Chapter 75: The proud Kuroda

Just when the Eighth Route Army was celebrating an unprecedented victory, the headquarters of the Mongolian army in Zhangjiakou was a different scene.

Because Ma Zheng's troops were all calculated or unintentional in this battle, and every battle broke out and ended quickly, so until the four cavalry divisions were all annihilated, no one sent a report to the puppet Mongolian army headquarters and the Mongolian army headquarters.

The total annihilation of the four cavalry divisions of the Mongol army was a foregone conclusion, and the loss of the six counties in southern Tsarchanan was irretrievable. When the news came, the atmosphere in the headquarters of the Mongolian Corps was extremely tense, and in view of the experience of the previous times, everyone in the headquarters knew that His Excellency the commander was about to go crazy again.

Sure enough, soon the office of His Excellency the Commander was filled with angry roars and the sound of teacups shattering to pieces. All the people in the entire headquarters were silent, and the soldiers who were listening to the phone deliberately lowered their voices, so as not to become a punching bag for His Excellency the Commander.

Lieutenant General Hasunuma was indeed angry, although he was also angry after the previous defeats, he was not as aggrieved as this time. At least the first few times he knew where he was defeated, but this time it was just shit, he didn't know what kind of magic the hateful officer of the branch used, and he actually destroyed his four divisions overnight, making his defeat inexplicable.

After dropping a few teacups, Hasunuma Pan calmed the anger in his heart a little and ordered the guards to immediately notify the Mongolian garrison to hold a meeting. After all, something has happened, and regeneration will not solve the problem, and a way must be found to save this failure.

In the conference room, Shi Benyin, chief of staff of the Mongolian Army, Kuroda Shigetoku, commander of the 26th Brigade of the 26th Division, and others were sitting in a precarious position, and no one dared to look directly at the lotus on the main seat.

Liannuma Pan reorganized his army and said: "Presumably, you already know that the four cavalry divisions that cooperated with the imperial army to encircle and suppress the Tuba Road Duqi Brigade were wiped out overnight, and the imperial army garrisons in Zhuozi, Jining, and Shangdu were all lost, what do you think about this?" ”

Shi Benyin thought for a while and said, "Your Excellency Commander, there is no doubt that those divisions of the Imperial Allied Army were annihilated by the Duqi Brigade of the Eighth Road!" ”

"Tell me your reasons!"

"Because so far, in the Chahar and Suiyuan areas, only Ma Zheng's department can gather troops in the shortest possible time to carry out a large-scale attack on the imperial army, and although this Tuba Road is subordinate to Yan'an, it is not much worse than the Central Army of China in terms of combat effectiveness, and even stronger in some aspects. More importantly, our reconnaissance planes did not find any signs of large-scale troop activity in the old nest of the Duqi Brigade, which indicates that Ma Zheng's unit may have withdrawn from Daqingshan, Hades, and Sumu Mountains long ago, leaving only a small number of troops to confuse us. ”

"This is what the people of Zhi Na often say about the Ming Xiu Plank Road Darkness Chen Cang, Ma Zheng's department did not think about face-to-face with the imperial army from the beginning, their target is the imperial army with extremely weak combat effectiveness."

Lieutenant General Liannuma said: "Yo Xi, what Shi Benjun said is reasonable, Your Excellency in the temple specially instructed me to pay special attention to this Duqi Brigade on Tuba Road. I didn't expect that I would still underestimate them, in just one night, I could annihilate the four cavalry divisions of the Imperial Army, and at the same time capture three county seats, so that the troops are definitely not a rabble, and their combat effectiveness may already be able to compete with the Imperial Army head-on. ”

Major General Kuroda Shigetoku asked in surprise, "Your Excellency Commander, do you mean that those Shina farmers with rudimentary weapons can compete head-on with the Imperial Japanese Army?" Do they have such strength? ”

"Why, doesn't Kuroda-kun think so?" Hasunuma Pan asked in a deep voice.

"I really don't think so, even the Central Army, which has the strongest combat effectiveness, does not dare to say that it is competing head-on with the Imperial Army, even the most elite German armor division of the Central Army is only equivalent to a brigade of the Imperial Army at most, not to mention that the conditions are far inferior to the Tubalu of the Central Army of the Chiang government in all aspects."

