The reason why Xiao Siming told Zhang Hao the actual situation in Shandong and Hebei Plains very skillfully was because Yan'an did not know much about the situation in these areas at this time.

The Japanese army captured the city in Shandong and continued to move south to capture Xuzhou. The Fifth War Zone is organizing the Battle of Xuzhou. The Shandong Provincial Party Committee, with the help of Hong Tao, the commander of the Red Army sent by Yan'an, fired the first shot of the Culai Mountain Uprising on January 1, and raised the banner of the Fourth Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Detachment in Shandong.

At this time, if the entire 115th Division can be pulled to Shandong, it can cut off the enemy's communications and effectively respond to the Battle of Xuzhou in the Fifth Theater. Moreover, if the entire 115th Division takes advantage of the situation to enter Shandong, it can be quickly deployed in Shandong, and the party organization, political power, and armed forces will be established, and the troops will inevitably develop on a large scale. Compared with the history of the 115th Division and the 343rd Brigade entering Shandong in batches, it must have taken the lead and developed faster!

This is a very secret idea in Xiao Siming's heart, I don't know if Yan'an will make a decisive decision to let the 115th Division march into Shandong now after Zhang Hao's report. However, it is impossible for the 115th Division to advance eastward for the time being, and the Japanese army is about to fight in the southwest and northwest of Shanxi, and the main force of the 115th Division has to prevent the Japanese army from crossing the Yellow River and attacking northern Shaanxi!

What Xiao Siming thought was that after listening to Zhang Hao's report, the division commander, the head of the headquarters, and the Yan'an headquarters, when the 115th Division could not go all out to advance eastward, at least sent his independent battalion and Zeng Guohua's fifth detachment into Shandong in advance to fight the front station for the main force to advance eastward.

According to the historical trajectory, when Li Yu, responsible person of the Shandong Provincial CPC Committee, went to Yan'an for a meeting in April, he raised the issue of sending a main force group to Shandong. On April 26, the five detachments of the 115th Division led by Zeng Guohua crossed the Pinghan Road with Xu Qianqian to open up a base area in the southern Hebei Plain, and the team grew rapidly, forming the Eighth Route Army's eastward anti-Japanese advance column, which suddenly developed from the earliest five companies to three detachments of the 4th, 5th, and 6th. In July, because the 31 detachments pulled up by the party organization on the Jilu border were suppressed by the diehards and were in a crisis, Zeng Guohua led the five detachments and three regiments of the eastward anti-Japanese advance column to cross the Jinpu Road to aid the Jilu border, and then a small force led by Sun Jixian followed up with reinforcements, and the Eighth Route Army stepped into Shandong from then on. It was not until the end of the year that the 685th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army arrived in southwest Shandong from Shanxi to establish the Huxi Base Area, and the troops grew from 1,700 to tens of thousands. Immediately afterwards, Chen Guang and Luo Ronghuan led the division headquarters, units directly under the city and the 686th Regiment to cross the Taihang Mountain and enter Luxi, opening the curtain of the 115th Division passing through Shandong.

The reason why Xiao Siming did this is very simple, that is, he hopes that the strength of our army will develop and grow as soon as possible, and use our own strength to defeat Little Japan as soon as possible!

If the division headquarters allows Xiao Siming to lead the independent battalion into the southern Hebei Plain or the Hebei-Lubian and Luxi regions in advance, in the eyes of Xiao Siming's soul traverser, he will definitely let go of his hands, and the independent battalion may swell into a regimental-level, brigade-level, or even column-level unit in a short period of time. Although the combat effectiveness of the troops will be diluted after the rapid expansion of the troops, as long as there are troops in hand and a base area that can supply the troops, the combat effectiveness of the troops will naturally be re-enhanced after training and training and battlefield training!

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Secretary Li of the Shouyang County Party Committee and the county magistrate of the Lunan Anti-Japanese Democratic Government brought the villagers to the independent camp early in the morning. Unexpectedly, the independent battalion was not at the station, and the whole battalion was pulled to the mountains for snow combat training without knowing the day, and even the cooking class was no exception.

