Just when Liu Yimin was deploying the winter offensive and marching into the northeast, the commander of the Japanese North China Front, Okamura Ninji, and the new chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tendo Moritake, and deputy chief of staff Hirata Masatsu, were also directing the launch of the winter sweep.

At this time, due to the Japanese-Soviet War and the Pacific War, the adjustment of the troops of the Chinese Dispatch Army was also relatively large, and the Japanese army formed several new divisions and regiments to join the Chinese Dispatch Army to replace the troops transferred to the Kwantung Army. On the North China Front, based on a wing left by the 14th Division, it joined the supplementary team and formed the 62nd Division, which was stationed in the northern Henan region and took over the northern Henan defense area from the 14th Division; Based on a wing left by the 20th Division, the 69th Division was formed, which was stationed in the Linfen area and took over the defense of the 20th Division.

The North China Front still maintained a strength far superior to the Japanese forces in Central and South China, and fought against the Eighth Route Army.

The North China Front Army directly administered the 35th, 36th, 58th, 59th, and 110th divisions, as well as the Beiping, Tianjin, Shimen, Kaifeng, and Shangqiu garrisons. Among them, the 15th Division was stationed in central Hebei, the 110th Division was stationed in the Pingjin area, the 36th Division was stationed in the Pinghan Line, the 58th Division was stationed in eastern Henan, and the 59th Division was stationed in southern Hebei and Deshi Road.

The units of the First Army of the Japanese Army stationed in Shanxi were adjusted to the 25th Division, the 109th Division, the 62nd Division, the 69th Division, the 9th and 10th Brigades, the Taiyuan Garrison, the Heavy Artillery Brigade and other units.

The army stationed in Mongolia has not changed much, it is still the 26th Division, the 2nd Brigade of the ** Mixed Brigade, the 1st Cavalry Brigade and other units, and the 3rd Tank Division is also under the command of the Army stationed in Mongolia. Thereinto. **The 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Brigade were both rebuilt after being annihilated by the Eighth Route Army.

The units under the jurisdiction of the 12th Army stationed in Shandong also changed, and the Fifth Division, which had been used to play the role of mobile reinforcement in Shandong, was transferred to the Japanese Southern Army. The 40th Division was transferred to the 11th Army stationed in Wuhan.

The 12th Army has a total of seven divisions under the jurisdiction of the 2nd Guards Brigade, the 27th, 32nd, 37th, 39th, 41st, and 60th Divisions, and the 1st, 5th, 7th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Guards, as well as the newly built Jinan Garrison and Qingdao Garrison. The force was extremely large, far exceeding the 11th Army in the Wuhan area.

Among them, the 2nd Guards Division commanded the 5th Brigade and the 18th Brigade to be stationed in the Ludong area, and the division headquarters was located in Weicheng. **Mixed into the 5th Brigade stationed in Gaomi,**Mixed into the 18th Brigade stationed in Jiao? County.

The commander of the 32nd Division was the 19th Brigade and Regiment stationed in Luzhong. The headquarters of the division is located in Zhangdian, and the 19th Brigade is stationed in Zhangqiu.

The 37th Division commanded the 16th Brigade and the puppet North China Pacification Army to garrison the front line of Tai'an, Yanzhou, and Jining, and the division headquarters was stationed in Yanzhou. **Mixed into the 16th Brigade stationed in Taean.

The 27th Division was stationed in Lunan. The headquarters is located in Yi? County; The 114th Division commanded the Xuzhou garrison to garrison the Xuzhou area; The 39th Division commanded the 22nd Brigade and the puppet Manchurian Advance Army to garrison the eastern section of Longhai Road from Xuzhou to Lianyungang.

In this way, the Japanese army still formed an impermeable encirclement around central and southern Lu.

The 60th Division is stationed in Jiaodong, and the 41st Division is stationed in Dexian, commanding the 20th and 21st Brigades to guard the plains north of the Yellow River, echoing with the 7th Mixed Brigade stationed in southwest Lu, the 1st Mixed Brigade stationed in Jinan, the 59th Division stationed in southern Hebei, and the 35th Division stationed in central Hebei. Cooperate with the operation.

At this time, Okamura Ninji could use much more troops than the North China Front Army could use at this time in history.

Okamura Ninji this person. Sophisticated, calm, and do not fight uncertain battles. After he took over as commander of the North China Front, he took advantage of the aftermath of the great victory in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain to urge the First Army and the Mongolian Army to constantly launch sweeps against the base areas of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, causing the Shanxi battlefield to be full of smoke and smoke and fighting every day. What made Okamura Ningji feel extremely depressed was that his sweeping operations had little effect, and the Eighth Route Army not only launched a-for-tat counter-sweeping operation, but also infiltrated the Nakajo Mountain area, which was clearly aimed at establishing a base area behind enemy lines in the Nakajo Mountain area, which the Kuomintang troops had abandoned. If this development continues, won't the base area of the Eighth Route Army become bigger and bigger?

