Commander Okamura Ningji looked at Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake through his gold-rimmed glasses, shook his head and asked suspiciously: "Tanabe-kun, the handwritten letter written by the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army is a very important letter, it can be regarded as a war letter, how could such an important secret letter fall between the tracks of the Baijin Railway, is there any conspiracy in this?" ”

Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake, who was cautious, looked at Okamura Ninji, and said a little deliberately pretentiously: "Your Excellency Commander, when I obtained this secret letter, I had doubts in my heart, and immediately telegraphed the commander of the 180th Division Hino Division, asking him to assist in investigating the seven main railway lines such as Zhengtai Road, Jinpu Road, and Tongpu Road, and what is the movement of the main force of the Eighth Route Army, and I have not yet received a reply, I think it will not take long for us to grasp the specific deployment of the large forces of the Eighth Route Army, and we will ...... by then." ”

"Report, the 180th Division, the 108th Division, and the 36th Division are in an emergency." The operational staff officer standing at the door reported.

"Come in." Chief of Staff Tanabe shouted with a smile on his face.

The operational staff officer handed over the three urgent telegrams to Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe, who walked quickly to the door.

Chief of Staff Tanabe quickly glanced at the three urgent telegrams, and then handed them to Okamura Ninji with both hands, and said in an excited tone: "Your Excellency Okamura, according to the urgent telegram report of the commanders of the three divisions stationed on the seven railway trunk lines, the main force of the Eighth Route Army has begun to move, of which the main force of the Eighth Route Army (129) and the main force of the Jinchaji Nie Division have begun to move to the theater of the Pang (Bingxun) Division of the Chinese Army. ”

Commander Okamura Ninji, after reading the three letters of confidential information reported in time by the commanders of the three divisions in different theaters, looked at Lieutenant General Tanabe Moritake, who was pretending to be deep at this time, and asked, "Tanabe-kun, do you already have a new plan?" I might as well say it, I want to know. ”

Chief of Staff of Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe, who was cunning in handling things, looked at Commander Okamura Ninji, who, as a subordinate, was well versed in the officialdom, especially how to deal with the relationship between superiors and subordinates in the army.

At this time, seeing the commander ask, the cunning Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake smiled and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, according to the secret letter received from the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, and the urgent telegram that I just received from the commanders of the three divisions, a battle plan that tends to be perfect should have been formed in the heart of His Excellency the Commander. ”

Okamura Ninji knew very well that the chief of staff around him was not easy to deal with, otherwise Tanabe, who was ten years younger than him, became the chief of staff of the front army at such a young age, although he had nepotism in the military department, but this Tanabe was indeed a shrewd and capable general, and he assisted him in commanding more than 400,000 imperial troops and imperial allelied troops in North China, and he made great contributions.

Thinking of this, Okamura Ninji said gently: "Tanabe-kun, I don't have a mature plan yet, you can say your thoughts, and I will consider it." ”

Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe, who had expected that the commander, who had been in a good position in all matters, would once again ask him to express his opinion, but this time he felt that he could no longer excuse himself, and that his blind ignorance of current affairs would provoke the anger of his superiors.

He said humbly: "Your Excellency Commander, according to the secret letter of the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, combined with the urgent telegrams sent by the commanders of the three divisions, I analyze that the current important strength of the Eighth Route Army should be placed around the troops in southwest Shanxi and central Hebei, and there are signs of rapid assembly.

Once the Chinese army and the Eighth Route Army are engaged, the main transportation routes in North China will be temporarily alleviated, and the sabotage operations of the Eighth Route Army will also be reduced, and the scale of the sabotage will not be large. ”

"There is some truth in what Tanabe-kun said, please continue."

"Haiyi, Okamura-kun, we can take the opportunity to quickly replenish the main forces of the three divisions deployed in Jinnan and Jinchaji to the frontal battlefield, and strike hard at the Zhina troops on the frontal battlefield, forcing the positions of the Zhina troops to shrink and retreat quickly, and our large army can occupy a large area of land, force the senior officers of its Zhina troops to sit down for peace talks, and induce them to surrender, or stop the anti-Japanese confrontation on the frontal battlefield and withdraw from the anti-Japanese front."

"Yanxi, Tanabe-kun's analysis is very profound, I admire it very much, the main force of the North China Front Army should focus on the frontal battlefield at present, and use the most fierce attack to destroy the troops of the frontal resistance in China, so as to achieve what you said to sit down and negotiate peace, and force them to submit."

