Although the more than 9,000 people of the 334 Brigade are nothing in the eyes of Kimura Hyotaro, if it were in peacetime, but his 32nd Division alone could defeat or even completely annihilate the 334 Brigade in two days, but at this time, more than 9,000 people suddenly appeared would really kill people. As a veteran commander, Kimura Hyotaro knew very well what the Eighth Route Army was planning. At the same time, he also knew that if he was entangled by this 334 Brigade, the result would definitely be something he did not want to see.

And Kimura, who has been scared by Han Yunhua's department, still has a doubt in his heart, in his subconscious, he thinks that Gao Shuxun's new Eighth Army is a bait to seduce him, and this 334 Brigade is also a ruthless move of the next [***] team, although it seems that the number of people is small, the performance of no one in the eyes of the army in peacetime is completely negligible, and when the time comes, the large army that is far away in Wu'an suddenly appears on the battlefield again, and the consequences are unimaginable.

So Kimura Hyotaro thought for a long time after receiving the information from the intelligence department, and finally gave the order to retreat with difficulty. However, even if he retreated, the old devil Kimura did not intend to make it easy for Takashuxun, and at the same time as giving the order to retreat, Lieutenant General Kimura Hyotaro ordered all the troops to use up all the shells they carried.

For a time, the rumbling shelling sounded all around Yong'an County, and the forward positions were suddenly drowned out by violent explosions and billowing smoke, and even the already dilapidated Yong'an County was not spared, and the barbaric army not only spread its anger on the forward positions of the New Eighth Army, but also spread its anger on the innocent civilians of the [***] team.

By the time the 334th Brigade arrived at Yong'an, the army had already withdrawn for more than three hours, leaving only the New Eighth Army to rescue the wounded and strengthen the fortifications of the city, and at the same time detached a part of the troops to help the residents of the county put out the fire. When Chen Guang arrived at the city gate, Gao Shuxun did not come out to greet him, but assigned a major general to come out to greet Chen Guang and others. Although it is not life-threatening, half of the arm is flesh and blood, and it is useless for a short time.

Chen Guang, the major general of the New Eighth Army, took Yang Shufeng, Song Renqiang and others into the city, and after entering the city, Chen Guang, an iron man, was also shocked by the tragedy, only to see that the entire Yong'an city was full of black traces of the fire, and the streets were full of stumps and broken arms that had not yet had time to be cleaned up. In a vacant lot near the city gate, Chen Guang saw a large number of mutilated corpses, from the clothing of these people, Chen Guang could see that these were soldiers of the New Eighth Army, although it was no longer possible to distinguish the faces of these heroes, but the words "the new Eighth Army of the 39th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army" on the incomplete armband were still recognizable.

At the same time, the surviving soldiers were quickly carrying the corpses of the wounded and sacrificed soldiers into the city in pairs, looking at it, Chen Guang's glasses couldn't help but redden, this is the Chinese soldiers, although their lives seem to be humble, and the sacrifice is silent. But China's history will always remember these heroic martyrs, whether they belong to the Nationalist Axe or the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army led by [***].

Chen Guang knew that now was not the time to be sad, so he ordered the troops to hurry up to help rescue the wounded, and at the same time sent a report to Han Yunhua, who was far away in Xinghe, to report on the battle situation.

Han Yunhua already knew about the affairs of Yongan County, and when Kimura Hyotaro's troops withdrew to Shahe, the secret agents of the intelligence department lurking in Shahe telegraphed the news to Qian Zhuangfei. And for this kind of first-hand news on the battlefield, Han Yunhua can always know it quickly, and through analysis, Han Yunhua guessed that nine times out of ten, Kimura Hyotaro had withdrawn. Sure enough, the battle report from southern Hebei was sent quickly, and the result was no different from what Han Yunhua had guessed.

Han Yunhua knew that the war in southern Hebei had come to an end for the time being, and the troops in southern Hebei were no longer able to launch a large-scale attack on the southern Hebei region. However, although the Chinese [***] team took a lot of advantage, but digesting the results of the battle could not be completed in a day or two, and the victory in southern Hebei was obtained by the cooperation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, so the distribution of benefits after the war was also a big problem, so it was impossible for the Chinese [***] team to rush to the pursuit of the army.

