Rise from eight hundred.

4 Month 4 Day!
Japanese North China Front Army Command!

"Okabe-kun, what do you think of the proposal of the 109th Division!" Indoor Shroud gently placed the telegram in his hand on the desk, and looked at his lieutenant general chief of staff expressionlessly.

The telegram in his hand came from the division headquarters of the 109th Division, requesting the front army headquarters to dispatch troops to wipe out the Chinese army hiding in the Taihang Mountains in eastern Shanxi, otherwise the ministries would be overwhelmed, even Hanchang Road. Important lines of communication cannot be guaranteed to be safe.

Saburo Okabe had a hard time judging the true thoughts of his commander. After a moment of contemplation, he still maintained his usual cautiousness: "My subordinate believes that although the suggestion in the telegram of Your Excellency Yamaoka seems to be eager for quick success, it is also important in terms of the interests of the empire. Not everything.

The Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains in eastern Shanxi is growing stronger day by day. If we let it continue to develop, we may dare to confront the imperial army head-on one day. At that time, if we want to destroy them, I am afraid that we will pay a higher price than now! "

"It seems that Okabe-kun agrees!" Shi Yi nodded, without much expression change on his face, and asked again. "I don't know how many troops Okabe-kun thinks the front army needs to go into the mountains to kill these Chinese troops, and which troops are attached to them?"

"My subordinates believe that because the terrain of Taihang Mountain is dangerous and difficult to defend, and our army is entering the mountain to fight, we are unfamiliar with its geographical terrain. Therefore, we need to invest more troops, even more than the Chinese, in order to ensure victory." Saburo Okabe thought about it carefully and replied.

The corner of Shroud's mouth in the room twitched slightly, his eyelids drooped and he cast his eyes on the map on the table, waving his hand to signal Saburo Okabe to continue.

Seeing that the shroud in the room did not clearly object, Saburo Okabe took the courage and continued: "I suggest that the 16th Division be transferred to Jindong as the main force, supplemented by the 108th and 109th divisions, and divided into 9 divisions. If the Chinese run away, our army will burn all the Chinese villages we saw along the way, and kill all the Chinese who helped them.

If they don't run to fight our army, that's fine, kill them all!Eliminate the scourge in one fell swoop! "

The shroud in the room couldn't help but suddenly raised his head, looking at himself, the usually low-key and restrained chief of staff, his eyes shone brightly.

Being able to name these three divisions shows that he has persuaded the three division heads, but it is not terrible to use nearly 8 troops from the three divisions. Can figure it out.

With a permanent division of 3 people as the main force and two special divisions of 5 people as the supplementary strength, not to mention a few Chinese infantry divisions, it is almost enough to face the remaining 30 million Chinese troops in Jin Province. up.

Basically, the Chinese have only one way to escape from the mountains, but this man seems to have foreseen this ending, so his real purpose is not to destroy the Chinese army that is destined to flee, but the Chinese people in the mountains.

The reason why the 921 Division was able to develop slowly in the mountains is that the Chinese in the mountains provided them with houses and food, which the Japanese army knew well.

What Saburo Okabe means is that the Chinese army can run away, but those Chinese people who have lived in the mountains for generations cannot run away. Burning the villages of those Chinese people and killing people is equivalent to digging the roots of the Chinese army. They want to come back again, but there is nothing.

This is a real dead end.

Cruel enough, poisonous enough!But extremely useful.

If the roots of the Chinese army are dug out, the Chinese army will be nothing but a grasshopper without roots, right?
Even the indoor shroud had the urge to agree to him at that moment.

But it is a pity that the current indoor shroud has long since lost the high spirits he had when he first arrived in North China half a year ago. His mind is no longer on the feudal princes, but on how to stop making mistakes and hand over the position of commander smoothly. I can go back to China with peace of mind and become a good military adviser, maybe I can make a comeback in two or three years.

