After Okabe Naosaburo finished speaking, there was a brief silence in the war room, and Terauchi Shouyi, Tada Jun, and Okabe Naosaburo all stared at the situation map of the enemy in the occupied area of North China without speaking.

Terauchi Shou is a high-ranking person, who is considered to have studied the Eighth Route Army more deeply in the army, and has been repeatedly pondering how to take revenge on Liu Yimin in the past few days, and he actually has a plan in his heart, the only thing he was worried about was that the troops were still too thin, and the terrain in North China was vast, and the Eighth Route Army instructor could exploit too big a loophole, for fear that if he was not careful, he would suffer a big loss. Now, there are 11 more divisions out of thin air, and the third, ninth, and thirteenth divisions can be temporarily under the command of the North China Front.

With a cough, Tada Jun and Okabe Naosaburo both turned around, and Terauchi Shouichi said slowly: "This Eighth Route Army is different from Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army and miscellaneous armies, they are unified from top to bottom, and the order is the same, attacking one of them will inevitably cause a chain reaction among the various departments, and they will fight with the Imperial Army everywhere, support each other, cover each other, it is easy for us to take care of one and lose the other, leaving them with an opportunity." Therefore, in formulating a combat plan to eliminate Liu Yimin's instructor, it is necessary to consider the issue of dealing with the entire Eighth Route Army in an all-round way. This is the premise and basis for drawing up operational plans. ”

Tada Jun and Okabe Naosaburo are both the backbone generals of the army and the vanguard of the invasion of China, they are not generals, listening to Terauchi Shouichi's words, they both nodded frequently, and they also understood that Terauchi Shouichi had already made a calculation in his heart, and his eyes were on Terauchi Shouichi, waiting for him to say his strategic plan.

Shouichi Terauchi has long passed the age when he likes to win the admiration of others at every turn, and the soul of the consecutive defeats and being beaten by the Eighth Route Army is terrifying, although the tone is slow, but the hatred in the tone makes everyone who listens feel like a needle and drill straight into the cracks of the bones: "I imagine that the fundamental purpose of this campaign is to completely eliminate Liu Yimin's instructor and restore law and order in the entire North China region." ”

Speaking of this, Terauchi Shouichi was like being beaten with chicken blood, his spirit suddenly came up, and his voice also raised a few degrees: "This battle is divided into four steps. The first step, Operation Thunder. Combat goal: sweep the border of Jizhong and Jilu. Jizhong is a granary, and the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and a large number of Tubalu are making trouble there, and their combat effectiveness is relatively weak. The Jilu border faces the sea to the east, the Yellow River to the south, and the Jinpu Road to the west, and the Eighth Route Army here should be part of Liu Yimin's tutor. These two areas are close to Pingjin, and the Eighth Route Army can threaten the foundation of Beijing and Tianjin anytime and anywhere, and must be thoroughly purified to ensure the security of the Beijing-Tianjin area. In addition, now that the summer harvest is imminent, the Eighth Route Army and the Imperial Army are all looking forward to the wheat in the Jizhong Plain and recapture Jizhong, and the Eighth Route Army can only transport grain from Shaanxi. ”

When Tada Jun heard this, he felt that this was indeed the work of the basic surname, and he had to do it. Otherwise, the Imperial Army attacked the city in front and drove Chiang Kai-shek's main force to run around like a rabbit, and the Eighth Route Army was like a cunning thief, taking advantage of the Imperial Army and Chiang Kai-shek's main force to fight, quietly working secretly in the rear, which was very cheap! Therefore, he reminded: "Your Excellency, this thunder plan must indeed be implemented, and the sooner the better. However, I have a suggestion that after this sweep, the imperial army should take root in central Hebei and Hebei, and that maintenance associations should be established in every village, and self-defense regiments should be established in all counties, districts, and villages, so as to eliminate the possibility of the resurgence of the Eighth Route Army from the roots. ”

