Chapter 1 Trial Firing

Lin Fan had long been prepared for the artillery test.

He had specifically opened an artillery range in the east of Wuhu city.

Now, of course, the first thing to do was to haul these cannons to the range.

Ambassador Eisenhower Jason seemed to be strolling casually, arriving at the location where their delegation had just disembarked.

He immediately saw the cannons being unloaded in a flurry of activity.

Lin Fan, standing with August and watching the cannons being hoisted from the cargo ship one by one,

also noticed the Americans gazing at them from a distance.

August also saw Eisenhower Jason in the distance. Of course, he recognized such a famous person.

Smiling, he asked Lin Fan, "Is Mr. Eisenhower Jason here too?"

Lin Fan returned the same smile:

"Ambassador Eisenhower Jason brought a business delegation.

They are preparing to inspect the proposal I put forward a few days ago on site."

A complete set of equipment schemes from mining to finished steel products.

How much money did the Special Operations Brigade need to spend on this scheme?

August didn't know.

But he was clear: this kind of transaction was at least tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

The smile on his face was a little forced:

"Brigade Commander Lin! Are you really not considering cooperation with our country?"

Lin Fan laughed:

"Of course, I am willing to cooperate with your country. My shell factory and military factory all hope to cooperate with your company.

But can you make the decision?

I am confident in the product quality of your country for mining, steelmaking, machine tools, and processing.

But will your country change its national policy because of such a single transaction?"

August was silent.

He knew in his heart: change the national policy? This was impossible.

Not to mention future cooperation, the Japs had already lodged a strong protest against this transaction.

If it weren't for the large transaction amount, and mainly because the other party was paying in gold,

and that Germany wanted gold the most,

this transaction would have been canceled.

The two tons of gold had already set off back home. It was gold that allowed the president to withstand the Japs' opposition.

It also silenced those in the country who opposed the deal.

But there wouldn't be a next time for such a transaction.

"Damn Japs!" August said indignantly.

If the Japs only fought and didn't protest, all transactions could be carried out.

How great would it be for you to fight your battles, and for us to buy our weapons and do our business!

This time, Germany had suffered a great loss: for the sake of allied unity.

It had to stop all cooperation with the Nationalist army.

Originally, Germany was pulling raw ore from Chang Kai-shek, processing it into weapons and ammunition, and then

selling it back to Chang Kai-shek with a thousandfold increase in value.

They had agreed to arm twenty divisions, but now they had only armed three divisions.

This contract could not be carried out due to the Japs' obstruction.

The subsequent money could not be collected either.

Chang Kai-shek's army of two million men was such a large market.

This was only the trade in military equipment.

And the Nationalist army managed by Chang Kai-shek had four hundred million people.

What a huge market this was.

Now, this market was about to become irrelevant to Germany.

Lin Fan thought for a while and said, "If you are fast enough, I want to build three cement factories.

We can cooperate with you to build one.

Mr. August, you know how high the demand for cement is in our country.

If your country can allow it, I have absolutely no problem with it."

Of course, August knew that in this country, it was very profitable to build any factory now.

A backward, underdeveloped, purely agricultural country, it was profitable to run any factory in this country.

Unfortunately, all of this was about to become irrelevant to Germany.

Now was wartime, and even so, the Madang Fortress they were building upstream

used cement and steel bars that were all imported from Germany.

The cement and steel bars used in those fortresses and strongholds on the Xicheng and Wufu lines occupied by the Japs were also all imported from Germany.

Those were the markets of German entrepreneurs!

The contract for three cement factories was already in front of him, but unfortunately he didn't dare to agree.

From now on, this huge market would become the Americans'.

August looked at Eisenhower Jason in the distance with hatred: "Damn Americans!"

The Americans he hated were watching them from afar with great interest.

Although Ambassador Eisenhower Jason didn't come over, he was waiting on the road where the cannons were being transported.

Intentionally observing these cannons.

