Chapter 158: Welcoming Stilwell with Ruins! (rd update!)
"The people in the city have suffered." Zhu Maoqin couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Krupp who had hung up the phone.

Hearing this, Krupp looked at the other party unexpectedly and said lightly.

"It seems that Captain Zhu hasn't been cheated badly enough by the natives."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Maoqin chose to shut up immediately.

Because it reminded him of the time when he was badly cheated by the natives.

Emotionally speaking, Myanmar suffered from British colonization for hundreds of years, and it is indeed worth celebrating that it can now get rid of colonialism.

But compared to the British army, the Japanese army was even more rotten.

What's more, they have an indelible blood feud with the Japanese army.

They would have no good feelings towards the natives who stood on the side of the Japanese army.

Not to mention, some troops were tricked by the natives to the point of vomiting blood.

The fall of Lashio was due not only to the sudden attack by the Japanese army, but also to the tip-off from the indigenous people.

Therefore, Krupp's words made Zhu Maoqin lose the last bit of sympathy he had.

Instead of sympathizing with these natives, it is better to think more about the expeditionary soldiers who are buried in foreign lands.

"Let the artillery brothers work hard and use up the shells as soon as possible." Krupp looked at Zhu Maoqin and consoled him.

"Oh, I see."

Some of the artillerymen in the artillery battalion he brought had experienced this feeling of endless fighting last time in Myitkyina.

However, some of the new recruits probably couldn't stand being fired at so many shells at such a high intensity for the first time.

But what he was more worried about was Master Yu's artillery camp.

This was the first time they experienced this kind of treatment that they could never finish.

"Isn't it over yet? We've been fighting for an hour, right?" At the 155mm howitzer position, an artilleryman from the Yu Division's artillery battalion put down the shells they had just carried together and said tiredly.

A shell weighs about 40 kilograms and can barely be lifted by one person.

But you can't hold on for long before you become exhausted and out of breath.

Usually two people work together to lift the cannonball, which saves energy.

Even so, after an hour, I was so tired that I didn't want to move at all.

No wonder people always say that infantrymen die from running themselves to death, and artillerymen die from exhaustion.

This artillery is really not something that ordinary people can do.

"It's been at least an hour, and the barrel has been cooled down with cold water several times. If it continues like this, the barrel will be ruined." The gunner said with concern.

He has been an artilleryman for some years. When has he ever been so wealthy?

An hour of artillery preparation was really beyond his cognitive ability.

In his opinion, any unit that can prepare artillery fire for half an hour is considered an elite unit.

Even the direct troops did not dare to be so extravagant.

It is rare to see three hundred heavy artillery pieces carrying out uninterrupted bombardment.

"How many shells are left?" the gunner asked again.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a truck coming in the distance, and the infantrymen who had been waiting there began to unload the shells quickly.

Seeing this scene, all the officers and soldiers of the Yu Division’s artillery battalion felt their scalps tingling instantly.

Never finish fighting!
There is no way to finish it!
For a moment, they wanted to cry.

It was the gunner who adjusted his mindset and spoke to everyone.

"Brothers, work harder. It's rare to have such a generous life. Don't give in."

Hearing this, the two artillerymen who were carrying the shells said with bitter faces.

"Captain, I'm not trying to give in, it's just that I can't lift my arms anymore, I'm too tired."

"Yeah, it would be great if the shells could be transported automatically, so we wouldn't have to work so hard."

"What are you thinking about? Move the shells quickly. You probably won't have any food tonight." The gunner said with a tingling scalp as he looked at the boxes of shells piled on the ground.

"Eat? Commander, our hands are shaking like this, how can we still eat tonight?" the artilleryman said with a bitter face.

"Hahahaha, if you have no food, then you have no food. Today I'll let you fight to your heart's content. Just consider it as a meal." The gunner laughed.

All the artillerymen started laughing as well.

Indeed, after being an artilleryman for so long, today was the most enjoyable day.

It wasn't so grand when we were at Nantianmen. Although there were artillery battles from time to time, it was never as exciting as it is today.
When they go back, they will have something to brag about.

"What are you all talking about? The order has come down. If you don't use up all these shells today, you won't have dinner tonight." At this time, a captain came over and conveyed the order from the command center.

Upon hearing this order, all the artillerymen shuddered subconsciously.

At the same time, we were very fortunate that it was the Japanese army that was bombed.

At the Sichuan Army Command, Cun Yunsheng put down his telescope and saw that the density of artillery fire had increased a lot, and he felt relieved.

