At the same time that the Second Army participated in the operation to open up the Jinpu Line, Terauchi Shouichi began to transfer the troops of each of the four divisions of the First Army and began to launch an attack on western and southern Jin, and Terauchi Shouichi tried in vain to defeat all Chinese troops in the area and completely occupy Shanxi.

Shanxi is rich in coal resources, which is of great help to the Japanese army's war of aggression, so Terauchi Shouichi will be eager to eliminate the Chinese troops in Shanxi.

With the beginning of the Japanese army's combat operations, as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, Mr. Zhu and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng began to command the troops of the Eighth Route Army to fight, and achieved major results.

However, the Mongolian Corps suffered a crushing defeat in the northwest of Shanxi, and the two infantry wings of the 26th Division were almost wiped out by the 120th Division.

The troops of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army won a victory in the northwest of Shanxi, and the troops of the 129th Division won another battle at Shentouling, and also almost annihilated an infantry wing of the Japanese army.

As a result, the troops of the Eighth Route Army began to be regarded as a thorn in the flesh by Terauchi Shouichi, Terauchi Shou gave an order to the First Army Kazuki Kiyoshi at the beginning, he asked Kazuki Kiyoshi to transfer troops to retaliate against the Eighth Route Army troops, Terauchi Shouichi This plan began to be put forward as early as mid-March, and the Japanese army also knew that the First Army would have a big operation in April.

At this time, at the end of March, the northwest operation ended in a crushing defeat for the Japanese army, although some progress was made in western and southern Jin, but the Eighth Route Army was increasingly threatening the Japanese army's railways and highways.

The four lieutenant generals in the conference room of the headquarters of the First Army are Lieutenant General of the 16th Division, Commander of the 16th Division, Imasago Nakajima, Lieutenant General of the 20th Division, Kawagishi Bunzaburo, Lieutenant General of the 108th Division, Lieutenant General of the 108th Division, and Lieutenant General Shigemu Yamaoka.

After Kunomura Momoyo saluted the four lieutenant commanders, Kunomura Momoyo respectfully sat in the back seat, and shortly after he took his seat, the commander of the First Army, Kiyoshi Kazuki, and the chief of staff, Hashimoto Group, began to come to the conference room.

As they reached the conference room, all the Japanese generals who were seated stood up one after another, and they saluted Kiyoji Kazuki.

After waving his hand and motioning for everyone to sit down, Kiyoji Kazuki looked at the Chief of Staff Hashimoto Group.

Hashimoto nodded to Kiyoji Kazuki, and then he walked quickly to the map, and Hashimoto picked up the baton skillfully.

"The first phase of the operational objectives have been preliminarily completed, and our army has successfully captured Linfen, an important town in southern Jinnan, but in the first phase of the operation, our army was stubbornly resisted by the troops of the Eighth Route Army, and the troops suffered heavy losses.

It can be seen from this that at present, among the Chinese troops in Shanxi, the Eighth Route Army will be the main opponent of our Imperial Army, so the second phase of our upcoming combat objective will focus on striking at the troops of the Eighth Route Army in order to retaliate against the losses caused by the troops of the Eighth Route Army. ”

After picking up the baton, Hashimoto gave a detailed account of the previous operations, and he focused on the losses caused by the Eighth Route Army to the Japanese army.

Among the four lieutenant generals, the commander of the 109th Division, Yamaoka Shigehou's face became pale, and his troops suffered heavy losses in the operation in the northwest of Jinjin, especially the 119th Wing, which suffered the greatest loss, and at present the 119th Wing does not have any number, only the Wing Commander Ishino is called the Ishino Wing, which is the greatest shame on the Japanese Army.

Shigemu Yamaoka himself was also punished, the rank of lieutenant general was only the rank of division commander, and Shigehou Yamaoka himself had been demoted to a major general in the army, and he would not get any promotion opportunities for three years, and at the same time, Shigehou Yamaoka would not receive any salary during these three years.

Of course, this kind of punishment is still for the sake of their own face, and now the Chinese propaganda department has begun to hype the 119th Wing Captain Ishida Jinzo was captured alive and the 119th Wing flag was captured, and the Japanese army naturally would not admit this matter, they claimed that the captured Ishida Jinzo was just the captain of the Japanese army, and the 119th Wing Flag was also forged by China.

In order to deny the authenticity of this matter, the punishment of the Japanese army was an internal punishment, and on the surface no one was punished, after all, if Shigehou Yamaoka was removed from his post and investigated at this time, then it indirectly proved that the propaganda made by the Chinese propaganda department was true.

"Gentlemen, in order to completely annihilate the troops in southeast China this time, His Excellency Commander Terauchi Shouichi has assigned the newly formed First Brigade of the Mixed War to us to fight, although the First Brigade of the Mixed War is a newly formed unit, but they have strong combat effectiveness, I believe that we will definitely be able to achieve victory in this battle."

Seiji Kazuki looked at the four lieutenant generals, and the expression on his face became serious.

When he looked at the commander of the 109th Division, Shigehou Yamaoka, Kazuki Kiyoji couldn't help but secretly feel lucky.

Before the accident of the 109th Division, Terauchi Shouichi intended to assign the 109th Division to the command of the First Army, but this matter was not implemented for the time being, when the commander of the 109th Division had an accident, the 109th Division was directly under the North China Front Command, so this time it was Terauchi Shouichi who followed Yamaoka Shigemu to be punished, but Kazuki Kiyoji was lucky and did not have anything to do with this matter.

However, now that the 108th Division and the 109th Division, which were originally directly subordinate to the North China Front Army Headquarters, were all assigned to the command of the First Army, Kazuki Kiyoji was a little worried.

He knew that he would have to bear the responsibility of having these troops capture the captain alive or the flag captured again.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander, we will definitely win this battle." The commanders of the lieutenant general division stood up one after another, and they said with serious expressions.

Kunomura Momoyo showed an embarrassed expression, even though he was promoted to the commander of the Major General Brigade, he still knew that he was defeated in the northwest of Jin.

"We are carrying out the second phase of the battle plan, the 16th Division, the 20th Division, the 108th Division, and the 109th Division will be dispatched to fight with at least ten wings, and we will carry out encirclement and annihilation operations against the Chinese troops in the southeast of Shanxi from the east, south, west, and north, and the specific combat plan is ......."

Hashimoto took the baton and introduced it on the map, and the expression on his face was very serious.