The new chief of staff of the North China Front, Tiandao Shengwu, was originally the commander of the 41st Division of the Japanese Army. In the county area and the Luxi area, his troops were attacked several times by the Eighth Route Army, and the soldiers were about to change.

Seeing that Okamura Ninji had been sitting in front of the map and pondering, Tiandao Shengwu said indignantly: "Your Excellency, the decision of the base camp is really inexplicable. The Eighth Route Army in North China was rampant to such an extent that instead of mobilizing a large army to concentrate on destroying the Eighth Route Army and restoring law and order in North China, the base camp concentrated its main forces in Manchuria and the Far East, which had long since ceased fighting, and now launched the Taiping War. If the war continues like this, Japan will be attacked on all sides, and its situation will become more and more dangerous, and it will not even have the strength to solve the China incident! ”

Tiandao Shengwu knew that Okamura Ningji advocated the elimination of the ** Eighth Route Army first, so he dared to criticize the decision of the base camp so much. However, what he said was indeed the truth, and it was the truth of the front-line commanders who realized it after suffering a big loss on the battlefield in North China. The question is that Emperor Hirohito is high up on top and is bent on dividing up the world, where can he hear the truth from these front-line commanders!

Okamura Ninji silently examined the map, not answering the words of Heavenly Dao Shengwu.

Deputy Chief of Staff Hirata Masatsu was originally full of hope that it would be his turn after Chief of Staff Yoshizumi Ryosuke quit, but as a result, the bamboo basket was empty, and the words he said were even more harsh than those of Tendo Shengwu.

I heard Masashi Hirata say: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff has a point. The Japanese Empire should first eliminate the Eighth Route Army, especially the troops of Liu Yimin, a cancer of public security in North China, build North China into an imperial paradise, and ensure that North China's resources can support the war against China. It's good now. Liu Yimin attacked and occupied Shanghai, capturing the commander of the 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, and the chief of staff, Major General Yasuo Karagawa. Destroyed the Mei Mechanism and the Kodama Agency. He stole all the funds and assets of Japanese-funded banks and enterprises such as the Zhengjin Bank and the Bank of Taiwan in Shanghai. The base camp did not consider mobilizing a large army to completely eliminate Liu Yimin's troops, recapture the looted assets, and avenge Lieutenant General Sawada Shigeru and the officers and soldiers of Yusha, but was busy fighting the Americans. It's purely strategic, and I don't understand! Blind command work! ”

Tiandao Shengwu added: "If this continues, the Chinese dispatch army and the Chinese battlefield may become secondary troops and secondary battlefields!" ”

The statement of Tiandao Shengwu is almost exactly the same as the rumors heard by the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Yuki Anami, and the chief of staff, Isamu Kinoshita. Visible. The senior commanders of the Chinese Dispatch Force share this concern, and what they hear is not rumors, but what they think in their hearts.

The chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff have made a strategic decision to attack the base camp. Okamura Ninji finally took his eyes off the map. Turning around, he walked to the desk and sat down, and asked Hirata Masashi in a gentle tone: "Hirata-kun, hasn't there been any progress in the intelligence work of the Eighth Route Army base area in central and southern Shandong?" ”

Masashi Hirata is the deputy chief of staff, and these tasks are all within the scope of his duties. Seeing Okamura Ninji moving, Hirata Masashi hurriedly stood upright, and Hai said. Then he reported: "Your Excellency, the Eighth Route Army of Shandong is different from Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army and Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army. It is also different from other units of the Eighth Route Army, which is particularly well guarded, especially able to demagogue the people, and pays special attention to attacking our intelligence agencies. Our intelligence officers and plainclothes search units have all gone to central and southern Shandong and have never returned, and they have never been seen again. It is a great pity that so far we still do not know anything about the Eighth Route Army in the south-central region of Shandong. ”

Okamura Ninji did not slap Hirata Masaju and scold Hirata Masaju Yaga as he did when Shouichi Terauchi and Tada Jun were commanders, but just nodded his head to indicate that he knew.

This is where Okamura Ninji has affinity, and the generals of Tendo Moritake, Hirata Masashi, and the North China Front are now generally regarded as more approachable and able to listen to the opinions of their subordinates than Terauchi and Tada. It is a commander who takes advantage of calmness and is both wise and courageous.