Therefore, the Japanese army general's eyes quickly narrowed, nodded and said: "Mr. Okabe's suggestion is good, but I don't know if Mr. Okabe has considered a problem. Opposite the 109th Division is the nearly 16 Jinsui Army. The 10,000th The division is facing tens of thousands of elite Chinese Central Army, if they withdraw their entire army and enter Eastern Jin, and the [-]+ Chinese troops who have lost oppression take advantage of the situation to counterattack, what should our army do?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, the Chinese army has long been lingering under the strong pressure of our army. They are already very satisfied if they can be given a certain breathing space. If you want to say that they dare to take advantage of the emptiness of our army to fight back, I judge that they don't have this courage.

Moreover, our front army still has a part of the Fifth Division in Jinzhong, and the 20th Division in Shimen, and can reach the front line at any time.There are still two mixed brigades in Pingjin, and Major General Yamashita has always hoped to lead his troops to the expedition. "Okabe Saburo heard the indoor shroud's intention to avoid the war, and quickly explained.

At this time, the Japanese North China Front Army is definitely Japan's largest military group in China. There are more than 12 division-level troops and a total strength of nearly 40. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in Jin Province are fighting, and in addition to consolidating the occupied territories?
Even so, they still have some spare power, at least two mixed brigades and one division are mobile forces.

As the chief of staff of the front army, although Saburo Okabe could not directly mobilize, he knew the situation of the front army's strength clearly. He hoped that the indoor shroud could be persuaded.

It's a pity that he underestimated the stubbornness of a person who is about to lose power too much.

For the indoor shroud at this time, this battle is considered a success, and the Chinese civilians in the mountains will be wiped out like a house, completely breaking the foundation of the Chinese army and achieving the previously formulated strategy, but that is for him. Say, what good is it?
Because, the military order for him to resign as the commander of the North China Front Army has been signed by His Majesty the Emperor, and now he only needs to wait for the army headquarters to determine his successor. Soon military order.

And if this battle is not fought well, and the army that broke into the mountain to suppress them suffers heavy losses, then who will be charged for this?
Undoubtedly, he was the commander of the front army who signed the military order.

The Battle of Taierzhuang had already caused him to lose his position as a general and commander. Come on, can he announce his retirement immediately after returning to China?

To put it bluntly, if the battle is won, he won't be able to eat meat, and if he misses the job, the board will have to spank his butt. Unless the indoor shroud is crazy, he will agree to fight this battle.

Perhaps, only Saburo Okabe, the chief of staff, was the only beneficiary. If the fight was successful, half of the credit was due to him;

Indoor Shroud knew this better than anyone else, he just wanted to see how impatient he, the lieutenant general's chief of staff, was.

From the very beginning, it was doomed that Saburo Okabe's ambition would be nothing but nothing.

"Really! Major General Shanxia is eager to fight? Yo West! Then let him lead his troops to the east of Shanxi. First, help the 108th Division defend the Han-Chang Highway. When our front army finishes solving the enemy in Xuzhou, it will go to Jin Province All the remaining enemies will launch a full-scale attack, and at that time, he will have a chance to show his strengths." The indoor shroud replied lightly.

"Your Excellency, Commander, what Your Excellency the Commander of the Yamaoka Division said?" Saburo Okabe, who felt that he had dared to talk nonsense for a long time just now, had an ugly face, but he still made the last effort.

"Tell Yamaoka thick, according to the strategy of the Imperial Army, the front army's current combat center is Xuzhou. Whether it is logistics or army aviation, they will tilt their resources to Xuzhou. If he is confident that he can still deal heavy damage to the enemy in the mountains without the air support provided by the front army. , I can sign and agree to his battle plan." Indoor Shroud didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, raised his hand to take out a brush from the pen holder, spread a piece of rice paper on the table, as if to write.

It probably means that it is almost the same as ordinary people sweeping the floor with a broom.

"Hi! I will convey the Commander's message to him." Saburo Okabe blushed, nodded to the shroud in the room with difficulty, turned and left.

He knew that the battle plan he had made with the three lieutenant generals of the 108th, 109th, and 16th divisions this time was completely ruined.

Saburo Okabe did not want to step up to the ambition of the commander of the front army. There are many heavy generals under the command of the North China front army. Those veteran lieutenant generals who are not in charge of the elite army, such as Sakamoto Shiro, Doi Madoka, Isoyasuke, and Kagawa Tsukasa, will be ranked no matter how they line up. Not to him, the gilded lieutenant general and chief of staff.

