Chapter 28: Encirclement Hunting (Part 2) (Urgently Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  Yue Weihan and his men retreated while counterattacking, with Japanese soldiers constantly falling to the ground after being shot. However, soon a serious problem emerged before them.

  "General, I'm out of bullets!" shouted Hua Hanlin as he sprinted forward, panting.

  "We're out of ammo!" Liu Tiezhu panted heavily as he ran.

  Yue Weihan's heart tightened instantly, he was also out of bullets. In other words, from now on, they could only take a beating without being able to fight back. Looking up at the sky, Yue Weihan's mood became even heavier. When the enemy planes arrived, the situation would be even more dire, and it would truly be a dead end!

  "Let's go into the village ahead and hide for a while." Suddenly shouted Hua Hanlin.

  "No way!" Yue Weihan said firmly, "This will harm innocent civilians, and once we enter the village, we really can't escape."

  "What should we do now?" asked Hua Hanlin, who was also panting slightly despite his light body. "We can't keep running forever, can we? Although the Japanese infantry behind us has been temporarily left behind, it won't be long before their trucks and motorcycles find a detour to come back and surround us, and then we'll be done for."

  Yue Weihan didn't even bother to respond and was too lazy to say another useless word.

  Yue Weihan was running as fast as he could, his mouth wide open to gulp in the cold air to relieve his lungs which were about to burst. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew into his mouth, almost choking him to death. When he came to and looked around again, he saw that a fierce gale had already started, and the sky above was covered with dark clouds!

  In an instant, a thread of icy rain fell from the sky and heavily hit Yue Weihan's face.

  In an instant, the fine raindrops were already falling from the sky in a flurry. Although these raindrops were as thin as cow hair, their density was not small. In less than a moment, Yu Weihan and the other two had become drenched chickens. Moreover, with the strong winds blowing all around, people who were desperately running forward were instead blown backward, it was really hopeless.

  "This damned heaven!" Flower Hanlin wailed immediately, "It's all over, it's really dead this time."

  "Hahaha......" Yue Weihan suddenly burst into loud laughter, laughing so hard that tears even streamed down his face.

  Heavens, oh earth! This is truly a case of the heavens not abandoning humanity. The old man in heaven is lending a hand. With these dark clouds gathering and strong winds blowing, those little devils' planes can't take off. And this rain is no small matter either. In less than half an hour, all the roads in Shanghai will be muddy and impassable. Those little devils' trucks and motorcycles will also become useless.

  This little devil thinks he can catch up with them just by relying on his two legs? Dream on! Besides, in a few more hours the sky will be dark, and as soon as it gets dark, if this little devil still dares to chase, then he'll be waiting to get beaten.

  …………

  More than 100 li south of Kunshan.

  The sky was darkening, and heavy rain was pouring down. The main force of the 36th Infantry Regiment was slowly moving north along the muddy road.

  Nakagawa and Honda sat in the armored car with gloomy faces, both of whom were so gloomy that they could frost. This time they were really played by the cunning Chinese opponent. Just a moment ago, Lieutenant General Yoshikazu Kika, the commander of the 9th Division, had sent another telegram, severely reprimanding them!

  It all started several days ago, when the Japanese army that broke out of the warehouse suddenly disappeared after escaping into the Jiufeng Mountain area in Song County. After repeated searches yielded no results, Nakagawa judged that the Japanese army had moved south overnight and immediately led the main force of the regiment to pursue southward!

  This chase went on for several hundred miles, until two days later Nakagawa realized he had been duped!

  He then hastily returned to the Songxian Jiufeng mountainous area, re-searching for the trail of the Zhina army. After much difficulty, he finally found the trail of the Zhina army in a village 50 miles away from the Songxian Jiufeng mountainous area, but five days had already passed by then. He then chased after the fleeing Zhina army, and another two days quickly passed.

  Time has been delayed for so long, that group of Japanese troops is afraid they have already escaped across the Yangtze River, and it's hard to catch up with them again!

  The atmosphere in the carriage was clearly somewhat heavy, and Nakagawa Taisha and Honda Chusa didn't even have the mind to speak now.

