158: Chapter 158 That person has arrived!

"Sixty bombers?"

The smiles on the faces of The Chiefs froze, and their eyes suddenly became incredibly sharp and solemn.

Thanks to the communication equipment Shen Wang brought, every move of the devils in the entire Shanxi Province was now almost under the Eighth Route Army's surveillance, especially the Aviation Corps!

There were at least three observation teams on the outskirts of Taiyuan.

With the devils mobilizing on such a large scale, there was no need to think; they were definitely going after those supplies.

Since the Eighth Route Army had captured the county seat, they were now out in the open, and the devils naturally had informants in the surrounding areas.

Such a massive amount of supplies certainly couldn't be hidden from the little devils.

The little devils' retaliation was coming fast and hard!

"Immediately send the intelligence to the Zhicheng Forward Command! Highest level alert!" the Deputy Commander ordered sternly.

"Order the existing Anti-Aircraft Battalion in Zhicheng to enter the highest state of combat readiness! Protect the supplies, the airport, and the Arms Factory equipment at all costs!"

He paused, his voice growing even heavier: "And more importantly... protect Mr. Shen's safety at all costs!"

The order was quickly relayed, but the atmosphere in the Headquarters had already dropped to freezing point.

The Chief of Staff looked at the map, his brow furrowed: "Zhicheng only has one Anti-Aircraft Battalion. No matter how fierce the firepower is, facing a saturated attack from sixty bombers... I'm afraid it will be difficult to cover everything."

"It's simply too late to transfer anti-aircraft forces from other county seats."

One of the big shots sighed, his voice low: "Our pilots... there are only eight of them! Eight against sixty..."

He didn't finish, but everyone understood what he meant.

An absolute numerical disadvantage, a lack of experience, a complex battlefield environment... this was an aerial duel where victory seemed almost impossible.

The blood that had been boiling just moments ago due to Shen Wang's return and the vast amount of supplies quickly cooled, replaced by a deep sense of powerlessness and agonizing worry.

Those thirty brand-new planes, that Arms Factory equipment capable of changing their fate, those mountains of ammunition and fuel... were they really going to vanish into thin air under the enemy's carpet bombing just after they had been acquired?

The hearts of The Chiefs instantly leaped into their throats!

...

Going back to half an hour ago.

Taiyuan, First Army Headquarters.

Commander Lieutenant General Shinozuka Kazuo sat in the main seat with a grim expression, looking like a weathering stone statue.

To his left was Lieutenant General Anda Twenty-Three, the Commander of the 37th Division. His face looked even worse, with his left arm wrapped in bandages and hanging across his chest—

That was a "minor injury" left from being trampled by his own retreating troops and grazed by shrapnel during a chaotic shelling in the Battle of He County.

Looking at it now, this injury seemed more like a mocking form of mercy from fate.

If he hadn't stayed in Taiyuan to "recuperate" because of it, he would likely have been turned to dust along with the rubble of the Zhicheng Headquarters by now.

"A disgrace! An unprecedented disgrace!" Anda Twenty-Three was the first to break the suffocating silence.

"He County! One hundred thousand Imperial Army soldiers were actually... routed by a group of mud-legged peasants!"

The great defeat at He County over a month ago was like a loud slap across the faces of these beasts.

Not only were a hundred thousand troops driven away by the Eighth Route Army, but more than thirty thousand were annihilated!

And immediately following that, the Eighth Route Army actually launched a surprise attack on the entire Southeast Shanxi, causing even more heavy losses!

If Anda Twenty-Three hadn't been nursing his minor injury in Taiyuan, he might have been blown to pieces along with the Zhicheng Headquarters!

Zhicheng was precisely the station for the 37th Division, and Southeast Shanxi was also the 37th Division's primary defense zone!

If the First Army could be said to have suffered a severe blow after these two battles, his 37th Division was basically crippled.

Anda Twenty-Three slammed his fist onto the table, making the teacups jump and jarring his injured arm. The pain made the corners of his mouth twitch, but the malice in his eyes grew even stronger.

To the right was Lieutenant General Iseki Jin, Commander of the 36th Division, who also looked displeased.

With the fall of Southeast Shanxi, the flank of his defense zone was exposed, and the pressure had increased sharply.

"Andō-kun, saying these things now is of no use."

"Commander Okamura has a long-term vision and has already pointed out a new direction for us."

At the mention of Okamura Yasuji, Shinozuka Kazuo's stiff face finally showed a flicker of movement.

"Iseki-kun is right! Commander Okamura's strategy is brilliant!"

"Since we can't crack that hard nut of He County for the time being, we'll let them grow complacent and expose themselves."

Hearing this, the hatred in Anda Twenty-Three's eyes softened slightly, replaced by a morbid excitement: "Exactly! Commander Okamura's tactics of 'letting the enemy go to catch them later' and 'drawing the fire from under the cauldron' are truly brilliant!"

"Trapping their tanks in the plains and scattering their forces across various county seats... the best part is," a cruel smile appeared on his face, "bombing the farmland! Haha, that is the true stroke of genius!"

Iseki Jin added: "According to the summary of intelligence from the Aviation Corps and the ground, our bombing of the main grain-producing areas in Southeast Shanxi over the past half month has had significant results!"

"Along the Fen River and Qin River, at least twenty percent of the wheat fields about to ripen have been destroyed! The loss of irrigation canals and farm tools is countless!"

"If this continues, in two months at most, Southeast Shanxi will fall into a grain shortage!"

Shinozuka Kazuo nodded: "Without food, no matter how many guns and cannons they have, they're just scrap metal!"

"With hundreds of thousands of mouths to feed, the Eighth Route Army will either have to open their granaries and exhaust their already tight reserves, or sit by and watch famine spread everywhere, and their facade of being a 'people's army' will collapse on its own."

"At that time, with internal chaos and low morale, it will be the time for us to regroup and recover the lost territory in one fell swoop!"

"When that time comes," Anda Twenty-Three gritted his teeth, "I will personally hang those mud-legged peasants occupying my Zhicheng one by one on the city walls! I will use their blood to wash away the 37th Division's disgrace!"

The high-ranking devil generals looked at each other, as if drawing strength from this malicious plot and illusory future, temporarily forgetting the gloom of defeat and feeling as though they had "stood up" once again.

A twisted atmosphere filled with the pleasure of revenge permeated the meeting room.

Just then, the hurried footsteps of an operations staff officer broke this brief "frenzy."

He walked quickly to Shinozuka Kazuo's side, whispered a few words in his ear, and handed over an aerial reconnaissance photo that had just been developed.

Shinozuka Kazuo's gaze fell on the photo, and his pupils suddenly contracted!

The photo was taken on the outskirts of Zhicheng. Although it was a bit blurry, it was still possible to clearly see countless military trucks parked closely together, with a large number of personnel busily unloading supplies.

The scale was immense, far exceeding any previous resupply!

"baka!" Shinozuka Kazuo growled under his breath, the photo in his hand trembling slightly.

"Shinozuka-kun?" Anda Twenty-Three and Iseki Jin noticed something was wrong and immediately leaned in.

When their eyes met the contents of the photo, they also gasped in cold air!

"This... when was this taken?!" Anda Twenty-Three asked urgently.

"An hour ago, captured by a high-altitude reconnaissance plane at great risk!" the staff officer replied.

Iseki Jin's voice tightened: "Such a vast amount of supplies... they definitely didn't belong to the Eighth Route Army before!"

"Where did they get them from? Could it be..."

The devil generals almost simultaneously thought of that name that had caused them successive crushing defeats and was yet so mysterious!

A common thought pierced their brains like an icicle:

That man has arrived!