Chapter 126 Cavalry Arrives

The marching speed of the Second Cavalry Regiment, led by Utada Tsubasa, was deliberately reduced today. The distance from Xiezhuang to Xingwan was less than fifty *li*.

The cavalry advanced slowly, conserving the stamina of their warhorses. This would allow them to better respond to unexpected situations.

The so-called unexpected situation, of course, referred to a sudden attack like the one they experienced yesterday. Being able to escape faster was paramount.

Having learned from yesterday's experience, Regiment Commander Utada Tsubasa was confident that if they encountered the same situation again, the cavalry regiment would not be caught so unprepared.

Regardless of how slow their pace was, after three hours, this force of over three hundred Japanese cavalrymen finally entered the Xingwan territory.

Regiment Commander Utada Tsubasa specifically instructed, "Maintain spacing between each rider, and spacing between each battalion.

Stay vigilant and guard against ambushes by the Special Operations Brigade."

At the same time, he sent three cavalry squads of a dozen men each to scout ahead.

Corporal Yoshikawa Yosuke, along with Nakadai Gojuro, Inoue Hachiro, and a dozen other Japanese soldiers, increased their speed and moved forward to scout.

Not long after entering Xingwan, these Japanese soldiers saw the traces of the battles from a few days ago.

The shell craters on the ground were still there, and the severed limbs of the Japanese soldiers could still be seen from time to time.

The Special Operations Brigade had only cleared the battlefield enough to bury most of the intact Japanese corpses. They simply couldn't recover all of the Japanese soldiers who had died in the wilderness.

As for the half-arms and stray fingers scattered on the ground, such a meticulous effort was simply impossible.

In the eyes of Corporal Yoshikawa Yosuke's squad, each of these things represented the life of a Japanese soldier.

They could imagine how tragic it must have been for the Fifth Infantry Brigade, which had been ambushed here a few days earlier.

The warhorses began to snort uneasily in this area, constantly shifting their hooves.

As if something here frightened them, Nakadai Gojuro comforted his warhorse while saying to Corporal Yoshikawa Yosuke:

"Corporal! The horses are uneasy! We should leave as soon as possible!"

Corporal Yoshikawa Yosuke said helplessly, "My warhorse is equally uneasy, but we haven't discovered anything unusual.

How can we report this to Regiment Commander Utada Tsubasa in this situation?"

Mentioning reporting to the regiment commander, Nakadai Gojuro didn't dare to utter another word.

This scouting squad was responsible for the mission of the entire regiment. They couldn't abandon the mission simply because the horses were uneasy!

Furthermore, they had only just entered the territory of Xingwan and hadn't completely scouted it yet.

Nakadai Gojuro remained silent, and the entire squad continued to scout in Xingwan at a slow but steady pace, with at least ten meters between each man.

Inoue Hachiro, a long way off, shouted, "Nakadai-kun! Whose plane is that overhead?"

Nakadai Gojuro said unhappily, "You don't need to look to know it's a Chinese plane! Imperial aircraft no longer appear above us."

The entire Sixteenth Infantry Division had grievances about the planes. If the air raids from a few days earlier had been guided by their own aviation, the casualties wouldn't have been so devastating.

Even so, he still looked up at the plane in the sky.

The plane was too high to tell who it belonged to.

The Japanese soldiers in Yoshikawa Yosuke's squad all saw the plane in the high sky, and their moods tensed up.

The distance between them widened even further; this was a lesson learned from bitter experience.

All the warhorses shouldn't crowd together, so they could accelerate easily when escaping and wouldn't collide with each other.

Three days had passed. The Japanese had waited for three days before sending dozens of cavalrymen to Xingwan.

This surprised Lin Fan somewhat!

Over the past three days, Zhu Qingmao's observation of the Japanese troops around Xiezhuang had led him to a conclusion: the previous air raid had caused a large number of Japanese casualties.

There were now fewer than four thousand Japanese soldiers stationed in Xiezhuang.

This news excited Lin Fan, and he could hardly believe it.

He ordered Zhu Qingmao to continue monitoring the movements of the Japanese troops every day, while he discussed with Zhang Zizhong, "Should we take the initiative to attack?"

In the past, if four thousand Japanese soldiers huddled together for defense, Zhang Zizhong would never have taken the initiative to attack unless the Japanese actively attacked them.

Things were different now, and he suggested, "I'll transfer the Thirty-eighth Division to join forces with you, Brigade Commander.

We can surround the Japanese in Xiezhuang. Once the pocket in Xiezhuang is secured, we don't need to leave any Japanese soldiers in Luying Town."

Lin Fan pointed at Tang River on the map, "Xiezhuang is closer to the Tang River. The road conditions are also very good, and the Japanese mechanized forces can arrive within an hour.

That means we need to send a main force to block the Japanese coming from Tang River."

Zhang Zizhong said, "We'll use the Aviation Brigade in coordination with a regiment to block the Japanese coming from Tang River.

The Thirty-eighth Division and two regiments from the Special Operations Brigade will attack the Japanese in Xiezhuang."

Lin Fan thought for a moment and said, "We don't need to surround Xiezhuang completely. We'll send two regiments to infiltrate and lie in ambush between Xiezhuang and Tang River.

The Thirty-eighth Division will engage the Japanese in Xiezhuang and tie them down.

Then we can take action in Luying Town.

As for the Japanese troops in Xiezhuang, if they hold their ground, we'll trap them and fight them slowly.

If they try to escape towards Tang River, we'll annihilate them en route."

"Good! Let's do it that way!"

This time, more than three hundred Japanese cavalrymen were heading towards Xingwan. Lin Fan said to Zhang Zizhong, "Commander Zhang! These three hundred-plus cavalrymen are for you.

I'll take the Special Operations Brigade to lie in ambush first."

"Don't worry, Brother Lin! Leave it to me," Zhang Zizhong agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Each squad in his unit now had a machine gun, and they had even specially assigned a machine gun squad to each platoon.

With infantry with such strong automatic firepower, he wasn't worried about a cavalry charge at all.

The Special Operations Brigade left the main road and marched along the familiar, secluded paths.

The Thirty-eighth Division of the Fifty-ninth Army set out from Luying Town along the highway in a grand manner. To ensure the fastest possible annihilation of the Japanese troops in Luying Town,