However, it was clear that the Japanese army had strengthened its control over the puppet garrisons, and each squad was assigned Japanese advisers. Although the weapons were fully equipped at one time, the bullets were fired in several quantities. When not moving, except for the five rounds of ammunition distributed by the sentry, the rest of the ammunition was kept by Japanese advisers at all levels.

The salaries originally issued by the puppet Hubei County Office should also be paid by the Hubei Japanese military police according to the capitation. Without the signature of the Japanese lieutenant who acted as an adviser to the pseudo-garrison, others could not even move a small team. That is to say, at present, the Hubei puppet county garrison, although it has been reorganized again, has been tightly controlled by the Japanese.

The speed and intensity of the Japanese army's reorganization of the garrison this time were so fast that Li Ziyuan was not surprised. For the Japanese army, which was underarmed, the puppet army was an important part of its control of the occupied areas. If the garrison is not reorganized in the shortest possible time, as far as the Japanese army in Hubei is concerned, it is just sitting in the county seat.

But Wang Tieshi, this guy made a comeback again, allowing Li Ziyuan to see this guy's magic again. I don't know which way this guy went to the threshold of the immortals, but he was actually sent back this time to be his captain again. After hearing this information, Li Ziyuan was depressed for a long time.

For this pseudo-garrison captain who can't be beaten like Xiaoqiang, who can't be killed no matter how he does it, Li Ziyuan can't be described with admiration at the moment. But which immortal is standing behind this guy, Li Ziyuan doesn't know. But one thing Li Ziyuan is clear about is that after the reorganization of the puppet Hubei County garrison is completed, the Japanese army will definitely retaliate against the mountainous areas in the eastern part of Hubei.

Judging from the limited information available at present, the Japanese army has put its so-called new round of law and order rectification plan on the agenda. The Japanese puppet regime in the entire Ludong region has begun to readjust the armor protection organizations in the area under its jurisdiction. While the movements of the Japanese puppet army were quite frequent, they also constantly sent plainclothes agents to reconnoiter the strongholds in the mountainous areas.

In just one month after the end of the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, Li Ziyuan captured three or four plainclothes agents. This amount and frequency has never been seen before. According to the research of Li Ziyuan and Liu Yanlai, only some of them were caught, and there must be fish that slipped through the net and were not caught.

From this phenomenon, both people realized that the Japanese puppet army was facing the entire Taihang Mountains, and a new ** sweep was very likely, and it was already on the agenda. And the sweep of the Japanese puppet army this time is probably much greater than before. The details of the so-called law and order rectification plan of the Japanese army are still unclear, but the intensity is certainly much greater than the original.

Therefore, on the one hand, Li Ziyuan accelerated the reorganization of the troops, and Liu Yanlai continued to increase the intensity of intelligence gathering. For some important materials in the mountainous areas in the eastern part of Hubei, the clearing of the fortified walls in advance has also begun. Some non-combatants have also been relocated and hidden.

Moreover, Li Ziyuan continued to discharge Liu Lianming's direct platoon, or used the company as a formation to transfer part of the troops, in an attempt to disrupt the Japanese puppet army's attempt to reorganize the armor protection organization, and to sabotage the puppet regime in the western region that was being rebuilt in the districts and townships. In order to deter those wall grasses, let them not think that at this moment, the Japanese puppet army is overpowering, and the Eighth Route Army has no way to take them.

But the situation changed so quickly that Li Ziyuan and Liu Yanlai were somewhat caught off guard. The Japanese puppet army's so-called public order rectification plan this time is so strong, the number of troops invested, and the speed of regrouping and recovery of the puppet garrison. It far exceeded the previous investment, as well as the previous judgment of the two people on the development of the situation.

At present, the Japanese army is no longer slaughtering the Chinese soldiers captured on the battlefield as it was in previous years. Some of these captives were used to expand the puppet army and make up for the shortcomings of their own insufficient troops. The remaining captives were either sent to the Northeast or sent back to the mainland to be used as laborers.

