Chapter 26: What's the point of dying once? (Part 1) (Urgent request for votes)

  Song County, 9 peaks southeast of 30 miles, Japanese army's 36th Brigade headquarters.

  Nakagawa Taisha stood with his hands behind him outside the command center, gazing out at the beautiful scenery of Shōgun-ku's nine peaks. Behind him stood Vice Commander-in-Chief Honda Tsuyoshi and staff officers from the brigade headquarters.

  As soon as it dawned, each search team had already entered the mountain.

  Lieutenant General Nakagawa firmly believed that within half an hour at most, there should be news coming back from the front. Unless these defeated troops of China turned into mice and burrowed underground, they would absolutely not be able to escape the search by the Great Japanese Imperial Army.

  Of course, in order to prevent the Chinese troops from escaping into the mountains, the air force's reconnaissance planes had also taken off early.

  The sudden sound of footsteps came from behind, and Nakagawa Taishō turned around to see a Shōsa military officer walking over with a serious expression. He first gave Nakagawa a crisp salute, then said: "Taishō-sama, the search teams report that there is no sign of the Chinese army in the mountains."

  "What?" Colonel Nakagawa exclaimed in surprise, "No signs of the Chinese army's whereabouts were found?"

  "This is impossible!" Honda Nakasa said decisively, "The Shina army must be hiding in the mountains."

  The lieutenant said: "Commander, each search team has searched the entire mountainous area and indeed did not find any traces of the Chinese army."

  Nakagawa's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he asked Honda Tsutomu, "Honda, have you found anything on the aviation side?"

  "No." Honda shook his head, "According to the reconnaissance plane of the air force, there is no sign of any Chinese military activity within a radius of 200 miles in the Jiufeng Mountain area of Song County. The Chinese army was still in the mountainous area last night, they had neither cars nor trains, unless they grew wings, it would be impossible for them to escape beyond 200 miles in just a few hours!"

  Nakagawa said thoughtfully: "Could it be that the Chinese troops disguised themselves as Imperial Army and thus evaded the search?"

  "It won't work." Honda Tsutomu said with great certainty, "When the Chinese army broke through the encirclement, they disguised themselves as Imperial Army soldiers. We were well-prepared for this and had already made clear markings on our unit flags. The password was also changed three times a day. If the Chinese army dares to impersonate Imperial Army soldiers again, they will certainly be discovered."

  Nakagawa said in a low voice: "That's strange, did the Vietnamese really turn into mice and hide underground?"

  "This is very likely." Honda nodded in agreement, "The reason why the Chinese troops were able to break out of the warehouse was that they had dug a tunnel under Lieutenant General Sakai's command center and then blew it up, causing the 36th Brigade to lose its command and become disorganized. The Chinese took advantage of the chaos and broke through the encirclement."

  Nakagawa Hiro's expression changed slightly, and he immediately ordered: "Order, dispatch more search teams to thoroughly search the nine peaks of Matsue County, do not miss any suspicious place, request the aviation team to expand the reconnaissance range to 300 miles, the 5th Brigade 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion is ready for battle, prepare to pursue at any time."

  "Yes." Honda Katsu suddenly bowed his head and immediately rushed off to transmit the order.

  …………

  Song County, 50 miles northwest of Jiufeng, a certain village.

  The officers and soldiers of the Bao Shan camp did not turn into mice and hide in the ground, nor did they grow wings and fly three hundred miles away. Instead, they marched northwest for over 50 miles overnight and arrived at this village before dawn. At this moment, most of the officers and soldiers of the Bao Shan camp were fast asleep in their houses. It would be a miracle if the little devils could find them in the mountains 50 miles away.

  Last night's thrilling revenge not only hurt the Japanese army but also created an opportunity for the Baoshan camp to advance under cover of darkness.

  As Yu Weihan said, after all, this is the territory of the Chinese people. Although the little devils occupied Shanghai and surrounding counties, and also controlled the areas along the railways and highways, the vast countryside was still the world of the Chinese people. The officers and soldiers of the Baoshan camp received the warmest hospitality in the village.

  The simple and honest villagers not only provided food and drink but also vied with each other to offer their homes for the soldiers to rest.

  The only wealthy Zhao family in the village also invited Yue Weihan to have tea, and the manner was indeed treated as a distinguished guest. However, if it were in peacetime, a lieutenant colonel like Yue Weihan coming to such a small village would indeed be a rare and honored guest.

  In terms of safety, there is no need to worry. Even if the devils discover some clues, the local people will only lead them astray and will not actively inform on them. In the first two years of the war of resistance, there were still few people willing to be traitors, and in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, those who were willing to be traitors were even rarer.

  …………

  Song County Nine Peaks, Tianma Mountain Foot.

