Major General Naozo Nakano, commander of the 25th Brigade of the 10th and 8th Divisions of the Army, and Major General Tomamidi, commander of the 10th and 4th Brigades of the 10th and 4th Brigades, were full of eagerness for the upcoming Jiaoji Road Campaign.

However, there is a slight difference between Major General Nakano Naozan and Major General Tomamidi on the fourth floor, that is, Major General Tomamidi on the fourth floor is looking forward to launching the Jiaoji Road sweeping operation in order to keep his position and avoid being transferred to the reserve after the 108th Division returns to China for rest and revocation in the future, and the fundamental purpose is to make more money and make a fortune in China.

Major General Naozo Nakano is a standard soldier who pursues to expand the territory and leave a name in history. Therefore, he was eager to launch the Jiaoji Road Sweep Operation because of his anxiety about the war. In other words, Major General Naozo Nakano loved to use his brains and saw the rapid rise of the Eighth Route Army, which affected the rule of the Yue Army in North China. Out of consideration of the war situation, he felt that the troops of the Great Army stationed in Shandong must concentrate their main forces to launch a large-scale sweeping operation along the Jiaoji Road and completely destroy the survival foundation of the Eighth Route Army in this area. Only in this way can the main force of the imperial army relieve its worries and turn to the clearing of the Taiyi Mountains.

I'm afraid to think about anything, and I can figure out many ways when I think about it. Major General Nakano Naozo belongs to the kind of person who loves to ponder.

During this time, Nakano Naozo was stationed in Zhangdian and Zhoucun, and undertook the defense between Zhangqiu and Linzi. Due to the blows of the Cold Gun and Cold Artillery Movement of the Eighth Route Army, the 25th Brigade suffered heavy losses and had to be replenished. This made Major General Naozo Nakano fall into thought.

After thinking about it, Major General Naozo Nakano came to several conclusions: First, the political situation in Shandong has changed. You must know that at the beginning of the war, after Han Fuqu retreated, the ground in Shandong was basically in a state of no political axe, and various forces appeared on the stage, mixed with fish and dragons, although there were a lot of commanders, but the lack of strong organizational leadership was equivalent to a plate of scattered sand. Everywhere the imperial army went, these chaotic armed forces either surrendered to the imperial army, or were busy with latin, money, and land grabbing, and the common people could not find the county magistrate, district magistrate, and security chief, and the county magistrate, district magistrate, and security chief also became exiled officials who did not want the common people and did not want the area under their jurisdiction, and the political power was wiped out. Even those motley armed forces holding the banner of resistance basically operated in the three areas outside the communication lines of the imperial army, and few people dared to confront the imperial army head-on. Since the instructors of the Eighth Route Army infiltrated from southern Hebei to Luxi, they began to reorganize various local armed forces and establish political power. After they marched into the hinterland of Shandong, they intensified their efforts to reorganize local forces and establish political power. If this development continues, it will put an end to the situation in which the Chinese in the occupied areas are scattered, and no matter how much the imperial army concentrates on suppression, the Chinese will be huddled together. You must know that the premise of the Empire's launching of the China Incident was the scattered political situation in China. If China really achieves reunification and integration from top to bottom, will the Great Empire still come to invade them?

Second, the people's will in Shandong has changed. Originally, the empire had been operating in Shandong for a long time, such as Qingdao and Jinan, which had long been incorporated into the empire's vision and carried out infiltration, especially Qingdao's foreign-funded enterprises, which had long been known for their excellent product quality, stable prices, and fair trading, and enjoyed a high reputation among the people of Shandong. Not now, since the beginning of the Sino-Yue war, the Chinese have regarded Yue himself as an aggressor. In particular, after the Eighth Route Army marched into Shandong, it vigorously propagated the idea of opposing and resisting the Japanese, and guided the thinking of the common people of Shandong to the opposite side of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. This is terrible, and it is tantamount to digging up the roots of law and order in the occupied areas. Think about it, the Chinese turned out to be the sick men of East Asia, a name that ostensibly means that their people are opium smokers and physically inadequate, but in essence, they are arrogant, blinded and ignorant, most of them are illiterate, unable to keep up with the pace of world change, and lag behind the world ideologically, spiritually, and mentally. Now, judging from the materials seized during the sweep, Shandong's Tuba Road not only propagated resistance, but also advocated women's emancipation, freedom of marriage, study of culture, development of production, and popularization of new farming methods; isn't this to liberate the Chinese in terms of ideology, customs, science and technology, etc.? Isn't this to awaken the sleeping lion? If this development continues, and the ordinary people of China become as well-educated as the people of the Great Empire, will the Great Empire still dare to invade them?