When Commander Okamura Ninji said this, he suddenly paused, looked at Tanabe and reminded: "Tanabe-kun, the combat strategy of the commander of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army is changeable, and we have to guard against it, do you really think that this secret letter obtained is a declaration of war by the Eighth Route Army against the Chinese troops?" In my opinion, order the three divisions and regiments guarding the seven main railway lines to pay close attention to the movements of the large forces of the Eighth Route Army, confirm the doubt, and immediately implement your plan, which will be very safe, how about Tanabe-kun's intentions? ”

"Haiyi, His Excellency General's prompt is very reasonable, and I will implement it again immediately." Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe turned around and walked out of the commander's office, and immediately issued an order with the commanders of the three divisions in front to continue to closely observe the Eighth Route Army and all troop movements, and to report immediately if there was a situation.

After several days of investigation, the telegram that was summarized on the desk of Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe pointed out very clearly; The main forces of the Eighth Route Army moved frequently, and the main direction of movement was directed towards the Fourth Army of Pang (Bingxun) of the Zhina Army.

According to the intelligence, the North China Front Army Command ordered: Order the 9th, 4th, and 8th mixed brigades of the Japanese army on the Zhengtai Line to quickly dispatch the main force to reinforce the Xuzhou battlefield.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the front command of the Eighth Route Army, since he deliberately left a secret letter to Pang (Bingxun) in the Baijin Railway, in order to confuse the enemy, the deputy commander-in-chief ordered the main forces of Jinnan and Jinchaji to begin to assemble step by step, and the assembly speed should be semi-hidden, causing the Japanese headquarters of the Japanese North China Front Army to learn the information and make troop adjustments.

A few days later, the chief of staff of the front line of the Eighth Route Army walked into the deputy commander-in-chief's office excitedly, slapped the information in his hand and said excitedly: "Deputy commander-in-chief, your trick is very effective, the Japanese troops along the railways and highways of the North China Front have begun to move."

According to reliable information, the main force of the ninth, fourth, and eighth mixed brigades of the Japanese army deployed on the Zhengtai Road to quickly maneuver to other battlefields, and now the three mixed brigades along the Zhengtai Railway, which is more than 240 kilometers long, have only deployed less than 4,000 little devils. ”

The deputy commander-in-chief also said happily: "Very well, as for when to launch a general sabotage war, it is necessary to do a good job of further in-depth investigation and find out the enemy's troop deployment on the lines of communication, so that we can adjust our troops in a targeted manner and launch a general sabotage war against the enemy's lines of communication." ”

In the anti-Japanese base areas of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese army carried out the brutal blockade and in-depth penetration of the 'cage plan' and the 'three-light policy' along the railways and highways, divided and cleared the base areas of the Eighth Route Army, and some diehards sabotaged the united front of the War of Resistance against Japan and launched a counteroffensive against the Eighth Route Army, and the entire base area of the Eighth Route Army was in a very difficult period.

At the meeting of the chief ministers, the deputy commander-in-chief angrily pointed out: We are now "fighting tigers at the front door and wolves at the back door, and the situation is very grim." ”

For this reason, on 25 April, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army issued instructions to the heads of all corps and military regions clearly stated: "The Japanese are now desperately building roads" and that "if this conspiracy is not stopped and smashed in time, and when it is completed, it will be extremely difficult and disadvantageous to us to persist in the war of resistance behind enemy lines." ”

The commanders of all corps and military regions are required to actively plan and take corresponding countermeasures in light of the troops and the current situation to sabotage them.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army stood in the room, looking at the map hanging on the wall, scanning the railway and highway networks crisscrossed by the map like a spider's web, and from time to time drawing a few strokes on the map with the pencil in his hand, sometimes falling into deep thought.

He stood in front of the map of the Zhengtai Railway, which was specially hung in the war room, and carefully scrutinized it little by little, as if the battle scene of the Zhengtai Road General Raid had been extended from the map with artillery fire and gunfire.

The deputy commander-in-chief looked at the Japanese army's transportation network composed of seven trunk lines of the North China Railway, namely Zhengtai, Tongpu, Pingsui, Beining, Jiaoji, and Pinghan, and it was these intricate spider-web-like railway lines that divided and blocked the two major base areas of the Eighth Route Army, of which the Zhengtai line was in the center of other railway lines, and its strategic location was particularly important.

With regard to the important position of the Zhengtai line, the heads of various corps and military regions, as well as some generals, all believed that this railway line was the lifeline of communication for the Japanese invaders, but no effective combat order was formed on how to break the attack.

The deputy commander-in-chief has been immersed in front of the map for the past few days, and after careful thinking, he has formed a plan in his mind, but in the end he overturned them one by one.

There was no charcoal fire in the house, and the deputy commander-in-chief who left the map, feeling a little pain in his head, walked out of the house with a similar temperature inside and outside, and came to the outside of the village, where the spring was still cold.

The weather in April, on the Loess Plateau, the wind is still so hard, and the weather is still so cold. But before the commander-in-chief left, he led the soldiers and civilians to plant small trees, swaying in the cold wind, they were waiting, waiting for the right temperature, the right sunshine, these newly planted small trees will definitely sprout and grow.

(End of chapter)