Hangzhou.
Lieutenant General Yoshioka Kunihiko, the commander of the 114th division.
After leaving an infantry regiment and a small number of logistics troops, he led the other two divisions and the troops directly under the cavalry division from Hangzhou Province and hurried toward the Shanchuan Gang captive camp.
However, the news of the attack on Yunzhou's iron ore had already spread when the army was halfway there.
A lieutenant communications staff officer quickly caught up to Yoshioka Kunihiko on his horse. He reported loudly without saluting,""General, we just received news that the Yunzhou iron mine was attacked by a large number of Chinese soldiers. The attacking troops also carried tanks, heavy artillery, and other heavy weapons.”
"More than 500 soldiers guarding the Yunzhou iron mine were outnumbered and completely annihilated!”
"More than a thousand miners in the mine were also rescued by them!!”
Yoshioka Kunihiko's expression changed drastically when he heard this. He roared angrily,"Nani? Didn't the Chinese army go to Shanchuan Gang when they attacked the Yunzhou Iron Mine? Why did he run to Yunzhou Iron Mine so quickly?”
"The Shanchuangang prisoner of war camp is only about a hundred miles away from the Yunzhou iron mine. General, if the Chinese army rushes over, they will arrive in an hour or two!”
"And from the time, it has been nearly three hours since the Imperial Army was defeated by the 66th Regiment. They have time to rush to the Yunzhou Iron Mine.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the staff officer said seriously to Yoshioka Kunihiko,"General, the loss of the Yunzhou iron mine is not a big loss to the imperial army, but we have to be careful. After the Chinese army takes over this place, they can escape north into the Tianmu Mountain range or through the border of the Hu Province area to the north.”
"This humble servant is worried that this unit will threaten the safety of Hu Province. Because the main force of the 18th division is heading north, there are not many soldiers stationed in Hu Province.”
Hearing this, Yoshioka Kunihiko immediately lost his temper. His face turned ashen as he shouted,"Order the cavalry regiment to immediately enter the Yunzhou Iron Mine. The rest of the infantry will follow behind. We must drive the Zhina Army down the mountain or cut them off first before escaping to Hu Province.”
"Inform the garrison of Hu Province that they don't have to go out of the city to cooperate with the troops to besiege the Zhina Army. Immediately raise their vigilance and defend Hu Province.”
Because Hu Province belonged to their rear, their material transportation base. They absolutely could not lose it.
"Ha Yi!" The lieutenant general in charge of communications lowered his head and responded.
........
About an hour after the iron mine in Yunzhou was evacuated.
Chu Feng had no choice but to stop and rest because the troops had been marching for nearly a night and were extremely exhausted.
More than a thousand miners followed Chu Feng and the others to evacuate. They had been trapped in the mine for nearly a week and their strength was quickly exhausted.
During the week inside, they didn't have enough to eat for a day. They were weak and sickly to the limit. They could only run with the independent brigade for one or two hours because of their perseverance.
Therefore, the troops had to stop and rest before setting off.
During his recuperation, Chu Feng ordered Liu Hui to lead the platoon of guards to the nearby outpost as sentries.
After everything was arranged, Chu Feng returned to the middle of the camp's resting area. He found a fallen tree and sat on it, smoking and drinking.
Infantry squadron captain Li Tian walked over and asked Chu Feng,""Captain, where should we go next? We have Tian Mu Mountain in the northwest, Lake Tai in the northeast, and Lake County in the north. Where are you going?”
" I think there aren't many devils left in Hu Zhou County." Chu Feng said," I originally planned to continue attacking Hu Zhou after we finished the iron mine in Yunzhou."”
"Then, we'll attack all the way up north and take the Japanese's retreat route.”
"But now, the 18th division and a large number of devils are busy attacking Wuhu, Xuancheng and other places.”
"If we can stab them in the back, it will definitely bring them a lot of trouble, which will help the friendly forces in the 3rd battle zone.”
"But, I thought about it carefully. The news of our iron mine in Dayun Province should have already spread.”
"In this case, the enemies in Hu Province might have already made preparations. Therefore, we can't go to Hu Province for now. We will retreat to Tian Mu Mountain first. There are mountains there. If the war goes south, we can retreat to the mountains and fight the devils.”
In this case, they had two paths of retreat.
Li Tian nodded and asked,"What do the miners do?" There are so many people, can't they just keep following us?”
This would increase the risk of them being exposed and affect the speed of the troops.
What was worse was that the food they brought with them was not enough for two thousand people to eat for a long time!
"Moreover, our military rations won't be able to last long.”
Chu Feng knew that what Li Tian said was the truth, so he muttered,""I know these difficulties, but these miners are our compatriots. We can't just abandon them like this, especially when we're still in the Japanese War Zone and under the pursuit of the Japanese.”
"Do you want to see them bury the devils with guns, or be forced to surrender to the devils, betray the country, and become traitors?”
Li Tian said with an ugly expression," I know what you're saying, but the reality is that we can't feed so many people, and we can't protect them. We can only retreat together. If this continues, the enemy will catch up to us. The consequences will be unimaginable.”
"Don't worry," Chu Feng muttered."We'll let them leave on their own after we've retreated to our own battleground.”
At this moment.
Two rapid footsteps suddenly sounded.
Chu Feng raised his head and saw that it was Liu Hui, the platoon leader in charge of commanding the sentries and guards. He was walking towards them in a hurry.
Without waiting for Liu Hui to come over, Chu Feng took the initiative to ask,""You look flustered. What happened?”
Liu Hui ran up to Chu Feng and saluted him,""Captain, this is bad. We've found traces of the Japanese.”
"How many of them are enemies?" Chu Feng asked in surprise. Knights or infantry?"
" There must be two to three thousand people. Although most of them are cavalrymen, there are still many tanks,""However, the devils haven't found us yet. They've already sent out a large number of cavalry scouts to look for us.”
"The Japanese are truly a dog!" Chu Feng said with loathing. Why are you chasing me so hard!"
Li Tian couldn't help but nod." Captain, since the Japanese are here, we must stop resting and retreat immediately!"”
"Alright then." Chu Feng frowned." You three infantry and artillery squadrons retreat first. Leave the tanks behind. I'll leave the guard platoon to monitor the enemy. If necessary, they'll be responsible for blocking!"”
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