Chapter 13: The Beauty in Distress

  Chaha'er, a remote county town.

  Yang Junran has finally found a bit of the feeling of being the king of the mountain, everything here is decided by himself.

  This is in line with Yang Junran's character, if he were to be arranged for some superiors to lead, I'm afraid the Japanese army hadn't even arrived yet and Yang Junran would have already fought with his superior.

  The people in the county town have regained their calm and are still busy with their own affairs.

  Yang Junran now has eight infantry regiments, two mechanized artillery regiments, one mountain artillery regiment, one howitzer regiment and one machine gun regiment under his command.

  Moreover, there are still a considerable number of weapons and ammunition in the arsenal, which can last for some time.

  Commanding such a team, Yang Junran was very pleased.

  "Chief of Staff Fang, bring over the map." Yang Junran said with a smile from his seat to Fang Hanchen not far away.

  Fang Hanqin nodded and walked over with a nearby map in hand.

  The capture of Deng Ziyong was one of Yang Junran's most satisfying achievements, not only did he gain troops and the county seat, but also a clear understanding of the Japanese army's deployment in the surrounding areas.

  Yang Junran, who had been idle for a while, was very uncomfortable. Now that Fang Hanchen had brought the map, he was preparing to take his men out and fight against the Japanese army.

  "Commander, according to the situation provided by Deng Yingchang, it seems that a county town not far from here is about to transport a batch of grain to the front line. The distance from here is still some way off. Should we dispatch troops to attack? Our current military strength is considerable and we can definitely spare a portion of our troops for battle." Fang Hanqin knew Yang Junran would definitely want to go into battle, so he put forward his own suggestion.

  Yang Junran looked at the map, this is all a nomadic area, the Japanese army has now concentrated its forces in several county towns and the intersection of Outer Mongolia and Chahar Province, as for the small county town he was guarding, it's estimated that the Japanese army wouldn't even bother to take a look.

  "You arrange it, let the second team prepare, and follow me to set out tomorrow." Yang Junran said to Fang Hanchen while looking at the map.

  Fang Hanjin bowed respectfully and walked out towards the outside.

  Fortunately, Yang Junran had learned map-reading in military school; otherwise he wouldn't have even understood the basic questions.

  Even so, looking at the traditional Chinese characters of the county town's name, Yang Junran still felt a big headache.

  Yang Junran had his own troubles, and the Japanese army had its own troubles too.

  The biggest headache now is Lieutenant Colonel Iwata Fumizo of the Divisional Search Unit. Since the Chinese side reported the annihilation of Inoue Daichi's detachment, the commander of the 26th Division of the Mongolian Garrison Army, Lieutenant General Shirakawa, was extremely angry and specifically ordered the Divisional Search Unit to find this Chinese force, otherwise they would be severely punished.

  Under helplessness, Lieutenant Colonel Fumizo Iwata could only lead his own search troops to look for the remnants of the Chinese army everywhere.

  The life here is better than that in Zhangjiakou. Since arriving here, Iwata Bunzo can't wait to find the Chinese troops as soon as possible.

  However, in the face of the endless grasslands, Lieutenant Colonel Yoshisuke Yamada was at a loss for what to do.

  Even in the previous period of time, a small team under his subordinate, because mistakenly entered into the Lin Tara Desert, just never came back.

  Iwata Fumizo was quite tired of such a life, but he had no choice but to carry out the commander's orders.

  Looking out at the wind and sand, Iwata Bunzo knew that today would be a tough day.

  "Captain, a mountainous area has been discovered not far ahead. Shall we go and have some fun?" Several Japanese soldiers walked over to say to Iwata Bunzo.

  Fumio Iwata finally cracked a smile on his face, holding his southern-style handgun and walked out towards the outside.

  A force of over a hundred men, led by Iwata Bunzō, quickly marched towards the mountainous area ahead.

  The Japanese army was still very active at this time, and their so-called "happiness" meant that they could burn, kill and loot at will.

  Such temptation can make the Japanese army's actions extremely swift.

  Before long, they entered the mountainous area, and the distant villages could already be vaguely seen.

  Iwata Bunsan was extremely excited, as if he had seen a golden child, and hastily ordered his troops to open the road towards Yamamura.

  Several Japanese soldiers, proudly carrying rifles, walked at the front of the column.

  Bang bang, after a few gunshots, several Japanese soldiers in front had already fallen to the ground.

  Iwata Fumizo quickly fell to the ground, but he didn't think that he would be attacked here.

  "Kill them all!" Tatsumi Iwata swung his military sword and shouted loudly.

  He thought that as long as his troops charged forward, they could solve the current problem.

  The distant light machine gun had quickly fired up, and several charging Japanese soldiers all fell under the machine gun fire.

  "Fire, eight rounds." Iwata Bunsan cursed loudly as he heard the sound of machine guns.

  He clearly knew the shortcomings of the Chinese-made Czech-style light machine gun, and the twenty rounds of ammunition were simply not enough to sustain continuous fire.

  But generally elite troops use machine guns in bursts, as long as they don't rush to the front of the trenches, no one will fire continuously.