Besides, not far north of the Shahe River is the Shimen heavily guarded by the Yue Army, although the defense of Shimen is extremely empty now, but there is still a complete infantry division and two reading wings, plus the half-crippled 32nd Division of Kimura Hyotaro, the strength of the Yue Army in the Shimen area is not weak, and even if the instructor can take the Shimen now, it will definitely not be able to hold it, so Han Yunhua thinks that Chen Guang and Gao Shuxun will not take this risk, Therefore, after Han Yunhua sent a very brief telegram back to Chen Guang, he turned his attention to the war in eastern Hebei and northern Shanxi.

Although the army suffered a crushing defeat in southern and central Hebei, the army still occupied an absolute advantage in eastern Hebei, and starting from August 22, the 10th division of the army had launched a fierce attack on Qian'an for a week, and the positions on the periphery of Qian'an were gradually occupied by the army, and the living space of Li Dayong's unit was being eaten away by the army little by little.

At the same time, the intelligence department of the Yue Army judged that Han Yunhua's intelligence was probably sent to General Binshanyuan's desk in Xinghe County by intercepting the telecommunication signals between the various departments of Han Yunhua's department. During this time, General Binshan Yuan really saw the power and difficulty of Han Yunhua's department, and in the first battle of Jizhong, the "flower of famous generals" Lieutenant General Abe Guixiu was shattered, and although the second brigade was not completely annihilated, the entire brigade was left with only a complete infantry brigade, which can be said to be disabled. In the First Battle of Southern Hebei, Lieutenant General Sasaki Zhiyi and Major General Tian Jiro, who were the former head of the North China Front Army of the Special High-Tech Branch and the commander of the Military Police Headquarters of the Great Empire, were killed, and the entire third and fourth brigades were completely annihilated. The troops in eastern Hebei were blocked by a small Qian'an city for a whole week and still did not have the slightest precursor to a breakthrough, and the battle in northern Hebei and southern Chanan ended with the total annihilation of the Xishiyuan Brigade of the Shanxia Division, so in just a dozen days of fighting, the North China Front lost a total of nearly four infantry brigades. Therefore, for the time being, the North China Front is undoubtedly at a disadvantage in the overall situation.

In fact, Han Yunhua himself was extremely satisfied with the performance of all units of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, especially for the instructors in southern Hebei. Although the instructor had not been established for a long time, and he was personally the commander of the newly formed unit, to be honest, he paid far more attention to the instructor than the 300th Division. Because Han Yunhua is very aware of the status of the 300th Division in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, even if Han Yunhua does not take special care of it, no one will dare to treat the 300th Division of the reorganization badly, but the instructor is different, if Han Yunhua does not take special care of it, no one will take such a new unit seriously.

But the instructor did not disappoint Han Yunhua, and he made a lot of achievements in several attacks. This time, it was the two integrated reading forces of the whole annihilation army that were mixed into brigades, and what made Han Yunhua happiest was that he killed the old devil Sasaki Zhiyi. Others may not know who Sasaki to one is, but Han Yunhua is very clear.

