At the time of the bombardment, Yoshimoto had already woken up and was planning the second important task of the commander of the First Army in the headquarters - to persuade the Jin Sui army to surrender to Yan Xishan.

The whole of Shanxi, as far as the Japanese army is concerned, has two major troubles.

The first, and biggest trouble, is the Eighth Route Army.

According to the statistics of the empire's base camp, in the entire North China region, that is, the area occupied by the North China Front, the empire as a whole is losing money, and the strength invested is far greater than the gains, and this loss is getting bigger and bigger.

The root cause was the Eighth Route Army, which was entrenched in the mountains and forests of the occupied areas of the empire.

They destroyed communication lines, destroyed factories, destroyed minerals, and rallied only those people to rebel against the Empire's rule, resulting in the Empire having to spend a lot of energy to maintain law and order in North China.

The existence of this group of people made the base camp's plan to build North China into a 'military station base' for the empire's blood transfusion made no progress, but instead became a bleeding point for the empire, constantly devouring the empire's resources.

If the Eighth Route Army is not resolved, then the North China region occupied by the empire at great cost is meaningless, and even the imperial strength is wasted.

His most important and priority task as commander of the First Army was to deal with the Eighth Route Army, to ensure the exploitation of vital resources in the occupied areas of the empire, as well as the security of important lines of communication and cities.

The second trouble is the Jin Sui army of Yan Xishan who is huddled on the edge of Shanxi.

This is not a big threat.

Its commander Yan Xishan's attitude towards the empire was ambiguous, and he rarely took the initiative to provoke wars, but the Jin Sui army had so many troops there, occupied a lot of territory, and also contained a lot of forces in the empire, which was always a threat and a trouble that needed to be solved as soon as possible.

As soon as possible, Yoshimoto rushed to the airport, accompanied by his guards.

The commander of the First Army was located in the interior of Shanxi City, four kilometers away from the airport, and by the time he arrived, the shelling had lasted more than 20 minutes.

"What's the situation?"

As soon as he arrived at the airport, Gibbon howled madly.

The airport was shelled, and he was very angry, very angry.

He persuaded Yan Laoxi to surrender a little better, the other party obviously hesitated, and even some local areas have made progress, and some middle and low-level officers of the Jin Sui Army are also moved, and if they work harder, they may be able to succeed.

Even if Yan Xishan does not defect to the empire, he can maintain an attitude of imminent departure, or take a step back, which will also help him draw strength to deal with the Eighth Route Army, but now that the airfield of the First Army has been shelled again, with Yan Xishan's speculative character, he will definitely have to show his face.

The previous month-long efforts were in vain.

"Report to the general, the airfield was subjected to long-range enemy shelling, and the flight group of the First Army suffered heavy losses."

The brigade guarding the airport hurriedly came to report.

The captain's nonsense report made Yoshimoto, who was already in an extremely bad mood, almost angry and died on the spot.

"Yaga..."

When is he blind?

The airfield was shelled and he couldn't see?

He can't hear the explosion?

The thick smoke of burning explosions, the sound of explosions one after another, and the wreckage of planes all over the airport, the bombed-out warehouses, and the heavy losses are already in front of you?

Need a nonsense reminder from you?

"Waste."

Yoshimoto immediately slapped the captain of the airport garrison team in the face, and the captain who was caught off guard fell directly to the ground.

Fortunately, Yamamoto spoke at this time, otherwise Yoshimoto might have to go up and kick his feet:

"General."

Yamamoto is close to the airport, and the situation has been figured out at this point:

"The enemy launched an artillery bombardment of the airfield at a distance of eight to ten kilometers from the airfield, the exact location is not yet clear, using 75-caliber mountain guns, and Suzuki Daisa has personally led his troops to encircle and suppress the enemy."

"The rest of the forces have also been dispatched to outflank the attackers."

In charge of garrisoning Taiyuan was the 80th Wing, which was led by Kenji Suzuki.

Yamamoto's words made Yoshimoto's complexion recover a little, he ignored the captain of the airport garrison who was still lying on the ground, bleeding from the corner of his mouth, turned his head to look at the airport where there were still shells falling, and his tone was gloomy:

"Be sure to eliminate the attackers and destroy their artillery."

"In addition, we will make every effort to organize troops to rescue supplies."

It had happened, Gibbon was no longer incompetent and furious, and now the most important thing was to reduce the losses of the flying group, which was very important in his battle plan, and secondly, to destroy the enemy's artillery.