Speaking of this, Kuroda Shigetoku's voice couldn't help but raise a little, and said: "After the incident in the 12th year of Showa, the Central Army of China, which was fought in the north and south battlefields, was defeated one after another, and Shanghai, Beiping, Tianjin, Hangzhou, and even their capital were captured by the imperial army. ”

"Yaga, Kuroda-kun, you really underestimated the Chinese army. Although our army has made smooth progress since the incident in China and dealt an extremely heavy blow to the government army in China, there is no doubt about the military victory. But our losses are very large, and you should not think that every time the battle report from the base camp is a victory and a great victory, and every time it has achieved extremely brilliant results at a very small cost, in fact the situation is far worse than you think. ”

"To put it simply, if we are really as powerful as the base camp boasts, why has the promised three-month destruction of China dragged on until now? Why do we still need to form a force like the Imperial Army? You must know that the reason why our Great Japanese Empire was able to go so smoothly was because the government decrees in China were not uniform, which gave us an opportunity to take advantage of. On the other hand, because we are now squandering the accumulation of 100 years since the Meiji Restoration, if we squander all the relics left to us by the Meiji Emperor and do not defeat China, the consequences will be unimaginable. Hasunuma Pan said in a deep voice.

"Your Excellency, Commander, what you said is very reasonable, but I don't think that the people of China will be able to hold out until that time. You must already know the battle situation in Lunan, although the people of China have just caused some casualties to the imperial army in Taierzhuang, but now more than 500,000 government troops are facing the threat of being annihilated by the imperial army, the outcome of the battle of Xuzhou has been decided, after the defeat of Xuzhou, we will open up the Jinpu line, and then the two major armies in North China and Central China will go hand in hand, and soon the government of China will succumb! Kuroda said loudly.

"Kuroda-kun, you underestimate the resilience of the people of Shina, if it were as simple as you said, Shina would not be a Shina a long time ago. The combat effectiveness of the Chinese army is not as unbearable as you think, at least the combat effectiveness of the Central Army under the Chinese government is far beyond your estimates. During the Songhu War, the 19th Group Army, the 15th Group Army, the Tax Police Corps, and the Teaching Brigade of the Central Military Academy of the China Central Military Academy were the essence of the China Army, and their combat effectiveness was not inferior to the elite troops of the empire. ”

Then Hasumuma Pan continued: "The fighting will of these troops is extremely strong, such as the 800 strong men guarding the Sixing warehouse, they are by no means incomparable to ordinary Chinese soldiers. During the Songhu War, most of the empire's troops were replenished many times, and some of the main divisions and regiments were replenished four or five times. The Chinese army also suffered heavy losses, with two-thirds of the original junior officers and soldiers suffering casualties, and more than half of the brigade and regiment commanders suffering casualties. ”

But even so, the Shina army fought to the death, and their fighting ability and fighting will were admired by General Matsui Ishone. Therefore, you should not take the combat effectiveness of some local troops in China as the criterion for evaluating the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, otherwise you will suffer great losses in future battles. ”

"Follow the teachings of Your Excellency the Commander."

Then Major General Kuroda Shigetoku asked, "Your Excellency, you just said that you are the Central Army of China. And now there is a threat to us is the Tuba Road in China, is it possible that the combat effectiveness of these Tuba Road is also as strong as the Central Army in China? ”

Lieutenant General Hasuma said slowly: "Yo Xi, most of the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness is not strong, mainly because they lack weapons and ammunition, especially heavy weapons. However, their will to fight was extremely tenacious, even more tenacious than that of the Central Army of the Chinese government, and the Eighth Route Army generally operated in small units in the occupied areas of the imperial army, usually in battalions and companies to find weak points in the imperial army. ”

"As soon as there is any negligence on the part of the imperial army, then these guys who are like rats will quickly gather together to catch the imperial army by surprise, and even Itagaki Jun's fifth division was eaten by the Eighth Route Army in this way, which is very difficult."

Kuroda Shigetoku said: "Your Excellency the Commander is talking about the Battle of Pingxingguan, about that battle I have also read the report of the base camp, although the loss of a transport brigade, but the humble duty does not feel that there is anything to be ashamed of, the people of the Zhi Na touched an entire division and annihilated a transport brigade of the Imperial Army after suffering thousands of casualties, what is there to be afraid of!" ”

"Kuroda-kun, you're too proud, you're going to suffer a big loss like this!" Hasunuma Pan said in a deep voice.