Although there was no expression on his face, he was secretly surprised: this Special Operations Brigade bought a hundred howitzers, fifty anti-aircraft guns, and 150,000 shells at one time.

Such economic strength could not be underestimated.

With so many cannons, did the Special Operations Brigade really want to defend here?

How could others be allowed to sleep soundly beside one's bed?

Would the Japs agree to the Special Operations Brigade establishing a base area around Nanjing like this?

Even the best weapons need people to operate them.

Although the Special Operations Brigade had recovered many counties behind the Japs,

it may have been because the Japs' forces were weak in the rear.

If the newly appointed commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, Yan Junliu, wanted to attack the Special Operations Brigade, would American interests still be guaranteed?

This was a question!

A big question!

As early as February 14th, Lieutenant General Yan Junliu, the appointed commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, was thinking:

How could the empire's interests in this country be maximized?

At that time, he looked at the map and remained silent for a long time.

He had not expected to become the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

He had known for a long time that this country was too big.

Through so many years of encroachment, coupled with the efforts of the past six months,

there was still so much territory left in this country.

The most crucial thing was that before the Battle of Songhu, Chang Kai-shek had more than two million troops.

After the major battles of the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing,

Chang Kai-shek still had more than two million troops.

It was as if the army in his hands was endless, no matter how much was consumed,

he could immediately replenish the same number of soldiers.

The empire was different. Only half a year after the start of the war, it had already urgently recruited soldiers twice in the country.

Continuing to fight would be detrimental to the empire!

Yan Junliu had such a judgment in his heart.

In the past two months, the empire had been condemned by most of the righteous national armies and people around the world.

As the truth about the Nanjing Massacre was published in newspapers in lengthy articles,

pictures and articles of blood and tears appeared in major newspapers around the world.

The Japs' previous hypocritical face in the international arena was completely torn off.

The Japs were forced to remove the Central China Front Army and reorganize it into the Central China Expeditionary Army.

At the same time, Iwane Matsui, who had served as commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army and the Central China Front Army, was removed from his post to reduce international impact.

The organizational structure of the Central China Front Army, the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, and the Tenth Army were all revoked, and the teams under their jurisdiction were incorporated into the Central China Expeditionary Army established on February 18.

The Japs used this ostrich-like method, hoping to make people forget the Nanjing Massacre.

The unfriendly international situation for the Japs made Yan Junliu very worried.

What worried him even more was that there were no more troops to send from the Japs' country.

Only one standing division remained in the country to guard Kyoto.

If the scope of operations continued to expand,

new soldiers would be needed, and soldiers could only be recruited from the country again.

The combat effectiveness of the newly recruited soldiers was definitely not as good as that of the well-trained standing divisions.

And excessive recruitment of soldiers had seriously affected various domestic productions.

Since taking over the position of commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, Yan Junliu had been thinking about whether the war should continue.

Through these days of thinking, he believed that the empire had reached the edge of a cliff and was about to fall into the abyss.

He didn't know if it was too late to rein in the horse at the cliff.

In order to temporarily stop the empire's war machine, he decided to send a special envoy back to express his plan:

Temporarily stop all combat plans, and all Japs would shift from offense to defense, and do their best to digest the resources of the occupied areas.

Yan Junliu looked at Chunhua, Jurong, Moling, and Tangshan, which had been taken back by the Special Operations Brigade around Nanjing.

These places were only a dozen kilometers away from Nanjing.

Now, the empire's army could not occupy these places again.

How could this be tolerated?

Although he knew that the empire's war should not be expanded,

these counties around Nanshi must be occupied.

Looking at the maps of Jiangnan and Zhejiang,

most of the roads that the Tenth Army had landed from Hangzhou Bay and opened up had been taken back by this team called the Special Operations Brigade.

This was simply unbearable, and nothing could be tolerated anymore.

Commander Yan Junliu had secretly made up his mind: wait until his special envoy brought back the news.

In any case, Jurong must be taken back first.

According to his plan, the best thing was to temporarily stop the all-out war.

