Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 1018: An empty city is not a plan

Shouichi Terauchi wanted to make a time lag. After capturing Chongqing, he still had time to return to Nanning. He had to do this. It was definitely not a good thing for a main field force of Tang Qiuli, the Chinese devil, to move towards Nanning. He smelled it.

The smell of danger.

Terauchi Shouichi secretly cursed those bastards at the base camp intelligence headquarters for providing the intelligence to the Southern China Expedition Force. They unanimously concluded that when the Imperial Japanese Army troops attacked the China government troops, Tang Qiuli would not help him at all.

Intelligence in the capital Chongqing shows that the conflict between Chiang Kai-shek and Tang Qiuli has risen to an irreconcilable level.

Tang Qiuli had previously escaped an assassination attempt on him by Chiang Kai-shek's cronies, and the situation on the southern battlefield seemed to prove this. There was no intelligence showing that there was any coordinated action between the Chinese government forces and Tang Qiuli's troops.

Even the most basic coordination is out of the question, and both sides seem to be in a state of indifference.

But Juichi Terauchi saw with his experienced experience that every time the Imperial Japanese Army attacked the Chinese government forces, Tang Qiuli's troops would appear on another battlefield. In the 15th Battle of Duyun, Yamashita Fengwen

The fate of the army was this sudden result. At that time, the main force of the dispatched army was besieging the Chinese government troops in Guiyang.

This time, when he was commanding more than 300,000 imperial troops to attack all the way north and approaching Chongqing, the temporary capital of China, Tang Qiuli's troops happened to appear in Nanning again, targeting the hundreds of thousands of imperial troops in Nanning.

, Terauchi Shouichi was not optimistic and believed that this was just a coincidence. This China devil appeared on such a special occasion, and every time he appeared, he would cause great losses to the imperial army. The two sides seemed to have a tacit understanding.

Terauchi Juichi even had deeper thoughts. The base camp regarded the China government as its main opponent. Did it get the wrong target? It should first eliminate the troops of the Chinese devil Tang Qiuli, and then attack Chongqing. This idea has been discussed since the 15th Army.

After the destruction, there was a life in the temple called Shoichi.

Of course, he did not dare to submit this suggestion to the base camp. According to Terauchi Juichi's old friend in the base camp, he privately told him that attacking Chongqing was a strategic decision made by His Majesty the Emperor himself. He even gave up occupying Guangzhou for this purpose.

Try to avoid fighting with Tang Qiuli's troops, first destroy the China government, then deal with Tang Qiuli, and then occupy southern China as an advance base for attacking Southeast Asia.

But this is completely unrealistic. This China devil is like a ghost, hovering over Southern China. I don’t know when it will pounce out and bite the dispatched troops, which means that tens of thousands of imperial soldiers will be shattered.

, to avoid fighting, but unable to escape, the temple's Touichi had no choice but to ask for help from the mainland.

He knew very well that by doing so, he was already weakening his prestige. Since the collapse of the 15th Army and the death of Yamashita Fengwen in the line of duty, there have been heavyweights in the base camp who proposed to start the process of impeaching himself. If Nanning's hundreds of thousands of emperors

The team was wiped out by Tang Qiuli, and the Leizhou Peninsula, Guinan and even the Beibu Gulf were lost. His official position was over, and he could just wait to go home and retire.

Therefore, Temple Shouichi sent telegrams almost several times a day to inquire about the situation in the direction of Nanning. The answers he received were that no major incident had occurred. Tang Qiuli's troops continued to move toward Nanning. No Chinese troops appeared on the Leizhou Peninsula.

This made him unable to feel at ease, and he felt that a large invisible net was covering him in the direction of Nanning.

The anxious Shouichi Terauchi almost forced the Japanese troops marching north to defeat the Chinese government troops who dared to block the attack in the shortest time and as quickly as possible. Xifeng fought for three days. He was not satisfied.

Zunyi, his vanguard's order was that Zunyi must be captured within forty-eight hours.

Xue Yue, who was in Zunyi, was relieved when he learned that the Fourth Army and the 60,000 troops who went for reinforcements had safely withdrawn from the Xifeng Defense Line.

With little hope of withdrawing, a few remnants of the army and a half-beaten Fourth Army could stop the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops who were attacking like a rainbow.

The reason why he stayed in Zunyi and did not retreat to the Loushanguan defense line was entirely to boost the morale of the troops and act as a reassurance. The commander-in-chief did not leave, so the incomplete troops would not panic and appear like this.

It was the same retreat situation when Gu Zhutong was around.

After the remnants of the Fourth Group Army, the Seventh Group Army, the Thirteenth Army, and the Twenty-first Army passed through Zunyi, it was already early in the morning. Xue Yue was beside him, and only a guard regiment was left. He took a car to patrol for the last time.

We visited the deserted ancient city of Zunyi, then left the city and climbed a mountain in the south of the city, looking towards Xifeng.

As far as the eye can see, the mountains and lush jungles of northern Guizhou are all covered with green. A gushing sun rises, and thousands of rays of rays dye the distant mountains and jungles into a light golden yellow. Wherever the mist rises, it can already be seen faintly.