And the puppet government of Wang, which is now crowned by the monkey in Nanjing, is also making every effort to expand its puppet army. Although the Japanese army was oblivious to Wang's puppet government's attempts to build up its own army, it also strictly restricted the replenishment of soldiers and weapons. However, with regard to these local puppet armies controlled by the Japanese army, the intensity of rectification and expansion has been markedly increased.

The tens of thousands of people who were captured in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, except for some officers, were sent to Kaifeng and handed over to the Wang puppet regime. Among the remaining soldiers, in addition to being sent to the Taiyuan prisoner of war camp, they were to be sent to various coal mines in Shanxi to work as coolies. A considerable number of people were also transferred to supplement the puppet garrisons in the counties in the southeast of Shanxi.

These prisoners of war were all from other places and had no relationship in Hubei. It is relatively easy to control compared to the locals, and it also avoids the situation of collusion between the locals and the Eighth Route Army because of their close proximity to the base area of the Eighth Route Army. Moreover, the batch of prisoners of war who were transferred were also carefully selected by the Japanese army.

There is no need for any of the captured personnel of the Central Army, only those captured by the miscellaneous army. After the candidates were determined, a group of puppet army officers were also used to brainwash them, and the salaries they were given were higher than those of the original garrison. And when it comes to internal control, we adopt a strict joint sitting method.

If one soldier escapes, the whole team will be punished. Every night, a late roll call is conducted. The Japanese army in Changzhi adopted this method and quickly reorganized the Hubei puppet garrison. Of course, the Japanese army basically left no seriously wounded who were difficult to move when they were captured.

After reorganizing the puppet army as quickly as possible and adjusting the deployment of Japanese troops. Beginning in August 41, the Japanese puppet army, which had completely freed its hands, took the Japanese army as the backbone and almost all the puppet troops in Ludong adopted the tactics of advancing in parallel from multiple routes and fighting steadily and steadily, and carried out encroachment on the base areas of the Eighth Route Army in the entire Ludong area.

This time, the Japanese army obviously deployed tens of thousands of troops to carry out a sweep in the Taihang Mountains, but due to the lack of its own troops, it was unable to stay in the base area for a long time. Only after the sweep was completed, the troops could be collected and returned to the camp to give the Eighth Route Army in Taihang Mountain a respite for different tactics.

Adopt multi-way counter-advances, and implement a little bit of squeezing encroachment on the Taihang Mountain base area. In Hubei County, the Japanese army divided a battalion of the puppet Jinnan Founding Army, which had been stationed in the western plains and served as a blockade mission, the reorganized puppet Hubei garrison and the puppet plainclothes team, plus two squadrons of the 36th Division's regimental search wing, and a formed infantry brigade divided into three routes.

Adopting a gradual approach to the mountainous areas in the eastern part of Hubei, and taking advantage of the superiority in troops, firepower, and mobility, they successively regained control of the Pingchuan, Luoma, and Qiaokou lines. This time, the Japanese army was not on the front line of Luoma, Qiaokou, and Pingchuan, and all of them were handed over to the puppet garrison to defend.

Instead, a battalion of the puppet Jin Southern Founding Army was transferred to the line from Pingchuan to Qiaokou. The puppet garrisons all drove to Luoma and Yangshuling between Luoma and Ludong to station. The town of Pingchuan was occupied by a squadron of the Japanese army, plus a company of the puppet Jin Southern Founding Army.

This time, the Japanese army was equivalent to pushing the puppet garrison and the puppet Jinnan Founding Army to the front. Behind the two departments, he put on a posture of supervising the battle. And all the puppet troops were freed up and used together, so as to fully cooperate with them to implement the cannibalization tactics.