"Do you still want to use those cannon fodder to consume my artillery shells? I want to see whether he has more cannon fodder or I have more artillery shells." Cun Yunsheng said hatefully.

"Commander, if the bombing continues like this, Lashio City will be reduced to ruins. It will take a lot of energy to rebuild it then." Meng Fanle asked worriedly.

Did he remember to welcome Stilwell at the military parade in Lashio?
Now to greet Stilwell with ruins?
Wouldn’t that old guy be so angry that he died?
"What does reconstruction have to do with us? Leave it to those big Chinese families. It's not our turn to worry about it. All we have to do is take over Lashio." Cun Yunsheng said with a sneer.

Isn't the reason for using 300 heavy artillery pieces to prevent the Japanese army from engaging in street fighting?

Why did the troops stationed in India suffer heavy losses later? Wasn’t it because they were unable to take advantage of their weapons due to the street fighting with the Japanese army?

He would not use such a rigid tactic.

It's not a Chinese city, we would feel sad if it was reduced to ruins.

The foreign city was reduced to ruins, and the British army was the one who felt sad.

What does it have to do with him?
All he had to do was reduce casualties.

Therefore, they would rather bomb Lashio into ruins than engage in street fighting with the Japanese army.

You clearly have the advantage, but you use your disadvantage to fight against others' advantage. Isn't that stupid?
"But, aren't you going to hold a military parade here to welcome Stilwell? How can you welcome him when everything is in ruins?" Meng Fanle asked in surprise.

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng took a look and then sneered.

"Don't the ruins better illustrate the difficulty of this battle? If we don't let Stilwell see these ruins, how can we show how difficult our battle was?"

"If not, how can we ask Stilwell for weapons and equipment?"

Meng Fanle was completely speechless. Those people in Shancheng were eager to welcome him with flowers and applause.

But you turned out to be such a bad person!

Welcoming them with a piece of ruins?

This really doesn't treat people as human beings. "Okay, although Stilwell has a bad temper and is harsh, he is still very reasonable. I believe he will definitely like the scene I arranged for him." Cun Yunsheng said confidently.

Seeing that his own leader said so, he didn't know what to say.

"Tell Stilwell to send some more artillery shells. It's not enough after just two hours of fighting. Tell him to increase the transport volume. The Hump Route is so dangerous that they can fly three round trips a day. Isn't my route safer than the Hump Route?"

"Is this just enough supplies? Are you sending them away to beggars?" Cun Yunsheng said with some dissatisfaction, frowning as he looked at the buildings in the city falling to the ground one after another under the bombardment of heavy artillery.

"Commander, I think you keep bombing with the intention of destroying those 200 artillery pieces." Meng Fan saw through Cun Yunsheng's true thoughts at a glance and couldn't help but sneer.

"I heard that in just a short while, at least 20 or 30 artillery pieces were destroyed."

"Go away, now you're so bold that you dare to ridicule me?" Cun Yunsheng glared at him unhappily.

"How does Krupp do things? There are only 20 or 30 guns, far from 200."

"Are you really planning to scrap all these heavy artillery?" Meng Fanle said with some heartache.

"Why not? They are not mine. Stilwell said that these cannons must be returned after use. Now they have become scrap metal. I don't believe that he will transport them back?" Cun Yunsheng sneered.

"The steel used to cast these cannons is of top quality. It is definitely good stuff for making knives and the like."

"When the time comes, we can have our steel mill take it back, smelt it, and make knives. We can't just sell rice."

"Knives, farm tools, etc. will do."

After hearing Cun Yunsheng's words, Meng Fan was speechless for a while, and asked worriedly.

"Aren't you afraid that Stilwell will get mad? These are 200 heavy artillery pieces. According to the US military standards, three infantry divisions cannot reach this number."

"Getting angry? Isn't this for Lashio?" Cun Yunsheng spread his hands and said helplessly.

"Look, the effect is great. Under the bombardment of 300 heavy artillery pieces, Lashio City was bombed into ruins. We severely damaged the 56th Division and killed the division commander, etc."

"Just based on this victory, there is no way Stilwell would get mad."

Hearing this, Meng Fanle couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

"You have really calculated Stilwell to death. Now he is really suffering in silence."

"You think too much. He will be depressed for a while at most. He won't care too much about two hundred heavy artillery pieces. On the European battlefield, artillery pieces are counted in the thousands. A large-scale battle involves tens of thousands of artillery pieces. We are just a small group now. It's meaningless to just fight a small battle." Cun Yunsheng said regretfully.

