Sunrise and sunset. When the 7th Division arrived at Hangzhou City, it was already early the next morning, six hours later than the scheduled time. The whole Hangzhou City was empty, with yellow leaves whirling in the whistling of the cold wind, slowly falling, and various discarded books, newspapers and other debris were covered with the streets and alleys.

There were no lights, no chickens crowing, and no people hustle and bustle. The whole city was as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"Baga, it's too late. The Chinese have escaped from Yu Jingjing. This is a shame for the Imperial Army of the Great Japanese Empire." After receiving reports from the troops below that several streets were empty, Somabe and Ichiro were so angry that they stamped their feet and scolded them loudly.

Chief of Staff Fujimoto breathed a sigh of relief. He was most worried that the New Second Division would take the initiative to fight the 7th Division in Hangzhou. With the combat effectiveness shown by the Chinese army when they were attacked last night, looking at the current state of exhaustion in the 7th Division, I am afraid a big defeat will inevitably be inevitable.

Even if the new second division is successfully held down and successfully annihilated, what is the significance of the failed 7th Division?

Just as they were about to issue an order to continue chasing, Somabe and Ichiro saw the staff and guards beside them, their eyes were covered with bloodshot, their faces were full of fatigue, and they kept yawning. Somabe felt agitation. Thinking of the huge losses suffered by the march last night, Somabe finally lowered its high head.

Hearing the order from commanders at all levels to rest in Hangzhou City, the Seventh Division was relieved, but no one cheered. Exhausted, they randomly settled the territory in the city, found their favorite targets and broke into the door. They were lucky enough to piece together tables and chairs, and even had beds and bedding. They lie down and fell asleep.

Hoshima and Ichiro arranged for the battlefield hospital to be admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Government Courtyard, and appointed a brigade as a garrison to occupy Hangzhou and protect the wounded soldiers. They then held talks with officials from consulates and church representatives from various European and American countries, indicating that they would not infringe on the interests of various countries, so they were idle.

At this time, the guards had chosen the Chenglu Villa by the West Lake as the headquarters of the division. After confirming that all dangers were eliminated, the arrogant Yuanbu and Ichiro rode into Chenglu. However, at this time, he no longer had the interest in showing off and hurriedly moved into the bedroom that was said to be Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling's bedroom and fell asleep.

In order to avoid the Japanese army retaliate against Hangzhou citizens and protect the ancient buildings in Hangzhou, Wu Ming did not arrange for a raid in the city of Hangzhou, and the night was unexpectedly quiet.

The night passed quickly, and the world gradually became brighter. The morning mist covered the city of Hangzhou with a layer of light. As the whistle sounded, the Japanese soldiers scattered around Hangzhou City opened their eyes and soon returned to the clear light - four or five hours of sleep, which restored the 7th Division from top to bottom.

Hombu and Ichiro rushed out of Chenglu in neat clothes, came outside the yard, and shouted at the staff who were surrounding him: "Hurry up, gather the team and prepare to rush."

Hearing the unreasonable order from the Sonobu Head, Chief of Staff Fujimoto looked embarrassed and whispered: "General, the fog is heavy in the morning, I think we should wait until the fog dissipates before we set off."

"What?"

Hombe and Ichiro widened their eyes and snorted angrily: "The Second Chinese Division has already gone a long way. If we don't chase them, we may never catch up. We ordered that except for the remaining troops, the rest of the troops should be prepared within half an hour and then go on the road. We must catch up with them as soon as possible."

"This... General, our 7th Division has already participated in the encirclement and annihilation of the various units of the New Second Division. Now the 18th Division has just arrived in Yuhang, and it is almost half a day away from Hangzhou City. The 7th Brigade is busy consolidating the harvest on the south bank of Qiantang River and clearing the remnants of the Chinese army in Xiaoshan County and surrounding areas. It is estimated that it will be possible to choose to go north after capturing Fuyang... We really should not go deeper alone."