Secretary Li and County Magistrate Su waited until it was almost dark before the independent battalion returned to the Mafang station.

The villagers brought five fat pigs that were washed and peeled, so the cooking classes of each company of the independent battalion were busy, cutting meat and chopping stuffing and making dumplings, and Xiao Siming, the battalion commander and instructor, went into battle with Secretary Li and the county magistrate of Su, and made dumplings with the soldiers.

The next night, when Zheng Xiuchuan, the deputy battalion commander, returned to Mafang with three rows of wind and snow, there were fragrant pork and cabbage dumplings specially reserved for them in the room!

During this time, there were three people in the busiest and most mysterious independent battalion, one was Li Qi, the chief of a section and an operational staff officer, who was called by Xiao Siming to make a combat plan, and stayed alone in the room to work on the map; The second busiest person was Zhao Changshou, a Japanese language instructor, who led more than a dozen cadres with a relatively good cultural foundation from various companies and platoons to be locked up in a courtyard and taught daily Japanese language intensively, and could not even leave the door every day; The third busiest person was Mei Ying, the head of the propaganda section, who borrowed a mimeograph machine from the Mafang Village School, engraved wax paper herself, mimeographed leaflets for pseudo-propaganda against Japan, and distributed them to the troops after printing a stack, and she was very busy!

On the evening of the fifth day of the first lunar month, Xiao Siming sent a secret telegram to the division headquarters, reporting the battle plan for the sneak attack on the Japanese army's Taiyuan airfield, and asking for approval!

Although the division headquarters ordered the independent battalion to fight independently on Zhengtai Road, Xiao Siming was very clear that the Eighth Route Army had strict discipline, and if there was no radio or contact, it would not be said.

Xiao Siming's plan was to act first against the enemy, and when the Japanese army attacked southwest Jinxi on a large scale, he led the independent battalion to set out from Mafang, secretly crossed the railway and highway from Shouyang, moved to Yangqu County, and waited for an opportunity to attack Taiyuan and blow up Taiyuan Beiguan Airport.

It's a bold, new, and challenging plan!

Think about it, the Central Army and the Jin Sui Army have withdrawn south, and the main force of the Eighth Route Army has also drilled into Taihang Mountain to mobilize the masses. At this time, a small battalion commander actually asked his superiors for permission to attack the Japanese airfield in Taiyuan, which is a bit too unbelievable, right?

The strange thing is that after receiving Xiao Siming's telegram, the division headquarters called back for approval only an hour later, and also informed that the division headquarters would notify the 129th Division of the independent battalion's departure from Mafang and another combat mission!

The telegram from the division headquarters demanded that after the troops arrived in the northern suburbs of Taiyuan, they should be concealed and waiting, and the sorties should be swift, the firepower should be concentrated, the actions should be resolute, and the battle should be quickly resolved! After blowing up the Japanese airfield, quickly disengage from contact with the enemy and avoid being pursued and surrounded by the enemy!

Xiao Siming later heard that after receiving Xiao Siming's telegram, Division Commander Lin looked at the Japanese army's combat map captured during the Battle of Pingxingguan for half an hour, and then said to Chief of Staff Wang Bingzhang: "This Xiao Siming is not very old, he is not small, and he has vision!" If the Japanese army really attacked the southwest of Shanxi on a large scale, and the independent battalion went to bomb the Taiyuan airfield, it would really be the right time! Let him fight! Soldiers, you are fast! Send a telegram and order the separate battalion to act immediately and report as soon as the airfield is blown up! ”

This means that the radio can be turned off after the independent battalion starts the operation, and there is no need to ask for instructions and reports!

After receiving the telegraphic order from the division headquarters, Xiao Siming led the independent battalion to quietly leave Mafang that night. The next morning, the landlord villagers found out that the Eighth Route Army had left, the landlord's water tank was full of water, the snow in the yard had been cleared, and even the toilets used by the troops had been cleaned and refreshing.

The villagers of Mafang, including the cadres of the Shouyang County Party Committee and the Lunan Anti-Japanese Democratic Government, no one knows where the independent battalion is going!