bookrandom Chapter 276 Destroying the Beasts
Chapter 276 Destroying the Beasts
Because the tank needed to repair its tracks, it was temporarily unable to move forward. After the captain and his team left, Du Yiping returned to the attack site and carefully examined the attackers. He discovered that the machine gunner who had been killed, while dressed like the other indigenous people, was clearly out of place in terms of build and appearance, clearly not of the same race.
Du Yiping frowned, lost in thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as if an idea had occurred to him. He decisively ordered the guards to strip the corpse, revealing the distinctive Japanese underwear. The adjutant, alarmed by this, immediately led several other soldiers to carefully examine the remaining bodies.
Soon, the adjutant came back after checking and whispered to Du Yiping, "Sir, these people seem to have been dead for quite some time. It doesn't look like they were just killed by us." Du Yiping nodded secretly, a shrewd look in his eyes, and he sneered, "Obviously, this is a trap set by the Japanese."
The adjutant hurriedly asked, "Should we have Captain Zuo and the others withdraw?" Du Yiping raised his hand to stop the adjutant, his lips curled up slightly, revealing a sly smile: "Why withdraw? This is not the best excuse! Remember, eliminating the natives is our most important task. Isn't it better that the Japanese voluntarily provide us with evidence?"
Du Yiping casually summoned the captain of the Chinese Autonomous Government work team. After the captain arrived, Du Yiping smiled and said, "Captain Zhu, send someone to take photos of the situation here as evidence. After we capture Ranau, we'll reveal the details of the enemy attack. We're attacking the natives, and we're going to let the Japanese and the natives fight each other!"
Captain Zhu smiled and pointed at Du Yiping, saying, "Commander Du, you're too inhumane. You're trying to have your cake and eat it too, and you're even asking our autonomous government to mediate for you." Du Yiping also smiled, feigning anger and asking, "Captain Zhu, how about letting your autonomous government handle this?" Captain Zhu quickly replied, "No, no, no. You're the liberators, the army. It's safest for you to do it."
Du Yiping nodded with satisfaction, his eyes firm and sharp, looking far ahead.
In a secluded valley near Lanao, an indigenous tribe was suddenly attacked. Gunfire and artillery fire erupted in all directions. Captain Zuo's company of over 200 men attacked the tribe of approximately 2000 from four directions. The indigenous people, though armed with some weapons, offered limited resistance, but they were clearly no match for the heavily armed army.
Soon, after inflicting heavy casualties on the natives, Captain Zuo's company overran the tribe with virtually no casualties, capturing a large number of them. However, they encountered a shocking scene in the center of the tribe. Several white women were tied to wooden stakes, nearly dead. On some of the stakes lay the remains of several human skeletons. The group rescued these white women and gave them water and food. Recovering, the white women quickly recounted their brutal ordeal to the Chinese soldiers who rescued them.
It turns out these white people were nearby farmers. Initially, while the Japanese were still there, they suffered humiliation at the hands of the Japanese, but they provided them with abundant supplies. The Japanese, in turn, used them as cheap labor, forcing them to provide services, allowing them to barely survive. After the Chinese landed in Sandakan and the Japanese began to withdraw, these indigenous people rushed in, seized their homes, and captured them here. The indigenous people continued to abuse them, tying them to stakes. According to their tradition, they skinned alive several of the men—the husbands and sons of these women—and ate them as prey. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before they would be the next in line.
Captain Zuo quickly filmed the entire incident for evidence. The other soldiers, already furious, drove the natives into the houses. Several of the company's flamers, carrying huge canisters and holding flamethrowers, and under the cover of their fellow soldiers, continuously sprayed flames, setting the natives' simple homes on fire, leaving them to die screaming in agony as the flames tore them apart.
Soon after wiping out this evil indigenous tribe, Du Yiming and others continued to advance towards Ranau, while reporting what happened in the indigenous tribe to Luo Bing by telegram.
"Effortless!" Luo Bing exclaimed upon receiving the telegram. Although furious at the indigenous actions, it also gave him a legitimate reason to further exterminate them. He quickly reported the situation to Colonel Lewis, commander of the US Military Police. Lewis, realizing the gravity of the situation, immediately reported it to the commander of the 7th Fleet.
Admiral Thomas Kinkaid's face lit with shock when he received the telegram. He quickly picked up the phone and informed General Nimitz of the emergency. After hearing the report, General Nimitz decisively authorized the 7th Fleet to take action. 7th Fleet aircraft began a thorough reconnaissance search of the dense jungles of Kalimantan. Special forces and airborne troops were urgently assembled and, based on aircraft reconnaissance, were airdropped in small teams to various suspected locations for reconnaissance. When they discovered several tribes of cannibals, similar to the Maka, General Nimitz was furious. He immediately authorized the 7th Fleet and the Central American forces entering Kalimantan to launch a devastating attack on these vicious natives.
At the same time, American media outlets began widely reporting images of indigenous people abusing and cannibalizing white people. These shocking images sparked intense public outrage and outcry. Under the deliberate guidance of Luo Bing and others, combined with images of enemy soldiers killed during the attack on Du Yiping's troops, people began to suspect a conspiracy between the Japanese and the indigenous people, and that the indigenous people's actions were supported by Japanese soldiers.
Suddenly, a greater wave of anti-Japanese sentiment swept across the United States. Washington seized the opportunity to drop a massive incendiary bomb on the Japanese mainland, dealing an even more devastating blow. Flames raged through Japanese cities, thick smoke billowed, and the cries of the people and the sounds of collapsing buildings blended into a tragic scene.
A week later, Du Yiping and his team successfully captured Ranau and surrounding towns. Other troops also launched attacks from multiple directions, completely sweeping the Sabah region. During the battle, they broke through the stronghold of a Japanese special operations team led by Takahashi Heibei and rescued hundreds of Europeans, Americans, and overseas Chinese held in internment camps.
The heroic actions of Luo Bing and his guerrilla column were widely recognized, and the autonomous government was thus recognized by both the United States and the Flower-Growing Party. Yang Hong and his companions were delighted to hear the news; their ideal of nation-building had taken a major step forward!