"Strengthen the alert! Zhuang Jihua looked at the group of machines going west and held the trumpet down thoughtfully. Dai Anlan's slender body seemed heroic and upright in the sunset. He led the New Thirty-Ninth Division to arrive yesterday

...

Dai Anlan looked at the Japanese planes that continued to fly to the west in confusion. He had already seen that a considerable number of these planes were transport planes. He judged that these planes were airdropped by Watanabe. But why did they not have airdrops? He looked up and asked, but Zhuang Jihua had turned around and entered the house. He could only arrange the city defense with doubts.

Zhuang Jihua returned to the house. The Gu Army successfully broke through. The 22nd Division fell into chaos. Watanabe struggled to support it. The New 38th Division and the New 22nd Division were stuck in the 56th Division like two pliers, repeatedly attacking the Japanese defense line.

The development of the city under Lash was smooth, but Yu Chengwan, who was Mei Miao, was under tremendous pressure. After the New 28th Division arrived at Mei Miao, it immediately started to attack the 33rd Division. The 33rd Division and the ** Brigade were already equal. When the New 28th joined, the already shaky 33rd Division no longer ignored the orders of Shinichi Tanaka and fled backwards. Lu Ruishan took the opportunity to pursue, especially Fang Qiming. In this battle with Han Xinfa, he was at a disadvantage. It was Han Xinfa who seized the commanding heights of the entire battlefield that made the battle situation fiercely tilt towards the ** Brigade. After the war, it was natural that it was the first. Fang Qiming chased relentlessly and bit the deer antlers unit tightly. Lu Ruishan was worried that he would advance rashly and had to force the entire brigade to press. Just when Lu Ruishan was planning to continue chasing, Yu Chengwan's telegram flew and he had already given up Mandalay.

Lu Ruishan stopped pursuing unwillingly. He led his troops back to Meimiao and entered the city. Yu Chengwan's order came again, ordering Liu Bolong to lead the New 28th Division to retreat to Moya Valley, occupy the high ground on both sides of the valley, and build a blocking position. After Liu Bolong gave orders to Lu Ruishan, he handed over the position and quickly drove towards the Moya Valley. Lu Ruishan did not wait long, and the New 46th Division arrived. This time the blocking was extremely passive. He was led by the 55th Division. The troops were exhausted and suffered great losses. The division commander Zuo Yongxian started to curse when he saw Lu Ruishan. Lu Ruishan won the battle, but did not let him chase him. He was in a bad mood, so the two began to curse together.

Su Xiaojun and the deputy commander of the New Forty-sixth Division, Luanli had to smile bitterly. In the end, Chief of Staff Shi Yuanxing came forward to persuade them to have dinner first and then scold them after dinner. Unexpectedly, the two of them refused at the same time. Each of them took a steamed bun and began to patrol the positions.

Before dawn the next day, Yu Chengwan led the New Forty-fourth Division to retreat to Meimiao, and then Shinichi Tanaka chased Meimiao. The New Eighth Army launched a large-scale blocking battle with the Japanese army on the periphery of Meimiao.

"Tanaka Shinichi is going crazy." Zhuang Jihua glanced at the telegram in his hand and was still on the table with disdain. It was Yu Chengwan who came. In just one day, Shinichi Tanaka launched more than ten attacks in all directions, and the New Eighth Army's positions were broken through several times. Yu Chengwan blocked several times, and the troops suffered heavy casualties.

Yu Jishi looked at the map and said with some concern: "If the New Eighth Army cannot stop it, Tianaka will rush to the Moya Valley. The New 28th Division has a slightly weak combat power and is difficult to stop it."

"No," Zhuang Jihua shook his head: "Brother Shi Jian can do it. Besides, I did not ask them to hold on to the death. I could give up Mei Miao, as long as I don't retreat to Mount Papani."

Mount Papani is the last barrier to the southern Lash line and the bottom line stipulated by Zhuang Jihua.

Zhuang Jihua could have thought that Yu Chengwan's blocking battle was so fierce that there were as many regiment-level officers killed in the New Eighth Army, two brigade-level officers were injured, and 40% of the troops were injured.

"Do you want to let the New Thirty-Ninth Division leave Mount Papani?" Xiao Yi quietly suggested.

"No," Zhuang Jihua flatly rejected without hesitation: "The New Thirty-Ninth Division must stay in Lashio until Watanabe annihilated."

Zhuang Jihua looked up and glanced at the generals in the house: "The key now is Watanabe. As long as Watanabe is taken down, the initiative of the entire Myanmar will be under our control."

"Then, some troops will be drawn from the New Thirty-Ninth Division to join the siege.

"Yu Jishi also made a suggestion: "This way the troops are more sufficient."

"No need" Zhuang Jihua still quashed: "The 103 Army, the 58th Army" Order Army, 150,000 troops, surrounded and annihilated two divisions with ammunition and food exhaustion, and had been fighting for four days."

At a pause, his tone turned firm: "Order Sun Liren and Huang Botao Luhan to strengthen the offensive. Lashio will be responsible for defending the entire 58th Army to join the battle to encircle and annihilate Watanabe."

The division of the 58th Army was annihilation of the Hosokawa corps in Mount Rapopa. The Ao Division guarded Lashi City. Both units were not involved in the battle due to the heavy casualties. Now Zhuang Jihua wants to put them into the battle.

What makes the squadron difficult is that it is difficult to fight nightly in the jungle, so the attack has to be stopped all night long. The Japanese army can recommend nightly adjustments and rebuild the defense line. On the contrary, Shinichi Tanaka can attack day and night.

