Chapter 72: Prisoner of War

  The headquarters of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army.

  Lin Maoqing's face was filled with helplessness, the last battle had already caused heavy casualties to his troops, and now the division commander's telegram made Lin Maoqing at a loss.

  Maeda Toshiie let Hayashi Mōshin break through on his own, which undoubtedly meant certain death for him.

  The 16th Division now has less than three thousand people, wanting to break through is simply a fantasy.

  Chinese troops also suffered heavy casualties, but after the arrival of reinforcements, they had cut off the last hope of the 16th Brigade.

  "Commander, the Japanese troops have surrounded us." The chief of staff walked in from outside and said to Lin Maoqing.

  Lin Maoqing furrowed his brow and stared at the telegram intently, but his heart was hesitant.

  "Order the troops to rest and regroup, launch an attack at 9:00 in the morning, and break through as much as possible." Lin Maoqing said helplessly.

  The chief of staff took a look and walked out towards the outside.

  The troops of the First and Fourth Divisions have assembled together.

  The two traveling troops now have less than six thousand people.

  Especially on the first trip, many wounded people have been urgently transported to the rear.

  In the temporary command center, the officers have gathered together.

  Combining the lessons of last time, the troops of the First and Fourth Brigades were no longer lined up in a single line, but instead set up three lines of defense.

  "Orderly, pass the order down. Regardless of whether it's the 4th Regiment or the 1st Regiment, all artillery will open fire immediately and give those Japanese troops a good thrashing." Due to inhaling too much toxic gas, Kang Lianqin was urgently transported to the rear, and Xu Dachang, the regiment commander of the 4th Regiment, temporarily took over command of both regiments.

  The deputy commander of the First Division, Jin Mingcheng, and the deputy commander of the Fourth Division, Ji Quan, assisted Xu Da in command.

  "Your Honor." The guards outside had already shouted out.

  Three people quickly walked out to greet Yang Junran's arrival.

  Yang Junran walked into the command center and only then did he discover that Kang Lianqin was no longer there.

  "Where did Mr. Kang go?" Yang Junran's face was a bit flustered as he hastily asked.

  "The Japanese army used poison gas bombs to attack, our troops suffered heavy casualties, and the regiment commander personally went to the front line, as a result, he also inhaled the toxic gas and has been sent to the rear for medical treatment." Jin Mingcheng replied quickly.

  Yang Junran sat on the chair with a pale face.

  He knew that the Japanese army used poison gas bombs and would certainly bring great casualties to his own troops, after all, his own troops did not have any gas masks.

  "Zhang Junzhe." Yang Junran shouted loudly towards the outside.

  "Arrived." Zhang Junzhe quickly ran in and said.

  "You bring armored troops, use trucks to transport toxic gas bombs into the city, and speed is crucial." Yang Junran gave orders quickly.

  "Yes, sir." Zhang Junzhe bowed and ran out towards the outside.

  "Connect the artillery position and let Long Yan's artillery be on standby." Yang Junran said, looking at Xu Da beside him.

  An aide nearby quickly got through on the phone, connecting with Long Yan's artillery position.

  And in the second and third trips, fierce battles broke out again.

  Two light battalions of the 16th Brigade have arrived here.

  And launched an unexpected attack on two travelers, which was not anticipated by Fang Hanqin.

  Fortunately, however, the two light detachments did not carry heavy weapons, and after the troops reacted, the Japanese army made no progress at all.

  "The third and fourth battalions launched a swift attack on the Japanese army, and must end the battle before noon. The guard battalion will continue to sweep the battlefield and eliminate the remaining Japanese troops." Fang Hanqin said coldly, looking at the Japanese prisoners of war beside him.

  Several prisoners of war stared at their own eyes, apparently unwilling to admit that they had already failed.

  Among the prisoners of war was Major General Suzuki Yoshinori, commander of the 4th Brigade.

  He was the most unlucky one. After receiving a telegram from his division commander, Suzuki Yoshinori quickly led his brigade staff to rush to the division headquarters.

  As a result, his own division commander did not see it, but saw the Chinese troops instead.

  It was inevitable that Suzuki Yoshinori became a prisoner of war of the Chinese troops.

  Chahar, Zhangjiakou.

  In the headquarters of the garrison troops in Mongolia, Lianzhu frowned and looked at the map with displeasure.

  He had received a report from the air force, but he couldn't understand why the 8th Division was fighting with Chinese troops.

  "Commander, there is still no response. I have ordered a unit of the Mongolian army to quickly investigate in the county town. Since the 8th Division does not belong to our formation, we are unable to contact the regimental level radio station." Chief of Staff Ishimoto Inosuke walked in and said to Renzō Hasumi.

  Lotus sat on the chair, but her face turned gloomy.

  He was afraid that something unexpected would happen to the Eighth Division, in which case his position as commander and even his own head might not be secure.

  "Will they devour the 8th Division?" Renzo Tanaka asked his chief of staff.

  Ishimoto Tora furrowed his brow, hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said: "It's difficult, at least in the short term, it is absolutely impossible to solve the 8th Division."

