Delivering 10 large yellow croaker, Huang Hanju successfully obtained a warrant from the headquarters of the expeditionary force, and left two days later with the first batch of wounded soldiers who returned to Wan Town. Originally, when Huang Hanju was here, he could still get some battle reports from the city from time to time, but now without Huang Hanju, Tang Cheng, who was cowering in the camp outside the city, became completely deaf and blind, but the tension in Tang Cheng's heart dissipated some, after all, without Huang Hanju, the rest of them can completely let go of their hands and feet.

On April 7, 42, after the Japanese army occupied Alanmu, the forward troops approached Ringanqiang. On 16 April, the day after Huang Hanju escorted the first wounded soldiers out of Mandalay, the Japanese forces approaching Ringanqiang cut off the Anglo-Indian retreat from the flank. At the request of the British army, the Chinese Expeditionary Force rushed to the aid of the British-Burmese army besieged north of Ringanqiang with the new 38th and 113th regiments, rescued more than 7,000 people below Alexander, and desperately broke through the siege and withdrew from Ringanqiang, which was surrounded by heavy Japanese troops.

Ringanqiang is a city in central and western Myanmar, located on the right bank of the middle reaches of the Irrawaddy River, is the main oil production center of Burma, exploited in 1887, there is a 440-kilometer pipeline directly to the oil refining center of Salem southeast of Yangon. The Japanese attack on Ringanqiang was not only to encircle and suppress the British army in Ringanqiang, but mainly for the oil refineries and oil wells in Ringanqiang.

Huang Hanju was no longer in the camp, Tang Cheng had no way to know this, and before the people in the command headquarters had not clearly assigned him, Tang Cheng could only pretend to be deaf and dumb and huddle in the camp. "When is this a head, is it possible that we just see the sky in the camp and don't go out?" After cowering in the barracks for a few days in a row, the temper of the dice became more and more irritable, and the guys of the new 22nd Division in the camp had been beaten by him several times in succession.

Tang Cheng, who was still fiddling with the map every day, glanced at the dice, "I said, can you calm down and stay for a while, I am dizzy when you walk around like this." Didn't Dr. Zhou say it all when he came back from the city yesterday, there are already people in the military camp in the south of the city, and I estimate that the troops in the military camp in the south of the city should be the troops withdrawn from the front by the command, maybe we will have a big fight with the little devils in Mandalay, and there will always be a time for you to fight. ”

Tang Cheng's answer did not satisfy the dice, and after wandering around Tang Cheng for a while, he left the house in a huff and continued to look for the troubles of the guys of the new 22nd Division. Over the next few days, the number of wounded in the camp decreased dramatically, and even many of the doctors and nurses who cared for the wounded left in droves. "Company Commander Tang, I also received an order to escort the wounded back to Wan Town, these are some of the extra medicines from my side, I will leave them for you, maybe you can use them." Dr. Zhou, who was good friends with Tang Cheng, was finally leaving Mandalay, making Tang Cheng, who was already depressed, even more depressed.

Originally, he found that there were many more troops of the expeditionary force in the military camp in the south of the city, Tang Cheng also thought that the expeditionary force headquarters was planning a decisive battle with the Japanese army in Mandalay, but he did not expect that the headquarters made a mistake, and the troops that had just been transferred back to Mandalay were successively sent out to help the British army in Chetu fill the gaps, and the expeditionary force troops currently assembled on the front line of Mandalay were not to mention the decisive battle with the Japanese army, I am afraid that even their own safety could not be guaranteed, Tang Cheng thought that the retreat of the expeditionary force was inevitable.

The increasingly threatening situation on the Eastern Front finally forced Stilwell and Luo Zhuoying to strengthen their forces on the Eastern Front. On April 21, Shi and Luo agreed to stop the transfer of the 200th Division to Chok Padang and reassign it to Tangji, an important town on the Eastern Front, while the entire 5th Army moved eastward. At this critical moment, Stilwell and Law Zhuoying once again made a wrong judgment, and after a slight easing on the Eastern Front, they ignored it and decided to implement the Battle of Mandalay. On the 25th, Stilwell ordered the main force of the 5th Army to "return to Mandalay to prepare for battle", and the 5th Army was forced to return.

Stilwell's decision was based mainly on the fact that the British had begun to retreat, and the expeditionary force should have taken the initiative to avoid being surrounded by the Japanese and planned to move into the vicinity of Mandalay to attack the enemy. The Expeditionary Force Headquarters immediately ordered the 200th Army to move towards Mandalay, except for the 200th Division, which continued its previous mission. On April 26, due to the limitation of troops, the 200th Division voluntarily abandoned Tangji and advanced to the southeast. On April 27, the new 28th Division advanced south to reinforce the 200th Division, and at the same time, the new 29th Division urgently dispatched to Lashio; This is an attempt to compensate for the negative impact of the Shiloh Project.

However, judging from the actual battle situation, this transfer was to no avail, Lashio was attacked by the Japanese army the next day, and was occupied by the Japanese army before the arrival of reinforcements on the 29th, the new 28th Division itself was not strong in combat effectiveness, and was attacked by the Japanese army as soon as it started, and the troops were defeated, although the 200th Division fought tenaciously, but it was surrounded by the enemy on all sides, and it was difficult to do anything, but it was surrounded by the Japanese army, and the Chinese expeditionary force thus lost the last chance to keep the rear road.

