Half past four in the morning.

Inside the Taiyuan Headquarters.

Perhaps because of the unstable voltage, the incandescent lights on the ceiling flickered on and off, and the dim lights on and off sprinkled down, and the atmosphere in the whole room was gloomy and solemn.

It seems that in order to match this atmosphere, the people in the headquarters are almost frozen.

The commander of the First Army, Yoshimoto Sadachi, sat directly above him, holding his katana in his hands, and bowed his head slightly, because the brim of the military hat made it almost impossible to see his expression.

In front of him, the table had been overturned and covered with knife marks, the telephone lines had been torn off, and the phone had been smashed to the ground.

The three headquarters staff officers stood on the side of the hall, bowing their heads and being silent, like sculptures, and with the help of the lights, the blood dripping from the corner of the mouth of one of the staff officers could be faintly seen.

In late May, the headquarters was like an ice cellar.

Time passed slowly in this solidified atmosphere, Yoshimoto Sada, and the rest of the staff officers only dared to be like sculptures, until a touch of fish belly white appeared on the edge of the distant skyline, and Yamamoto walked in from the entrance of the headquarters, and the solidified atmosphere in the room gradually dissolved.

"How's it going?"

Gibbon looked up, revealing a pair of expressionless eyes.

There were too many things that happened last night, and the impact was too great, so he ordered Yamamoto to do an intelligence analysis and summary.

"General."

Kazuki Yamamoto stood upright, opened the folder in his hand, and began to briefly describe what happened:

"Last night, Li Yunlong led about 3,500 people to carry a large number of board cars and other means of transport, passing through the mountain horse road near Panxian County, and went to Xixiang, Yejiacun and other subway routes between Yuxian and Niangziguan Railway Station to grab the railroad tracks."

"The guard posts deployed near the base of the independent regiment discovered this force at the first time, but they did not arouse alarm at that time, and they did not even report it, and the garrisons in Panxian and other places only shrank and defended."

"It wasn't until Li Yunlong's army approached the railway at seven o'clock in the night that it was discovered by the railway patrol and reported to the wing headquarters in time, and then Shimakawa Dazuo ordered the three brigades in Yuxian County and the three brigades at the Niangziguan Railway Station to immediately go to support, and ordered Yuxian to block Li Yunlong's retreat route."

"But this incident, Li Yunlong obviously premeditated."

"He sent about 1,500 troops to block the reinforcements in Yuxian County, and secretly dispatched 2,000 people from the New Second Regiment to attack Yuxian County, opened up the retreat route, and sent a new 1st Regiment of 2,000 people to attack the Niangziguan Railway Station, forcing the three brigades at the railway station to be forced to return to help."

"From seven o'clock to twelve o'clock, during these more than four hours, Li Yunlong stole a large number of rails from the Zhengtai Railway, and dismantled a train to retreat along the original route and return to its base area."

"Subsequently, the new second regiment and the new first regiment also retreated one after another and returned to their respective base areas."

"According to later statistics, the Niangziguan Railway Station suffered serious losses, unable to stop the train within a week, lost 5.5 kilometers of tracks, lost a train, and suffered a total of 1,200 casualties and 720 jade shatters."

Speaking of this, after all the things were said, Yamamoto closed the folder in his hand and bowed his head slightly.

"It was a very well-planned operation."

There was silence in the headquarters for a while, and Yoshimoto moved his hands with a katana before he slowly spoke:

"Yamamoto-kun, what are you going to do?"

"General."

Yamamoto lowered his head and raised his tone slightly:

"With all due respect, although in our report to the Independent Regiment, we attach great importance to the Independent Regiment under the command of Li Yunlong."

"The official document clearly states that under the same scale, the firepower of the independent regiment is stronger than that of the imperial army, and the combat experience and will are not at all weaker than the elite units of the imperial army, and if there is no superiority in strength, the imperial army is not the opponent of the independent regiment."

"But..."

Yamamoto's stiff tone was raised again:

"In our hearts, especially the high-level commanders, we have not given up the arrogance that we have formed for a long time, and we have never faced up to Li Yunlong and the Independent Regiment, and have not treated them as equal opponents, just as a rabble with advanced equipment."

"That's the real reason for this failure."

