Umezu Mijiro looked very gentle on the outside, and if he didn't wear a military uniform, no one would have expected him to be a soldier, let alone his cruelty.

As the new commander of the Japanese army of the First Army of the North China Front, after Umezu Mijiro came to Shijiazhuang to take office, he set his sights on Sun Weiguo's new Second Brigade.

Umezu Mijiro wanted to prove his strength by encircling and annihilating the new 2nd Brigade troops, which had terrified the Japanese army in North China.

However, his encirclement and annihilation plan had not yet had time to be implemented, but the troops of the new second brigade took the lead and easily annihilated all the independent mixed fifth brigades stationed in Xiyang County.

This time, the North China side dispatched three divisions and regiments, two independent mixed brigades, one mixed brigade, and one cavalry brigade, totaling more than 70,000 troops, to participate in the encirclement and annihilation of the New Second Brigade, of which the strength directly used to encircle and annihilate the New Second Brigade reached two divisions and regiments, one independent mixed brigade, one mixed combat brigade, and one cavalry brigade, and there were aviation units to assist in the battle.

With such a troop deployment, Umezu Mijiro is very confident that all the troops of Sun Weiguo's new Second Brigade will be annihilated.

Even if the troops of the New Second Brigade withdraw from Pingding County, the First Army will not give up, and they will chase after the troops of the New Second Brigade until all the troops of the New Second Brigade are annihilated.

The Japanese troops had a strong sense of revenge, and as long as they suffered losses, they would certainly take external means of retaliation.

This time, the troops of the New Second Brigade surrounded and annihilated an independent mixed brigade of the Japanese army, and killed Qin Yashang, a lieutenant general of the Japanese army, so the Japanese army naturally would not give up easily.

"Your Excellency Commander, the intelligence agency has sent a telegram, according to the report of the Stinger on the inside line of the New Second Brigade, the troops of the New Second Brigade will stay in Pingding County with the main force, and Sun Weiguo said that he will live and die with Pingding County. This time, the new Second Brigade is to defend Pingding County to the death, and their deployment is the most in line with their current situation. ”

Shojiro Iida came to Umezu Mijiro with a telegram, and he looked at Umezu Mijiro with a faint smile on his face.

After receiving this telegram report from the intelligence agency, Chief of Staff Shojiro Iida felt indescribable joy in his heart.

Umezu Mijiro looked at the message that Shojiro Iida was holding in his hand, but the expression on his face changed somewhat.

The troops of the New Second Brigade remained in Pyeongding County, which was something that Umezu Mijiro wanted to see, but it was something he didn't want to see.

Umezu Mijiro succeeded Kiyoji Kazuki as commander of the First Army, and he had a detailed understanding of the troops of the New Second Brigade.

The troops of the New Second Brigade are good at fighting defensive warfare, which Umezu Mijiro knows very well, and he also knows that if the troops of the New Second Brigade hold their positions, then the Japanese troops will definitely pay some price, so in Umezu Mijiro's view, if the troops of the New Second Brigade break through in advance, then the Japanese troops will encircle and pursue the troops of the New Second Brigade, and there may be unexpected results.

Looking at Shojiro Iida in front of him, Umezu Mijiro placed the message on the table.

According to the calculations of the North China Front Command, our casualties in this operation will be at least about 10,000, but now that the New Second Brigade is staying in Pingding County, they are obviously aware of our actions, according to Sun Weiguo's ability, if we want to completely annihilate the troops of the New Second Brigade, I am afraid we will have to pay at least about 15,000 casualties."

Umezu Mijiro said in a solemn tone, for such a casualty budget, Umezu Mijiro felt that he was not exaggerating at all, and even the final casualties of the Japanese army may be more.

"Your Excellency Commander, the troops of the New Second Brigade are staying in Binh Dinh County this time, and we can use aircraft and artillery to concentrate air strikes and shell Binh Dinh County, we will first blow up Pingding County into a piece of waste, and then all units are advancing, so that the casualties of our troops can be greatly reduced."

Iida Shojiro hesitated, for what Umezu Mijiro said, Iida Shojiro felt that Umezu Mijiro was not exaggerating.

However, the Japanese army had the advantage of aircraft and artillery, and Iida Shojiro intended to make full use of this advantage to complete the operation.

"How are the ministries progressing now, and have they all started to get to the offensive positions?"

Umezu Mijiro nodded, and these things that Iida Shojiro said made Umezu Mijiro agree very much.

He felt that the use of aircraft and artillery to carry out air strikes and artillery strikes on Binh Dinh County was indeed a good way to reduce the casualties of the troops.

Today is June 24, and there is still one day left before the date set by the North China Front for attack, but Umezu Yoshijiro intends to take action against Binh Dinh County from tomorrow, and he will use aircraft and artillery to destroy all the fortifications in Binh Dinh County.

"At present, the various departments are already on the march, and they will arrive at the designated position in the afternoon at the latest, Your Excellency Commander, when will our headquarters enter Taiyuan?"

Shojiro Iida replied immediately, and at the same time he asked about the establishment of the forward headquarters by Mijiro Umezu.

This time, for the five-way siege of Sun Weiguo's new Second Brigade, Umezu Mijiro, the headquarters of the First Army, will personally take command, and at the same time, the lieutenant general and chief of staff of the North China Front, Okabe Naosaburo, will also personally supervise the battle.

In order to more effectively command the various units of the Japanese army, Umezu Yoshijiro wanted to set up a front-line command center in Taiyuan, so that it would be convenient for him to command the various units of the Japanese army to fight.

"In the afternoon, the headquarters will be transferred to Taiyuan, and we will command the divisions to fight in Taiyuan." Umezu Mijiro replied.

The operation of the Japanese troops has already begun, tens of thousands of Japanese troops began to assemble near Pingding County one after another, they planned to annihilate all the troops of Sun Weiguo's new Second Brigade, the Japanese army has great ambitions this time, and they are also full of confidence in this operation.

At this time, at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, Mr. Zhu and Vice President Peng looked at the telegram sent by Chief of Staff Ni of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region, but they fell into silence.

Sun Weiguo disobeyed the military orders of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, and Mr. Zhu and Deputy Peng were always very annoyed, because they felt that the troops of the New Second Brigade had the idea of being proud and underestimating the enemy, but after reading Chief of Staff Ni's telegram, the two bosses realized that the situation Sun Weiguo considered was indeed reasonable.

"Boss, vice president, Brigade Commander Sun is justified in doing this, if the new Second Brigade troops withdraw this time, the Japanese troops will definitely slaughter the people of Pingding County, which will bring a great blow to our Eighth Route Army troops, once the people in other places know about this matter, they are afraid that they will stay away from our Eighth Route Army troops. On the contrary, our troops stayed in Pingding County to protect the people, which means that our Eighth Route Army is a force to protect the people, and only in this way will the people support us. ”

After reading the message, Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo looked at the two bosses and said in a solemn tone.