Although Hideki Tojo and Ishihara Wanji quarreled over whether to send troops to Baotou, in the Kwantung Army, Ueda Kenkichi was the one who made the final decision. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In his heart, Kenkichi Ueda did not want to send troops, and he always advocated the northward strategy of attacking the Soviet Union within the Japanese army, and regarded the Soviet Union as Japan's greatest enemy. At present, his most urgent task is to manage the northeast of three acres of land, so that the northeast will become the base camp and rear of the attack on the Soviet Union, although he is also very interested in invading China, but it is not his first priority.

However, he thought of Terauchi Shouichi's huge connections in the Japanese army base camp, and knew that Terauchi Shouichi could not afford to offend, because of his feelings and scruples about Terauchi, after some careful consideration, Ueda Kenkichi finally decided to send the 12th Division to launch a sweep against Baotou together with the 1st Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade, the 11th Brigade and the puppet Mongolian army of King De, in an attempt to enter the base area of the Eighth Route Army and exterminate the Zhangcheng Sect Instructor.

The 12th Division, also known as the Kurume Division, was established in 1898 and consisted of officers and soldiers from Fukuoka, Saga, and Nagasaki. The 12th Division is a permanent division in the Japanese army, as an important division of the Kwantung Army, the strength of the establishment is very large, with two infantry brigades, a field heavy artillery brigade, an anti-aircraft artillery wing, a tank wing, a flying combat unit, a cavalry wing, an engineer wing, and a baggage wing, with a total strength of nearly 30,000 troops.

The 1st Brigade and the 11th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade combined with more than 10,000 troops, plus the 20,000 puppet Mongolian troops of King De, the Kwantung Army sent 60,000 combat troops to Baotou this time.

At the beginning of February, it was the Chinese New Year, which was originally a good time for every family to celebrate the New Year, but the Japanese army was destined to prevent the instructors from having a good year.

The commander of the 12th Division was Lieutenant General Seitaro Uemura, who had just been in office for less than a month, and at this time he led the 12th Division, which was independently mixed into the 1st Brigade, the 11th Brigade and the puppet Mongolian army, totaling more than 60,000 people, to reach the right banner of Tumut.

After arriving at the right banner of Tumut, Uemura Seitaro did not rush to attack Baotou, but ordered the troops to rest on the spot, and sent a large number of reconnaissance personnel to step up the search for information on the instructor of the Eighth Route Army.

So far, the instructor has eliminated one division and three brigades of the Japanese army, and in the face of such a strong enemy, even though Lieutenant General Uemura Seitaro is confident that the Japanese army has an absolute advantage in strength and firepower, he does not dare to despise the instructor.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the base areas of the Eighth Route Army are very closely guarded against outsiders, and our intelligence officers have not received any useful information, only that the instructors are recruiting troops on a large scale, and they have also received a batch of weapons and equipment from the Soviet Union." The staff officer of the 12th Division reported to Seitaro Uemura.

"Soviets? I didn't expect them to be involved in the affairs of China, hum! They are always against our Imperial Army, and one day, our Imperial Army will definitely go to the Far East and tear the Soviet Red Army to pieces! Lieutenant General Kiyotaro Uemura said angrily.

At this time, the Japanese regarded the Soviet Union as their strongest opponent for dominating the Eastern world, and as for China, they thought that they could destroy it with a backhand, and never took it to heart.

However, the Japanese still harbored great fears of the Soviet Union, and they had coveted the oil resources of the Far East for a long time, but because of the strong strength of the Soviet Red Army, they never dared to act rashly.

"Your Excellency the division commander, the strength of the Mentor of the Sect of China is constantly expanding, and now it should be on par with our 60,000 troops, plus the weapons and equipment that the Soviet Union has aided them, and the firepower is not weaker than ours, I think we can't let it go any longer, this battle must eliminate the Tutor's henchman!" The staff officer suggested.

"Do you know how much more they've grown now?" Kiyotaro Uemura asked.

"In this ......, the Eighth Route Army's base area is too tightly guarded, and we can't find out, but now they are still using divisional establishments, and I estimate that their strength should be around 50,000 to 60,000." The staff officer replied cautiously.

Because the Eighth Route Army had a good mass base and the local cadres repeatedly instilled in the people in the base areas the idea of treacherous and treacherous, the spies of the Japanese army and the Kuomintang army were often discovered and reported by the local people as soon as they entered the base areas, and fell into the trap of the Eighth Route Army's hoe and traitor team, making it very difficult for the spies of the Kuomintang army and the Japanese army to obtain information about the Eighth Route Army.

"Your Excellency the division commander, I don't think you need to care about how many troops the instructor has, before training, no matter how many troops there are, they are just sheep, like the warriors of our imperial army, although the strength of the Chinese army is several times less than that of the Chinese army on the battlefield, the strength of one of our brigades is enough to defeat one division of the other party." Major General Hoji Sakai, commander of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, interjected.

"I'm talking about pinching, I also think Sakai-kun is right, the war mode of the Shina people is still stuck in ancient times, thinking that more people can achieve victory, but I don't know that this is just self-destruction. Now the war, fighting is firepower, as long as whoever has a strong firepower, who can get a greater chance of victory, no matter how many people there are, what is the use, it is not that we are defeated and retreated, holding their heads and running away! Lieutenant General Shigeyasu Suzuki, commander of the 11th Independent Mixed Brigade, echoed.

Although the instructor had wiped out many Japanese troops, the arrogant personality of little Japan would not change until it encountered a major setback.

On a frontal battlefield, a small Japanese army can often defeat a battalion or even a regiment of the Kuomintang army, and such a nested force undoubtedly gives the Japanese army the impression that the Chinese army is vulnerable, which makes the Japanese army equate all Chinese armies with the Kuomintang army and disdain the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army.

"Yo Xi, what you said is very reasonable, I am indeed too cautious, the crowd tactics of the people of China are ineffective for our Imperial Japanese Army, the reason why Itagaki Jun was defeated and killed was just because of the conspiracy and tricks of the people of China, I, Uemura Seitaro, is different from the proud Itagaki Jun, anyway, I will never make such a low-level mistake." Lieutenant General Kiyotaro Uemura said confidently.

"Hai, Your Excellency the Division Commander is very wise!" The generals said complimentally.

At the same time, Zhang Cheng, who was nervously welcoming the birth of his first child in Yulin, also received the news that the Japanese Kwantung Army had invaded Baotou.

As soon as he returned to Baotou, he received a telegram from his wife who had given birth to a big fat boy, which made Zhang Cheng very excited and vowed to celebrate the birth of the child with a victory.