Chapter 1 The Commander of the Dizhou Libing Division Received a Report at His Headquarters in Suzhou That the Attack on Yixing Had Been Repelled

A few days ago, he had already sent many devils disguised as ordinary merchants to scout and explore the roads. The route for this attack on the Yixing forward position had also been carefully inspected.

The original foolproof attack plan had actually failed!

This setback was completely unexpected. After summoning Captain Fujieda Kurao and questioning him carefully, he concluded that the retreat of the Third Fleet's gunboat squadron was the reason the entire attacking force had to withdraw. Having found the cause, the problem was easy to solve.

Commander Hase Kiyokawa of the Third Fleet was not concerned about the failed landing. His main concern was that the entire fleet's air squadron had been crippled.

He couldn't understand how the Special Operations Brigade, without an air squadron in Guangde, could shoot down more than two hundred aircraft with ground-based anti-aircraft artillery alone.

Before this, his air squadron had fought many battles with the Nationalists and had never suffered such heavy losses.

Lieutenant General Kobayashi Yutoku, commander of the Fifth Air Brigade, had inquired in detail about the reasons for the failed bombing of Guangde Airport. He hated the turret next to the airport but was helpless.

He knew that since he had sent the entire air brigade to Guangde, someone had to take responsibility, and he was the most suitable one.

Kobayashi Yutoku, having written his suicide note in his headquarters, took responsibility with a bullet.

Commander Hase Kiyokawa, who was wondering who should bear the brunt of the Naval General Staff's anger, was overjoyed to hear that the commander of the Fifth Air Brigade had committed suicide.

He quickly reported the news to the General Staff.

To his surprise, the Naval General Staff did not reprimand him at all. On the contrary, they commended the Third Fleet's achievements.

This puzzled Commander Hase Kiyokawa: What was going on?

The news that the Special Operations Brigade's Air Corps had bombed three important naval ports and shipyards and severely damaged the Fourth Fleet in one day was classified as top secret by the Naval General Staff.

Although Hase Kiyokawa was the commander of the Third Fleet, he did not receive a report on this battle.

Commander Eijun Roku of the Central China Expeditionary Army also did not receive any notification regarding the Special Operations Brigade Air Corps' specific operations in Nagasaki.

However, he received a report as soon as the Special Operations Brigade Air Corps returned to Jurong. When he learned that only twenty or so aircraft had returned to Jurong,

Commander Eijun Roku immediately informed the four division commanders and Commander Hase Kiyokawa of this good news. In his opinion, the Special Operations Brigade must have suffered heavy losses in this trap set by the Empire.

Although the battles during the day were not entirely satisfactory, the various divisions had managed to bring back some fighters and bombers. Since the Special Operations Brigade also had fewer aircraft,

the air forces of both sides had suffered similar losses, which could be considered a tie. The next stage would be the ground battles.

Division Commander Inaba Shiro was very dissatisfied with the progress of his devils' attack during the day. As a division that had opened up the entire offensive on the north bank of the Yangtze River, he also gathered devils at the battalion commander level to discuss the attack plan for the next day.

At the same time, the Third and Ninth Divisions were summarizing the first day of combat and preparing the attack plans for the second day.

Lin Fan was busy until three in the morning before resting, and he started training again at six. Although he had more than 300,000 regular troops under his command and over 30 million people in the base area, this was not a reason for Lin Fan to slack off.

He insisted on training every day, and this did not change because of his position.

It was because the Special Operations Brigade had someone like Lin Fan, who held a high position and still insisted on training like an ordinary soldier every day, that the regimental commanders of the various regiments, including Li Xian, still insisted on doing morning exercises like ordinary soldiers.

The only difference today was that Lin Fan had one more person by his side: Ji Wudi.

Ji Wudi was also in the crowd welcoming Lin Fan at the airport last night. She saw Lin Fan get off the plane safely and then saw him busy talking to people from all walks of life in Jurong, so she silently went back.

She used the special forces training methods taught by Lin Fan to train herself every day. Ji Wudi's idea was simple: to eliminate the devils and take revenge.

Her upper body was exposed with two sections of snow-white lotus root-like arms, her breasts were firm, trembling rhythmically as she ran. Her lower body was wearing a pair of sports shorts, although they covered her knees, her snow-white calves were very eye-catching.

"She's indeed a beauty!" Ji Wudi praised with a smile.

