After the Japanese invasion of Burma, the Japanese 55th Division crushed the counterattack of the British 7th Armored Brigade near Bago on March 6. Alexander, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Burmese army, saw that the defeat could not be saved, and after ordering the destruction, he withdrew from Rangoon, and more than 3,000 British and Indian troops withdrew to Taungoo, and according to the advance deployment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the 200th Division of the 5th Army arrived in Taungoo to replace the British army.

After the defeat of the British army, the Japanese army completely occupied Rangoon on the 8th of March and cleared the resistance around Rangoon after a fierce battle. Occupying the excellent port of Yangon, the Japanese warships were able to supply the Japanese troops entering Burma nearby, while the British troops who had been repulsed by the Japanese had already lost the ability to meet the battle, and could only retreat to the Indo-Burmese border step by step.

March 6 was the day when Tang Cheng and others rushed to Wan Town, when the Japanese army captured Yangon on March 8, Tang Cheng and they could not rush to Mandalay, and Huang Hanju was not valued by the people of the Fifth Army, so this big news was not until March 11, when Stilwell, a lieutenant general of the US Army and chief of staff of the Chinese theater, was ordered to enter Burma and rushed to Mandalay to command the Chinese Expeditionary Force to cooperate with the British army.

With the development of the war, more and more Chinese troops have entered Burma, and more than 100,000 troops of the 5th, 6th, and 66th armies of the national army have been transferred to Burma according to the original plan. After the Japanese army occupied Rangoon, it immediately marched north in three directions, and its battle plan was to pursue the retreating British army all the way, invade Mineva, go straight to Ka Yuanli, occupy the Ringanqiang oil field, and cut off the retreat of the British army. Capture Tonggu all the way, advance to Mandalay, and encircle and annihilate the main force of the expeditionary force. One route was Tonggu Dongdong to Taunggyi to attack Lashio, and north to Bhamo and Myitkyina, trying to cut off the return route of the Chinese army in one fell swoop.

In light of the above enemy situation, Alexander, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Burmese Army, decided through consultations with China and the United States to make the following arrangements for the Chinese and British troops in Burma. It is bounded by the Yangon-Mandalay (also known as Wacheng) railway, and from the east of the railway to the Thai border, it is a defense area for the Chinese Expeditionary Force. To the west of the railway, it was the defense of the British army. The Chinese and British armies were deployed in three ways to meet the enemy. He also planned to meet the Japanese army in the area from Pyin Wenna (also known as Pyongmanna) to Mandalay, so as to achieve the goal of encircling and annihilating the enemy's main force.

According to the battle plan drawn up by the tripartite talks between China, Britain, and the United States, the two armies of the British Army on the Western Route had more than 40,000 troops under their jurisdiction: the 1st, 17th, and 36th Divisions, the 63rd Brigade, and the 7th Armored Brigade, to defend the area north of the Irrawaddy River to prevent the enemy from advancing northward. The 5th Army was the Central Route Army, and its vanguard 200th Division arrived in Tonggu to take over the defense of the 1st Division of the British Army and defend Tonggu.

The new 22nd Division and the 96th Division were assembled in the northeast area of Mandalay as mobile forces of the Expeditionary Force in case of emergency, and the 6th Army of the Expeditionary Force was the Eastern Route Army, with its headquarters in Releem, and the 55th Division was temporarily reorganized and stationed in the Leigu area. The 49th Division was deployed in the Mengpan area, and the 93rd Division was deployed in the Jingdong area to prevent the Thai army from attacking from the east and covering the left flank of the 5th Army. The 66th Army of the Expeditionary Force was deployed between Mandalay and Lashio as a mobile unit for the expeditionary force to defend the rear road.

Stilwell and Alexander's joint command apparently clashed with the expeditionary force's previously planned military deployment, and while the British troops in southern Burma retreated in large numbers, Stilwell and Alexander threw the expeditionary force that had been going south into pieces, which in some way turned the advantage of the expeditionary force into Mandalay and waiting for an opportunity to go south into a tactic of adding fuel to the army. As long as the Japanese army marching from Rangoon in three directions gathered heavy troops to attack one point, the expeditionary force, which had originally had the advantage in strength, would be passively exhausted to cope with the Japanese attack and lose the opportunity to take the initiative to attack.

There were so many generals in the headquarters of the expeditionary force that no one saw the trouble, but after Stilwell received the support of Chiang Kai-shek, the chairman of the committee, and took command of the expeditionary force, he completely ignored all the plans that had been made by the expeditionary force. Commanding the army and making achievements was Stilwell's heartfelt goal. At that time, he did not have a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics, characteristics, and combat effectiveness of the Chinese and Japanese armies, and in the absence of background knowledge, according to his personality of "having the ability to make the most blunt conclusions with the greatest speed and rashness," offensive warfare was obviously more in line with his choice.