"We paid attention to the equipment of the separate regiment, but not to the people of the separate regiment."

"Go on."

Yoshimoto's eyes and expression did not change in the slightest, nor did the intonation of his voice.

Yamamoto glanced at the commander and paused for a moment before continuing:

"We can know the intelligence of Li Yunlong and his independent regiment, and know that its total strength is about 7,000 people, then, as the head snake of the land, Li Yunlong naturally knows that the total strength of the imperial army is also about 7,000 in the section from Niangzi Pass to Yuxian County, and we also know the location of the major units of the imperial army."

"I think it is not difficult for him to learn about the situation of our First Army Flying Group, and the arrival of those dozens of planes will inevitably be discovered by the intelligence officers of the Eighth Route Army."

"Under such circumstances, he still chose to carry out this operation to steal the railroad tracks, which shows that Li Yunlong is fully prepared."

"When we didn't think about these things at the time, we just thought that victory after victory made Li Yunlong arrogant, and then mechanically mobilized troops to deal with it, and as a result, the battle situation completely fell into Li Yunlong's control, which eventually led to this defeat."

There was a long silence again, and finally, Yoshimoto sighed deeply:

"What Yamamoto-kun said makes a lot of sense."

"Whether it is Shimakawa Daisa in Yuxian County, or I, as the commander of the First Army, although I say that I should attach importance to Li Yunlong, I have never regarded him as an equal opponent in my heart."

"This time, as the old Chinese saying goes, arrogant soldiers will be defeated."

"The general is wise."

Yamamoto came to a sycophant at the right time.

"Go on."

Yoshimoto was noncommittal, not even his complexion changed.

After half a year of contact, he has seen Yamamoto clearly, this person is very capable in all aspects, intelligence ability, military ability, but it is this ability to shoot horses is really ······

Yamamoto continued:

"Another major reason for our defeat in this battle is that the intelligence misjudged the two Tubalu troops around the independent regiment."

"In our previous investigation, the two regiment-level troops around Li Yunlong were considered to be ordinary Tuba Road troops, whose purpose was to provide elite soldiers and officers, as well as to stabilize and manage their base areas, and their weapons and equipment were mainly left behind by the empire."

"Similar to the Imperial Allies of the Empire."

"But last night's battle proved that these two units were not much worse than Li Yunlong's independent regiment, they were strong in firepower, well-trained, and equipped with a large number of artillery units, including heavily skilled heavy mortars."

"The reason for the miscalculation of intelligence, in addition to the excessive concentration of Li Yunlong by the intelligence department, is also the deliberate weakness of these two forces for nearly half a year."

"After the law and order war last year, these two units behaved very low-key, never launched a squadron-scale military operation, and only attacked the Empire's squad-level transport teams on the few occasions, and the battles they showed in these skirmishes were also very poor, with poor weapons and combat experience, hundreds of people attacked a non-full squad, and most of them were retreated."

Speaking of this, Yamamoto suddenly bowed his head:

"In the final analysis, we did not regard the Eighth Route Army, which was entrenched in the occupied area, as a real opponent."

"We lack in-depth analysis of the intelligence of the Eighth Route Army obtained, and only look at the problem from the surface, so we are deceived by the other side.

"Yamamoto-kun, this is not your problem, but a general problem at the top of the entire First Army."

Yoshimoto's tone remained unfluctuating:

"We must learn the lessons of this failure, and in the future, we must show 12 points of spirit to deal with Li Yunlong and his independent regiment, as well as the new 1st and 2nd regiments, to surround the smooth operation of the Zhengtai Railway and maintain law and order in North China."

Then Yoshimoto said to Yamamoto:

"You go on."

The overall analysis is complete, and the next step is the detailed intelligence analysis, and Yoshimoto is very patient today.

Yamamoto glanced at the general and found that although Yoshimoto's face was a little haggard at this time, he still had a bloody color, so he continued with confidence:

"In just four hours, Li Yunlong stole more than 5,000 meters of imperial railroad tracks, and also dismantled an entire train, which should have used some kind of portable gasoline to drive a steel cutting machine, and there was a strong smell of gasoline at the scene."

"More than 5,000 meters of rails and the whole train weigh nearly 600 tons, which can be transported at one time, which shows that the board car it carries has a strong carrying capacity, and it also shows that it has excellent mules and horses on a large scale."