"Don't be afraid of night battles. We are in chaos and the enemy is in chaos. As long as the Japanese don't let peace." Zhuang Jihua's tone was irritated.

There was a lot of good news coming from all fronts. The Sixty-Sixth Army defeated the Japanese-Thai coalition forces outside Jingdong and were pursuing them. The special forces led by Song Yunfei and Zhao Hanjie attacked the Japanese transport team near Pingmanna, blew up the Pingmanna Bridge, and interrupted the Japanese transportation for a while.

However, the siege and annihilation of Watanabe was slow, and no division was defeated in four days, which made Zhuang Jihua a little dissatisfied. He had to strengthen his attack on Watanabe. Only by annihilation of Watanabe will the pressure on Yu Chengwan be reduced and even disappear.

"Will Shi Jian increase his troops?" Yu Jishi was not at ease with Yu Chengwan. The New Eighth Army used one army to block the Shin-14th Division of Tanaka with nearly 80,000 troops. The difficulties can be imagined. You should know that the initial total Japanese army's troops were only 100,000 in the Battle of Honghu.

"Let him persevere, the key now is Watanabe. If Watanabe is solved, everything is in our control." Zhuang Jihua still shook his head: "Order the Air Force to strengthen the bombing and tell Chennard that the Battle of Lashio has reached a critical moment, and the Air Force must not take it lightly. Such a situation as today will not happen again."

The sudden arrival of Japanese planes in Lashio surprised Zhuang Jihua and made him even more dissatisfied with Chennard. Chennard promised to support the expeditionary force, but the air force investment was not large. Every day, the planes came one by one in the morning and afternoon, and only three or four were each. If the main Japanese planes were not in Nanyang and could not care about Myanmar, the sky in Lashio would have been ruled by Japanese planes.

The Air Force is a ** system. When the ground needs it, it requested the Air Force Commander to make a unified arrangement. Zhuang Jihua now feels that this method is very inconvenient for combat. The Air Force should be included in the command authority of the theater commander and accept the command of the theater commander, so that it can better cooperate in combat.

Stilwell had not spoken yet. He was very quiet now, surrounding the ferry border troops. He now understood that without Zhuang Jihua's order, he could not command the soldiers and soldiers of the Expeditionary Force. Now he heard Zhuang Jihua's tone faintly dissatisfied with Chennard. He was a little happy and helpless.

Stilwell also couldn't command Chennard. The volunteer team of aided China Airlines was too powerful, and Chennard completely treated it as his own kingdom. Stilwell secretly decided that this situation must be changed as soon as possible. Since it cannot be invested in the army in the Far East, the US military existence can only be reflected by air force.

Seeing that Stilwell had no interface, Zhuang Jihua said to Yu Jishi: "You contact General Chennard immediately. Our plane must exist within twelve hours of Lashio." This is necessary. If there are any difficulties, let him contact the Chairman or me directly.

The combat orders were quickly issued to various combat troops. What surprised Zhuang Jihua was that his orders for night combat were again pushed back by Sun Liren and Huang Botao.

Huang Botao's answer was that it was difficult to contact at night, and the 22nd Division in front of him had been divided, and night chaos could easily cause accidental injuries; Sun Liren said that night combat in the jungle was unimaginable, Watanabe had been completely surrounded, and the night war's firepower advantage was not easy to exert, which increased casualties in the army in vain.

After hearing the opinions of his subordinates, Zhuang Jihua almost cursed on the spot. Yu Jishi saw his anger. Before he could speak, he pulled him out of the command center and went to the small courtyard outside the command center. Yu Jishi said slowly:

"Cultural Revolution, don't worry, they are front-line commanders. You haven't had a good rest for four days. After a good rest, the situation will be very different tomorrow."

"Their movements are too slow, too slow." Zhuang Jihe was in a bad mood. He took the cigarette handed over by Yu Jishi, took a snort of fire, and squirted out a large amount of smoke: "If the New Eighth Army cannot withstand it, the entire battle situation will be out of control."

"I believe Shi Jian, the New Eighth Army can withstand it." Yu Jishi shook his head and said, "Besides, there are still hundreds of kilometers from Mei Miao to Lashi. Even if they force their troops, it will take two days. The situation is still under our control. The principal transferred the Fifth Army to western Yunnan. The 200th vanguard Division has also arrived in Dali, otherwise let the 200th vanguard Division come first."

Chiang Kai-shek ordered the transfer of the Fifth Army to western Yunnan as a reserve force for the entire Myanmar operation. Xu Tingyao, commander of the Fifth Army, was under the command of two infantry troops, four divisions and a tank division. The 200 vanguard Division had arrived in Dali under the leadership of the division commander Gao Jiren.

"No, the Fifth Army is a mechanized Army. It is suitable for fighting on the plains. The principal should transfer him to Henan. Can tanks work on your road and mountain?" Zhuang Jihua shook his head and said, "Besides, the 200th Division was transferred from the Yunnan-jin border to western Yunnan and continued to march. The troops were tired. It would take at least three days to get to the entire division to Lashi. If we have not eliminated Watanabe within three days, we must retreat from Lashi. Annihilation of Watanabe is only the first step to reverse the situation in Myanmar. We must also recover Mandalay. We will form a confrontation with the Japanese army in central Myanmar."

Yu Jishi nodded, indicating that he understood Zhuang Jihua's meaning, but he was stunned. What does it mean? He confronted the Japanese army in central Myanmar and did not go south to recover Yangon? Yi Xunshu said that he was different from the body clams.
Chapter completed!