The convoy of the engineering regiment sped all the way down the road, but it only walked a dozen kilometers before it came across two Japanese reconnaissance planes.

After a short but tense battle, the engineer regiment destroyed a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft at the cost of losing an armored vehicle...... At this time, the firepower of the engineer regiment was no joke, the heavy machine guns on the armored vehicles and tanks, coupled with the light machine guns in the hands of the soldiers, fired vigorously at the Japanese reconnaissance plane, so that the Japanese reconnaissance plane that diveled and strafed was turned into a ball of fireball on the spot and plunged headlong behind the mountain.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the other reconnaissance plane hurriedly turned around and fled.

"Tuanza!" Looking at the reconnaissance plane that flew away, the engineer battalion commander reminded Wang Mazi: "We should avoid it!" ”

"Tuanza!" The adjutant objected: "But the order of the upper peak...... It's desperate to rush to Lashio, the military situation is urgent, the regiment is ......"

After thinking about it, Wang Mazi resolutely ordered: "Notify the reconnaissance troops in front and find a place to hide!" ”

"Yes!" The order was quickly delivered, and the convoy of the Engineer Regiment dispersed into several parts and hid in the jungle under the guidance of the reconnaissance unit.

Wang Mazi's decision was certainly correct.

As long as anyone with a little brain knows, the key target of the Japanese army at this time was Lashio.

Since the focus is on Lashio and they have also airborne troops near Lashio, then the Japanese air power will fully cover the airborne attack on Lashio.

As you can imagine, this cover can be divided into two aspects:

One is to provide direct air fire support to the airborne troops, bombing and strafing all the way in front of the airborne troops to open the way for the airborne troops, and this is probably not possible because of the heavy fog over Lashio.

The other is to use air power to reconnoiter and block the reinforcements of the Chinese army in the direction of Lashio. This point will not be possible precisely because of the first point, so most of the air power of the Japanese army will be poured into this strategic direction.

In this case, if you still stubbornly adhere to the order and recklessly reinforce in the direction of Lashio, there will be only one end: the troops will be almost bombed by Japanese planes before they arrive at Lashio. This is especially true of mechanized units such as the Engineer Corps, which rely heavily on roads.

If the troops are gone, is there any point in rushing to Lashio?!

Sure enough, not long after the engineer regiment hid for a long time, there was a roar of planes in the air. There were at least forty or fifty bombers in this batch, and they flew like wild bees in this direction of the engineer regiment under the escort of several Zero fighters, and the whole sky was black.

This made everyone in the engineering regiment, including the adjutant who had dissent just now, secretly rejoicing...... If this is hidden a little later, then I am afraid that the entire engineering regiment will disappear from this world.

The Japanese bombers circled around the air a few times but did not find their target, so they indiscriminately dropped bombs on the highway and nearby bridges, and only flew away after the road was completely blank.

So the engineer regiment couldn't go even if it wanted to, so Wang Mazi gave an order: "Go again after dark, and all parts should make preparations for building roads and bridges!" ”

Later, it was said that the new 22nd Division, reinforced to Lashio in the other direction, suffered losses.

This is not to say that the commander of the new 22nd Division, Yu Yaoxiang, was not prescient, in fact, Yao Yaoxiang was also a very shrewd commander, and the reason why the new 22nd Division would suffer losses was because his troops were too numerous and too complex.

The engineering regiment was full of tanks, armored vehicles and cars, and not a single person walked on the ground. Although the equipment of the new 22nd Division is good, it can only be regarded as a semi-motorized division, and only a small number of people can rush to Lashio by car, and most of the soldiers are rushing to Lashio on foot.

These soldiers who walked on foot were more uncomfortable...... They can't hide in the jungle and wait for dark like the Engineer Corps or the Automobile Corps, for fear that they won't be able to get into battle in time. So they could only wait for the Japanese planes to come and hide in the jungle, and then continue to march when the planes left.

But sometimes the Japanese bombers came faster than expected, and as soon as they came up, they were bombed...... Fortunately, the new 22nd Division is a veteran of the war, so the casualties are not large.

The work of building roads and bridges in the engineering regiment began in the daytime, after all, the target of people is much smaller than that of tanks, automobiles, and other equipment, and the soldiers of the engineering regiment only need to send a few good-eyed soldiers to guard the high places, and when they see a Japanese reconnaissance plane coming from a distance, they will "snap, pop" and fire a few shots...... The fighters called this an "anti-aircraft gun", which was especially useful for fighters who were severely lacking in communications equipment.

As soon as the gunshots were heard, the soldiers who were busy on the roads and by the river put down their work to find cover. The Japanese reconnaissance plane flew up and down to take a look...... There was no movement, but there seemed to be a slight change on the road and on the bridge, and that change was not enough for them to summon bombers to bomb, so it was gone.

The engineering regiment usually does the work of building roads and bridges, so the project is going smoothly. Among them, the commander of the wooden battalion was the most majestic, he commanded Ruo Ding to shout at the soldiers, but it took more than an hour to level the road, and it took more than an hour to build a wooden bridge in the river that allowed the tanks to pass...... However, it was also a pity that it was still the dry season, and the river was only knee-deep, and the small river was only about 20 meters wide.

After the road was repaired and the bridge was built, the engineer regiment rested for a while, and the sky became dark, and the engineer regiment set off again at night and headed straight for Lashio.

On the other side, Du Yuming of the expeditionary force headquarters received another telegram from the adjutant.

"Throne!" The adjutant said: "The Japanese army parachuted two more batches, one group of about 500 people, and landed near the road from Tangji to Lashio. Another group of more than 1,000 people landed on the road from Mandalay to Lashio and occupied Heights 419 and 287.5. ”

"What?" Hearing this, Du Yuming's expression could not help but change greatly, and the operational intention of these two groups of Japanese airborne troops was obvious, that is, to occupy the high ground on both sides of the highway to block the reinforcements sent by the Chinese side from Mandalay and Tangji to Lashio.

"What did the 66th Army do?!" Du Yuming couldn't help scolding: "How did they let the Japanese take two heights in the blink of an eye!" ”

"They ......," the adjutant replied, "They don't know where to go......"

"I don't know where to go?!" Hearing this, Du Yuming couldn't help gritting his teeth with hatred.

In addition to the new 38th Division of the 66th Army, which was transferred to the Western Front, the remaining two divisions were the new 28th Division, which was reorganized from the Military Commander's Special Forces, and the new 29th Division, which had just been formed.

It is understandable that the new 29th Division was withdrawn and did not know where to go, because it was formed less than two months ago, and more than 80 percent of the divisions were recruits who had never been on the battlefield. But this new 28th division ...... These military commanders and spies usually occupy themselves as military commanders, and they are all powerful and powerful no matter where they are.

This is a good thing, they are very good at dealing with their own people, and the Japanese fled without even catching the fire, and gave up a few important places to the Japanese without firing a shot.