kingnovel Chapter 1145 Too Many Spies
Chapter 1145 Too Many Spies
"Just take the news in the newspapers with a grain of salt, don't take it seriously. If we believed the news in the newspapers, we would probably be at peace here long ago. When the Japanese were fighting us in Huangpu, hundreds of their special agents had already set out. After they occupied Huangpu, all sorts of people infiltrated. According to incomplete statistics, there are at least a thousand Japanese combat personnel in Hankou. As for the special agents in charge of planning, there are probably several hundred more."
Deputy Director Wu slumped on the sofa, his head throbbing at the thought of those numbers. Although the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and other departments worked tirelessly every day, it seemed impossible to completely eradicate these Japanese spies.
You clear this street today, and tomorrow they move to another street; the day after tomorrow, this street is taken back. It's the same thing every day, and while the number of casualties among your men is considerable, the number of Japanese special agents just doesn't seem to decrease.
According to their speculation, the Japanese are still continuously sending people to Hankou, using a variety of routes. Many people are now wavering, a stark contrast to the early days of the war.
So these people also left backdoors for the Japanese, and through these backdoors, big and small, Japanese spies from all walks of life flocked in.
Li Shaoyi was also thinking of helping these Japanese spies, but considering the situation at the Air Defense Command, he was already worried enough. Besides, if he offered to help, who knew what those people would think? So he simply pretended not to hear them.
It's not that we don't want to put in the effort, but the problem is that as soon as you put in the effort, countless eyes will be on you, and they'll be scrutinizing you with a magnifying glass. If there's even the slightest problem, then everything will probably be blamed on you.
At this moment, Li Shaoyi thought of Zhang Haiguang. Although he was also subject to the leadership of the Fifth War Zone, the Fifth War Zone had lost control of the area, so Zhang Haiguang was still very free to do whatever he wanted.
While Li Shaoyi was worried about Zhang Haiguang, the guy had already commanded his three regiments to rush south.
When the air force reconnaissance reported that a Japanese mixed brigade was rushing towards three counties in northern Jiangsu, Zhang Haiguang ordered his three infantry regiments to advance on Hanxian, Chengxian, and Muxian at an even faster pace.
As the vanguard, Wang Laohu naturally marched towards Mu County, the southernmost point. He heard that his position was under the most pressure, with at least three or four thousand Japanese soldiers. When the news came down from above, Wang Laohu was overjoyed.
Do we really care about three or four thousand Japanese soldiers? If it were someone else, they'd probably have to think about it for a while. But for our Tiger Regiment, it's just like eating breakfast.
In fact, Wang Laohu and his men had always looked down on the Japanese Third Army. After all, these men were the survivors of the Pujiang battlefield. Although there were quite a few veterans among them, their starting point was too petty. This was the first large-scale offensive to the north, yet they only used the strength of an independent mixed brigade.
When our air force conducted reconnaissance, they initially thought they had made a mistake. After all, there were very few Japanese troops on the ground. Using these troops to try to open up the Jinpu Railway to the north was clearly a sign that they didn't take our Fourth Army seriously.
"Reporting to the commander, our unit has discovered Japanese troops at Dawangzhuang, north of Muxian County, and has already engaged them in combat."
As Wang Laohu was riding south in an armored vehicle, his reconnaissance company sent a telegram informing him that they were engaged in firefights with the vanguard of the Japanese forces.
The reconnaissance company, consisting of over 100 men, rode in more than 30 jeeps. The Japanese side, roughly a squadron of over 100 men, were all on horseback. They met in a village, where the villagers had all fled. For the reconnaissance company, it was an opportunity presented by fate.
These guys sped up their jeeps, driving them around the entire village at breakneck speed, constantly breaching the outer defenses with heavy machine gun fire. When had the Japanese soldiers coming from the south ever seen an army like this? Even when they fought in Pujiang, they had never seen the 72nd Army fight in this way.
Just as they were marveling at the power of the heavy machine guns, a mortar position was set up outside. There weren't many mortars, only five in total, and they were all smaller caliber 60mm and 80mm. After all, the reconnaissance company couldn't carry large caliber weapons; speed was their priority.
However, the firing rate of these artillery pieces was terrifying; in just a short time, shells had fallen on half the village. According to the training syllabus, each batch of 10 shells should fire two batches per minute. The five artillery pieces fired a total of more than 90 shells per minute, which was already substandard compared to normal training.
But there was nothing that could be done about it. The battlefield was different from the training ground. We could fire 110 rounds on the training ground, but here, firing 95 rounds was already quite good. Yet, those 95 shells had already caused more than 70% casualties in the entire Japanese squadron.
The reconnaissance company easily stormed into the village. The brothers, armed with submachine guns, left the Japanese soldiers with nowhere to hide. They finally found a stronghold and prepared to ambush the 72nd Army, but the enemy threw two grenades at them, killing two of their three men.
The Japanese company commander was carrying communication equipment, but unfortunately, just as he was preparing to call for help, a shell hit the vicinity, killing him and five or six others.
The Japanese reconnaissance company was wiped out by us in 20 minutes, so the Japanese infantry regiment behind had no idea what was going on ahead and continued to set off according to the established plan.
After the reconnaissance company joined up with Wang Laohu's battalion, they immediately set up sniper positions near Xiaoying Village, waiting for the Japanese to appear in their sight.
The temporary artillery position, consisting of 12 mortars, is ready to unleash hundreds of shells on the Japanese devils.
When Wang Laohu arrived at Xiaoying Village, gunfire had just begun to erupt ahead.
A Japanese infantry regiment of over 2600 men was heading this way, and we were about to face our first tough battle.