Chapter 68: The Great Battle Begins Anew!

Tada Shun put away his smile, and his expression turned gloomy once again.

"This time, the losses of the Empire are far too heavy!"

"Hai!"

Yoshio Shinozuka felt a chill in his heart.

"This defeat is entirely due to my incompetence! Please punish me, Your Excellency!"

Tada Shun gave Shinozuka a deep look and said slowly:

"Now is not the time to assign blame!"

"What we must do now is to redeem the Empire's honor with a major victory!"

With that, Tada Shun turned back to look at the map.

"To completely trap the Eighth Route Army, we still need to seal off one more opening."

"Hai! Please enlighten me, Commander!"

Yoshio Shinozuka raised his head; he knew that Your Excellency Tada must have devised a new and vicious scheme!

Tada Shun stood up and walked over to the giant map.

"Look here, Shinozuka-kun,"

Tada Shun pointed at the map.

"Taihang and Taiyue are surrounded by your First Army, the 41st Division guards the Wuxian exit, the 37th Division guards the Lincheng exit, but here..."

Yoshio Shinozuka looked at the spot pointed to by Tada Shun and gasped in astonishment:

"Zhongtiao Mountains?"

"Precisely!"

Tada Shun nodded heavily.

"In the Zhongtiao Mountains, there is yet another exit."

"I strongly suspect that the supplies of that mysterious wealthy merchant infiltrated the territory of the Eighth Route Army precisely through the Zhongtiao Mountains theater!"

"I see!"

Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly understood, as if a great weight had been lifted from his mind!

Previously, he could never figure out how such a massive volume of supplies managed to bypass his First Army's heavy blockades and enter the mountainous region.

Now, he finally understood.

It turned out... the loophole was not in his theater, but in the First War Zone!

"Your Excellency Tada is truly brilliant and insightful!" Yoshio Shinozuka flattered him sincerely.

The corners of Tada Shun's mouth curled up: "According to information from the Special Service Agency, there are two hundred thousand Nationalist troops stationed here, and for some reason, these Nationalist troops have not received those new types of weapons."

At this, Tada Shun looked excited.

"If we can devour this area, not only can we completely seal off the Eighth Route Army, but we can also use a massive battle to restore the Empire's honor!"

Yoshio Shinozuka understood everything in an instant.

If the Eighth Route Army couldn't be beaten, then they simply wouldn't fight them for now.

Crushing the Nationalist troops would yield the same result.

"Hai! Your Excellency's judgment is supreme!"

Tada Shun smiled slightly: "Order Anada Hitoshi to take command as the commander of the 37th Division starting today. The 41st, 21st, and 35th Divisions, along with the 4th and 9th Independent Mixed Brigades, are all to prepare and await orders!"

After a moment of thought, Tada Shun added: "Also, transfer all fifty of your 150mm heavy artillery pieces to the Zhongtiao Mountains area. If the Eighth Route Army dares to come out, greet them with a carpet bombing of shells!"

"Hai!"

Yoshio Shinozuka acknowledged the order loudly, but a hint of concern immediately appeared on his face:

"Your Excellency Tada, if the Eighth Route Army uses those new-style artillery pieces with fire spitting from the rear to launch a surprise attack on my artillery positions..."

"There is no need to worry!" Tada Shun waved his hand dismissively, full of confidence.

"According to the survey and mapping conducted by the Special Service Agency outside the city of Zhicheng over the past two days, although those new-style artillery pieces are compact, their range is insufficient, with a maximum of only seven or eight kilometers."

"And our 150mm heavy artillery pieces have a range of up to 13 kilometers!"

"You only need to deploy elite observation posts at the passes leading from Taihang and Taiyue to the Zhongtiao Mountains. If the Eighth Route Army makes any unusual moves, you can cover them with artillery fire in advance!"

Pausing for a moment, Tada Shun threw out another crucial piece of intelligence:

"In addition, according to reliable sources, the Eighth Route Army's ammunition reserves... are running low!"

Yoshio Shinozuka understood completely.

"Indeed, while those weapons have formidable firepower, their consumption is equally astonishing. With the Eighth Route Army's backward industrial foundation, they can never sustain their logistical supply!"

"Exactly so!"

Tada Shun stood with his hands behind his back, regaining the poise of a North China Area Army commander who had everything under control.

