Chapter 54: Top Secret Mission (2)

  The content of page 1 is as follows:

  Headquarters received intelligence that the enemy's transportation team would depart from Lucheng to Licheng on the 15th. In order to annihilate this transportation team, headquarters mobilized a force of one division from the 129th Division to eliminate the enemy's transportation team. As for Li Xinmin and his troops, after consultation between the Chief of Staff and the Commander-in-Chief, it was decided to dispatch them to Zhangjiaping to set up an ambush point along this route, preventing the enemy's transportation team from passing through to Licheng.

  "Captain! Our scouts have found our people in the vicinity of Sunjiazhuang, about a dozen miles away from us. However, we haven't discovered any signs of the enemy yet." The scout who went out to investigate returned and reported back to Li Xinmin.

  "Oh? You said it's around Sunjiacun?" Li Xinmin asked in puzzlement.

  "Yes, Battalion Commander." "Bring that map here!", Li Xinmin took the map handed over by Liu Wentao and let the scout point it out to him.

  "It's right here!", Li Xinmin looked at the spot pointed out by the scout, he nodded. "You continue to scout, closely monitor the enemy's movements!", Li Xinmin ordered.

  "Yes!", "Battalion Commander! What's going on?", Liu Wentao asked in confusion. "Didn't Little Li just say that our main force is active in the Sunjiazhuang area? Look here, now you understand, right?", Li Xinmin pointed to Liu Wentao on the map.

  "It looks like a big fight is going to break out!", Liu Wentao said. "But if there's going to be a big battle, why did they send us here?", Liu Wentao asked with doubt. "Hehe! What? Are you impatient?", Li Xinmin laughed and asked.

  "Can't you hurry up? Stop smiling, Battalion Commander, think of a solution quickly! We can't just stand here and watch others have all the fun! Are we going to stay here and freeze in the northwest wind?", Liu Wentao heard that he didn't have a share in fighting the devils, so he was anxious and kept urging Li Xinmin, asking him to agree to go to Sunjiazhuang to fight the devils.

  "No! We'll keep an eye on it right here!", Li Xinmin said with great certainty.

  "But there are no devils here!", "Look over here," said Li Xinmin, pointing to the map for Liu Wentao.

  "The devils can take two routes from Lucheng to Licheng. The first route is to take the main road, passing through Sunjiachang and arriving at Licheng. The other route is to take the small road, passing through Zhangjialing, which is our location, and arriving at Licheng."

  "What's the big deal? Since the main force has already gathered in Sunjiachang, it means we've already known that the devils will pass through there, how could they possibly come here again?"

  "If the devils want to secretly transport those chemical weapons from our location to Licheng?" Li Xinmin asked back.

  "But even if they come here, there are too few of us here, and we can't eliminate these devils at all!", "The terrain in Zhangjiayuan is complex, which is conducive to our small unit operations. If we were in other locations, we really couldn't stop the devils' main forces, but here, it's what we say that counts, if we hold out against the devils for a while, our support troops will arrive, and we don't have to worry about these at all.", "So that's how it is!", Liu Wentao suddenly understood the headquarters' intention. "It seems that the commander means for us to guard here, if the devils take the main road, then the troops in Sunjiazhuang can intercept them there and wipe them out. If the devils take the small road, then we'll block the devils here and wait for our brother units' support, and we can also eliminate the devils." Liu Wentao said.

  "Not bad! That's it!", said Li Xinmin with a smile.

  "The leader said we must pin them down here, we absolutely cannot let a single devil pass through." "Yes! We absolutely cannot let the devils pass!" Liu Wentao said firmly.

  "We are not well-prepared here, we must strengthen our efforts. You immediately organize people to destroy the highway and bury more landmines on it. Also, prepare more explosives." Li Xinmin gave some more instructions. Liu Wentao was busy leading people to carry out the tasks, while Li Xinmin thought about how to defend against the enemy's poisonous gas bombs here.

  "Company commander! Everything is ready!", Not long after, Liu Wentao organized people to complete all the preparatory work.

  In the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Shōjiro Iida sat at his desk, listening to reports from his subordinates. The atmosphere in the room was very serious, and everyone looked at Shōjiro Iida, waiting for his speech.

  "Gentlemen! Our mission is to successfully transport this batch of weapons to Licheng, supporting the 108th Division's encirclement and annihilation campaign against the Eighth Route Army. This batch of weapons is crucial to whether we can successfully eliminate the Eighth Route Army, so I require you all to be extremely cautious." The Japanese officers sat up straight and listened to his speech, then nodded in agreement one after another.

  The content of page 2 is as follows:

  "This action must be kept secret, along the way our transport team's whereabouts have already been known by the Eighth Route Army, they must be waiting for us on the road, wanting to destroy our weapons." said Kojiro Koteru slowly.

  "So I didn't approve of you leaving today, but instead spread false information that you would be leaving for Licheng from here today. Let those bandits wait slowly in the fields!", "Hahaha!", these devilish officers all burst out laughing.

  "There's an old saying, isn't it 'openly repair the bridge, secretly set up a trap'? We'll use this phrase on them!" "Your Excellency is wise!", also flattered by a Japanese officer. Kojiro Kotera, that cunning little devil, actually succeeded in deceiving the intelligence personnel of the Eighth Route Army, but he didn't think that the leaders of the Eighth Route Army had also left a trick up their sleeve, and in terms of strategy, he was still a bit inferior.

  "Please assign tasks to the commander!" said the Japanese officer.

  "Hmm! We'll depart from here tomorrow afternoon, and if everything goes smoothly, our truck should arrive in Leicheng by 7 pm tomorrow night. However, you all need to be well-prepared, as the Eighth Route Army won't let you pass through easily, so you must be extra vigilant."

  "Yes!", "This time, the plan is for the 16th Division's Kato Detachment and Takagi Detachment to disguise themselves as a transport unit and march along the main road to Licheng. The aim is to attract the attention of the Eighth Route Army and take the opportunity to annihilate the enemy." Lieutenant Colonel Kodera still had the delusion that he could annihilate the Eighth Route Army troops they encountered on the way with just two detachments, unaware that an entire division of the Eighth Route Army was waiting for them at Sunjiazhuang. "Yes!", Major Kato and Major Takagi hastily stood up to answer.

  "The second squadron of the 22nd regiment will take the same route as the original escort team to Licheng. We must be extra careful along the way and not let our guard down," said Kojiro Shirakawa with great solemnity.

  "Yes!", Second Lieutenant Miura and Captain Ishihara, the former commander of the transport squadron's guard unit, immediately stood up to answer.

  "Depart at noon tomorrow! You must all pay attention to keeping this a secret, as this operation is related to the Imperial Army's battle plans for the entire North China region. If we succeed, the threat from the Eighth Route Army will be reduced or eliminated. That will accelerate our occupation of China." Lieutenant General Terauchi repeated his emphasis on the importance of this operation.