Chapter 1 The Calculation of the Devils

The headquarters of the Japanese 21st Army Group was calculating their losses in this attack on Fogang.

Lin Fan's command post had already moved towards Conghua County.

However, half of the observation team sent by the Fourth War Zone remained at Xiangshan, watching the cleanup of the battlefield.

Although the specific and detailed battle results had not yet been tallied, one could see that the five-kilometer-long road was littered with Japanese corpses.

The Japanese corpses on the hillsides were piled up in heaps.

A month ago, Fujiyama Soshin, the Japanese representative in Guangzhou, had dined, watched plays, and visited brothels with He Deyuan, the deputy chief of staff.

They had already reached a friendly consensus through an intermediary: if the Fourth War Zone found any Japanese corpses during the battle, they would be traded at a price of *** yuan per corpse.

When the deal was reached, Representative Fujiyama Soshin was very grateful to Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan. He knew that the Japanese had landed at Daya Bay and captured Guangzhou with fewer than two hundred casualties, and the Fourth War Zone had collected zero Japanese corpses.

In this ambush at Xiangshan, the Nationalists had gained some advantage, wiping out several hundred Japanese soldiers.

If he could bring back the bodies of these fallen Japanese soldiers through negotiation and publicize it in domestic newspapers, it would not only enhance his reputation but also reassure those Japanese people who supported the war.

Let them know that the Japanese would even pay to retrieve their bodies, which would encourage more Japanese soldiers to come to the battlefield.

Everything was perfect, until the first batch of corpses had been traded.

As the second batch of corpses was about to be traded, a Japanese soldier quietly walked up to Fujiyama Soshin and whispered a few words to him.

Representative Fujiyama Soshin's face immediately changed, and he staggered out of the reception room.

He took the microphone and heard the news from the other end, repeating the question twice in disbelief before dropping the microphone dejectedly.

He sat weakly on the chair, knowing that this matter would be difficult to handle.

The deal with the Fourth War Zone had been brokered by the Germans. It was too difficult to lower the price now that an agreement had just been reached.

He Deyuan, the deputy chief of staff representing the Fourth War Zone in the corpse trade with the Japanese, had initially agreed with the intermediary that the Fourth War Zone would receive twenty yuan for each Japanese corpse delivered.

At this price, the first batch of corpses had already been traded, and the second and third batches were about to follow.

But Representative Fujiyama Soshin, who had just received a notification from the 21st Army Group headquarters, knew that the Japanese had suffered as many as twenty thousand casualties in this operation.

Twenty thousand corpses, four hundred thousand yuan, this was too big a difference from the Japanese's initial estimate of fifty thousand yuan.

The Japanese were reluctant to spend so much money.

Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan also received the latest notification, and he was somewhat incredulous when he learned that more than ten thousand Japanese soldiers had been killed on the Xiangshan battlefield.

More than ten thousand Japanese soldiers at twenty yuan each, that was more than two hundred thousand.

The agreement had been reached while the battle of Xiangshan was still ongoing. Now that the Japanese corpses were piling up, and the battle of Xiangshan was over, the Japanese were reneging on the deal.

If they really had to buy back the bodies of twenty thousand Japanese soldiers at a price of *** yuan per corpse, it would cost two hundred thousand, and the Japanese did not have that much money.

They proposed a price reduction, five yuan per corpse.

Representative Fujiyama Soshin said sternly to Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan, "Representative He! As you know, everyone is short of money at this stage of the war. You fought too fiercely, and we can't afford this price."

Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan said equally sternly, "You occupy our houses, rob our things, and you're not even willing to use our money to exchange for the bodies of your soldiers?"

Representative Fujiyama Soshin said coldly, "Those were all seized by our own strength. No matter who they belonged to before, they are ours now."

Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan was speechless and telegraphed Lin Fan, who was still on the battlefield, for instructions.

Lin Fan's meaning was clear: "Sell them if you can. Anyway, there are still plenty of Japanese to kill. The price is cheap, but there are a lot of them! Once the channel is established, we can continue to do business in the future."

When Representative Fujiyama Soshin negotiated with Deputy Chief of Staff He Deyuan again, they finally agreed on a price of seven yuan per corpse after some heated debate.