The empire could talk to Chang Kai-shek. It didn't matter if they couldn't reach an agreement after a few years.

The empire could talk while secretly preparing.

Anyway, Chang Kai-shek's team had many internal contradictions. As long as the empire did not exert pressure from the outside,

their internal contradictions would immediately erupt, and the empire could then reap the benefits.

Thinking of this, Yan Junliu couldn't help but chuckle.

Even if there were no disputes within Chang Kai-shek's team,

after two years, the empire could take a breather and launch such an operation again.

Occupy one or two more big cities, and slowly swallow this big country like cutting meat with a blunt knife.

If the empire could not pass his plan,

and did not follow his plan, then he would also transfer a team to drive the Special Operations Brigade into the mountains.

As a mature military strategist, Yan Junliu did not feel that he could really annihilate a team like the Special Operations Brigade.

The National army's strategy of exchanging space for time to delay the war was known throughout the empire.

Although this major strategy was a closely guarded secret for the National army,

the empire's worshipers, followers, and sympathizers had long sent these strategic plans to the empire.

Therefore, Yan Junliu now believed that it was somewhat difficult to annihilate a National army team under such circumstances.

Even so, Yan Junliu could not tolerate a National army team stationed near Nanjing for a long time.

It would make him feel like there was a sword hanging over his head at any time, and it would fall down.

To celebrate the establishment of the Central China Expeditionary Army, on February 18th, Yan Junliu also specially dispatched planes to raid Wuhan.

He was not a pacifist, nor was he an easy-going Jap.

Today was February 22, 1937.

The special envoy sent out by Yan Junliu brought back bad news: his plan to suspend the offensive and consolidate the rule of the occupied areas was rejected.

However, some of the ideas he put forward were affirmed, and the consolidation of the rule of the occupying army was put on the agenda.

The headquarters proposed to establish a puppet government controlled by them in Nanjing.

This plan was immediately implemented.

Yan Junliu sent Colonel Usuda Kanzou, a staff officer of the Central China Expeditionary Army, to establish an "Usuda Agency" specifically to find a suitable Han traitor candidate.

Upon receiving the task, Usuda Kanzou immediately took a fancy to Tang Shaoyi, the former premier of the Beiyang government.

He had been active in diplomatic occasions and was also the first cabinet prime minister of the Republic of China.

He had a huge reputation both domestically and internationally.

When Shanghai was about to fall, Chang Kai-shek wrote three letters, asking him to leave Shanghai.

And sent 20,000 yuan as travel expenses.

The three letters and 20,000 yuan in legal tender were returned intact.

At that time, many influential celebrities living in Shanghai: Cai Yuanpei, Du Yuesheng, Guo Moruo, and even Ma Xiangbo, who was over a hundred years old, left Shanghai.

They were all afraid of being used by the Japs if they stayed in Shanghai.

The 76-year-old Tang Shaoyi was reluctant to live in Shanghai.

He just sent all his wives, children, and daughters to Hong Kong.

Alone, he stayed in Shanghai, waiting for a price to be offered.

Usuda Kanzou, for such a military and political figure of the National army, was still sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai after Shanghai fell.

Of course, he understood Tang Shaoyi's thoughts.

And Tang Shaoyi had disagreements with Chang Kai-shek, and there was also a large group of followers within the National army.

More importantly: he had always had a close relationship with the Japs. At this time, the 76-year-old Tang Shaoyi

was living in Shanghai, eager to return to the peak.

But he saw many Han traitors being killed, and he was very afraid.

He had been hesitant, fearing the wolf in front and the tiger behind.

This made Usuda Kanzou very uncomfortable: the empire was being quickly dragged into the abyss, how could he have time to play the trick of visiting the thatched cottage three times with this Han traitor old man!

There was no way to delay the time like this all the time.

When he returned to the Army General Staff Headquarters to report on his duties, he was so anxious that he shed tears: this matter was too difficult to handle.

When Usuda Kanzou returned to Shanghai again, Tang Shaoyi did not dare to come out of the mountain himself, fearing that the reputation of being a Han traitor would stink for thousands of years.

