Cross the Songhu battlefield and rise to become the most powerful warlord

Chapter 388: Rapid Retreat

388 Rapid Retreat

At ten o'clock in the morning, two battalions of Japanese soldiers who came from Shanghai by train entered Hangzhou.

Ye Qingshan, with Black Bear's special operations battalion and Wang Dachuan's second regiment, had already left Hangzhou.

The leader of the team was a Japanese colonel named Yamagao Kenjin.

The Japanese colonel saw the corpses of traitors hanging all over the city of Hangzhou.

In addition, the city's ammunition depots were blown up, and bank vaults were looted, leaving it in a mess.

Only in the residential areas, no one was harmed.

"Baga, damn Ye Qingshan!"

The Japanese Osamu Gao Jianren roared angrily.

At this time, more than 200 remaining Japanese soldiers were hiding in the Western-style building area in the city and defending their position.

Also under the leadership of a Japanese lieutenant colonel, he came to Yamagao Kenjin.

"Colonel, please do not let the Chinese army escape.

Commander, they have captured him."

The Japanese lieutenant colonel said this with one of his arms hanging and a dusty face.

"Baga, you are a bunch of rubbish."

The Japanese colonel kicked the lieutenant colonel down.

"Hi!"

The Japanese lieutenant colonel silently got up, bowed and nodded humbly.

“Everyone, follow me.

We must not let Ye Qingshan run away this time.

Rescue the Commander."

The Japanese colonel immediately decided to lead his troops to continue the pursuit.

He also didn't want to let Ye Qingshan go.

“But don’t get too close.

Be careful that Ye Qingshan may ambush us."

But the Japanese colonel then spoke again vigilantly.

If these devils were facing other national troops, they would definitely not be so cautious.

To be honest, the Japanese were also scared by Ye Qingshan.

Ye Qingshan always plays by his own rules, and he even dares to attack Hangzhou.

Do you dare to say that he doesn't dare to turn around and bite you at this time?

This Japanese colonel only brought two battalions of Japanese soldiers, and they would be ambushed by Ye Qingshan.

It is really possible to be annihilated.

This Japanese colonel has a very simple idea.

He didn't expect that he could really wipe out Ye Qingshan's 208th Division with just the two thousand Japanese soldiers in his hands.

He only needed to hold on to Ye Qingshan's troops, follow them slowly, and delay their retreat.

Only after the Japanese main force, the 40th Division, withdraws will they be able to ensure the destruction of Ye Qingshan’s 208th Division.

After Ye Qingshan led his troops to evacuate Hangzhou City, he did not leave through the Fengshan Gate in the south.

Instead, they retreated westward from Qingbo Gate in the west of the city, along the vicinity of West Lake.

The mountains here are undulating and the forests are deep and dense, making it easy to hide.

It is also easier to escape the pursuit of the Japanese.

Before leaving Hangzhou, Ye Qingshan also ordered the destruction of the mountain cannons and howitzers they had captured from the Japanese.

Traveling light and simply accelerated the march.

The meeting place agreed upon by Ye Qingshan and Xiao Shanling was Tianmu Mountain in the west.

It would be more appropriate to leave from the west gate.

As for the task of covering the rear, as expected, Ye Qingshan left it to Black Bear's special operations battalion.

These special operations battalion soldiers have mastered many methods of setting traps and booby traps.

Leaving them as cover would help delay the Japanese pursuit.

"Where are Lao Zhou and the others now?"

During the march, Ye Qingshan did not forget to ask Zhou Pingkou about the situation.

"Commander, the Chief of Staff called back.

They have already met up with their division commander and his men on the west bank of the river.

Now, we are heading west to Tianmu Mountain. "

Not long after, the telegraph operator contacted Xiao Shanling.

"Okay, tell them to be careful of the Japanese bombers.

It's dawn, it's time for the Japanese fighter planes to take off."

This is the issue that Ye Qingshan is most worried about during his retreat.

Ye Qingshan chose to walk towards West Lake in order to avoid the Japanese fighter planes that might appear in the sky at any time.

In the afternoon, a Japanese reconnaissance plane also appeared in the sky above Ye Qingshan's side.

"Find a place to hide, the Japanese reconnaissance plane has left.

The Japanese bombers will be arriving soon."

Ye Qingshan looked at the Japanese reconnaissance plane flying away, and quickly took his soldiers to hide in the nearby mountains and forests.

Sure enough, the Japanese bomber group appeared soon.

But they didn’t find where Ye Qingshan and the others were hiding.

There was no choice. After circling in the air for a few circles, the Japanese bomber group flew westward.

Soon, explosions were heard from the west.

"Damn it, the Japs couldn't find us, so they went to bomb the special operations battalion that was left behind."

Ye Qingshan had a gloomy face.

"go!"

At this time, Ye Qingshan did not dare to stay and continued to retreat westward with the Second Regiment.

After dark, they arrived near Qingshan Lake.

Now, they don’t have to worry about the Japanese bombing.

Moreover, the Japanese soldiers chasing behind did not catch up.

"Rest for half the night, and then continue on the journey in the second half of the night."

Ye Qingshan looked at the exhausted soldiers around him and finally gave the order to rest.

Soon, except for the soldiers on guard outside.

The other soldiers were all lying in the woods, snoring.

They fought for a whole day and night and were extremely tired.

Not long after, Black Bear's special operations battalion also returned.

In order to cover their retreat, they were bombed by the Japanese.

The special operations battalion lost more than fifty people, which made Ye Qingshan feel heartbroken.

These are the most elite troops under his command.

"We have set up some booby traps, so the pursuing Japanese soldiers will not be able to catch up for a while.

