136: Chapter 136 Order to Retreat in Advance?

This operation deployed 2,000 men.

In the end, only over 1,200 returned.

It was now nearing noon.

Those who hadn't returned could already be considered missing or sacrificed.

Although last night's operation was a complete success, the casualties were not insignificant.

Besides that, their ammunition was almost completely exhausted.

The ammunition on hand was no longer enough to support them in fighting another battle.

Regimental Commander Zhao Liang slowly shook his head and returned to the garrison Command Post.

"Have the messengers been sent out?"

Regimental Commander Zhao Liang looked at his adjutant and asked.

"They have been sent out and should have reached the General Command Post by now."

"Hmm." Regimental Commander Zhao Liang nodded slightly.

At this time, General Huang Wei finally received the news from the 5th Regiment.

This message detailed the action plan from last night.

After reading the entire action report, General Huang Wei's face, which had been serious for a long time, finally broke into a bright smile.

"Excellent, Regimental Commander Zhao Liang did a good job." General Huang Wei held the yellow paper of the action report, nodding while praising him.

This proactive operation directly wiped out the Japanese forces' attack plan for today.

It bought the defenders on Zijin Mountain a day of rest.

The high-intensity fighting of the past two days had left many Chinese Soldiers exhausted both physically and mentally.

During this day of rest, General Huang Wei issued an order.

He ordered the Chinese Soldiers to collect weapons and ammunition from the battlefield.

Just as he finished issuing the order, Adjutant Chen suddenly walked over with a serious expression.

"General, there was a phone call just now."

"What phone call?" Seeing Adjutant Chen's very serious expression, General Huang Wei frowned slightly.

"They want us to retreat, saying that the Chairman has already issued a retreat order, and the official retreat order will be issued at 12:00 noon," Adjutant Chen said slowly.

"What does this mean?" Hearing his words, General Huang Wei frowned even tighter.

"General, I feel that this phone call means you should run first," Adjutant Chen whispered.

General Huang Wei suddenly understood what it meant.

He slammed his hand heavily on the table in the command room.

"What kind of retreat order is this? It has to be communicated privately and warned in advance?"

"Zijin Mountain can still be defended, why retreat?" General Huang Wei's face was gloomy.

Adjutant Chen sighed upon hearing this.

He didn't know what to say.

Noon arrived, and the official retreat order came through.

Looking at this retreat order, General Huang Wei ignored it.

He believed they could continue to defend.

There were many corpses on the positions at the foot of the mountain, both their own and the Japanese forces'.

At this moment, the positions were covered in weapons and ammunition.

No one had collected these weapons and ammunition.

Just then, a squad of Chinese Soldiers rushed out of the tunnel, with cloth strips tied over their noses and mouths.

They moved constantly across the positions, collecting weapons and ammunition from the corpses.

Weapons were secondary; what was more important were bullets and grenades.

Now they didn't lack guns, but they lacked bullets and grenades.

Without bullets, the guns in their hands were just fire pokers; they could only look at them but not use them.

After a day of rest, they had collected quite a few bullets and grenades from the battlefield.

With this ammunition, it wouldn't be a problem for them to hold out for another day.

After all, there were still over 6,000 defenders on the mountain.

Night fell.

At this time, the Japanese Command Post was brightly lit.

The attack early this morning had a huge impact on the Japanese forces.

The planned general offensive for today was forced to be canceled.

And the worse news was that the Artilleryman position had also been raided.

The heavy artillery was bombed.

Although many could still be used, the ammunition depot was bombed.

Even if they could use them, they had no shells.

Without heavy artillery to pave the way, relying solely on infantry attacks would inevitably lead to huge casualties.

However, Noda Ken couldn't care about that anymore.

Last night's raid made him furious.

He had already issued an order to launch a general offensive tomorrow morning.

If they couldn't take it, he would have to request support from the division.

The next morning, the sky was slightly bright.

The Japanese forces rushed toward the mountain.

Meanwhile, the roaring sound of airplanes came from the sky.

At the Observatory Command Post.

General Huang Wei got up early.

He just happened to hear the sound of the planes roaring past.

Immediately after, explosions rang out.

Although the Japanese forces' heavy artillery unit was paralyzed, they still had an air force.

Facing the air force's bombing, General Huang Wei and his men had no way to counter it.

They wanted to raid the Japanese Airport, but they didn't even know where the Japanese Airport was, so they could only think about it.

As for anti-aircraft weapons, they were pitifully scarce, almost non-existent.

Facing the Japanese bombers, these anti-aircraft weapons couldn't hit anything at all.

After the Japanese bombing, the infantry attacked.

However, after the replenishment of ammunition, the Chinese Soldiers were not afraid of the Japanese forces at all.

The battle between the two sides was intense, and casualties were increasing rapidly.

The Japanese infantry charged crazily as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

This suicidal fighting style caused significant casualties to the defenders on the mountain.

The audience in the livestream room watched their side's casualty count jumping constantly, watching in terror.

Until night fell again.

The fighting lasted until seven or eight in the evening.

The Japanese forces retreated with reluctance.

In today's battle, the casualty count of the Chinese Soldiers reached over 3,000.

Similarly, the Japanese forces' casualty count was not small either.

But experienced Chinese Soldiers could estimate that the Japanese forces' casualties were much lower than theirs.

Even without Artilleryman support, the Japanese forces' firepower was still far stronger than theirs.

Machine gun bullets were fired as if they were free, suppressing their positions with firepower.

As long as they dared to poke their heads out, countless bullets would sweep over, and it was easy to be hit by bullets.

The positions on Zijin Mountain were compressed once again.

The positions just captured yesterday were lost again today.

The Japanese flamethrower troops kept clearing the tunnels, causing heavy casualties to the Chinese Soldiers inside the tunnels.

At night, after calculating today's casualty situation.

General Huang Wei sighed in the command room.

He placed the data in front of the officers.

"Take a look, our casualties today reached over 3,000."

"Ammunition reserves have hit bottom again; holding for four days should be our limit."

"We have done our best. Even if we can't hold tomorrow, I believe this achievement will not be too bad."

"Let the Chinese Soldiers get ready; tomorrow will be the final battle."

Adjutant Chen shook his head upon hearing this and said, "General, I think we can take the initiative to attack tomorrow."

"What do you mean by that?" General Huang Wei frowned slightly.

"The Japanese forces also suffered heavy casualties today, and they may not launch an attack tomorrow. The higher-ups already issued a retreat order yesterday, and we don't need to keep defending Zijin Mountain."

"I have checked the map of this area; we can retreat into the city. There are defensive fortifications in the city, as well as supplies," Adjutant Chen said slowly.

As he spoke, he pointed to the map hanging in the command room.

After General Huang Wei looked at it carefully for a moment, he found this plan feasible.

If they continued to defend Zijin Mountain, they probably wouldn't last more than two days.

Now, the supplies and ammunition on hand were extremely scarce.

Not only were they out of ammunition, but they were also out of food.

They had been fighting on empty stomachs for the past two days.