"Chief of Staff, have the troops really come over?"

Sugiyama Gen was very excited at this time, he was now losing and retreating, and he had to find a new breakthrough point.

The chief of staff of the devil suddenly nodded and said, "Your Excellency, the troops have arrived in Zaozhuang, and it is currently strictly confidential. ”

"Hahaha, good, good, good, Gangcun Ningji made a good decision this time."

Sugiyama Yuan was overjoyed, and at this time, Gangcun Ningji, who was praised by him, was sitting quietly, and the adjutant next to him reported: "Commander, the 102nd and 103rd divisions arrived in Zaozhuang by themselves, and they hid all the way according to your order, and the radio was silent all the way, and at this time they had already established contact with General Sugiyama Yuan. ”

Hearing this, Gangmura Ningji nodded, smiled and said, "Yo Xi, since we can hide it until now, we will hand it over to Sugiyama Yuan in the future, and we will give up the command of the two divisions." ”

After Gangcun Ningji finished speaking, the chief of staff sitting opposite him asked: "Commander, why do we want to transfer the 102nd and 103rd divisions back, we also need their troops now to defeat the Chinese army on the Wuhan side in one fell swoop." ”

The chief of staff's question made Gangcun Ningci look serious, and said: "The situation in Shandong seems to be irrelevant to us, but the relationship between it is big. ”

"Now the Eighth Route Army seems to be converging in Henan, Anhui and other places, if the Eighth Route Army in Shandong converges with them, then there will be problems not only in Shandong, but also on our side."

"If the Shandong Eighth Route Army solves Sugiyama Yuan, they will go north or south."

"It's better to go north, at most it will increase the pressure on Tada Jun, but if they go south to Jiangsu and Anhui, our back road will be cut off at that time."

Gangcun Ningji's words made the chief of staff's face change greatly, it is true, the current situation of Sugiyama Yuan is very bad, if there are no reinforcements, the destruction will be in a short time, Li Ping will not let go of such a good opportunity.

"Commander, the headquarters is asking us to quickly break the Wuhan battlefield, so I'm afraid that many people will gossip about us."

The chief of staff's words made Okamura Ninji smile bitterly, he knew what the chief of staff meant, that is, he was afraid that the issue of sending reinforcements to Sugiyama Yuan privately this time would be blamed by the headquarters, after all, the focus was still here.

"Chief of Staff, when the battlefield begins, they will understand."

After Gangcun Ningji said this, he bowed his head and was silent, wanting a quick decisive battle, this is just the wishful thinking of those old men in the headquarters, only they, the commanders of the front line, understand that it is a joke to want to conquer China in a short time.

At the beginning, when they boasted of conquering China within three months, the Chinese troops gave the empire a slap in the face in Taierzhuang, and the Eighth Route Army in North China slapped many people a little sober.

Now the Wuhan battlefield and the Changsha battlefield are heavy troops, the situation in Shandong cannot be underestimated, and Hebei is even more anxious for Tada Jun.

Commanders in China knew that it was whimsical for the Empire to want to penetrate all battlefields in one go.

The only way to do this is to remain undefeated in all theaters, then slowly gain the upper hand, and then find an opportunity to break through the defense lines of the Chinese troops.

The chief of staff of Gangmura Ningji's mind guessed a little, and the two of them suddenly quieted down, and on the other side, Sugiyama Yuan had already taken over the command of the two divisions, which was full of spirit.

"Chief of Staff, the troop's hiding strategy is right, leave this matter to you, and you can hide it for me as long as you can."

Sugiyama Yuan smiled coldly after speaking, full of murderous aura, Li Ping had yin against him many times, and this time he also wanted to let Li Ping taste the taste of being calculated.

Sugiyama Yuan looked at the battlefield interest in various places at this time, and the thoughts in his mind kept appearing, Li Ping's obvious target was Liaocheng, but his troops were in the Zaozhuang area, the distance was too far, and he had to find a way to save the line.

"Your Excellency, the troops stationed in the various defense areas have telegraphed, and they can't hold out for long."

"Your Excellency, the retreat of the retreating troops from all directions is not going well, and it is expected that the time to return to the defense area will be in two days."

The voices in the command headquarters made the thoughts in Sugiyama Yuan's mind pass faster, Li Ping turned himself into a fish last time, so can he transfer Li Ping.

This thought in his mind suddenly made Sugiyama Gen tremble slightly, and he immediately said his thoughts, and the devils in the command headquarters were immediately excited when they heard that the 102nd and 103rd divisions had returned.

Sugiyama Gen commanded the staff officers to make a plan, and what he asked was to be fast, after all, the troops of the two divisions could not hide for long as they were dispatched, especially when there was no train to help transport them.

Sugiyama Yuan was planning, Li Ping's side did not know for the time being, when the news that the small defensive line was occupied by the Eighth Route Army came, Li Ping and the chief of staff always paid attention to the situation on the battlefield.

"Division commander, let the troops hold back the devil reinforcements for two days, and we will complete all operations."

"When the time comes, there is only one way for the devils to return, and they are ready to go back to Linqing, Liaocheng, Jinan and other big cities."

