Speaking of this, Liu Haishan sighed deeply: "But now this army is in my hands, but it is a steel knife." Taken together, the whole regiment was left with less than a battalion and a half of the lightly wounded. I'm sorry for them, I'm the commander of the regiment, this battle unit was completely disabled. How long will it take to really recover? ”

looked at the bangs on his face that twitched because he was distressed about the casualties of the troops. Li Ziyuan said: "Lao Liu, no matter in the sharp steel knife, it is also boiled out on the battlefield. Whether a unit is fought by iron or not is not up to you and me, but is fought by oneself on the battlefield. ”

"Although the casualties of the troops this time are a little larger, the foundation is still there, and there are still so many backbones. Don't worry, I will fill the gap for you in the shortest possible time. But whether this army can be invincible against all enemies as it has been in the past depends on you, the commander. ”

"Clean up the battlefield at once, bury the martyrs first, and transport the wounded and prisoners back. I reckon that the new order from my superiors will arrive soon. The situation is ever-changing, and it won't leave us much time. Now, this is not the time for you and me to be sad here. ”

As soon as Li Ziyuan's words fell, the confidential staff officer over there had already arrived and handed a telegram to Li Ziyuan. Li Ziyuan opened the telegram and read it carefully, then handed it to Liu Haishan and said: "The reinforcements of the Japanese puppet army are moving quickly, let's act immediately, my comrade brother, we are going to transfer." ”

After Liu Haishan roughly read the contents of the telegram, after handing the telegram back to Li Ziyuan, he immediately began to arrange for people to clean up the battlefield. And his political commissar Qian Peng looked at Li Ziyuan, who had a somewhat grim expression on his face, and said, "Lao Li, what's the matter?" Could it be that something is wrong with the main side? ”

Looking at Qian Peng, who was a little worried, Li Ziyuan shook his head and said, "The main force has completed the Yangcheng operation, but the speed of reinforcement of the surrounding Japanese puppet army has exceeded our expectations. The Japanese puppet army reinforced by Xinxiang and Jiaozuo had already entered the territory of Yangcheng, and the higher authorities ordered us to evacuate immediately. ”

"Also, after taking Qinshui, the brother troops of Qinshui have exchanged fire with the Japanese troops dispatched from Linfen. Although the Japanese puppet army that sent reinforcements from Changzhi was transferred back by us, the Japanese puppet army from other directions brought us great pressure. In particular, the units participating in the war were already quite tired because of the continuous fighting, the number of casualties was not light, and the consumption of ammunition was also very large. ”

"The military region ordered us to move to the Ludong area as soon as we finished cleaning up the battlefield. Don't stay around Jincheng and Gaoping for too long, lest you be surrounded by the Japanese puppet army that is advancing quickly. What we have to do now is to move and evacuate immediately. On the side of the main force of the military region, it has now begun to transfer in alternate cover. ”

After listening to Li Ziyuan's order, Liu Haishan nodded and turned around to make arrangements. After Li Ziyuan returned to the headquarters, he immediately gathered and gathered his troops, ready to transfer at any time. As for the dozen trucks and a few cars, Li Ziyuan asked the driver to be found out from the captives.

Those high-end cars were of no use to Li Ziyuan, after removing the engine and draining the fuel. The rest of the car body is directly piled with firewood and grass and burned. As for the dozen or so Japanese-made trucks, they were all driven back to the base area with the prisoners and the supplies on them.

And he himself led the troops, carrying a large number of prisoners and captured supplies, and after joining up with Ma Yongcheng, who had also captured a large number of materials from Jincheng, he quickly withdrew to the northeast. Behind them, there were only Japanese expatriates who had been left behind, and a large mass of Japanese corpses.

By the time the thousands of Japanese troops from the surrounding reinforcements arrived, the entire Jincheng battlefield was already in a mess. Except for the corpses wrapped in crotch cloths, not even a single piece of paper was left for them. The thousands of frightened and trembling expatriates, the elderly, weak women and children, stood desolate in the middle of the pile of corpses.

The bodies of the martyrs of the Eighth Route Army have been transported away and ready for burial. And the bodies of the dead of the puppet army have been buried on the spot by their comrades who were prisoners. The corpses of the Japanese soldiers, no one has time to pay attention to. It was a hot day, and by the time reinforcements arrived, the corpses were already a little stinky, and swarms of flies were circling back and forth over the pile of corpses.

However, more than 100 wounded Japanese soldiers on the battlefield were also bandaged and lay there well. No one tortured them, but their weapons and ammunition, including their belts, water bottles, and even shoes, were taken from them. As for their personal watches and wallets, they are all on them. Several captured Japanese medics were left behind to take care of them.

Of course, most of the medicine in the hands of these medics had been scavenged, but they were still left with enough to last until the arrival of reinforcements. At this point, compared with the Japanese army, which slaughtered all the wounded among the prisoners, the Eighth Route Army had already done its best.

Look at the corpses in front of you, the terrified expatriates and the wounded, and the battlefield that has been cleaned so clean that there is not even a single bullet casing left. Major General Hachiro Oigawa, commander of the 83rd Infantry Brigade of the 114th Division stationed in Linfen, who was responsible for coordinating and directing the reinforcement operation of the First Army, was silent for a long time.

