Several people in the headquarters sat around the stove, looking at Political Commissar Liu with their eyes brushed.

"Don't look at me like that, there's not much we can do to help!" Political Commissar Liu looked at the expectant eyes in Liao Fan's headquarters, and took the precautionary shot in advance, when he came, his superiors did not give him much power.

"Actually...... This time it's pretty much the same as ever! ”

Liao Fan would downplay the difficulties in front of anyone, because he was the commander of the new 33rd, and he wanted to build confidence in his subordinates, even if he was not sure, he had to make his subordinates believe that they would win this battle.

"This is the strength of the Japanese army and the current deployment of the Japanese army! But when they attack, I don't know exactly where they will be arranged! Political Commissar Liu took out a map and handed it to Liao Fan.

Liao Fan opened the map and took a closer look: "This is ......"

"I didn't draw it, although I learned to do my homework on the map, but I can't make such a detailed map!" Political Commissar Liu saw what Liao Fan was thinking, "As for who drew the map, don't ask, it's all in your hands anyway." ”

"Your army's intelligence system is still much better than ours, and by now, we have learned about two-thirds of the map!" Liao Fan lamented that the intelligence system is the eyes of the troops, and the eyes of the Eighth Route Army are obviously better than the eyes of their new 33rd Army.

"The Japanese army is menacing this time, and from the information collected, it can be seen that the Japanese army's attack time is only in these two or three days!" Political Commissar Liu didn't want to talk about the map and his family's intelligence anymore, this kind of thing was top secret, and if he talked to Liao Fan about his family's intelligence system, it would be tantamount to leaking.

"My troops have not been arranged so far!"

Liao Fan told Political Commissar Liu the truth, he didn't make any arrangements except for letting the soldiers prepare enough ammunition, if he didn't know what the little devil was going to do, it was useless for Liao Fan to do what kind of arrangement, and now the most important thing for him was to calm down.

Political Commissar Liu is not a military commander, but it does not mean that he knows nothing about military affairs, he knows better what kind of person Liao Fan is, and he is inferior to Liao Fan in military affairs, so he has no evaluation of what Liao Fan has done.

"Then let me tell you about the arrangements of our Eighth Route Army!"

Of course, Political Commissar Liu did not come to Liao Fan to take refuge this time, nor did he just hand over the information to Liao Fan, this time their Eighth Route Army will assist the New 33rd Army to deal with the little devils.

"Political Commissar Liu means that the Eighth Route Army is going to send troops to help us?" Cun Qi looked at Political Commissar Liu happily, one more person means one more helper.

"Our New 33rd Army doesn't need your help!"

Liao Fan was not as excited as Cun Qi, he didn't think this was a good thing, as the saying goes, that person's means, at this time, the Eighth Route Army took the initiative to help them, which is tantamount to the New 33rd Army owing a favor, the money is good, but the favor is difficult to repay!

Political Commissar Liu didn't expect that Liao Fan would refuse the Eighth Route Army's help, and his eyes were full of loss: "Why? ”

"No, why, our new 33rd Army can still deal with it!" Liao Fan is very confident that he can cope with the current situation, even if the Japanese army doubles, he will not give in to the Japanese army, and even if the Japanese army wants to eat their new 33rd Army, I am afraid that the Japanese army in North China will also be injured, and in the end, the net will be broken, and the foundation of the Japanese army in North China will be shaken.

“…… I thought we were friends! ”

It can be seen that Political Commissar Liu is very disappointed, what he is disappointed about is not that Liao Fan rejected him, but that Liao Fan did not tell him the real reason, it seems that Liao Fan is deliberately covering up something.

Liao Fan knew very well that if the Japanese army exceeded 500,000 horses, it would be a drop in the bucket for the Eighth Route Army to arrange one or two divisions to support them, and it would not play any role at all, and according to Liao Fan's understanding, I am afraid that the Eighth Route Army would really not be able to arrange two divisions to support them.

This kind of large-scale battle is tantamount to a meat grinder, and the troops invested by the Eighth Route Army are likely to fall into this meat grinder, and those who can survive are not one in ten, which is equivalent to sending them to death, and Liao Fan certainly will not put the Eighth Route Army in this situation.

The soldiers of the New 33rd Army are different, their overall physical fitness and combat quality can be said to be the top existence in China, and what is needed for this kind of war is elite soldiers, even in a desperate situation, they have to fight until the last moment. And when the time comes, every place on the battlefield is a key lethal point, and he doesn't want to hand over such a task to troops he is not familiar with.

"Political Commissar Liu thanks you for your intelligence, these are enough, my soldiers will not step into Taihang Mountain!"

Political Commissar Liu stood up in disappointment and said to Liao Fan: "During this time, I will live in the office, if there is a need, just come to me!" ”

Cun Qi looked at Liao Fan in confusion, he didn't know why Liao Fan refused the kindness of the Eighth Route Army, they needed support: "Brother Fan, this is ...... Why? ”

Liao Fan glanced at Cun Qi and did not explain the reason: "You will understand!" ”

Judging from the information provided by Political Commissar Liu, the strength of the Japanese army is about 400,000, or even more, and if the Japanese army cannot be attacked for a long time, it will inevitably send more troops, and it is difficult to say whether the number will exceed 500,000.