He is accumulating military exploits for his return to the Kwantung Army. The positions of the Kwantung Army's master regiments are also very attractive. He has to work harder on his own.

I didn't expect that the old fox in the indoor shroud would rather not do it than be an adult beauty. I knew that the beauty of the island that was given to him a few days ago would be enjoyed first, and let this old man eat leftovers. Saburo Okabe was angrily walking Tucao.

As for the fact that the 109th Division said by Indoor Shroud can do it himself as long as he wants to fight, he can sign and agree, but Saburo Okabe didn't take it to heart at all.

Not to mention the battle a few days ago, Guteng took 5000 troops and was still beaten up by an infantry regiment. Even without that battle, the 109th division would not rush into the mountains like a fool.

China's 921st Division is a bunch of lunatics, they will turn that mountain into a graveyard for the 109th Division.

The Japanese army temporarily gave up its plan to invade the Taihang Mountains, but this does not mean that the Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains will take it lightly.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from retaliating, the 921 Division launched a message tree plan widely around the station.

That is, every village must have militiamen standing guard on the hills. Once they find the figure of the Japanese army, they immediately push down the half-cut trees on the hills. The nearest garrison debriefs.

The divisional headquarters of the 921 Division will organize various departments to carry out corresponding blocking according to the number of Japanese troops invading.

The 683 Brigade felt like it was facing a big enemy this time. Not only did they not hold a celebration banquet, but they used the Japanese-style ammunition seized this time to quickly replace 12 all-Japanese infantry companies. Didn't say empty.

Perhaps Brigadier Cheng had planned for a long time. One infantry company was drawn from the 772 regiment and the 771 regiment as the backbone, and two infantry companies were drawn from the supplementary regiment, and the militias from 50 villages around the station were assembled to form a brand new infantry regiment. called the Independence Group.

Battalion Commander Xiao Ding, whom Tang Dao was thinking about, was directly appointed by Brigadier Cheng Da as the head of the independent regiment, completely cutting off Tang Dao's thoughts.

In the previous time and space, this young battalion commander died at the end of this year in the position of battalion commander. Now he has become the regiment commander. Like his former regiment commander, he has embarked on a different path from the past.

Perhaps, fate will be different from before!
After this battle, the 683 brigade has directly expanded its strength by nearly 1500 people. It has two main regiments, 771 and 772, a supplementary regiment and two reserve regiments, a total of four infantry regiments. people.

As for the Four Elements Regiment, Tang Dao sent a special squadron for daily latent reconnaissance training. About 10 groups of 20 people were sent every day. A group of people will survive in the wild for 48 hours, and the furthest reconnaissance range is 15 kilometers from the station.

Obviously, it is extremely unreasonable for such a high-intensity reconnaissance operation to be undertaken by only 60 special forces.

After the first battle in Xiangtangpu, the special squadron announced to the whole regiment the plan to expand into a reconnaissance company, and recruited troops from the whole regiment.

As long as they pass the assessment, they can become the reserve soldiers of the reconnaissance company. In addition to the original military salary, each person will be subsidized by five yuan per month.

This is also the salary standard for the officers and soldiers of the original special squadron, which is different from other officers and soldiers of the Four Elements Regiment. They have the hardest training, and they are often on the most dangerous battlefields when fighting.

Tang Dao also personally issued a military order to each battalion company. The reconnaissance company wanted the best of the elite, and no battalion company could stop anyone who the reconnaissance company liked.

Obviously, Tang Tuanzuo's military order can't stop the group of company commanders who value their one-acre three-point land. On the surface, they dare not, but in private they have done enough homework, so that the initial In two days, the assessment organized by Lao Hei and Gu Xishui started, and there were very few applicants.

Then, Tang Tuanzuo had no choice but to show his trump card: whoever sends an elite officer and soldier to the reconnaissance company, the battalion company will replenish five recruits, reward one cigarette, ten catties of toffee, and the new standard pistol will be sent to the troops. , ranked according to the number of soldiers transported by that infantry company, and arranged according to the ranking.

There are not many things, and I don't know when the pistols will be installed, but it is an honor to send elite soldiers to rank.

That company-level officer didn't want his soldiers to look down on his reconnaissance company. In the end, his infantry company ranked last, so he would be ashamed of himself.

