Northeast. Upper reaches of the Liao River.

Li Dingguo led his troops to ambush a transport brigade of the puppet Manchukuo and completely annihilate an infantry brigade of the National Defense Army.

"Reading"

At 5 o'clock this afternoon, the cavalry group of our army completely annihilated the 98th Cavalry Division of the Japanese Army, the 9th and 12th Divisions of the Cavalry of the puppet Manchukuo National Defense Army, and completely annihilated more than 35,000 Japanese puppet troops and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. You are hereby ordered to immediately assemble heavy troops to besiege Tongliao and its surrounding counties and cities, destroy the enemy's munitions and materials stored in Tongliao, and cut off the enemy's rear road, Shen Yuquan, Suidong Military Division, February 28, 1941. ”

"Got it, notify the communication company immediately"

"Yes"

Five minutes later, more than a hundred sturdy men gathered in front of the residence of Li Dingguo, who was temporarily stationed. A cadre wearing a sheepskin jacket and a cotton hat quickly ran over and said: "Report to the brigade commander, the communication company has been assembled, it should be 187 people, but it is 187 people, please instruct"

"Homecoming"

"Take a break"

"Risaki"

"Order: The whole company of the communication company set out, and now immediately rush to the garrisons of all troops, order all regiments, battalions, companies, and platoons to assemble at Baolong Mountain at once, cancel all battles big and small, and no matter how many horses are killed, the order must be conveyed, and it must be told to the military commanders of all units, do you understand?"

"Hear and understand, make sure to complete the task," everyone in the communication company said in unison.

"Alright, let's carry out the order"

"Yes"

Liu Zhiguo, commander of the communications company, flew on his horse and shouted: "Get on the horse, one platoon and one squad will go to Changling to notify the first regiment, one platoon and two squads will go to Longshan to notify the second regiment, one platoon and three squads will go to Xinglong to notify the fourth regiment, and the second platoon and one squad will go."

Not to mention that Li Dingguo's side hurriedly assembled troops to prepare for opening up, but Han Yunhua's side was overjoyed after receiving the good news from Saibei, and immediately sent an order to inform the whole military region to commend the Suidong Army Sub-district, and at the same time sent this good news to the Yan'an Party Central Military Commission and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters.

The news that more than 30,000 cavalry of the Japanese army was completely annihilated by Han Yunhua's department soon spread all over the north and south of the river, and suddenly the country was full of joy, Han Yunhua is like a symbol of the god of war, as long as he appears in the place where victory will always be accompanied, for a time young students from all over the country have flocked to Shandong, hoping to see Han Yunhua on the Shandong front line or participate in the troops led by Han Yunhua.

Jinan. Headquarters of the North China Front of the Japanese Army.

After reading the information sent by Yamaguchi Meizi, Okamura Ningji was silent, it was not that he had not thought of such an ending before, after all, everyone in the Inner Mongolia Military Region knew about the strength, and even most of the entire North China Front Army had been planted in the hands of Han Yunhua's department, and it was not impossible to completely annihilate a few cavalry divisions. And to be honest, the rudeness of this battle in the north will not affect his head in Gangcun, if you want to say that the person in charge is also the commander of the Kwantung Army, even if someone is responsible for the defeat of the war, it will not be his turn to Okamura Ningji.

However, Okamura Ninji was still extremely sad, because no matter what, the losses were all the warriors of the Great Japanese Empire, and although only more than 12,000 of the more than 30,000 people were real Japanese troops, these 12,000 people were not something that the empire could afford to lose at will. You must know that the reason why Han Yunhua's department can rise in such a short period of time is not unrelated to the "support" of the imperial army, according to the combat experience of the past few years, those senior officers of the Japanese army have found the "main reason" for the rise of Han Yunhua's department, and the most important point is that soon after each major war, Han Yunhua's department will undergo major changes, and its strength will also develop by leaps and bounds.

The loss of 300,000 troops this time would not have had much impact on Japan, but Okamura Ninji knew that the gains of Han Yunhua's troops this time were far more than the achievements of these 30,000 imperial troops, but the addition of tens of thousands of cavalry troops.

