Lei Jian was encouraged by everyone for a while, although he was asked a few words by Commander Chen just now, and he was so frightened that he was afraid to investigate the source of these battle examples he said, and scolded himself for not being cheap at that time, and he showed off when he got the opportunity, but at this time he was pushed up again, and this stinky boy who had something to say to the end really continued to say.

He just said that the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters listened carefully and carefully remembered the report made by the head of Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan, and the deputy commander-in-chief immediately thought of the big action he was brewing for the next step. However, he was a little shaken in his plan, and under the general trend that the enemy is strong and we are weak, how can he launch a large-scale campaign, break the Japanese army's 'cage policy,' and boost the confidence of the army and people in the base areas in defeating the enemy? This is the most critical.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the front line of the Eighth Route Army weighed the situation for a long time, and he believed that in order to win with a weak enemy under the offensive against a strong enemy, it was necessary to mobilize propaganda and agitate the army and people in the base areas, create momentum, and defeat the enemy spiritually. in order to win in the specific battle.

He believes that in terms of tactics, attack the weak enemy first, and destroy them in batches, so that the strong will also become weak.

The deputy commander-in-chief pointed out that in the current situation of fighting between us and the enemy, the enemy is much stronger than our Eighth Route Army, but they have a long battle line, their forces are scattered, and they occupy all big cities and communication arteries, and in order to protect these important areas, the Japanese army must divide its troops to guard them, and the enemy's big cities and communication arteries surround our Eighth Route Army's base areas, but we occupy large areas of rural areas and small county towns, and we surround the Japanese army.

The main form of struggle is that the enemy adopts large forces to carry out sweeping and territorial blockade of our base areas, and the Eighth Route Army is in a passive counter-sweep, the enemy is attacking, and the Eighth Route Army is on the defensive.

Stressing defense in stress, the deputy commander-in-chief pointed out: "The key point of active defense is to take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold in the movement, build momentum first, concentrate superior forces, break through the enemy's weak points, and destroy the enemy in motion with resolute, rapid, and decisive strategy and tactics.

This kind of defense is not a retreat without fighting, nor is it a random attack without strategy, and if you fight, you will have to beat the enemy painfully, and the enemy will have a long memory. ”

After several days of analysis and study of the situation in North China, the next step of the major operation that the deputy commander-in-chief was about to embark on was slowly plumped up from the prototype.

The Japanese army's attack on the Eighth Route Army in North China carried out a large and small campaign to break the lines of communication, greatly dispersed the Japanese army's troops, and the enemy who fought could not take care of the head and tail, panicked, especially the enemy in the strongholds and artillery towers along the railways and highways, heard that the soldiers and civilians of the Eighth Route Army were breaking the road outside, and they were killed several times, and they were hit by the fire of the Eighth Route Army troops who set up an ambush, and suffered heavy casualties.

The commander of the North China Front of the Japanese Army, in the face of such a large-scale sabotage battle of the Eighth Route Army, repeatedly issued orders to clear and suppress the base areas of the Eighth Route Army, and a large number of devils entered the base areas to implement the 'three-light policy'.

The Japanese troops stationed on the front line in North China frantically divided and compressed the base areas of the Eighth Route Army with railways as pillars, highways as chains, and stronghold artillery towers as locks.

In the course of the enemy's sweeping, encirclement, and suppression, and in accordance with the deployment of enemy and our forces on the main lines of communication at that time, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army decided to launch a sabotage campaign on the largest scale in order to break the 'cage policy' implemented by the Japanese army against the Eighth Route Army, but this sabotage war was not launched for a long time.

At the critical juncture of the Eighth Route Army's sweep and the 'cage policy' of encirclement and suppression, the diehards of the friendly forces were instructed by the top-level figures to send large troops to attack and harass and encroach on the Japanese base areas, and cooperated with the Japanese army in the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese base areas from the side.

In order to return the situation, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army had to abandon this large-scale attack on the Japanese army's communication lines, mobilize the main force of the Eighth Route Army to attack the recalcitrant troops on various battlefields, and carry out counterattacks against the diehards, breaking the first ****** of the diehards.

This kind of domestic friction is really fast for those who are close to each other, as the deputy commander-in-chief said: "The front door fights the tiger, and the back door enters the wolf." "The situation is dire.

During this period, the deputy commander-in-chief watched the Japanese army continue to encroach on the base areas and use the transportation network to divide and compress the anti-Japanese base areas.

He escorted the commander-in-chief back to Yan'an for a meeting, called Staff Officer Pan beside the commander-in-chief, handed him a letter, and repeatedly instructed him to leave the letter to him on the way when crossing the Japanese blockade line.

