Taiyuan, inside the headquarters of the First Army.

"General."

A staff officer is making a daily report to Yoshio Shinozuka:

"Three supply trains have set off, and the railway has completed the maintenance of two main roads, which can ensure the smooth flow of the military trains, and the military trains are expected to arrive at the Taiyuan City Railway Station the day after tomorrow."

"The three brigades of the Mongolian army, with a total of 2,900 troops, have already set off and will arrive in the Jinzhong area in five days."

"Local telegram, 10 new aircraft have completed acceptance, and are expected to fly to Taiyuan in 15 days."

"According to Iwago Shuji Nakasa, by disassembling other aircraft parts, the airport has assembled five fighters that can be put into battle."

“······”

"Yo Xi!"

On the chair, Yoshio Shinozuka nodded frequently when he heard this, and his expression was delighted.

That's all good news.

The major offensive against the Eighth Route Army was about to begin, but his First Army was seriously under-strengthened, and after the coordination of the North China Front Headquarters, the army stationed in Mongolia would send him a wing with a total of three infantry brigades to support the troops, which could greatly alleviate his strength shortage.

The soldiers and horses went ahead before they moved the grain and grass, and the ammunition supplies he applied for for the upcoming battle were all allocated and loaded into trucks for transportation.

After the Flying Group was destroyed by Li Yunlong, although it could not be restored to its previous size for a short time, it also repaired five usable fighters, and at the same time transferred ten new fighters from the mainland. Fifteen aircraft, plus the partially repaired Taiyuan airfield, the flight brigade of the First Army has recovered part of its combat effectiveness.

"Hey."

The staff officer folded his legs, put the folder in his hand on the table, and turned to leave the headquarters.

Yoshio Shinozuka has his hands behind his back, looking at the map hanging on the wall, thinking about the upcoming big attack.

The tightly knit eyebrows indicate that Yoshio Shinozuka is not in a good mood at this time.

As Yamamoto Kazuki said, today's Shanxi First Army is more than enough to attack the troops of the Eighth Route Army.

Even if the other party unexpectedly grows to nearly 400,000 people, but the simple number of people has lost its meaning in the current war situation, Shinozuka Yoshio is confident that even if all the hundreds of thousands of troops are assembled and fight head-on, he can easily defeat one army.

But.

Wanting to fight a decisive battle was just wishful thinking on his part.

People won't fight him at all.

The troops of the Eighth Route Army hid in the mountainous woodlands, hiding in the countryside, and the soldiers were usually no different from the farmers, just as he had been looking for the location of the independent regiment for a long time, but in the end he still did not find where the other party was.

If no one can find it, how can we fight a decisive battle?

In the previous years, he had repeatedly assembled troops to attack the opponent's base areas, but every time his army attacked, the opponent would clear the wilderness, bury grain, destroy bridges, and repeatedly harass small groups of troops, and then find opportunities to sneak attack the supply troops of the imperial army or scattered small troops, consume the strength of the imperial army, and force the imperial army to retreat.

You must know that maintaining a large army in the mountains, people eat and horses chew, the consumption of materials is not a small amount, the empire is originally short of resources, this light can't get in, the imperial army's inventory can't last long, so every time it is in vain.

The final result was that in just a few years, the other side unknowingly grew to 400,000 people, and also staged a hundred-regiment battle, which caught the empire off guard and suffered heavy losses.

After learning from the pain, Yoshio Shinozuka decided to make full use of his advantages.

Since the opponent was not his opponent at all, he scattered his forces, with three wings as the core and the main force maneuvering on the periphery of the base area, and the other troops scattered in the opponent's base area in half a small team, destroying their villages, destroying their farmland, robbing their livestock, killing the only person who supported them, and depriving them of the basis for holding on.

Once the opponent mobilizes forces to block or try to destroy the troops that have entered its base area, and the attacked person defends on the spot, the core wing will immediately go to support, and the surrounding counties will also send troops to support, forcing the other side, either fighting a decisive battle, or allowing him to destroy the base area.

With the support of the three brigades of the Mongolian army, the problem of insufficient troops has also been alleviated, and it is barely enough.

There is a key point in this tactic, though.

That is, the troops interspersed in the opponent's base area must be able to resist the attack of the assembled forces of the Eighth Route Army for at least two days.