Terauchi Shou nodded and continued: "In order to ensure that Operation Thunder is not disturbed and achieve the combat goal, we will carry out a confusion operation against Liu Yimin's troops. Didn't he want to exchange Qingdao expatriates for money? Well, give it to him! Let people talk to him, talk seriously, and reduce the price every penny, so that Liu Yimin's attention will be completely attracted to Qingdao. Relying on the Pinghan Line and the Jinpu Line, we formed a solid blockade line, cutting off the connection between Jizhong and the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains in the west, and dividing the connection between the Eighth Route Army in Jizhong and the Eighth Route Army in the Hebei-Shandong border in the east, and sweeping and encircling and suppressing in the division. The speed should be fast and the time should be short, and the longest should not exceed one week, and it is necessary to open up the Deshi Road before the Eighth Route Army and Liu Yimin react, and wipe out all the Eighth Route Army in central Hebei and Hebei and Shandong. At the very least, it is necessary to drive the Eighth Route Army on the Jilu border across the Yellow River, let them go to rendezvous with Liu Yiming, and drive the Eighth Route Army in central Hebei to southern Hebei, so as to lay the foundation for the next heavy assault. ”

Shouichi Terauchi paused, as if wondering if his battle plan could be realized. Tada Jun listened to it with taste, and couldn't help urging: "Your Excellency, this first step is no problem, we have heavy troops in hand, the Eighth Route Army is not our opponent, and the operational goal of recovering Jizhong and Jilu can be successfully achieved." Hurry up and talk about the second step. ”

"The second step is to drive the tiger into the cage. Southern Hebei and Luxi are both places that Liu Yimin once worked hard to manage, and they are also granaries, and if he does not take these two places, he will cut off the connection between the Shanxi Eighth Route Army and the Shandong Eighth Route Army. I was determined to draw a circle on Pinghan Road, Deshi Road, and Handji Road, encircle them on three sides, and wipe out the Eighth Route Army in this area or force them to cross the canal and enter the Luxi area. At this time, since we have recaptured the border of central Hebei and Hebei and Shandong, the Eighth Route Army must be highly vigilant, and Zhu De, Zhu De, and Peng Dehuai will inevitably order all units of the Eighth Route Army to attack us desperately to cover the transfer of the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei. Okay, I'll let him transfer, let him move to the hinterland of Shandong, and we can just recover southern Hebei and Luxi. ”

"And then?" Naosaburo Okabe couldn't bear the loneliness.

"The third step, subduing the tiger and slaying the dragon. You see, this is the Yellow River, this is the Jinpu Road, and the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei and western Luxi had no other way but to cross the Yellow River to the southwest of Shandong or the Taixi region. This is the Great Plains, which is the most suitable for our army's mobility, and we will spread our net here to completely wipe out the Eighth Route Army that fled from southern Hebei and western Luxi and the Eighth Route Army operating in southwestern Shandong and Taixi, what do you think? ”

Gangbu Naosaburo thought for a while and said: "It's good, but there is one thing worth considering, Liu Yimin's firepower is strong, and it can break through the Jinpu Road at any time, surprise my troops to block the Jinpu Road, and cover the transfer of Luxi and Southern Hebei Tuba Road." This has been proved when Liu Yimin broke through Deshi Road and Cangshi Road. Moreover, Liu Yimin's department is very good at camouflaging the sneak attack of the imperial army, and I suspect that there are more people in his army who can speak Mandarin, otherwise they would not have been so smooth. This must be noted by the commander. ”

