The Sword of Swords is a Guard for Kong Jie

Jinzhou Fujita Division Headquarters.

A telegram from the Air Force immediately caused everyone in the operations room to panic.

The division commander, Lieutenant General Fujita, and the Jinzhou garrison commander, Lieutenant General Yoshino, also looked extremely solemn. They stared at the battle sand table, and no one knew what they were thinking.

The chief of staff had already given several orders in succession, pacing back and forth in the small operations room like an ant on hot pan, with a very anxious expression. He looked up at the door of the operations room from time to time, obviously waiting for something.

"Reporting to the division commander, the air force has called back..." The report from the communications staff instantly attracted everyone's attention, including Lieutenant General Fujita and Lieutenant General Yoshino.

They all looked at the communications officer who had hurried over with a nervous look on their faces, waiting for his next words.

"What does the air force say?" the chief of staff asked anxiously.

"They said..." The communications officer was hesitant and opened his mouth several times before he mustered up the courage to report.

"The aviation forces that reinforced the front line have determined through low-altitude reconnaissance and search that the Koike Regiment had an accident in the mountains."

"The air force found no less than 2,000 dead bodies of soldiers in their base alone."

"There are still a large number of soldiers' bodies scattered around the station, the number is unknown."

"The weapons, ammunition, weapons, and even the uniforms of the Kwantung Army soldiers who died in the battle... were all taken away by the Eighth Route Army..."

Lieutenant General Yoshino suffered several heavy losses at the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

After confirming the news that the Koike Regiment had been completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army, the first reaction was that this large-scale mopping-up operation could no longer continue.

He immediately proposed this to Lieutenant General Fujita.

"Fujita-kun..."

"I suggest that the Fujita Division immediately end this sweep."

"Withdraw all the troops operating in the mountains."

"If the Eighth Route Army can wipe out the Xiaochi Regiment in one night, they can definitely defeat the remaining three regiments one by one..."

"Retreating now is the best option to reduce casualties..."

After hearing the reply from the air force, Lieutenant General Fujita was not as angry as he was when he first heard the news.

Perhaps it was because he had suffered too many losses at the hands of the Eighth Route Army after arriving at the Jinzhou battlefield and had become numb.

He quickly recovered from the shock of the bad news, but did not respond to Lieutenant General Yoshino's words. Instead, he asked the Chief of Staff beside him, "Has the air force found the Eighth Route Army besieging the Koike Regiment around the battlefield?"

"When will the scouts sent to the battlefield by the division headquarters arrive?"

"We must first find out how the Koike Regiment was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army."

"How many troops did the Eighth Route Army dispatch..."

"How many casualties were there?"

"How many troops are left to continue fighting..."

"I can then determine whether the remaining three regiments in the mountain will retreat."

"If the Eighth Route Army besieging the Xiaochi Regiment suffered heavy casualties in the battle and almost lost its combat effectiveness..."

"Withdrawing now will not only fail to reduce casualties, but will help the Eighth Route Army and miss a good opportunity to annihilate them completely."

"Even if more than half of the Eighth Route Army was killed or wounded in the battle, I believe that with the current combat capability of the Eighth Route Army, it is not capable of completely annihilating a reinforced regiment of the Fujita Division again."

"Continuing to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army is undoubtedly the best time to eliminate them."

"Then we can't retreat."

The chief of staff took the telegram handed over by the communications staff, read it quickly, quickly found the answer that the Fujita Division wanted, and shook his head in reply.

"Division Commander..." "The Air Force replied in the telegram..."

"The surrounding terrain is very complex, with high mountains and dense forests. It is no problem to hide tens of thousands of troops."

"After a thorough search, no trace of the Eighth Route Army was found."

"The scouts sent to the battlefield by the division headquarters are on their way in the mountains."

"I just contacted them ten minutes ago. We will be at the battlefield in three hours. By then, we will have the latest news on the battle."

Lieutenant General Fujita frowned and replied unhappily: "Three hours is too long."

Lieutenant General Yoshino suddenly interrupted: "Fujita-kun..."

"Even if we don't withdraw our troops, we have to remind the remaining three regiments on the front line to step up their alert."

"If the Eighth Route Army in the mountains still has strong combat power, three hours is enough for them to do a lot of things."

Lieutenant General Fujita nodded, then turned his attention to the Chief of Staff: "Do as Yoshino-kun says immediately."

"Send a telegram to the remaining three regiments on the front line, informing them that the Xiaochi regiment was besieged by the Eighth Route Army and was completely annihilated, and remind them to step up their vigilance."

"Until we receive the division headquarters' next action plan, the troops must not move."

"The Air Force dispatched aircraft to escort the three regiments at the same time, and attacked from the air any Eighth Route Army troops that wanted to launch a surprise attack on the three regiments, as well as any suspicious targets they found."

"Don't give the Eighth Route Army another chance to wipe out one of our main regiments."

…………

Gaoye Division Command Headquarters in Fuxin City.

The Chief of Staff suddenly walked in with a serious look on his face. After seeing Lieutenant General Takano, he hesitated for several seconds before speaking: "Division Commander..."

"The front-line mopping-up troops have taken down Wulan Mountain..."

Lieutenant General Takano was delighted at first, then a puzzled expression appeared on his face, and he asked in confusion, "Is this good news?"

"Why do you look so sad? You don't look happy at all..."

The chief of staff was a little hesitant to respond, fearing that his subsequent report would anger the division commander.

But as the division chief of staff, he still had to report and could not avoid it. He took a deep breath and replied: "The mopping-up troops did take down Wulan Mountain..."

"But the casualties of the troops are a bit heavy..."

"The decisive battle with the main force of the Eighth Route Army ended a day ago."

"But because the Eighth Route Army built a large number of tunnel fortifications in Wulan Mountain, the troops hid in the tunnels to attack our mopping-up troops, resulting in the mopping-up troops being unable to completely occupy Wulan Mountain."

"It was not until 11 o'clock this morning that the mopping-up troops destroyed the last tunnel fortification of the Eighth Route Army on Wulan Mountain..."

"According to statistics, the front-line mopping-up troops lost more than 700 people in just one day of eliminating the remnants of the Eighth Route Army."

"Plus the losses they suffered in the decisive battle with the main force of the Eighth Route Army..."

"The total casualties of the mopping-up troops in the battle of Wulan Mountain exceeded 6,500..."

"If Major General Akiyama hadn't temporarily transferred some troops from the baggage train and artillery unit to supplement the infantry... he would not have had enough troops to occupy Wulan Mountain..."

"Despite this, Major General Akiyama does not have any troops to wipe out the Eighth Route Army operating in the other two areas of Fuxin."

"Please ask the division commander to dispatch troops to reinforce them as soon as possible, otherwise our large-scale cleanup of Fuxin will have to be abandoned halfway."

Lieutenant General Takano was shocked. He never expected that a small Ulan Mountain would cost the Kwantung Army's main division two regiments in casualties. (End of this chapter)