In front of the Japanese army was the heavy troops that had been hoarded by the Japanese army, and behind was Lashio, which had already been occupied by the Japanese army, and the expeditionary force troops who were huddled in Mandalay and waiting for a decisive battle with the Japanese army actually lost the best opportunity to withdraw to northern Burma. On April 30, the headquarters of the expeditionary force, which was already exhausted, finally issued an order to retreat, ordering the troops concentrated in Mandalay to move to the west bank of the Irrawaddy River, and then to Bhamo and Myitkyina. Since the retreat order of the Expeditionary Force Commander's Department did not specify the retreat route of the various departments, nor did it specify a coordinated plan of action, the various units of the Expeditionary Force that received the retreat order actually went their own way when they retreated.

Tang Cheng learned the news that the commander's department of the expeditionary force had ordered the withdrawal of troops, and it was already the afternoon of the 30th, and if it weren't for the sergeant of a new 22nd division in the camp who went to the city to visit his fellow villagers, he might not have known the news. "Sir, what are we going to do?" Hou San and the others were all gathered in the house in Tangcheng, and outside the door was the already chaotic noise and noise, and when they learned that the command had ordered the withdrawal of troops, the soldiers of the new 22nd Division in the camp made a fuss, because no one came here to inform them of the order to withdraw the troops.

Tang Cheng is also packing up his things, weapons and equipment are indispensable, and those maps that have been marked cannot be left behind. Tang Cheng dragged out a box from under his bed and opened it, "This is the medicine that Dr. Zhou left for us when he left, they are all some good things for treating external injuries, you guys pack these separately, we can't leave these things on the way." After distributing the medicines, Tang Cheng did not immediately leave the camp with Hou San and them, but went straight to the company commander of this group of soldiers of the new 22nd Division.

"Company Commander Ma, I think you already know the news that the command wants us to retreat, right?" Ma Dahai, who was being troubled by his own soldiers, was vigorously pulled out of the crowd by Tang Cheng, and with the help of Hou San and others, the two finally found a relatively secluded place to talk. "I know that you and your brothers have not received orders either, I don't know what you are going to do, I am going to leave here with my brothers, and the Japanese troops will come as soon as they speak, if you can't cross the river early, maybe you will be dumplings by the Japanese army."

Unconsciously stretched out his hand to take the cigarette handed by Tang Cheng, Ma Dahai still didn't understand why Tang Cheng was talking to him, "I want to say, since Company Commander Ma, you have been forgotten by the command like us, it is better for us to join forces and find an opportunity to retreat across the river, there will be a greater chance if there are more people, at least we will not be pursued by the Japanese army's top scout troops." Huang Hanju left, and there was no one who could help him speak, so Tang Cheng thought about mixing with this group of guys from the New 22nd Division, and he could really say that he was also a member of the New 22nd Division, at least he would not be arrested and shot as a spy of the Japanese army.

Ma Dahai looked at Tang Cheng with some suspicion, although he had not been in charge of the soldiers of the new 22nd Division for a long time, but he knew a lot about Tang Cheng and them. Don't look at Tang Cheng They are fighting with the soldiers of the new 22nd Division in the camp every day, but Ma Dahai has never dared to have a deep friendship with Tang Cheng, Ma Dahai has been a soldier for more than ten years and can still save his life, relying on his eyesight, in his hunch, Tang Cheng and them are far more dangerous than the upcoming Japanese army.

Seeing that Ma Dahai didn't express his stance immediately, Tang Cheng already knew Ma Dahai's decision, and immediately smiled and said, "Since Company Commander Ma is unwilling to go all the way with his brother, then okay, brother, I will leave first, if I have the opportunity to meet in the future, I hope that Company Commander Ma can help my brother and me with your old feelings." Although he didn't know why Ma Dahai refused to join forces with him, since Ma Dahai had already made a choice, Tang Cheng did not force the other party, but said goodbye gently.

Although Huang Hanju said that he had left Burma, the jeep that was assigned to him at the beginning was not taken back by the command for some reason, and there were a total of 7 people in Tangcheng, including himself, plus the weapons and ammunition that had been prepared and some necessary supplies, but a jeep could not fit it. Fortunately, Tang Cheng also has Hou San and dice, two guys who were originally born bandits, as early as two days ago, Hou San took Dice and Tan Fei into the city for a trip, and when they came back, the three of them drove a three-wheeled motorcycle.

Tang Cheng didn't ask where the motorcycle came from, probably he did, and Hou San and they wouldn't say, anyway, the military judges in Mandalay City were very busy for a while, and they didn't find the lost motorcycle in the end. "Let's go, let's go." Tang Cheng in the jeep glanced back at the barracks where he had lived for more than a month, and then started the jeep and gave the order to set off.

When Tang Cheng's seven people galloped out of the camp in a jeep and three-wheeled motorcycle, Ma Dahai was also gathering his soldiers to prepare to leave, and Ma Dahai, who had already regretted it a little, shouted Tang Cheng, but the movement of the jeep and motorcycle was too big, and Tang Cheng, who was driving the jeep himself, did not hear Ma Dahai's shouts at all.