"Tojo."

Tokyo, inside the Imperial Palace, Tojo Tatsumasa stood, bowing his head, in front of him, is the supreme will of the Great Japanese brother.

Locusts!

"Although the Americans retreated, you also know very well that a few months ago, the bombers of the Eighth Route took off from Shanxi, bombed Southeast Asia, and destroyed the oil fields of the empire."

"The distance from Shanxi to Palembang is far greater than the distance from Shanxi to the Empire."

"That is, the enemy's bombers can bomb the Empire, bomb Tokyo, bomb my palace at any time."

"That is, even if the Americans retreat now, your absolute defensive circle has been broken, and the entire empire, which is no longer safe, is shrouded under the wings of the Eighth Road."

As he spoke, the tone of the devil locust became more and more solemn, one sentence after another, and every word was like a heavy hammer pressing on Tojo Hideki's heart, and he fell directly to the ground from a half-bowed state.

He Hideki Tojo was the prime minister of the Empire of Japan, holding great power and controlling the strategic direction of the empire.

Even domestic ministers, such as former Prime Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi and others, can only barely be affected by him, it can be said that he is covering the sky in the country, but the person in front of him is above him.

can deprive him of his rights and knock him into the abyss.

"Now the situation is a bit special, the enemy's bombers have a long range, and they can still fly more than 4,000 kilometers while carrying several tons of bombs, which is really..."

Tojo cautiously explained.

He didn't want to lose the right to be prime minister, but this independent group was too unreasonable.

According to eyewitnesses in Balikpapan and Palembang, the bombers of the Eighth Route not only had a long range and could fly directly from Shanxi to Palembang and other airspace, but also carried nearly 10 tons of bombs.

The size, range, and bomb load are far superior to the American B29 bomber.

There is this kind of bomber, not to mention the current empire, even if it is the empire's sphere of influence at its peak, the entire empire and all its territory are shrouded in the wings of this bomber.

It's useless to resist.

"Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the local air defense and ensure the security of the empire's homeland."

The locust's unmistakable tone was full of impatience.

After a series of defeats in the Republic of China, he had become completely disappointed with the Tojo cabinet and completely lost patience, and if it weren't for the fact that there was no new prime minister at present, he would have been replaced long ago.

"Hey."

Hideki Tojo smiled bitterly.

He came this time to request the mobilization of a part of the local army aviation troops to the Republic of China to support the fighting in the Changheng area.

The U.S. troops retreated, Leyte Gulf was calm, and the waste was still in the hands of the devils, even if the Eighth Air Force had been lost before, the flying troops in the hands of the devils at this time still had a little inventory.

With the breakthrough of heavy oil refining technology, aviation fuel has begun to be abundant, and the training of new pilots has also been steadily promoted.

But the locust didn't let go, and he couldn't help it.

However, the attitude of the locust also strengthened Tojo's idea of annihilating the armored forces of the Independent Regiment in the Nagaheng area, and only by winning a battle could the current situation be saved.

······

Three days later.

The starting point of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

Dusk is excessive.

A transport ship flying the plaster flag slowly arrived at the port, and with the cooperation of the devil soldiers and crew, dozens of guns wrapped in cannon jackets were unloaded, as well as about 300 boxes of shells, which were loaded onto the transport truck and slowly drove towards the devil barracks.

During this period, the devil garrison blocked the perimeter, forbidding anyone to approach, and even sent gunboats to deter.

Five kilometers away from the port, there was a large scissor-shaped observation glass, behind which several people were hiding.

"About fifty guns, and two hundred boxes of shells."

Observer Debrief:

"Look at the shape, it's all a new anti-tank gun of a devil."

In the Battle of Yanchang, the devil appeared for the first time after the improvement of the new 75 mm anti-tank gun, the principle of cone-chamber running, the cannon mount, and the enlarged charge, that is, the drug cannon, which can penetrate the frontal armor of the No. 4 tank within 200 meters in actual combat.

In the Battle of Yanchang, many tanks were destroyed by this anti-tank gun. Fortunately, the number of artillery pieces like devils is small, shells are scarce, and they are easily eliminated in the end, which has little impact on the battle.

But it still attracted the attention of the troops.

Although the troops are currently in absolute superiority, even if the devils are equipped with a large number of this artillery, they will not be able to change the situation of the battle, but it will increase the casualties of the troops, so the staff behind the enemy began to monitor the ports of the devils under the orders of their superiors and investigate the transportation of new artillery.

