Chapter 111 What is considered a grand event?

On the other side, in the 56th Division of the Japanese Army, Masao Watanabe looked at the map with a sad face.

The Takeuchi Regiment suffered heavy losses and was unable to maintain its frontline positions, so it chose to retreat and build fortifications using the terrain.

The field artillery regiment suffered greater losses, with almost all of its heavy artillery destroyed, but its personnel were still okay.

As long as there are heavy artillery, combat effectiveness can be restored in a short time.

But it was basically impossible to break through Myitkyina, which was defended by the Sichuan Army.

"Send a telegram to the military and request tactical guidance." Watanabe Masao pondered for a long time and finally decided to throw this difficult problem to the military and let those people in the military worry about it.

He turned his gaze to southwestern Yunnan. Since Myitkyina had made him lose all his face, he had to regain it from other directions.

"Yes." The chief of staff responded immediately.

Not long after, General Masami Kawabe of the military received a telegram from Masao Watanabe.

Looking at the telegram, he couldn't help but frown.

The Sichuan Army in Myitkyina was too tenacious, and even the coordinated fighter planes of the two regiments were unable to take it down.

It even caused heavy casualties to the 56th Division. Now Watanabe Masao is obviously out of options and has to ask for support.

There is still hope if all the main forces are transferred to Myitkyina.

But in that case, the plan to suppress the Burma Road would come to a halt.

This is absolutely intolerable.

Their mission of conquering Burma was to cut off the China-Burma Highway and prevent the mountain city from receiving military assistance.

But it was impossible to capture Myitkyina with just two regiments unless more troops were mobilized.

After pondering for a while, Hebian Zhengsan was calculating the troops he could mobilize.

The 55th Division was occupying cities on the western front, but it was already very scattered.

The 33rd Division is stationed in Yenangyaung, resting and replenishing ammunition.

Then only the 18th Division remains, which is currently resting in Mandalay.

The four divisions under his command all have their own tasks.

So he has no troops to mobilize now.

According to the current estimates of the military staff, without a division, it would be impossible to annihilate the Sichuan Army head-on, according to their calculations.

It’s not that the Sichuan Army has tens of thousands of troops, but that Myitkyina has a large amount of supplies.

Those supplies and ammunition were enough for the Sichuan Army to sustain for several months, and it was not easy to cross the Irrawaddy River.

The supplies seized in Lashio were barely enough to sustain the daily use of four divisions.

The 56th Division in particular suffered heavy losses, and their heavy artillery regiment urgently needed to be rebuilt.

This means that the material situation can only be barely balanced.

If a large-scale war breaks out in Myitkyina, it will mean that the offensive in southwestern Yunnan will be delayed.

However, in Myitkyina, the Allies would certainly not sit idly by and watch them attack.

According to intelligence, the Sichuan Army Corps in Myitkyina was directly under the Allied Command and was highly valued by General Stilwell.

They even provided a large amount of military aid to support Myitkyina.

The intelligence also revealed in detail that this batch of military aid included a large number of heavy tanks and heavy artillery.

It looked like they were going to transform the Sichuan Army into a standard U.S. military regiment.

So, Kawabe Masazo hesitated.

If we continue to attack, we may end up in a strategic stalemate.

The Japanese army's logistical supplies were no match for the Allied forces.

In this situation, the Japanese army will definitely be the last to collapse.

So he had to find another way, another solution, preferably to cut off the Sichuan Army's supply route.

In this case, Myitkyina will be an isolated army. After a long time, the morale of the army will be weakened and it will be easy to capture it.

Thinking of this, Hebian Zhengsan paced back and forth in the office, looking at the map from time to time.

"Commander, the Intelligence Department sent a telegram saying that the Sichuan Army's replacement battalion stationed in Zenda suddenly disappeared a few days ago. It is suspected that they crossed the Nujiang River to support Myitkyina."

At this time, the intelligence staff came in, holding a telegram and speaking.

"How many people are there?" asked Kawabe Masazo.

"No less than two thousand people."