Because of Okamura Ningji's personal charm, his command of the North China Front was more comfortable, like an arm command.

Okamura Ningji pondered for a while, and said to Tiandao Shengwu: "Chief of Staff, I have repeatedly considered that the main reason for the deterioration of the public security situation in North China is not how clever we are, but that our countermeasures are not good. The political mistakes are mainly manifested in the failure to implement the use of China to contain China. When His Excellency Shanshan Yuan and His Excellency Tada Jun were commanders of the front army, they had already deployed the activities of luring and surrendering Yan Xishan and other Kuomintang troops, but the results were not obvious so far. It was not possible to achieve the goal of getting the Chinese to fight the Chinese. The first military mistake was to disperse the deployment of troops, and in some areas there were only two imperial soldiers on average every three square kilometers, which was easily broken by the guerrilla armed brother of the Eighth Route Army; Second, there is a lack of precise and regular correction goals, which often turn into a static defense. If the imperial army does not take the initiative to crusade, it will not attack. At first glance, it seems that a non-aggression pact has been concluded. But during the coexistence of the two sides, ** worked secretly among the population, replenishing its forces, and when the time came, it could turn to the offensive in one fell swoop. The Battle of the Hundred Regiments in the central and southern regions of Shandong and Shanxi is an example. The economic mistake lay in the fact that the imperial army had always pursued a policy of plunder, imposed excessive taxes on industry and commerce in the cities, and forcibly cultivated opium in the countryside while neglecting the production of important strategic materials such as grain and cotton. These mistakes led to the successive defeats of the front army in the competition with the Eighth Route Army, the loss of popular support, and the fact that more and more ordinary people in North China joined the ranks of the resistance. ”

Hirata Masashi started to speak from Okamura Ninji, so he took out his notebook and began to record. This guy is also a bit of a geek, the recording speed is very fast, and he nods while changing the record, thinking it is so.

Okamura went on to say: "I have calculated that the occupied area of the Imperial Army in North China now accounts for less than 10% of the total area of North China. This shows that the Imperial Army drove out the Kuomintang forces that were originally in North China, and created a good opportunity for the development and growth of the Eighth Route Army. Without the occupation of North China by the Imperial Army, it is possible that the Kuomintang and the Kuomintang would have fought a civil war in North China, and they may not be able to occupy such a large area of base area as they are today. From this point of view, since the beginning of the war in North China, the strategy of the imperial army has failed, not only failed to eliminate and curb the spread of the red tide, but also contributed to the great development of the first in North China. ”

Tiandao Shengwu felt that Okamura Ningji's analysis was too correct, and kept nodding his head and saying yes.

Okamura Ninji still said slowly: "In view of the deterioration of public security in North China, I have divided North China into three areas: public security areas, quasi-public security areas, and unpublic security areas, and plan to increase the area occupied by the Imperial Army from 10% to 70% in three years. To this end, the front army should take the planned measure of taking the initiative to attack, divide the territory, set a time limit to consolidate the public security areas, conceal the forces in the quasi-public security areas, enter the public security areas in a planned way, and use the remaining forces to advance to the non-public security areas so that they can develop into the quasi-public security areas. The ultimate goal is to bring 100 million people in northern China to the Japanese side. To follow such steps, we should neither rush to achieve results nor miss the opportunity, and we must have targeted tactics. If we fight a battle, we will destroy part of the Eighth Route Army and consolidate an area."

When talking about this, Okamura Ningji gave an example, saying that the Eighth Route Army was like a maggot attached to the bone, and it grew rapidly as soon as the strength of the medicine passed. Just like in the past, when the Japanese heavy army group swept Shandong, and the large corps swept, the Eighth Route Army fled without a trace. As soon as the large corps withdrew, the Eighth Route Army did not know where to come out of nowhere, wantonly attacked the Japanese army, and wiped out the results of the sweep of the Japanese heavy army group. Therefore, we must not relax our suppression of the Eighth Route Army.

Okamura Ninji also said that the criteria for judging whether it is a security zone is very simple, and from the eyes of the Chinese girl, you can see the quality of the local security situation. It is a corroboration of the fear of the Japanese soldiers, and it is "bad public order". Second, we are surprised by our cars and trucks and look out of the window from afar, saying that "the security is a little better". Thirdly, under the above circumstances, when she walked out of her home and looked out, the Chinese girl walked calmly on the street where there were Japanese soldiers, saying that "the law and order are good."

What Okamura Ninji said was his understanding and his general line of thought, and before he began to talk about his specific combat deployment, Heavenly Dao Shengwu and Hirata Masashi had already applauded loudly!