  Lotus Marsh nodded and stood up, saying: "You immediately send a telegram to the Mongolian army besieging the mountainous area, asking them to abandon their siege of the mountainous area and immediately reinforce the 8th Division. The safety of the 8th Division must be guaranteed, even if it means giving up this attack."

  "Yes, sir."

  After seeing Ishimoto Inosuke leave, Renjo's hands and feet suddenly turned cold, he was afraid that if the fate of the 8th Division was the same as the 2nd Mixed Brigade, his doomsday would really come.

  If the 8th Division were to be annihilated here, Tokyo would never forgive him.

  16th Army Corps Headquarters

  After Hayashi Muku sent several telegrams to Terauchi Hisaichi in succession without success, Lin Maqing had no choice but to overstep his authority and send a telegram for help directly to the Kwantung Army headquarters.

  Looking at the vast map, Lin Maoqing couldn't help but feel worried.

  If his own troops were annihilated, he would likely be subject to military sanctions even if he managed to escape alive.

  The most important thing is that Lin Maoqing was still unclear whether he could safely break through.

  "Chief of Staff, how is the preparation of the troops going?" Lin Maoqing said, looking at the Chief of Staff beside him.

  The Chief of Staff immediately replied: "Already prepared, each squadron has strengthened a lot of machine guns and artillery."

  Lin Maoqing revealed a hint of a smile, after all he believed in his own troops and still had the strength for one more battle.

  Just then, there was a cannon shot outside.

  Infantry gun and mortar.

  "Mountain artillery and field artillery."

  The chief of staff beside him exclaimed in alarm.

  With the words of the chief of staff, the entire Japanese army position was subjected to a devastating blow.

  The most important point is that after the artillery fire, Chinese troops also used poison gas shells.

  In a short while, painful groans were heard from the Japanese army's position.

  However, the Japanese had gas masks and the gas shells did not cause them much harm, only creating a bit of confusion.

  The shells were still firing, Lin Maoqing and the chief of staff ran out with gas masks, wanting to stabilize the military.

  But outside was already in a state of utter chaos and completely beyond control, with Chinese artillery continuing to fire.

  After a full 30 minutes of artillery bombardment, waiting for the smoke to slowly disperse, the Chinese troops began their attack under the cover of tanks.

  Lin Maoqing had already fainted, as shrapnel had scratched his gas mask and caused him to inhale a large amount of toxic gas.

  Several Japanese soldiers carried Lin Maoqing, trying to take advantage of the chaos to break out, but were all shot and killed by tank machine guns.

  Yang Junran held up his binoculars and looked at the distant battle, and couldn't help but feel a little displeased.

  The tank was fighting completely on its own and didn't even know about the infantry hiding behind it.

  While infantry also acted alone, they did not know how to cover tanks and use tanks to cover themselves.

  Although the troops made progress, they did not coordinate with each other in battle.

  This team has just started and they need a lot of training.

  "Commander Xu, this is handed over to you. After the battle, make sure to thoroughly clean up the battlefield. Japanese prisoners of war must be handled properly. If there is resistance, kill them directly. Also, not a single heavily wounded Japanese soldier should be left alive." Yang Junran turned around and said to Xu Da, after all, there were still many things waiting for him.

  Xu Da quickly walked over and saluted, saying: "Yes, Master."

  Yang Junran revealed a faint smile, riding his warhorse, galloping towards the county town.

  At noon, in the county town.

  All around were wounded men, and even on the streets there were quite a few wounded men.

  The medical soldiers of each brigade were busy dealing with the wounded and treating the wounds of the lightly injured.

  The seriously wounded were all concentrated outside the city and treated by captured Japanese military doctors.

  "Commander, can these Japanese girls really do it? If they take action, our brothers will be done for." The cavalry regiment commander, Liang Fei, said standing beside Yang Junran.

  Yang Junran furrowed his brow, now only the captured Japanese army division's medical team could complete these tasks.

  It's impossible that nothing unexpected happened. Several Japanese military nurses killed wounded soldiers with surgical knives while treating them.

  Yang Junran had no choice but to rely on Japanese military doctors since there were no such professional talents in his own unit.

  However, for these Japanese military medical personnel, Chu Tianming had a way to deal with them.

  The captured Maeda Toshi has been brought over by Yang Junran, and this is what these Japanese medical personnel are doing. Yang Junran will operate on Maeda Toshi.

  Looking at their own instructor, these medical staff were indeed honest.

  Especially the three knife wounds on Toshiyuki Maeda's body made medical staff very worried, and they could only follow Yang Junran's requirements.

  "He's going to die from bleeding like this, please let me through, I'll help the commander stop the bleeding first." A very beautiful Japanese female doctor walked over and said to the guard beside him.

  The guards wouldn't let her pass and used their bodies to block the female doctor.

  Yang Junran stood by, coldly staring at this Japanese female doctor who spoke fluent Chinese.

  "Give this old devil some medicine, he's still useful to us." Yang Junran said to the guard beside him.

  The guard nodded and walked over with hemostatic medicine, directly applying it to Toshiyuki Maeda's body.

  Looking at her team leader, the female doctor reluctantly walked in.

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