Chapter 3 Morning Star (Seventh)

"Well,." Shirakawa Shiro's mouth moved, but he did not say anything to dissuade him. The Chinese might have set up traps in front of him, but the captain Kawada Kunaki's words were correct. In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy is difficult to play. According to the information provided by the Kanto Army Headquarters, the two Chinese armed forces operating around the Black Stone Village are now only about 500 people, while Kawada Kunaki's command is two-thirds of the standard brigade.

According to the results of the Imperial Japanese army in the pass last year and the previous year, under normal circumstances, a brigade could drive the National Revolutionary Army of two regiments into scattered like ducks to flee. Although the Kawata brigade was temporarily removed from an infantry squadron to support Doron, as long as the remaining power was not performed properly, it would be more than enough to wipe out a main regiment of the National Revolutionary Army.

"Do you still remember what the commander said when he introduced the specific situation of Heishizhai to us before leaving, Shirakawa Jun." Seeing that his combat staff still frowned, the captain Kawada Kunaki added a low sentence, "The total number of the Imperial Army and the Imperial Army in Heishizhai is still far greater than that of Red Beard and Black Beard. However, since February this year, they have almost never left the Black Beard."

"I understand, the captain thinks much more comprehensively than the subordinates." Shirakawa Shirakawa was stunned for a moment, and then nodded in admiration. The gaze of the captain Kawada Kunaki was much longer than that of him, a guy who only knows how to talk about war on paper. The reason why the Japanese Imperial Army in the Black Stone Village did not have the courage to take a step out of the city gate was not because of its lack of strength, but because of its morale being on the verge of collapse. If Kawada Kunaki allowed the Chinese cavalry to provoke repeatedly and repeatedly today, the morale of the entire newly formed East Mongolia dispatched detachment would inevitably suffer a heavy blow. In the future, the imperial soldiers would face the opponent three points shorter before they could fire.

Thinking of this season, Shirakawa Shiro did not dare to interfere with Kanakami Kawata's command anymore, but began to erect all his energy to check for shortcomings and fill in the gaps. "The distance between the main force and the car team is too far, so we need to increase the speed and shorten the distance so that after discovering the enemy situation, we can provide timely support to Captain Suzuki in the Squadron. In addition, the contact between the brigade headquarters and Captain Suzuki must also be strengthened, otherwise if he step into the enemy's encirclement, it will be difficult for us to make tactical adjustments immediately."

"You're saying it." Kawada Kuniha was still very willing to adopt the suggestion that it would not be contrary to his main direction. He nodded and responded loudly, "The Chinese commander has been making a fuss about our marching habits today. Even in order to make his judgment fail, we must make some partial adjustments."

After saying that, he quickly turned around and ordered loudly: "Start up the march, don't let the car out of sight, Ida, you ride a horse to chase Captain Suzuki, let him slow down his speed a little, wait for everyone."

"Hiyi." The Japanese officer and the messenger Ken Ida agreed in unison, instigating the horses used to ride and execute the orders separately.

Kawada Kunaki pondered for a moment and continued to instruct: "Watanabe, you should also go to Captain Suzuki's squadron. If you find the enemy situation, be sure to rush back to report to me as soon as possible."

"Hiyi." The messenger Miji Watanabe also agreed loudly, shaking the reins and running away with the smoke and dust left by the car.

"Machine gun squadron and artillery squadron should also speed up. Get out of the car with the baggage squadron and follow me and push the carriage." In order to ensure that everything is foolproof, Kōaki Kawada simply adjusted the machine gun, artillery and baggage squadron to the state of war, and was ready to step forward at any time to provide effective support to other squadrons.

"Hiyi, my subordinates understand." The officers in charge of leading the heavy machine gunners, artillery and baggage soldiers agreed, but the voice was not very loud, especially Sadaji Ono, the head of the baggage squadron. Thinking about the soldiers under his command, they were about to be called as animals, and they couldn't lift their spirits at all.

"Hit louder, have you forgotten the expectations of His Majesty the Emperor?" Dissatisfied with the officers' reaction, Kōaki Kawada glanced at Sadaji Ono, the head of the baggage unit behind him, and frowned and questioned.

"Hiyi, I understand." Ono Sadaji blushed and straightened his chest, responding with all his strength.