He let his old subordinate Liang Hongzhi come out of the mountain.

Now these Japs and Han traitors are nervously discussing.

Today all of this has become a foregone conclusion.

Yan Junliu, the commander of the Japs' Central China Expeditionary Army, silently looked at the map.

He had just received a telegram from Captain Kondo Yamasato, who was stationed in Yuxikou:

"At the Wuhu Wharf, which was stolen by the Special Operations Brigade, a German cargo ship and an American passenger ship docked today."

"The Germans' dirty deal with the Special Operations Brigade!" Yan Junliu said hatefully.

He did not know what role the Americans played in it.

This news greatly stimulated Commander Yan Junliu, who had just taken office.

He had decided: to attack the Special Operations Brigade.

There were two divisions stationed in Nanjing, Nakajima Kesago's Sixteenth Division; Yamashi Hidetake's Eleventh Division.

A new official has three fires.

Although the Xuzhou combat plan to open up the Jinpu Railway in cooperation with the North China Front Army had been issued and was still being implemented,

this did not affect Commander Yan Junliu's plan to launch a small mopping-up campaign on the edge of Nanjing.

Now the name of the Central China Expeditionary Army has changed.

The staff officers of the Central China Expeditionary Army Headquarters, the former staff officers, have all been diverted to the front line.

This was because the fighting between the National army and the Japs in the Huaihe River Basin had been frequent in the past month.

The Japs suffered many casualties and needed experienced commanders to supplement them.

Another reason was: a new emperor has new courtiers.

Commander Yan Junliu also brought a group of staff officers over, and the former people would eventually have to vacate their positions.

This group of newly appointed staff officers immediately began to formulate a new plan to attack the Special Operations Brigade.

Ashi Yuki had been a staff officer in the headquarters since the Shanghai Expeditionary Army was established.

Later, when the Central China Front Army was established, he was still a staff officer in the headquarters.

As an old staff officer, he was still a staff officer in the headquarters when the Central China Expeditionary Army was established.

A staff officer without a leader, his fart is not loud!

Ashi Yuki watched helplessly as the entire headquarters nervously formulated a plan to attack the Special Operations Brigade.

He was uneasy in his heart. He had just said, "The Special Operations Brigade's operations are different from ordinary National army!"

He was immediately overwhelmed by the words of other staff officers, and he was forced to swallow his words.

Now, Ashi Yuki didn't dare to say anything or ask anything in the staff department.

He just spent his days here.

As a staff officer who had witnessed the Special Operations Brigade's continuous annihilation of the Japs' cavalry regiment and infantry regiment, he knew that attacking the Special Operations Brigade was not an easy task.

But: a new official has three fires.

Attacking the Special Operations Brigade and re-incorporating the area around Nanjing into its own sphere of influence was the first fire after Commander Yan Junliu took office.

This was a fire that could see results the fastest.

The other two fires, one was to attack Xuzhou, and the other was to establish a puppet government.

Neither of them could take effect immediately.

It was a matter of Commander Yan Junliu's face, and his entire staff team would not allow any Japs to raise objections at this time.

After a detailed comparison of the current situation, the staff department sent Commander Yan Junliu a combat plan: the two divisions had a total of four brigades.

The Sixteenth Division sent the Nineteenth Brigade to attack along the Tangshan direction; it sent the Thirtieth Infantry Brigade to attack along the Chunhua direction.

After the two brigades met in Jurong, they would continue to attack in the direction of Lishui and Jintan.

The Eleventh Division sent the Twenty-second Brigade to attack along the Jinpu Railway towards Dangtu and Wuhu.

At the same time, the Third Fleet would send the Eleventh Squadron to cooperate with the Eleventh Division to attack Dangtu and Wuhu.

When the combat plan was sent to Commander Yan Junliu, he was very satisfied with such a plan.

