Chapter 987 The thorny road to survival!
"I'm sorry, Mr. Commander, we didn't recognize who they were, but judging from the flag, they should be the mysterious Sichuan Army."

"The Sichuan Army? How could it be them? Where did they get the landing ships?" Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe still felt that this was a bit nonsense.

Hearing this, the captain of the Eighth Squadron shook his head and said:
"I don't know, but judging from the flags, it is indeed them, and their fighting power is very strong. One battalion alone has more than 30 artillery pieces. Not only that, but there are tanks covering the attack. We can't defeat them at all."

At this time, Xiao Ri's team had only three machine guns, and the supply line was too long, so many of them did not have enough bullets.

Facing the Sichuan Army Corps armed to the teeth, it is not easy to hold on until now.

"Nani, how is this possible?" Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao thought that he was stuck in the idea of ​​millet and rifles. Even if it was an expeditionary force, what could it do? They still defeated them. More importantly, when it comes to the Sichuan Army, what comes to mind is just a group of cannon fodder.

If Lin Hao were here, he would definitely say: Sir, it’s time to eat shit!
"Retreat!" Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe knew that there was no point in staying any longer and that Yangon City would definitely not be able to be defended.

"Leave all your baggage behind and immediately retreat eastwards to Siam. We will reorganize our defenses at the Siamese border."

After the loss of Rangoon, it would not be easy for them to go back and get supplies, but they could get supplies from Siam.

Although there are many jungles and supply is inconvenient, as long as they can hold on, their lives will be much better.

However, the squadron leader shook his head and said:
"You forgot, my dear division commander, that the enemy landed and attacked from the east!"

"Uh~!" Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao just remembered and said angrily:

"At present, we only have two options. One is to fight back from the Sichuan Army's defense zone along the Burma Road. The other is to turn around and attack the British Army's defense zone. Anyway, these British troops have no combat effectiveness!"

Watanabe Masao was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and muttered to himself:
"Yes, one is a tough guy and the other is a weakling. As for the remaining defeated soldiers we have now, we actually have no choice but to take a detour northward through Daying's defense zone!"

At this moment, Watanabe Masao felt indescribable strangeness in his heart, as if he was being led by the nose.

When Lin Hao heard that Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao had run away with his men and was fleeing northward, he was not surprised and did not even give the order to pursue them.

Because this is exactly the result he wants, he is now looking forward to Watanabe Masao being able to fight for his reputation, and it would be best if he could conquer India in one go so that he can follow behind and take advantage of the situation.

Watanabe Masao's feeling was correct, all this was the result of Lin Hao's planning.

Moreover, Lin Hao also asked the cities controlled by him along the way not to take the initiative to attack, and asked them to either guide or drive Watanabe Masao to attack the territories controlled by Daying along the way.

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The disastrous defeat in Rangoon led to a change in the entire southern combat plan, and the Burma Road was torn into pieces.

Lin Hao's Sichuan Army, Xiao Rizi, Daying, and Guo Army each occupied a part of the road, so no one could use this road. Xiao Rizi's strategic goal of controlling the Burma Road completely failed.

Moreover, Watanabe Masao fled all the way north, attacking Daying's defense zone according to the route planned by Lin Hao. Daying was indeed a coward. Sometimes he was not even seen. After hearing that Xiao Rizi came nearby, he opened the door and surrendered directly.

However, just after surrendering, they were driven away by Lin Hao's Sichuan Army, and then successfully took over the defense areas along the way. As for those cowards, they were naturally dealt with in the same way as the British troops captured in Mandalay.

In this way, they were chased like dogs by the Sichuan Army all the way to Naypyidaw. At this time, Watanabe Masao finally breathed a sigh of relief, because the defender here was Lieutenant General Shinichi Tanaka of the 18th Division.

But Tanaka Shinichi's situation is not good either. Ever since Mandalay and Sidotayya were captured by the Sichuan Army, Naypyidaw has never been peaceful.

At the beginning, Shinichi Tanaka wanted to lead his men to recapture Mandalay, but he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived outside the city of Mandalay, he was beaten badly by the powerful firepower of the Sichuan Army.

In order to save the situation in Burma, the military even asked General Imamura Hitoshi to transfer two divisions from the Eighth Front Army to support the Burmese battlefield.

They attempted to attack Mandalay from the north and south, but were defeated by the air force of the Sichuan Army Group just as the Huang Army stationed in western Yunnan in the north was on the Burma Road. They were then ambushed by the Sichuan Army Group coming from Lashu.

Before the joint attack from the north and the south was completed, the Sichuan Army defeated them miserably. Now the 18th Division is trapped in an isolated city.