Even someone as stingy as Li Jiujin, after seeing Tang Tuanzuo's reward plan of "killing people and punishing his heart", he couldn't bear it anymore, so he ran to find Gu Xishui to go through the back door.

"Brother, you know my brother and me. As long as your brother has needs, I, as a brother, will do it for you if I risk my life." Li Jiujin's generous statement, if you don't know , the cliff will be moved to tears by him.

It's a pity that Gu Xishui is no longer the innocent young man he used to be, especially when he ran to Li Jiujin two days ago to ask him to recommend some veterans. The special squadron has a list of three people in total.

One is a recruit who has just joined the army for less than three months. Even if he performs well, he is still a recruit. The total number of times he has participated in the battle is less than three times; He was shot in the arm by a machine gun bullet in the Battle of Beiganling, and half of his arm is gone. He is still lying on the medical team, and the other one was shot in the head. He is still not awake at the moment.

Gu Xishui was so angry that he scolded his mother on the spot, but the veteran only left a deputy company commander to receive Gu Xishui. In his words, he talked according to the corresponding level, and he didn't even show his face.

In the end, when Tang Tuanzuo made this move, Li Jiujin ran over shamelessly, even claiming that he would do it for you even if he risked his life, who the hell would believe his nonsense? No one would believe Gu, Gu Xishui rolled his eyes with a cold snort.

"Hey, why don't you trust your brother and me? When you forgot the Four Lines Warehouse, when our brothers rushed out of the warehouse with the commander of the regiment, did you rush in front of you?" Li Jiujin jumped straight up.

This, it is true, when the veteran is going all out, it is true, but according to him later, his brain should have been pumped at that time, absolutely pumped.

Facing this brother who didn't want Bilian, Gu Xishui lost his temper and stretched out his hand angrily: "Give me the list, there are less than fifteen. From now on, you will not be my brother Jiujin, nor will I be your brother Xishui."

"Damn it, you can guess this too, it's terrible, it's terrible." Li Jiujin exclaimed indifferently.

The 15 people are the manpower he took out after weighing all the pros and cons. According to his estimation, half of the 15 people can be recruited, and a maximum of 10 people can be recruited. This will neither hurt the infantry company too much, nor rank last .

After all, the whole regiment has 9 infantry companies, 3 fire support companies, and several companies directly under it. As long as they don't rank in the bottom three, this face will not be too ugly.

"Hmph! Who doesn't know that you, Li Daliang, are the worst villains. If you didn't come to me today, the old black company commander meant to be stingy at you. I don't want any soldiers from your seventh company." Gu Xishui snorted coldly.

"I pooh, he has a black face, believe it or not? Teliang, this is an official who has forgotten the things that my brothers dug in the trenches! He is not a good person, Xi Shui, don't learn from him .” Li Jiujin jumped high again.

"I'll give you a smug face as an old soldier first, and I'll learn from you, right? I just take care of your one-acre three-point land every day." Outside the house, Lao Hei strode in, and he didn't give his old comrades the same. good face.

Two days ago, the chief and deputy officers of the special squadron had had enough of being angry with these company commanders, and it would be hell if they didn't get it back now.

"Brother Hei is back. I'll give you the list. During the assessment, remember to show me some face. If there are 15 people, just take half of them. Don't be too many or too few. That's it, let's go." In front of the old comrades-in-arms, Li Jiujin has always been embarrassing if I'm not embarrassing or embarrassing you. As soon as he told his true intentions, he immediately slapped his ass and left.

"This guy is really smart!" The two smiled wryly as they looked at the roster that didn't contain any moisture this time.

They also knew that if a dozen elite veterans were drawn from an infantry company at one time and replaced by them as company commanders, they might have to jump.

But for this assessment, Tang Tuanzuo can say that the reconnaissance company would rather be deficient than excessive. If the infantry company is mobilized because of this, then he will find a way to make up for it.

It really doesn't make much sense for Li Jiujin to go through the back door. The chief examiner of the assessment is Tang Dao himself, and no one dares to tamper with it.

And this night, the reconnaissance company received more than 300 applicants from each company, all of whom were veterans, but only 100 people were admitted in the end.