The three brigades had a total of more than 30,000 Japs, and attacking the Special Operations Brigade was already using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The troops stationed in Nanjing by the Central China Expeditionary Army immediately prepared to act according to this plan.

At this time, Lin Fan was concentrating the Second Company to the Ninth Company of the Eighth Regiment and Ninth Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade in Wuhu to inspect the new cannons.

This time, the Special Operations Brigade suddenly had so many large-caliber guns. The 75mm mountain guns and field guns equipped by the Second Company to the Ninth Company of the Eighth Regiment and Ninth Regiment were all handed over to the various regiments of the Special Operations Brigade.

Each regiment had an infantry company converted into an artillery company, and newly received two 75mm mountain guns and two 75mm field guns.

This made the regimental commanders extremely excited.

Especially the four regimental commanders who had just come from the Eighty-third Army and the Sixty-sixth Army.

They had never imagined that their regimental commander would have an artillery company under him.

Now their regiment already had twenty Type 92 70mm infantry guns, which were assigned to each company.

Each company also had five mortars, and the entire regiment had a total of fifty 60mm mortars.

Now there were two more 75mm field guns and two 75mm mountain guns.

It was no exaggeration to say that the artillery of their regiment was now much stronger than that of some National army groups.

Lin Fan was distributing the newly received 100 150mm howitzers. The Eighth Regiment handed over all the 12 150mm heavy guns previously assigned to it to the Ninth Regiment.

This time, the Eighth Regiment was assigned 66 Krupp 150mm caliber guns and 25 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

The Ninth Regiment was assigned 34 Krupp 150mm caliber guns and 25 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

With this distribution, the two artillery regiments had 66 150mm caliber heavy guns and 29 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

The Ninth Regiment would be stationed in Jurong for a foreseeable period of time to protect Chunhua and Tangshan.

Therefore, Lin Fan left all kinds of heavy guns in the Ninth Regiment. The fixed location made logistics supply relatively easier.

The Eighth Regiment needed to travel around with the Special Operations Brigade in different areas.

The whole regiment used the same type of heavy guns to facilitate transportation and supply.

After Lin Fan spot-checked ten of these cannons, he found that there was no problem at all.

They were all distributed.

The Ninth Regiment was now not only deployed in Jurong, all 32 150mm caliber old guns were deployed in Bao Rong, and 10 more anti-aircraft guns were added.

The 34 150mm heavy guns that had just been assigned this time were deployed 14 in Dangtu and 20 in Wuhu.

The anti-aircraft guns were deployed 7 in Dangtu and 8 in Wuhu.

The Eighth Regiment's guns were deployed with 88mm anti-aircraft guns in Guangde, and 150mm heavy guns were deployed in Changxing and Mogan District.

The First Company of the Eighth Regiment still followed Lin Fan.

When more than two tons of gold were loaded onto the German cargo ship, August did not set off immediately.

Instead, he waited at Wuhu Wharf for a day.

He didn't leave until a German warship came to escort him.

Although the Japs tried their best to hide it, the news that a cargo ship of the Central China Front Army loaded with various treasures had disappeared in the Yangtze River section between Nanjing and Shanghai had spread.

Many interested people were frantically searching for it on this section of the river.

It was rumored that the materials on this cargo ship were worth hundreds of millions.

There were hundreds of tons of gold alone.

Whether others believed it or not, August believed it anyway.

He believed that the Japs did have a cargo ship that disappeared on the Yangtze River, because when he came up to Wuhu all the way,

he could still see the Japs' ships searching along the Yangtze River.

In order not to let his cargo ship disappear, he specially waited for the warship to arrive before setting sail.

In fact, when the warship arrived, August had already transferred the gold to the warship.

The transaction had been completed, Lin Fan was busy equipping these cannons into the team immediately.

He also had to accompany the American business delegation to visit the entire territory.

The first stop was the Ma'anshan Iron Mine.

Lin Fan wanted to establish a complete industrial system here.

Ambassador Eisenhower Jason was the head of the business delegation.

He could see that this place was close to the Yangtze River and had rich iron ore deposits.