Li Ping smiled when he heard this, and nodded heavily, these permanent fortifications were built by Sugiyama Yuan with great effort, as long as they are occupied this time, it is impossible for Sugiyama Gen to build such fortifications in other places.

After all, it is a waste of manpower, time and resources, and Sugiyama should know very well that he can't complete such a layout.

"Chief of Staff, order the troops to fight for two more days, and at the same time send a telegram to Chen Zhong to ask his troops to prepare for action."

The chief of staff nodded suddenly and said, "At present, our strength can only complete such a battle, and it seems that we have to come step by step. ”

After the chief of staff finished speaking, Li Ping smiled, if the strength is enough, the Jining direction will also be one of his attack directions, but this combat route needs time to prepare, and the current strength of the troops must be one defense and one attack is the best choice.

Li Ping commanded the troops to continue to fight all the way, and Sugiyama Yuan looked at the telegrams from the front line, and suddenly said: "Everyone, I'm afraid the Eighth Route Army wants to take down our defense line within three days, should we give up these defense areas?" ”

Sugiyama Moto's hesitation made the faces of the devils in the headquarters change, wasn't it already planned?

"Your Excellency General, at present, the 102nd and 103rd Divisions have been lurking and departing, and they will rush from the direction of Jining as quickly as possible, cut off the rear route of the Eighth Route Army, completely divide the base area of the Eighth Route Army into two, and encircle the Eighth Route Army that is attacking us."

"At this time, we should not abandon the defense area, we should turn this place into a meat grinder for the Eighth Route Army."

The words of the chief of staff of the devil made the people in the command nod, but Sugiyama Yuan shook his head and said: "At present, the defensive forces can no longer support it, and I am afraid that we will be broken through the defense line by the Eighth Route Army before we have completed the encirclement." ”

"Rather than this, we might as well give up and give the troops time to rest and recuperate for the time being, the Eighth Route Army is exhausted after capturing the defensive line, and it should stay in the defensive line area for a short time."

At this time, many devils began to nod, the defense line was empty, and it was really possible to be taken by the Eighth Route Army in a short time, rather than this, it was better to save the troops, and wait for another fierce attack after surrounding the Eighth Route Army.

The chief of staff of the devil still disagreed at this time, and said: "Your Excellency, General, if we abandon those defense areas, and those permanent fortifications fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, even if we complete the encirclement, how to fight, it will be us who will suffer at that time. ”

Sugiyama Yuan shook his head when he heard this, and said: "When the troops retreat, they will immediately destroy the fortifications, as long as our encirclement speed is fast enough, the Eighth Route Army will definitely not have time to repair it." ”

"Also, we have drawings for all the layouts of the fortifications, and the Air Force can complete the fixed-point bombing at that time."

After Sugiyama Yuan finished speaking, the chief of staff of the devil raised his head again after being silent, and said: "Your Excellency, the defense line can be abandoned, but how can we mobilize Li Ping's troops?" ”

Sugiyama Yuan frowned when he heard this, if he retreated, even if Li Ping started to rest after taking the defensive line, his troops would definitely not all rush over, and he might return to rest, so that he would not be able to achieve the combat effect even if he divided his base area in two.

After thinking for ten minutes, Sugiyama Yuan spoke: "After the garrison of the defense line retreated, the troops of the Eighth Route Army base area temporarily stopped retreating and established a defense line. ”

"Make it look like we want to resist, let Li Ping send more troops over, he won't let our troops mess around in his territory."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

After receiving the order, the various troops of the devil were strange, first let the defense line troops retreat, this can be said clearly, after all, after the annihilation, in order to preserve the vitality of the retreat is the best way.

But it was surprising to let the troops that were still retreating stop and establish a defensive line, didn't this give the Eighth Route Army time to encircle?

But an order is an order, and the troops must be respected, when the retreating devils stopped and made an intention to resist, the Eighth Route Army, which was entangled with them all the way, was suddenly stunned, why didn't they retreat.

It was an accident when Li Ping received the telegram, and when similar telegrams were sent from all the troops, Li Ping was shocked.

"Division commander, the troops on the outer line telegraphed that the garrison of the devil's defense line has retreated, and when they retreated, they also destroyed the fortifications in a general manner, and the troops have now occupied the defense line."

The chief of staff took the telegram from the telegrapher, motioned for him to go down, and looked at Li Ping and was speechless.

After a little silence, Li Ping opened his mouth and said: "I really don't understand Sugiyama Yuan's hand, is he afraid that we will fight all the way to Jinan?" ”

The chief of staff laughed when he heard this, and said: "This idea is impossible, if Sugiyama Moto, if he has this concern, he should not let the defense line troops retreat, after all, there are fortifications to help, and the damage to us will be greater." ”

"The most important point is that if he is afraid that Jinan will lose, then the retreating devils from all walks of life will definitely not stop, this is too abnormal."

Li Ping nodded when he heard this, and the battle has been fought so far, and both sides know that the troops are exhausted, so Sugiyama Yuan also knows that he will not be able to enter Jinan in a short time.

From this point of view, the stop of the devils from all walks of life is an anomaly within an abnormality, although the troops are exhausted, they can still complete the combat encirclement in the base area.

"Chief of Staff, order Chen Zhong to let him follow, if the devils continue to stay still, then destroy them."