"Let the soldiers persevere for a while. The combat troops are bleeding in the front and their ammunition supply must be guaranteed. After the Chinese conspiracy is crushed, I will ask everyone for credit." Kawada Kunaki glanced at Sadaki Ono again, and said in a relatively gentle tone.

"Hiyi, I will go and supervise the team now, and I will make sure to do my best." Ono Sadaji knew that this was his boss giving him a vaccination, so he quickly saluted again, jumped onto his mount, turned around and ran towards the baggage team dragging far behind.

Although I promised to do it, it was a different situation when I actually operated. Since I had to provide Suzuki Saburo and others with vehicles, all the ammunition and medicine supplies originally loaded on the car were all allocated to the transport carriage. The carriage was already at its limit and suddenly increased by hundreds of kilograms of goods. Not only did the pulling the carriage get sweaty, but even the axle made of steel kept making squeaking protests, as if at some point, it might suddenly break into two pieces.

But there are a lot of stones on the grassland roads in the hilly areas. For cars and pedestrians, half of these stones trapped in the soil basically do not constitute any obstacles. However, for overloaded carriages, each stone that is slightly raised higher than the ground is not big or small. Once it is just a stone that is placed in front of the wheel, the entire wheel will rotate in place. The more you pull the cart, the deeper the wheel sinks in the soil.

"Put the gun on the cart and push the cart with a hand." Sadaki Ono, the head of the baggage squadron, had no choice but to jump off his mount and take the lead in pushing the trapped cart with both hands. Although the Japanese soldiers under his command were unhappy, they had to roll up their arms and sleeves to take the initiative to take on the job of the beast. Even so, the entire baggage team still distanced from the combat troops, and as time went by, the distance was still growing further and further.

"Yamaguchi, go and urge Onoko. If it really doesn't work, let him send two trucks of supplies first, and the rest of the vehicles and supplies will slowly chase the large army." Seeing that the baggage squadron was tending to drag the entire brigade back, Kawada Kunaki frowned and was forced to make adjustments again.

"Hiyi." The messenger surnamed Yamaguchi agreed loudly, and rode his horse toward the baggage squadron that was dragging his legs. After a while, he quickly chased after three and a half-load of carriages.

"Hey, that's it." Kawada Kunaki glanced at the carriage and understood that Sadaji Ono had barely completed his order by relying on reducing the burden on the carriage. This also means that the other carriages had to carry more supplies, and of course they could not speed up faster.

Just as he was wondering whether Captain Sadaji Ono should be called to him and cursed him, forcing him to come up with a more reasonable solution, a manic machine gun sound suddenly came from the front. Then, the explosion of shells also came, shaking the ground under his feet to shake back and forth.

"What's the situation?" Kawada Kunaki was stunned for a moment, and he could no longer care about teaching a lesson. Sadaji Ono, the captain of the baggage squadron who was not working hard. He stared at the front and frowned and asked.

"It should be Suzuki and the others who fought with the Chinese ambush. The sound of machine guns came from our Type 92, and the sound of shells was the Type 97 infantry squirting gun." Shirakawa Shiro listened with his ears and responded loudly.

The Type 92 heavy machine gun is equipped with special aiming equipment to deal with enemy infantry, and its advantages are very obvious. Although the Type 97 infantry curved gun has many advantages such as lightness and shortness, its range is not as good as the Type 92 heavy machine gun. It is simply a dream to suppress the four Type 92 heavy machine guns and two light machine guns in Suzuki Shiro's hand with one cannon.

Thinking of this, Kawada Kunaki pointed his command knife forward without hesitation and issued a battle order loudly, ""Yamaguchi, go and pass the order to the Second Squadron to make them move forward at full speed. Be sure to stick to the Chinese and not give them a chance to escape."

Before the messenger could go far, he quickly issued a second combat order, "The machine gun squadron, artillery squadron, and other combat personnel accelerated, and the Suzuki squadron was waiting for us on the battlefield."

The machine gunmen, artillery and the members of the brigade who were following him were in chaos, and they were on horseback and hiking, and they rushed to the gunshot as quickly as possible. Although they were blocked by the hills, relying on their previous combat experience, the Japanese all over the world could judge that the battlefield was not far away from them, at most one or two thousand meters away. Within twenty minutes, everyone would definitely be able to fight with the cunning Chinese resisters.