Since the rise of the Sichuan Army, the Japanese Army's intelligence department began to collect intelligence about the Sichuan Army and investigated Cun Yunsheng's life in detail.

The Japanese army has always taken their opponents very seriously, so in a very short period of time, they had already figured out everything about the Sichuan Army.

Even the Sichuan Army's supplementary battalion left in Zenda knew about it.

After hearing the words of the intelligence officer, Hebian Zhengsan sighed. With these two thousand people, Myitkyina would probably be even more difficult to capture.

"It seems that we can only attack Imphal first and cut off the logistical supply of the Sichuan Army Corps, so as to avoid a strategic stalemate."

After a long time, Kawabe Masamitsu finally made up his mind to order the 18th Division, which was resting in Mandalay, to move westward immediately and attack Imphal.

He wanted to take advantage of the British army's unstable foothold and march into India in one go.

Upon receiving the order, Lieutenant General Mutaguchi Ren, commander of the 18th Division, took a look at the telegram, showed a cruel smile, and immediately issued an order to attack Imphal.

He also believed that instead of meaninglessly wasting manpower and limited supplies in Myitkyina, it would be better to concentrate forces to occupy Imphal and completely cut off the Sichuan Army's logistical supplies.

Without logistical supplies, no matter how powerful the weapons and equipment are, they will ultimately be no better than a firewood stick.

After all, without ammunition, we can only watch helplessly.

On the other side, Long Wenjian and others finally brought the replenishment battalion back to Myitkyina after three days of trekking.

When the long team poured into Myitkyina, Cun Yunsheng and others were stunned.

"Commander, is this the replenishment battalion?" Meng Fanle looked at the team in front of him, turned his head and asked in disbelief.

"Don't ask me, I don't know either. Didn't we only leave three to five hundred people behind when we left?" Cun Yunsheng shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.

The reason why the supplementary battalion was left behind at that time was just in case. If the Sichuan Army suffered heavy losses and retreated to Zenda, the three to five hundred people in the supplementary battalion could quickly restore the combat effectiveness of the Sichuan Army.

It doesn’t have to be like the original story, where only twelve people are left in the end.

"Let Xing Jiuhong come over. He should be able to give me a reasonable explanation." Not long after, Long Wenjian and Xing Jiuhong came to Cun Yunsheng.

"Commander, I haven't seen you for just a few months. You have led the Sichuan Army to win victory after victory. As a member of the Sichuan Army, I feel particularly proud." As soon as they met, Xing Jiuhong first stood at attention and saluted, and then praised.

"Okay, okay, stop flattering me. I want to ask you how many people are there in the replenishment battalion now?" Cun Yunsheng asked him to stop talking nonsense and asked the most crucial question directly.

How many people are there in the replenishment battalion?

"Commander, this is the roster." Xing Jiuhong took out the roster that he had treasured from his chest, and wrapped it with kraft paper to prevent moisture.

Seeing the other party being so careful, Cun Yunsheng nodded secretly, thinking that this kid is worth training.

After taking the roster and opening it, Cun Yunsheng was stunned.

"More than 1,500 people?"

Just a few months?
You doubled it for me?

No, it tripled!
If this lasts for half a year, wouldn’t that be 3,000 people?

Including the more than 3,000 people of the Sichuan Army.

Cough!

How many people are there?
For a moment, Cun Yunsheng also felt that his brain was not enough.

"Yes." Xing Jiuhong said cautiously.

"Commander, is it too much? I don't want to do this either. It's because those defeated soldiers have no food to eat, and I am soft-hearted." Xing Jiuhong wanted to explain something, but was interrupted by Cun Yunsheng.

"Not much, not much, you did a great job." Cun Yunsheng praised.

He was sincerely praising the other party. He originally thought that there would be at most a thousand people, but he didn't expect that the number would far exceed his imagination.

"Commander, are you really not angry?" Xing Jiuhong asked with some concern.

"Don't be angry, you're doing a good job. It just so happens that the Sichuan Army Corps needs to be reorganized..." Before Cun Yunsheng could finish his words, he was interrupted by Long Wenjian.