Chief of Staff Fujimoto persuaded him with great sincerity.

Hombe and Ichiro's eyes shot out, and his face was gloomy: "Kun Fujimoto, may you be disobeying the military orders."

The Japanese army was in the German military system and had a great say in commanding operations. However, in the face of military chiefs such as Okamura Yasuji, Hombu and Ichiro, the chief of staff could only work as a staff officer. It has to be said that Colonel Fujimoto felt very frustrated.

"Hayi—"

Seeing the aggression in the Sonata, Colonel Fujimoto was unable to take the initiative, so he had to salute the Sonata and answer loudly: "Fujimoto must obey the orders of the division commander."

Hombe and Ichiro breathed a sigh of relief.

If Fujimoto Yoshio was an ordinary person, Toume and Ichiro would have suppressed him to the death, just like Okamura Yasuji treats his chief of staff, but Fujimoto is not a good person in front of him. He has a deep background in the military headquarters and has a good personal relationship with General Ueda Kenyoshi, the commander of the Kanto Army. If there is a strife, Toume can certainly drive him out of the 7th Division, but it will also cast a shadow on his future promotion journey.

Chief of Staff Fujimoto gave an order. Under the supervision of officers at all levels, the Japanese soldiers who had just woken up hurriedly completed their personal hygiene. Then they sipped cold water and ate the food. After filling their stomachs, they followed the instructions of grassroots officers and non-commissioned officers, and then took the morning dew to break through the thick fog and embarked on the road of pursuit again.

At 11:30 noon, the morning mist completely dissipated. When the 7th Division, which had forcibly marched all the way, could no longer walk.

Although Toumebu and Ichiro were unhappy, after repeated requests from the brigade commander and corps commander below, they had to announce that the entire division would rest for half an hour.

The Japanese soldier sat on the ground, took the Yu Grain in his pocket, and put the water bottle filled with water in the ancient well in Hangzhou City, and quickly filled his stomach.

It has to be admitted that the Eastern nations are all very patience-oriented nations, the Chinese nation is like this, and the Japanese Yamato nation is like this. This is completely a competition of will and perseverance.

As time passed, the Japanese army set off on the road again.

In terms of marching speed, the Japanese army without any burden was much faster than the New Second Division, but no one expected that an hour later, with a sudden violent explosion coming from the front of the team, the marching team paused again.

Sonobe and Ichiro were a little anxious, and took their own guards and whipped the car so hard that it made them neigh and rushed forward.

When he arrived at the front of the team, the Zongmen asked loudly at the captain of the 27th Regiment, Hirata, a sing-hsen, and said, "What's going on? Why did you stop?"

Captain Hirata United ran down panting, and after saluting, he pointed to the park department at the middle of the road bridge across Hejiahe, and said loudly:

"General, the Chinese army is so despicable. They put those trucks in the middle of the highway bridge to block the marching force."

"Baga"

Sonobe and Ichiro turned over and dismounted, feeling extremely angry.

Since Deqing advanced south to Hangzhou, it has been attacked by the New Second Division one after another, and the troops have suffered huge losses. Although the Yuanmen does not say it, they are very alert to the endless conspiracy of opponents.

You can look around and there is only this bridge to walk on.

You should know that after the founding of the Republic of China, warlords who ruled over the country plundered the people and expanded their troops and fought for territory, and did they have time and energy to build roads. Now, the Hangzhou-Yu Automobile Road was built on the basis of the Qing Dynasty provincial road after Chiang Kai-shek came to power. Only this road leads from Hangzhou to Yuhang and Lin'an.

It is the middle of winter, and the Hejia River flows smoothly, and infantry should be able to swim easily. However, there is a lot of mud on the riverbed, and the weather is cold, so people are prone to cold and fever in wet clothes. There is no guarantee of combat effectiveness. The best choice is to eliminate obstacles on the bridge.

