The Sword of Swords is a Guard for Kong Jie

The commander of the Shanxi Garrison Headquarters, Yoshio Iwamatsu, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, circling around the sand table, raising his head from time to time to look at the door, expecting good news from the front line.

"Your Excellency, Commander..." An orderly rushed into the war room in a hurry.

"Did the garrison in the east of the city call out the Eighth Route Army occupying the city?" Yoshio Iwamatsu asked anxiously.

The messenger shook his head, and met Yoshio Iwamatsu's expectant eyes with a look of doubt: "The Eighth Route Army used a kind of ammunition that we had never encountered before in the siege battle."

"The method of killing the enemy is similar to that of napalm bombs. Although the power is much smaller, it still causes huge casualties to the city defense forces."

"Many parts of the city are covered by fire, and there is no way to defend."

"In order to reduce casualties, guard the east gate..."

"They had to abandon the top of the city wall and built a temporary line of defense around the gap in the city wall, continuing to block the Eighth Route Army's siege troops."

"Although the enemy was not driven out of the city, it blocked the Eighth Route Army's offensive..."

Yoshio Iwamatsu's tense nerves immediately relaxed.

Although the news that the messenger brought was not good news, it was not bad news either.

As long as the garrison in the east of the city stabilizes the battle situation, keeps the enemy out of the city, and persists until dawn, it will be victory.

As for how and where to defend, it doesn't matter, Yoshio Iwamatsu only needs the result, not the process.

Just then, the accident happened!

There was a sudden explosion sound from the west of the city, and within a few seconds, the explosion was replaced by the sound of violent firefights.

As a battle-tested veteran, Yoshio Iwamatsu knew that the west of the city was also under attack as soon as he heard the sound.

Two thoughts popped up in my mind instantly.

The Eighth Route Army is attacking the west...

The Eighth Route Army tried to break through the east of the city and enter Taiyuan by pretending to attack the west of the city so that they would not dare to deploy troops from other city defense forces to reinforce the east of the city.

If the first thought is true, then the west of the city is in danger.

If the second thought comes true, that's okay.

After all, all the reinforcements that he should have transferred were transferred away.

And the intelligence showed that even if I underestimated the strength of the Eighth Route Army outside the city, they did not have the strength to attack two city gates at the same time.

As a result, I was afraid of whatever.

As if frightened, the operator rushed to Yoshio Iwamatsu with a face full of panic.

"Your Excellency Commander..."

"Urgent telegram from the garrison west of the city..."

"They were suddenly and violently attacked by the Eighth Route Army..."

"The enemy is equipped with at least six mountain artillery, [-] mortars, [-] tanks, nearly [-] thunder cannons, and a reinforced infantry battalion..."

"The city defense forces were attacked by artillery fire and suffered heavy losses. We request reinforcements..."

"Bang..." Yoshio Iwamatsu slammed his fist on the table. If he hadn't supported the table with his hands, he would have almost collapsed to the ground from fright.

Staring at the operator, he gritted his teeth and asked, "Are you sure the contents of the telegram are true?"

"The west of the city was really attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and the troops suffered heavy casualties?"

Seeing the radio operator nodding, Yoshio Iwamatsu continued to ask, "But where did the Eighth Route Army get so many troops?"

"Even if we underestimate their strength, there are not so many troops?"

The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "I can't figure it out even in a humble position..."

"Perhaps the Eighth Route Army has been hiding from the beginning..."

"Hiding the troops outside the city, exposing a small part, deliberately making us underestimate the enemy...At the most critical moment, we will give us a fatal attack..."

Yan Songyi returned to his heroic spirit, but he did not forget his duty.

He didn't want to understand where the Eighth Route Army got so many troops, so he quickly turned his attention to the map of the city defense and asked with a serious face.

"Is there any troops that can immediately reinforce the west of the city..."

The chief of staff knew the troops inside the city like the back of his hand, and immediately replied: "We only have a reinforced brigade to defend the inner city!"

Yoshio Iwamatsu interrupted before the chief of staff finished speaking: "No..."

"The inner city defense forces must not move."

"This is our last card..."

"If we lose them too, there will be no hope of keeping Taiyuan City alive."

"Then we can only transfer troops from the south and north of the city!" The chief of staff suggested the next best thing.

"Although there are many troops stationed in the east of the city, they are also being attacked fiercely... They are counterattacking the siege troops of the Eighth Route Army. They don't have enough troops themselves, so they will definitely not be able to spare troops to reinforce the west of the city..."

After hearing this, Yoshio Iwamatsu prepared to deploy a reinforced squadron from the south and north of the city to reinforce the west of the city.

As a result, before the order was spoken, the two messengers rushed into the war room at the same time as if discussing it.

"Your Excellency Commander..."

"The south of the city was attacked by the Eighth Route Army..."

"The opponent is equipped with a large number of mortars and chariots...the offensive is very fierce, and the infantry covered by the chariots have rushed to a position 500 meters outside the city..."

"Your Excellency, Commander..." Another orderly followed suit.

"The north of the city was violently attacked by the Eighth Route Army."

"The opponent is equipped with mortars, thunder cannons, and tanks... The attacking force has already reached 300 meters outside the city under the cover of tanks..."

"A large number of thunder cannons are hidden among the attacking troops."

"They want to use a chariot to send the flying thunder cannon to a position of 200 meters outside the city, use the flying thunder cannon to attack the head of the city, and massacre the garrison in the north of the city..."

Yoshio Iwamatsu had been numb by the series of bad news, and he didn't react for a long time.

The chief of staff had to speak first: "Your Excellency, Commander..."

"The south of the city and the north of the city were attacked at the same time, which shows that the Eighth Route Army has already prevented us from dispatching troops to reinforce the west of the city..."

"This is a premeditated siege."

"They want to break through the outer city of Taiyuan tonight..."

"Without reinforcements, the garrison in the west of the city will not last long."

"If the west of the city is breached, the Eighth Route Army will be able to enter the outer city of Taiyuan and go straight to the inner city."

"It can also divide the troops to block the troops stationed in the south and north of the city on the top of the city and annihilate them, preventing them from returning to the inner city."

"Then there is only one reinforced brigade defender left in the inner city of Taiyuan. The number of troops is too small, and it will certainly not be able to stop the joint attack of the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery and tanks."

Although the chief of staff did not express his thoughts directly, there was something in the words, and Yoshio Iwamatsu understood after listening.

There are two choices before him now...

Continue to defend the outer city...

The outer city would still be breached by the Eighth Route Army, and the thousands of elites defending the outer city would also be blocked on the battlefield by the Eighth Route Army, unable to return to the inner city.

But if you give up the outer city, stick to the inner city.

Although the defense time of the outer city has been greatly reduced, at least [-] more troops can be garrisoned in the inner city.

The inner city is much smaller than the outer city.

If the garrison exceeds 3000 people, an airtight defense line can definitely be arranged.

Even if the Eighth Route Army attacking Taiyuan was equipped with heavy mortars and tanks, they should not be taken down easily.

Yoshio Iwamatsu made a choice after a little analysis.

Looking at the chief of staff, he ordered decisively: "Abandon the outer city, and stick to the inner city..."

"Notify all the city defense forces to alternately cover the evacuation of the outer city and retreat to the inner city..."

(End of this chapter)