Sasaki Toichi has two identities in Han Yunhua's heart, the first is the lieutenant general of the army and the founder of the puppet army of Manchukuo, and the second is one of the main culprits of the Nanjing Massacre. Perhaps most people attribute Yang Jingyu's death and the defeat of the Anti-Japanese Federation to the joint strangulation of the puppet army and the betrayal of traitors, but in Han Yunhua's opinion, the culprit of all this is this Sasaki Toichi who has just been killed. After the 128 Incident in 1932, Sasaki was appointed as a staff officer to the commander of the Shirakawa Yoshinori Army of the Shanghai Dispatch Army on February 23 to participate in the invasion of China. On 11 April, he was reappointed chief of staff of the Ninth Division of the Dispatch Army, and on 8 August, he was again appointed chief of staff of the division. In December 1932, at the same time as he was stationed at the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, he was also appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Manchuria, and the top adviser at that time was Major General Tada. In December 1934, he was promoted to the third top adviser of the ministry on behalf of Seishiro Itagaki. During this period, he formulated a series of measures to transform the puppet Manchu army and foster a reactionary armed force to suppress the Chinese people. In order to prevent the collusion of soldiers and bandits, he distributed ammunition to the Manchurian soldiers, and if the battle failed, the troops were immediately disbanded, and the commander-in-chief was held accountable until he was shot. As a result, the price of black market bullets was as high as seven and a half cents, and the Anti-Union was completely unable to replenish bullets. In addition, Sasaki Toichi formulated two plans, which directly caused the defeat of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation. The first is the "Manchukuo Three-Year Plan for Suppressing Public Order and Rectification," which carried out severe military strikes against the Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance. The first is the "Group Tribal Construction Plan", which adopted the policy of separating the "people and bandits" and cut off the supply of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation. These two plans were vigorously implemented, even after Sasaki left Manchuria. By the end of 1938, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation had suffered very serious losses. From the end of 1940 to 1941, the remnants of the Anti-Japanese League entered the Soviet Union one after another. There are only more than 2,000 officers and soldiers left in the Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance. In March 1935, Sasaki was promoted to major general. In August 1937, Sasaki was transferred to Ichibong and left his post, and before leaving, he recalled the situation of reforming the puppet Manchu army and said: "From the 10th year of Taisho (1921) in Guangdong, I have held the belief that the [***] team must be fundamentally reformed. After serving as an adviser to Manchuria, he put into practice the research he had done in the past, and after five years of hard work, he achieved unexpected results. After Sasaki took office as a military adviser to the puppet Manchus, he claimed that he regarded the "reorganization" of the puppet Manchu army as his "life's work", and his purpose was to prepare for the battle at the pass, to assist the Kant Emperor Puyi in his return to Yanjing, and to hope that "perhaps a Wu Sangui-like figure would emerge" in North China. And because Sasaki took five years to "reorganize" the puppet Manchu army and had "results", he was called the "father of the Manchu army" by the invaders.

After the start of the full-scale war of aggression against China in 1937, Sasaki was appointed as the commander of the 30th Infantry Brigade of the 16th Division (Division Commander Nakajima Imasago) on August 2, and was incorporated into the battle sequence of the Second Army of the North China Front. At the beginning of September, he led the 30th Infantry Brigade (under the jurisdiction of the 33rd and 38th Infantry Wings) from Kyoto, landed at Tanggu on the 11th, and formed the Sasaki Advance Detachment with the 30th Infantry Brigade as the backbone. In October, it invaded the area east of Xingtai. On November 9, Sasaki set sail from Dalian Port with the 30th Brigade of the First Brigade, and on November 12, seeing that the sea surface was yellow, he entered the waters of the Yangtze River, invaded Changshu, Wuxi, and Danyang, and then attacked and advanced to Nanjing along the highways of Jurong and Tangshui Town. On December 6, he broke through the first position in Nanjing, occupied the Purple Mountain on the 12th, and then participated in the inhumane Nanjing Massacre. Takeshi Noda and Toshiaki Mukai, the two demons who carried out the "Hundred People Beheading", were under this person. He commanded his troops to massacre more than 3,000 Chinese people at one time. After December 21, the divisions of the army withdrew from the city one after another, and Sasaki went to the first command to continue the massacre. Until January of the following year, Sasaki's department was one of the most criminal and murderous units in the Nanjing Massacre, so Sasaki Zhiichi was also one of the main culprits of the Nanjing Massacre. On March 1, 1938, he was promoted to lieutenant general and transferred to the commander of the third brigade of the Second Army of the North China Front.

It was precisely because of his understanding of this fang that Han Yunhua was in a very happy mood when he learned that the instructor had completely annihilated the third and fourth brigades and killed their supreme commander Lieutenant General Sasaki to the first lieutenant general. But Han Yunhua also knows that the army has a deep heritage, and although it has lost some territory, the Chinese [***] team does not dare to force it too much, and the war in southern Hebei will not change much for the time being.

However, on the battlefield in eastern Hebei, the army had a new move, and after learning the information that Han Yunhua was likely to be in Xinghe County, General Binshan Yuan immediately adjusted his plan to attack eastern Hebei, and he ordered the cavalry group to immediately bypass Qian'an and march towards Chengde, the great city of eastern Hebei. At the same time, he also ordered the Yamashita Division and the 20th Infantry Division stationed in Zhangjiakou to immediately raid Xinghe County, for which General Binshan Yuan also assigned the precious 1st Brigade of Field Heavy Artillery to the command of Lieutenant General Yamashita Fengwen, and the former 39th Infantry Brigade stationed in Datong, which had just been upgraded to the Takagi Division, also received an order to complete the encirclement of Xinghe County with the whole army going north, and to cut off the possible Chinese reinforcements from the Jining direction at all costs, he wanted to completely besiege Han Yunhua in Xinghe County.

