March 15th.

Taiyuan.

Major General of Japan's younger brother, General Kazuki Yamamoto was sitting on a chair on the side of the headquarters at this time, looking at the telegram handed over by Yoshio Shinozuka, with an indescribable strange expression.

Defensive battles not so long ago.

Ping'an County was lost, Pan County was lost, including the reinforcements sent by General Shinozuka, a total of more than 20,000 imperial samurai jade shattered, and even two-thirds of the heavy artillery of the First Army was lost.

Heavy losses of soldiers and equipment.

He commanded an unprecedented defeat, which can be called the greatest defeat of the imperial army in the history of the North China battlefield.

However, this message from the base camp did not mean to question him at all, and he was not itched to mention the losses of the three wings of the First Army in the past and the heavy artillery wing of the First Army.

It occupies less than a tenth of the entire telegram.

However.

The remaining nine-tenths were more than that, and it was actually a commendation, praising him for collecting so much food and fuel for the empire, praising him for keeping the Zhengtai line, and then a small criticism of them for losing the Tongpu line.

Yamamoto felt that it was outrageous.

"General."

Yamamoto sighed and said to Yoshio Shinozuka on the side:

"The Empire is..."

For a moment, Yamamoto vaguely felt something, but the news in the telegram was too unexpected for him, and Yamamoto's brain was a little insufficient.

Losing the Tongpu line, losing most of the occupied areas of Jin, counting other places, this time the cumulative number of jade crushers in the First Army is close to 30,000, such a big problem, so a few innocuous words will pass?

"This Jin Province should have been abandoned."

Yoshio Shinozuka's tone was very calm:

"Operation No. 1 is about to take place, and the main strategic purpose of the empire at present is to ensure the continental lines of communication, and the loss of Jin will not have much impact on the overall strategy."

Just now, Yoshio Shinozuka and Yamamoto said some of the content of Operation No. 1, of course, only to the part he knew.

"So."

Yamamoto nodded:

"For the empire and the base camp, Jin is not important, and it is not even as important as tens of thousands of tons of fuel oil and hundreds of thousands of tons of grain."

"Yes."

Yoshio Shinozuka nodded.

"But what's the use?"

Yamamoto really didn't understand, and he asked:

"General, the current situation in the Empire, what's the use of doing this? Even if the mainland communication line can be opened, so what? ”

This is something that Yamamoto has never figured out, even if the communication line to the mainland is opened, what will happen? The defeat of the empire is assured, the situation that the empire hopes for cannot be achieved internationally, the European allies are being caught between two sides, and defeat is a matter of time.

"Yamamoto-kun."

Looking at his proud subordinates, Yoshio Shinozuka said leisurely:

'The defeat of the empire is a foregone conclusion, and no one can change it. ’

Yoshio Shinozuka said it directly, which shocked Yamamoto

Yoshio Shinozuka continued:

"But how to fail, this is a problem, to fail like Italy, to fail like Germany in the last European war, it is absolutely unacceptable to the emperor at the top of the empire."

Yamamoto nodded.

The fact that the initiators of the war were tried as war criminals and deprived of all rights was absolutely unacceptable to the Empire, to the Emperor, to the generals of the base camp.

Not to mention the fact that there are still a large number of fanatical junior officers in the country.

The empire is far from being at the end of its rope, and even the emperor does not dare to mention surrender now.

"So, the idea of the empire at the moment, is to strive for a decent defeat."

Yoshio Shinozuka continued.

"Is this possible?"

Yamamoto still didn't understand.

The so-called dignified defeat refers to forcing the United States to stop its offensive and to making the United States realize that the cost of continuing to fight and winning is too great, but judging from the attitude displayed by the United States, this is absolutely impossible.

"It is absolutely impossible for the United States to accept the conditional surrender of the Empire."

Yamamoto's tone was categorical:

"They will only accept the unconditional surrender of the Empire, otherwise they will land on the Empire itself."

This point, even he can easily see from the president's many public statements, although the group of people in the base camp are stubborn, they are not stupid.

"Not necessarily."

Yoshio Shinozuka looked at Kazuki Yamamoto, and his tone carried Tsutsutsu's teaching:

"In today's international situation, although Germany is facing the attack of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, the defeat has been decided, but the alliance is not monolithic, especially between the United States and the Soviet Union, there are huge contradictions."

"Once Germany is defeated, the huge differences between the United States and the Soviet Union will inevitably lead to contradictions."