Liao Fan calculated the strength of the troops in his hand, and the number of troops that could be arranged on the eastern line of Taihang was only more than 80,000 people, and the difference in strength was huge, and the strength of the new 33rd Army was scattered, so the Japanese army could concentrate superior forces at one point and make a breakthrough in the center, and the situation of the new 33rd Army was very passive.

"Signal soldier, inform Ma Wanzhong, Hu Guoshan ......"

Liao Fan gave the order to convene a combat meeting, and he summoned all the generals who could participate in the battle to come to the headquarters for a meeting.

The division commanders of the New 33rd Army all came to the headquarters, but this time there was no more noise from the past, because they all knew that the situation they faced this time might be more severe than before, especially when the lights of thousands of homes were lit up.

"You don't have to spend this year, I think you also know that the Japanese army has prepared a New Year's gift for us, since it has been delivered, it is not the style of our new 33rd Army if we don't accept it! Let me tell you a few words about the gifts that the little devils may give us! ”

Liao Fan pointed to the map and announced the information they had gathered to everyone present.

"The direction of the main attack of the Japanese army is still uncertain, but with so many troops, it doesn't mean much to us where the main attack is, because the pressure on each unit is very great! Now your division commanders report on the readiness of your troops! ”

With four or five hundred thousand troops of the Japanese army, no matter where the New 33rd Army is attacked, it does not have any advantage, which makes no sense for Liao Fan to discuss the direction of the main attack of the Japanese army.

Each division commander reported on the ammunition and ammunition reserves of his troops, and the reserves of guns and ammunition were quite sufficient, the only thing was that the heavy firepower was still their shortcoming, but this time they had enough substitutes - flying thunder guns and rocket launchers.

"Recently, the arsenal has produced another batch of bazookas, and when each of your division commanders leaves, take five hundred with you! The ammunition of the flying thunder cannon must be prepared, and this time the armored vehicles and tanks of the little devils are the protagonists, and they are no longer just infantry in the simple sense of the previous one! ”

In this battle, the armored forces of the Japanese army are no longer petty, and the number of tanks of the Japanese armored units they encountered in the past is only a dozen or twenty, and this time the Japanese army is afraid that it is a tank cluster that will be dispatched, and I am afraid that the number is not less than 200 vehicles, and this is not counting the armored vehicles of the Japanese army, and the armored forces of the Japanese army cannot rely on the courage of the soldiers alone, but also rely on sophisticated equipment.

"Brother Fan, can you transfer a few cannons for us, our troops are short of artillery!"

"Lao Hu, if you don't cry poor like this, who doesn't know that in the new 33rd Army, half of the artillery brigades are artillery, and the remaining half is in your division!" Ma Wanzhong said.

At the beginning, most of the materials in Taiyuan were swallowed by Hu Guoshan, otherwise where did their division get so many resources to expand their troops, and even Liu Chundao picked up a lot of benefits in Shanxi, expanding the strength of a division to 50,000! Taiyuan was originally the base camp of the little devils, and there were more than two large arsenals, and the arsenal had what it wanted.

"Hey, hey, old horse, don't be sour, I dare to conclude that this time the little devils will definitely come directly at our division, if our division doesn't beat the little devils down for a while, they will definitely be arrogant!" Hu Guoshan also has a reason.

The troops of Hu Guoshan east of Taihang Mountain are the main force, and most of the other troops belong to the militia, if the Japanese army really wants to attack, Hu Guoshan's division will bear the brunt, and the Japanese army will inevitably concentrate all its efforts to break through the Japanese defense line.

"I don't have any guns here! Lao Hu, I can give you one right, that is, the right to retreat! ”

"Retreat?" Several division commanders shouted in unison, they never thought that the Japanese army had not yet attacked, and the first military order Liao Fan gave them was to retreat.

"That's right! Fall back! ”

"Brother Fan, although the little devil is powerful, you can't look down on my Lao Hu and his brothers, my brothers are not afraid of death when it comes to fighting!" The most annoyed was Hu Guoshan, although they had just arrived in the Jingcheng area, but the order to retreat had a great impact on the soldiers.

"Lao Hu, calm down first and listen to what Brother Fan has to say!" Li Weimin said.

"Avoid the enemy's edge, several of you all know that the Japanese army has hundreds of thousands of troops waiting for the day, and there are armored troops, cavalry and heavy artillery, even if you Hu Guoshan are the best in the new 33rd Army, but how long can you block the Japanese army's attack?"

Liao Fan knows very well that retreat will inevitably affect the morale of the troops, but fighting with the enemy is to protect himself, and then to destroy the enemy, Liao Fan has so many troops in his hands, sacrifice one less one, unless it is a last resort, he can't use these young lives to fight the Japanese army, this is not the best way, there is a huge disparity in troops, and the hard-fought style is not suitable for the battlefield with a huge disparity in troops.