Hearing her say this, Gui Shiyun felt embarrassed and quickly said, "You are a true heroine, Sister. I've heard a lot about your and Brigade Commander Lin's heroic deeds on the battlefield these days."

When Ji Wudi was running, she carried a full set of military equipment on her back, with ammunition pouches slung diagonally across her chest, deeply embedded in her curves. Her armed belt was tied tightly, and her rifle was slung on her back, the gun belt pulling her clothes even tighter.

This made her waist appear slender and her chest stand out, giving her a heroic and valiant appearance. Combined with her delicate face and the aura of someone in a high position, it extinguished the last glimmer of hope in Gui Shiyun's heart.

She simply followed behind the two of them and ran slowly. Her position was a bit awkward now: she had originally been Dai's person, and after returning from 76th,

Lin Jue had never reduced his suspicion of her. Although Dai said in front of her that he trusted her, Gui Shiyun didn't know what Dai really thought.

She was now wanted by Lin Fan and was specifically assigned to draw maps of the devils' homeland, which made her extremely grateful. Considering Lin Fan's current power and status and his life-saving grace, repaying him with her body would be excellent.

However, after inquiring, she learned that Brigade Commander Lin was not interested in women. And he also had a confidante. When she saw Ji Wudi today, she knew that her beauty was not bad, and she was at most on par with Director Ji.

There was also someone who got up early today. After Old Man Qian returned home last night, he praised Lin Fan's heroism repeatedly.

Qian Jiao knew that Lin Fan was in Jurong, so she also got up early to exercise. Not many people knew Qian Jiao's thoughts.

When she met Lin Fan, Gui Shiyun had already arrived. Ji Wudi and Qian Jiao had a very good relationship. They had a common hobby, which gave them some common ground.

Qian Jiao wasn't embarrassed to see Lin Fan, but when she saw Gui Shiyun, she said with a smile, "Is this the beauty you rushed to Shanghai to rescue in a fit of anger?"

Lin Fan just smiled and didn't say anything. After the run, Qian Jiao and Gui Shiyun looked at each other as Lin Fan and Ji Wudi practiced stabbing with wooden guns.

Qian Jiao said with a smile, "See? They're a perfect match! Although you are also a beauty, you're not the type he likes."

Gui Shiyun quickly declared, "I have no other intentions towards Brigade Commander Lin. I'm just grateful that he saved me."

"A hero saves a beauty, and the beauty has nothing to repay him with, so she offers herself. What a great story! It's a pity that our Brigade Commander Lin doesn't dare to open his arms and embrace everything. What a pity!" Qian Jiao continued to tease.

Gui Shiyun didn't know Qian Jiao's background. From her words, she could hear some other thoughts, so she said, "Miss Qian, you got up so early to exercise, didn't you also want to catch a glimpse of the hero?"

Qian Jiao was straightforward: "Unfortunately, I'm willing, but he's heartless!"

"Since you are so familiar with them, why aren't they married yet?" Gui Shiyun's instinct as a reporter was triggered, and the fire of gossip was burning.

"I don't know! No one knows the inside story except the two of them. Marriage is not prohibited in the Special Operations Brigade.

Brigade Commander Lin has also repeatedly promoted that protecting the country starts with having a family first, and he vigorously encourages his officers and soldiers to fall in love, get married, and have children.

But he hasn't taken the lead in setting an example. Regiment Commander Chen's son is over a year old and can already run around calling him 'Dad.'"

"Who is Regiment Commander Chen?" Gui Shiyun didn't know and quickly inquired.

"Chen Sichuan, the regimental commander of the First Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade," Qian Jiao said.

"Let's not watch them train. Let's go have breakfast, sisters. I just came to Jurong and don't know anything about this place. I'd like to hear you tell me about it," Gui Shiyun invited enthusiastically.

"I have to go home. If you want to chat, come to the Qian residence tonight," Qian Jiao waved and ran off.

Gui Shiyun asked a soldier following behind her, "Which Qian residence is she talking about?"

"Of course, it's the Qian residence of Qian Duoduo's family. Everyone in Jurong knows her family."

Something was wrong. Only then did Gui Shiyun realize Qian Jiao's identity.

She looked at the agile steps of Lin Fan and Ji Wudi on the training ground again with reluctance, turning her head back every few steps as she returned.

