Almost as soon as Gangmura Ningji's words fell, another communication soldier hurried over and ran into his office.

Salute him and report: "Your Excellency, the 3rd Division has come to report that they have annihilated a considerable part of the enemy army, but they have also discovered an astonishing fact. ”

Okamura frowned, keenly feeling that this might not be good news, but he hurriedly asked, "What fact?" ”

"It seems that it is not Yang Chen and his Tiger Regiment that are surrounded and besieged by the imperial army, but the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party!" The communications soldier spoke astonishingly.

"Nani?" When Okamura Ninji heard this, he was taken aback, and asked several questions with a face: "How is this possible?" Where does the news come from? Is it confirmed? ”

The signal soldier lowered his head and replied as if walking on thin ice: "Your Excellency, the 3rd Division captured many enemy flags in the battle with the enemy, and found that in addition to the blue sky and white sun flags representing the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, there were also many red flags. ”

"Red flag?" Okamura Ninji's face was as ugly as eating stool, because he knew that in China's army, only the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party would use the red flag.

The Eighth Route Army was far away in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei and other northern areas.

In the south, there is only the New Fourth Army.

As we all know, although Yang Chen's Tiger Regiment has a close relationship with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, it is not yet an armed force led by the Communist Party.

In this way, the encirclement and suppression operation launched by him this time, which used tens of thousands of troops and consumed countless war materials, has failed to a certain extent.

Because of the strategic value of a guerrilla force of the New Fourth Army, it cannot be compared with Yang Chen's Tiger Regiment.

Even the threat of the entire New Fourth Army to the Great Japanese Empire was far inferior to that of the Tiger Regiment.

The chief of staff next to him saw that Okamura Ningji's face didn't seem to look good, so he asked tentatively: "Your Excellency, Commander, since the enemy army in this encirclement and suppression is not our target, is it not the end of the encirclement and suppression?" ”

"Don't use it for the time being, since the crooked attack is encircling the New Fourth Army, let's eliminate them." Okamura thought for a while and said: "In a broad sense, the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party are also part of China's national defense forces.

Eliminating as many of them as possible would be tantamount to weakening China's national defense.

Moreover, the troops led by the Communists seemed to be weak, did not have much combat effectiveness, and almost never fought head-on with our Imperial Army.

However, they often engage in attacks behind enemy lines, which also annoys our army and causes headaches.

However, this army is very cunning, and it specializes in drilling deep into the mountains, making it very difficult to exterminate them.

This time, I just took this opportunity to clean them up and show the strength of our Imperial Japanese Army in front of the Communist Party.

Let them know that they didn't clean them up before, not because of how powerful they were, but just because I was disdainful of it by the Imperial Japanese Army!

If you want to annihilate them, it's like crushing an ant! ”

The chief of staff nodded again and again when he heard this, and he had to say that what Okamura Ninji said was very reasonable.

The Imperial Army, in order to exterminate the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party, also put a lot of effort into it.

A lot of manpower and material resources have been invested, but the results are very small, which can be called the disproportionate investment and return.

In the end, I had to do it.

"Since the anti-Japanese forces in Shanyang Village are not the Tiger Ben Regiment, where will Yang Chen and this army go now?" Ninji Okamura asked.

That's what he's most concerned about right now!

The chief of staff, several staff officers, and adjutants all bowed their heads, seemingly pensive, but in fact speechless, because they could not guess where the Tiger Regiment might have gone now.

Okamura didn't seem to expect any useful answers from his staff officers.

Instead, he walked to the battle map, stared at the map for a while, and finally picked up a baton and frowned: "Judging from the map, after the Tiger Ben Regiment broke through from Gushi, it is unlikely that it will cross the Huai River north and enter the Huaibei region.

The most likely and suitable place for them to go should be this area! ”

A few devil staff adjutants, hearing this, stepped forward to take a look, and what Okamura Ningji pointed to was the area from Jinzhai County to Huoshan County.

Almost as soon as Okamura Ninji's words fell, another Japanese signal soldier broke in with a telegram.

"What happened? Why are you so flustered? A staff officer beside Okamura Ninji immediately shouted and asked.

"Your Excellency, Commander, I just got a message from the Special High School.

Huoshan County, which had just been captured by the Imperial Army, was attacked by a mysterious Chinese army. The army was broken, and more than 1,000 defenders of the imperial army and hundreds of imperial troops were wiped out! The communications soldier reported with a panicked face.

"Nani?" Okamura Ninji's face changed suddenly, and he stretched out his hand and said, "Bring the message!" ”

The communications soldier hurriedly stepped forward and respectfully handed over the telegram with both hands.

After Okamura Ninji took it, he glanced at ten lines and read the detailed battle report that the special high school had just collected as quickly as possible.

Awe-inspiring said: "Baga Ya Road!" This attack on Huoshan County, the total annihilation of the Sano Brigade of China. Army, it must be Yang Chen's tiger group! ”

"How can Your Excellency the Commander see this?" The chief of staff hurriedly asked.

"First lure the enemy out, and ambush halfway! Then he took the opportunity to seize the county seat, thus annihilating the county defenders in one fell swoop! This is very similar to Yang Chen's command style!

And as I said earlier, it is very likely that the Tiger Bentuan is hidden in the mountainous areas of Jinzhai County and Huoshan County.

Moreover, north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River, only Yang Chen's Tiger Regiment has the strength to capture the county seat and completely annihilate the garrison troops of the Imperial Army!

Besides, the battle was still so 'beautiful'.

Our army was completely annihilated, and we didn't even have time to send a telegram asking for help.

In the end, we still rely on the intelligence network of the special high class, otherwise we still don't know that Huoshan County has been lost! Okamura frowned and analyzed a little.

After hearing this, all the devil officers were stunned.

"Your Excellency, what should we do now?" A staff officer of Zhongzuo hurriedly asked the most critical question.

"Immediately order the 3rd and 6th Divisions to immediately withdraw from the siege and secretly assemble in the area of Huoshan County!" Okamura Ninji immediately decided.

"However, the New Fourth Army in the encirclement is about to be destroyed, so will you let them go?" Another staff officer asked with some reluctance.

Okamura Ningji pondered for a while and said, "The Tiger Ben Regiment has just taken Huoshan County, and they may not know that they have been exposed.

Now is the time when their vigilance is lowest, so we have to act quickly enough not to give them a chance to react.

Yang Chen is extremely cunning!

Otherwise, once it is alerted, the main force will be withdrawn from Huoshan County and retreated into the mountains.

This vast thousands of miles is too deep in the mountains, and we want to destroy it again, but it is not so easy!!

Of course, this hateful New Fourth Army can't be let go! ”

…………