As for the defense of Hubei County, another battalion of the puppet Jin Southern Founding Army was transferred. After all, Pingchuan, which currently controls the Baijin Railway in the entire territory of Hubei, is even more important than Hubei County in the eyes of the Japanese army, and at the same time it is a strategic point to control the gateway to the eastern mountainous area.

Therefore, this time, the Japanese army simply moved most of the Japanese garrison in Hubei to Pingchuan Town. Only the puppet Hubei County Government, the puppet police station, and the Japanese military police were stationed in Hubei County. The entire Hubei County defense was actually handed over to the puppet army. The headquarters of the puppet Jin Southern Founding Army was also moved from Changzhi to Hubei Xiangcheng.

After re-seizing the triangle of Pingchuan, Luoma, and Qiaokou, and completing a series of adjustments, in late August, two squadrons of the Japanese army that were not in line with the formation began, and the entire strength of the reorganized puppet garrison was a battalion of the Jinnan Jianguo Army. Under the strategy of the other two Japanese puppet armies, they adopted the tactics of steady and steady fighting, and gradually advanced eastward from Luoma and Qiaokou.

Li Ziyuan tried to concentrate his forces many times and first defeated this group of Japanese puppet troops. However, under the rapid reinforcement of the remaining Japanese puppet armies, he did not have an advantage in strength and firepower, and finally had to give up his original combat attempt in the face of the Japanese puppet army's encirclement on three sides.

The Japanese army built a stronghold in the next step of heavy cover, and built a line of Hechuan to the east of Luoma and Zengjiagou to the east of Qiaokou, and almost planted the nail under Li Ziyuan's nose. While the Japanese puppet army gradually advanced eastward, it also captured a large number of laborers and rushed to repair the road extending eastward from Luoma and Qiaokou, trying to divide the entire eastern mountainous area of Hubei into three.

As the Japanese army steadily moved eastward and pushed the blockade line eastward little by little, the activity space of Li Ziyuan's department was in danger of being squeezed a little. And Li Ziyuan's idea of jumping out of the outer line again and mobilizing the Japanese army to reinforce the western zone in order to contain the Japanese puppet army's eastward advance was ultimately fruitless because of the strict vigilance of the Japanese army.

Behind these three Japanese puppet armies, the Japanese army formed a rapid mobile unit composed of three armored cars, forty trucks and some cavalry. In the event of any disturbance, this fast mobile unit can reach any location within two hours.

Faced with the tactics of the Japanese army pressing step by step, Li Ziyuan led his troops to constantly move to find fighters, trying to break the cage tactics of the Japanese army. However, under the condition that the Japanese puppet army of various units was extremely close, Li Ziyuan's many attempts to find fighters ended in failure.

By August 1941, when the stronghold of the Japanese puppet army was about to advance to the front line of Lijiawa, Li Ziyuan gritted his teeth and prepared to concentrate all the basic militia in the eastern mountainous area, as well as the troops of the three district squads, and took out all the family resources in his hands to prepare for a battle.

After several considerations, Li Ziyuan set up an ambush site, and chose the line from Luoma to Hechuan, one of the bridgeheads for the Japanese army's eastward advance. This is one of the supply lines of the newly constructed stronghold of the Japanese puppet army to the east, and the surrounding terrain is relatively gentle. Moreover, some of them are close to Qiaokou to the south, which is far from the ideal ambush environment at the moment.

However, the experience of almost a counter-ambush by the Japanese army on the Baijin railway line told Li Ziyuan that sometimes the more ideal the terrain looks, the stricter the Japanese puppet army's vigilance. Often, the more unfavorable the terrain, the more abundant the fighters.

Therefore, Li Ziyuan chose the location of this ambush battle here. Again, he meant to break a link, thus causing a chain reaction. By mobilizing the Japanese puppet army, he was trying to find a way to find fighters. Otherwise, the Japanese puppet army will attack in multiple ways, or they will be unable to come out of the stronghold. can only sit back and watch the eastern mountainous areas that have been stabilized be encroached upon by the Japanese puppet army little by little.