large-scale cavalry charge, the infantry armed with single-shot rifles were naked lambs to be slaughtered.

At this time, in a river valley six kilometers east of Dal Town, the First Armored Battalion of the Zhenxing Division was taking a temporary rest. The soldiers sat on the ground, holding their weapons in their arms with vigilant eyes, drinking water and eating individual rations.

Half an hour later, an Opel tracked motorcycle slowly drove over and two soldiers jumped off the vehicle.

"Captain, there is an enemy cavalry regiment coming from Dar Town. It looks like they are heading for us. Should we evacuate eastward immediately?"

Battalion Commander Batar was a 1.90-meter-tall, muscular man. After hearing the report from the reconnaissance platoon, he pondered and asked, "How many troops do they have? What is their firepower configuration?"

"The enemy forces number between 3,000 and 4,000. They do not carry heavy firepower, but are equipped with a large number of portable mortars and light machine guns."

Batar showed a thoughtful look. After thinking for a moment, he said firmly: "After so many days of fighting, it's time to cut a piece of meat from them. Notify all soldiers to prepare. I want to eat this cavalry regiment directly!"

"Yes, battalion commander!"

As the armored battalion soldiers deliberately left traces of their activities, the cavalry squadron sent by Takakuramoto soon discovered their temporary base camp in the river valley.

"Notify the commander immediately. We have found enemy troops in the Green Shade River Valley about six kilometers east of Dal Town. There are about a battalion of troops..."

Twenty minutes later, upon receiving the notification, Takakuramoto immediately led his troops and marched towards the location of the armored battalion in a menacing manner.

Four or five Fuso soldiers from the cavalry squadron were lying on the ground, concentrating on recording what they saw about the enemy in the small notebooks they carried with them.

"Hey, man, what are you doing?"

The sudden sound in their ears startled several bow-legged Japanese soldiers. They subconsciously looked in the direction where the sound came from, and saw a tall officer with the rank of captain, with several fully armed soldiers, looking at them with a sarcastic expression on his face about ten meters to the left behind them.

"Oh no, we've been discovered by the enemy!"

Several Fuso soldiers from the cavalry squadron were about to draw their guns, but the captain rushed over and strangled a Fuso soldier's neck. Two sounds of the blade entering the flesh were heard. The chest of the Fuso soldier had two triangular wounds on it that were bleeding profusely.

At the same time, several other Fuso soldiers were also controlled. After a round of interrogation, two more Fuso soldiers were captured from an extremely hidden grassland not far away, and a radio station they used to contact the headquarters was confiscated.

Looking at the radio in front of him, Batar's lips curled up into a cold smile.

Ten minutes later, Takakuramoto, who was leading a large force, received a telegram which gave the detailed coordinates of the armored battalion's location as well as its personnel and firepower deployment.

Takakuramoto was immediately cheered up and urged his soldiers to rush towards the valley.

When they arrived at the valley, they were shocked by the scene in front of them. They saw several bloodless bodies of Fuso soldiers tied to tree trunks in the valley, with a piece of white cloth stuck on their bodies, with the four big words "clown" written in blood on it.

Takakuramoto, who could understand Chinese, became furious, not knowing that they were already in an irretrievable situation.

On a gentle slope 700 meters away, Battar used a telescope to observe the situation in the valley and ordered the captain beside him: "Karl, give our enemies a fireworks feast."

"Yes, battalion commander!"

Not far away, a temporary artillery position consisting of forty-eight 80MM mortars began firing at the area in the center of the valley where enemy troops were densely packed. The shells, as thick as an adult's arm, made sharp whistling sounds in the air and accurately fell into the dense crowd of the cavalry regiment.

In an instant, the sky shook and the earth trembled, people and horses fell to the ground, and a large number of cavalrymen were caught off guard. They were thrown to the ground by the frightened horses and were trampled miserably. More than a dozen sidecars were blown away in the artillery fire, and the fragments scattered everywhere, claiming the lives of a large number of Fuso soldiers.

"Get down! Stay hidden and find effective cover!"

Takakuramoto was lying in a very miserable state behind a big rock, roaring loudly and giving his orders.

Fifteen minutes later, three consecutive rounds of mortar fire came to an end. The cavalry regiment, which had just stabilized its position, looked up and saw more than 20 heavy armored vehicles and light tanks like steel behemoths slowly approaching them. The MM machine guns on the roofs of the vehicles kept spitting out tongues of fire, as terrifying as the scythe of the god of death.