Terauchi Shouichi felt that Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe and himself were indeed very well coordinated, and said yo Xi, and continued: "The fourth step, the dust has settled. After the completion of the above tasks, the entire Eighth Route Army in North China was divided into two parts, namely the Shanxi Eighth Route Army and the Shandong Eighth Route Army. For the Shanxi Eighth Route Army, we firmly relied on Tongpu Road, Zhengtai Road, and Pinghan Road, and we must repel all their attacks and drive them back to the mountains. The Liu Yimin Department of the Shandong Eighth Route Army, relying on the Jinpu Road, made every effort to encircle and suppress it, and it must be completely annihilated. This step is again a three-step process. In the first step, the front-line troops of Xuzhou and Lianyungang marched in unison, advanced northward, captured Linyi, and established a defensive line in Zaozhuang, Linyi and even the seaside, so as to strictly prevent Liu Yimin's troops from flowing south. The troops of the Jinpu Line strengthened their troops, formed a defensive group, rushed to build fortifications, strictly prevented Liu Yimin's troops from breaking through the Jinpu Road, and ensured the smooth progress of the battles to recover central Hebei, Hebei, Lubian, southern Hebei, Luxi, southwestern Luxi, and Taixi. In the second step, the main force of the southern front will concentrate at least seven or more elite divisions and regiments to attack from the south to the north, and the main force of the central line will concentrate at least seven divisions and regiments to sweep the mountainous areas of central Luzhong from west to east. The third step is to hunt. The northern front concentrated more than ten divisions and regiments to attack from west to east along the Jiaoji Road, and cooperated with the southern and central lines to encircle Liu Yimin's troops in the Changwei Plain or rush to Jiaodong, and the army was encircled and completely annihilated. It must be noted here that it is necessary to do a good job of cohesion, and to recover the border of Jizhong and Jilu must strike a thunderous blow and make a quick decision. The recovery of southern Hebei and western Luxi must also be quickly resolved, and before Liu Yimin reacts, the Eighth Route Army that fled from southern Hebei and western Luxi to southwest Shandong and Taixi should be completely annihilated. When attacking the Yimeng Mountains on the southern and central fronts, it is necessary to adopt the tactics of surprise attacks, control the strategic points, and then repeatedly clear the mountainous areas, that is, to blow up every mountain in Yimeng Mountain, and also to clean up the Yimeng Mountain area. After taking control of the Yimeng Mountains, we must calm down, do not engage in any adventurous actions, and take every step as a camp and every step as a base. Every day, attacking during the day and camping at night, the defense lines of various units are connected, and a defense line in depth is deployed, and all fighters of the North China, Central China, and Kwantung armies and navies are dispatched to provide reconnaissance and air cover for the troops. When each infantry brigade marches, it must be escorted by two fighters overhead, and when it discovers the enemy's situation, it immediately builds a position on the spot and waits for the main force. At this point, we must learn from Chiang Kai-shek's practice of encircling and suppressing the Red Army in Jiangxi, building roads and fortresses, and compressing the enemy step by step. This time, we are pouring all the strength of our army and navy into digging three feet into the ground in Shandong, and we will also completely wipe out Liu Yimin's troops. As for Liu Yimin himself, he wants to see people alive and corpses when he dies. ”

After saying so much in one breath, Terauchi Shouichi was like a ball that had finished his breath, and his voice was also lowered an octave: "The overall strategy is like this, Tada-kun and Gangbe-kun please formulate a specific battle plan according to this idea." ”

Okabe Naosaburo and Terauchi Shouichi have been together for a long time, and they know that His Excellency the Commander hates the Eighth Route Army and Liu Yimin more than anyone else, and this time he has made up his mind, and it seems that he would rather not attack Wuhan first, but also destroy the Eighth Route Army first.

After thinking about it for a while, Lieutenant General Naosaburo Gangbu said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I feel that your strategy is impeccable, first attack Jizhong, Jilubian, Southern Hebei, and Luxi, and then eliminate the Eighth Route Army in Southwest Hebei and Taixi, and Luxi fled to the east of the Yellow River, which is equivalent to cutting off Liu Yimin's wings. According to this line of thinking, that is, the First World War completely determined North China. However, in such a big battle, it was necessary to strictly prevent the counterattack of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi and Chiang Kai-shek's troops in eastern Henan, and the scale of troops required was too large, even if the additional ten divisions arrived in North China, it was still insufficient. What to do with this problem? ”

Terauchi Shou glanced over: "This is Tada-kun's business, tell the base camp, either give Shandong to Liu Yimin, Jinpu Road, Jiaoji Road to Liu Yimin, stop the China War, and all the imperial troops will return to Manchuria, or increase the troops and completely eliminate Liu Yimin." Two answers: Let them choose one. Looking at the situation since the beginning of the war, Chiang Kai-shek's troops have never been formed into a formation to wipe out a brigade or regiment of the imperial army, but this Liu Yimin killed a major general today and a lieutenant general tomorrow, and his appetite has become bigger and bigger, and his weapons have become more and more sophisticated, and his artillery alone has at least five or even seven regiments, and they are all mountain artillery and field artillery. If the troops are insufficient, I will ask the Kwantung Army, the Central China Front Army, the Manchurian Defense Army, the Mongolian Cavalry, and the North China Public Security Army. We must pay attention to the strict adoption of secrecy measures, not only to change the password, secretly mobilize troops, but also to order the defenders of Jinpu Road and Pinghan Road, before the war, anyone within 200 meters of the position, regardless of the password, no matter what clothes he wears, will be killed, and strictly prevent the Tuba Road from camouflaging the Imperial Army, the Public Security Army, and Manchuria [***] to carry out a sneak attack! ”

After saying that, Terauchi Shouichi was really tired, so he asked the guards to move in a marching bed, lay down and rested, leaving Tada Jun and Okabe Naosaburo to ponder how to implement the commander's strategic plan.