"Specialized equipment, huge transport capacity."

Yoshimoto shook his head suddenly, his tone filled with deep emotion.

Four hours, more than 5,000 meters of steel rails, and the dismantling of an entire train are all fine, and even if the full engineer wing of the North China Front Army comes over, this ability cannot be done.

And a mere 3,500-strong army can transport nearly 600 tons of supplies on mountain roads without using cars, with an average of 170 kilograms of supplies carried by a single person, and such a transportation capacity is not comparable to that of any mule-horse imperial infantry wing.

"General."

Yamamoto suddenly looked at Yoshimoto:

"In this battle, Li Yunlong also showed more powerful artillery firepower."

"From the analysis of the battlefield where the Yuxian reinforcements were blocked, the number of troops blocking is 1,500, including an infantry brigade, that is, one of their infantry battalions, and an artillery battalion, the total number of mortars is about 30, and most of them are mortars of medium caliber and above."

"Finally, it is important to note that the total amount of shells delivered on this battlefield alone is about 30 tons."

Yamamoto was indeed a bit powerful, and he did not personally investigate the field, and the news from the phone or telegram, as well as the field investigation of his special service team, relayed it, came to a very in-depth preparation information.

"Thirty tons."

Gibbon silently repeated.

What is the concept of thirty-ton shells?

The Imperial 75 mountain artillery has a projectile weight of about seven kilograms, and thirty tons is equal to more than 4,200 mountain artillery shells.

A mountain artillery wing has a total of 36 guns, and the ammunition base is 80 pieces, and the general battle is one base for each artillery stock, that is to say, in a single blocking battle, Li Yunlong fired one and a half ammunition shells from an artillery wing of the empire.

Moreover, it was a mere 1,500 troops.

"However, the accuracy of the opposing gunner's shelling seems to be poor, and a large number of shells are offset, which is also the reason why the casualties of the Yuxian support force are only one non-full brigade."

Yamamoto continued:

"From this point of analysis, it seems that the gunners of Li Yunlong's troops are all novices, but combined with the previous shelling of the Panxian military camp and the shelling of Niangziguan Station, it can be concluded that Li Yunlong is deliberately cultivating new gunners."

"That is."

Gibbon let out a breath:

"Li Yunlong intends to continue to expand his artillery unit."

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

After waiting for a while, Yamamoto continued:

"Last night's battle, combined with the intelligence collected before, it can be analyzed that the total strength of the two regiments of the new 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment is about 3,500 people, equipped with four large-caliber guns and cannons, more than 10 medium-caliber mortars, and the number of other weapons is unknown, but the standard equipment has been unified."

"Together with the 7,000 troops of the Independent Regiment, it means that the 12,000-strong Eighth Route Army is stationed in the area with Zhao Jiayu as the center, west to Luliang Mountain, south to Ping'an County, and east to Pan County."

As for the north, it was the core base group of the Eighth Route Army, so Yamamoto didn't say it, and it would only be more sad to say it.

"Twelve thousand."

Yoshimoto sighed leisurely:

"With these 12,000 people, the overall combat effectiveness is comparable to half of the Empire's A division, and they are continuing to expand their army at a high speed."

This time, Yoshimoto didn't use the second-line division, but used the first-class division as a metaphor.

Yamamoto was silent.

Although large-scale operations are different from small-scale operations, they cannot be simply compared with one plus one.

There are 105 or even 150 heavy artillery pieces at the regimental level of the Imperial Division, as well as air force support, which can form a three-dimensional operation, and theoretically the more people, the greater the advantage, but the other side also has a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, and there are also solid large deep bunker groups, which can offset the advantage of the Empire.

Coupled with the familiar terrain, tenacious will to fight, sufficient logistical supplies, and abundant reserve troops, the so-called construction brigade is, in Yamamoto's view, the best reserve soldiers.

If there is a real fight, the attacking side will suffer a big loss.

Will Li Yunlong attack?

It can be seen from this battle that he obviously has the advantage and has indeed retreated, which means that Li Yunlong does not want to face the imperial army head-on at all, and only wants to engage in sabotage and take advantage of petty theft.

"How long has it been since Li Yunlong retreated from Shou County to now?"