Sufficient materials, equipment, and today's workers behind enemy lines can be said to be low-key in the past, and activities can be described as rampant, and there are a lot of eyeliners in the regular army of the devils, so it is easy to find the transport ships of the devils.

"It's in the barracks."

With the help of a large magnification viewing glass, these people easily discovered that the devil had placed these fifty artillery pieces and two hundred boxes of shells in the barracks.

"Shall we..."

In the rear, a person waved his hand, murderous.

"Nope."

In the group, an older man pondered for a moment and shook his head:

"Keep watching, don't do it for now."

"The devil's military camp is too big, and it is difficult to ensure the effect at night, so report the situation to your superiors first."

This is a city, there are many garrisons of devils, the blockade is tight, it is difficult for large-scale guerrillas to get close to the camp of devils, and at night, a small amount of shelling is difficult to guarantee the effect, so this commander gave up.

······

The next day

Yan Chang.

Ten minutes in the morning.

"Let's go."

More than 500 tanks, more than 600 armored vehicles, and dozens of newly organized infantry battalions, with Kong Jie's order, divided into three routes, each with a large number of ground troops, marched towards the Changheng area.

At this time, it was the middle of August, the rainy season in the south, often rainy, the roads were muddy, the tank army was not easy to walk on the muddy roads, not to mention the slow speed, and there were often tanks stuck in the road, which led to the forced suspension of the march.

To make matters worse, there were constant problems during the march of the troops.

From time to time, there are low-level mistakes such as tanks falling into the side of the road while driving, collisions between tanks, sudden engine stalls, and oil burning.

These mistakes seriously affected the pace of the march.

Therefore, until a week later, even if there were no devils blocking the road, the three armored units were more than two hundred kilometers away from the Changheng area, more than two hundred kilometers away from the devils' first line of defense.

During this period, the troops also had to repair roads and bridges damaged by devils, and the speed became slower and slower.

······

"Still two hundred kilometers away?"

Hearing the news reported from the front, Isamu Yokoyama was a little surprised.

Lately he's been anxious.

The base camp refused to retreat, and ordered him to fight a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army, using the terrain to annihilate the armored forces of the independent regiment that came to him, but in the face of his request for army aviation support, he decisively refused.

Helpless, he could only strengthen his position while uniting with Shunroku Hata to contact the country and persuade the prime minister to let the troops in the Nagaheng area retreat.

If you don't retreat, it's too late.

However, they contacted many important ministers, including Ishihara Waner and Mitsumasa Yonechi, but the other party replied that they couldn't help, but fortunately, at this time, there were many people in the country who were not satisfied with Tojo, and finally the two successfully raised their opinions to the locust.

It's a pity that the locusts didn't intervene in this matter.

Moreover, 150 new 75-mm anti-tank guns and nearly 10,000 rounds of shells were recently transported to him from China, but the result was less than 50, and 2,000 shells finally arrived in Hengyang.

And also.

After he stopped the offensive, the independent regiment began to transport supplies to Hengyang on a large scale again, and the transport planes landed one after another.

But now this news has made Yokoyama feel a little better anxious and sad.

The armored troops of the Eighth Route Independent Regiment behaved so badly.

The troops, which had a large amount of mechanical equipment, marched for seven days in a row, and actually advanced less than 150 kilometers, which was slower than the speed of a pure infantry march, and it was much slower.

Even more outrageous.

During the march of the armored units of the Separate Regiment, there were a large number of accidents, the driver collided with a tank, fell into a field outside the road during the drive, and there were cases of sudden fires.

And these low-level mistakes are very common, not like deliberate drills.

These news made Yokoyama feel a lot better.

The independent regiment can be invincible all the way, and the empire that fights loses its armor must have a certain strength, but the current situation makes him completely believe that because of the hasty expansion of the army and the lack of talents, the quality of the armored troops of the independent regiment is seriously not good.

Especially the troops of Southern Pine County.

This is also the reason why the 6th Division was able to destroy more than 300 tanks in Yanchang.

At this moment, an idea also popped up in Yokoyama's heart.

An idea to replicate the victory of the 15th Brigade, that is, the 125th Division.

"Set up a reconnaissance detachment to continue to collect information about the troops of the independent regiment starting from Songxian County, and report to me regularly."