At night, Terauchi Shouichi was woken up, and Tada Jun told him that the base camp had decided to transfer 30,000 people from the first, second, and seventh divisions of the Kwantung Army, the third cavalry brigade, and the Manchurian Defense Army to secretly enter the customs to fight, but the first, second, and seventh divisions could not fight in North China for a long time, and at most in one month, 30,000 people of the Manchurian Defense Force could be incorporated into the North China Front. At the same time, with the exception of the 3rd, 9th, and 13th Divisions, which were temporarily under the command of the North China Front, the base camp decided that the 15th Division, the 17th Division, the 106th Division, and the 116th Division, which had just arrived in Central China, should immediately sail north, land at Lianyungang, and assemble in the direction of Xuzhou.

Tada Jun also told Terauchi Shouichi that in order to ensure the victory of the battle, the base camp ordered the combined fleet to immediately rush to the aid of North China and assist the North China Front in the battle. General Terauchi Shouichi had the right to mobilize all the fighters of the Central China, North China, and Kwantung armies and the Chinese Dispatch Fleet and the Combined Fleet, and could also temporarily command the Marine Corps. There is only one requirement in the base camp, to annihilate the instructor of the Eighth Route Army and kill Liu Yimin.

When Shou Terauchi heard this, he immediately became energetic, and sat up from the marching bed with a "whew", and shouted to Miss Masako to get a wash of her face and wash up a little, regardless of whether Tada Jun had eaten this day or not, he and Naosaburo Gangbe squeezed to the map again.

The three old devils pointed at the map and had a detailed discussion on the plan of Shouichi Terauchi, carefully pondering every detail and supplementing it. pondered until twelve o'clock at night, and the three old devils finally reached a consensus:

1. The 32nd, 33rd, and 34th Divisions from the mainland were transferred to Jinpu Road, under the command of Lieutenant General Dongjuergong Tsukihiko Wang, commander of the Second Army, and cooperated with the 108th Division, the 7th Brigade of Reading Force, the 13th Brigade of Reading Force, and the 114th Division to build a strong defense line between Cangxian County and Yanzhou and Jining, and completely cut off the connection between Liu Yiming's cooking force and the Eighth Route Army in Luxi, Central Hebei, and Southern Hebei. Among them, the 32nd Division was stationed in Cangxian, the 33rd Division strengthened the garrison between Dexian and Jinan, and the 34th Division strengthened the garrison between Jinan and Tai'an. In this way, the Jinpu section from Tianjin to Yanzhou was arranged with five divisions and two mixed brigades, including the 5th Brigade, the 32nd Division, the 33rd Division, the 7th Brigade, the 108th Division, the 33rd Division, the 13th Brigade, and the 114th Division, with a total strength of 100,000. The 24th Division, which was originally stationed in Cangxian, was transferred out and joined the assault corps, and together with the 23rd Division originally stationed in Shijiazhuang, it advanced east and west, opened up the Deshi Road and Cangshi Road, and separated the southern Hebei and central Hebei links.

2. The 36th and 37th Divisions from Beitu were transferred to the front line in eastern Henan, where they were assigned to the 27th Division to monitor the troops in the First Theater and vacate the permanent divisions and regiments in eastern Henan to fight in North China.

3. China dispatched the Fourth Fleet and the Combined Fleet to the sea around Qingdao to prepare for an attack on Qingdao, to lure the main force of the instructor and cover the main action. The 110th Division in the sea of Qingdao was immediately transported to Tianjin and landed in Tianjin, and was responsible for the defense of Beiping.

Fourth, the 38th and 39th Divisions from Beitu were transferred to the Pinghan Road to cooperate with the 23rd and 22nd Divisions to strengthen the defense of the Pinghan Line and cut off the connection between the Eighth Route Army in central and southern Hebei and Shanxi. Among them, the 22nd Division was still stationed in Anyang and Xinxiang, the 38th Division was stationed in Handan, and the 39th Division was stationed in Shijiazhuang to Baoding. The 23rd Division, which had combat experience in the Eighth Route Army, was released to attack Deshi Road from west to east.

