Chapter 43 The First Army Chief of Staff's Doubts

After eliminating all the Japanese in the hospital, Li Yunlong called in a group outside with a signal gun.

When they set out, the company had a total of 152 people.

After the rescue mission was completed, the entire team had a total of 203 people, including 30 rescued prisoners and 25 doctors.

Because they did not carry any extra weapons and equipment, they searched for a long time before they pieced together 20 Type 38 rifles and two Type 99 rifles to hand over to the 30 soldiers.

Four comrades from the special agent company stayed here forever. In order to prevent the Japanese from venting their anger with the soldiers' bodies, Li Yunlong ordered them to be taken away.

As for the bodies of the Japanese, if Zheng Yingqi had not stopped them, I'm afraid that Li Da, the chief of staff, would have burned them directly.

Considering that they would definitely be surrounded and intercepted by the Japanese on the way back, everyone could only try to carry some medicines.

Although Li Yunlong did not make a clear count, he estimated that there were about half a ton.

After doing all this, Zheng Yingqi commanded the soldiers to burn the remaining medicines and the hospital. Even if these strategic materials could not be taken away, they could not be left to the enemy.

Fierce flames shot up into the sky, dyeing half of the sky red.

Zheng Yingqi took out his pocket watch. During the fight with the Japanese lieutenant colonel, the watch mirror of this pocket watch that had accompanied him for many years was broken.

This was even more painful than losing a weapon. After all, this watch was a gift from the deputy division commander in 27 years. It also symbolized their struggle over the years and carried extraordinary significance.

With the light of the burning fire in the hospital, he checked the time.

It was already 3:20 at this time. The battle was much smoother than expected. It was time to retreat.

In the light of the flames, the soldiers and doctors took all their belongings and retreated towards the base.

The first wave of support troops of the Japanese, the railway patrol, arrived two hours later.

Railways are very important for modern wars.

First, transportation along the railway line is very convenient during the war.

The road conditions in Shanxi Province are very poor, and trucks have limited capabilities in this terrain. Railways can effectively reduce logistical pressure.

Secondly, after mastering the railway, both the attacking and defending sides can dispatch troops more quickly. They can quickly deploy or withdraw troops along the railway line.

Finally, modern railway trunk lines mainly connect economic centers, industrial centers or areas rich in mineral resources.

These are all strategic locations, and military activities along the railway line can more easily occupy these areas.

The devils attach great importance to railway patrols and have formulated a strategy to occupy important cities in the surrounding areas along the railway line.

After the garrison in the nearby county found that the hospital had lost contact, they immediately contacted the nearest railway patrol team.

However, these people are not very interested in anything outside the railway, after all, it is not within their jurisdiction.

They came here just to avoid talking, facing the burning hospital, they only symbolically searched and rescued.

After no gains, these devils even started to prepare breakfast on the spot, and they didn't even bother to care about the bodies of the hospital garrison personnel.

When the garrison troops in the surrounding counties appeared, these arrogant patrols reported the situation and left.

Looking at the tragic situation in front of him, the commander of this unit, Lieutenant Colonel Naganuma, was about to explode.

Although it was not his defense zone, he was the first to come here and did nothing. He would definitely be held accountable.

Thinking of the traditional great struggle of the army, he almost blacked out and immediately ordered to deal with the battlefield.

After a while, his soldiers came to report the details.

"Report, the entire hospital was completely blown up by the enemy, and all the medicines in the warehouse were burned."

"The soldiers and doctors stationed there were probably all killed. We don't have a list so we can't be sure. So far, no survivors have been found."

This news almost made Lieutenant Colonel Naganuma collapse. Unlike grassroots soldiers, he knew the inside story of this hospital.

Although he didn't know whether the doctors under house arrest were dead or alive, if they were rescued and surrendered to the enemy, the defenders of the nearby county would be in trouble.

When a similar incident happened in the Kwantung Army, a major general was dismissed and all officers and soldiers of the entire brigade were concentrated for ideological training.

This was not all the punishment. The brigade was even disbanded.

He was just a small lieutenant colonel, who had risen through years of fighting. He had no background and no room for advancement.

If he was held accountable, he would definitely be the first to be blamed.

Small people always explode in critical moments. Naganuma Kakuei first slapped the soldier who came to report in anger, and then drew his command knife.

"Good-for-nothing, go find them! No matter if they are human or ghost! Find them!"

"Don't kill them all, remember to leave a few more alive for me, I want to interrogate them personally!"

He was extremely resentful now, hating those senior officials for not arranging more troops to guard here, knowing how important this place was.

But what Naganuma didn't know was that after discovering that someone had escaped, the garrison troops of this hospital did not report to their superiors in order to save their lives, and they concealed the matter internally.

In the eyes of the senior officials of the First Army of the Japanese North China Expeditionary Force, this hospital was extremely safe, and increasing the garrison would be more eye-catching.

The weather was good, and the heavy snow perfectly covered the whereabouts of the special agent company, leaving no footprints for the devils.

Kakuei Naganuma had no choice but to send out all his soldiers, even if it was just a random chance.

At the same time, he first contacted the commanders of the nearby county garrisons.

He deduced that the enemy attacking was most likely the Eighth Route Army. After all, only they would care about those doctors, and only those beggars would take the risk of attacking a hospital.

In any case, these enemies would retreat in the direction of the so-called base area. As long as they were lucky enough, they would definitely find something.

And now the weather is so bad, they will definitely not be able to walk fast!

Then, he took the initiative to contact the chief of staff of the First Army and reported the current situation.

"You are very smart and notified in time. I will send the cavalry of the First Army to investigate, and the planes will also be dispatched when the snow is less."

"It seems that these insects have a lot of ideas. I will make them pay the price!"

The chief of staff's tone was unexpectedly calm, and he did not get angry. Although his tone was calm, the strong murderous aura seemed to come from the other end of the phone.

After hanging up the phone, the chief of staff of the First Army, who was far away in Taiyuan, immediately held a meeting.

If it was just an ordinary hospital, he would definitely not care.

At most, some people died because of a lack of medicines. This kind of thing happens every day.

He wondered why it happened to the hospital that put the leftist doctor under house arrest.

If such a big scandal happened in his jurisdiction or even in the hinterland, it would not be a matter of being scolded or ridiculed, he might even be dismissed.

After all, he was just a major general.

He couldn't guess that a few small people had caused him so much trouble in order to survive.

Does anyone know who the chief of staff of the First Army stationed in Shanxi was in March 1940? I have been looking for it for a long time and couldn't find it.

I feel that I am almost well, and the update time will return to normal on the 21st.

At that time, I will gradually modify the plot of Chapter 10 to Chapter 17 of Volume 2. I took a look at it myself today and there are a lot of BUGs