When Lei Jian said that 'North China is in danger' and 'the base area of the Eighth Route Army is in danger', Brigade Commander Song of the New Seventh Brigade asked nervously: "Commander Lei, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army should be ...... under the military pressure of the Japanese puppets and diehards. ”

Commander Chen's mouth was dry when he saw what Lei Jian said, he pushed the glass of water in front of him to Lei Jian, and said with concern: "Commander Lei, drink saliva and then continue." ”

Lei Jian said so much about the current situation of the enemy and us in North China, although he did not dare to say the historical materials he knew before the crossing in advance before it happened now, but what he said was also through the rapid operation of the brain, classifying, retaining and discarding what should be said and what should not be said in his mind, and then he said it.

He was just about to say something when he was asked by Brigade Commander Song, but suddenly found that the political commissar of Dongzong Song was staring at him with a look of approval and suspicion, Lei Jian hurriedly picked up the cup to cover himself, poured it down in a few sips, looked at Commander Chen and said: "Commander Chen, I'll just talk about it, you see ......." ”

"That's not good, you little brother just said the beginning, and the following examples haven't been said, haha, since you said that you are chasing ducks to the shelves, how can you say that they will be taken off the shelves? Let's go on, we can't wait. Brigade Commander Song of the New Seventh Brigade shouted and urged.

Lei Jian saw Commander Chen and Political Commissar Song looking at him with an encouraging look, he cleared his throat and continued:

In order to counter the attack of the recalcitrant army against the Japanese base area, the Yan'an General Headquarters adopted the policy of 'reasonable, beneficial, and modest' to carry out the greatest range of strikes against the recalcitrant army, with the ultimate goal of destroying the recalcitrant army, uniting the friendly forces of resistance against Japan, and striking at the Japanese invaders all the way to the outside world.

The purpose of the recalcitrant army was to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, and the first counteroffensive climax was launched during the Anti-Japanese War.

When the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army learned of this information, it was very shocked and ordered the troops of the Eighth Route Army near the New Army to support and reinforce the New Army with the greatest military force to rise up and resist, adopt a mobile and flexible policy, properly handle the incident, deal a heavy blow to the diehards' conspiracy to compromise and surrender, consolidate the anti-Japanese situation in Shanxi, and strive to stay in the anti-Japanese camp by the commander of Jin Suiyan, who had slipped to the edge.

The headquarters was not careless about the temporary victory, making it clear; The friction and struggle between the Eighth Route Army and the diehards will not end here, and it is very likely that the friction will intensify, and the main divisions of the Eighth Route Army in North China, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and all units must be prepared to fight against the stubborn forces, support each other, and crush the reactionary tide of the recalcitrant army.

As expected by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the Shi Department of the 39th Group Army and the Zhu Department of the 97th Army of the recalcitrant army not only did not relent, but under the repeated advice of the talks representatives sent by the Eighth Route Army, they ostensibly agreed, and as soon as the talks representatives of the Eighth Route Army left, they tore off their masks, and the counteroffensive friction activities became more and more rampant and intensified, mobilizing 100,000 regular troops and local reactionary forces to launch an offensive in North China to attack the anti-Japanese base areas of the Eighth Route Army.

In order to maintain the national anti-Japanese united front, the Yan'an General Headquarters instructed the Eighth Route Army to adopt the principle of 'no one will offend me, I will not offend anyone, and if anyone offends me, I will offend others', as well as a struggle strategy of 'reasonable, advantageous, and restrained,' and carry out targeted strikes against the attacking recalcitrant army.

When the offensive was unfavorable, the diehards mobilized a large number of troops to attack the anti-Japanese base areas of the Eighth Route Army. In order to counter the attack of the recalcitrant army, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army ordered that the main division (129) and the 13 regiments of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region decided to launch a campaign against the recalcitrant army in Wu (An) Ci (County) She(County) and Lin (County).

guidelines for the campaign; Concentrate forces, first annihilate the Zhu (Huaibing) Division of the 97th Army, which is isolated and prominent, monitor and win over the Cixian and Linxian areas, and maintain neutrality in response to Zhu's attack.

In this battle, the Eighth Route Army coordinated with its troops to defeat Zhu (Huaibing) with the most fierce firepower, annihilating more than 10,000 of the enemy's 97th Army and other units.

The deputy commander of the Second Theater Wei (Lihuang) came forward, and the two sides agreed through negotiations; With the main line from Linfen to Tunliu and Changzhi, Pingshun, and Cixian as the boundary, the south of the main line is the garrison area of friendly troops, and the north is the area occupied by the Eighth Route Army.

