The establishment of the 28th Regiment Independent Cavalry Brigade is in sight, and Ding Wei is filled with joy.
But some people are happy and some are sad.
The Black Island Cavalry Regiment did not return to Chengyang County until evening.
This finally attracted the attention of the Japanese in Chengyang County. When they contacted the defenders of the Huting stronghold, they received even more shocking news.
The Black Island Cavalry Regiment never reached the Huting stronghold.
Upon hearing the news, the Chengyang County defenders immediately realized that something was wrong.
When the county garrison went out to search the city, on the way to the Huting stronghold, they found corpses all over the ground, at least 30 of them.
As they continued to search along the way, they saw an even more shocking scene. The entire plain was almost covered with naked corpses.
Blood flowed into the city river, and corpses were everywhere, but there was no sign of a horse.
The search team realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately reported the matter to Yoshio Shinozuka.
First Army Headquarters.
"Baga Yalu, Kuroshima Morita, that idiot!"
Inside the headquarters of the Japanese First Army, a roar suddenly sounded.
The commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka, was so angry that he almost overturned the desk in front of him.
The matter at the Xiaocaozhuang stronghold had not yet been settled, but another major incident occurred in the Black Island Cavalry Regiment.
No one in the entire Black Island Cavalry Regiment survived, and they were completely wiped out by the enemy on the plains outside Chengyang County.
When did a unit with such powerful combat effectiveness appear in northwestern Shanxi?
A force capable of encircling and annihilating the Black Island Cavalry Regiment must be at least one brigade in number. The surrounding strongholds were not even aware of such a large-scale troop mobilization.
Putting aside Kuroshima Morita's sensitive royal status, the loss of one thousand military horses alone was unbearable for Yoshio Shinozuka.
To put it bluntly, although Yoshio Shinozuka is a lieutenant general in the Japanese army, his treatment is not even as good as the military horse that Kuroshima Morita got off.
Yoshio Shinozuka only felt a very headache at the moment.
Members of the royal family generally do not join the military, but Kuroshima Morita is an anomaly.
He is one of the few members of the royal family who has enlisted in the army, and he also has a hereditary title, but this kind of rare animal-like person has problems in his own jurisdiction.
"What's going on? Why did Kuroshima suddenly leave the city?" Yoshio Shinozuka pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Reporting to your Excellency, General, according to the available intelligence, someone attacked the Huting stronghold." Colonel Odao of the First Army Intelligence Office said.
"Hai." Oshima replied: "The Huting stronghold was attacked. Colonel Kuroshima was eager to serve the country, so he immediately led his troops out of the city to provide support, but was ambushed by the Chinese army on the way."
After a pause, he added: "The Huting stronghold was attacked twice. During the second attack, Lord Black Island was ambushed by unknown armed forces.
According to the battle records provided by the Huting stronghold, both ambushes were caused by the Eighth Route Army retreating on their own initiative."
"Wait a minute, you mean the Eighth Route Army?" Yoshio Shinozuka was keenly aware of the point.
"Hai." Odao nodded and said, "The defenders in the Huting stronghold said that the incoming troops were wearing blue military uniforms, and the epaulettes were also indicative of the Eighth Route Army."
With that said, Oshima Soichi handed the information to Yoshio Shinozuka: "Sir General, this is the information provided by the Kotei stronghold. Please take a look."
"Tuba Road?" Yoshio Shinozuka looked gloomy, took the message, and scanned it carefully.
If it weren't for the message in front of him, it would be hard for him to believe that an Eighth Route Army force would dare to attack the Huting stronghold.
But after watching for a while, Yoshio Shinozuka vaguely sensed something was wrong.
"Oshima-kun, do you think there is anything wrong with this matter?" Yoshio Shinozuka looked up at Oshima.
"My analysis is that Tubal Road should have wanted to capture the Huting stronghold, but found that the Huting stronghold was extremely strong and chose to retreat."
Oshima was full of confidence: "They went back and prepared their troops again, and also brought several artillery pieces. The result is obvious, they still have not made any achievements."
Yoshio Shinozuka said dissatisfied: "I'm talking about the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment. Why were they ambushed? Where did the people who attacked Kuroshima go?"
"This... General, please forgive me for being stupid, but I can't figure this out either." Oshima paused and said.
"They dealt with the traces on the ground very cleanly. We traced it all the way, and finally lost the clue. However, we have begun to expand the scope, and I believe we will find it soon.
More than a thousand military horses is not a small number, and there will definitely be some traces left on the ground."
After a pause, he continued.
"However, I think what happened to the Cavalry Regiment has nothing to do with Tubal Road. It should be someone else's fault."
"Why do you think so?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked.
"Because of the current strength of Tubal Road, if we want to completely annihilate the Black Island Cavalry Regiment, we must gather at least one division." Odao gathered together.
"But our intelligence officers in various places found no signs of large-scale troop gatherings on Tubal Road.
The Eighth Route Army also cooperated with the National Army on the surface, contacting each other privately to cooperate in combat, and the combat plan to eliminate a regiment was impossible without intelligence coming out."
Even Oshima Soichi, who had a background in intelligence, would never have thought that the Koutei stronghold was a cover to lure Kuroshima Morita out of the city.
He never imagined that Ding Wei had such a big appetite that he could eat up the Black Island Cavalry Regiment.
Yoshio Shinozuka nodded slightly when he heard this. According to normal logical understanding, all this analysis is in line with common sense.
"Have you found the troops who attacked the Kotei stronghold?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked.
"We are still collecting intelligence for the time being. We will be able to find out this matter soon." Oshima said after a pause.
"Find out who did it as soon as possible, and whoever attacked the Black Island Alliance. No matter where they are hiding, you must find them out for me!" Shinozuka Yoshio said sternly.
"Find them, destroy them, and avenge the warriors of Yushang!"
"Hai, General!" Oshima said after a pause.
"Where is Yamamoto-kun now?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked again.
"Yamamoto-kun has been elusive recently. He usually takes people to hide in the mountains. I don't know what he wants to do..." Oshima replied.
"Okay, I understand." Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand impatiently.
Yamamoto Kazuki, since he learned that his close friend Takakura Hayabusa died, his whole person has become very strange, and now he doesn't even care about matters within the army.
Shinozuka Yoshio also became increasingly dissatisfied with Yamamoto Kazuki.
When Oshima saw Yoshio Shinozuka's expression unkind, he didn't dare to say anything more and just found an excuse to sneak out.
Although Yoshio Shinozuka covered up the news of the destruction of the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment very closely, and it was as if nothing happened in Chengyang County, some news still leaked out.
After all, there are more than a thousand horses. You can only see the horses going out, but not the horses coming in.
Brigade Headquarters.
"Brigade Commander, the latest information, according to our intelligence personnel stationed in Chengyang County, is that the Black Island Cavalry Regiment has not returned!"
The deputy brigade commander walked up to the brigade commander excitedly and said.
"After the intelligence came out, our people traced it along the way and found traces of the battle. There were also messy horse hoof marks on the ground. I suspected that the Black Island Cavalry Regiment had been ambushed."