Isamu Yokoyama called a staff officer and said:

"Let Tegaoke fully cooperate."

The victory of the 15th Brigade in Dingzhou was an accidental miracle, just like the Eighth Route Army that the Yamazaki Brigade encountered in the Taihang Mountain Arsenal in those years, which could not be replicated, but the second victory could be completely replicated.

Now the Eighth Route armored force in Songxian County is suspected to be of poor quality and full of loopholes, as long as he causes the enemy to make the mistake of paralyzing and carelessly penetrating deeply, and then uses the terrain to annihilate it in one fell swoop, he can replicate this victory and thwart the edge of the Eighth Road.

But before that, we have to take a closer look to see what the specific situation of the Eighth Route Armored Force is.

"Hey."

The staff officer took the order and left.

······

Mid to late August.

The 125th Division was stationed.

"You're from Taiyuan?"

Looking at the sluggish three people in front of him, Major General Marukawa Daisuke said with surprise.

This three deserters of the 126th Division actually ran out of Taiyuan, Shanxi, which really surprised him.

In the Battle of Taiyuan, the six divisions of the First Army were completely wiped out, and the imperial general Yoshio Shinozuka committed suicide, which was the battle with the largest number of imperial jade crushed troops in a single battle so far.

Not one of them.

"Hi, we are..."

Maeda Jiri's tone was sluggish and he told the truth, his tone full of helplessness.

After fleeing for several months, they were arrested and imprisoned this time, which made the three Maeda Jili completely lose hope in life.

"Did you escape?"

Daisuke Marukawa finally went straight to the heart of the matter.

"We..."

After hesitating for a while, Maeda Jiri, who had no love, gritted his teeth and simply told the truth.

So, Maeda Jili fled him from Taiyuan, and the deeds of pit the locust army along the way also directly said.

He only seeks liberation now.

"Are you willing to be loyal to the locusts?"

After listening to Maeda Jili's words, Marukawa Daisuke asked with a gloomy tone.

"Loyal to the locusts?"

Hearing this, Maeda Jili's originally godless eyes lit up slightly.

This sentence, which he is familiar with, generally means to give soldiers who have made serious mistakes, give them a chance to redeem, let them go to death, and then forgive all mistakes.

It's just that the light in Maeda's eyes is indeed different from that of ordinary devil soldiers.

Is he willing to be loyal to the locusts?

At this moment, Maeda Jili recalls the hardships along the way.

His family was poor, he dropped out of school and worked in agriculture, coupled with the large number of people in his family and the lack of land, the family could only barely get fruit, so he joined the army at the age of eighteen to try to improve the situation of his family.

But after more than ten years in the army, the situation at home has not improved.

The weak salaries were not able to improve the family's life, and even as the war progressed, his family's life became worse and worse.

Last year, he received a letter from home, his father died of illness, his mother was seriously ill due to hard work, several younger brothers all joined the army, but all of them were not heard from, and his two younger sisters also...

He was loyal to the Locust and worked hard for the Empire, but as a result, the Locust and the Empire gave him nothing, only a verbal promise, oh, a verbal honor, but nothing in reality.

So, why should he be loyal to the Empire?

Why do you want to be loyal to the locusts?

Just because the locusts want them to die, they have to die happily? Just for Kudan Sakami? Just because of the spirit of bushido?

"I don't want to."

In the end, Maeda Jili gritted his teeth and said word by word:

"Damn locusts, damn empires, give me death."

If you can't escape, then die.

After listening to Maeda's hysterical howl, Marukawa Daisuke smiled slightly:

"Congratulations, Maeda Gili Nakasa, you have been reinstated."

Official reinstatement?

Nakasa?

Maeda Jiri, who was already preparing to die, was stunned.

·····

At the same time.

Chengde.

Ding Wei's command room.

"The last attack went very smoothly, the scheduled plan was successfully completed, a large number of devils were annihilated, and there were no major mistakes during the battle."

A group of young staff officers are summing up the last sortie that was launched by an armored battalion:

"However, this attack has also exposed a lot of our problems·····"

"Among them, the main problem is the communication of information between armored battalions..."

Looking at the staff department with fierce discussions, Ding Wei was like an old father, his expression was satisfied, this staff department has grown more and more mature after his letting go.

In the end, the meeting made a decision:

"Let's attack again, this time with twelve armored battalions."