Since you dare to send a mountain artillery unit to attack his airfield, then leave all the artillery behind.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

At this time, the sky was completely lit up, and Yoshimoto looked at the airport, looking at the shells that were still falling, and his brow suddenly furrowed even deeper.

Due to the lack of flat sites and construction troubles, many warehouses of the First Army were built directly near the airport, where a lot of materials were stored, including fuel and bombs, which also aggravated the enemy's shelling damage, and many warehouses were hit, and some were directly detonated.

Suddenly, a young man caught Yoshimoto's attention, and in the smoke of gunfire, this young man was directing rescue supplies on the edge of the airport, and under his command, heroic imperial samurai continued to rush into the airport where there were still shells falling, and salvaged barrels of gasoline and bombs from some broken warehouses.

There was even a truck towing an airplane from the airport.

"Who is this Shaozuo?"

Gibbon asked suddenly.

······

"Quick, quick, move fast."

On the edge of the airport, suppressing the fear of loss in his heart, Ito danced and commanded his subordinates to rush into the warehouse to rescue the supplies.

Under his command, the devils of the Ito squadron rushed into the warehouses in waves in detachments to transport gasoline drums, bombs, and aircraft parts.

However, under his command and even under his cover, there was also a small group of devils who were organizing the collection and transportation of materials and moving them to a safe place, and no one noticed that during the transportation, some of the materials disappeared quietly.

Although the shelling continued, shells continued to fall from the airfield in the distance, and the smoke rising from all sides made Ito's situation seem very dangerous.

But Ito is not stupid, and he is not carried away by interests.

On the contrary, he is smart.

From the first shell fell, he had been observing the situation at the airfield, and in a short time he had discovered that the enemy's shelling was accurate and organized.

Clusters of shells shell sequentially shell the airfield, destroying one area and then moving to another without repeating the shelling.

At this time, the place where he was the site of the first round of shelling, and the shells would hardly fall on this side, so the security was very high, although it was not absolutely safe, but to do business, if you want to make money, you must take some risks.

"You..."

The sharp-eyed Ito noticed that one of the planes was almost intact, but it was far away and close to the shelling position at this time, and immediately attracted several diehards in his group.

That is, a fool who has been completely brainwashed by bushido, and an idiot who is bent on being loyal to the emperor.

"Drive the truck and get that plane out."

Finally, Ito added a sentence as usual:

"That's the property of the Empire, it's the property of His Majesty the Locust, and the Imperial Army needs that plane for the Holy War."

"Hey."

"Long live Your Majesty the Locust."

The words "locust, empire" made a few devils completely red-eyed, driving a truck, wah-wah, rushing to the plane in the distance.

Looking at the group of idiots rushing towards the plane, Ito sneered.

He needed some results, some results in salvaging the Empire's property, to avoid suspicion, to cover up his covert efforts to resell the Empire's property.

After about ten minutes, the shelling disappeared and calm returned to the airfield, with only burning warehouses and occasional explosions.

"It's a pity..."

Ito was a little unsatisfied.

······

In the afternoon.

"Nani? Didn't catch up with the enemy? ”

In the command room near the airport, Yoshimoto's eyes widened.

At this point, the loss report is out.

A little smaller than the previous two losses.

Nearly half of the planes were lost, half of the planes were directly blown up and scrapped, and some of them needed major repairs before they could be used, and only ten planes were slightly injured and could be used with a little repair.

Moreover, the rest of the supplies are about the same, more than half of the oil and explosives have been lost, and nearly half of the airport equipment has also been lost, and it will take at least three months to recover.

During this period, the First Army Flying Group almost lost its ability to attack.

He thought that he would be able to catch the enemy's artillery, which would not be too much of a loss.

After all, the artillery unit went deep into the shelling of the airfield, which was almost a suicidal attack, and now he was actually told that the enemy artillery who attacked the airfield actually escaped?

Imperial aircraft replenishment, which is much easier than enemy artillery replenishment.

"Hey."

The captain of the 80th Infantry Wing, Suzuki Kenji Daisa, who came to report, bowed his head and was full of shame:

"The enemy's shelling position is nine kilometers away from the airfield in a straight line, and mines have been prepared on the road, and when I led people to the enemy's shelling position, the enemy had already retreated."

"And the enemy's position is also very cleverly chosen, and it is far away from the other brigade stations."

"I sent men to pursue thirty kilometers along the mountain road, but they did not catch up, and the enemy fled along the mountain road into the mountains."

"Na... Ni"

Gibbon's face turned dark, and the corners of his eyes twitched

Mountainous terrain, terrain that even cavalry could not walk, light infantry did not catch up with artillery?

"Baga, a bunch of waste."

