The captain's flattery made Okamura very satisfied and enjoyed it.
But he felt a certain uneasiness in his heart. Judging from the current situation in the village, he was afraid that the enemy was already in front, and he might need a fierce battle.
The current enemy's mentality is to risk death and survive. They will definitely leave a rear guard to intercept their own troops, thereby buying time for the main force to evacuate.
This is destined to be a life and death battle. Even if we win, we will suffer huge losses.
To be able to eliminate a squadron of one's own, the opponent must have at least several thousand people in a division, but the news coming from the direction of the reconnaissance plane did not reveal anything.
Okamura estimated that the other party must have walked through the woods. Jinling is mountainous and the dense forests in the mountains will form a natural cover, allowing them to evacuate safely.
Time passed little by little, and the figure of the scout appeared on the road in the distance.
The scout who picked up his rifle trotted to Okamura and said, "Your Excellency, Lieutenant Colonel, the friendly forces were completely wiped out at the open-air dam, and no one survived."
Open-air dam? Are they all stupid and don’t know how to fight back?
It was expected that the friendly forces here would be killed by the opponent, but in the open-air dam, Okamura was unexpected. He was stunned and pointed to the sparse village: "Let's go and take a look."
The corpses lying scattered on the ground, most of them still holding lunch boxes in their hands, and their dead expressions made Okamura see that they were mentally and physically exhausted, with an angry look on their faces.
Looking at the several pots rolling on the ground, judging from the time, the enemy should have launched a surprise attack while they were eating.
However, he couldn't figure out how they got into the village and why the troops on the edge of the village didn't stop them.
"Judging from the time, it has only been about two hours since the ambush here. We need to quickly pursue them in the direction of Shuizhu Forest and inflict heavy damage on them."
After speaking to his staff, Okamura took two steps and looked back at the corpses: "Leave a small team of troops to carry the corpses of the soldiers.
When they came to the road, Okamura got on his horse and led more than 700 people to the east of the village.
Just when we reached the fork in the road, a wooden sign was erected so conspicuously on the side of the road. It looked so lonely and very conspicuous.
Looking at the handwriting on the wooden sign, he was very puzzled. What did it say?
Pointing to the erected wooden sign, Okamura turned his head slightly and said, "I wonder if anyone in our army knows Chinese."
The order, which was not an order, was quickly conveyed. Within a moment, a soldier came to Gangcun and saluted: "Your Excellency, detachment leader, I know better from my humble position."
Gangcun nodded and pointed at the wooden sign, "What's written on it?"
The soldier looked at it and turned around and said, "Your Excellency, detachment leader, this wooden sign means that they are marching towards the water bamboo forest."
Humph... It's a small trick. Do you think that writing this wooden sign can influence my judgment? It's really a daydream.
After hearing the content of this sign, Okamura sneered and waved, and the troops began to advance to the right, toward the water bamboo forest.
The further he went, the certainty in his heart was being impacted little by little.
On this road, there are obvious signs of artillery crushing. From time to time, cans and even some old-fashioned rifles will come out.
No matter how you look at it, these things are all thrown on the ground intentionally by the other party.
"The troops stopped advancing." Okamura raised his hand slightly as he thought more and more, and the troops behind him stopped.
The staff captain asked puzzledly from the side: "Your Excellency, detachment captain, what's the problem?"
There is a problem, very problematic.
This is too obvious. The enemy is breaking out and fleeing this time. How could they throw things to these places with such great fanfare? Shouldn't they just throw them in the grass to cover up their whereabouts?
But here, it's too obvious.
"Send someone to look ahead to see where this random abandonment continues." Gangcun did not respond to the staff officer's words, but asked the scouts to quickly go forward to investigate the situation.
Several scouts formed a triangular battle formation and began to move forward to investigate the situation so that they could report back when the time came.
Almost at the time Gangcun gave the order.
Zhou Weiguo, who had been marching forcefully along the way, had led his troops to stop at the edge of the forest outside the Shuizhu Forest.
In the distance, several houses appeared clearly in Zhou Weiguo's telescope.
The quiet households looked so strange at this time. This time should be cooking time, but there.
Could it be that the Japanese army has arrived in advance? This shouldn't be the case. The current Japanese army is almost all advancing towards the Xiaguan area of Jinling. They should not be able to come over this ravine.
"Hu Yong." Unable to get the correct answer even after thinking about it, Zhou Weiguo decided to let people investigate. If there were no Japanese troops, then the troops would rush up quickly to make bamboo rafts. The Japanese troops would not be able to give themselves much time, so they would use the fastest speed.
, after making bamboo rafts, let the army quickly cross the river, and then go to Luzhou to join the military headquarters.
"Captain, what's the matter?" Hu Yong came to Zhou Weiguo from the side and squatted down.
Zhou Weiguo stretched out his hand and pointed to the bamboo forest in the distance; "Take someone to investigate whether there is an ambush by the Japanese army. If not, don't come back, just wave directly at the house. We have limited time, and we must quickly cut down the bamboo to make a raft and leave."
"Commander, please wait for the news." Hu Yong stood up and pointed to a few people around him; "You, you, and you, come with me."
A few people used the surrounding terrain and shrubs as cover, and like night owls, they headed toward the water bamboo forest to investigate.
In less than a moment, Zhou Weiguo could no longer see Hu Yong and others.
Xiao Ya came to Zhou Weiguo and looked into the distance; "Is there a problem, Weiguo?"
Zhou Weiguo turned his head and looked at the worry in Xiao Ya's eyes and said with a smile, "Not sure, maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe not." He thought for a while and added, "It's just a routine investigation, you don't have to worry."
The wind blew harder, blowing on the face like a knife. Seeing Xiao Ya's body seeming to tremble slightly in the cold wind, Zhou Weiguo stretched out his hand to hug him to his side, using his body temperature to make her feel better.
.
I waited for about ten minutes
"Signal sent." Jiang Yue saw a figure in the distance standing on the sloping blue-black tile roof, looking back. He used his binoculars to see clearly that the figure was Hu Yong.
Great, Zhou Weiguo stood up with a smile and pointed to the bamboo forest in the distance; "Give me the order, except for the wounded soldiers and health soldiers, all the others will go to the bamboo forest to cut down bamboo, and then quickly build rafts for me.
Let me go in and look around, this place is on the riverside, and almost everyone stationed on the riverside has fishing boats, see if you can find it."
As soon as the order was issued, the troops of the four battalions began to move towards the water bamboo forest like a flood.
After meeting up with Hu Yong who came earlier, Hu Yong smiled and pulled Zhou Weiguo to a place outside a house where mold had formed due to the fog on the river. He smiled and said, "Captain, what do you think this is?"