Devil's Army

After lunch, Wu Lang asked Brigade Commander Du:

"Have the dwarf wolves come over?"

"He came here a few days ago and should be training new recruits at the training base in front now." Brigade Commander Du replied.

"Are there a lot of new recruits?"

"The few hundred soldiers from the 37th Regiment of the 657th Division who came back with the Third Battalion to transport supplies last time and the ones who have come to join the nearby forces during this period are probably only about 1000 or so, right?"

"Let's go and take a look at them."

When the dwarf wolf saw the martial wolf, he ran over happily.

"Hello, Commander-in-Chief. Li Shaohua has been ordered to report here!"

He had no missions in the base and was bored. When he heard that Wu Lang had transferred him to North China, he immediately took the Fourth Squadron on a warship with supplies to Tangxia Village.

"Dwarf Wolf, I haven't seen you for a while. Get ready and go to Ji County."

Li Shaohua was surprised. They said he was asked to come here to train new soldiers, but he had only been here for two days and his work had not officially started yet, but they transferred him to Ji County. However, it was the duty of a soldier to obey orders, so he did not say anything, but only responded:

"Yes!"

Li Shaohua then asked:

"Shall I take the Fourth Squadron with me to Jixian?"

"No, Squadron Four stays."

Li Shaohua originally came here to train new recruits under Wu Lang's orders. However, when he saw Wu Lang, Wu Lang wanted to transfer him to Ji County.

Maybe Wu Lang had a new task for him. Who knew that Wu Lang told him:

"The new recruits are of complex composition and have many different opinions, and Tangxia Village is our important logistics base. So I decided to set up the new recruit training base in Ji County. You take the new recruits with you."

Li Shaohua realized at this time that the mission had not changed. He immediately ordered the new recruits to stop training, go back to the dormitory to pack up, and set off with him half an hour later.

More than an hour after Li Shaohua and the new recruits left Tangxia Village, Captain Li of the Third Squadron of the Special Operations Team and his men rushed back to Tangxia Village.

Captain Li rushed to the command room and reported to Wulang the results of their reconnaissance during this period:

"Based on the flight paths of Japanese aircraft in North China and inquiring with the local people in Tangshan, we finally found the Xiaoguanzhuang Airport in the northwest of Tangshan."

"How far is Xiaoguanzhuang from here? How is the Japanese army deployed?"

"Xiaoguanzhuang is less than 100 miles away from here. The Japanese army has deployed about two squadrons of troops to defend the Xiaoguanzhuang airport. There are barbed wire fences and Japanese patrols around it, and the patrol density is quite high."

"Xiaoguanzhuang Airport is an important air force base of the Japanese army in North China. It must be well defended. What is the situation of the surrounding Japanese troops?"

"There are Japanese troops stationed around Xiaoguanzhuang, but due to the short time, I was unable to find out the scale of the Japanese troops stationed there. However, Xiaoguanzhuang is low-lying and has a typical depression-like topography. Its west side is adjacent to the Xiaoliujin drainage canal. Our 150mm howitzers can destroy it with concentrated bombing."

"When did I say we were going to destroy the Japanese airfield?"

"Why would you ask me to investigate it if you don't destroy it?"

"I will capture him and use him for my own purposes."

"I'm sorry, Commander-in-Chief. I'll take some people to find out more about the situation of the Japanese near Xiaoguanzhuang Airport."

"Forget it. We don't have enough time. Besides, the enemy's main focus is on the Battle of Xinkou and the Battle of Niangziguan. There are not many enemy troops near Xiaoguanzhuang. Go and call the Third Brigade Commander in."

After the Third Brigade Commander came over, Captain Li gave him a detailed introduction to the situation at Xiaoguanzhuang Airport.

"Does it take a brigade to attack an airport with hundreds of Japanese soldiers? I can solve the battle with just a battalion."

"I'm not asking you to capture Xiaoguanzhuang Airport, I'm asking you to capture and defend Xiaoguanzhuang Airport. Don't you need to defend against the Japanese around Xiaoguanzhuang?"

"Oh, this will require some manpower. When will we act?"

"Let's set off at 2 a.m. tomorrow. Captain Li will lead the team. You will capture and defend the Japanese airfield in Xiaoguanzhuang. When can we resolve the battle?"

"How far is it from here to Xiaoguanzhuang Airport?"

"About 80 miles," Captain Li replied.

The third brigade commander calculated that it would take eight hours for the troops to arrive at the airport after a 80-mile march, and the Japanese Xiaoguanzhuang Airport was well defended and surrounded by barbed wire. However, their troops were much larger than the Japanese troops at the Xiaoguanzhuang Airport, so an hour or so would be enough to resolve the battle. So he said to Wu Lang:

“We will resolve the battle before 12 o’clock.”

"Okay, I'll send a telegram to Commander Leng at the base and ask them to arrange for the planes to transfer to Xiaoguanzhuang Airport at 12 o'clock. After we take over Xiaoguanzhuang Airport, we will immediately defend against the counterattacks of the Japanese all around and ensure the safety of our planes."

At this time, two signalmen brought two telegrams, one from the Tongzhou garrison and the other from the tribal commander Leng.

After reading the telegram, Wu Lang immediately canceled the order and asked the guards to notify Chief Du of the 11th Brigade and Commander Li of the 5th Brigade to come to the operations room for a meeting.