Building a steel plant here next to the mine could save iron ore transportation costs.

The coal needed for steelmaking was also very convenient to transport from the Yangtze River, and the cost was low.

It was also very convenient to transport the products out.

It could be said that this place indeed had all the conditions for opening a factory.

But: this place was not peaceful, and there was no place for a factory at all.

Perhaps at this time, there was no place in this country that could accommodate a factory.

He just kept this question in his heart, and it was not time to negotiate with Lin Fan yet.

This business delegation would make a decision after seeing all the places occupied by the Special Operations Brigade.

During the days when the American business delegation was in the territory of the Special Operations Brigade, the Special Operations Brigade had raised the level of combat readiness to the highest level.

The Americans came to the territory of the Special Operations Brigade and were active in such a blatant manner every day.

The Special Operations Brigade did not restrict their freedom.

The news must have reached the Japs.

Lin Fan had to guard against the Japs taking the opportunity to sabotage the Special Operations Brigade, making the American investment a waste of money.

After all, a place that could not defend its territory, it was useless to open a factory that made money.

When Lin Fan was accompanying the business delegation in Guangde,

he received a telegram from Lord Yang: reconnaissance squads of Japs were frequently active on the Tangshan front line.

Such activities began on February 22.

The scouts of both sides fought, and the Japs suffered a great loss.

Four soldiers of the Seventh Regiment were also injured and had been sent to Jurong Hospital.

This field hospital of the Special Operations Brigade had treated more than 2,000 soldiers.

After experiencing the food and treatment of the Special Operations Brigade, those wounded soldiers sent by the Fifth Theater

were arranged by Li Xian to enter the Special Operations Brigade after their injuries improved.

These soldiers also accepted it half-heartedly.

When they were in the hospital, they received the careful care of those nurses.

As soon as the injuries improved slightly, Ji Wudi organized instructors to chat and tell stories to these wounded soldiers every day.

To avoid these wounded soldiers from being bored.

The hospital also distributed textbooks and paper to the wounded soldiers who were willing to read and write, all of which were free.

This made those who originally did not want to learn feel: it was a loss if they did not get this free paper.

After getting it, it was also a loss if they used it less!

When these wounded soldiers could be discharged from the hospital, comparing the Special Operations Brigade with the old teams,

it was completely not the same level.

And they also knew: Ji Wudi was still a Miss a few months ago.

Regimental Commander Chen Sichuan, a few months ago, was still an ordinary soldier.

Such a speed of promotion made these wounded soldiers envious.

The Special Operations Brigade did a very good job in this regard.

Wounded soldiers who could continue to fight and were willing to stay,

the Special Operations Brigade accepted them.

The Special Operations Brigade also mobilized those wounded soldiers with broken hands, missing feet, and disabilities to stay.

It was just that this approach made the old teams of these wounded soldiers no longer mention the matter of the wounded soldiers returning to the team.

Lin Fan now sent these disabled veterans to various counties to serve as militia instructors.

It not only gave these people a job, so that heroes would not shed tears after shedding blood,

but also allowed those militiamen organized by the various counties to see the ferocity of the Japs at all times.

This time, it was not Yang Da's Seventh Regiment that sent a message that there were Jap reconnaissance teams active,

Zhen Xiaodan's Fifth Regiment also sent a telegram: a large number of Jap reconnaissance squads were active in the area from Gaojiaqiao to Chunhua.

They also had dozens of battles with the Fifth Regiment's reconnaissance squad.

Ding Zimin of Moling Pass also sent a telegram that the Japs were frequently active.

Combining this information, Lin Fan judged that the Japs were going to make a big move.

The Japs' Central China Expeditionary Army Commander Yan Junliu had just taken office, and he wanted to use the Special Operations Brigade to establish his prestige.

Lin Fan ordered: the Eighth Regiment to transfer the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Regiments to gather at Moling Pass immediately.

Li Zhize's Tenth Regiment gathered at Moling City.

