Chapter 103: Operation Pangolin

  Dong Li Mao learned from Diao Lan Xiang that Zeng Zi Fan was a genuine patriotic returnee and also a medical doctor. After the outbreak of the war, he gave up his comfortable job at a public hospital abroad and returned to China with his fiancée, Xia Hua, who was later killed by Japanese devils. He joined the army and used his advanced medical skills learned abroad to save many anti-Japanese soldiers' lives in the battlefield hospitals.

  Zeng Zifan only brought a square leather medicine box and nothing else. Hu San stretched out his hand to help him carry it, but was refused.

  "Is that all you've got, Doctor Zeng?" Dong Limao asked with some surprise, looking at the small medicine box in Zeng Zifan's hand. He had thought he would bring some essential medicines along.

  "This is a set of surgical instruments I brought back from abroad, it's the only gift Xia Hua... gave me." He seemed to be thinking of his loved one, and his eyes were filled with tears again.

  Zeng Zifan arrived at the special operations unit and, with the assistance of Dao Lanxiang, began to clean and suture the wounds of several lightly injured soldiers.

  Dong Li instructed Pan Guangzu: "Fatty, apart from replenishing our weapons and food, you must also think of ways to get some medicine."

  Pan Guangzu readily agreed. After all, the people in this military supply station used to be his subordinates, and getting some scarce supplies was not a difficult task.

  Dong Laimao followed Hu San to the temporary battalion headquarters set up by the Guards Regiment at the military supply station. Kong Xueri saw him and immediately walked forward, grabbed Dong Laimao's arm, and walked to the front of a few ammunition boxes that were used as a table, on which there was a map.

  Kong Xue pointed at the Nujiang Grand Canyon Bridge, which spanned across both banks of the river, and said: "The current situation is very unfavorable for us. The military department has received reliable intelligence that a Japanese vanguard team, consisting of over 200 people disguised as civilians and horse handlers, is heading towards the Nujiang Bridge. Headquarters initially believes they are targeting the bridge, with a high possibility of attempting to blow it up and cut off our supply lines. This is the throat of the Burma Road! If the bridge is destroyed, hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces will lose their rear supply!"

  Dong Li Mao's heart was clear, in the end it wasn't the Japanese devils who blew up the big bridge, but rather to prevent the main force of the Japanese army from crossing the river, so the highest command ordered the destruction of the bridge, leaving many anti-Japanese soldiers unable to return home, and they had no choice but to trek through the primitive forests of northern Burma, ultimately meeting their demise in the wilderness.

  "They are not going to blow up the bridge but want to occupy the bridge and prevent the expeditionary force from blowing it up." Dong Limao blurted out.

  This idea was his own judgment, and at the same time, he thought that Tai Gongye might have had the same idea as himself. The ultimate goal of the Japanese devils was to occupy all of China, and they would not hesitate to call in heavy troops to attack Burma, just to cut off this western aid channel and form a pincer movement from north and south to achieve the goal of thoroughly occupying China. If the bridge were blown up, wouldn't that be cutting off one's own path into the depths of China? Besides, if you want to blow up the bridge, it's not that simple. With continuous aerial bombing, even if the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, as long as dense high-altitude bombing is carried out, there will always be one or two bombs that fall on the big bridge. The Nujiang Bridge was an iron chain highway bridge, and it wasn't invincible.

  Want to occupy the bridge? Prevent the expeditionary force from blowing up the bridge? Haha…… Kong Xueri burst out laughing and patted Dong Limao's shoulder, saying: "Jiacheng younger brother, I heard that after you woke up with serious injuries last time, you always said some irrelevant things. It seems that the injury made your brain not as bright as before!"

  Dong Li Mao cursed in his heart: Fool!

  He knew that he had traveled through time and space, only to become the grandfather of a small village, not Chiang Kai-shek, the commander-in-chief of the China-Burma-India Theater. Even if he had traveled back in time and become Chiang Kai-shek, it would have been impossible for him to change the fate of the Expeditionary Force's defeat in the first stage of the war against Japan in Burma. This was something that even a god could not do, because if anyone could go back in time and change history, this world would not be so full of bloodshed.

  "Are we supposed to have our special forces hold the bridge?" Dong Li Mao didn't want to waste his breath on such a fool, he could only do what he had to and listen to fate.

  "No, your mission this time is to find the Japanese vanguard disguised as a horse team and take them out before they reach the bridge! We can't let the Japanese plan succeed!" Kong Xueri said.

  "Is there a specific location for their actions?" asked Dong Li Mao.

  "If we had known that our American friends would have bombed them to death on the road, would we still need to look for your spies?" Kong Xueri said with a sneer, his eyes wide open.

  "Then where do you want me to take them down?" Dong Li Mao glared back at him, asking Kong Xue Li.

  "It's up to you, great hero! I'm just conveying General Zu's orders to you." Kong Xueri looked down on Dong Li Mao for not treating him as a superior.

