The independent battalion is only a battalion-level unit, and although the division headquarters has ordered it to be expanded into a regiment-level eastward advance brigade, the expansion has not yet been completed, and the main combat force is still a battalion-level unit of the San Combat Battalion.

According to common sense, the opponent of the Chinese army at the battalion level should be the Japanese army's squads and squadrons, and at most the Japanese army's brigades, and it is not the turn of the Japanese army's brigade commanders and division commanders to consider how to eliminate the Chinese army's battalion-level formed units, let alone army commanders and front army commanders!

The problem is that the independent battalion fought too hard and accurately in these battles, and the swords and knives were poked in the hearts of the Japanese army, which made the Japanese army hurt to the bone marrow.

Another most critical problem is that the Japanese army still does not know the number, establishment, and strength of the independent battalion, and even the commander of this unit is not clear. Because according to common sense, the Japanese army has a brigade of troops stationed in Shouyang, and the pseudo-Shouyang County garrison is working together to capture the Eighth Route Army in Shouyang County, and the strength should be at least one division!

With one less division of troops, don't even think about capturing the county town where the Japanese army is strongholding! Even if it is a division, all of them are engaged in siege warfare, and they may not be able to conquer it! You must know that when the Japanese army fights, it deploys troops, and is accustomed to using an infantry brigade against a Chinese division, and under normal circumstances, it is still a chance to win!

This is the consequence of information asymmetry! Seiji Kazuki and Shouichi Terauchi are both masters of the Japanese army who can fight habitually, especially General Terauchi Shouichi, who is a commander-level figure in the Japanese army and has a high prestige among the officers and soldiers of the Japanese army. It stands to reason that as long as General Terauchi Shouichi understands how Shouyang Castle was lost, he will be able to judge the size of the independent battalion. It's a pity that he doesn't know it yet!

Because he could not figure out the size of the independent battalion, General Terauchi Shouichi strictly ordered the First Army to recapture Shouyang and eliminate the Eighth Route Army that had captured Shouyang.

The chief of staff of the First Army, Iida Shojiro, led the staff officers to quickly draw up an operational plan for the siege of Shouyang, which was quickly approved after being telegraphed to the North China Front.

The operational goal of this plan was to recapture Shouyang City and gather and annihilate the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army in the Shouyang area.

In addition to the 20th Division, the 108th Division, the 109th Division, and the 14th Division, in February, the Japanese Army had just formed four new independent mixed brigades, the second, third, fourth, and fifth, all of which were in the North China Battlefield. Among them, the 2nd Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade is subordinate to the Mongolian Army and is stationed in Zhangjiakou; The 5th Independent Mixed Brigade was formed in Tianjin and temporarily stationed in Tianjin; The 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade was formed in Beiping and was subordinate to the 1st Army; The 4th Independent Mixed Brigade was formed in Hebei and stationed in Baoding, which was also subordinate to the First Army.

In addition to the 3rd and 4th Independent Mixed Brigades, the 16th Division, which participated in the Nanjing Massacre, is now under the command of the First Army and is deployed on the front line of Gaoyi, Anyang, Puxian, and Linqing, and is carrying out sweeping operations in these areas.

The First Army also has directly subordinate troops, such as the replenishment team of the First Army, which has the strength of four infantry brigades, which can replenish the battle losses of the main division at any time.

The supplementary team of the 16th Division is in Zhengding, and it is also a unit that can be put into battle.

It's just that the replenishment team can't be compared with the field troops, they don't have any heavy weapons, and they are generally not used as a separate combat unit, but only play a role in supplementing battle damage.

At this time, Lieutenant General Kazuki Kiyoji couldn't take care of it so much, and he was still quite the land minister of the Japanese cabinet, how could he allow the Eighth Route Army to occupy Shouyang?

The old devil Kazuki Kiyoji is going to fight hard!

Such a large-scale mobilization of troops is tantamount to draining the troops on the Pinghan Road, and if the Jinchaji troops of the Eighth Route Army, which have been operating on the Pinghan Road, peep through the mystery and take advantage of the situation, the Pinghan Road may be paralyzed immediately.

When a staff officer very cautiously raised his concerns to Seiji Kazuki and Shojiro Iida, the answer was a resounding slap in the face and a roar from Seiji Kazuki: "Yaga! You don't understand the strategy! Recapturing Shouyang and ensuring the smooth connection between Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang is the most important task of the First Army at present, and it is also a life-and-death task! Yours don't understand the art of war, and interfere with the work of the command! ”

Seiji Kazuki and Shojiro Iida are both famous generals in the Japanese army, not mediocre hands!

Although he slapped the staff officer in the face and vented to the staff officer, Kazuki Kiyoji still adopted the staff officer's suggestion, ordered the independent mixed third brigade and the independent mixed fourth brigade to leave the strength of the two infantry brigades to guard the original stronghold, and ordered the 16th Division to temporarily transfer the supplementary team to the independent mixed fourth brigade to fill the defense gap left by the transfer of the independent mixed fourth brigade. At the same time, all units were ordered to strictly maintain confidentiality in their dining quarters to prevent the leakage of information about the transfer and to ensure the suddenness of the attack.

In order to ensure the superiority of troops, Kazuki Kiyoji ordered the transfer of three brigades from the First Army Supplementary Brigade and incorporated into the Independent Mixed Third Brigade and the Independent Mixed Fourth Brigade to make these two brigades fully formed!

