Ito Kaisen, the leader of the Japanese regiment, could only watch helplessly as the Japanese soldiers under his command scattered and ran wildly across the mountains and fields.

At this point, there was no question of giving orders or regrouping the troops.

His first priority was to keep his men alive.

In any case, the 68th Infantry Regiment could forget about leading the breakout that morning.

The Japanese soldiers of Ishiguro Reo's battalion had suffered heavy casualties and were no longer attacking.

"If the Japanese aren't coming, we'll go to them!" Company Commander Miao Haoqiong said.

The Eighth Regiment wasn't just him; all ten infantry companies were now advancing.

The First Company certainly couldn't fall behind!

The First Company was guarding the main road to Tanghe, and their assault on the Japanese was also progressing along the main road.

With ground-attack aircraft suppressing the already weak firepower of Ishiguro Reo's battalion, the advance became easier.

Sergeant Heimiya Seiku had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead. He never expected the attacking force to arrive so quickly.

What he didn't expect even more was how cautious this attacking force was, giving each body on the ground a finishing blow.

The pretending Sergeant Heimiya Seiku was stabbed, waking him up and causing him to struggle frantically, trying to escape.

Such struggles were futile and utterly useless.

Captain Toyokawa Ryo hid behind his company during the attack, luckily avoiding death with the rest of his men.

When Captain Inohara Keita's company came up to attack, Captain Toyokawa Ryo, with no soldiers under his command, had to act as an ordinary soldier at the forefront of the team, under the strict orders of the battalion commander, to boost morale.

The dozen or so remaining soldiers of Toyokawa Ryo's company were pushed to the very front as cannon fodder; they were the first to die.

Captain Inohara Keita was lucky to survive and saw the six heavy machine guns on the opposite side start moving again.

They were rushing straight towards his company. Now, Inohara Keita's company only had twenty or so soldiers left who could still fight.

Battalion Commander Ishiguro Reo was nearby, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot. What to do?

His battalion had just been scattered by the ground-attack aircraft, and he only had these twenty or so soldiers around him.

Continuing the attack was impossible; even establishing a defensive line here was impossible.

Realizing this, Battalion Commander Ishiguro Reo immediately turned and ran.

At this time, the entire 68th Infantry Regiment was running behind them. Ito Kaisen, the regimental commander, was already reporting to Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro that the entire 68th Regiment had collapsed and could not be regrouped.

What to do?

What could they do now?

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro's brigade was now under attack from three sides. The only direction they could retreat was towards Pinglu Village and Luying Town.

Thinking that this path had been prepared for him long ago by the Special Operations Brigade, it was indeed a calculated plot. Even though Fifth Brigade Commander Katayama Riichiro saw through it, he had no choice but to follow the path laid out by Lin Fan.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro ordered, "Break through towards Luying Town!"

"Report to the division commander: Our brigade is surrounded by the National Revolutionary Army on three sides and has no choice but to break through towards Luying Town!"

Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka couldn't believe what he was seeing in the Fifth Brigade's report. "Nani? Are the ten thousand or so men of the Fifth Brigade pigs?

Even ten thousand pigs wouldn't be scattered by the National Revolutionary Army so quickly!"

Although the content of the telegram sent back by Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro was not much, it contained a great deal of information.

Attacked from three sides, had no choice! All of this indicated that the Fifth Brigade had been scattered, unable to break through, and unable to choose the direction of the breakout.

Even if an ordinary soldier were to choose, the best course of action for the Fifth Brigade at the moment was to break through towards Tanghe.

Because there were Japanese troops in that direction, the chances of a successful breakout would be much greater.

Even if they were unable to break through, they could establish a defensive line on the spot and hold it, so that the troops coming to meet them could reach them sooner.

Now, this force actually wanted to break through towards Luying Town. Wasn't that courting death?

Just today, two infantry regimental commanders had been captured alive in Luying Town. Now, they were going to send a brigade commander there?

Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka was outraged. He ordered, "Immediately send a telegram to Katayama Riichiro, ordering the Fifth Brigade to defend in place.

It still has a field artillery regiment, a supply train, engineers, and a hospital. There's no problem with holding out for ten days or half a month."

There was another very important reason: The 30th Brigade of the 16th Infantry Division had already advanced towards Xingwan.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro only needed to hold Xingwan until this time tomorrow, and the vanguard of the 30th Infantry Brigade would be able to reach Xingwan.

