Jul / Aug 1941 - Mao's Memorial Erected in Lanchow
Mao opted to evacuate Sian, deeming it untenable, and seeks shelter into the mountains by Tianshui.
In the while commands subsidiary forces to conduct guerrilla in occupied China.
But Mao understimate Terauchi (and his scarce consideration for his troops).
With air support (disrupting only a division though) the Japanese move in for the kill, the replacements for the Chinese are way too low and it's time to press on the attack!
Mao uses defensive support, and Terauchi his own to attack. It's a low odds attack admittedly - but Japan has 2 militia units to immolate. A double kill is Mao butchered - probably for good. (In the same turn there is an almost +12 attack on Kunming - not waiting for the Engineers! Worst by worst Japan can lose MILs there too and the Chinese are short of replacements but they've an INF coming their way next turn).
Mao's attack is very low but I believe in the banzai charges with bayonet. And it goes smooth ... well "smooth" ...
The Japanese impale Mao and his communist comrades with their bayonets, but their forces are heavily disrupted and 2 units lost (the 2 MILs).
In the while the mechanized corp is left as rearguard to protect the airbases from the infiltrators; and an INF is disrupted - at the risk of being attacked - but in mountain and behind a river; to ensure that if Ankang is left vacant, the Chinese go OOS there too. The mechanized unit with its ZoC severs the supply of the infiltrators - hopefully stalling them.
These 2 units pratically are Ankang locked now, not able to do much and Lanchow is the last factory remaining to China - because no need of a screenshot for it, Kunming falls too.
Japan lose a unit in the assault (another MIL, wonders!) but the Chinese have nowhere to go. One more (red) factory to Japan, a front closed, and many units to send elsewhere. (Anyhow the Japanese had only 1 FTR2 with 1 of tactical factor, it would have hardly changed anything, ontop of the ENG. So I favored to move troops earlier - if the battle was nice to me ... But a Shatter result would have been enough to take it.).
China is pretty much toast now, with only 1 factory working and very few units operational.
The INF coming next turn is a Nationalist with 2 movement points - and it will appear in some -very- remote City.
Maybe USA will make China surrender to get more chits, who knows.
Clarification / Example of Decision Making: Why to attack Mao with such low odd? Well with Kunming fallen China is entirely out of OIL. Mao would not be able to be reorganized anymore. Even for some MILs to have the HQ eternally pinned where I wanted it to retreat could have been an achievement, and IF Mao would have elected to not give its own HQ support the attack would have been quite decent for China mountains (like a +6 / +7 of sort). It was a pretty calculated risk with the awareness of having 2 MILs of crappy quality to waste.