Only then did they reach a friendly agreement again.

While they were negotiating in Guangzhou, Yu Hanmou, the commander of the Fourth War Zone, had already reported the good news of the Xiangshan victory to Chiang Kai-shek, who had moved to Chongqing.

Chiang Kai-shek felt a mix of emotions when he saw that the Special Operations Brigade had achieved such great results so soon after arriving in Guangzhou. The thought that he had regretted so many times before surfaced once again in his mind.

Why couldn't such a powerful team be his staunch confidants?

He had many trusted teams under his command, so why couldn't he cultivate a team with the fighting power of the Special Operations Brigade?

Although the words "Special Operations Brigade" only appeared once in the battle report sent by Yu Hanmou, he knew that the battle was commanded by Lin Fan, even if the Fourth War Zone's battle report did not mention the words "Special Operations Brigade."

Others might not know, but Chiang Kai-shek was very clear about the fighting power of Lin Fan and his Special Operations Brigade.

Although Yu Hanmou, the commander of the Fourth War Zone, was not very capable, he was a staunch supporter of Chiang Kai-shek.

Even though the Guangzhou campaign had been such a miserable defeat, Chiang Kai-shek was still unwilling to punish Yu Hanmou too heavily. He wanted to place the main responsibility for the fall of Guangzhou on those commanders who had fled the front lines.

Responsibility had to be investigated, lessons had to be learned, and the experience of the Special Operations Brigade in the battle of Xiangshan had to be summarized.

The headquarters of the Fourth War Zone and the Chongqing General Headquarters simultaneously reviewed the ambush at Xiangshan, hoping to replicate such tactics in other Nationalist troops in future operations against the Japanese.

Because although the firepower of the Special Operations Brigade was powerful, there were also well-equipped troops among the Nationalist army's ace units that were comparable to the Special Operations Brigade.

When the Chongqing General Headquarters had initially completed the sand table, they saw on the telegram that the Special Operations Brigade had first ambushed a Japanese battalion and a tank unit.

This was a bit difficult for the Nationalist army, but not impossible.

Not to mention Chiang Kai-shek's ace elite troops, even among the miscellaneous troops, many generals had achieved this, but their troops often had bursts of fighting power, but at other times their fighting power was terrible, and they were simply unable to maintain their fighting power at a stable level.

It had become a common practice for Japanese infantry units to request air support after being attacked.

The battle of Xiangshan was also the same. When the staff officers of the Chongqing General Headquarters saw on the telegram that the Special Operations Brigade's anti-aircraft artillery had shot down one hundred and eighty Japanese planes.

These people were all silent: everyone knew that this was a mission that the Nationalist army could not complete.

No Nationalist army unit could complete such a mission: shooting down all the Japanese planes that came to bomb them at once!

Chiang Kai-shek also sighed inwardly. If he could trust Lin Fan, he would definitely transfer him back to Chongqing and put him in charge of Chongqing's air defense.

In that case, the Japanese would not dare to bomb Chongqing again.

Unfortunately, he really did not dare to trust Lin Fan.

It was impossible to destroy more than one hundred Japanese planes. Both sides of the review were clear about this, and could only skip this link.

Continuing the review, they found that the Special Operations Brigade had intentionally left a part of the Japanese army behind, surrounding them without attacking!

This was the tactic of besieging a point to strike at reinforcements. The staff officers of the headquarters were all high-achieving military academy graduates, and everyone was clear about this tactic.

But in the entire Nationalist army, being able to annihilate a Japanese battalion was already a very great achievement. This surrounding without attacking was also impossible to do.

Besieging and annihilating a Japanese army was not easy, and they still wanted to lure Japanese reinforcements to come?

The tactic of besieging a point to strike at reinforcements was indeed not suitable.

Next, they saw five thousand Japanese marines arriving at Xiangshan to rescue the trapped Japanese infantry.

The staff officers of the Chongqing General Headquarters were silent. Five thousand Japanese marines? In Shanghai, less than three thousand Japanese had already held off three of the most elite German-equipped divisions.

Five thousand Japanese marines, this was no longer something that one or two divisions could handle.

When they later saw the Japanese 104th Infantry Division, the entire division coming out to participate in the battle of Xiangshan.