  The current situation has already indicated that this is an elite troop.

  The machine gun's burst of fire continued, several charging soldiers had already become the shooter's achievement.

  Iwata Bunsan realized that he had to retreat immediately, otherwise once the remaining troops were alerted, his small force would likely be annihilated by the enemy.

  "Retreat, retreat immediately." Iwata Bunzō gave a swift order.

  Under his orders, the Japanese army began to disperse and retreat towards the rear.

  Looking far away at the mountainous area, Iwata Bunzo smiled with satisfaction.

  "Yaoxi." Toshizo Iwata said softly and began to contact the division headquarters.

  Chahar Province, with Zhangjiakou as the provincial capital, is now garrisoned by the headquarters of the Mongolian Garrison Army and the 26th Division.

  Since the news of the annihilation of Inoue Daichi's unit spread, Lieutenant General Hasumi Kika, the highest commander of the Mongolian Garrison Army, had already begun to send several reprimands to Lieutenant General Uehara Kenzō, demanding that the 26th Division must eliminate the Chinese forces in Chahar and wash away their shame.

  The entire Japanese army is now in a victorious position, and even a large unit of the Japanese army within Shanxi province can chase after an entire Chinese division.

  Here is the translation:

  It turned out that an entire battalion was annihilated here, which made Lieutenant General Renzō Kaneko extremely unhappy.

  The unhappy consequence was that the commander of the 26th Division was constantly reprimanded.

  This made Hou Guan Chunzhong extremely depressed and constantly vented his anger on his subordinates.

  "Division Commander, search party Iwata Bunzo has contacted us. They are in a mountainous area and have discovered an elite Chinese unit. The exact number of troops is still being scouted." Division Chief of Staff Shiraishi Shigefusa walked over and said to Ushiro Jun.

  Hou Guan Chun coldly smiled as he looked at the map, and said to Bai Yin Chong Er: "Send a telegram to the 11th Independent Infantry Regiment, let General Senri Kachin immediately dispatch troops, and have them annihilate this branch of the Japanese army. They must be completely eliminated within Chahar Province."

  Bai Yinzhong listened for a while and then let out a loud "Hai!" before walking out towards the radio station outside.

  Yang Junran, who was still in the county town, was thinking about tomorrow's action.

  Although Zhou Yulan's mountainous area is not very far from here, there are also exchanges between each other.

  But since then, Yang Junran had never visited Zhou Yulan again.

  One is Yang Junran's busy schedule in the county town, and another reason is that Yang Junran does not want to let those women look at him coldly again.

  Yang Junran is currently playing with his Type 56 assault rifle in his command center, preparing to install a sniper scope on it so that he can shoot even farther.

  After several studies, Yang Junran found that he didn't have this ability.

  "Commander, something's wrong." A worried voice came from outside.

  Yang Junran turned his head and saw it was Xia Ke, a staff officer from the headquarters.

  "What's wrong? Why so flustered." Yang Junran said with a yawn as he sat down in the chair.

  "According to the scouts' report, the Japanese army is gathering its forces and a considerable number of devils have been withdrawn from a county town not far from here. It seems that the Japanese are going to take some major action, I wonder if it's aimed at us."

  Yang Junran quickly stood up and walked in front of the map.

  It seems unlikely that the Japanese army will come and attack here judging from the troops being withdrawn from surrounding counties.

  Although there are many anti-Japanese armed forces here, only two forces, mine and Zhou Yulan's, pose a threat to the Japanese army.

  It's relatively secluded here and won't be discovered for a while, but Zhou Yulan's place is different.

  "Immediately dispatch scouts to monitor the Japanese army's actions and report back immediately if there are any situations." Yang Junran looked at Xia Ke, hastily issuing orders.

  As soon as Xia received the order, she quickly ran outwards.

  Just after Xia Ke left, Fang Hanqin and Deng Ziyong also walked over.

  "Commander Yang, Captain Deng has just received an order from the Japanese army and immediately reported it to us." Fang Hanchen walked in and said to Yang Junran.

  When Yang Junran attacked the county town, he made almost no noise at all.

  The Japanese army still did not know that this remote county town had been occupied by Yang Junran.

  Yang Junran wouldn't be foolish enough to spread it everywhere, I have already occupied your XX County City, you'd better come and take a look.

  "Commander Yang, the Japanese army seems to be taking action. They have withdrawn troops from several county towns and ordered the Mongolian armies in each county town to hold their ground firmly and provide support to the front-line Japanese troops at any time." Deng Ziyong saw Yang Junran's gaze and immediately reported what he knew.

  "I already know about this matter, the Japanese army is likely to attack Zhou Yulan's mountainous area. Hanqin, immediately gather a few regimental commanders over here, I want to hold a meeting to discuss what we should do. After all, their place and our place have a good relationship, we can't not send reinforcements." Yang Junran rolled up the map on the table and said to Fang Hanqin beside him.

  Fang Hanqin nodded and walked out towards the outside.

  Deng Ziyong and Yang Junran walked into a conference room on one side.