  "Where is the person who provided this intelligence?" Dong Li Mao asked again.

  "Why did you ask this?" Kong Xueri frowned.

  "I want to know more detailed information, so that I can have a clear direction. Otherwise, with the mountains and forests being so dense, a group of over 200 people traveling through the mountains and forests, even if I were to fly up into the sky like a bird, it would be difficult for me to find their trail." said Dong Li Mao.

  Kong Xue thought for a moment and felt that Dong Li Mao's words were not unreasonable, so after some hesitation, he said: "Do you still remember the female special agent who went to Yangon with you to destroy the bacteria bomb?"

  "What's wrong with her?" Dong Li Mao thought something unexpected had happened to Li Yuanyuan.

  "This intelligence was obtained by the reconnaissance team she led." Kong Xueri said: "According to her report, the vanguard dispatched by the Japanese army is provided by a female spy under the command of Yamato Special Agent No. 1, and the intercepted Japanese telegram by her reconnaissance team also confirmed that this codenamed 'Armadillo' special operation has started, and according to the intercepted telegram, the formal operation time of 'Armadillo' is at the end of this month."

  Dong Li Mao thought of that Japanese woman who looked like Fan Yijia and could speak Chinese. Had she gone back to being a Japanese spy? No matter how hard Dong Li Mao racked his brains, he probably couldn't figure it out.

  "28th! They will coordinate with the Japanese army's large-scale military action on the 28th, using the devils' usual lightning tactics, not only cutting off the expeditionary army's retreat route but also occupying the Nujiang Bridge. Then, armored troops will quickly advance towards our inland, that is, in the direction of Kunming... The devil's move is really ruthless!" Dong Li Mao was muttering to himself: "So the devils have come up with such a combination! How did Taizigong find and eliminate this 'armadillo' back then?"

  Dong Li Mao was completely in a state of being beside himself, staring at the map and continuing his analysis: "The entire Japanese division crossed from the Thai-Burmese border through the primeval forest to the direction of Lae Kou, so this vanguard unit codenamed 'Armadillo' shouldn't be part of that division. The one closest to the border is..." Dong Li Mao saw the 13th Division marked on the map: "Right! It should be people from this division! Two days ago the 13th Division was still besieging the British-Indian Army's First Division in the Renanqiang area of northern Burma, now they should be...". Dong Li Mao used his finger to follow the direction of the 13th Division's movement on the map, completely ignoring Kong Xueri's increasingly ugly expression.

  "Dong Jiacheng!" Kong Xueri shouted loudly.

  Dong Li Mao finally raised his head, but he was still thinking about where the Japanese vanguard would enter the border. He ignored Kong Xueri and suddenly a place name popped into his mind: Tengchong.

  "That's right! Tengchong! They must be passing through Tengchong!" Dong Li Mao excitedly clapped his hands together with a loud "slap".

  "Dong Jiacheng! What are you muttering about!" Kong Xueri slammed his right palm on the table and bellowed.

  "Ah......" Dong Li Mao's mind cleared up and he asked: "Comrade Kong, what did you just say?"

  "You...!" Anger got the better of Kong Xueri, his hands on his hips, his facial muscles twisted in a scowl. It was a long time before he bellowed: "If you can't complete this task! If you don't wipe out the Japanese vanguard! Come and see me with your head held high!"

  "Alright." Dong Li Mao replied, seemingly not understanding what "paying respects" meant: "If Commander Kong has nothing else to do, then I'll take my leave first." As he spoke, he reached out and started rolling up the map on the table.

  "What do you want to do?" Kong Xueri asked with wide eyes.

  "This map is also idle with you, I just need a military map like this, let's say it's a new equipment for the special forces team equipped by Commander Kong." Dong Limao said, putting away the map and turning to leave.

  "Halt!" Kong Xueri bellowed from behind Dong Li Mao's back.

  Dong Li Mao turned around and asked: "Are there any further instructions from Commander Kong?"

  "Bring that along too, and remember to report to the military department at all times! Your action code name is 'Ant', and the military department's radio liaison code name with you is 'Anthill'. From now on, you will use the code name to contact the military department." Kong Xueri pointed to a small American-style radio in the corner: "This is the latest basic equipment for the US military company-level troops. The password book is also inside. If you don't know how to use it, I can arrange for a signalman to help you."

  "Ant? Are you using us as bait?" Dong Limao didn't like this codename, because pangolins eat ants.

  "If pangolins didn't eat ants, how could they be caught by hunters? Haha... this codename is great, but it was actually thought up by Commander himself." Kong Xueri burst out laughing.

  Dong Li Mao shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly, then said: "Forget about the reporter, but the special agent team needs to replenish its personnel. We need to deal with the Japanese army's elite vanguard of over 200 people, and it seems that our current manpower is a bit insufficient." He had already thought about this on his way to the military supply station, planning to find some strong warriors at the station to fill in the gaps left by the wounded.