The facts also proved the judgement of the Japanese. They had only run less than two hundred meters. Ken Ida, who was ordered to follow the convoy, had already returned on a horse. From a distance, he reported to Kwan Kawada with breathlessness, "The enemy, Captain Suzuki, found the enemy ambush at 2,300 meters in front of the left. The scale was around a squadron, with a Maxim, a mortar and a small number of Czech light machine guns to help."

"Is our army's losses great? Is the Second Squadron already leaning forward?" Kawada Kunaki rode his horse and urged the team to rush forward as soon as possible, while loudly asking about the situation.

"It's not too big. A car was overturned by a Chinese with a mortar. The people on the car were slightly injured and killed, but Captain Suzuki had built a position with the wreckage of the car and insisted on it until the second squadron arrived. There was no problem." The messenger Ken Ida gasped and reported with the greatest voice.

Finally, we had a fight with the Chinese. Everyone no longer had to worry about the desperate cavalry suddenly coming out from the bushes on both sides of the road. In order to deal with the Chinese infantry, the imperial soldiers had dual advantages in psychology and firepower. Even if the other party set up ambush in advance, they could crush them to pieces.

"Well." Kawada Kuniha was completely relieved, frowned, and began to think about how to wipe out the unsightly Chinese resisters in one fell swoop. If the opponent only had one squadron, Saburo Suzuki and others would basically be foolproof. Just wait for the second squadron to arrive, and they could quickly defeat them with their superior force and firepower.

However, defeating such a group of mobs does not show the ability of the newly formed Mongolian dispatched detachment, nor does it reflect the command level of Kawada Kunaki himself. It is best to be able to surround the resisters and solve them once and for all, especially the big black man riding a yellow tall horse who repeatedly comes to make trouble. Kawada Kunaki wishes to catch this person immediately and kill him with a knife.

"Or what, I will lead some of the baggage troops to try to go around the enemy's position." The combat staff member Shirakawa Shiro's thought coincided with Kōaki Kawata, and he came forward and asked in a low voice.

"Bailout troops, they," Kawada Kunaki looked back at the baggage troops that had been left five or six hundred meters away. His expression was very hesitant. Although they were both Kwantung Army, the firepower equipment of the baggage squadron was far from that of the other squadrons, and the soldiers inside were all left by the other squadrons. They were either relatively short or had a dull qualification and were difficult to take on the big role.

"It only takes five minutes to hold the Chinese back." Shirakawa Shiro nodded and explained patiently, "Five minutes are enough for the first and the second two squadrons to catch up from behind the Chinese."

"Yes." Kawada Kunaki thought about it again and solemnly agreed, "Okay, then I'll hand over the baggage squadron to you, let Sadaji Ono stay and lead the rest of the people to guard the supplies on the spot. If you find any abnormal situation, send someone to report to me immediately."

"Thank you for your trust," Shirakawa Shiro shouted excitedly, turned his horse's head, and quickly dispatched troops. Soon, half of the squadron's baggage troops were pulled out, and they ran forward for more than a thousand meters along the grassland dirt road, then turned a corner in the grass, and directly surrounded the rear of the Chinese army.

From the sound of cannons to the present, there were only seven or eight minutes in front of each other. The battle between the offensive and defensive sides had become fierce. The Chinese army ambushed on the hills, relying on the advantage of terrain, poured rows of bullets at the Japanese soldiers from a high position. The Second Squadron of the Japanese arrived quickly put out heavy machine guns, light machine guns, and grenade launchers and fired alternately, making smoke roll on the hills. Both sides were coming and going, and no one was willing to give in easily. The soldiers fell down one by one, dyeing the Chinese land under their feet red with blood.

"It's a little bit of meaning." Kan Aki Kawada, who led the brigade headquarters, looked at the Chinese army's positions with a telescope, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. It was the Eighth Route Army. The flags on the hills had proved their identity. However, the combat effectiveness of this Eighth Route Army was more than a little bit stronger than the "Three-Shot Eighth Route Army" in other places, and it even surpassed the regular army of China to some extent. It was not anxious or panicked, and it was quite well-organized. (Note 1)

It is really satisfying to wipe out such an opponent. He handed the telescope to the Japanese officers beside him. Kawada Kuniha made a quick adjustment, "Yamaguchi, go and tell the artillery, don't rush to cover the firepower, make the Chinese happy for a while, and wait for the detour troops led by Staff Shirakawa to arrive behind the Tujiao Route Army, and we will swallow him in one breath."
Chapter completed!