No matter how strong the Special Operations Brigade was, it couldn't face a pincer attack from two infantry brigades, right?

Division Commander Yamawaki Masataka never imagined that those auxiliary units he was talking about were now gone.

The Fifth Infantry Brigade had no fighting spirit at this time and had been beaten down. That was the main thing.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro, who had received the division commander's reply, had no choice but to send another telegram: "Your Excellency, Division Commander! The 3rd Field Artillery Regiment was attacked from the air by the Special Operations Brigade.

Less than one in ten of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment survived, and it has completely lost its combat effectiveness.

The engineering team was working with the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment at the time and was destroyed along with them.

The supply train and hospital were all bombed, and now they have suffered heavy casualties and the supplies have been burned.

The Fifth Brigade is under attack from three sides by the Special Operations Brigade in Xingwan and cannot establish a defensive line at all.

Your humble subordinate plans to regroup the troops while retreating, resist step by step, and finally establish a solid defensive line in Luying Town."

What Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro was thinking was: Since two infantry regiments could hold out in Luying Town for so many days, then Luying Town must have defensive works left behind by them, and he could also hold out for ten days or half a month.

That's right! A thousand remnants from two regiments could hold out for so many days, so it was no problem for his entire brigade to go and hold out for ten days or half a month.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro strengthened his resolve.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro didn't know how many Japanese soldiers were left in the entire brigade.

He just kept sending out signal soldiers to convey the brigade commander's latest orders.

At this time, the field hospital next to the brigade headquarters was in luck. They were the first to execute the retreat towards Pinglu.

The Sixth Infantry Regiment was also quick to move. It was originally approaching the brigade headquarters, and now the target was just a little further away.

The movements of the Japanese were immediately reported to Lin Fan.

Knowing that the Japanese were rushing towards Pinglu and Luying Town, Lin Fan immediately notified Zhang Zizhong.

Zhang Zizhong's troops were advancing towards Pinglu at this time.

Upon receiving the notification, the 59th Army did not panic and directly yielded the main road, deploying an ambush on both sides.

The Fifth Infantry Brigade was breaking through towards Pinglu Village, and sniper teams still had to be left behind in Xingwan.

The Oyama Masato battalion of the Sixth Infantry Regiment, which had been preparing defenses, immediately became the star on the battlefield.

When the Ishiguro Reo battalion broke through towards Tanghe just now, they had mocked this Oyama battalion commander.

Now, as Battalion Commander Ishiguro Reo led his defeated troops back, passing by the defensive line built by the Oyama Masato battalion again, he had to cover his face and pass by.

He was afraid of being recognized by Battalion Commander Oyama Masato.

Brigadier General Katayama Riichiro had no choice but to organize more than two hundred stragglers who had just been routed to clear the way in front.

He sent the guard company of the brigade headquarters to supervise the battle, and he also asked the Sixth Infantry Regiment to send a battalion to protect him.

Regimental Commander Ito Kaisen of the 68th Infantry Regiment was still working hard to regroup the defeated soldiers.

Today, Lin Fan's order to Zhu Qingmao was that the battle should not stop, and the planes needed to keep circling over the Japanese heads.

Captain Zhu liked this order. He sent out four fighter planes to circle and guard in the high sky.

Eight fighter planes also joined the strafing of the Japanese.

As a result, these Japanese soldiers in Xingwan really couldn't stay any longer.

When Regiment Commander Takeda Seiichi of the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment received the order to retreat, he was dumbfounded: The battle had reached this point, and his artillery regiment had suffered heavy casualties.

But his regiment's cannons and supplies were intact.

If he didn't retreat and didn't leave, he could still see these cannons in the command post.

Now that he was retreating like this, he couldn't take any of his cannons away, and there was no point in taking those shells away.

Outside were corpses all over the ground, some of the field artillery regiment and some of the engineering regiment.

What to do?

Regiment Commander Takeda Seiichi looked at Regiment Commander Nakajima Mitsugi of the 36th Engineer Regiment, who was also hiding in the command post.

The two regimental commanders looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

There were still more than thirty Japanese soldiers squeezed into the command post. With these thirty or so Japanese soldiers, they could still drive away more than a dozen of the outside tractors.

But the planes constantly circling overhead were telling them: Those who get close to the cannons will die!