At this time, the staff officers of the Chongqing General Headquarters realized how difficult the battle that the Special Operations Brigade was fighting in Xiangshan must have been.

Even if the Nationalist army mobilized one hundred thousand troops, they might not be able to replicate such a battle.

This experience was completely impossible to learn.

In the past half month, the Nationalist army had lost Wuhan and Guangzhou. Although Chiang Kai-shek had been saying at meetings that the Nationalist army had entered a stalemate with the Japanese, many people were still very pessimistic and disappointed. At this time, with the victory at Xiangshan, they could completely publicize it in the newspapers.

This would encourage the people of the whole country to resist the war, and let everyone believe that the Japanese could be defeated.

The publicity in the reports must keep up.

Lin Fan was not clear about what they were going to do in the rear.

He had now arrived at the front line, standing in the distance watching the Japanese defense line.

Kannyu Kojiro, the captain guarding Conghua, had set up two lines of defense outside Conghua County, and another line of defense relying on the city walls.

Although he had set up three lines of defense outside the city, how many Japanese soldiers could a single battalion have?

A little over a thousand Japanese soldiers were defending the entire county, facing attacks from two directions at the same time.

Company Commander Shi Junxia, who had arrived at the battlefield earlier, had already deployed the artillery and was waiting for Lin Fan to order the attack.

The sky had already darkened, and Lin Fan ordered a halt to the attack.

The soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade had been fighting continuously since morning.

The news that the Special Operations Brigade had arrived outside Conghua County made Li Zhen, the commander of the 186th Division of the Fourth War Zone, and Zhang Ruigui, the commander of the 153rd Division, happy.

They had received orders to enter Conghua County before the Special Operations Brigade. They had also tried hard in the afternoon, but the effect was not ideal.

Now that they received Lin Fan's order to suspend the attack, the two division commanders accepted it willingly.

Yu Hanmou, the commander of the Fourth War Zone, personally brought pork to the front line to慰劳 (wèiláo - express sympathy and appreciation) the Special Operations Brigade.

Although it was already dark when he passed through Xiangshan, the bloody smell still rushed towards him.

The potholes on the road that had been blasted out by the Special Operations Brigade's artillery shells had now been filled in.

Piles of Japanese corpses and various supplies seized from the Japanese were piled up on both sides of the road.

Seeing this scene, Yu Hanmou specially got out of the car and personally inspected the Japanese corpses.

He also checked the ditches on both sides of the road under the light of the torches. Watching the blood in the ditches congeal into black blood clots, he said with satisfaction, "The Japanese also have this day!"

He was now the most resentful of the Japanese in the entire Fourth War Zone: he was doing a good job as the commander of the Fourth War Zone.

Every day he would watch plays, watch movies, hold dances or participate in dances, and the Japanese had ruined such a good life.

Not only that, but now he was also facing blame from his superiors.

It was impossible not to hate the Japanese! Not to mention how great his economic losses were after the Japanese occupied Guangzhou.

Yu Hanmou walked through the entire Xiangshan battlefield.

He walked excitedly on the battlefield, listening to the several staff officers of the military observation team he had sent to introduce the situation during the battle. When he heard exciting stories, he was thrilled and kept saying, "I only hate that I wasn't on the scene at the time and couldn't witness the scene on the battlefield."

When he saw the cannons that had been pushed to the side of the road, guarded by the soldiers left behind by the Special Operations Brigade.

A look of envy flashed across his eyes: he used to have such cannons in his troops. It was just that they were all lost at the foot of Mount Luofu.

He silently felt sorry for himself: they were all the same troops, so why could others seize cannons, but his troops could only throw them away?

It was already past ten o'clock in the evening when Yu Hanmou arrived at the headquarters of the Special Operations Brigade.

Seeing Lin Fan come out, he quickly stretched out his hands, held Lin Fan's hands tightly, and said words of gratitude enthusiastically.

From yesterday to today, he had not only found out about Lin Fan's affairs, but also seen the fighting power of Lin Fan's team.

Although there were less than ten thousand people here, their fighting power was stronger than his one hundred thousand troops.

The most important thing was that the Special Operations Brigade was only a brigade in terms of the battle sequence.

