You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you ended up with a German-equipped division

Chapter 283 The Principal's Angry Rebuke, Li Jianghe's Gambling

With this thought in mind, he ordered his troops to continue their fierce attack on Minshan Township before noon, giving the enemy no chance to catch their breath.

So the offensive that day was the same as before, with the Japanese army under the cover of artillery fire from the rear and aircraft overhead.

They bombarded multiple positions around Minshan Township with indiscriminate bombing, dropping shells and bombs as if they were free.

By sunset, several positions around Minshan Township had been captured.

The setting sun dyed the sky blood red, casting a particularly desolate light on the ravaged land.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, one can also see many destroyed tanks, as well as many charred or blown-to-smith corpses.

The air was filled with the smell of burning and blood, which was nauseating.

The battle report from the front had reached Chen Cheng and Xue Yue's command post, and both of them frowned.

"The Japanese army has already advanced to Minshan Township. That's quite fast," Xue Yue said, looking at the telegram with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"What exactly is the situation with Li Jianghe's Third Column? Could it be that even they couldn't stop the Japanese advance?"

Chen Cheng was equally puzzled, staring at the map and saying, "If Minshan Township is also taken, then the strategic depth left for Li Jianghe's Third Column will be even smaller."

"How is he going to launch a counterattack? Are we just going to be pushed back to Ma Huiling Town like this?"

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath and said, "Send a telegram to the Wuhan headquarters and see if the principal can coordinate the Soviet air power."

"Even providing some assistance would be better than watching the Third Column be encircled and annihilated."

The air force he was referring to was the Soviet Air Force's aid-to-China flight squadron, a group of genuine volunteer pilots.

Perhaps this flight team's name is not as well-known as Chennault's "Flying Tigers" later on.

However, this team was a genuine volunteer flight squadron, and they did not need the Nationalist government to pay gold bars for them to take to the skies to fight the Japanese army.

They came with genuine conviction, and that deserves respect.

At present, the Ninth War Zone can only provide very limited assistance to the Third Column; it's too little, too late.

Although their counterattack on the front has begun, progress has not been as fast as expected, as if they have gotten stuck in a quagmire.

The only good news was that the 11th Army withstood the fierce attack of two Japanese divisions.

After two days of fierce fighting, the Japanese army only advanced more than 500 meters, almost inch by inch.

At the Wuhan headquarters, Chen Cheng's telegram was placed on the principal's desk.

The principal looked at the area on the map that had been captured by the Japanese army, and his expression became quite solemn.

"This Li Jianghe, isn't the Third Column supposed to be very capable? Why have they suffered repeated defeats?" His voice was filled with dissatisfaction.

"In just two days, they've retreated nearly ten kilometers! What kind of nonsense is this!"

He said this with great confusion, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Counterattack? Why not launch a counterattack? Are you just going to run away?"

After all, he had placed high hopes on Li Jianghe's Third Column as the main force for this counterattack.

Commander He explained, "Last night, the Third Column also organized a counterattack."

"Judging from the contents of the telegram, the Japanese army was well prepared and used a large number of anti-tank guns and rear artillery to carry out intensive bombardment."

"This caused heavy losses to the tank units of the Third Column, and they will not be able to recover for a while."

"This can also be confirmed by intercepted Japanese military telegrams."

"The Japanese claimed in the telegram that they had destroyed at least forty armored vehicles, as well as hundreds of trucks."

The principal slammed his hand on the table, his voice echoing in the office: "I thought his third column would be invincible!"

"So it turns out you can only be powerful in suitable terrain; you can't do it in other places."

"Now, when we encounter hilly areas or areas with less open terrain, our combat effectiveness is greatly reduced."

"They were beaten so badly by the Japanese army, it's really disappointing."

At this point, he couldn't help but make a comparison: "It's not as good as Chen Cheng and Xue Yue's counterattacks on the front lines."

"And the 11th Army of the Central Army fought tenaciously along the Wutai Ridge line; they fought very well."

"I think Li Jianghe relied on his superior equipment and mobility before."

"That's why we were able to repeatedly succeed against the Japanese army. Now that we've lost our advantage, we've been exposed."

Commander He then said cautiously, "Chairman, the situation is still uncertain. Let's give Li Jianghe's Third Column some confidence."

"Besides, Li Jianghe is currently facing a Japanese elite force that is almost twice their size."

"At the same time, they were also subjected to heavy air bombardment, which would have been difficult for anyone to defeat."

"Even if we lose this battle, we've done our best, so we shouldn't be too harsh on them."

The principal was well aware that if it were any other unit, it would likely have suffered a similar defeat in the face of the Japanese army's fierce strength and firepower.

He just wanted to take this opportunity to vent his previous dissatisfaction with Li Jianghe and get revenge.

"No matter what, send a telegram to the Third Column immediately!" the principal said firmly.

"Let them launch a full-scale counterattack tonight! They must take back Minshan Township and Huangkan Village!"

"Otherwise, if we continue to retreat, our entire army will be wiped out! Then no one will be able to save them!"

In the Third Column headquarters, Li Jianghe looked at the telegram sent by the principal, without much surprise on his face.

"Sure enough, they're starting to panic. They've lost all strategic composure." He shook his head with a wry smile.

As he said this, he casually put the telegram down, as if it were a piece of waste paper.

Long Wenzhang spoke first, his tone tinged with worry: "Captain, aren't we going to launch a counterattack tonight?"

"If Minshan Township is also lost, our room for maneuver will be even smaller."

"If we're confined to Ma Huiling Town, we won't be able to do anything we want."

Yang Ruifu adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and said slowly, "Yeah, how about we launch a counterattack tonight?"

"Although the Japanese on the other side have also prepared a lot of anti-tank firepower, based on our previous encounters, we can still handle them."

"There's no need to keep it hidden. If we keep holding back, the brothers will all get sick."

Wang Chengzhu was so anxious that he stomped his feet: "That's right! Many of our air defense positions were hidden and we didn't fire before."

"Watching my brothers in other units get bombed was incredibly frustrating; it felt like there was a fire burning inside me."

"Just give the order, and I guarantee I'll shoot down every single one of those Japanese planes! Not a single one will escape!"

The group of people were holding their breath, like a fully drawn bow, just waiting for the moment to let go.

Because they were constantly on guard, afraid that they might accidentally use their full strength and frighten Yu Chuanxiang, the extremely cautious Japanese commander.

If you're going to act, you have to go all the way; if you give up halfway, you'll just give yourself away.

Li Jianghe stared at the map, then tapped his finger heavily on the table, making a dull thud.

"Release it, Minshan Township must also be released. Continue to proceed according to the previous plan, we cannot give up halfway."

"Send the Japanese corpses sent by the 11th Army, as well as the ones we got ourselves, to the front lines."

"We created the illusion that our army had suffered heavy losses, making the Japanese think that we were about to collapse."

"At the same time, destroy the trucks and armored vehicles that need to be destroyed, and abandon those that need to be abandoned."

"If we don't bleed a little, we won't have a good reason to retreat, and the Japanese will become suspicious."

In order to lure the Japanese Third Division into a trap, Li Jianghe went to great lengths, betting everything he had like a gambler.

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