More than a dozen motorboats of the devil soldiers were heading north along the river, and the cold water was rowed out of white waves, followed by a long line of troop carriers.

On the Shao Bo Highway, the blood-red Rising Sun Banner swept in the cold wind, the cold steel helmets of the Rising Sun moved, and the mighty devil soldiers marched north in a column.

In the fields on both sides of the road, the devil cavalry galloped vertically and horizontally, and the bravaful cavalry cloaks were agitated in the wind, trampling the farmland into a mess.

The winter offensive of the Chinese army in the Sulu area is in full swing, facing the onslaught of the Chinese regular army and guerrillas, countless towns previously occupied by the devils are in danger, and many counties have been retaken by the Chinese army.

Jiangsu has always been one of the important sources of food and materials under the policy of fighting to feed the war, after all, the land of Lianghuai is flat and fertile, the water network is dense, and it has been a grain producing area since ancient times.

But at present, the war is eroding, so that all parts of northern Jiangsu, central and southern Jiangsu have become a pot of porridge, and the maintenance association and the puppet army have also suffered a heavy blow, which has made the devil panic.

If law and order in the occupied areas of Jiangsu cannot be restored before the beginning of spring, then the people's grain will not be able to be sown, and their field troops fighting on the front line against China's heavy armed groups will face the dilemma of material shortages and lack of food.

After all, most of the food and supplies they had stored on their small island had been consumed in the ongoing war, and ninety percent of the food for the troops fighting in the Chinese region now came from China.

Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the stability of the occupied areas and ensure that the Chinese people can grow food and hand it over to them, and send it to the front-line combat units to maintain the needs of the war.

But now the large-scale offensive of the Chinese guerrilla forces behind enemy lines and the regular army has made all this come to naught, so the elimination of the Chinese army and anti-Japanese forces in the occupied areas has become a top priority.

But now all theaters of Chinese theaters are launching offensives against the garrisons in various places, the roads are blocked, and the railways are no longer safe because of the raids.

The devils are no longer able to dispatch a large number of aviation units and two or three combat divisions to sweep northern Jiangsu as they did years ago, because the troops are overstretched.

At the suggestion of the staff officers, the headquarters of the Central China Dispatch Army of the Devils could only temporarily reorganize the supplementary troops, baggage troops, and engineers who were staying in Yangzhou and other rear areas to prepare to replenish the front line, and set out to fight in the Sulu area, cooperate with the local garrison, and eliminate all anti-Japanese armed forces in the occupied area.

This temporary Sanno detachment, which consisted of supplementary troops and baggage troops, was organized on the spot in Yangzhou in a short period of time, and then advanced by land and water, and went straight to Gaoyou, which was filled with gunpowder.

Although the Sano detachment was formed by temporary transfer of troops, and they were all some supplementary soldiers, baggage soldiers and engineers, every soldier sent to the Chinese battlefield was strictly trained, and even if it was a baggage soldier, the individual combat ability was still stronger than that of the Chinese officers and soldiers, so the strength should not be underestimated.

As an independent combat unit, the combat mission of the Sano detachment is to assist the local garrison in the Sulu area, eliminate the Chinese troops stranded in the Soviet Union, and restore local law and order stability.

These include the Chinese 89th Army, the Sulu Guerrilla Corps, the Sixth Independent Brigade, the Chen Taiyun Marine Police Force, the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps, the Loyal National Salvation Army, the Anti-Japanese Special Brigade and other anti-Japanese armed forces.

Because the combat mission is heavier and the combat area is relatively extensive, according to the order of the Devil's Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters, four infantry brigades, one artillery brigade, one cavalry brigade and one baggage brigade will be temporarily merged into the Sano detachment to fight.

Such a large number of troops was enough to sweep away 100,000 Chinese troops in the early days of the war, but now with the decline of the combat strength of both sides, it is no longer possible to act as recklessly as in the early days of the war.

Fortunately, in the Sulu area, there are also the 12th Brigade and the 13th Brigade of the Mixed Infantry, as well as a large number of security forces.

When the Central China Dispatch Army of the Devil sent troops to form the Sano Detachment from Yangzhou and advanced into the Sulu area from the southern front, it also sent a telegram requesting the North China Dispatch Army to send effective troops to the south from the northern front to attack the Chinese army.

According to the operational plan of the Central China Command of the Devil's Dispatch Army, the troops on the north and south lines are like two sharp blades, echoing each other from afar in the north and south, and completely solving the Chinese army in the Sulu area.

Because the losses caused to them by the Chinese army in the Sulu area this time were too great, it had already made the devil commander angry, and the inquiries from the base camp made them not all send effective troops to launch a new round of law and order operations.

Although the Sulu region was a pot of porridge, the telegram urging for help flew like snowflakes to the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters in Nanjing.

But at this moment, the major general commander of the devil Sano detachment riding in a bumpy bicycle is in a good mood, if it weren't for the erosion of the war in the Sulu area, he would not have the opportunity to lead the army alone.

He was able to lead the troops alone, in fact, thanks to the Chinese army in the Sulu area, and it was precisely because the Chinese army made the headquarters angry that he sent heavy troops to encircle and suppress it.

This time, without waiting for the deployment of troops to be assembled, the commander Sano couldn't wait to lead the two infantry brigades that arrived in Yangzhou to rush to Gaoyou, who was in a hurry.

On the way, he joined the Jiangfang motorboat squadron that had set off in advance, but was blocked by the guerrilla attack, and advanced to Gaoyou, where he wanted to show his strength with his great military exploits!

This time, there were seven brigades of troops under his command, although they were not as good as those main field divisions formed by the Eighth Wing, but they were also behemoths.

Taro Sano is confident enough to crush the Chinese army in the Sulu area, and when the combat mission is over, the Sano detachment that was temporarily formed to undertake the combat mission will definitely be disbanded, but he can go further with this battle.

Looking at the rank of major general that he has been wearing for a long time, Taro Sano's eyes flashed with great ambition, it was time to change, and this time was the rarest opportunity.

As the saying goes, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and Taro Sano also wants to command thousands of troops and horses, and it is a man's dream.

Just as Taro Sano was riding in a bumpy truck and fantasizing about a bright future, the rickety truck stopped.

"Go see what's going on?"

Commander Taro Sano, looked at the stopped march, and a look of dissatisfaction flashed across his face.

A devil staff officer jumped out of the car and ran to the front, and soon ran back out of breath.

The devil's staff officer stepped forward and saluted: "Report, the road ahead has been cut off by the guerrillas of the Chinese army......

"Damn the Shina people!"

Commander Taro Sano's face showed a hint of anger, and he pushed the car door hard and jumped out of the car.

The main reason why they stopped and walked along the way was that the roads were difficult to navigate, and they were annoyed by the Chinese guerrillas who were not flying various banners.

Although the guerrillas ran away when they saw them from a distance, the bridges and roads were damaged from time to time, so they had to stop and recover and continue to move forward.

"Let the sappers quickly repair the road!" Taro Sano ordered in a cold voice.

"Hello!"

The devil's staff officer strode away, and soon, the engineer troops behind hurriedly rushed up from the rear carrying wood, bricks and stones, and rushed to the front to repair the road.

The timber and bricks were obtained from the houses in the local villages they demolished along the way, so that the roads that had been dug up could be repaired quickly.