There were about 100,000 troops of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, half of which was calculated as a regular army, that is, 60,000 or 70,000 troops, and according to the enemy's troop assembly capacity, the interspersed troops needed to hold out for two days under the attack of more than 10,000 troops of the Eighth Route Army.

Originally, there was no problem with this, half a brigade-sized imperial army, as long as it did not directly plunge into the opponent's ambush pocket and did not fall into the disadvantage of the terrain, it was impossible for the other party to eat it within two days.

But, there was an accident recently!

Thinking of this, Yoshio Shinozuka subconsciously rubbed his head.

His head started hurting again.

This guy is a big problem.

It would be nice if the number of troops could be doubled, so that the brigade could be fully formed.

"General."

At this moment, Kazuki Yamamoto walked in: "What did you call me for?" ”

Previously, Yoshio Shinozuka ordered someone to call Kazuki Yamamoto to come to the headquarters.

"Yamamoto-kun."

Yoshio Shinozuka pointed to the battle plan on the table. And voiced his concerns.

After reading the combat report in his hand, Yamamoto Kazuki looked at Yoshio Shinozuka who was frowning, the corners of his mouth were hooked, and he smiled confidently.

Part of this battle plan is his military philosophy, which makes the old devil Yamamoto very proud,

"General, there is no problem with this combat plan, we can completely disperse the troops into half a brigade to sweep in the opponent's base area, completely destroy their base area, destroy their food, houses, and destroy the material base for the survival of the opponent's base area."

The old devil Yamamoto spoke in an extremely confident tone and spoke eloquently:

"As for what you're worried about, it's not a problem at all."

"The so-called Li Yunlong Independent Regiment has indeed completely wiped out one and a half brigades of the empire, but you already know the situation at that time, and the other party's ability to achieve such results is more due to luck."

"The main reason for the defeat in this battle was the failure of the command of the commander of the Imperial Army, Ozawa Taizumi Nakasa."

"He was attracted by the defensive position of the Eighth Route Army in front, neglected the two wings, and fell into the unfavorable terrain surrounded by Li Yunlong, and he had not even launched the defense of the two wings, the troops were too concentrated, and as a result, he was besieged by Li Yunlong's superior troops on all sides, and finally led to defeat."

"This is also the fundamental reason for the empire's defeat at the hands of the Eighth Route Army in recent years, the troops have fallen into a terrain disadvantage, the battle of Pingxingguan, and the battle of Xiangtangpu, all of which are the same."

"The anti-counter is very good at taking advantage of the terrain."

"I think that as long as the troops that break into the enemy's base area are vigilant, avoid marching on dangerous terrain, and supplemented by air force reconnaissance, once they find something wrong, they will immediately occupy the advantageous terrain and build strong fortifications to defend and wait for reinforcements."

"With the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army, it is absolutely impossible to break through the position of a semi-brigade that occupies a terrain advantage and has strong bunkers and field fortifications."

"Moreover, the other side is good at sabotage warfare, not good at attacking fortified positions, and when there is a main force on the periphery waiting for reinforcements, it is impossible for the other side to gather heavy troops to encircle and suppress the troops that have broken into the base area."

What Kazuki Yamamoto said is reasonable and well-founded.

"What Yamamoto-kun said is extremely true."

Hearing Yamamoto's analysis, Yoshio Shinozuka's tightly knit brows instantly relaxed.

That's right!

With the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army, coupled with strong fortifications, the Eighth Route Army has no terrain advantage, even if they have the Type 92 infantry cannon recently, it is absolutely impossible to defeat it in a short time, and it will suffer heavy casualties.

For a solid and scattered field fortification system, the power of the Type 92 infantry gun was seriously insufficient.

Moreover, knowing that the main forces of several wings on the periphery were ready to help at any time, the other side did not dare to concentrate his forces to destroy the semi-large group that had broken into the base area.

Otherwise...

Let them see the power of the main forces of the First Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka flashed.

······

Yang Village.

Separate regiments.

"How's it going?"

Li Yunlong looked at Zhao Gang, who had returned from a meeting at the headquarters.

"It's okay for now."

Zhao Gang said this, but his brows were a little tight:

"However, you really got it right."

"This battle went much smoother than expected, and many regiments and base areas in various localities exceeded their scheduled tasks, and for this reason, the fighting in many areas lasted much longer than planned."

"Trouble."