He looked at the densely marked mountain ranges on the map, his gaze cold, as if he were looking at a massive graveyard:

"Therefore, let them stay inside the Taihang Mountains... holding onto that useless scrap of metal..."

"And perish on their own!"

...

Zhongtiao Mountains.

First War Zone Headquarters.

"Hahaha, Old He, what wind blew you here?"

General Wei laughed heartily as he went to welcome General He.

General He remained stern and unsmiling: "Old Wei, such a massive and sweeping victory was achieved over there, yet you can still laugh?"

Huh?

General Wei's smile faltered, looking somewhat bewildered.

"Old He, as you said yourself, it was a great victory! An unprecedented great victory! Shouldn't I be allowed to laugh?"

General He sighed, shook his head, and uttered only five words:

"The Old Man... is furious!"

What?

General Wei's heart jumped violently. He instantly grasped the subtext of General He's words, and a bitter smile inevitably formed on his face.

"Old He, this is still a national united front facing external aggression after all, this..."

"Enough!" General He interrupted General Wei.

"You and I are brothers, so we can discuss these things in private, but in front of the Old Man, do not mention a single word of it!"

He then turned serious and said: "My purpose here this time is to carry out the Old Man's handwritten decree to temporarily take over your post."

"Take over my post?"

"The Old Man said you are to return to report on your duties."

"Report on my duties? What duties?"

A meaningful smile appeared on General He's face: "To explain why so many supplies were transported to the Eighth Route Army's base areas!"

"What?"

General Wei's expression changed drastically, and a cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.

"The Old Man... surely doesn't think I let them through, does he?"

If this heavy blame were pinned on him, the consequences would be unimaginable!

General He looked at General Wei with a half-smile: "Old Wei, it's not like you don't have a record of this."

"This..."

General Wei was instantly at a loss for words, his face flushing red.

Feeling sympathy for the Eighth Route Army in the past, he had indeed sent some supplies over.

Furthermore, he had visited the rear areas and truly admired those people.

Heaven and earth be his witness, this current matter truly had nothing to do with him!

He was equally curious as to how the Eighth Route Army had managed to acquire so many good things.

"Brother He, you must believe me, this matter genuinely has nothing to do with me!"

General He patted General Wei on the shoulder: "There is no need to explain it to me; you had better figure out how to explain it to the Old Man."

General Wei looked distressed: "But if I leave, what will happen here?"

General He raised his chin: "Didn't I just say? I will temporarily take your place."

"You?"

Old Wei's mouth twitched involuntarily.

When it came to troop deployment and formations, this fellow only possessed blind loyalty!

He was good at bootlicking and strategizing on paper, but when it came to actual combat command...

Seeing General Wei's attitude, General He became somewhat displeased.

"What? You don't trust me?"

"No, no, no! Absolutely no such meaning! Brother He, you misunderstand."

Old Wei waved his hands hurriedly in denial.

With his own skin already in jeopardy, how could he dare to offend the number one favorite in the Old Man's eyes?

Should this Fourth-Eye He add a few more malicious words, he might truly be doomed beyond redemption.

He took a deep breath: "Very well, then I shall return immediately to report to the Old Man."

With that, General Wei looked at General He:

"Old He, you must be careful during this time. Watch out for the little Japanese venting their anger on us."

Upon hearing this, General He waved his hand dismissively, a look of utter disdain even appearing on his face:

"Old Wei, you are worrying too much!"

"You probably don't know yet? The First Army suffered devastating casualties this time, losing over a third of its troop strength!"

He put his hands behind his back, assuming a posture of absolute confidence and certainty of victory.

"Right now, that old ghost Yoshio Shinozuka is probably tearing his hair out licking his wounds! How could he possibly have the spare strength to bite into the hard nut of my Zhongtiao Mountains?"

"Besides, even if the little Japanese do come, so what? My twenty thousand soldiers in the Zhongtiao Mountains are not sitting around doing nothing!"

Old Wei was speechless.

What he feared most was precisely that you bastards *would* be sitting around doing nothing!

However, he said nothing more; to argue further would be to completely offend the man.

His top priority was to make a swift round trip.

There were twenty thousand soldiers stationed in the Zhongtiao Mountains. Even if the little Japanese made a move, they would have to deploy at least one hundred thousand troops, which would take at least a month to prepare.

Let's hope there's still time...