In this way, there is an advantage, that is, the pressure on railway troop transportation is reduced, and it is convenient for the independent mixed into the third brigade and the independent mixed into the fourth brigade and regiment to be quickly transported.

That night, the 3rd Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army of Aggression against China in Beiping and the 4th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army of Aggression in Baoding were ordered to move south, and after arriving in Shijiazhuang, they turned to Zhengtai Road and transported to Yangquan.

At the same time, the 16th Division of the Japanese Army in Anyang and Gaoyi was ordered to transfer two brigades of the 22nd Field Artillery Wing, the 20th Cavalry Wing, and three infantry brigades directly under the division and regiment, under the command of Major General Tatsumi Kusaba of the 19th Brigade of the 16th Division, to transport Yangquan through the Pinghan Road car.

Suddenly, Pinghan Road became unprecedentedly busy, a column of troops went south and north, with bright lights, galloping on Pinghan Road, and then turned to Zhengtai Road in Shijiazhuang, and went straight to Yangquan.

Fortunately, Xiao Siming led the independent battalion to attack the Shishi Railway Station and blew up the Taohe Railway Bridge, and the Japanese army has not been able to repair it until now. Otherwise, the Japanese troop transport column may have to drive directly to the stone measuring station.

The 109th Division, which was pursuing the Jinsui Army in western Jinxi, was ordered to transfer the 36th Brigade and the 109th Wing of the Mountain Artillery and the 109th Cavalry Brigade to quickly return eastward and command the Japanese army in Taiyuan and the Japanese army in Zhuyu to crush from west to east.

It was impossible for the Japanese army to transport troops by rail, so they could only be transported by car and horse-drawn cart, and the soldiers who did not have cars or carriages had to use two feet to hurry.

At the same time as dispatching troops, the First Army ordered the Japanese troops stationed in Taiyuan, Yuci, Pingding, Yangquan, and Yuxian to carry out a tentative attack on Shouyang, and dispatched small units and garrisons in plainclothes to carry out a reconnaissance counterattack on Shouyang.

For a time, the Shanxi battlefield became three central points, one was Han Xinling, one was Jinxi, and the other was Shouyang.

The officer's mouth moved, and the soldier ran and broke his leg. Seiji Kazuki and Shojiro Iida sat down in front of the map in the war room and drew with red and blue pencils, and the order was issued. And those troops that were urgently transferred, some were in town strongholds, some were camping in the wilderness, and some were carrying out night game operations, and when they received the order, they had to immediately assemble and retract, and then they drove to the assembly place, and those who could take the train took the train, and those who could take the car and horse-drawn carriage took the car and carriage, and those who had no vehicle to sit on had to walk on the feet that were already tired, kicking and stepping.

The little devil was tossed by Kiyoji Kazuki so much that the chickens flew and the dogs jumped!

Of course, Xiao Siming didn't know about the Japanese army's mobilization of troops, but he knew that the little devil was accustomed to retaliation, and he knew that the strategic location of Shouyang was important, which could not only threaten Taiyuan, but also march into the Jinzhong Plain, and also kill to the east and Pingding, and knock directly on Niangzi Pass. The little devil will never let our army occupy Shouyang. They would rather give up their plan to capture Linfen for the time being, and they must recapture Shouyang first!

As long as the Japanese army can be mobilized, the pressure on the Central Army and the Jin Sui Army can be reduced, and the vitality of the Anti-Japanese War can be retained, Xiao Siming will be satisfied!

Xiao Siming didn't know about the movement of the Japanese army, which doesn't mean that other people don't know!

The 109th Division of the Japanese Army is fully pursuing the retreating Jin Sui Army, and as soon as its most elite 36th Brigade withdraws its troops, the pressure on the Jin Sui Army will be reduced immediately, and such valuable information will definitely be reported to the Second Theater as soon as possible, and it will also be reported to the Eighth Route Army Headquarters in time.

At this time, it was the time when the two parties and two armies of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were sincerely united and killed the enemy side by side on the battlefield in Shanxi, and there was no obstacle to the exchange of intelligence!

At about 11 o'clock in the evening, Xiao Siming received a telegram from the division headquarters forwarding to the headquarters, informing the Japanese 109th Division of the withdrawal from Jinxi.

The division headquarters then sent another telegram, ordering Xiao Siming to quickly gather his troops and evacuate Shouyang!

Xiao Siming must resolutely carry out the orders of the division headquarters, and he must also evacuate Shouyang. It's just that how to evacuate, Xiao Siming has his own ideas.

Xiao Siming sent a telegram to Qiu Wei, commander of the first company, Cao Ming'an, commander of the second company, Wang Meng, commander of the third company, and Yuan Gang, the instructor of the first company in Baijiazhuang, ordering them to pay attention to the sneak attacks and exploratory attacks of the Japanese army, and to pay special attention to the counterattack of the small elite units of the Japanese army and the infiltration and reconnaissance of traitors in plainclothes.

At the same time, Xiao Siming ordered Cao Ming'an, Wang Meng, and Yuan Gang not to entangle with the little devils, as long as they repelled the reconnaissance and tentative attacks of the devils' small troops, they would immediately retreat in concealment, and after meeting him in the county seat, they would retreat to the area of Sheep's Head Cliff on the road leading from Xiyang to Yuci, and join the company. (To be continued.) )