Shang Wenxuan's Thirteenth Regiment gathered at Dangtu.

Wu Yuan's Fourteenth Regiment gathered at Jurong.

Shangguan Zhiwen's Fifteenth Regiment gathered at Jurong.

All the counties of the Special Operations Brigade were handed over to the newly established security regiment to defend.

The business delegation led by Ambassador Eisenhower Jason finally ended its inspection.

The entire team began to discuss the feasibility of the entire construction with Lin Fan in Jurong.

As soon as the discussion began, Ambassador Eisenhower Jason raised the issue of security.

And said: "This is the most important issue. If this issue cannot be resolved,

all subsequent discussions are like building castles on the beach, which is impossible to succeed."

Lin Fan thought for a while: "From what we have learned,

the newly formed Central China Expeditionary Army of the Japs will launch a full-scale attack on my jurisdiction in the next few days.

Why don't you stay here for three more days, and you will definitely get the answer.

Then we will also discuss this security issue!"

In fact, Ambassador Eisenhower Jason raised this issue just to increase the bargaining power.

After all, at this time, the Japs did not dare to infringe on the interests of American businessmen.

But the skin of the Americans, of course, could not be cheaper for the Special Operations Brigade.

He did not expect Lin Fan to make such a request.

These Americans all heard a kind of confidence from Lin Fan's tone.

Confidence that he could fight back the Japs' attack.

These Americans could still wait for three days.

On February 23, 1938, the Central China Expeditionary Army's combat plan against the Special Operations Brigade was issued.

Upon receiving the plan, the commander of the Nineteenth Brigade, Kusaba Tatsumi, immediately began to prepare.

The direction of attack of his brigade was Tangshan, the battle that had taken place in Tangshan.

The newly appointed staff officers of the Central China Expeditionary Army Headquarters did not know, but he knew it very well.

The flesh and blood of thousands of his warriors were sleeping there.

This time was different from the last time. The last time was an emergency operation, and he could not understand the battlefield situation before rushing out.

This time, on the day he received the task, Brigade Commander Kusaba Tatsumi sent ten squads, departing from Nanjing City.

To scout the situation, and also sent hundreds of Han traitors to act simultaneously.

Brigade Commander Sasaki Toichi of the Thirtieth Brigade, who was attacking in the Chunhua direction, also made the same arrangements.

This time, the Sixteenth Division was dispatched with its entire army. Division Commander Nakajima Kesago repeatedly urged his two brigade commanders:

"Don't be rash!"

They were afraid of being beaten by the Special Operations Brigade.

The lost soldiers had just been replenished.

Now the entire division had returned to 23,000 Japs soldiers.

Although the soldiers had been replenished, the combat effectiveness was not so easy to recover.

After all, the more than 10,000 Japs who had been newly replenished were all untrained merchants, farmers, and workers.

Anyway, they were not true warriors.

Only Brigade Commander Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu of the Twenty-second Brigade of the Eleventh Division, although he also sent out scouts,

did not think that the Special Operations Brigade in Dangtu would be an obstacle.

First of all, the Eleventh Division had not suffered a loss at the hands of the Special Operations Brigade last time, and secondly, the team in his hands was much stronger than ordinary brigades.

The entire Twenty-second Brigade, under its jurisdiction, had the Forty-third Infantry Regiment and the Forty-fourth Infantry Regiment.

Originally, two regiments were the entirety of other brigades.

But for the Twenty-second Brigade, this was not enough, not nearly enough.

Under his command, there were also the Eleventh Cavalry Regiment, the Eleventh Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Eleventh Engineer Regiment, the Eleventh Light and Heavy Regiment, the Communications Team, and the First to Fourth Field Hospitals.

Such a strong military strength and logistical support capabilities gave Brigade Commander Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu endless confidence.

At the same time, on the left wing of his team was the Yangtze River, and the Eleventh Squadron of the Third Fleet was also providing assistance in the Yangtze River.

The 11th Squadron had gunboats: Ataka, Toba, Seta, Hira, Hozu, Katada, Atami, Futami, Kuri, Tsuga, and Ren.