Gibbon asked suddenly.

"Five and a half months, close to six months."

Yamamoto replied immediately.

"In just half a year, Li Yunlong and his independent regiment have grown from 2,500 to more than 7,000 elite troops, unified standard weapons, and equipped with a large number of artillery pieces."

"Even during this period, more than 50,000 people were organized to build a brigade, and two surrounding regiment-level troops were supported to develop to a full formation of wings."

Yoshimoto said:

"By the way, a large-scale explosives factory, a firearms parts factory, and a strong air defense capability have also been established."

With that, Yoshimoto put down the katana in his hand, stood up, and removed the military cap from his head.

Yoshimoto's strange tone surprised Yamamoto, and he looked up to see that it was already dawning, and through the light coming in through the window, Yamamoto could see Yoshimoto's model clearly.

Only then did Yamamoto realize that his General Yoshimoto had changed greatly, and he also understood why General Yoshimoto did not vomit blood today.

At this moment, Yoshimoto Sadachi's originally black and white hair was already full of snow white, crystal clear white. Bent on his waist, the whole person looked as if he had aged ten years overnight, like an old man who was about to die and was in his last years.

His mouth moved, and Yamamoto was silent.

The elite strength of the independent regiment, the new 1st regiment, the new 2nd regiment, and the three regiments totaling 12,000 people took root in the mountainous area northwest of Shanxi.

Li Yunlong has achieved the general trend.

Next, it will be the most difficult period for the First Army.

For Li Yunlong, General Yoshimoto's original plan was to reserve troops and wait for the mobile forces of one division to launch a sweep to eliminate the independent regiment in one fell swoop and solve the problem of law and order in Shanxi.

But plans don't always keep up with changes.

In the Pacific, the Imperial Navy suffered one defeat after another, and the situation was dire.

Southeast Asia is also not going well, the vast area consumes a large number of troops, the Republic of China Expeditionary Force began to counterattack again, and the empire is forced to continue to draw elite troops from China to participate in the war in Southeast Asia, resulting in the Chinese dispatch army combat effectiveness has been weakening.

The formation of new divisions and regiments in the country is also not smooth, not only the depletion of soldiers, which has led to a decline in the quality of recruits, but also the production capacity has reached the limit, and the new divisions and regiments do not even have enough weapons and equipment.

Under these circumstances, the First Army did not wait for the expected sufficient maneuver forces.

Moreover, Li Yunlong is also much stronger than expected.

If you want to clear and eliminate, or take a step back, and force it to transfer with heavy damage, you must take out two or three elite second-line divisions, or one first-class division plus one second-line division.

This size of troops, not to mention the First Army, the North China Front Army can't be taken out, which requires an order from the base camp, and then the Chinese Dispatch Army Headquarters will transfer troops from other places.

But as soon as the news was reported, the group of old stubborns in the base camp were afraid that they would ignore it.

Now even General Gangcun still doesn't know how terrible Li Yunlong is, let alone the base camp in China.

That group of old stubborns will definitely scold and let the North China Front solve it themselves.

Therefore, there is no need to think about eliminating or severely invading Li Yunlong for the time being, and the next thing they have to do is how to deal with Li Yunlong's follow-up actions to ensure the smooth operation of the Zhengtai Railway.

It's not easy.

The First Army faced not only the 12,000 people of the Independent Regiment and the two surrounding regiments, but also the Jin Sui Army, as well as a large number of entrenched Eighth Route Army in Shanxi.

Recently, the strength of that group of dirt has also risen very fast.

Under such great pressure, it is no wonder that the general turned white overnight and instantly aged ten years old.

Yoshimoto suddenly waved his hand to let the staff officer, who was out of blood from his legs, leave, and then said to Yamamoto:

"Yamamoto-kun, tell me, what should we do? How to deal with this Li Yunlong next? ”

He then added:

"At the beginning of next month, our First Army will be reinforced by a new wing, with a total strength of 4,000 troops."

Yamamoto took a deep breath, and he already had a way to deal with it in his heart.

Although the situation is dire, things have not yet reached the point of despair.

There is still a chance.

The empire also has a chance.

Before Yamamoto could continue to answer, a staff officer outside rushed in again:

"Telegram from Commander Gangmura."