As soon as the counter-friction came to an end, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army issued an order in response to the 'cage plan' and the 'three-light policy' implemented by the Japanese North China Front, ordering all units in North China to cooperate closely and start operations on April 10, 1940, to launch the most fierce general attack on the enemy's railway and highway communication lines.

The specific deployment of this operation ordered the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region to attack Jinpu, Pinghan, and Zhengtai Road north of Cangshi Road, the main division (129) to attack south of Cangshi Road, and the main division (120) to attack the northern section of Tongpu, Shanzongxu, and Zhusuobu, and to attack Jiaoji Road and the southern section of Jinpu Road.

In the general sabotage campaign formulated by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, because the Chongqing government sent troops to suppress the Yan'an headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the headquarters ordered the suspension of the implementation of the general sabotage campaign plan and the rapid deployment of reinforcements.

The Yan'an General Headquarters asked the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army to leave for Luoyang as soon as possible to negotiate with the deputy commander of the Second Theater Wei on the issue of friendly friction.

Before leaving, the commander-in-chief of the front discussed with the deputy commander-in-chief and the chief of staff in light of the situation in North China, and finally unanimously proposed that in order to prevent the base areas of the Eighth Route Army in North China from being encroached upon by the Japanese army, it was necessary to launch a general sabotage war against the Japanese army's railway and highway communication lines.

The deputy commander-in-chief was always very unsure about the commander-in-chief's departure from the front-line headquarters, and he knew that the commander-in-chief would have to pass through multiple blockade lines of the enemy's puppet and recalcitrant troops, and the road would be very dangerous.

He repeatedly instructed Staff Officer Zhou, who was accompanying the commander-in-chief, to ensure the safety of the commander-in-chief, and not to make a mistake, because if anything happened to the commander-in-chief, he would be shot.

The deputy commander-in-chief of Zhiyong Shuangquan could not let go of the general sabotage battle that he had been brewing for a long time to sabotage the Japanese army's iron furnaces and highway communication lines, he had an idea, wrote a letter on his desk, called Staff Officer Pan, who was acting with the commander-in-chief, to him, handed the letter he wrote to Staff Officer Pan, and repeatedly instructed: "Staff Officer Pan, this letter is very important, when you pass through Baijin Road, throw this letter on the railway, remember, remember." ”

Staff Officer Pan asked puzzledly: "Deputy commander-in-chief, this letter is so important, why did you throw it on the railway line?" If it is picked up by the devil patrol troops, won't it bring serious consequences? ”

"Haha, that's what I want, you just have to do what I say." The deputy commander-in-chief said with confidence in his heart.

The patrol team of the Japanese army in charge of Baijin Road found that there was a letter between the tracks, a devil soldier picked it up and handed it to the patrol team leader, the devil squad leader could only recognize a few words, and saw that the payment was the deputy commander-in-chief of the front line of the Eighth Route Army, he did not dare to delay, and immediately handed over this very important secret letter, level by level, and finally fell into the hands of Chief of Staff Tanabe Shengwu of the North China Front Army.

This cunning fellow, as soon as he saw that it was a handwritten letter from the deputy commander-in-chief of the front line of the Eighth Route Army, immediately opened it and studied it carefully, the content of the letter was very simple, it was a letter to the commander of the Fourth Army Pang, in which he wrote: "Brother Pang; The danger in North China, the key to resisting Japan, your troops have repeatedly launched frictions against our army, but in fact they are not martial, this internal and external difficulties, we should take resistance against Japan as the top priority, if your troops attack again, our army will go all out to meet the battle, and it will be attacked on the same battlefield. ”

Lieutenant General Tanabe Moritake read the letter from the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army to Pang twice, he didn't dare to delay, and immediately handed it over to the commander of the North China Front Army, Okamura Ningji, Okamura Ningji looked at this very important secret letter, 'haha' and laughed: "The Chinese army is about to start a large-scale battle in the Baijin area, Tanabe-kun, what do you think of this letter?" ”

"Your Excellency General Okamura, I have carefully scrutinized this secret letter, and I believe that the handwritten letter of the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army is, firstly, to test the true intentions of the Pang (Bingxun) Division, and secondly, to prepare for the battle to the death with the Pang Division. We, the Imperial Japanese Army, can take advantage of the mutual civil war in China, draw out our forces, and throw them into the frontal battlefield, forcing the supreme commander of the frontal battlefield of the China army to make concessions or even surrender. "The cunning Chief of Staff of Lieutenant General Tanabe of the North China Front Army looked at Commander Okamura Ninji and said.

(End of chapter)