"Commander, I think you should take a good look. Is this a team of 1,500 people?" Long Wenjian's words made Cun Yunsheng frown slightly.

What do you mean?
Eating free money?
In an instant, Cun Yunsheng's eyes turned cold. What he hated most were those who sucked the blood of soldiers and drew salaries without doing anything.

Perhaps knowing what Cun Yunsheng was thinking, Long Wenjian quickly spoke.

"Look, this long dragon-like team definitely has more than 1,500 people. There are probably more than 2,000 of them."

Upon hearing this, Cun Yunsheng was stunned, and Meng Fanle was also dumbfounded.

Two thousand people?
How come there are more than the roster?

Xing Jiuhong looked aggrieved, and then explained the reasons in detail.

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng couldn't help but shook his head.

It has been several hundred miles since Chanda got here, and the roads are all mountainous. He did not expect that these defeated soldiers would follow him just for food and some money.

"Commander, what should we do? Should we drive all these people away?" Xing Jiuhong asked nervously.

He was afraid that Cun Yunsheng would get angry and drive all these people away. How would he face these defeated soldiers then?
"Why should we drive them away? As long as they meet the Sichuan Army's recruitment requirements, we will take them all."

“As for those who do not meet the requirements but are willing to stay, I will arrange a job for them so they will not starve to death. For those who do not want to stay, I will give each of them five dollars for travel expenses and let them go back.” It was the previous British military base that gave him a lot of gold and silver. Otherwise, with so many people, the military pay alone would be a considerable sum.

Otherwise, Cun Yunsheng would probably have to find a way to sell weapons to make money.

The Americans won't pay him a salary, and it would be good enough if they could give him weapons and equipment.

Therefore, we have to find a way to pay the military salaries ourselves.

"Sir, can you give me a gun so that I can go to the battlefield to fight the Japanese?" At this time, the little bookworm rushed over and shouted loudly.

If the guards hadn't stopped him, he would have rushed right in front of me.

Xing Jiuhong was even more frightened and his face turned pale.

Only Cun Yunsheng's eyes lit up when he saw the little bookworm speaking.

I didn't expect this guy to follow along.

"Who is he?" Cun Yunsheng asked, pretending not to know.

"He, his name is Little Bookworm, he's a student and he insisted on fighting... I ignored him and he followed me here on his own. He drank dew when he was thirsty and ate leaves when he was hungry." Xing Jiuhong explained with a tingling scalp.

He really regretted it now. If he had known earlier, he would have knocked this guy out and left him in Zenda.

"Let him come over." Cun Yunsheng nodded, and then asked the guards to let him go.

When he came in front of Cun Yunsheng, the little bookworm was not at all timid. Instead, his eyes lit up and he spoke loudly.

"Are you their superior? Can you give me a gun? I want to go to the front line to fight the Japanese."

"People will die in war." Cun Yunsheng asked with a smile.

"I'm not afraid of death, I'm just afraid that my death won't be glorious enough." The little bookworm's voice became louder.

"That's right, but what kind of death do you think can be considered a heroic one?" Cun Yunsheng continued to ask.

In the original book, the character he admired most was this little bookworm.

Although the little bookworm is a student and looks silly, the exile of hundreds and thousands of miles has enabled him to see many things clearly and understand many things.

But he still refused to give up his persistence.

He never gave up until the last moment of his life.

Even Long Wenjian, who is always sharp-tongued, had to admit it.

He couldn't win the argument.

That's why Long Wenjian didn't allow anyone to equip him with a gun, with the intention of driving him away.

Who knew that this guy would fulfill his promise with his life.

At that moment, Long Wenjian was truly deeply moved.

"Of course, I will hold the explosive pack and die together with the Japanese." The little bookworm said with great ambition.

He thought this was the most spectacular way to die.

"But, in that case, you can only kill three or five Japanese soldiers. This is not very spectacular. But many of my subordinates have killed more than a dozen Japanese soldiers with their own hands." Cun Yunsheng's words instantly confused the little bookworm, and he didn't know how to answer.

　The fifth update! It could have been earlier, mainly because I wanted to think more about the character of Little Bookworm!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)