But their current strength was stronger than his, the commander of the Fourth War Zone.

Establishing three base areas behind enemy lines, what kind of talent was this? He had taken Hefei back from the Japanese for more than a month, and the Japanese didn't even dare to fart.

Not to mention counter-attacking. Of course, Yu Hanmou had to befriend such a big shot, and even if he couldn't become friends, at least he couldn't become an enemy.

In front of Lin Fan, Yu Hanmou said with a smile, "Brigade Commander Lin! The Fourth War Zone will take care of the food supply for the Special Operations Brigade in the future. Please rest assured about the meat supply, Brigade Commander. I guarantee that the soldiers will have meat to eat every day."

According to the price agreed upon by both parties, they had wiped out so many Japanese soldiers in the past two days, so they could exchange a lot of meat.

That's why Yu Hanmou was so generous. For Lin Fan, it would of course be best if the Fourth War Zone could supply the Special Operations Brigade with logistics.

Otherwise, the Special Operations Brigade would only be able to establish its own base area here to ensure supplies.

It was not until eleven o'clock that Yu Hanmou left the Special Operations Brigade, and he also went to慰问 (wèiwèn - express sympathy and solicitude) his two divisions by the way. As the highest commander of the Fourth War Zone, his arrival at the front line greatly encouraged the soldiers at the front.

Yu Hanmou stayed overnight at the division headquarters of the 186th Division that night, which made Li Zhen nervous.

His troops did not have the same fighting power as the Special Operations Brigade. If anything happened to the commander of the Fourth War Zone here, he would not be able to bear the responsibility.

Fortunately, nothing happened overnight!

Captain Kannyu Kojiro saw that his Japanese soldiers had defended the defense line steadily yesterday afternoon, so he felt relieved at night.

As soon as the sun rose in the early morning, he received a telegram from the front line: "We are being subjected to intense artillery fire from the Nationalist army!"

Intense artillery fire? How intense!

Captain Kannyu Kojiro, who was reporting to Division Commander Miyake Toshio, was not sure. He only knew that the artillery fire was intense, and even the headquarters in Conghua County could clearly hear the sound of artillery shells exploding.

The only ones who really knew how intense the Special Operations Brigade's artillery fire was now were those Japanese soldiers in Zhongtai Shiro's squadron who were taking the shelling on the battlefield.

In the early morning, they had just felt the sun rising, and the early winter sunshine made these Japanese soldiers feel a different kind of warmth even in a foreign country.

The Japanese soldiers in Zhongtai Shiro's squadron could not yet experience what those Japanese soldiers who had participated in the battle of Xiangshan yesterday had experienced. Now they only felt that the sun was shining brightly, and everything in the county was theirs for the taking.

"How wonderful all of this is!" Before coming here, Squadron Leader Sakai Shunichi was a junior high school teacher and had some literary hobbies.

He felt a little emotional when he saw the sunrise today, and he was extremely satisfied with his current life these days.

Walking on the land of another country, looking at the terrified and timid eyes of the locals, Squadron Leader Sakai Shunichi felt extremely satisfied.

He liked this feeling of being superior, and he wanted to maintain this feeling.

Just when he was in a very good mood, he heard the whistling sound of artillery shells flying through the air.

Squadron Leader Sakai Shunichi was not familiar with this sound, but the Japanese soldiers in his squadron were very familiar with it.

Sergeant Major Matsumoto Daichi was an old Japanese soldier who had been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years. He shouted in horror, "Artillery shells are coming!"

After shouting, he immediately lay prostrate on the ground, shivering and waiting for the announcement of fate.

"Boom! Boom!" The sound of explosions rang out, and the earth began to tremble.

The Zhongtai Shiro squadron on this defense line all felt the vibration transmitted from the earth.

Squadron Leader Sakai Shunichi, who had just been in a poetic mood, was obviously unlucky. He was less than ten meters away from the location of the artillery shell explosion.

His body was pierced by shrapnel from the artillery shell explosion, and he was blown away by the blast wave.

Sergeant Major Matsumoto Daichi, who was already lying on the ground, clearly saw Squadron Leader Sakai Shunichi flying into the air, his whole body spraying blood onto the ground like he was taking a shower in the air.