As the only spy who infiltrated the Inner Mongolia Military Region, Yamaguchi Meizi judged that Han Yunhua could not be in Xinghe County, and it was very likely that he was in Daqingshan, the birthplace of the Inner Mongolia Military Region.

In order to ensure the accuracy of the intelligence, General Binshan Yuan did not hesitate to use the most important nail lurking in the north of the Saibei Army, and finally confirmed that Han Yunhua was on Daqingshan, and there were only a few troops accompanying him.

After receiving the news, General Binshan Yuan was overjoyed, he knew very well the value of Han Yunhua at this time, and in the wanted warrant issued by the army, Han Yunhua himself ranked third with 3.5 million oceans, second only to Chiang Kai-shek, president of the Chinese National Political Axe, and [***] the actual leader [***].

It has been a long-standing thing for the army to offer high and heavy rewards for the capture of high-ranking officers and important leaders of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, as early as after the army occupied northeast China, there was a heavy reward for the capture of Yang Jingyu, a hero of the Anti-Japanese Union, and in the 41 years of the Northeast Army's "Wild Deputy Crusade", the army did have a precedent of distributing photos on a large scale before the war, and General Yang Jingyu was martyred in the "joint crusade of the Manchurian military and police in the three provinces of Tonghua, Jilin, and Jiandao". This "Great Crusade of the Wild Vice-Minister" was commanded by Major General Wild Deputy Changdeok. Before this "crusade," Ye Deputy Changde rushed to print as many as 20,000 reward orders with Yang Jingyu's photos, and the puppet military and police who participated in the war all got the photos. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Yue army even published in newspapers and radio many times the rewards for the main leaders of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and for this reason, the Yue army also specially set up two advance teams -- the Mashiko Shigeo Advance Team and the Okawa Momoyoshi Advance Team.

Even before the army swept Taihang Mountain, it sent photos of [***], Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De to each soldier. Of course, this kind of thing rarely happens, and in fact, most of the Japanese army did not have the habit of knowing the appearance of the enemy's generals before the war. After General Zhang Zizhong was martyred, the vast majority of the army did not know General Zhang Zizhong's face, and used the newly captured photos to find General Zhang's loyal remains.

With regard to targets of strategic value, the PLA is still very determined to strike at them. According to historical records, in May 1942, during the summer sweep of the Taihang and Taiyue base areas, the 63rd Division of the Yue Army organized the notorious Mashiko Shigeo Advance Team and the Okawa Momoyoshi Advance Team, carrying the photos of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and many generals of the 129th Division in Shanxi to carry out a bloody sweep. In that sweep, the intelligence of the army was very accurate, and almost all of the generals of the Eighth Route Army in the photos were indeed in the encirclement. Moreover, the army actually accurately grasped the information that Deng Xiaoping, the political commissar of the 129th Division, had just gone to Taiyue on the eve of the sweep, and the words "in Taiyue" were specially marked under Deng Xiaoping's photo. According to Chinese historical sources, the areas swept by the Yue army included Yi County, Manxian County, Wan County, Tang County, Qu County, and the eastern part of Fuping County, all of which were located in the mountainous area of Taihang Mountain or at the foot of Taihang Mountain. This sweep is the "Cai" operation in western Hebei from September 16 to December 10, 1943 recorded in the history of the army's war, which is what our army calls the three-month counter-sweep in the Jin-Cha-Ji Beiyue District. According to the records of the war history of the Yue Army, the 63 Division took four infantry brigades, one mountain artillery brigade, and one tank squadron as the backbone to participate in the "Cai" operation, and the biggest result of the Yue Army's sweep was to kill Zuo Quan, then deputy chief of general staff of the Eighth Route Army, in Liao County.

General Binshan Yuan is very aware of Han Yunhua's military and political value, in his opinion, Han Yunhua alone is far more powerful than the five infantry divisions of the middle [***] team, if he exchanges four infantry brigades for Han Yunhua's head, General Binshan Yuan feels that he has earned. Therefore, after reading Yamaguchi Umeko's intelligence analysis, General Binyama Mototo transferred the Yagyu Jun Special Combat Team and the Mashiko Advance Team, which he attached great importance to, to Yamashita Fengfumi's command.

(To be continued)