Third, Shandong's Eighth Route Army was particularly strong in combat effectiveness, and the main reason was that it had attacked and occupied Tianjin, Qingdao, and Lianyungang, and basically emptied Tianjin and Qingdao. Therefore, they do not lack money, food, equipment for the manufacture of weapons and ammunition. This is important because they have the ability to fight continuously. Once they are given time, with such a large population in Shandong, the Eighth Route Army will be even stronger, and it will definitely be everywhere at that time.

Fourth, Shandong has now become a situation of confrontation between himself and the two powers, and the Kuomintang armed forces have declined and can be ignored. As far as the Imperial Army is concerned, as long as the Eighth Route Army is eliminated, Shandong can be built into another rear base outside Manchuria to support the war against China; For the Eighth Route Army, Shandong is rich in products and has a large population, and is the first choice for their development and growth. As long as they gain a firm foothold in Shandong, they can continue to grow their ranks, compete with the imperial army for control of the entire Shandong, and then go north and south to west, not only threatening North China, but also passing through the Central Plains and entering the Jianghuai region. Unfortunately, only the Eighth Route Army and the Imperial Army confronted each other, which was far inferior to the confrontation between the Imperial Army and the Kuomintang, [***], and the local powerful factions, so that the Imperial Army could provoke them to fight among themselves and reap the benefits of the fishermen. Now there is only the Eighth Route Army and the Imperial Army, and most of the people in Shandong will inevitably follow the Eighth Route Army, no matter how strong the Imperial Army is, it will fall into the midst of more than 30 million Shandong people, and the ending can be imagined by touching your toes.

After coming to these conclusions, Major General Nakano Naozo broke out in a cold sweat, and every time he woke up in the middle of the night, he stared at the roof with empty eyes open, worried about the future of the war against China. He knew that in any case, it was an island country, and the basic strategic materials needed to wage war were scarce, and a war against China was conducive to a quick victory rather than a protracted war, and if it fell into a protracted war, it would be a disaster, which would not only affect the preparations for war against the Soviet Union, but also plunge the empire into the quagmire of war. The current situation is not optimistic, the main force of the imperial army is fighting against the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's political axe army on the front line, and the Eighth Route Army is flourishing in the area occupied by the imperial army.

After thinking about the overall situation and thinking about the current situation of his 108th Division, Major General Nakano Naozo became more and more worried.

The 108th Division is an ad hoc division, and it is said to be a third-class division in the army, but in fact, due to corrupt military discipline and the older age of the soldiers, the combat effectiveness of the 108th Division is likely to fall to that of a fourth-rate division. Nakano Naozo did not see it that way, and he believed that the main reason for the failure of the 108th Division's combat effectiveness was the lack of a brave and enterprising division commander and the opportunity to participate in major battles. This is in line with the views of the new commander of the 12th Army, Lieutenant General Otaka Kamezo.

At present, the 10th Eighth Division is the main force guarding Luzhong and Ludong, and in the face of the remnants of the main force of the Jiaodong Eighth Route Army and the local armed forces, it has been repeatedly beaten passively and at a loss, which is simply a loss of the army's preemptive, brave and enterprising spirit. If this continues, if the main force of Liu Yimin's instructor is not eliminated on the battlefield in Wuhan and returns to Shandong, the Eighth Route Army may cancel the number of the 108th Division without waiting for the 108th Division to withdraw to the mainland and cancel the number.

It was precisely because of this idea that Major General Nakano Naozo was very supportive of Odaka Kamezo's plan to organize a sweeping operation on the Jiaoji Road. He also sent a sealed telegram to Odaka Kamizo behind his back, introducing the situation of Shandong's enemies to Otaka Kamizo, explaining the important positions of the Jiaolai region, the Changwei region, and the Xiaoqing River valley in the whole of Shandong, and vowed to ensure that the 25th Brigade was well-trained and well-equipped, and that as long as it changed its passive attack posture and actively attacked, it would definitely make meritorious contributions to His Majesty the Emperor.

Naozo Nakano's loyalty strengthened Otaka Kamezo's determination to launch a Jiaoji Road sweep operation. Of course, whether it was Ozaka Kamezo or Nakano Naozo, they didn't know that the main force of the Eighth Route Army Instructor had already returned to the southeast of Lu and Taiyi Mountains, and they were about to launch a thunderous attack.