Stilwell did not attach importance to the difficulties raised by the Chinese side in fighting in Burma, such as the Sino-British coordination issue, the terrain of Burma, the rear liaison, and the fifth column. He insisted that the main force of the Chinese army should be assembled on the front line of Tonggu, and that it should quickly move south to take the initiative to attack Yangon, waiting for an opportunity to seize Rangoon, and achieve a swift and complete victory in the defense of Burma. When making a series of decisions, Stilwell even completely ignored the fact that the Japanese army was sending ground troops to land in Burma at the port of Guò Rangoon, and was not vigilant enough against the large-scale roundabout operations that the Japanese army might launch On March 17, the Japanese army in the north launched another offensive, and the Japanese troops went north along the Irrawaddy River to inflict heavy losses on the British army one after another, and the British army on the west road was about to collapse at the touch of a button, because the British army on the right road continued to retreat, and since the Japanese army went north, only the other two Chinese expeditionary forces were still resisting stubbornly on the entire Burma battlefield. At the same time, they had to divide their forces to help the besieged British army. Stilwell's elaborate tactics finally caused the Chinese army to be divided and used, and the British army was exhausted everywhere to plug loopholes, and due to the British army's drag, the Chinese army was weak on the southern front, and finally the entire front began to show signs of imminent collapse, Tang Cheng knew these news because Huang Hanju was ordered to go to Mandalay to attend a logistics meeting, due to the unsatisfactory situation in the front, the hospital in Mandalay was already overcrowded, and the camp where Huang Hanju was now stationed was about to be opened up as a new shelter for wounded soldiers. "That's a good thing, we can just hide some medicine." Huang Hanju was very disdainful of Tang Cheng's behavior of digging up the country's difficult wealth, but Tang Cheng said that this was a precautionary move, although Huang Hanju didn't know why he did it, but he knew that Tang Cheng would not harm himself.

A company of soldiers in the camp was not under his command, Tang Cheng had no bottom in his heart, and the sand table that was originally planned to be built in the camp was also canceled, and Tang Cheng could only hang a large map of Myanmar on the wall of his room, but Tang Cheng had already marked various arrows and circles on it. "These old men who command the war don't know what's wrong, and I, a little captain, can see the problem, can't they see it?" Knowing that the headquarters intended to organize troops to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Japanese army in the Pingmanna area, Tang Cheng immediately scolded the generals in the headquarters.

The Japanese army broke through the British army on the west route one after another, which may cause the British army on the west route to retreat and completely expose the right flank of the Chinese expeditionary force in the Pingmanna area of the middle road to the Japanese army. If the command really wanted to carry out this battle plan, it would only make the expeditionary force, which was already overstretched, even more exhausted.

Tang Cheng's worries were not superfluous, in the development of the war in the next few days, the British army on the western route really retreated in a big stride, and the retreat of the British army finally completely exposed the right flank of the Chinese expeditionary force in the Pingmanna area of the middle road to the Japanese army. "As I said, these British big noses are not credible, and as soon as they withdrew like this, they completely threw the right flank of our expeditionary force to the Japanese army." This time, Tang Cheng was not the only one who scolded the generals in the command headquarters for blindly commanding, and even Hou San, who had followed Tang Cheng to look at the map for a few days, began to scold.

Such an obvious thing, even Hou San, an illiterate old man, could understand it, and Tang Cheng didn't believe that the guys in the headquarters who had been fiddling with maps all day long didn't know. What Tang Cheng was most tired of was falling into aimless factional battles, so since he came to Mandalay, he strictly ordered Hou San and others not to go out at will to provoke right and wrong, he just wanted to be a pure soldier and be able to protect Huang Hanju to return home safely in Kunming.

"The news I just got was lost in Tonggu, and the 200th Division was ordered to break through." Huang Hanju, who returned from Mandalay City, obviously did not look very good, and Tang Cheng was also shocked by the news that Huang Hanju brought back. Although Tang Cheng knew that it was only a matter of time before the 200th Division retreated from Tonggu when he learned that the headquarters was preparing to organize troops to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Japanese army in the Pingmanna area, he was still shocked by the news when he really learned that the 200th Division was ordered to break through from Tonggu.

On March 16, the Japanese army in the north began to bomb Tonggu, and on March 19, the 200th Division made contact with the Japanese ground forces for the first time. After holding on to Tonggu for 10 days, the 200th Division, which had actually become a lone army, was short of food and ammunition, had no reinforcements from outside, and had to face four times the enemy's encirclement. Du Yuming, who commanded the Fifth Army, judged the situation and ordered the 200th Division to break through from the east of Tonggu on the evening of March 29. On March 30, after the Japanese army entered the city, they found that Tonggu was an empty city, and in the defense of Tonggu, the 200th Division destroyed more than 5,000 enemies and severely damaged the 55th Division of the Japanese Army, but it also suffered more than 2,000 casualties.

Tang Cheng hid in the room alone and smoked a few cigarettes, and then he was relieved from the news that Huang Hanju brought back, "After lunch, gather the brothers to go to the conference room, there are some things that should be prepared early, and I also have something to say to you." Tang Cheng, who walked out of the room, called Hou San and whispered a few words, and then went straight to Huang Hanju, and he had to explain some words to Huang Hanju first.