When Tanaka Shinichi received Watanabe's telegram, he cursed Watanabe Masao as a waste for losing the retreat route in Rangoon.

Without Yangon, the plan to control the Burma Road would have completely failed. In the future, if we wanted to deliver supplies to western Yunnan, we would have to rely on the Yunnan-Vietnam Highway.

Although some supplies can be transported from other places, the amount of transportation cannot be compared with that of the Yunnan-Burma and Yunnan-Vietnam highways.

Moreover, the entire Pacific battlefield has now entered a critical moment, and General Imamura Hitoshi is simply unable to mobilize more troops. He now wishes the military could allocate him a few more divisions and allow him to mobilize divisions to support other places?
What is even more despairing is that the loss of Yangon also means that they have completely lost their retreat.

Requests for support from the military were also rejected, and they were even left to figure out how to get supplies on their own.

At this time, Watanabe Masao, who was resting, sighed after reading the telegram in his hand and handed it to Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi of the 18th Division.

"Tanaka-kun, the military didn't send us any reinforcements. Not only that, they asked us to figure out how to get supplies on our own."

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi's face changed, and he said angrily:

"Baga! How can we solve this problem ourselves? Food is easy to solve, at worst we can go to the jungle to find prey, but what about weapons and ammunition? Especially artillery shells!"

"During this period, the defenders on the other side were ready to move, but they were stopped by our artillery fire. If they knew that we were short of supplies, something bad would definitely happen."

Hearing this, Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao looked remorseful. If it weren't for his carelessness, Rangoon would not have been lost and the situation would not have been so difficult.

"I'm sorry, it's my mistake and I've caused you trouble." Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe bowed and apologized.

"Watanabe-kun, that's not what I meant. It's just that we don't have enough supplies right now and we can't hold on for long." Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi suppressed the anger in his heart and forced himself to calm down.

"Tanaka-kun, we only have one route now, going west through Shan State and into Laos~!"

However, before Watanabe Masao could finish his words, Tanaka waved his hand and interrupted, "Shan State has been conquered by the Sichuan Army!"

"Then what should we do?" Hearing this, Watanabe Masao asked anxiously.

Tanaka Shinichi narrowed his already narrow eyes, then calmly said:
"No, we still have two options. One is to take the eastern route to Lashu and fight all the way there. The other is to take the western route to Myitkyina." Watanabe Masao said anxiously:
"But the problem is that Mandalay is occupied by the Sichuan Army, and this place happens to be the intersection of two roads, which is the only way we can go!"

"And I heard that the situation in western Yunnan is about to collapse. Even if we go back, it seems~!" Watanabe Masao hesitated to speak:
"A sheep walking into a tiger's mouth!"

"No, we are not going to Lashu, we are going to take the Yunnan-Myanmar West Road!" Tanaka glanced at Watanabe and saw that he had calmed down, then continued: "We will pass through between Mandalay and Xidudaiye!"

"But if we go there, we'll be attacked from both sides!" Hearing this, Tanaka said with a smile:
"Ahahaha, Watanabe-kun, have you forgotten how you lost your Rangoon?"

Watanabe was not stupid. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized:
"Navy home port~, they are soldiers transported by sea and land, which means that Xidu doesn't have many troops. Then can we take down their naval base~!"

"No, no, no, don't have such delusions!" Tanaka said with some exhaustion:

"They did mobilize a lot of troops, but don't forget Mandalay. If we go to attack Xidu, we might be wiped out by Mandalay's Sichuan Army!"

"Even if we take down Xidu, it will be meaningless. We still have to face the Sichuan Army in Mandalay and the pursuers behind us. Don't forget that we are running for our lives now!"

"The best way at the moment is to quickly turn around and escape from here while their gap has not been blocked yet!"

However, Watanabe still frowned and said: "Even if we reach Myitkyina, we still have to face the Sichuan Army behind us!"

Tanaka was not anxious when he heard this, but whispered to Watanabe:
"The military had previously formulated a plan. The British army only had one division in India. The Imperial Army could easily occupy the entire country by taking a division."

When Watanabe Masao received the news, he was extremely shocked. It would be such a waste not to eat the meat right in front of him.

He didn't believe that those people in the military would refuse to eat the meat that was right in front of them, but the only explanation for why they didn't continue to attack westwards was that the military had indeed reached its limit.

Then Watanabe Masao suddenly said:
"So, what you mean is that we don't go to Myitkyina, but continue to attack India in the northwest direction?" Tanaka Shinichi is also a smart man and understood it immediately, but his brows are still frowned.