Grand Master Li muttered: "This is also something that cannot be helped, our communication ability is not enough, and the orders of our superiors cannot be notified to the various units in time, and there is no way to grasp the situation of each unit in time." ”

Being able to do things repeatedly for so long without overturning, Grand Master Li has an extremely keen grasp of the situation and an extremely keen sense of smell.

In the frequent good news from all over the world, he saw a bad breath.

This great counterattack was indeed fruitful, and it can be called the largest battle of the troops since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, but it is also the longest lasting battle of the troops. It started in August and is now the end of October. The fighting has been going on for more than two months.

After more than two months of fighting, even with the current material reserves and transportation capacity of the independent regiment, it is difficult to bear, let alone other base areas and other regiments. It is conceivable that the other base areas and backbone regiments must have been overconsumed, the troops were exhausted, and even seriously overdrawn, and they are still supporting themselves, relying on this one blow at a time.

Once this breath dissipates, it's okay to have time to recuperate, at most suffer a little, grit your teeth and carry it for a while, if the devil takes this opportunity to sweep up, it will be really troublesome.

"The superiors are also aware of this situation, but there is no good way."

Zhao Gang sighed:

"Our troops have developed too fast in recent years, the quality of the soldiers has declined too much, the main regiment is fine, the biggest problem is some basic regiments, many officers in it have not undergone formal training, the situation is good, once there is a setback, I am afraid it is..."

"There are good and bad!"

Li Yunlong's eyes flashed: "The rapid expansion of the army has the advantage of being fast, without so many people, we can't make such a big move, as for the current problem of insufficient training of the troops." ”

"As long as you survive this stage, the rest will be elite troops."

Grand Master Li's tone at this time was full of ruthlessness.

In times of war, extraordinary means.

Just like the previous independent regiment, when a large number of recruits were expanded, the combat effectiveness of the troops dropped rapidly, and after a month-long strangulation by the devils in Heshou County, after nearly 100 actual battles and the loss of nearly 300 people, the entire regiment was reborn, and its combat effectiveness was even greater than in the past.

"Yes, there are good and bad."

Zhao Gang took a deep breath and said to himself.

His tone was equally fierce.

There is no time to train the troops, so they can only be accelerated by some means.

"Is there any movement from the devil?"

Li Yunlong asked.

was ruthlessly carried out by the troops for such a time, the railway was pulled out, the highway was dug up, and even the airport was bombed, and the losses were heavy, the devil definitely couldn't swallow this breath, and he didn't have to think about it to know, he must be planning a big move. However, he has limited access to the overall situation and can only learn about it through Headquarters.

"Not good."

赵刚 says:

"Yoshio Shinozuka has put a lot of effort into it this time."

"He dispersed the First Army and moved around our base area with three integrated wings, some stationed in nearby county towns, some moving along the road, and then sent a large number of mobile brigades into the base area."

"These small units are the size of a semi-large group, and unlike before, they do not seek a decisive battle with us, but sweep through the base areas in various places, destroying grain crops, destroying houses, and causing great damage to the base areas."

"Troops are being organized to block the attack in various base areas, but it is ······"

Zhao Gang did not continue.

After several months of great war, with the supply capacity of the Eighth Route Army, how many units are still combat-effective? Even if it is the main regiment, it is enough to choke, and at this time, it is extremely difficult to block the devil troops, and you don't have to think about it to know that either the troops will suffer great losses, or they will lose a lot of losses in the base areas.

"It's a pity."

Li Yunlong sighed.

Their independent regiment is still very combat-effective, and it can also send some troops to support other base areas.

But here's the thing.

After being supplemented by an artillery squadron and an infantry squadron, the Shouxian devil in front of him became emboldened, frequently made small moves, and had frictions with the independent regiment many times, and both sides suffered losses.

And because the new regiment has not come back outside, now the independent regiment has to face the devils of Shou County alone, and there are not many troops that can be deployed, and with the mobility of the troops, the devil's army is dispatched, and there are wing-level troops on one side, and he can't help much.

Besides.

Behind Yang Village, only a few dozen kilometers away is the headquarters arsenal and the field hospital, there is absolutely no room for loss here, the two main regiments that were previously arranged in the middle were transferred to perform other tasks, and he must not move at this time.

Otherwise, the devil will take the opportunity to break through his defenses, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

Although Li Yunlong likes to make trouble, he also wants to send troops to eat the small troops sent by the little devils, and even half a brigade dares to run rampant in the base area and does not measure his own strength.

But I also know when I can get things done.