Judging from the current situation reported by the superiors, this drought is not only in the Taihang area. The southern Hebei and Hebei-Lu-Henan sides are even more serious than the Taihang District. The current drought can almost be said to have swept through the entire base areas behind enemy lines in North China. At present, the Taihang District is relatively light in several base areas behind enemy lines, but 80 percent of the counties have been affected.

The various base areas were divided by the blockade line of the Japanese puppet army, and the flow of personnel was still difficult, not to mention the mutual transfer of food support? In addition, the Japanese puppet army carried out an unprecedented sweep in the Ludong area before, causing serious damage. This year's food problem has almost become the most troublesome problem.

Sitting in his regiment headquarters, Li Ziyuan quietly thought about how to get through the current difficulties. For troops of more than 1,000 people, food, clothing, shelter and transportation are all major problems. The troops can't eat enough, where does the combat effectiveness come from? There is also Liu Yanlai, hoping to rescue the young adults who were captured in Hubei County, as well as the Pingchuan stronghold, and those big animals that were snatched away.

Natural and man-made disasters have continued one after another, and the difficulties have become greater and greater. The issue of food and the rescue of arrested young adults are now top priorities. Having just experienced a big war, and the current composition of the troops is quite complicated, Li Ziyuan still knows whether the troops have the ability to fight a tough battle now.

Li Ziyuan believes that at least without more than a month of training and formation, the troops will not be able to mobilize all of them at the moment. What's more, it is difficult to say clearly whether the current drastic change in the hostile situation is a good thing or a bad thing. Pull a hair and move the whole body, whether it is to hit the northern county town or the Pingchuan stronghold, it is almost impossible for the Japanese army behind him not to move.

However, the current situation of the troops should be better to rest and reorganize in a short period of time. But this matter is also burning eyebrows, once these young adults are sent to other places to work as laborers, it may be difficult to rescue them. The current situation of the army made Li Ziyuan unable to act cautiously.

Thinking of Liu Yanlai's request, Li Ziyuan retracted his gaze from the sky outside the door and turned to the entire Ludong situation map hanging behind him. With the change of the situation, the enemy situation in the entire Ludong periphery has undergone great changes. The 36th Division, which was originally stationed on the Nantongpu Railway and in the southeast of Shanxi Province, had already begun to shrink the defense area on a large scale.

A large part of the defense area has been handed over to the puppet army. Not only the pseudo-garrisons in the counties have begun to expand their strength. Even the entire defense area south of Huguan was handed over to Wang's puppet Second Front Army as a whole. All his forces were reduced to the railways and highways.

At the same time, the Japanese army combined a security regiment of the Jin Sui Army stationed in Jindong, which had surrendered to the enemy some time ago, and two infantry battalions that had surrendered to the enemy into a puppet army division, and drove into the Ludong area. The puppet Jinnan National Construction Army, which was originally stationed in the southeast of Jin, was abolished and merged into the county garrisons.

In Li Ziyuan's view, the Japanese army's hand is quite beautiful. In the case of insufficient troops, they need the puppet army to cooperate with them and act as thugs to serve them, so as to reduce the restraint on their own troops. But he also showed extreme distrust of the puppet army, and carried out all kinds of restrictions.

The number of people who have been given a lot of money has been taken, but the real strength is compressed within a certain range. Judging from the actual situation of this Wang puppet Second Front Army, it is the best way to deal with this Jinnan Jianguo Army and this puppet army division that defected to the enemy in the later period.

But the Japanese army did not do this, but turned this part of the Jin Sui army into a separate division. After dismantling the Jinnan Jianguo Army, this division was transferred to the Ludong area to take over the defense of the original puppet army. This method of divide and rule reduced the burden on the Japanese army itself and strengthened the strength of the puppet army as a whole.

However, several parts of the puppet army belong to various formations, resulting in each part of its troops fighting separately and unable to form a whole. Even if some of the puppet armies have abnormal movements, they will not have any big storms first. The puppet garrisons in each county were self-contained and only obeyed the command of the Japanese garrisons in each county.

The Wang puppet Second Front Army in the south was ostensibly under the jurisdiction of the Wang puppet regime in Nanjing, but in fact it was self-contained. Except for the commander-in-chief, the Nanjing side was immovable. This puppet army now has two corps, and it is armed with 30,000 troops directly under it.

The old Northwest Army was born from a background, and the combat effectiveness of the troops was not weak. Under the reorganization of the Japanese army, the equipment is also excellent, and it also has an arsenal. Can be crafted*, reloaded bullets, and a small amount*. However, how to deal with this Wang puppet Second Front Army, that is a matter for the military region, and it is not their turn to worry about it for the time being.

And among the two puppet armies that he needs to consider at the moment, in addition to the old opponent of the puppet garrison in the Ludong area. It was formed by the Japanese army using the Jin Sui Army that had surrendered to the enemy before, and on the surface it was a division, but in fact it was a division with only more than 3,000 troops.

On the surface, this division was under the command of the Shanxi Puppet Pacification Office, but in fact it was a mobile unit directly controlled by the Changzhi Japanese army. Although the combat effectiveness of the Jin Sui army was generally not strong, Li Ziyuan did not despise this puppet army because of this. Even if it is not good to fight field warfare, being good at fighting defensive warfare is a strong point of the Jin Sui army.

However, although the hostile situation has changed, it is not all bad. The three puppet armies belong to different formations, and it can be said that they are fighting their own battles. On the surface, they are all under the command of the Japanese army, but only these puppet army generals know what they think psychologically. Although the Japanese army strengthened its control over the puppet army of various ministries by this method, it prevented any one of them from becoming stronger and threatening itself.

