Commander Okamura Ninji's furious vent frightened Tanabe's chief of staff and hurriedly said: "Commander Okamura, the Eighth Route Army has launched such a big general attack on our communication line, and I, as the chief of staff, should be held accountable, please ......." ”

"Tanabe-kun, what's the use of being held accountable now? Your advance on the railway lines in North China and the sabotage battle of the Eighth Route Army will be implemented again immediately, and I will immediately go to the war room of the headquarters and order the generals in Beiping to arrive as quickly as possible, no, half an hour. ”

"Hay, Hay." Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe rushed out of the house, less than 50 meters from the headquarters building, and rushed into the war room in only a few minutes, and ordered the combat staff officer on duty: "Your immediate telephone order, order the general of the Imperial Japanese Army who is in Peking at this time, must arrive here within half an hour, quickly." ”

Some Japanese generals left the headquarters at midnight, some had just entered the house, and some had not yet washed and lay down, when they were frightened by the sudden ringing of the phone and frowned, and scolded impatiently: "Bastard, it's early in the morning, who is still calling?" ”

No matter whose call it was, when these generals rushed to the war room of the headquarters within half an hour of receiving it, they did not know what important military meeting was, and immediately called them back as soon as it was over.

Commander Okamura Ninji looked at the generals who walked in with a pale face, and when the last general sat down, he patted the table and asked in a low voice: "Generals, did you receive an urgent telegram for help from the troops stationed along the seven railways and highways before midnight?" ”

General Kiyoji Kazuki, commander of the First Army Corps of the North China Front, heard Commander Okamura's question, and he said indifferently: "Okamura-kun, the communication lines of the Eighth Route Army under the rule of our Imperial Japanese Army can be said to be sabotaging all the time, and this kind of telegram can be received at any time, but it can be ........ ”

"Commander Xiangyue, you know, your 180th Division, 36th Division, and 108th Division, they all know it, is that what you mean?"

The commander of the Xiangyue Kiyoji Corps was dissatisfied when he saw Okamura Ningji making a big fuss, but he didn't dare to make a mistake, so he reluctantly stood up and said: "Report to Your Excellency Commander, the commanders of the four divisions of my First Army Corps, they are like me, they will receive a large number of information on the attack of the Eighth Route Army every day, but so what?

The Eighth Route Army was good at guerrilla warfare, and when it was discovered that the Eighth Route was attacking the line of communication, the cunning Eighth Route Army fled before the Imperial Japanese Army attacked.

The Eighth Route Army's tactics of fighting and retreating made the soldiers of the Imperial Army tired of coping, and even the commanders were exhausted, but there were more telegrams sent today to report the attack of the Eighth Route Army than usual. ”

Commander Okamura Ninji listened to the commander of the Kazuki Kiyoji Corps, and when he talked about the Eighth Route Army's attack on the communication line, he was so relaxed and angry in his heart, but he didn't want to be entangled with this bastard at the critical moment when the Eighth Route Army suddenly attacked the communication line in this North China theater.

He said to the generals present fiercely: "I now need all of you to send you urgent secret telegrams to the imperial army troops stationed on the main railway lines in North China, and all the serious and unreserved. ”

The generals present here did not expect that the commanders today attached so much importance to the urgent reports of sabotage attacks that they often received, and they did not dare to conceal them, and made a detailed report on the battle reports they had learned from the front.

When General Okamura Ninji heard the end, he couldn't bear to reprimand: "You are all the best commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army, and you have turned a deaf ear to so many urgent battle reports sent from the front, not only did you not actively deal with them, but also did not report them to the North China Command, you are committing a crime and being disloyal to His Majesty the Emperor, do you understand?" ”

The generals present did not expect that Commander Okamura Ninji would say that they were disloyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and one by one they were not convinced, and some of them just wanted to stand up and show their loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor, but they were severely stopped by Okamura Ninji.

According to the reports of the commanders of each division, Okamura Ninji sorted it out, and was about to give an order, and the operational staff officer of the headquarters handed General Okamura Ninji an encrypted telegram with both hands, and said in a low voice: "Your Excellency Commander, this secret report is very important. ”

Without waiting for the combat staff officer to finish speaking, Okamura Ninji unfolded the telegram, swept his eyes twice, not only did his face change drastically, he handed the encrypted telegram to Chief of Staff Tanabe, and then scanned the generals present through his eagle-like eyes and gold-wire glasses.

The generals present did not know what kind of telegram the commander received, and he would behave so discolored, and those sharp eyes seemed to pierce the hearts of every general present, and looked at Okamura Ninji in surprise one by one.