"Yamaguchi, how many troops does the empire still have in the northern steppes of China, and who is the commander?" Okamura asked in a deep voice.

Yamaguchi Meizi said: "The empire sent a total of nearly 90,000 troops to the northern steppe of China this time, of which more than 95 were cavalry, and the Kwantung Army Headquarters also deployed 60,000 troops outside Shanhaiguan, known as 100,000 to the outside world, in order to contain the independent 77th Division in eastern Hebei and a large number of infantry in China, and prevent them from supporting the Saibei grassland." The commander in command of this operation was Lieutenant General Tajiro, but this time His Excellency Tajiro was fighting with the 98th Cavalry Division, and so far we have not received any news that His Excellency Tajiro was captured or killed in battle. ”,

"Yo Xi, as long as it's not captured, it's very good, the Kwantung Army made a big mistake this time, Han Yunhua is indeed Han Yunhua, far more difficult to deal with than ordinary Chinese officers, we have already lost this battle." Speaking of this, Okamura Ninji sighed heavily.

"Nani, Your Excellency, although the empire has suffered a great loss in the northern steppe, our forces in the Shandong region have not been devastated, how can we say that we have failed?" Umeko Yamaguchi asked, puzzled.

"Yamaguchi, although you are a good intelligence officer, but you are not a good strategic commander, the fundamental purpose of Han Yunhua's battle with the front army was not to rescue the infantry regiment that was besieged in Lu Quantun, I have already guessed this, but I did not guess that Han Yunhua's real intentions would be so many. On the one hand, he wanted to permanently fight Hebei, Beiping, Jidong, Rehe, Chahar, Suiyuan and other provinces and cities, and on the other hand, he set his sights on the Suidong region. Due to the error of strategic judgment, the empire suffered a big loss this time, hey this is the difference between a strategist and a tactician, Han Yunhua is undoubtedly an excellent strategic commander. ”

"What does this mean, Your Excellency, our Great Japanese Empire still occupies the vast majority of the rich provinces and cities in China, and controls almost all the outlets to the sea in China, and the empire is also victorious in Southeast Asia, especially half a month ago, it occupied Myitkyina, the back road of the China Expeditionary Force has been cut off, and it is only a matter of time before the more than 100,000 elites sent by the China government are destroyed, whether it is in the entire East Asia or the entire Pacific Rim Theater Empire, it occupies an absolute advantage. Whether it is Beiping or Saibei grassland, it is just a small victory in the great rout of China for the whole battle situation, and it does not help the overall situation at all, so why worry about it. Yamaguchi Umeko said.

Okamura Ninji said: "Yamaguchi, what you see is only a superficial phenomenon, not long ago the 26 countries of the Allied Powers signed a military alliance treaty against the Empire, Germany and Italy, and now all the countries of the Empire are no longer facing only one country, but dozens of countries, including China, including behemoths such as the Soviet Union and the United States. So now the empire must be cautious with every step, and if you make a mistake, you will make a mistake. Don't underestimate these defeats in North China, he is likely to trigger serious consequences that we cannot predict. ”

"Your Excellency, although there is some truth in your words, it will not necessarily happen, although the branch is becoming more and more difficult to deal with, and Han Yunhua's department is becoming more and more powerful. But the threats you just mentioned are hardly any obstacles for the Empire, and let's talk about our current greatest enemy, the United States, which now has less than 100,000 land forces, and these armies are very reluctant to protect their homeland, and it is almost impossible to send troops to land for operations. Although the U.S. Navy is strong, it has been greatly damaged after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by His Excellency Yamamoto, and it is not to think of regaining combat effectiveness in a short time, so the only one that can compete with the Imperial Navy in the entire Pacific Ocean is the Soviet Far East Fleet. But the situation in the Soviet Union was not much better than that of the United States, and even worse. ”