He immediately rushed up and slapped him, but fortunately, Suzuki Kenji Daisa had been prepared and took the slap hard.

"Hey."

Kenji Suzuki bowed his head, his face becoming more and more ashamed.

It was a great shame that he was lightly armed with infantry and pursued the enemy carrying mountain artillery on the mountain road, but he did not catch up.

But he was also extremely depressed and puzzled.

He marched at full speed, and after forty minutes of cessation of the enemy's shelling, he arrived at the enemy's artillery position, and then immediately pursued along the mountain road, which was rugged and difficult, and the enemy carried heavy mountain artillery, and his light infantry did not catch up.

Although the enemy has set up traps such as mines to delay the pursuit, it should not be.

With mountain artillery, on a mountain road, how can it run faster than light infantry? It doesn't matter if you don't catch up, after chasing for a full thirty kilometers, you can only see the footprints left by the enemy, but you can't even see the back.

He also sent someone to look for it, but the enemy did not discard or hide the cannon, indicating that he had retreated with the cannon.

"General."

Yamamoto suddenly interjected:

"Not catching up with the enemy's artillery is not Suzuki's problem."

"According to the information I have, it can be determined that the enemy has an excellent animal power mule and horse, which is very mobile in the mountains, and the camel transportation capacity is more than twice that of the imperial mules and horses.

"But I haven't investigated the specific data of this kind of mule and horse."

"Twice?"

Yoshimoto looked at Kazuki Yamamoto, his face showing a rare solemnity.

He had seen the information of this kind of mule and horse from the information provided by Yamamoto before, the robbery of naval gold, and the robbery of military trains more than a year ago, and the looting of machinery and equipment by the Eighth Route Army, all of which were used for mule and horse transportation.

At the time, he didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was an exaggeration, but in front of the actual example, he couldn't help but pay attention to it.

Judging from the shelling of the airfield in the morning, the enemy should have used six artillery pieces with a caliber of 75, and then it is inferred from the firing range of 9.5 kilometers that it is most likely Bosford Mountain artillery.

The weight of a single camel is 900 kilograms, and the weight of a single part after disassembly is between 100 and 120 kilograms, and the maximum firing range is 9 kilometers.

Judging from the fact that the enemy's shelling position was 9.5 kilometers away from the airfield and the maximum shell landing point was 10.5 kilometers, the barrel was 20 times longer than the diameter of the national capital.

That is, the enemy camels carried six heavy objects weighing more than 900 kilograms and a single piece weighing more than 100 kilograms, and the speed of marching on the mountains surpassed that of the light infantry, and the endurance was long-lasting, and it was able to march more than 30 kilometers in a hurry.

In an instant, Gibbon realized the horror of this 'mule and horse'.

Once equipped with this kind of mule and horse, the mobility of mountain troops will be directly increased by several times, and the combat effectiveness can also be increased by several times.

The difference between a team equipped with such mules and horses versus a team equipped with ordinary mules and horses is almost equal to the difference between plain terrain, animal-powered mules and horses, and mechanized troops.

He sensed something was wrong.

In this Shanxi, there are mountains almost everywhere.

Doesn't that mean that the enemy, once he discovers a hole in the Empire's defenses, can launch a long-range artillery strike at any time and anywhere? After the fight, he will leave, and he can't catch up if he wants to?

"However, there are not many such mules and horses in the Eighth Route Army."

Yamamoto continued:

"Only Li Yunlong's troops are equipped on a large scale, and it can be determined that it was Li Yunlong who shelled the airport this time."

"Li Yunlong!"

Yoshimoto breathed a sigh of relief.

There are not many of them, that is, there are only local threats, there are no full-scale threats, and there is little threat to the overall situation.

Although seven of the 27 divisions of the Chinese Dispatch Army have been transferred, the Empire still has an absolute advantage at present, and the frontal battlefield is invincible, which will not affect the overall situation.

"Hurry up and repair the airport."

After that, Yoshimoto looked at Yamamoto:

"Strengthen the vigilance around Taiyuan to prevent the enemy from launching another attack."

"In addition, find a way to investigate the origin of this mule and horse, the empire also needs this kind of animal power."

"Yamamoto-kun, you are in charge."

If this Li Yunlong came to bombard the airport and other important facilities every once in a while, and the mysterious Chen Fan provided the shells, Yoshimoto felt that he really couldn't bear it.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

After Yamamoto left, Yoshimoto took out a map of Shanxi, found the boundary between Pan County and Ping'an County, where Li Yunlong was located, and snorted coldly:

"Li Yunlong."

"Hmph, then I'll cut you first."