On the evening of 7 November, when Zeng Zhongsheng led his troops to launch an active attack, the spearhead was aimed at the former stronghold of the 25th Brigade. At that time, Nakano Naozo reported the situation to the headquarters of the 10th Division and the headquarters of the 12th Army, and asked for an increase in troops, and launched a counterattack after dawn to resolutely eliminate the Eighth Route Army that dared to attack and attack. As a result, he received an order late at night, saying that the Eighth Route Army had captured Jiaoxian, Gaomi, Boshan, Linqu and other county seats, and judging that the Eighth Route Army was about to launch a large-scale attack, it asked the 25th Brigade to gather its troops and move closer to the division headquarters in Weixian, and the 10th Eighth Division and the 33rd Division to form a heavy group to resist the attack of the Eighth Route Army.

After receiving this order, Nakano Naozo felt that Xia Yuan Xiongmi's brain was in water, how could he let the 25th Brigade move closer to Weixian? The 25th Brigade is gone, what should I do with this large area of defense, will it be handed over to Tubalu? Besides, even if the assembled troops should also be assembled in the direction of Jinan and concentrated near Weixian, in case the main force of the Eighth Route Army cuts off the traffic in the east and west directions, won't the troops become turtles in the urn? Therefore, he did gather his troops, but did not make a move to move closer to Weixian.

Of course, in Nakano's heart, he thought that as long as he held the line of communication and relied on fortifications to defend, the Eighth Route Army would have no way to take tens of thousands of troops from the 10th and 8th Divisions and the 33rd Division. This is the disadvantage of the 1st 08th Division has not been hit by the main force of the Eighth Route Army, if they have encountered the blow of the instructor's artillery group, it is estimated that Naozo Nakano will not have such an arrogant idea.

It wasn't until after dawn that Major General Kobayashi Asaburo and Lieutenant General Kuma Shimoto sent a telegram from the headquarters of the 12th Army, saying that Odaka Kamezo had fallen into the hands of Dohachiro, and that the 25th Brigade must move eastward to support the 104th Brigade and rescue Commander Odaka Kamizo, Major General Nakano Naozo was taken aback, knowing that if he didn't take action, once he hijacked Commander Otaka Kamizo's Dohachi Road and escaped, he couldn't save it, and then it was likely that Lieutenant General Shimoto Kumaya would catch the handle of his own movement troops that did not follow the order and become a scapegoat.

Nakano Naozo then hurried into action. Fortunately, after Gaomi was captured by the Eighth Route Army last night, there were trains stranded at several major stations in Zhangqiu, Zhangdian, Zhoucun, and Linzi. At this time, Nakano Naozo no longer cared whether these cars were passenger cars, stuffy tank cars or coal trucks, and ordered all to be requisitioned, and the troops were transported in batches, with tanks and artillery transported by train, and ironclad cars opening the way in front to guard the safety of the trains.

Major General Naozo Nakano has calculated that from Zhoucun Station to Weixian Station, a total of 11 or 20 kilometers, can be reached in a maximum of three hours. Zhangqiu is farther away and Linzi is closer, which is just right for the troops to divide the avant-garde, the main force and the rearguard, which is convenient for support.

Last night's all-out attack by the Eighth Route Army caused the 132nd Wing, which was responsible for the garrison of the north of Jiaoji Road, to lose the strength of one brigade, and the remaining two brigades and the wing headquarters of the wing were already on standby in Zhoucun. Nakano Naozo ordered the whole brigade and the cars of the Zhoucun and Zhangdian transportation companies to be concentrated, and let the commander of the 132nd Wing, Ebi Meirong Ichisa, lead a brigade to advance along the Jiqing Highway by car, leaving a brigade to command the Jiaoji Road garrison Zhangqiu, Zhoucun, Zhangdian, Linzi garrison and the puppet garrison to guard these strategic points, and he himself led the brigade headquarters, the field artillery brigade, and the fully formed 117th Wing to take the train. The two units of Jiaoji Road and Jiqing Road rely on each other and can support each other in case of accidents.

This is Naono Naozo's cunning, although Liu Yimin, who disguised himself as Yuan Xiongmi, repeatedly ordered his entire brigade to move eastward, and also asked him to bring the Jiaoji Road garrison in the jurisdiction with him, but this guy still left a field brigade to watch his home.

That's not all, under the urging of a telegram every half an hour from the headquarters of the 10th and 8th Division, Nakano Naozo, who has rich combat experience, still personally sent telegrams to all stations along the Jiaoji Road. From Zhoucun to Weixian, all stations along the road have reported safe passage. Nakano Naozo was relieved at this time, and ordered the ironclad car at Linzi Station to set off to explore the road, and he led the main force to board the train in turn, and drove eastward.

