In the eyes of this shrewd king of Shanxi, from the current development of the entire battle situation, he does not follow the trend and stands aside and watches coldly. In the case that the three parties are stronger than themselves, no matter who wins the final victory, they can take advantage of the fisherman, which is undoubtedly the most beneficial to themselves.

Even if the Japanese army can win, it will have nothing to lose to itself. No matter who wins or loses in the Jizhong battlefield, at least for a short time, the Japanese army will not have time to take care of the Shanxi battlefield. At present, the situation in the Jizhong battlefield does not seem to be very favorable to the Japanese army. The decline of the Japanese army in the Jizhong battlefield is already quite obvious.

Otherwise, the Japanese army would not have wanted to transfer the First Army from Shanxi to join the Hebei battlefield out of Taihang Mountain. At present, the Northeast Communist Army, which has entered the customs in a big way, is definitely a hard bone. Judging from the intelligence, the number of tanks alone is enough for him Okamura Ninji to drink a pot.

The current offensive launched by the communist army against the First Army is in terms of the current combat effectiveness and equipment of the communist army in Shanxi. Coupled with the Central Army, even if the Japanese army can hold the Shanxi battlefield, they will be greatly injured at that time. Even if he wants to take revenge on himself, he doesn't have the ability to do so.

At the same time, in terms of the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, if the communist army wants to achieve victory, I am afraid that it will have to pay a great price, and it will also have to suffer a great loss of vitality. Although the Japanese army on the current Chinese battlefield has begun to decline, after all, the old foundation and vitality are still there. The communist army launched such a big offensive at this time, and it is probably certain that it will lose both sides with the Japanese army.

In the face of the situation of two tigers fighting, watching the tiger fight on the wall is the most important thing for oneself to do. Wouldn't it be much better to wait until the two tigers are both defeated and come forward to clean up the mess than to wade into the troubled waters of the Japanese now. At that time, even if he does something to do something, he will also suffer heavy losses, and the Northeast Communist Army, which is unable to launch a big war in a short period of time, will be helpless against himself.

As for the Central Army that entered the Jin, as long as you are careful not to give them the truth. Presumably, the supreme authority in Chongqing did not dare to push himself too hard. Although the little devil is now declining, in fact, he no longer poses much of a threat. But he is really a big confidant, and the power of the communist army is getting stronger and stronger.

Heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft, even more powerful than his Central Army. From the point of view of strategy and tactics, people are even higher. If the chairman really wanted to deal with the communist army after the war, he would have to rely on himself at least on the battlefield in Shanxi. As long as you keep your strength, then everything will be there.

This Shanxi king is scheming and unwilling to participate in this troubled water at this time. His handful of plates gave Yoshimoto a headache. If the First Army, which was currently fighting fiercely with the entire Shanxi Communist Army, could withdraw smoothly, why did he bother to pull down his face and beg for China's local forces?

Although the current Shanxi battlefield is not as ugly as the Jizhong battlefield, the actual situation is even worse than the Jizhong battlefield. The Shanxi Communist Army, which was obviously supported by the Northeast Communist Army, was completely different from the past in terms of equipment and training. Its combat effectiveness has increased, even more than several times.

The most critical thing is that after the end of the Northern Shanxi Campaign last year, the situation faced by the First Army in the entire Shanxi Battlefield was far inferior to that of the Hebei Battlefield. In addition to the Tongpu Railway, the First Army was no longer able to gain a foothold in the southeast and northeast of Shanxi, as well as in the southwest of Shanxi. This time, the communist army came up and besieged it on three sides, so that the first army was unable to defend against it.

At present, the 37th Division stationed in Yuncheng has been cut off from the main force of the division, and the situation faced by the remaining units is also not optimistic. Without the support of reinforcements, the current First Army would not be able to retract and retreat, and even more than half of the troops would be unable to protect themselves. Some of the forces that forcibly broke through to Taiyuan and concentrated in Taiyuan have even been completely annihilated by the enemy.