This is a letter to General Pang of the die-hard army, in which the rhetoric is fierce, and the battle is openly called, informing Pang that the Eighth Route Army and the diehards will still fight a decisive battle in this area. The purpose was to use this letter as a bait and be discovered by the Japanese army, who believed that the main strength of the Eighth Route Army was still dealing with the recalcitrant army that was engaged in friction, not the Japanese army.

After constant fighting and talks between the Eighth Route Army and the diehards, the situation changed, and the Eighth Route Army, in the face of the Japanese army's pressing forward step by step, used the lines of communication to blockade, encroach, and divide the anti-Japanese base areas, and the deputy commander-in-chief issued instructions from the commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief to the commanders of the corps.

The telegram clearly instructed: "The Japanese invaders are building railways and highways on the Pingping and Ming lines. If this kind of conspiracy is not actively sought to be stopped and smashed, and when it is completed, it will be very difficult and unfavorable to us to persist in the war of resistance behind enemy lines. The commanders of each corps should devise effective countermeasures in light of the current situation and sabotage them. ”

In order to counter the Japanese army's sweep and sabotage the insidious 'cage policy'. The chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army ventured to the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region through the enemy's blockade line to solicit the opinions of the leaders.

Not long after that, the heads of the military regions in North China came to the front-line headquarters of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters again to express their opinions on the enemy's 'cage policy' implemented against the Japanese base areas.

The deputy commander-in-chief stood in front of the map, carefully studying the railway and highway traffic maps hanging on the wall like spider webs, his brows sometimes furrowed, sometimes stretched, and he listened to everyone's discussion in contemplation.

Half a day later, he suddenly turned around, looked at the heads of the military regions who were doing it with a keen eye, and said solemnly: "It can be regarded as a dangerous move for you to come here at the risk of war, and the meeting held this time is mainly to study how to destroy the railway and highway transportation network of the Japanese invaders, break the enemy's blockade, and expand the anti-Japanese base areas. ”

He pointed to the map hanging on the wall of the war room and said: "This traffic map is a new communication line that has recently been added to the original North China railway and highway map by the Japanese invaders.

It was these seven transportation network lines that cut and divided our anti-Japanese base areas, and caused great threats and inconvenience to the Japanese army and civilians against them.

Of the seven trunk lines, Zhengtai Road is particularly important, and this railway line is in the heart of the other railways. The commanders of our military regions and corps have also seen this and have put forward very good ideas and plans for sabotage. ”

Brigade Commander Chen of the 386th Brigade said with some excitement: "We have built the Zhengtai Railway many times, how about we concentrate on getting rid of it first?"

The reason why we want to start from Zhengtai Road is because Zhengtai Road is the only railway for the Japanese army to enter and exit Shanxi, it is the most important railway line for the devils, and it is also the support of the Japanese army that divides and encroaches on the two major base areas of Taihang Mountain and Jinchaji, and these railways run through the territory of Taihang Mountain, and there are more bridges and culverts along the line, which is convenient for the troops to conceal, and it is easier to destroy than the plains. ”

Everyone had a heated discussion on the suggestions put forward by Brigade Commander Chen, some problems are not so simple, and the attack will be effective and will play a role, but according to the technical strength of the Japanese army, it will concentrate its forces to suppress it and repair it in a very short time.

According to the hot spots discussed by everyone, the deputy commander-in-chief opened the march map, pointed to the map and looked at everyone and said: "The commander-in-chief and I have been brewing and analyzing, and it has been decided that the joint efforts of Commander Liu of Jin, Hebei, Henan and Nie of Jinchaji will make a big attack on Zhengtai Road from the north and south, open up the connection between the two base areas of Taihang Mountain and Jinchaji, tear up the 'cage' set up by the Japanese for the Eighth Route Army, and expand the anti-Japanese base area. ”

At this meeting, it was planned to take Zhengtai Road as the center to attack the Japanese traffic line, and after the meeting, the deputy commander-in-chief carefully adjusted the initial plan according to the feasible suggestions put forward by everyone.

The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army set the goal of attacking the Japanese army's communication line at Zhengtai Road, which was determined on the basis of the importance of Zhengtai Road.

Zhengtai Road is the earliest railway in Shanxi, originally planned to be repaired to Taiyuan by digging mountains and crossing the river along the way from Zhengding Liulinbao in Hebei Province, named after it, and later because of the difficulty of construction, it is difficult to build a bridge on a dangerous river, and it was changed to repair from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, also known as 'Shitai Railway'.