After Li Qing read Liu Yimin's telegram, he sent a telegram to Zeng Zhongsheng to inquire about the progress.

Zeng Zhongsheng called back that the troops were very tired and could not improve their marching speed last night. In a series of battles in which the Seventh Brigade attracted the Devil's Heavy Army Group to move towards Jiaodong, it suffered heavy casualties, and the two garrison brigades of Jiaodong and Qinghe supplemented part of its troops, which affected the combat effectiveness and movement speed of the troops. In particular, during the breakthrough of Jiaodong, in order to facilitate the covert breakthrough, the cars and the Jiaodong vehicles were left in the mountainous areas to conceal, and the mobility of the troops was significantly reduced. The two garrison brigades of Jiaodong and Qinghe were not packed, and with the addition of some backbones to supplement the Seventh Brigade, the composition of recruits was higher and the movement speed was slower. At present, the troops are camouflaged and are rushing along the Jiaoji Road, and it is estimated that it will take two hours to reach the designated position.

After reading Zeng Zhongsheng's telegram, Li Qing was silent. He is old in the war and knows the price paid by the Ludong group in order to attract the devil heavy army group. Zeng Zhongsheng's steely man actually preached that the Seventh Brigade suffered heavy casualties, indicating that Chen Dayong's Seventh Brigade had lost at least one-third of its personnel. Even if it is replenished in time from the two garrison brigades, how can the training level and tactical quality of the garrison brigade be compared with the elite Seventh Brigade of the Hundred Battles, there must be a process of training and running-in.

Thinking about Zeng Zhongsheng's preaching that the Seventh Brigade had thrown all the cars and rubber cars in Jiaodong, Li Qing knew that he might not only lose these vehicles, but maybe some of the cannons would also be buried on the spot. You must know that the Seventh Brigade not only has an artillery regiment of its own, but also captured the artillery wing of the Fifth Division during the bloody battle of Zhoucun, and it is said that this artillery wing is also a large-caliber heavy artillery. It's a pity that these heavy artillery can't move, and they will definitely be the first to be fortified when they break through.

Thinking about it again, when he joined the Seventh Brigade of Teaching, he didn't know how many familiar faces might never be seen anymore, and Li Qing jumped out of the heroic words of the division commander in his heart: How ambitious it is to sacrifice and how ambitious, every inch of mountains and rivers is an inch of blood!

According to Liu Yimin's battle plan, the 3rd and 4th Jiao Brigades and Zeng Zhongsheng commanded the 7th Jiao Brigade, the Qinghe Garrison Brigade, and the Jiaodong Garrison Brigade to destroy the 25 th Brigade between Linzi and Yidu, and then quickly wipe out the remnants of the enemy along the line and completely recover this area. If possible, it is necessary to attract troops from the direction of Jinan, Tai'an, and Dexian to come to the rescue, and strive to eliminate a large number of the living forces of the Shandong army in the Luzhong Plain, so as to create conditions for the capture of Jinan.

Now that the army may be about to arrive, and the Ludong group may not be able to arrive on time, then let the 3rd Brigade and the 4th Brigade join forces to destroy this 25th Brigade!

The division commander has already made the enemy situation generally clear, the main force of the little devils is going east by train, and there is also a brigade going east along Jiqing Road by car, and the speed of the car cannot catch up with the train, and the devils stationed in Linzi will arrive first than the devils in Zhoucun and Zhangdian, and the devils in Zhangqiu will arrive last. In this way, the battle plan must be appropriately revised, and the devils will be eliminated one by one, section by section, and one by one.

Silently calculating the distance from Zhangqiu to Zhoucun, Zhoucun to Linzi, and Linzi to Yidu, Li Qing knew that it would take two hours for the last military train from Zhangqiu to arrive at Yidu, and the nearest military train from Linzi would only take 40 minutes to reach Yidu. When the devils in the back catch up with the reinforcements, it is the time to teach the third brigade to eliminate the main force of the devils.

As for the devil's brigade that set off from Zhoucun by car, their speed was a little slower, and at best, they arrived at the battlefield when our army eliminated the main force of the Yue army by train, and it was completely possible for the Fourth Brigade to eat this devil's brigade.

Li cleared the score, and said that the army had a total of two wings and six infantry brigades, and the division headquarters report made it clear that the little devil reported that he had lost a total of one brigade last night, and there were still five brigades left, plus a field artillery brigade. His own Third Brigade ate three brigades of little devils, a brigade headquarters, and a field artillery brigade, and he had to let the Fourth Brigade kill the two brigades of devils. Otherwise, that kid will scold his mother.

(To be continued)