After the Shanxi Communist Army completed the redress and training, the combat effectiveness that erupted shocked Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi, but also made the First Army in an increasingly difficult situation. The stubbornness and death of the base camp delayed a lot of time, and undoubtedly pushed the First Army to a dead end. And the king of Shanxi is not in the trap, which is undoubtedly very disappointing to Yoshimoto Sadachi.

Without a large number of covering troops, it was almost impossible for the First Army to get out of the periphery, and the communist army, which had already multiplied several times in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness, was entangled and besieged. In the past, the communist army lacked the ability to attack fortified positions and communicate with each other, but now its equipment has risen by a large margin, and although its tactics are still the same as before, the training and equipment that are not what they used to be have almost become a nightmare for the First Army.

The First Army could not get rid of the entanglement and siege of the communist army in the Shanxi battlefield, which made both the Chinese dispatch army headquarters and the Japanese army base camp quite disappointed. Moreover, they used the sandpiper mussels made by Shanxi to fight, and their attempt to profit as a fisherman also failed because the former king of Shanxi did not take the trap.

In the face of the Jizhong battlefield, which was in urgent need of reinforcements, Okamura Ninji urged the reinforcements to speed up, and on the other hand, he was constantly urging Uchiyama Eitaro to speed up the adjustment, and at least the first part of the 22nd Division, which was under the least pressure at the moment, to reinforce to the west. In Okamura's view, as long as the 64th Division in front of the river was removed, the surrounding crisis would be lifted. Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, who has a division and regimental mobile force in his hands, will face a much better situation.

Compared with Okamura Ninji and Uchiyama Eitaro, who were already a little panicked, Yang Zhen, who was in front of the river, was not very satisfied with the progress of the current battle situation and the entire progress of the current battle situation. At least in his opinion, progress in some directions is still a little too slow.

Especially after four full days, although Chen Hanzhang has torn the five wings of the Japanese army in the northern battlefield of Baoding, it is scattered. The method of solving the problem from east to west was adopted one by one, but it was never able to completely annihilate these five Japanese wings, which made Yang Zhen particularly dissatisfied.

Although he also knew that the troops in Chen Hanzhang's hands were slightly insufficient to eat the five Japanese wings in front of him in a short period of time. But the speed of the counterattack is gradually starting to decrease, but it is already evident. Chen Hanzhang's main force was bitten together with the enemy, which indeed made it impossible for the Japanese army to break away smoothly. But the forces at hand were also all involved. In the case of a decrease in the speed of the counterattack, this undoubtedly reduces the ability of the Western Front to deal with unexpected situations.

But as for whether to transfer part of the reserve team and strengthen it to Chen Hanzhang, Yang Zhen is a little hesitant now. Follow-up reinforcements from the Japanese army are already on the way. According to intelligence and air reconnaissance, the Japanese military columns on the Longhai Railway and the Daoqing Railway have never stopped.

Although the Anti-Japanese Union continued to launch air raids on the Longhai Line, the Daoqing Line, and the southern section of Jinpu Road. However, because of the southbound air force, most of the main forces were pinned down in the Jizhong battlefield, and the forces invested were insufficient. As well as the continuous interception of the Japanese air force, it has never been able to completely cut off the Longhai Railway.

In other words, the passage for the reinforcements of the Japanese army was not completely cut off. New Japanese reinforcements could appear on the battlefield at any time. Although he had already mobilized two British-made Manchester bomber squadrons to stationed at Nanyuan Airport in Beiping from the northeast, he cooperated with two A20 attack aircraft squadrons to carry out large-scale monitoring and bombing of the eastern Henan area.

The First Division of the Fourth Division of the New Fourth Army, which is active in the Henan-Anhui Soviet Border Region, is also constantly sending troops to the north and deep into the eastern Henan region. The cavalry regiment of the Fourth Division was also dispatched to cooperate with the first section of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region to enter the southern Hebei region for reconnaissance. However, due to some special reasons, and the blank defense area left after the third division went north.

