The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

The rain is still falling.

The fleet continued to sail on the river all night, and the soldiers could only huddle in the concrete boat to sleep.

Finally, at noon of the next day, the fleet passed the steep mountains on both sides and entered an open river valley.

The river valley seemed particularly quiet after the rain, with only the occasional bird song breaking the silence.

From a distance, Zhang Chi saw the village on the east side of the river bank. It must be the Xinwangping Village marked on the map where the immigrants from Qian Country gathered, right?

Zhang Chi opened the turret hatch and breathed in the fresh air in the valley, feeling a lot of emotion.

Although we encountered the Japanese on the way, the journey of a hundred miles was still relatively smooth.

"How fast!" he thought to himself. "If it weren't for the boat, it would probably take me at least a week to get here just by walking through the muddy rain forest during the rainy season."

However, it took them more than a day and a night to reach the 100-kilometer straight-line distance. After all, within the river, the fleet could maintain a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour, not only eliminating the trouble of detouring through mountain roads and dense forests, but also allowing them to continue advancing day and night.

"The vanguard troops are preparing to land." Zhang Chi ordered via radio.

He landed first with Xiao Dongbei and his reconnaissance squad, leaving the main force on standby on the creek.

Fearing that the LVT-A1 amphibious tank would scare the villagers, Zhang Chi deliberately walked to the outside of the village.

He noticed several villagers poking their heads out from their simple thatched huts, their faces filled with vigilance and uneasiness.

These Qian Country immigrants were dressed simply, their eyes revealing a deep wariness of these unexpected soldiers. Zhang Chi was puzzled, but when he saw that his soldiers were all wearing the camouflage rain cloaks provided by the system, he suddenly realized that these villagers had probably never seen this kind of camouflage before and didn't know they were an expeditionary force.

So he shouted, "My fellow countrymen, we are all from the Qian Kingdom. We are the Qian Kingdom Expeditionary Force and we are compatriots with you."

Several villagers had already left the village and walked over, but when they heard Zhang Chi's shout, instead of letting down their guard, they became even more alert, with unconcealable hostility on their faces.

Zhang Chi scratched his head, full of confusion.

This reaction was completely beyond his expectations. In order to ease the situation, he immediately ordered people to return to the ship and fetch supplies such as canned food, cigarettes and eggs, trying to use these supplies to narrow the distance between the two sides.

When the soldiers handed the supplies to the villagers, the atmosphere in the village finally eased. The villagers carefully took the supplies, gradually let down their guard, and began to talk about their suffering.

"Boss, you are good people, different from those people yesterday."

"Boss, you have to make the decision for us..."

After listening for a while, Zhang Chi realized that yesterday, a group of defeated soldiers passed by this place on the mountain road east of the village. When they saw the small village here, they rushed into the village and looted it without saying a word. Not only were all the food in the village looted, but several women were also insulted.

At first, the villagers thought Zhang Chi was in cahoots with them, so they naturally showed fear and anger.

When Zhang Chi heard that the defeated soldiers were rioting, his brows furrowed.

Robbing civilians? Can you still call yourself a soldier?

The education Zhang Chi received told him that soldiers should protect the people, and the Yue Family Army, with its military discipline of not demolishing houses even if they freeze to death and not looting even if they starve to death, was the ideal image of a soldier in his mind.

He inquired in detail about the situation of the defeated soldiers and learned that they were quite numerous and had retreated northward along the mountain road east of the village that morning.

Zhang Chi's eyes narrowed, and he immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to gather these defeated soldiers. If he could help the villagers catch the culprit, he would win the hearts of the local people.

Zhang Chi quickly opened the system interface in his mind. The [M13 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun] had already been developed, its icon flashing, waiting for Zhang Chi to purchase it. During the battle at the airport, his Sherman had killed and wounded hundreds of Japanese soldiers with rocket bombardments, and had also destroyed four of the Japanese new Type 95 tanks. He had even developed the [M15 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun], which had a combat weight of 1.7 and was connected to the [M13 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun] in the tech tree.

目前他正在研发1.0战斗权重的【M2A2轻型坦克】，进度已经达到了[1020/2900]，有了防空车之后，张弛接下来的研发目标就是接在【M2A2轻型坦克】后1.3战斗权重的【M8自行火炮】。

He plans to directly purchase four of these light self-propelled artillery equipped with 75mm guns to form an artillery company to provide close-range support firepower for his team.

He pressed the purchase button in the system and spent 700 Silver Lions to buy the [M13 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun], and then spent 2100 Silver Lions to buy the [M15 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun]. He also paid an additional 10% shipping fee to the system so that the M15 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun could appear in this world in a more reasonable way.

After thinking about it, he paid a few hundred Silver Lion coins and exchanged the two Willys Jeeps and two Bedford trucks that he had collected at the airport in the system space.

(It costs money to have the system help transport the materials in the space to the real destination. If Zhang Chi personally materializes and takes them out directly, no money is required.)

Soon a progress bar appeared on Zhang Chi's retina.

[Countdown: 00:11:17]

While waiting for the arrival of the M15 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, Zhang Chi took out the map he had seized earlier, spread it out on the ground, pointed at the map, and assigned tasks to several officers.

"Take a look at this Japanese battle resolution map. (The resolution map is the attack arrow on the map that players love to draw in the game Hearts of Iron.) A battalion from the Japanese 146th Infantry Regiment splits up into smaller squads to pursue the main force of the 96th Division across Gaoligong Mountain."

Zhang Chi took out a pencil and pointed at a point on the map. He continued, "Their brigade headquarters is in the city of Mactari, southeast of us. Aside from one squadron dedicated to defending this small city in northern Myanmar, the remaining two squadrons are heading to the airport we evacuated from earlier. The other two squadrons each control a large area of ​​land surrounding Mactari."

"As I said before, there are very few Japanese troops near this village. We can use this place as a base and continuously launch offensives, using both land and water to attack the Japanese troops along the river." (The tactics used by the White Eagle Army's inland boat units during the Vietnam War)

Upon hearing this, the three company commanders Hao Yi, Qi Quan and Bai Minghui all nodded, expressing their agreement with what Zhang Chi said.

"Now, I make the following arrangements."

Upon hearing this, Hao Yi, Qi Quan and Bai Minghui immediately knocked their feet together, stood at attention and listened seriously to Zhang Chi's orders.

"Hao Yi, your company will stay in the village, set up camp, protect the villagers, and establish a base here. We still have a lot of food and canned goods, so share them with the villagers first. In addition, you will dig trenches, build fortifications, and guard the boats on the river."

As soon as he finished speaking, the second lieutenant who was promoted to company commander by Zhang Chi saluted solemnly, turned around and left to arrange the defense line.

"Qi Quan, Bai Minghui, gather the second and third companies. We're going to chase those fleeing soldiers of the 96th Division with light equipment, and we'll also pierce the pursuers' buttocks."

Qi Quan and Bai Minghui exchanged a glance, both somewhat skeptical of Zhang Chi's plan to attack the enemy's rear with only 200 men. However, Zhang Chi had already established sufficient prestige through his long record of leading them to victory over the enemy. Without further ado, they saluted and went to assemble the troops.