Devil's Army

The first and third regimental commanders did not recognize Wang Jinzai's troops and thought they were just an anti-communist government army. They requested the brigade commander to use force to retake Liuguan Town and Zhoulaozui Town.

The brigade commander had already learned from the New Fourth Army that this elite anti-Japanese force was unwilling to engage in internal strife during the height of the anti-Japanese war.

He then ordered the first and second regimental commanders to abandon their hostility toward Liuguan Town and Zhoulaozui Town and to coexist peacefully with him.

Although the brigade commander was hostile to Wang Jinzai's troops, Wang Jinzai, with his strong sense of local tyrant mentality, was hostile to the brigade. He always thought they were there to seize his territory.

But he greatly admired the First Brigade because it had done what he had always wanted to do but had not yet been able to: annihilate and drive out all the Japanese and Huang Wei troops in Jianli County.

After recapturing Jianli County, if the advance continues towards Hanyang, where the Japanese army is heavily garrisoned, the advance on Wuhan will inevitably pass through Mianyang County. This will inevitably pass through the territory of Wang Jinzai's elite 128th Division, an anti-Japanese force.

A brigade commander planned to meet with Wang Jinzai to discuss using a route to attack the Japanese forces in the three towns of Wuhan.

However, the deputy brigade commander and the commanders of each regiment are different.

They believed that Wang Jinzai's troops were neither under the command of the government army nor the New Fourth Army. He acted entirely on his own initiative, which was extremely risky.

Now, the brigade commander is shouldering the heavy responsibility of being the commander-in-chief of the First Army Group heading south, and no danger can be allowed to occur.

Finally, a compromise was reached: a deputy brigade commander would represent a brigade commander in negotiations with Wang Jinzai.

A deputy brigade commander led several soldiers to Mianyang County to discuss the matter of borrowing a passage with Wang Jinzai.

To ensure the safety of the deputy brigade commander, the army aviation soldiers arranged for a mixed squadron of Golden Eagle No. 3 and No. 4 to provide full air escort.

The outcome of the negotiations was beyond the expectations of the brigade commander. Although Wang Jinzai was hostile to the brigade, he did not reject the anti-Japanese troops.

He quickly agreed to allow a brigade to pass through and attack the Japanese forces in Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuhan.

At this time, in order to put pressure on Wang Jinzai's 128th Division, the brigade commander requested the cooperation of the Henan Air Force to fly over Mianyang County to show off their military strength.

Wang Jinzai had been attacked by Japanese air force multiple times. Upon hearing the roar of a large number of planes, he immediately ordered his troops to defend against air raids.

The deputy brigade commander remained calm, knowing that air superiority over Hubei was now entirely in the hands of their army.

Sure enough, he glanced at the fighter jets in the sky and calmly said to Division Commander Wang Jinzai:

"These are our unit's air force personnel, General, there's no need to be nervous."

"No wonder your troops made such rapid progress and were able to recapture Jianli County so quickly; it turns out you have such advanced weaponry."

"Our weaponry extends far beyond air power; we also have some mysterious weapons you may not know about, such as weapons that can be pointed at and blown up," a brigade commander said mysteriously.

Wang Jinzai laughed in disbelief.

"If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate it for you."

Then, the brigade commander pointed with two fingers of his right hand to a hillside a little further away.

This was the signal he had agreed upon with the army aviation soldiers.

An army aviator immediately piloted the Golden Eagle 3 and launched an air-to-ground missile toward the hillside.

The trees on the small mound were immediately blown away by air-to-ground missiles, and the mound itself was filled with smoke and dust.

By this time, the air force of the First Army had already left, and the Golden Eagle drones of the Army Aviation soldiers were hidden in the high sky, and could not be detected at all if one was not paying attention.

Although Wang Jinzai knew there was something fishy going on, he was still stunned by the brigade commander's precise tactics of bombing wherever he pointed.

After completing his mission, the deputy brigade commander returned to Jianli County. However, the brigade commander did not immediately request passage to attack the three towns of Wuhan.