It has never been possible to follow the requirements of the central government to go north to southern Hebei and eastern Henan. As a result, the most important link in this operation has never been filled. At present, the entire strength of eastern Henan and southern Hebei is too weak to rely on one part of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, which makes Yang Zhen very uneasy. It is precisely because of this that Yang Zhen does not want to use the reserves now.

The reserves in hand are insufficient, and it is difficult to ensure sufficient resilience. At present, it is impossible for the Anti-Japanese Federation to transfer troops from the Northeast to enter the customs, which means that the current Anti-Japanese Federation has invested troops in the North China battlefield is already the ultimate that can be dispatched, and any more may affect the situation in the Northeast.

After thinking about it for a long time, Yang Zhen knocked on the map, picked up the phone, and wanted to urge Chen Hanzhang. But after hesitating for a long time, I finally put down the phone in my hand. Picked up the red and blue pencil along the Longhai line on the map, from Kaifeng to Xuzhou Longhai and Jinpu line junction to draw a heavy stroke.

At the same time, between the 22nd Division and the 64th Division, a heavy stroke was also drawn. At present, the Cangzhou battlefield and the Hejian battlefield have been completely separated. However, whether the troops in front of the Cangzhou battlefield can completely contain the 22nd Division on the Cangzhou front line with the arrival of Japanese reinforcements is still an unknown for Yang Zhen at the moment.

With the arrival of follow-up reinforcements, it was impossible for the Japanese to place all the reinforcements on the Western Front. If the posture of retreating from the west and advancing from the east is adopted, it is very likely that the eastern front will be under greater pressure. If the Japanese army chooses the tactic of encircling Wei to save Zhao, it is likely that their strategic focus will be Cangzhou in the next step.

That is, it is very likely that this division that is already on the Longhai line at the moment will be put into the western front. But subsequent reinforcements may not necessarily be put into the Western Front. In particular, a division of the Japanese army that is currently assembling in Pukou is likely to focus on Cangzhou on the Eastern Front.

Between Cangzhou and the main battlefield in central Hebei, there is the Ziya River as a natural dividing line, which is actually in a position independent of the entire battlefield in central Hebei. If the Japanese army focuses its offensive on Cangzhou, plus the 22nd Division that is currently in Cangzhou, and the remnants of the 32nd Division trapped in Cangzhou, the entire Cangzhou battlefield will become a new node in the entire campaign.

Therefore, Yang Zhen hesitated for a long time, and finally did not make up his mind to increase the number of troops for Chen Hanzhang. However, Yang Zhen transferred another 105 howitzer battalion to Chen Hanzhang from the reserves. At the same time, the focus of aviation support was still placed on the Baoding battlefield.

Although Yang Zhen did not urge Chen Hanzhang, he gave Du Kaishan two orders. The first was to order him to speed up the front line of Lügongbao and encircle and annihilate the 66th Brigade, and the battle must be ended within 12 hours. The second order was clear, and immediately after the battle of Lügongbao, his troops marched south to the Cangzhou battlefield. In the next step, the focus of Du Kaishan should be placed on the front line of Cangzhou.

Seeing Yang Zhen put down the phone in his hand, the boss who had already arrived from Beiping pondered for a while and said: "If you don't use the reserves for the time being, I don't think you can transfer one or two brigades from the Jinchaji troops that are currently serving as the garrison of Beiping to strengthen the front line in Baoding?" ”

"At present, Beiping already belongs to our rear, except for a part of the troops left to cooperate with the Beiping Municipal Party Committee to take over Beiping, and to ensure the safety of the railways along the line, there is no need to leave too many troops at the moment, I think it is completely possible to transfer one or two brigades south to join the Jizhong battlefield."

"In addition, I think that the task of guarding the two railway lines from Beiping to Zhangjiakou and from Beiping to Chengde at the moment is better handed over to the armed forces of various military subdivisions and counties along the way. Under the circumstance that the Japanese puppet army around Peiping was completely wiped out, there was no longer any need to deploy field troops along the railway line to serve as guards, and the local armed forces could fully assume it. ”