"When the time comes, the situation in the empire may turn around."

"Is this possible?"

Yamamoto was still a little unconvinced.

Even if there were contradictions between the United States and the Soviet Union, they would first put aside the contradictions, first destroy the empire, and then deal with them further.

"Of course it is."

Yoshio Shinozuka said confidently:

"As long as the Empire shows enough strength in the next battle to let the Americans see that continuing to attack, or even landing on the Empire's mainland, will pay an unbearable price, then..."

Speaking of this, Yoshio Shinozuka paused before saying:

"The empire sandwiched between the United States and the Soviet Union can usher in a turnaround."

Yamamoto immediately fell silent.

He thought about it carefully, and suddenly it dawned on him that this was really possible.

The national system of the United States is different from that of the empire, and as long as the empire has a broken mentality, resolutely resists, and lets the Americans know that attacking the homeland will cost at least one million deaths, the United States will inevitably hesitate.

And then with the help of the contradictions between the United States and the Soviet Union, then ·····

There is also hope for an honorable defeat of the empire, and even to preserve part of its interests.

"So, Base Camp means ·····"

Yamamoto looked down at the last line of the telegram in his hand, he will continue to increase troops and provide weapons and ammunition and other materials, and will continue to transport various machinery and equipment, but he needs to increase the collection of fuel and food.

"Strengthen the vigilance of the Zhengtai line and increase the number of materials collected."

Yoshio Shinozuka word by word:

"Before Li Yunlong decides that we will get out, open your mouth wide and swallow the poisoned candy he gave."

Yoshio Shinozuka is very pressing.

Now Li Yunlong's strength, plus those guerrillas, there is no problem in laying down his lair, and now if he doesn't do it, it is estimated that he is disgusted that he is not enough in number, and continue to use materials to attract more imperial troops and then annihilate them together.

Although he didn't know what the point of doing it was.

"Hey."

Yamamoto bowed his head should be.

"That's right."

Yoshio Shinozuka finally said:

"In a few days, the headquarters of the dispatch army will send a major general over, and the base camp will also send a major general to investigate the situation of the First Army, so as to strengthen the security work as much as possible."

His tone was helpless.

"Hey."

The corners of Yamamoto's mouth twitched.

He understood the helplessness in General Shinozuka's tone, Li Yunlong's current grasp of Jin was much stronger than that of the First Army, and even what happened in Taiyuan might be known first.

According to the telecommunications department, more than 100 radio wave points have been found around Taiyuan.

More than the radio stations of the First Army.

But they were helpless, knowing that it was a spy, and they didn't even dare to do it.

Because the intelligence personnel of those guerrillas were lurking in the caravan convoys, once they moved, the flow of materials was instantly suspended, and at least thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons of materials would be lost if they stopped for one day.

Anyway, the First Army has nothing to keep secret.

Not to mention Chen Fan, who provided confidential information.

If the other party wants to kill these two major generals who came to investigate, they may not be able to protect them.

He is proficient in special operations, can achieve almost absolute protection, can keep snipers from approaching, can arrange routes, and avoid pre-laid mines, but the other side has planes.

Dozens of tons of heavy explosives were dropped at one time, and then the machine guns strafed, and there was no use for any protection.

I hope Li Yunlong is not interested in these two major generals.

Yamamoto prayed silently in his heart.

······

"It's Yangquan in front of you."

In Xiyang, Zhang Dabiao stood on the almost complete city wall, holding a telescope and looking into the distance, beside him, a battalion commander was eager to try:

"Shall we continue the attack?"

Although the troops fought all the way from Heyuan County, there was no fun in the basic mountain, and there were indeed a lot of devils and puppet troops along the way, but basically the artillery coverage was not over, and the devils fled.

Especially Xiyang, when the devils saw them coming, they all retreated directly to Yangquan.

It's outrageous.

"Nope."

Zhang Dabiao shook his head:

"Part of the main force is stationed in Xiyang, and the other part is scattered, controlling all the surrounding villages, in short, except for the vicinity of the Zhengtai line, as long as the rest of the places can be obtained, all will be taken."

Yangquan is the main hub of the devil's Zhengtai line, and now there are more than 20,000 devil soldiers here, of course, he really doesn't coax it when it comes to fighting, but now is not the time to do it, the regiment commander means to continue to leave the Zhengtai line to the devils, attract the devils to invest more troops, and then make dumplings at one time.

