As early as when Xu Wen led the independent brigade to defeat the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division, Hisao Tani informed the Shanghai Expeditionary Army Headquarters of the news.

Later, the entire 6th Division collapsed, and Hisao Tani promptly sent out the news of his unit's defeat.

After Matsui Iwane learned of this situation, he immediately ordered Yoshika Ryosuke, the commander of the 9th Division, and Sotake Yamamuro, the commander of the 11th Division, who were in Suzhou at the time and were preparing to lead their troops out of the city for reinforcements, to suspend the rescue.

Immediately shifted to the defensive position on the spot, and Yoshikari Yoshisuke served as the commander-in-chief, unified command of the 9th Division, 11th Division and the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade.

In addition, Matsui Iwane, as the commander of the Central China Front, ordered the 3rd and 4th Navy Fleets, as well as a land-based flying group attached to the Central China Japanese Army, to immediately dispatch all fighter planes to Suzhou to assist in the battle!

After receiving the news and orders, Yoshika Ryosuke, Yamamuro Munetake and others immediately withdrew all their troops and urgently built several lines of defense based on Suzhou City.

At the same time, Matsui Iwane, who had made a series of emergency responses, also held an emergency military meeting with Chief of Staff Tsukada Tsugumi and others to discuss the next response.

In the headquarters conference room, as soon as everyone arrived, Matsui Iwane shouted in a stern voice: "Everyone, Wuxi's independent China garrison brigade has defeated Hisao Tani's 6th Division. Currently, Hisao Tani has lost contact.

Life or death unknown!

Now the Chinese army is counterattacking towards Suzhou, and the situation is likely to be reversed. Do you have any good strategies to defend against the enemy?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, the main force of the National Government of China has been defeated by our Imperial Japanese Army in Shanghai. They should be unable to counterattack, right?" said a senior combat officer.

Matsui Iwane coughed angrily, pointed at him and angrily shouted: "Stupid, the 6th Division and the 16th Division were defeated one after another. Do you still think that the China Army does not have the strength to counterattack?"

Chief of Staff Tsukada Kaguya explained on the sidelines: "According to the report before the 6th Division's defeat, the Wuxi garrison for some unknown reason had a very large number of tanks and armored forces.

Moreover, their combat effectiveness has also become extremely powerful. They almost all use automatic firearms, and their firepower is very powerful!

With the same strength, the imperial army can no longer match it."

Hearing this, all the senior Japanese military advisers present looked grave and fell into deep thought. Only then did they fully realize the seriousness of the situation.

In the end, it was Chief of Staff Tsukada who suggested to Matsui Iwane: "General, given the sudden and incredible strength of the Independent Brigade, the war situation has taken a turn for the worse.

Our top priority right now is to defend Suzhou first, block the Independence Brigade to the north of Suzhou, and then make plans after stabilizing our position."

"Well, I have mobilized all the support forces that I can dispatch in a short period of time. I hope Yoshika Ryosuke and Yamamuro Munetake will not let me down." Matsui Iwane nodded in agreement, and then suddenly raised his voice.

He raised his voice and shouted sternly: "Send power to the 9th Division and the 11th Division and tell them that the honor of the empire and the entire Central China war situation are fought here.

Order them to hold on to Suzhou and block the independent brigade of the China Army to the north of Suzhou!"

"Hai!" Tsukada took the lead and stood up, receiving the order with a bang.

…

Suzhou, former Japanese enemy headquarters.

Yoshika Ryosuke, who had actually been promoted to the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Japanese Army in Central China, was urgently discussing countermeasures with Lieutenant General Sotake Yamamuro, commander of the 11th Division, and their respective chiefs of staff and brigade commanders.

Ji Jialiang assisted: "General Yamamuro, the scouts reported that the China Army is less than half an hour away from Suzhou. How do you think we should fight this battle?"

Yamamuro Somu frowned and said: "Judging from the news sent by the 6th Division and the intelligence fed back by the headquarters, our enemy is now very powerful.

In particular, they have tanks and armored vehicles that are far more numerous and advanced than the imperial army, and their firepower is very powerful, so we should not fight with them in the field, we should rely on our positions and cities to fight defensive battles!"

Yoshika Ryosuke nodded and said: "I agree with your proposal, Mr. Yamamuro, but we lack effective anti-tank weapons. Facing the attack of hundreds of tanks and chariots from the China Army, it may be difficult for infantry alone to resist it, right?"

And the number of casualties is probably unbearable for us!"

At this moment, a signal soldier suddenly ran over quickly, stood at attention and saluted Yoshika Ryosuke, Yamamuro Munetake and others: "General, the commander of the front army, General Matsui Iwane, called us. He ordered us to defend Suzhou at all costs.

Block the independent brigade of the China Army to the north of Suzhou. In addition, the fighter planes of the sea-based aviation force and the land-based aviation force have all taken off and will soon arrive to assist in the battle!"

Yosuke Yoshikari nodded and said: "Call back to Commander Matsui. General Sotake Yamamuro and I will do our best to defend Suzhou. Please rest assured."

The signal soldier saluted again, turned around and took the order to leave.

Yamamuro Munetake said to Yoshika Ryosuke: "Yoshika-kun, now that we have the support of the navy and army aviation, our chances of winning will be greatly improved!"

"Yes, with the support and assistance of air fighters, I have a lot of confidence." Yoshika Ryosuke solemnly nodded and said with emotion: "Think about it, in Shanghai before, the main force of China had been severely damaged and defeated by the imperial army.

, no longer able to resist.

How could a force like the Independent Brigade, with its incredible combat power, break out of nowhere? It is simply unbelievable that they defeated the Imperial Army's 16th and 6th Divisions in a row!"

Yamamuro Somu also nodded solemnly and said: "Yes, General Hisao Tani's 6th Division is a Category A Division, one of the seven permanent divisions. The elite among the elite of our Imperial Japanese Army.

He was also defeated.

Such a powerful opponent is really terrifying, so we must not make any attempt to underestimate the enemy this time. All imperial soldiers must be at their best and go all out to win!"

The 9th Division Chief of Staff Hirotaro Nakagawa, who had been silent next to him, suddenly said: "Two generals, although we lack enough and effective anti-tank weapons.

But we have a high-tech weapon that the Chinese army does not have!"

"Oh? What are Nakagawa-kun talking about?" Yoshika Ryosuke and Yamamuro Munetake both looked at him with confused expressions and motioned for him to speak quickly.

Nakagawa Hiroshi immediately said: "Poison gas bombs! The imperial army's poison gas bombs are relatively advanced biological and chemical weapons in the world. If the artillery regiment suddenly releases a large number of poison gas bombs when the Chinese army attacks our defense line,

Maybe it can be severely damaged!

After all, the tanks of the Chinese Army can block the bullets and artillery shells of the Imperial Army, but they cannot block the all-pervasive mustard gas!"
Chapter completed!