"You mean our ally, Germany?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, one year ago, our ally Germany began to prepare for the Soviet Union, and six months ago the German High Command concentrated 152 divisions and 2 brigades, together with 29 divisions and 18 brigades from Finland, Romania and other client countries, a total of 181 divisions and 20 brigades, about 4,300 tanks, more than 47,000 artillery pieces and mortars, and 4,980 aircraft. 192 ships, with a total strength of about 5.5 million men, were organized into 3 army groups and 3 independently operating army groups to attack the Soviet Union in three strategic directions. Army Group "North" was designed to destroy Soviet troops on the Baltic coast, occupy ports, deprive the Soviet fleet of bases and prevent Soviet troops from retreating eastward, in order to advance towards Leningrad under strong conditions. Army Group "Center" attacked in the direction of Brest and Minsk, cut the strategic front of the Soviet defenses, encircled and annihilated the Soviet troops in Belarus, and then attacked in the direction of Smolensk, aiming directly at Moscow. Army Group "South" was to attack in the direction of Kyiv, seize the positions of Soviet troops in Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper in the area south of Kyiv, and then develop an offensive towards Donbass. ”

Umeko Yamaguchi's next words Okamura Ninji had actually guessed it, but he still asked with interest, "What about the result?" ”,

"The result, of course, was that our ally, Germany, did not disappoint us, and the Soviet Union, although it seemed to be strong, actually showed disappointing combat effectiveness. This ally of ours is worthy of the country that crushed the entire Western world with one hand in the last war, and beat all the countries of Eastern Europe to their knees and begged for mercy with the other. The German army broke into the Soviet Union, and under the blows of the German tank divisions and infantry divisions like a tide, the Soviet army lost its territory, and in just 10 days, the German army broke through to the Soviet Union 600 kilometers. And on the first day of fighting alone, the Soviets lost 1,200 aircraft, 800 of which were blown up before they could take off. Even His Excellency the German Führer made wild promises that the Soviet Union would be destroyed in three months. Less than two weeks after the start of the war, the Soviets retreated 450 kilometers and abandoned the Baltic coast. 24 divisions of the Soviet army were completely routed, 20 divisions lost 60 men and equipment. The capital of Belarus, Minsk, fell. The Western Front was not much better, the Soviet army retreated 350 kilometers, 30 divisions were annihilated, and 70 divisions lost more than 50 men. 600,000 Soviet troops were captured in the Battle of Kiev. The Soviet Southern Front suffered an even worse defeat, with the Soviet Southwestern Front losing 700,000 men. Even Stalin's eldest son, Yakov. Dzhugashvili was also captured near Vebsk at the same time as several thousand officers and soldiers. Now that the German army is in the Lokhvica region (Ukraine), encircling the main forces of the Soviet Southwestern Front, it is only a matter of time before the Soviet Southwestern Front is routed, do you think such a Soviet Union is still a threat to the Reich? ”。

Okamura Ninji smiled and said: "Yamaguchi, let me tell you the latest battle report, after 10 days of bloody fighting in the Lokhvica area, the Soviet army broke through in a small number and more than 450,000 people were annihilated, including 60,000 officers. The commander of the South-Western Front, Kilponos, and the chief of staff, Tupikov, were killed. In the first four months of the war, the Soviet army lost nearly 2.5 million troops and 8,166 warplanes, accounting for 96 of the total number of Soviet warplanes at the outbreak of the war. Then Okamura Ninji changed his tone and said loudly: "But what does this mean, didn't the Germans say that they would destroy the Soviet Union in three months?" However, now the USSR is not in good shape and continues to resist. Just like the empire shouted three months of destruction before the war, it was not just a slogan, and the real effect was extremely limited. Don't look at the current Germany although the victory is continuous, but it is only the Soviet Union has not yet entered the coldest winter, and before the last winter Germany was only fighting in Eastern Europe, has not yet penetrated into the hinterland of the Soviet Union, if Germany can not take Stalingrad and Moscow before the arrival of this winter's cold snap, then Germany may not be able to win this war. ”

"Nani? Why is that? Your Excellency, Commander, please clear up your doubts about your humble duties."

