Zhang Zijian indicated that it is better to pick soft persimmons and pinch them first, and to be steady. And Ma Yongcheng, as a political commissar, also agrees with Zhang Zijian's ideas. The number of Japanese puppet troops at Qiaokou was much larger than expected, and the narrow terrain made it possible for the attacking troops to choose a narrow frontal attack.

Even with artillery support, the casualties of the troops would be very large. Even if it is knocked down, it is a deal that outweighs the loss. Regarding the thoughts of his partner and deputy, Li Ziyuan did not immediately nod. Indeed, taking the Ludong Bypass Road is a relatively convenient route.

At least the terrain in the Ludong area is better than that in Hubei. When troops go out of the mountains and move, they don't have to go through Qiaokou, which is almost a one-man and a terrain that is impossible to open. This speeds up the movement of troops and ensures that the suddenness of the battle can be achieved in the shortest possible time.

But this has a big drawback, not to mention the long detour from Hubei to Ludong, and it is difficult to keep the secret for a long time. The battle at his regimental headquarters was accurately captured by the Japanese army during the Spring Festival, and Li Ziyuan still remembers it deeply. The experience of that attack clearly told Li Ziyuan that the Japanese army must have replanted eyeliner in the mountainous area east of Hubei.

After a series of events that occurred after the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, Li Ziyuan was already aware of the Japanese army's secret service department, and its infiltration into the entire base area behind the enemy line was significantly strengthened. There are not many Japanese spies among them, but the traitors they bought have caused some trouble.

The most crucial thing is the leakage of intelligence, which has a great impact on the activities of the troops. Just like the poisoning incident during the Spring Festival this year, Li Ziyuan doesn't believe that a person who is not familiar with the local area will easily find the location of his headquarters? After the battle, Li Ziyuan was already in the hospital.

However, Ma Yongcheng, as a political commissar, was worried that this encounter would happen again, and with the cooperation of the military sub-division defense and the enemy's engineering department, he made a lot of painstaking efforts to find out the person who poisoned him. The Chinese of Zheng'er Bajing are still the natives of Hubei of Zheng'er Bajing.

For the reward of 300 counterfeit coins, not only in the name of relatives, the village where Li Ziyuan's headquarters was located, but also poisoned that village. As a result, more than 100 innocent people in the village were poisoned, and the remaining people were also reported by this guy and slaughtered by the devils. That loss, Li Ziyuan is still unforgettable.

Although this kind of person is inconspicuous, the threat is great. Because it is difficult for you to find an ordinary peasant in the southeast of Jindong, who will become a spy and spy of the Japanese army under the high bounty of the Japanese army. Their actions are stealthy, but they are quite destructive. A single person can destroy a village without even firing a single shot.

Li Ziyuan still can't imagine what kind of consequences would have happened if his own troops also drank the well water at that time. Even in the absence of any ability to fight back, it is not an exaggeration to say that the entire army will be annihilated. And without the command of the regimental headquarters, the troops below are probably going to be chaotic.

It is precisely because of this lesson that Li Ziyuan has always been very cautious when acting. He knew that the eyes of the Japanese army in Hubei would definitely not be just that. Although afterwards, with the cooperation of the military region, the sub-division also found out a few spies who had been bribed by the Japanese army to work for the Japanese army and provide signals for the Japanese army's sweep or aircraft reconnaissance.

But Li Ziyuan knows that this situation is difficult to completely cleanse up. Because as long as there are people who are greedy for money, this kind of buying will not stop. Compared to the amount of money they can spend on buying these people, this kind of cooperation can be described as quite high. This is especially true when it is quite difficult for foreign agents to operate in the base areas behind enemy lines.

The information that these bribed people could provide provided the Japanese army with the rarest source of intelligence. Li Ziyuan knew that with his own value in the Japanese army, the Japanese army might even have more painstaking efforts in his surroundings and activity areas than the military division headquarters.

Under such circumstances, Li Ziyuan was worried that once the march was too long, it would be easy to be discovered by the Japanese army. But Li Ziyuan can't help but admit that what Zhang Zijian said is very reasonable. After the Japanese puppet army greatly increased its strength, the current Qiaokou is indeed a hard bone to gnaw. If you can't solve it quickly, it will do you more harm than good.

Thinking of this, Li Ziyuan glanced at He Sanliang, who had been staring at the map and had not spoken. After thinking about it, I still asked He Sanliang what he thought. Hearing Li Ziyuan's question about his attitude, He Sanliang tapped on the map but answered the question: "Regiment commander, what do you think of the division's ability to collect intelligence on the changes in the Japanese puppet army in the jurisdiction?" ”

In response to He Sanliang's rhetorical question, Li Ziyuan said without the slightest hesitation: "The intelligence gathering ability of the military sub-district is still quite strong. At least in the Ludong area, there is absolutely no problem. If needed, the military region will provide more detailed and meticulous information. ”

After listening to Li Ziyuan's answer, He Sanliang said: "In that case, the information provided by the military sub-division before our departure on the number of troops in Hubei should still be correct. In other words, it is very likely that before last night, the number of Japanese puppet troops in Qiaokou was still consistent with the intelligence provided by the division. ”