5. With the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 3rd Cavalry Brigades of the Kwantung Army as the main force, together with the 40th and 41st Divisions from the mainland, the Manchurian Defense Force, and the North China Public Security Army, they formed a northern front attack group to assault the central Hebei and Hebei-Shandong borders. Among them, the 1st Division commanded the 7th Division, the 40th Division, the 23rd Division, the 24th Division, and the Manchurian Defense Army to assault Jizhong; The 2nd Division commanded the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, the 35th Division, the 41st Division, and the North China Public Security Army to cooperate with the 10th Division from Xuzhou to the north to attack the Jilu border.

6. The 5th, 6th, 14th, and 16th Divisions in eastern Henan were quickly returned to North China and, with the cooperation of the troops on the Pinghan Line, made a surprise attack in southern Hebei.

The 7th and 10th Divisions immediately went north from Xuzhou to Dexian County, and cooperated with the assault troops under the command of the 2nd Division to form a north-south advance and assault the Hebei and Shandong borders.

8. With the troops of the Central China Front Army organized into a heavy army group on the southern front, with the 3rd, 9th, and 13th Divisions as the main forces, and the 15th, 17th, 106th, and 116th Divisions under the personal command of Tada Jun, they quickly advanced to the front line of Lianyungang, Xuzhou, and Shangqiu, and arranged a strong defensive line to prevent Liu Yimin's troops from escaping southward. After the recovery of central Hebei, southern Hebei, Hebei, Lubian, and western Luxi, the troops on the southern front quickly advanced northward, pressing from south to north, forming a trend of encirclement and suppression of the main force of the instructors of the Shandong Eighth Route Bureau.

In this way, the number of troops mobilized by the Chinese Army is as follows: seven divisions and regiments of the Central China Front, three divisions and one cavalry brigade of the Kwantung Army, 10 divisions and regiments newly reinforced, and 12 divisions and regiments of the North China Front Army and three mixed brigades, of which the permanent divisions alone have 10 divisions and regiments, including the first, second, third, fifth, sixth, ninth, tenth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and sixteenth. In addition, the puppet Manchurian National Defense Force and the puppet North China Security Army, the huge strength of the army is unique in the history of military warfare.

After discussing the matter, Terauchi Shouichi decided to immediately report the battle plan to the base camp, and the commanders of each division immediately flew to Beiping to hold an operational meeting.

At this time, the night was already deep, and the hungry stomachs of the three old devils were rumbling. Terauchi Shouichi was happy at this time, and he was busy making the kitchen serve wine and food, and asked Naosaburo Gangbe to go to the field hospital to find a few innocent nurses who had just joined the army.

After eating, Shouichi Terauchi had a strange idea to ask Tada Jun and Okabe Naosaburo to sleep in the same bed with him, and compete to see who is braver and more durable. Unexpectedly, as soon as he put forward this idea, Tada Jun, who looked lean and lean, actually had his eyes shining, jumped up with a "whoosh", picked up the little female soldier in his arms and ran into the house, and shouted that the other two little female soldiers followed up while running, and the two Terauchi Shouichi and Okabe Naosaburo looked at each other, knowing that it was not easy to win this game, they both picked up the female soldier in their arms and entered the house.

At 11 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the commanders of the divisions of the participating units of the Japanese army arrived in Beiping one after another, and Terauchi Shouichi held an operational meeting at the headquarters of the North China Front.

This time, General Terauchi Shouyi went against the norm and asked Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe to introduce the overall plan of the campaign, the plan for the first phase, and the tasks of each division and regiment, and did not rush to issue operational orders, but asked the commanders of each division to express their opinions and expound their thoughts on the campaign.

These commanders of the military divisions were terrified when they mentioned the instructors of the Eighth Route Army a few days ago, for fear that their divisions would attack the instructors and make a fate for Maeda Toshiyu. Seeing that the empire had mobilized such a huge number of troops, Guagua's mind knew that this battle was a sure victory, and his mind was immediately alive, and his cowardly heart had already run to Java, and the spirit of bushido was suddenly glowing, and he raised his head one by one and began to express his high opinions.

(To be continued)