Okamura Ninji said: "Now in the eyes of the allies, we are fascist countries like Germany, do you understand fascists?" That is the extreme form of collectivism, which is hostile to all the allies. Don't look at the fact that Germany is now rushing in the whole of Eastern Europe, beating the whole Eastern European countries out of breath. But as long as Germany dared to attack the Soviet Union, then Germany pushed the war in which victory was under control to the extremes full of unknowns. You must know that at this time, there was still a huge gap between the national strength of the Soviet Union and Germany, and the strength of the two countries before the war. In terms of manpower, the Soviet Union had a male population of 31.5 million 20~39 years old, and there were 15 million 20~39-year-olds in Russians alone, but there were 15.5 million Germans in the same state. In terms of industry, although Germany has significant advantages in coal and steel, it lacks rare metals, especially oil, which is the blood of industry, and Germany and its occupying powers extract only 1.9 million tons of oil, synthesize 4.1 million tons of fuel from coal, and obtain 8.8 million tons of oil reserves from France, Belgium and a number of other countries. But can such a small amount of fuel support the entire war, obviously not. Moreover, the Soviet Union's industrial manufacturing capacity and vast territory provided the Soviet Union with extremely favorable strategic depth, and Germany, like the Reich, would face the problem of lengthening the front and supplying difficulties, and with other countries supporting the Soviet Union on the side, then Germany's chances of winning the war were very small. ”

"Your Excellency, what should we do? I think Your Excellency knows the consequences of defeat better than I do, the empire must not be defeated, and defeat means that the entire nation will perish, which the Yamato nation cannot bear under any circumstances. Umeko Yamaguchi asked in a trembling voice.

"Yamaguchi, if we want to have a place in the Reich in the future, then the only thing we can do is to occupy the whole territory of China before the defeat of Germany and force the government of China to stop resisting. With the resources and abundant labor force in China, neither Germany, nor the United States, nor the Soviet Union dared to pay attention to Germany, and this was the way out for the Great Japanese Empire. So for now, we have to take a long-term view, and we must not get carried away because of a small victory. Passing on my order, the 6th Division, the 21st Division, the 1st Army, the 3rd Army, and the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Imperial Allied Army will attack with the whole army, and fight a positional battle with the Great Army on the outskirts of Texas. ”,

"Hail"

"Order: The 52nd Division, the 53rd Division, the 54th Division, the 2nd Army of the Imperial Cooperative Army, and the 3rd Brigade of the Mixed Army are stationed in Linqing, and the troops are building fortifications on the periphery of Linqing, and the people of China must not be put in the hinterland of Shandong. At the same time, a telegram was sent to the 55th and 56th Divisions, the 4th Army and the 6th Army of the Allied Army, ordering their two divisions to immediately go north to deal with another large army in China. In addition, a message was sent to the aviation regiment and the tank division, ordering them to ensure air and ground artillery support and assault support in the direction of Texas. ”

"Hail"

Under Han Yunhua's instructions, the whole army continued to attack the Japanese army's defense, although the Japanese army's resistance became more and more stubborn, but it still could not resist the attack of Han Yunhua's department, if it were not for the continuous harassment of the Japanese air force during the day, and a large number of tanks and armored vehicles to help, the reorganized 300th Division would have already broken into the city of Dezhou.

Despite this, the troops were still about to break through to Luquantun, and although the Second Regiment, which had been surrounded by the Japanese army in the past few days, had no intention of destroying the Second Regiment because of the Japanese army's rat trap. Of course, Han Yunhua also reciprocated, Li did not order the troops to attack the Japanese brigade surrounded by the army, although the two sides fought to the death in other places, but these two places were quite safe.

In fact, in the eyes of Han Yunhua and Okamura Ningji, there is no need to fight this battle anymore, anyway, their respective goals have been achieved, and the news of the North China Front's heavy damage to Han Yunhua's department during this time has spread widely, and there is no Han Yunhua's department or the Communist Party to avoid rumors, so people have begun to believe that Han Yunhua's department has been hit hard.

And then the news that Han Yunhua's troops began to withdraw from Shandong also began to spread throughout the northern region, which further confirmed that Han Yunhua's troops had been hit hard. More importantly, at this critical juncture, Han Yunhua's department demanded that Wei Lihuang's department of the Nationalist Government immediately take over the defense of North China and that the Nationalist Government fulfill the agreement between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party......

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