"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the 222nd Regiment of the 108th Division was blocked by the Chinese when they tried to cross the Qingyuan River and suffered heavy losses. The Regiment Commander has sent a telegram to their division commander requesting tactical guidance."
Sitting in a car, Ishihara Kanji looked at the message in his hand and was silent for a while and asked: "Has our special high-tech department still not found out the identity of that unit?"
"Your Excellency, we have found out everything."
Ishihara smiled brightly, "Oh...which army are they?"
"According to the bombing and reconnaissance of the 30th Flying Group, as well as the investigation commissioned by our Special High-Tech Section, the militia group of Shanxi Liantai County who attacked us at Qianqiu Bridge was named Gao Hongming, the commander of this unit."
Ishihara Wan'er was surprised. He was no stranger to Gao Hongming, on the contrary, he was quite familiar with it.
He clearly remembered that just a few months ago, the 41st Division of the First Army stationed in Shanxi was severely punished by a Shanxi militia group at Qixia Pass. It was filled with 18,000 people.
The team was beaten down to just over 7,000 people, almost crippled.
For this unit, his boss's boss, Commander Tada Shun of the North China Front, not only flew directly to Taiyuan some time ago to directly command the battle, but was also finally accused by insinuations by the Commander-in-Chief of the China Expeditionary Force Nishio Hiszo that he was not doing his job properly. For this reason, he had to
Return to Jinan without regret.
As Jun Tada's classmate and good friend at the University of China, Ishihara Kanji has long admired Gao Hongming, but he and Gao Hongming live in Hebei and Shanxi, so there is a high probability that they will never see each other, but things in the world are so wonderful.
People who were originally unrelated to each other are about to meet.
When he thought of this, Ishihara Wanji, who had always looked cynical, became solemn, "Go and inform Takehiko Iwase immediately that the army on the opposite side is the militia of Liantai County, Shanxi, and ask him to stop attacking immediately, otherwise we will only increase the number of troops."
Needless casualties.
If you have any questions, please wait until I arrive and tell him what I mean immediately."
"Baga... Ishihara Wan'er is bullying someone too much!"
Looking at the telegram in his hand, Takehiko Iwase was so angry that his forehead was smoking. He crumpled the telegram in his hand and threw it on the ground. "Ishihara Wanji is so arrogant!"
"Your Excellency, Commander Ishihara is mocking our division for not being able to defeat the local militia in China."
The combat staff on the side was also indignant, "Although our 108th Division is only a second-class division, except for inferior equipment, its combat effectiveness is not much worse than that of an first-class division. Commander Ishihara must have underestimated us too much."
?”
After getting angry, Takehiko Iwase suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "Miura-kun, how far is the Sixteenth Division from Qianqiu Bridge?"
The staff officer quickly replied: "The 16th Division is still about a hundred kilometers away from us."
"One hundred kilometers?" Takehiko Iwase calculated, "That is to say, under normal circumstances, it will take at least four hours for them to reach Qianqiu Bridge.
You immediately send a report to Fujino Kuming and ask him to increase the intensity of the attack, and wait until we..."
"Your Excellency, the division commander, Captain Fujino sent a telegram. His attack on Qianqiu Bridge was blocked. The Chinese firepower was extremely fierce. Within half an hour of the war, he lost a squadron. He requested to wait for the arrival of the main force before re-engaging.
Launch an attack."
"Nani?"
After all, Takehiko Iwase is a veteran lieutenant general. No matter how angry he is, his basic rationality is still there. When he heard that the 222nd Wing was a squadron only half an hour after it started, the news was like
A ladle of cold water was poured on his head, and when he thought about the fact that the other party actually had a chariot troop and Ishihara Wanji's warning, his anger was immediately blown away as if he had encountered a biting cold wind.
Just when Takehiko Iwase was in a daze, the voice of the staff member woke him up again.
"Are you okay?" The staff officer looked at Takehiko Iwase, who looked uncertain as his face changed, and asked cautiously: "Are we still ordering the 222nd Regiment to attack again?"
"No."
Takehiko Iwase waved his hand, seeming a little frustrated: "Go and tell Fujino Kuming and ask him to defend where he is and wait for the main force to arrive."
"Hi!"
Although he didn't understand why the division commander changed his mind so easily, as a staff officer he was not qualified to question the division commander's order.
Whether it was intentional or a coincidence, four hours later, at around 17:00 in the evening, the 108th Division and the 16th Division led by Takehiko Iwase arrived at Qianqiu Bridge almost at the same time.
As soon as the two met, Ishihara Wanji smiled and greeted Takehiko Iwase: "Iwase-kun, it's been so long, and your complexion is still so rosy."
Takehiko Iwase also responded with a smile: "Ishihara-kun, you are not bad at all... It seems that the injury you suffered in Manchuria did not affect your life."
Ishihara Wanji's smile immediately fell. As the saying goes, you don't slap someone in the face. When Ishihara Wanji was in Kanto, he was stabbed in the crotch by his own saber, which caused the urethral opening to tear, causing him to urinate blood for a long time.
This matter has also become a taboo for Ishihara Wanji. Except for his closest friends, others will basically not mention it in front of him. Iwase Takehiko deliberately mentioned it today, obviously not caring about him.
Even though Takehiko Iwase was on the same level as him, being stared at by Ishihara Wanji made him feel a little embarrassed.
After a long time, Ishihara Wanji said faintly: "Iwase-kun, do you know why you are two terms higher than me and can only be a division commander in the second-class division now? It's because you don't know how to judge the situation. What's more?
I don’t know how to make friends, that’s why I’m in this situation.”
Takehiko Iwase showed no signs of weakness: "It's better than the younger you get as you become an official."
As early as 1337, Ishihara Kanji was already the deputy chief of staff (equivalent to the deputy chief of staff) of the Kwantung Army. However, because of his disagreement with Hideki Tojo, he was almost transferred back to the country to join the reserve force. Later, under the leadership of his friend Itagaki
With the support of Seishiro and Tada Shun, he was transferred to Kannai to succeed Lieutenant General Fujie Keisuke as the division commander of the 16th Division.
Although the military rank is still lieutenant general, compared with the hundreds of thousands of deputy chiefs of staff of the Kwantung Army, the division commander of a division is indeed much smaller.
Ishihara Wanji didn't get angry this time, but curled his lips, "That's better than you. If it weren't for me this time, your 108th Division would probably follow in the footsteps of the 41st Division. You should thank me.
.”
"The footsteps of the 41st Division?"
Takehiko Iwase's heart moved, "You mean, the army on the opposite side is the same army that caused Yukio Koizumi to be escorted back to the mainland to face the military court?"
"Who else besides him?" Ishihara smiled and said leisurely.