"If this is the case, it also means that the number of Japanese puppet troops in the entire Qiaokou should have changed last night. This is a good explanation, the anomaly that appeared in Qiaokou today. As long as the newly arrived Japanese troops were stationed and the entire stronghold and village were blocked, and no one was allowed to enter or leave, then the military sub-district would not be able to get information so quickly. ”

As soon as He Sanliang said this, Ma Yongcheng over there was a little dissatisfied and said: "Old He, say what you have happily." There are no outsiders here, they are all brothers who stir horses and spoons in a pot. If you think of anything, don't hide and tuck, just get straight to the point. ”

Hearing Ma Yongcheng's urging, Li Ziyuan and He Sanliang glanced at each other, but they smiled and no one commented on anything. Both of them can see that Ma Yongcheng is still very concerned about not being able to get the change of the Japanese puppet army in Qiaokou at the first time. This is also normal, Ma Yongcheng looks very talkative, but in fact, he is still very stubborn and serious in his bones.

Before Li Ziyuan did not come back, he had a division of labor with Zhang Zijian and He Sanliang in work. Zhang Zijian and He Sanliang were responsible for military work, especially the training and organization of troops. In addition to being responsible for political work and life, he also took over the intelligence gathering work because Zhang Zijian and He Sanliang lacked skills.

This time, there was such a big change in the Japanese puppet army in Qiaokou, and it was not discovered until the troops had been deployed, which undoubtedly made Ma Yongcheng very annoyed, and some of his face was gloomy. This time, He Sanliang's explanation allowed him to free himself from embarrassment, which was undoubtedly a good thing for him. So Ma Yongcheng was a little annoyed that He Sanliang didn't make it clear at once.

Regarding Ma Yongcheng's urging, He Sanliang just smiled faintly and continued according to his own train of thought: "If the newly added Japanese puppet army arrived last night. So what is the purpose of this newly added Japanese puppet army, which is still putting on such a fishing posture at the moment, to Qiaokou? Compared with the question of whether to fight or not, this is the most critical and the problem that we need to face the most. ”

"At present, the Japanese army is carrying out a new sweep in the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains. Even if only one of the 36th Divisions was transferred, given the area under their current jurisdiction, their already tight strength would still be greatly affected. At this time, they did not hesitate to weaken the defensive forces in other directions, and strengthened the first-line garrison of Qiaokou, which had been generally calm before, what was the reason?"

"If they are ready to sweep the Ludong area, these devils are obviously in a posture of fishing. With the original relatively weak troops, they tried to lure us to take the initiative to attack the Qiaokou line. But if they are simply waiting for the rabbit, then the troops on the front line of Qiaokou are obviously a little more now. ”

"If it were me, I would never do it. Because it is true or false, so many young and middle-aged people are concentrated here, which will arouse the suspicion of those who have a heart, and sometimes it is counterproductive. Rather than concentrating my forces to hold on to a little bit and carry out a defensive counterattack, I would rather use the Qiaokou fortifications with one force to hold off the attacking troops, and then concentrate my forces to attack a guy from the flank. ”

"Those who disguised themselves as peasants, whether judging by the physical strength or the standard of height, if I judged that there was no problem, these people were not puppet soldiers but all Japanese soldiers. This reason is not difficult to explain, if the Japanese army wants to adopt fishing tactics to lure us to take the bait, they will not use the local puppet army. ”

"Because the local puppet army is in the territory of Hubei, according to the relationship between the Chinese and the family, I am afraid that there will be many acquaintances. Placing the puppet army here is tantamount to directly telling us that those peasants are all disguised by the puppet army. What's more, there are also secrecy problems caused by the puppet army's inability to see. So I judged that those pretenders should be Japanese soldiers. ”

In this way, the entire Qiaokou stronghold is not a puppet army at the moment, and the number of Japanese troops alone is definitely not a small number. The regimental commander and I alone saw five or six hundred people. Add to that the number of Japanese troops who may have been hidden in those houses at Qiaokou, but never appeared. ”

"Judging from the population and the number of houses in Qiaokou as a whole, it is absolutely no problem to have thousands of Japanese troops in and around the Qiaokou stronghold, not counting other directions. If we attack Qiaokou as originally planned, not only will we not be able to open the way out of the mountain, but we will also steal chickens and rice. ”

"I think that the Japanese army's posture of being a little strange, even passive, should be to find out our combat style and our weaponry. In the case that they do not want to suffer large losses, this relatively safe tactic becomes their choice. ”

"The most critical issue for us now is not the number of Japanese troops in Qiaokou. It's the purpose of their doing this, and whether this is the case with the stronghold in the north. But for Qiaokou here, I have a small suggestion for the head of the regiment. Since the devil has put on a posture of luring the snake out of the hole, then we can also come to push the boat down the river and scare the snake with grass. ”

"Didn't we bring a mountain gun and two mortars with us for this sortie? Stab him from afar, and aim his mountain cannon at their turret. It doesn't matter if you hit or not, the key is to find out what the real intentions of the Japanese army are from the follow-up reaction of the Japanese army. ”

"If the Japanese are dispatched, they will concentrate two mortars and give them a rapid fire. After the battle, we will withdraw and see how the Japanese army reacts. Also, no matter what the real intentions of the Japanese army were, I guess that the surrounding Japanese army is definitely not just such a force. ”