However, the three puppet armies that are acting separately have also reduced the pressure on the enemy situation in the Ludong area, and if the puppet army in front of them is twisted into a rope, the pressure will still be very great. However, the three parts of the puppet army fought separately, which was certainly conducive to control, but it also weakened the coordination ability of the puppet army to a certain extent.

At the same time, because of the origins of these puppet armies and their previous origins, and because of the reasons for fighting for territory and spheres of influence, the contradictions between them can be said to be quite heavy. Li Ziyuan saw very clearly that if he fought this puppet army division, the Wang puppet Second Front Army in the south would definitely not be saved.

Even if the Japanese army coordinated reinforcements, the whole operation must have been mainly foolish. Similarly, after beating Wang's puppet Second Front Army, this puppet army division will definitely not contribute. In addition to their own affairs, I am afraid that the grievances and grievances between the Northwest Army and the Jin Sui Army before will also be mixed in it.

In the Central Plains War that year, the Jin Sui army basically had no great loss of strength under the operation of the treacherous and cunning King of Shanxi. Except for a small number of covering troops, Shanxi was basically withdrawn in a complete formation. However, the Northwest Army, which fought side by side with it, suffered heavy losses and basically lost all its main forces.

The Jin Sui army retreated, but the Northwest Army collapsed. Except for a few remnants that withdrew to Jinnan, most of the entire Northwest Army threw itself into the Central Army. Of course, this was not in harmony with the Northwest Army at that time, and there was no unified opinion before the Central Plains War. And the Jin Sui army is very united internally, and it also has a lot to do with it.

However, the Northwest Army, which was pit for a half to death, hated all the units of the Jin Sui Army to death. It can even be said that before the Central Plains War, most of the generals of the Northwest Army did not trust the Jin Sui Army. In addition, the king of Shanxi, who undertook most of the baggage and salary supply of the two armies during the war, treated the two armies differently.

One has canned food to eat, and the ammunition is knocked out as much as it is replenished, and the military salary will be paid in the month. One can't even eat pickles, and it's unusual difficulty in replenishing ammunition. As a result, one retreated as a whole, and the other fell apart completely. Of course, it can't be said that the king of Shanxi is also first-class in his ability to control the troops.

Even if it is now confined to the west of Jin, the Jin Sui army has not appeared to surrender to the enemy in a large area. It's just that his Jin Sui army retreated, but it was the Northwest Army. In particular, Mr. Sun, the general manager of Wang's puppet Second Front Army, has become a bare-bones commander from the provincial chairman to the commander-in-chief of the front army.

In the entire Central Plains War, all the units of the Northwest Army participated in the battle, and his troops suffered the heaviest losses, and none of them were able to retreat across the Yellow River and survive. Most of them were disarmed, and a small number were left to move freely. The public life in the next few years after losing the army made the root of the teeth of this old man Sun hate Jin Suijun.

Among all the generals of the Northwest Army, he was the one who hated the Jin Sui Army the most. has no good impression of the puppet army from the Jin Sui Army. After his Second Front Army arrived in the southeast of Jin, the first thing he did was to seize local power. Those miscellaneous puppet armies in the places where the Jin Sui Army was born were basically withdrawn.

The contradiction between the two is definitely a good thing for the entire Ludong subdistrict. Fight at least one, and the other one will definitely not be fully reinforced. If it is difficult not to bring a friendly army and not move like a mountain, it is already very face-saving. Even if there is a Japanese army in the center to mobilize and coordinate, I am afraid it will be difficult for these waves of forces to coexist peacefully.

It's not a big fight, it's already a lot of face for the Japanese. It is probably for this reason that the Japanese army transferred this puppet army to Shanxi, far away from the Central Army in the First War Zone. With the old grudge of this guy and his troops against the Jin Sui army, I am afraid that if he is killed, he will not be pulled back by the Second War Zone.

And after the nails of Linxian and Zhongtiao Mountain were pulled out, the entire southeast of Jin was quite far away from the First War Zone. I'm not afraid of this guy and rebelling again. The hand of the Japanese army can be said to have comprehended the essence of traditional Chinese culture. But this is indeed a pretty good thing for the Eighth Route Army in Ludong.

However, in addition to this, there is another point that Li Ziyuan is paying attention to. The relationship between Wang's puppet Second Front Army and the independent division of the puppet army was not harmonious, and there were many opportunities created for him in the middle. But the relationship between this puppet military division and the county garrison is another matter. At least the relationship should be much closer than with the Wang puppet Second Front Army.

The puppet garrisons in each county are directly controlled by the Japanese garrisons in various places, but most of these puppet garrisons are either formed by frustrated personnel of the former Jin Sui Army, or reorganized after the militia and security regiments under the original Shanxi Provincial Government surrendered to the enemy. At least on the incense, there is still some love for this puppet military division. This is not only a local concept, but also a deeper reason.

At the same time, this puppet army division was directly under the command of the 36th Division, and the puppet garrisons in various counties were also under the command of the Japanese army in various places. These two puppet armies do not appear to be a single formation on the surface, but in reality they may not be so. Li Ziyuan had a feeling that the relationship between these two puppet armies was not normal. No matter which one you fight, the other one will definitely go all out to rescue.

As for the troops formed by this puppet army division, they are not within the scope of this Japanese sweep, how did they surrender to the enemy. Was he tempted by the high-ranking officials thrown out by the Japanese army to be dragged into the water, or did he defect to the enemy due to the original internal contradictions with his own troops, or did he surrender to the enemy for other inexplicable reasons. Li Ziyuan didn't want to know about this.