"How is that possible? Ueno-kun is too worried! Seishiro Itagaki waved his hand, not agreeing with Ueno-kun's speculation, but continued, "The 42nd Wing lost an infantry brigade, but don't we still have nearly 5,000 Imperial Army warriors?" ”。

After a pause, Itagaki Seishiro continued, "What's more, after crossing the Sangqian River, the reconnaissance troops were assigned to explore and extend to the two wings, but they did not find that there were troops of the Eighth Route Army in the direction of our left and right wings. Ueno-kun has thought too much, and now what we should think about is how to defeat Li Yunlong's position in front of him is the most important thing! ”。

At this time, just as Ueno was continuing to answer the call to persuade Itagaki Seishiro to temporarily stop attacking Li Yunlong's department, the Japanese troops who were close to the cover behind the Sangqian River Hall sent someone to report to Itagaki Seishiro urgently.

I saw a Japanese soldier with a rushing expression running to the temporary field headquarters of Seishiro Itagaki in a state of embarrassment, and he didn't have time to catch his breath, so he immediately said, "Your Excellency the division commander, a squadron was found on the north bank of the Sangqian River, with at least two companies of troops and nearly two hundred and thirty people. They carried several mortars, and when they arrived on the north bank, they continued to bombard our sappers who were rebuilding the pontoon bridge. The engineer wing was unable to erect a pontoon bridge, and was suddenly shelled by the artillery fire of the Chinese army, losing more than 20 people! ”。

"Nani? Found the Chinese army on the north shore? Itagaki Seishiro was surprised that after the pontoon bridge was blown up, Itagaki Seishiro commanded the Japanese soldiers of the 21st Brigade to storm the position of the new regiment, and on the other hand, ordered the Japanese engineering units to re-erect a pontoon bridge over the Sangqian River in order to open up the passage to the north bank of the Sangqian River.

It's just that I didn't expect that the other party actually had hidden troops on the north shore. Just wait for the first round of artillery fire from the new regiment to blow up the pontoon bridge on the Sangqian River, and then come out to carry out artillery fire on the Japanese sappers who have re-erected the pontoon bridge.

This hand suddenly made Itagaki Seishiro stab in the back, and the back road was cut off by the artillery fire of others at any time.

"Damn, order Saka Kamipei, mobilize part of the artillery to bombard the north bank of the Sangqian River, and cover the sappers to erect a pontoon bridge! Hurry up and drop! Itagaki Seishiro quickly thought of a countermeasure, and directly waved his hand to order the Japanese soldiers who came to report the situation.

The Japanese soldier paused heavily and said, "Hai, Your Excellency the division commander!" He immediately left the herald.

At this time, the Japanese units that had failed in the second attack had already withdrawn to the starting positions of the attack, and the two Japanese wings failed to attack backwards, which immediately caused the morale of the Japanese army to be unstable.

Itagaki Seishiro was not calm at this time, walked out of the headquarters, climbed a heavy snowdrift, and leaned behind him with a telescope to observe the defensive position of the new regiment opposite.

I saw that on the position of the new regiment, the fire and gunpowder smoke caused by the artillery bombardment were scattered on the battlefield. On the battlefield, the corpses of the fallen Japanese soldiers were all over the place, and some Japanese soldiers who had not had time to retreat were beaten to the ground and did not die, wailing, which made Itagaki Seishiro very aggrieved.

Once upon a time, he commanded the 5th Division to sweep and defeat more than 30 Chinese division-level troops all the way, creating the "prestige" of the Itagaki Division. I didn't expect that it would be in the hands of Li Yunlong's new group, and a big heel was planted.

"Ueno-kun, it seems that Li Yunlong can't be compared with ordinary squadron officers, this time it's too careless. Unexpectedly, Li Yunlong, who commanded more than 2,000 soldiers of the Chinese Army, could actually cause such serious casualties to our 21st Brigade! I was careless, Ueno-kun! ”

Itagaki Seishiro put down the binoculars in his hand and smiled bitterly at Major General Ueno Masa, the chief of staff of the division and regiment beside him.

At this time, because the Japanese troops did not find any hidden troops of the Eighth Route Army coming to flank the two flanks of the Japanese troops in the direction of the left and right flanks, Ueno Masashi knew that he and Itagaki Seishiro were worried that Li Yunlong's new regiment had a conspiracy, and he should have guessed wrong.

So, Ueno said solemnly, "Your Excellency the division commander, what should I do now?" It seems that the opponent's position is quite impregnable, and our army now has less than 5,000 warriors of the Imperial Army who can fight. If we continue to attack, with the opponent occupying a defensive position and the superior machine-gun fire, our onslaught may not be effective. On the contrary, there will be a situation of falling into a war of attrition, which is not optimistic, Your Excellency the division commander! ”。

The Japanese army invaded the land of China all the way, in fact, only the Battle of Songhu was the most tragic battle, and most of the Japanese army fought against the squadron after that, and few of them planned to fight a war of attrition. The Japanese troops generally attacked in a frontal feint and attacked on the flanks in a roundabout way, but it was very effective.

Now Ueno is worried about a frontal onslaught, and the flank detour is also unfavorable, and if this kind of fight continues, it will be troublesome for the 21st Brigade to fight a war of attrition in the decisive battle of some of the main forces of the new regiment commanded by Li Yunlong.

After all, the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army was an elite unit, and Ueno did not think it was worth losing too many troops in a war of attrition.

Sure enough, Ueno's words made Seishiro Itagaki realize that it was very difficult to break through the position of the new regiment in a short period of time. The other party is not the National Army, the Jin Sui Army, and the roundabout attack routine has not worked.

If the frontal assault continues, it will fall into the fire strangulation of a new concave defensive position, and the gains outweigh the losses.

The Japanese army is an island country, and until the war has been fought, most of the elite troops of the Japanese army have been scattered in the major occupied cities in China, although the Japanese army adjusted the garrison troops and replaced the elite troops with some garrison troops to carry out the campaign. However, in some of the most important cities occupied, the Japanese still needed to stay behind to garrison some elite troops.

Therefore, one came and went, and shared a lot of elite troops of the Japanese army. When Yoshio Shinozuka transferred two wings of the 21st Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division of Seishiro Itagaki into Shanxi to pursue Li Yunlong's troops, in fact, the Japanese troops of the 41st and 42nd Infantry Brigades under the command of the 21st Brigade were not satisfied.

Therefore, Itagaki Seishiro thought about it again and again, and then said in a condensed voice, "Ueno-kun, what do you mean?" ”。

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, do you want to send an elite unit to go around behind the enemy for a sneak attack? If it can succeed, attack from behind and assist the strong attack head-on, and maybe you can annihilate the troops of the Zhina Army that Li Yunlong personally commanded here! "Ueno Masashi couldn't think of anything good, he couldn't fight a war of attrition, and he still used the old routine of the Japanese army's roundabout sneak attack.

Seishiro Itagaki pondered that this might be a way to avoid a war of attrition.

"Yo Xi, that's what to do. Order Nakamura Masao, dispatch elite Imperial Army soldiers, form a sneak attack force of 300 people to sneak around from the left side, sneak attack from behind the Shina army, wait for the signal to be issued, and then attack head-on! Seishiro Itagaki made up his mind and ordered!

"Ha Yi, Your Excellency the division commander, go and do it immediately!" Ueno answered suddenly, and then hurriedly left to prepare for the arrangement.

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