Hearing the sound of cannons, the guard captain beside him reminded: "Commander-in-Chief, the troops have evacuated, shouldn't we leave too?"

Amidst the increasingly clear sound of Japanese artillery, Xue Yue, commander-in-chief of the Southwest Defense Line of the Central Army, left Zunyi and headed towards Loushanguan. Before leaving, he kept looking back at the ancient city of Zunyi, whether it was the guards around him or the staff officers

None of the personnel knew what he was thinking. An hour later, the Japanese vanguard, led by tanks, appeared in the south of Zunyi.

In the eyes of Saburo Suzuki, commander of the vanguard of the Japanese army and commander of the 108th Division, the terrain in Zunyi is much more dangerous than that in Xifeng. The strange thing is that the city gates of Zunyi are closed tightly, just like a tired old man.

, standing silently among the mountains, with no trace of Chinese soldiers or fortifications visible. The entire ancient city was undefended!

Such a situation made Saburo Suzuki suspicious. If he saw the fortifications, bunkers, and the Chinese government soldiers in full formation in Zunyi, Suzuki would not hesitate to order the tank troops to cover the infantry and launch an attack immediately. But

The situation in front of him was too abnormal and too quiet. It was so quiet that Suzuki felt unsure.

Saburo Suzuki gave the order, and the artillery regiment immediately set up positions and prepared to bombard the positions of the Chinese government troops. After receiving the order from the division commander, the artillery regiment captain stared at the bull's eye and used high-power telescopes to carefully examine the terrain south of Zunyi City.

, until my eyes were dazzled, I didn't see where the China government army position mentioned by the division commander was. I only saw mountains full of tall trees, dense jungle, and no target. Where should the artillery fire?

The commander of the Japanese artillery regiment was confused for a while, and after working for more than an hour, he finally constructed a field artillery position. Suzuki telegraphed what he saw to the commander-in-chief, General Touichi Terauchi. Soon, he received a call back, "According to the original plan.

Carry out the attack, don't be fooled by the Chinese tricks, remember, you only have forty-eight hours."

Suzuki was relieved, and the order came, "Order the artillery regiment to immediately bombard, and the tank detachment to enter the attack position." But the call from the commander of the artillery regiment almost made him furious, "Your Excellency, division commander, please give me instructions to bombard the target."

?" "Baga, it's your business to do the idiot's work. You have to blow up the hidden Chinese soldiers."

The fierce artillery fire of the Japanese artillery poured down artillery shells on all the highlands and peaks south of Zunyi City. Clouds of gunpowder smoke rose, and waist-thick trees fell to the ground. After more than an hour of fighting, the so-called targets were covered with gunpowder smoke.

After they dispersed, Suzuki and the Japanese artillery regiment commander did not see a single Chinese government soldier in their binoculars.

Suzuki Division Commander couldn't believe it. Where were the Chinese soldiers hiding? Under such fierce artillery fire, no traces were revealed. What kind of people were they? Just at this moment, the artillery regiment commander called to ask for instructions whether to continue the shelling.

? Suzuki thought about it and gave a decisive order: "Immediately adjust the target of the bombardment, focusing on Zunyi City. The hidden Chinese soldiers must be blown out. Otherwise, when the infantry attacks, they will be suddenly attacked."

The Japanese artillery fired from the outside of Zunyi City to the inside of the city, and then from the inside to the outside of the city. Shells fell at almost every suspicious corner. After such a toss-up, most of the day passed, and it was around three o'clock in the afternoon.

At that time, the commander of the Suzuki Division woke up a little bit.

Especially the Chinese government soldiers, before the arrival of the Imperial Japanese Army, they had already abandoned the city and fled, leaving behind an empty city. Such a thing has never happened before. At least a few fights, it can be considered a battle, Suzuki Division

The commander can also make a rough judgment about the current situation. What is going on?

At about five o'clock in the afternoon, Japanese tanks covering two regiments of soldiers rushed into Zunyi City through a collapsed section of the city wall. Suzuki Division Commander's premonition became a reality. The city was empty, not even a ghost was visible.

Nothing can be seen, only the destroyed houses are still smoking, and the smoke is misty and calmly floating into the sky.

At 5:30, Terauchi Shouichi received a telegram from Suzuki Saburo, the commander of the vanguard division, "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, our division has occupied Zunyi." With these two simple sentences, Terauchi Shouichi was full of suspicion. He understood

Saburo Suzuki's character, this guy can fight well, but he also does his part when it comes to bragging about the results of his battles. A simple battle can turn into a big battle in his mouth.

Something was wrong, and with doubts, Terauchi Shouichi drove into Zunyi City under the protection of the guards. What he saw along the way made his doubts even heavier. Why didn't he see the bodies of the Chinese government soldiers or the destroyed fortifications?

and trenches. After entering the city, not a single Chinese civilian was seen. Suzuki Division soldiers were everywhere saluting him.

After seeing Suzuki, Shouichi Terauchi understood everything. The Suzuki division, equipped with artillery and tanks, fought against an empty city for most of the day. In other words, more than 300,000 Imperial Japanese troops were trapped in an empty city.

, blocking almost a whole day.

(To be continued)