Meng couldn't help but roll his eyes in annoyance, too lazy to talk nonsense with him anymore.

"It's time to let the infantry take the field. The chariot battalion will still take the lead. The third battalion and the sixth battalion will launch attacks from both wings respectively. We have only one goal, to capture Lashio and capture Watanabe Masao alive. I'm going to chop off his head." Cun Yunsheng put down the telescope again, thought for a while, and immediately asked Meng Fanle to order the final general offensive.

We can't really blow Lashio into ruins. We have to leave some buildings for sleeping, holding meetings, etc.

"Yes."

…………

On the other side, Kawabe Masamitsu, who received the telegram from the 56th Division, remained silent.

The last time was tactical guidance, what was the result?
This time he threw away even his last bit of dignity and directly asked for support.

This shows that the situation in Lashio has really reached a point of life and death.

"Take a look." Kawabe Masamitsu handed the telegram to Yahara Hiromichi.

After reading the telegram, Yahara Hiromichi was also incredulous.

How long has it been since the situation came to this?

You know, even the 106th Division back then was not so fast.

The results of it?
The 56th Division was defeated so quickly.

Even though two squadrons are missing, the loss shouldn't be that huge, right?

"There are no less than 300 heavy artillery pieces. With such a large number of pieces, it's no wonder that Watanabe-kun couldn't hold on." Kawabe Masamitsu sighed.

Upon hearing about the three hundred heavy artillery pieces, the rest of the military staff remained silent.

The entire 15th Army did not have so many heavy artillery.

I didn't expect that a small Sichuan Army could come up with so many heavy artillery.

It was indeed beyond their expectations.

The situation has reached this point and is irreversible, so we have to find another way.

"Commander, we can't just sit there and wait for death," said Yahara Hiromichi.

"The reinforcements from Mandalay will not be able to reach Hsipaw in a short time. As soon as they left the city, they were attacked by the indigenous guerrillas and suffered heavy losses."

"These natives have a large amount of American weapons and equipment, and with the convenience of the terrain, the Imperial Army that left the city suffered losses of more than half. Now they have to retreat back into the city and can only hold on." Kawabe Masamitsu knew what the other party meant, but there was really no other way at the moment.

The two Thai army divisions collapsed at the first blow and were completely ineffective.

Instead, it hindered the Japanese troops in the rear, causing their formation to be broken up and many Imperial Army soldiers to be killed by the guerrillas.

This made Kawabe Masazo extremely angry.

He even secretly made up his mind that once Lashio was conquered, he would completely wipe out these indigenous guerrillas.

At the same time, I was very confused as to why these natives had American weapons and equipment?
Could it be that the US military is supporting this behind the scenes?
He must report this situation to the base camp, and the base camp's intelligence department will be responsible for resolving it.

"Then there is only one way left, which is to retreat to Nansang and Dongzhi." Yahara Hiromichi said helplessly.

Plans can’t keep up with changes!
There was absolutely no problem with the plan he had made.

Who would have thought that the Sichuan Army would have no moral principles and mobilize 300 heavy artillery pieces to bombard Lashio indiscriminately, not caring about the buildings in the city at all.

He looked as if he wanted to blow the city into ruins.

In addition, the indigenous guerrillas defeated Mandalay's aid, and his plan completely failed.

"What if we retreat to Nantianmen?" Hebian Zhengsan said somewhat unwillingly.

He didn't want to give up the two squadrons directly, and was still thinking about struggling.

"I'm afraid they are not far from being completely wiped out. Unless we mobilize the remaining three divisions to attack the Sichuan Army Corps regardless of the consequences, it will be difficult to rescue them." Yahara Hiromichi shook his head.

That means they will have to give up large tracts of territory, which is not in line with the base's strategy.

They came to the base camp to plunder resources, not to abandon the place they had occupied with great difficulty.

"Unless the headquarters is willing to send two additional divisions, we have no other options." Yahara Hiromichi's words made everyone realize that the Sichuan Army had become their biggest concern.

But now the Japanese army has spread its wings too wide, and we cannot send them more troops.

"Send a telegram to Watanabe-kun, allowing them to retreat to Dongzhi and rebuild the defense line." Kawabe Masamitsu said with a sigh.

"Hay."

Watanabe Masao received the telegram and looked at it coldly. He knew that there would be no reinforcements.

"Your Excellency the division commander, the Sichuan Army has launched a general offensive." The chief of staff walked in and said in a serious tone.

　There is one more update! Around 9:30 to 10 o'clock!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)