"Yes."

Although it was a pity, the battalion commander carried out the order.

······

March 25th.

Ping'an County Hospital.

Zhao Gang, Li Yunlong, and Ding Wei had a brief meeting.

"This hospital is good."

Dean Liu, who came from Taihang Mountain, looked at the busy construction site in front of him, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he didn't notice the three people approaching behind him.

With this hospital, many wounded people who had no choice but to be sent to Hong Kong before can also be treated, and the effect is even better, especially those top medical experts, which is even more difficult to make up for the lack of top medical and technical talents in China.

"Lao Liu, how long will it take to put it into use?"

Behind him, Li Yunlong asked.

"Five high-power diesel generators have been installed, some equipment has been commissioned, and patients can be received at night."

Dean Liu's tone was excited.

The construction materials and wooden floors given by Boss Chen are all ready-made, and under the construction of the skilled workers of the construction brigade, the construction speed is fast.

It is his lifelong dream to have such a hospital, and now that the dream has been realized, then he must make good use of this hospital to treat the wounded and sick, and by the way, cultivate more medical talents for the country.

"Okay."

Li Yunlong and the others nodded in satisfaction.

With this hospital, there is no need to think of sending seriously injured people abroad in the future. Tens of thousands of tons of various precious medicines, plus medical kits, there is no need to worry about medicines for a long time.

President Liu did not continue to talk nonsense with the three of them, and continued to invest in the construction of the hospital.

And the three did not continue to stay in the hospital, the three of them got into a large jeep and drove to the steel mill that was being formed, driving by Zhao Gang's guards.

"Lao Zhao, how long will it take for this steel plant to be put into production?"

Li Yunlong asked.

"In half a year, it can be initially put into production."

Speaking of the new steel plant, Zhao Gang's tone was indescribably strange.

After they selected the land and leveled the land, Boss Chen spent a week directly sending the steel plant equipment to the predetermined location, simply put, a steel plant, which rose from the ground in a week, and the main equipment was basically installed.

Next, all they need is to build ancillary transport facilities, and under the leadership of fifty new masters, let the workers get acquainted with this steel plant, and prepare iron ore and raw materials such as coke and lime, as well as the power plant, and start production.

"So fast..."

The corners of Ding Wei's mouth twitched, and then decisively changed the topic:

"How's the capacity?"

"Can we mass-produce rails and locomotives, as well as carriages?"

Hearing Ding Wei ask this question, Li Yunlong also listened attentively.

This is important in follow-up planning.

At present, the Tongpu line is already owned by the troops, but the devils carried out large-scale damage to the railway before retreating, and it is expected that it will take three to four months to repair, and this is still under the condition that the raw materials are sufficient and the foundation is not damaged.

Boss Chen directly provides steel rails, and produces road spikes, sleepers, etc. by himself.

The main reason is that there is a shortage of iron depot personnel in the army, a lack of engineers, and a shortage of skilled railway workers, of course, this can be cultivated slowly, or it can be dug from the national capital.

But the locomotive and the transport carriage are not available to Boss Chen, and he can't always rely on others, he has to do everything by himself.

With sufficient trains and carriages, the independent regiment can have the ability to attack from a distance, and the whole regiment can go all the way to the north, or even east, to the core area of the devils.

Otherwise, tens of thousands of troops, or even hundreds of thousands of troops, hundreds or thousands of kilometers, rely on trucks to be responsible for logistics, equipment is enough, and when the tank business is over, there can be more than 100,000 ten-wheeled trucks, which is properly enough, but there are not enough drivers and machinery and equipment maintenance personnel.

"No problem."

Zhao Gang's tone was confident.

Although the scale of Zhao Jiayu Machinery Factory is not large, but the technical level is really not low, there is really no difficulty in manufacturing high-power steam heads, and the production is still equipped with small water tube boilers of high-horsepower steam locomotives, horsepower, strong traction, a trip can pull thousands of tons, the speed is fast.

Several people said as they inspected the steel mill.

As for the safety of the steel plant, there is no need to worry about it.

The headquarters once again sent a few pilots, and now there are as many as 20 pilots in the flight group of the independent regiment, which, together with the antiaircraft artillery unit, can protect the sky around Ping'an County.

Just as a few people were walking and talking, a staff officer ran over:

"Regiment Commander, Taiyuan Telegraph."

"It was found that a group of devil officers had arrived in Taiyuan, led by two devil major generals."