  The only sound was the loud roar of the car engine, which was still annoying. Suddenly, without warning, the armored vehicle that was speeding along came to a screeching halt. Nakahara Major General almost bumped into Honda Colonel's chest and immediately burst out in anger: "What the...! Who told you to stop the car?"

  As soon as the words fell, the car door of the armored vehicle had already been opened by Honda Nakasa.

  A lieutenant ran up to the car door and stood at attention, saying: "Colonel, an urgent telegram from Division HQ!"

  Nakagawa's heart skipped a beat, and from the lieutenant's unusual gaze and tone of voice, he sensed that something big had happened. He hastily took the telegram from the lieutenant's hand, read it quickly, and Nakagawa's face suddenly turned deathly pale, without even a hint of blood color left.

  Honda Nakasa on the side was taken aback and exclaimed: "Your Excellency, what's wrong?"

  Nakagawa shook his head woodenly and handed the telegram to Honda Tsutomu, saying, "Honda-kun, you take a look yourself."

  "What? Prince Taka's been shot by a Chinese sniper in Kunshan!?" Honda's face changed instantly after reading the telegram. Although there was no direct evidence, it seemed likely that the Chinese deserters who had escaped were responsible for shooting Prince Taka. Honda had a very bad feeling about this incident.

  His Imperial Highness Toranosuke was born into the imperial family and had an unutterably noble status, and he was also the legitimate nephew of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito.

  If, by any chance, those Japanese soldiers really did assassinate Prince Tsuru, then neither General Nakagawa nor his own person, Honda Goro, would be able to escape the conclusion of seppuku!

  …………

  Shanghai French Concession, a certain hospital's intensive care unit.

  A frail old man lay on the sickbed with his eyes closed, and if it weren't for people who knew him, no one would believe that this unassuming little old man was General Shizuichi Tanaka, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Central China Area Army!

  In fact, Matsui Iwane was not ill at this time. On the contrary, his body was more energetic than ever before. The reason is simple: as a professional soldier, there is no better "miracle medicine" than war, let alone a holy war to conquer China that he had dreamed of for half his life!

  However, a secret telegram from headquarters forced Matsui Iwane to take to his bed.

  The contents of the telegram were simple: General Iwane Matsui, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, wanted to give his nephew, Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, an opportunity to demonstrate his bravery and military prowess. As the de facto supreme commander of the Imperial Japanese Army, Prince Kan'in Kotohito had manipulated army affairs for decades in front of two emperors, and no one dared to disobey his orders. Naturally, General Matsui did not dare either, so he could only lie obediently on his sickbed.

  A light, nimble footstep suddenly startled General Shōsuke Matsumoto awake. Turning his head, a stern-looking junior officer had already rushed in and come to attention at the bedside before handing over a file: "General, an urgent telegram from the temporary headquarters for the capture of Nanjing!"

  Matsui Ishi casually picked up the telegram and suddenly sat up after reading it.

  Matsui Ishizuka immediately got out of bed, his originally dull eyes now shining brightly again. He instructed the lieutenant colonel: "Immediately call Lieutenant Colonel Watanabe of the Special Warfare Brigade and Lieutenant Colonel Sato of the Special High Division, and have them come see me at top speed."

  "Yes sir." The lieutenant colonel bowed his head abruptly and immediately went off to carry out the order.

  Less than two hours later, the commander of the Central China Front Army's direct special forces battalion, Watanabe Shōichi, and the head of the Tokko department, Satō Shōtarō, arrived one after another at Matsui Ishetane's temporary official residence. At this time, Matsui Ishetane had already changed out of his sick clothes and put on a brand new marshal's uniform, where was there even a hint of the frailty that a patient should have?

  "Sato, I need detailed information on the Shan troops and their commanders who are besieging the warehouse. Watanabe, assemble your special forces immediately and be ready to depart at any time!" Matsui Ishizuka gave the order directly.

  Watanabe Shōichi furrowed his brow and asked, "General, I'm being presumptuous in asking this, but are you planning to have our special forces battalion go out and hunt down the leader of China, Chiang?"

  "No." Matsui Ishizuka waved his hand coldly and said, "This time the special warfare team was dispatched urgently, not to let you hunt down the leader of China, Chiang, but to let you surround a cunning Chinese fox."