Moreover, this group of devils is very cunning.

He didn't chase too closely, as if he was afraid that we would ambush him."

Black Bear reported.

“In that case, just ignore them.

You should also rest quickly and set off after midnight.

Then we can speed up and see if we can get rid of them."

Ye Qingshan said to Hei Xiong and others.

In the second half of the night, Ye Qingshan had the soldiers who were resting woken up, ate some dry food, and continued on their journey.

The purpose of marching at night was to avoid the Japanese bombing.

On the other hand, Ye Qingshan wanted to completely get rid of the Japanese pursuers behind him tonight.

According to Black Bear's report, Ye Qingshan also knew.

The number of Japanese pursuers following behind him was not very large.

Unfortunately, time doesn't allow it now.

Otherwise, Ye Qingshan might really turn around and fight back to kill these Japanese pursuers.

On the afternoon of the 28th, Ye Qingshan and his troops finally arrived near Tianmu Mountain.

When they arrived at the agreed location, Xiao Shanling and Zhou Pingkou's group had already arrived.

"Commander, why are you here just now?"

When Xiao Shanling saw Ye Qingshan finally lead his troops to arrive, he finally felt relieved.

"Haha, we went into the city and captured the Japanese city defense commander.

It took some time.”

Ye Qingshan replied with a chuckle.

Xiao Shanling indeed saw that several soldiers behind him were escorting a Japanese lieutenant general.

Suddenly, Xiao Shanling understood everything.

"General, have you invaded Hangzhou?"

“Yes, just as I thought.

The enemy garrison in Hangzhou is depleted of troops, and all of them have been sent to support Xiaoshan Airport."

“No wonder, after daybreak, the Japanese reinforcements that attacked us withdrew in a hurry.

At that time, I was still wondering why the Japanese reinforcements let us go so easily.

After we crossed the river, the chief of staff said to me, "General, take your men to Hangzhou to scare the Japanese."

Forcing the Japanese to withdraw their troops to defend Hangzhou.

I didn't expect that you didn't go there to scare the devils, you actually attacked Hangzhou."

Zhou Pingkou next to him spoke.

"Commander, you are taking too much risk by doing this.

How did you promise me?

You said you were going to take the soldiers to wander around the city of Hangzhou. Are you just wandering around?"

However, Xiao Shanling was not happy because Ye Qingshan actually broke into Hangzhou and captured the Japanese commander.

Instead, his face looked bad.

He felt that Ye Qingshan's behavior was too risky and was not something a military commander should do.

"Don't worry, Chief of Staff. I will pay attention to it in the future."

Ye Qingshan knew that he was in the wrong, but he did not think that the decision to attack Hangzhou was wrong.

This is the only way to perfunctorily answer Xiao Shanling.

Buzz!

As they were talking, a Japanese reconnaissance plane appeared in the sky again.

The surrounding national army soldiers were frightened and scattered, hiding in the surrounding mountains and forests.

"Damn those little Japanese fighter planes.

We suffered two waves of bombing from them on our way westward.

Hundreds of our fighters were killed.”

Zhou Pingkou looked at the Japanese reconnaissance plane in the sky and said with gritted teeth.

"It's a good opportunity for the soldiers to rest for a few hours.

We will continue our journey after dark."

"Alright."

"By the way, Lao Zhou, I haven't asked you yet.

Has the Japanese Xiaoshan Airport been destroyed?"

During the break, Ye Qingshan asked Zhou Pingkou.

Zhou Pingkou said with a somewhat ashamed look on his face: "General, I failed to command well.

We only destroyed part of the Japanese's Xiaoshan Airport.

Their runway, more than a dozen fighter planes and an ammunition depot were destroyed.

Other facilities could not be destroyed.”

When Ye Qingshan heard this, he realized that this was indeed not a complete destruction of the Japanese's Xiaoshan Airport.

At most, the Japanese lost a batch of fighter planes and ammunition, and the Xiaoshan Airport was shut down for a period of time.

To truly destroy the Japanese airport, we have to do what Ye Qingshan did to Lin'an Airport.

It was razed to the ground and all visible fighter planes and facilities were blown up.

In this case, the cost of rebuilding Lin'an Airport by the Japanese would be higher than rebuilding one somewhere else.

But Ye Qingshan also knew that the reason why Ye Qingshan and his team were able to destroy the Japanese Lin'an Airport so smoothly.

Luck also plays a big part.

"You've done a great job."

Ye Qingshan did not blame Zhou Pingkou. He could accept such a result.

After a few hours of rest, Ye Qingshan also took the opportunity to count the number of troops.

When they came over, except for Zheng Quezi's regiment defending Wenzhou, half of the artillery regiment of the entire division had already left.

The entire division has a total of about 14,000 people.

After two fierce battles that night, they suffered more than 3,000 casualties.

Among them, seven or eight hundred people were killed in the Japanese bombing on the way of retreat alone.

Of course, the Japanese suffered greater losses that night.

Not only were the casualties greater than Ye Qingshan's side, but two airports were also lost and the city of Hangzhou was destroyed.

This wave of interspersed operations was very fruitful and successful.

What remains is to see whether they can withdraw safely.

In addition to the 3,000 killed, there were also 1,000 wounded, leaving nearly 10,000 men in the entire division still able to fight.

However, most of the ammunition they brought with them was used up.

They can no longer sustain themselves from fighting another large-scale battle.

This is probably the disadvantage of the American-equipped division's interspersion.

Ammunition was consumed too quickly during the battle and the pressure on logistics supply was too great.

This makes it impossible for them to fight for a long time far away from the supply lines.

Now, Ye Qingshan must retreat to a safe area before the entire division runs out of ammunition.