  The pale-faced Nakagawa Taisho got off the armored car accompanied by Honda Chusa, and a large group of Japanese officers who had been waiting at the foot of the mountain hurried to greet them.

  "Yamada-kun, still no sign of the Chinese army?" Honda Tsutomu's tone was unpleasant.

  "Yes, still can't find it." Lieutenant Colonel Yamada, who was standing in front, suddenly lowered his head.

  "Preposterous!" Colonel Nakagawa's face turned red with rage and he slapped Lieutenant-Colonel Yamada twice on the ears.

  Captain Yamada was slapped until he saw stars, but he didn't dare show any dissatisfaction. He stood up straight and bowed his head, saying "Hai."

  Honda bowed his head and approached Nakagawa, lowering his voice to say: "General, the search teams have been searching in the mountains for a whole day, not even leaving out the most hidden rock crevices, but still couldn't find any signs of the Chinese army. It can be seen that the Chinese are no longer in this mountain range."

  Nakagawa Taisha said: "If the Shina army has left this mountainous area, where have they gone?"

  "Yes, that's exactly what I don't understand," said Honda with a thoughtful expression. "Except for this mountainous area, there are vast plains stretching out for hundreds of miles in all directions. How could the Chinese army possibly evade detection by our air reconnaissance?"

  Nakagawa suddenly said: "By the way, is there anything unusual about the Chinese village nearby?"

  "Shina village?" Honda Katsu's expression changed slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Does the Major mean to say that the Shina army is hiding in some nearby Shina village?"

  "It's highly likely," Nakagawa Hiroshi said in a low voice. "Immediately dispatch search parties and thoroughly search the nearby Chinese villages."

  "Hai." Honda responded with a single word, and immediately conveyed the order to that group of devil officers. In less than a moment, the various search teams gathered at the foot of Tianma Mountain dispersed and began searching village by village. The entire search lasted less than two hours before news came back.

  Honda stepped forward and stood at attention, saying: "Colonel, the search party reports that a group of Vietnamese soldiers passed through Mae village last night and escaped in a northwesterly direction."

  "Which village?" Colonel Nakagawa frowned and asked, "In which direction?"

  Honda pointed westward and said, "In the northwest of Shosha-gun's Kyuho, about ten miles from here."

  "Northwest?" Colonel Nakagawa pondered, "Could it be... the Chinese army has fled northwest?"

  "It's really hard to say." Honda Tsutomu was also somewhat uncertain, "This bunch of Chinese troops is too cunning, and their commander is especially cunning! The Imperial Japanese Army has already suffered several losses at his hands, and Lieutenant Colonel Takaori of the 68th Regiment is a top graduate of the Imperial Military Academy, but I heard he also suffered a big loss at the hands of this Chinese fox."

  Nakagawa suddenly asked: "Honda, have you ever heard of the Chinese idiom 'sound east and strike west'?"

  "Sound east and strike west?" Honda shook his head, "Never heard of it."

  Nakagawa Taisha said with a smile: "This Chinese idiom is about an ancient Chinese war. One army defended the city, and another army attacked it. The commander of the attacking army chose the west gate as the main direction of attack, but before the attack, he made a big show, pretending to attack the east gate. The commander of the defending army was deceived and transferred his main force to the east gate. As a result, the attacking army took advantage of the emptiness and broke through the west gate."

  Honda said sincerely: "The knowledge of Mr. Taisha is indeed profound, but the culture of China is also vast and profound."

  "Yes, the culture of China is indeed profound and extensive." Nakagawa Hiroshi nodded in agreement, "Two thousand years ago, the famous military strategist 'Sun Tzu' from ancient China wrote 'The Art of War', which remains a great military treatise even today. If you have some free time, Mr. Honda, I recommend taking a look at it - you will likely gain much benefit."

  Honda nodded and said, "General, you mean that the Chinese fleeing to the northwest is just a fake appearance?"

  "That's right, escaping to the northwest is definitely a fake move." Nakagawa Taisho said with great confidence, "The 9 elite divisions of the Great Japanese Imperial Army, with more than 300,000 troops, have divided into two routes and are attacking west and northwest respectively. If the Chinese defeated soldiers flee northwest, wouldn't they be running right into the arms of my two armies?"

  Honda Katsuji said: "Then which direction are the Chinese going to flee?"

  Nakagawa pointed south and immediately said with a ferocious expression: "The true escape direction of this group of Chinese deserters can only be south. Order, each search team to immediately search southward and spare no effort to force the Chinese people in the villages along the way to reveal the whereabouts of the Chinese deserters. Remember, at all costs!"

  "Ah." Honda Takeshi suddenly straightened up, bowed his head, and then turned around and left.