Sonobu and Ichiro snorted coldly, looked at Captain Hirata United in anger, and asked loudly: "Since there is a truck blocking the way, you should assign people to push them into the river, what are you stunned here?"

Hiratanaka Sa was extremely embarrassed and pointed at the more than 40 Japanese soldiers who fell to death in front of the truck and said aggrievedly: "General of the Yuanmen, the Chinese people buried landmines on the bridgehead and on the bridge. All the soldiers who went to push the cart were killed. After sacrificing the officers and soldiers of three squads in succession, others were unwilling to make unnecessary sacrifices. We are waiting for the engineers to arrive."

The engineers of the New Second Division laid a thick layer of soil on the stone bridge, and several places of soil were flew up, revealing the original appearance of the stone bridge.

Looking at all this in front of him, Azube and Ichiro bared their teeth, their faces were ferocious, and their anger made him almost go crazy. These mechanisms set by their opponents made the fire in his heart burn more and more.

"Why don't you hurry up and let the engineers clear the mines?" Lieutenant General of the Park Department roared loudly.

Captain Hirata United said timidly: "I have sent someone to urge me."

Hombu and Ichiro picked up the telescope and looked carefully. The Hejia River, a tributary of Xixi, originated from the northern peak and Zhoujia Mountain in the south. The riverbed is about 30 meters wide. Now the water surface is only less than ten meters left during the dry season. Building a floating bridge in a small river full of silt requires materials that are already very tight, and it takes a lot of time. It is better to clean the truck blocked on the bridge to clean it up to be convenient and quick.

The Seventh Engineer Regiment soon sent a squadron to arrive. They took out special detection instruments, walked towards the bridgehead, and carefully checked the bridge deck in front of the truck.

About a quarter of an hour later, a laughable news came from the engineers - the mine had been detonated by the Japanese army with their bodies, and there was no need for engineers.

Captain Hirata United blushed when he heard this.

However, since they came, they were at ease. The relatively more professional engineers began to clean up the barriers. But just as they pushed the truck, they heard the "boom" explosion sound. With the truck as the center, the bursting fireball soared into the sky. The huge smoke and dust formed a huge cloud of mushrooms. The broken stones and steel fragments shot around. The earth shook violently, and the explosion shattered everything.

All engineers in a squadron were reimbursed into minced meat, and about 100 Japanese soldiers on the bridge were also affected, either dead or injured. At the same time, the stone bridge almost disappeared out of thin air, and all five trucks were broken into parts. I don’t know how much explosives the Chinese army buried under the piers and trucks, which actually produced such a terrifying effect.

"Bageya Road"

Hombu and Ichiro were almost crazy and wanted to arrest the engineers of the New Second Division who had such a dangerous mechanism and beat them up. The time was delayed again, and the 7th Engineer Regiment had to send bridge materials from the rear, and it took more than three hours to build a floating bridge on Hejiahe.

The sky gradually darkened, and Yuanbu and Ichiro, who had long been stimulated by the New Second Division, issued an order to march overnight. Who knew that the troops had just resumed and moved forward for two hours and had to stop. It turned out that Xixi, which was wider than the Hejiahe River, blocked their way forward. The road bridge on Xixi was blown off by the New Second Division engineers, and the river was more difficult to build a bridge, and it was estimated that the large team would continue to move forward tomorrow morning.

Jiangnan was originally a land of fish and rice, with dense water nets and numerous streams. From the south of Deqing County, the bridge was built along the way, which consumed a large amount of supplies from the 7th Division's engineer corps. It is now unsustainable and had to search for materials on the spot, so the bridge was built longer and longer.

The Somabu and Ichiro had no choice but to order the Hirata United team to carry light and simple transportation, seize the time to raft across the river, bite the tail of the New Second Division, and the rest of the troops headed south into Liuxia Town, rest for one night and wait for the engineers to build a bridge before embarking on the road.
Chapter completed!