Eleven gunboats.

Although these gunboats did not have a large displacement, the Ataka was the flagship of the Eleventh Squadron.

The displacement was 725 tons, 67 meters long, 9 meters wide, and 2 meters deep.

Two steam engines with 1,700 horsepower.

Equipped with a 120mm howitzer, a 76mm howitzer,

and four twin-mounted 13mm machine guns.

The crew had 118 Japs.

With ten such gunboats to support him, Brigade Commander Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu believed that it was impossible for the entire Twenty-second Brigade to lose.

The plan formulated by the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army was to send troops to attack the Special Operations Brigade in three directions at the same time on March 3, so that the Special Operations Brigade could not take care of each other.

Break through the Special Operations Brigade's line of defense in one fell swoop.

On February 28, Brigade Commander Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu said that the Twenty-second Brigade's attack on Dangtu, the marching route was long.

It was impossible to set off on March 3, and launched an attack on Dangtu on the same day.

He joined forces with the Eleventh Squadron of the Navy and set off from Nanjing on February 28.

For such a general who was eager to fight, Commander Yan Junliu did not criticize him.

Division Commander Yamashi Hidetake of the Eleventh Division also acquiesced to it.

As soon as this team of Japs came out of Nanjing City and passed Dashengguan and arrived at Banqiao,

Lin Fan received a report.

There were no reports of Japs' large teams acting in the directions of Gaojiaqiao and Qilinmen.

Lin Fan knew: this was the habitual snatching of credit among the Japs' army beginning.

At this time, Lin Fan and the personnel of the American business delegation were in Moling Pass.

Banqiao was 18 kilometers away from Nanjing, 15 kilometers away from Moling Pass, 30 kilometers away from Ma'anshan Iron Mine, and 40 kilometers away from Dangtu.

The more than 10,000 Japs of the Twenty-second Brigade were stationed in Banqiao for a day.

Lin Fan believed that they would attack Moling City to the south.

The entire Moling City had Ding Zimin's Twelfth Regiment, Li Zhize's Tenth Regiment, and the four artillery regiments of the Eighth Regiment.

The total strength was less than 4,000.

If the Japs launched an attack on Moling, Lin Fan would have to expose his troops and immediately order the two regiments stationed in Dangtu to come to support.

As a result, the Japs did not launch an attack on Moling Pass at this time.

Although they also sent reconnaissance teams in this direction.

On March 2, the Japs' Twenty-second Brigade passed the Ma'anshan Iron Mine and was stationed outside Dangtu.

This location was seven kilometers away from Dangtu County.

March 3 was the day they jointly attacked the Special Operations Brigade.

Brigade Commander Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu believed that the distance of seven kilometers could definitely be reached today.

The entire brigade rested here for an hour.

The entire marching route of the Twenty-second Brigade was along the railway line.

Although it had been dismantled by the Special Operations Brigade, the roadbed was still there.

Ten kilometers south of this railway line, a team of the Special Operations Brigade was marching parallel to these Japs.

Li Zhize's Tenth Regiment and Feng Junya's four artillery companies had been following the Japs.

Ding Zimin's entire regiment also left only one company to guard Moling Pass.

The rest of the troops were all lurking in Banqiao.

March 2 was a good day.

This day was the first day of the second lunar month, the first day of a month, and the sun was shining brightly.

Spring had arrived! Jia Shusheng, who was stationed in Dangtu, and Gao Wenxuan, the Thirteenth Regiment, who had only arrived a few days ago.

In the morning, they received a telegram from Lin Fan.

In the telegram, Lin Fan ordered Jia Shusheng's Third Regiment infantry to send four companies, and Gao Wenxuan's entire regiment, to sneak out of Dangtu.

Lurk two kilometers outside Dangtu City, preparing to ambush the Japs.

At noon, Lin Fan found that the Japs were resting five kilometers away from Dangtu County.

He immediately changed his plan: ordered the Special Operations Brigade'