Okamura Ninji just glanced back and forth at each general, and after about five minutes, Commander Okamura returned to normal, and said in a stern tone: "Generals, you received an urgent telegram from your subordinates, and you actually treated it as an ordinary telegram, but you made a great mistake this time, it was a serious dereliction of duty, and you were committing a crime. ”

He said in a more stern tone: "The Eighth Route Army's Jinchaji, Shanxi-Hebei-Henan, Taihang, and Taiyue Military Regions, with Zhengtai Road as the general attack center, radiating the seven major railway trunk lines connected to North China, investing more than 100 regiments and more than 200,000 troops to carry out the general attack. ”

The generals present thought that there was a sabotage attack by the Eighth Route Army in their jurisdiction, just like an ordinary attack and harassment, and did not attract great attention, and they thought that the Eighth Route Army was no different from the usual harassment and sabotage attack, but at this time, listening to what Commander Okamura Ninji said was so serious, they couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Commander Okamura Ninji, based on the urgent telegrams sent by the Japanese garrison troops on the seven important railway lines in North China, combined with the front-line battle situation reported by the generals present, decisively ordered: Order the 9th Mixed Brigade of the 180th Division stationed in Hengshui and the 4th Mixed Brigade of Yangquan to take Zhengtai Road as the main target of attack and destroy the anti-Japanese people of the Eighth Route Army in China who were attacking this section.

The 36th Division and the 108th Division were ordered to carry out the most powerful firepower strikes on the railways, highways, and the Eighth Route Army under their jurisdiction, such as Jinghan, Deshi, Tongpu, and Baijin, and to adopt the 'three-light policy' of arresting and slaughtering villages in the villages near the communication line and the villagers who participated in the Eighth Route Army's attack.

Command.......

After General Okamura Ninji gave the order, he said more fiercely to the generals who were about to leave: "We are all high-ranking generals of the Imperial Japanese Army, and the orders I have issued must be completed in the shortest possible time. ”

These generals, who had only finished their military meeting at midnight, dragged their tired bodies and had not yet settled down, when they were urgently summoned by Commander Okamura, and they were severely criticized.

At this time in Hengshui City, after midnight and in the early hours of the morning, Major General Kiyoshi Maru, the ninth mixed man who was nesting in the soft quilt, was suddenly awakened by the sudden ringing of the phone, he angrily covered his head with the quilt, ignoring the phone that kept ringing.

This is, General Yoshimaru Kiyotake's bodyguard, cautiously walked into the house, grabbed the phone and asked, "The general is resting, please don't disturb." ”

"Bastard, I'm General Hino, the commander of the 180th Division, and I order you to call your General Yoshimaru Kiyotake to answer the phone right away."

As soon as the guard officer heard that it was the call of the commander of the Hino Division, he did not dare to slack off, put down the phone gently, rushed to General Yoshimaru's bed in a few steps, and lowered his voice to accompany the careful report: "Report to the brigade commander, the commander of the Hino Division call." ”

General Yoshimaru Huo jumped out of the bed, rushed to the phone, and shouted humbly: "Report to General Hino, I don't know if there is an important ...... when you call late at night." ”

"Yoshimaru-kun, the North China Command of the Imperial Japanese Army has just finished a military meeting and ordered the Ninth Mixed Brigade to quickly reinforce Zhengtai Road, and the troops of the Eighth Route Army that destroyed the Tiger Leaping Gorge Bridge must be wiped out in the area of Lao Ye Mountain."

The commander of the Hino Division wanted to call the Fourth Mixed Brigade of the Shouyang Garrison again, and ordered in a stern tone: "Commander of the Katayama Brigade, Zhengtai Road has been attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and I order your brigade to immediately send troops to occupy Shiyuan Mountain and eliminate the Eighth Route Army and the people of Anti-Japanese China who are attacking the communication line, do you understand?" ”

In the Japanese theaters in North China, telephone bells rang incessantly, and one after another orders were quickly sent down to the seven main railway lines in North China and the strongholds along the highways through lines and radio waves, and the Japanese troops launched the most ferocious counterattack against the troops of the Eighth Route Army that were attacking the lines of communication.

The Ninth Brigade is in Lao Ye Mountain, and the fierce battle that is about to start with Lei Jian's 'One Regiment' will be Lei Jian's crossing over, leading the troops to engage the enemy, and encountering the heaviest blow, which will not be forgotten.

(End of chapter)