That morning, the teahouses in Jurong had just opened. They started by telling a story about Lin Fan jogging with three beauties in the morning as a prelude, and then told the story of him and the three beauties.

After Ji Wudi had breakfast with Lin Fan, she returned to the hospital and began her day's work.

What Lin Fan had to do today was to wait for the combat intelligence reports from all directions to come back in the combat command.

Yang Daren had already handed over the command work last night and rushed back to the Tangshan command overnight.

He had been operating in Tangshan for more than two years, from digging holes in the mountains on both sides of the road to build tunnels to building anti-aircraft turrets directly on the top of the mountain.

In Yang Daren's eyes, the defense of Tangshan had long been built as solid as a rock.

The devils' attack today was different from yesterday's. Yesterday, the devils charged directly forward, without even preliminary artillery bombardment.

Today, the devils' artillery began to bombard at 7:30, but the infantry didn't move at all. This was because Division Commander Inaba Shiro had put the entire 6th Field Artillery Regiment in the Tangshan direction.

He wanted to concentrate his forces to open a passage to Jurong. When the captain of the Tomura Kenchu Regiment issued the order, he only said one task: "Every gun must fire thirty shells."

Where you fall, you must get up! The Third Fleet suffered a setback in Yixing yesterday, and today they were preparing to make up for it here.

Hase Kiyokawa and Dizhou Libing both believed that they should first occupy Yixing, then march on Liyang, cut the Jurong base area in half, and concentrate four divisions to occupy Jurong, Jintan, Lishui, Gaochun, Wuhu, Dangtu, and the Ma'anshan iron ore area.

Then, they would march to sweep Guangde, Anji, Changxing, and Deqing counties.

This plan gave the Special Operations Brigade the highest priority. This was also because there was an industrial park of the Special Operations Brigade in the area of Jurong, Gaochun, Wuhu, and Ma'anshan.

In this park, there were not only the Special Operations Brigade's factories and mines, but also various enterprises built by Westerners, and even foreign firms with devils as the backstage bosses.

The devils had long been coveting this area, not only because of the huge tax revenue here, but most importantly because of the products here, especially the Ma'anshan Steel Plant carefully built by the Special Operations Brigade.

This steel plant could produce two million tons of steel every year, and there was also a seamless steel pipe factory below it. It could already produce gun barrels from 7.62 mm caliber to 150 mm caliber howitzer barrels.

As long as this area was completely occupied, the strength of the Central China Expeditionary Army would immediately increase several times, and they would no longer have to worry about not having weapons on the battlefield.

Of course, among so many factories and mines, there were still many enterprises of the Special Operations Brigade, and these enterprises would definitely become their spoils of war for the devils.

Just thinking about it, Division Commander Dizhou Libing felt that the future was so bright!

Although they had only flown back from Nagasaki last night, the Special Operations Brigade's Air Corps did not have a holiday to rest. All the pilots were concentrated in the turret to rest.

After the flight team in Jurong received Mao Wenxing's order, Squadron Leader Pan Yongshan personally led the team to take off to carry out the mission.

Xiao Jianying took off from Jurong Airport with twelve bombers. The 20-kilometer journey took only three minutes to reach the skies above their destination.

The Captain of the Tomura Kenchu Artillery Regiment was not unprepared. He had set up two anti-aircraft positions next to the artillery positions. When he saw the Special Operations Brigade's fighters flying over, the devils' anti-aircraft guns opened fire.

Anti-Aircraft Captain Kazuta Tajo commanded the six anti-aircraft guns on his position to fire fiercely. In the later stages of the Battle of Wuhan, these anti-aircraft guns rarely participated in actual combat.

After all, the Nationalist army didn't have many aircraft and wouldn't attack the devils' positions at all. This made Captain Kazuta Tajo often feel that he had no chance to use his skills.

Today was different: he could see twelve fighters flying over in his sight, and there were twelve bombers patrolling in the distance.

Captain Kazuta Tajo certainly understood what this meant: they were waiting for the fighters to kick down the door, and when the fighters had destroyed most of their anti-aircraft fire, the bombers would rush in and drop bombs.

Division Commander Inaba Shiro was in the command post, listening to Tomura Kenchu's report. After thinking about it, he finally decided not to let the three remaining fighters of his division take off.

He knew very well that at this time, sending three fighters to the battlefield would only be sending them to their deaths.