Although he knew that the eight roads that had fought in Jincheng before had withdrawn to the Taihang Mountains, Major General Oigawa Hachiro did not dare to pursue at all. He could only command the troops, and now the corpses of the Japanese soldiers killed in the battle are concentrated and incinerated in a centralized manner. Only before the superiors decided who would take over the eaten troops and garrison Jincheng and the surrounding counties.

Who came to garrison here temporarily became the biggest headache for Hachiro Oigawa. As reinforcements from all walks of life arrived, more and more troops were available to him. But who to keep here to stay, all the officers are at a loss. Whoever Hachiro Oikawa looked at, he immediately turned his gaze away.

From the mouths of the wounded soldiers released by the Eighth Road, it was learned that the Eighth Road, which fought to the end with the Jincheng garrison, had only slightly more troops. But just like that, there were nearly 2,000 Japanese troops, and none of them slipped through the net. Even if there are a large number of engineers, baggage soldiers, armed expatriates, and the garrison of the military station, even this is too terrifying.

If you stay here, if the big troops withdraw, then you will not be looking for death. Besides, now that the imperial forces are tight, it is impossible to leave too many troops in the counties of Jincheng. With just the little troops left, if the Eighth Route fights back, won't it become meat for them to send to the door?

So there was such a scene, a group of Japanese officers from the captain of the brigade to the brigade commander, that is, no one wanted to stay in Jincheng and control this traffic artery from northern Henan to southern Jin. The troops of the 12th Army, who rushed from northern Henan, believed that southern Jinnan was the territory of the First Army and should be garrisoned by the First Army.

And the First Army thought that its strength was too tight, and it was really unable to take care of Jincheng here. Since the 12th Army is in northern Henan and the Pinghan line, and the troops stationed are quite large, then the 12th Army should be responsible for this. Moreover, Jincheng was in a strategic position, relative to the First Army, and eventually moved closer to the Twelfth Army.

The First Army and the Twelfth Army fought several times, and finally under the ruling of the North China Front, Jincheng and its subordinate counties were stationed, and the First Army and the Twelfth Army were respectively responsible for it. The First Army was responsible for garrisoning Qinshui and Gaoping, the Twelfth Army was responsible for garrisoning Jincheng and Yangcheng, and the remaining counties were abandoned on the spot.

The North China Front's approach to harmony with the mud made both armies unsatisfied. But after all, Jincheng's strategic position is critical, and it is impossible to give up. In the end, both armies still accepted the boss's approach to the mud. But in view of the puppet army originally stationed, it has basically been cut off.

The North China Front of the Japanese Army originally belonged to the puppet Sixth Front Army. It was also in this battle of Jincheng that among the troops belonging to the puppet Sixth Front Army, the only remaining 10th Division with a complete structure, as well as the remnants of other puppet armies, plus a part of the puppet army transferred from Henan, and a part of the soldiers captured in addition, and expanded into the Tenth Army.

It had four divisions plus one brigade, and the establishment was set at 27,000 men. But the formation was given, and the soldiers were left to the ministry to figure it out. However, the Japanese army has no way to solve the gap in weapons and equipment. Japanese-style weapons and equipment, now it is possible that there is no such thing at all. The Japanese themselves are already seriously underwhelmed, and it is no longer possible to equip them with Japanese-style weapons.

In the end, it was the 12th Army that ended at the end of March, and most of the trophies from the battles in western Henan, Xiangyang, and Laohekou were transferred to this puppet army except for artillery, totaling more than 4,000 rifles, more than 200 light and heavy machine guns, more than 10 mortars and 4 mountain guns, as well as 300,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 1,000 shells.

In fact, the Twelfth Army did not want to hand over these equipment to this puppet army, after all, most of the elite Japanese troops in the pass had been transferred, and the remaining ones were newly formed garrisons or garrisons such as brigades. Equipping the puppet army with too good weapons is asking for trouble for yourself.

Although the North China Front Army has named this puppet army under the command of the 12th Army, the treacherous and cunning commander of the 12th Army is still quite uneasy. It's just that Jincheng controls the main transportation route from northern Henan to Changzhi and even Shanxi. In the Japanese army, its own strength was seriously insufficient, and the 12th Army could only retain two squadrons of strength in Jincheng.

In this case, the Twelfth Army can only equip this puppet army as much as possible. Fortunately, in this operation in western Henan and northern Hubei, the 12th Army can be said to have gained a lot. Light and heavy machine guns and artillery were captured in large quantities, at least without having to pay out of their own pockets. In the end, he gritted his teeth and took out a batch of loot and handed it to the puppet army.

It's just that neither the Twelfth Army nor the First Army knew that it was just after this puppet army was stationed in Jinnan. The first thing he did was to send 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 3,000*, 20 Czech-style light machine guns, 3 Makqin heavy machine guns, and 30 American-made* gifts from the Japanese as a gift.

The meaning of this pseudo-Tenth Army is to buy a peace with these weapons and ammunition. They definitely don't take a step forward from the Eighth Route Base Area, and I hope that the Eighth Route will not attack them either. Eight Roads need to use their places in the future, and they promise to give them whatever they want. As long as Balu doesn't beat them, they will definitely cooperate with Balu.

Of course, without the cooperation of the so-called advisers sent by the Japanese army to the puppet army and actually control the ammunition of the puppet army, it would be difficult for this puppet army to come up with so much at once. In the first battle of Jincheng, those Japanese advisers were really scared. They didn't even need to bring it up to the puppet generals themselves, they took the initiative to propose this practice of spending money to buy peace.