"Watanabe-kun, our original mission was to seize the Yunnan-Western Highway and cut off the enemy's supply lines. If we turn around and attack Tianzhu, the enemy's defenders will definitely cross the river to attack us. At that time, they will attack us from both sides, and without supplies, we will be doomed."

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao became even more excited and said:
"No, Tanaka-kun, you should know that the British army's combat effectiveness is very low. One of our regiments is enough to defeat them!"

"And we can also recruit those native soldiers. As long as we gather 20,000 people, I have the confidence to march directly to Tianzhu, where there is endless wealth."

"If we can come up with enough wealth, or even resources, maybe we can be the next Kwantung Army."

As he spoke, Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao began to tremble all over. If this plan really succeeded, they would also become famous figures.

"Tanaka-kun, this is a very good opportunity, you must not give up!" Watanabe Masao advised again.

He currently does not have enough troops, but if he were to join forces with Tanaka Shinichi's 18th Division, his combat effectiveness would definitely exceed that of a division.

"You are indeed right. What should we do with the defenders in western Yunnan?" To be honest, Watanabe was indeed tempted, especially since there was no supply yet. But what should we do with the reinforcements in western Yunnan?
"Humph, we can't even protect ourselves now, and you're still thinking so much. Besides, as long as their regiment doesn't attack, it's enough to defend the South Gate!"

Upon hearing this, Watanabe immediately collected his messy thoughts. Just as Tanaka said, he couldn't even take care of himself, so how could he care about the reinforcements far away in western Yunnan?

Watanabe said with some excitement:
"Tanaka-kun, I think what you said makes a lot of sense. If we can take over Tianzhu, with the wealth and resources there, we can indeed become the next Kwantung Army."

"Mr. Watanabe, I will give you the 114th Infantry Regiment, the newly formed 56th Division of the Burmese Army, and the th Infantry Division of Siam that just arrived. Together with the remaining troops of your th Division, there are almost people."

Hearing that there were 50,000 people, Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao burst into tears. He looked at Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi and said with shame:
"Tanaka-kun, I will definitely not hold you back this time. Even if I die, I will die on the way to the charge!"

"Watanabe-kun, I believe in you. With your talent, you can definitely conquer Tianzhu." Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi shook his hand and said sincerely:
"Mr. Watanabe, we are fighting alone this time. We must not do stupid things like massacres again. We must capture more Indians to join us and strengthen our strength. As long as we give them enough benefits, they will definitely fight for us."

"As for the weapons and ammunition, don't worry. I recently met a black market merchant who can buy a batch of weapons."

"That's great, I'll go back and prepare now!" Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe said seriously.

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On the other side, Lin Hao received a telegram in Yangon sent back by Li’s intelligence personnel in Myitkyina.

The five major families in Xidu entrusted him with important tasks. Some sold penicillin for him, some sold arms, and some pretended to be black market merchants to cooperate with Xiao Zizi.

Especially now that Yangon has been captured, Lin Hao has cut off the Xiaorizi's sea supplies. Without supplies, the two Xiaorizi divisions in the north are like tigers without fangs, and their combat effectiveness is even worse than that of some natives.

Therefore, Lin Hao instructed on the spot that some Japanese weapons in stock could be sold to them.

Lin Hao didn't think highly of this type of bolt-action weapon. Even his second-line troops looked down on it. He couldn't just leave it in the warehouse and collect dust.

As for the information that there was only one British army division in Tianzhu, it was naturally Lin Hao who asked them to reveal it to Tanaka.

Lin Hao was trying every possible way to make his life miserable. There was nothing to attack in the Western Yunnan Highway and Myitkyina, and there was no profit to be made.

It would be better to attack India, where there is abundant wealth.

"Should I establish a stable black market channel? Specially sell some weapons and ammunition to Xiao Rizi?" Lin Hao thought that there were still so many Japanese weapons in the warehouse, that was money!
Apart from anything else, he could make a fortune just by selling bullets, because he was the only one in the world who could provide such a large amount of bullets.

Thinking of this, Lin Hao found that he had found another way to make money.

As for the remnants of the two divisions, Lin Hao's idea was to raise some Gu and let them fight their way through the thorns and attack Tianzhu.

Without Tianzhu, Lin Hao was very curious, what else did these cowardly British soldiers have to be proud of?

No longer worrying about how to attack India, Lin Hao turned his attention to Siam again.

Lin Hao has long been dissatisfied with this country whose face is thicker than the city walls. More importantly, this is also a grain production area, with abundant forests, etc., all of which are important to Lin Hao.

Next, Lin Hao decided to attack Siam.