At this time, General Terauchi Shouichi of the North China Headquarters was sitting in his position, leisurely tasting China's famous tea Longjing and looking at China's classical masterpieces. I don't know at all that the current Jindong has been beaten up by Liu Hua's rapid reaction brigade.

The door of his office was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and the chief of staff, who was usually very attentive to his personal appearance, hurriedly walked in with a document, and General Shouichi Terauchi was taken aback, thinking that some assassin had come to the High Command to assassinate him.

"Yaga... Chief of Staff, pay attention to maintaining the military appearance of the emperor..."General Terauchi Shouichi, as the commander, was very dissatisfied with the sudden intrusion of the chief of staff.

"Hi, Your Excellency Commander, I have an important military situation here that I want you to report...", the chief of staff nodded in acceptance of the commander's criticism, and stood in front of General Terauchi Shouichi's desk and said.

"Nani? What is the military situation, Chief of Staff, please tell me..."

"Hi, Your Excellency Commander....That's right, a telegram from Major General Sakai at the front line that he was attacked by the squadron [***], with a strength of about a reinforced brigade. Because the squadron took advantage of the unfamiliar night battle of the imperial army to carry out a sneak attack, the four security regiments that followed the troops to attack were all annihilated, and all the heavy weapons of the troops were lost, and all the food and ammunition were also lost. Now the remaining two wings are stationed in Zhouzhuang, requesting reinforcements from the headquarters...."

"Baga, how could this be, the four security legions actually lost under his nose, and they also lost so many weapons and baggage, it is simply a shame for the empire. He ordered the baggage troops of Jinzhong City to immediately deliver supplies to the Sakai Brigade on the front line, hoping that after the Sakai Brigade received supplies, it would make meritorious service and wash away the shame it had suffered in front of the Eighth Route Army. General Shouichi Terauchi quickly ordered.

"Hi... I'm going to send a telegram..."Hearing the commander's order, the chief of staff nodded in agreement.

"Yo Xi, go ahead, next time remember to tidy up the military appearance before recently..."General Terauchi Shouichi nodded approvingly.

However, less than two days after this telegram was sent, at the same time and in the same place, the Chief of Staff again hurried into the office of His Excellency the Commander.

"Yaga, Chief of Staff, have you forgotten what I said to you two days ago? Where has your military appearance and your military discipline gone? I am very disappointed by your actions today. General Shouichi Terauchi shook his head and said.

"Hey, Your Excellency Commander, I will correct it next time, there is urgent information from the front, and you need to decide immediately...", replied the chief of staff.

"Huh? Read..."

"Hi, the Sakai Brigade called, in two days, the troops did not receive any non-giving, and now the troops have run out of food, Major General Sakai requested the withdrawal of troops....Jinzhong City called, all the 24 cars that went to transport supplies were wiped out on the way, and the soldiers of the two squadrons who served as transporting materials were all broken, and now the entire road has been cut off by the Eighth Route Army, and it is impossible to replenish the Sakai Brigade?" The chief of staff replied cautiously.

"Baga, it's the Eighth Route Army again....Sakai Brigade wants to retreat, no, we have just halfway through the winter encirclement and suppression mission, and we must not retreat. Call back the Sakai Brigade and ask them to seek supplies on the spot. In addition, the North China Headquarters will immediately airdrop them to temporarily relieve the pressure on the troops. However, the troops must not retreat, and after seeking sufficient supplies, they will immediately start attacking...", the commander said dissatisfiedly after listening to the telegram from the chief of staff.

"Hey...", the chief of staff left the headquarters in a huff.

However, just when the commander was depressed by the telegram he had just received, his chief of staff once again broke into his office without regard for etiquette.

"Baga, Chief of Staff, how many times do you want me to talk about this, you must knock on the door when you come in, you must knock on the door..."General Terauchi Shouichi replied dissatisfiedly patting the table.

"Hey, Your Excellency Commander, but this military situation is really very urgent..."The chief of staff was also sweating profusely by the commander's reprimand.

"Say, I'm going to see what kind of military situation is that makes you so flustered," said the commander.

"Hi, Your Excellency Commander, Taikoo County has sent an urgent report for help, the county town has been attacked by a large number of troops of the Eighth Route Army, the Eighth Route Army carries more than a battalion of mountain artillery, the offensive is very fierce, with the strength of a squadron of the defenders can hold on for an hour at most. Also....Shouyang County also sent an urgent report for help, the county town was attacked by unknown artillery fire, according to estimates, the opponent has at least one battalion of field artillery, and the supplies stored in Shouyang County to prepare for the south are almost lost....and..."The chief of staff looked at the already angry commander and did not continue.

"Yaga, and what..."

"In order to destroy the opponent's artillery units, the captain of the city defense brigade sent two squadrons of troops, but as soon as the two squadrons left the county town, they were surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, and finally the whole army was annihilated....Now the city defense troops are holding on to the city wall and asking for reinforcements...."The chief of staff replied.

"Baga, it's the Eighth Route Army again, why are they all the Eighth Route Army, where did the Reading Force Division of the Eighth Route Army come from so many heavy artillery, and where did they come from so many troops. Liu Hua, what is Liu Hua going to do as a reader. In just a few days, the Sakai brigade has lost thousands of men and horses and all the baggage, the troops have been starving so far, and now two more prefectures are being attacked at the same time, what is he going to do...? The commander slapped the table and said loudly, completely forgetting the word military appearance that he had often taught.

Finally, after the anger of the Terauchi Shouichi was gone, he seemed to have discovered his gaffe. "Chief of Staff, it was my gaffe just now, please sit down! Let's talk about the current state of the war." The commander immediately regained his temperament as a commander-in-chief and said to the chief of staff in front of the station.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander."

"Chief of Staff, what do you think Liu Hua of the Reading Force Master wants to do?" General Shouichi Terauchi quickly got to the point.

"Report to Your Excellency Commander, according to the discussion of the General Staff, Liu Hua's only purpose is to force the imperial army to return to help, so that we can end the winter encirclement and suppression early."

"Well, I also know that Liu Hua's ultimate goal is to let us withdraw from the army? But will we retreat or not? Now the progress of the armies from all walks of life is very smooth, and there is a great tendency to drive out the reading divisions, even if they can't be wiped out, they can completely destroy the base they say. Now let me give up, it's really a bit reluctant... However, I'm worried that if Liu Hua continues to make trouble like this, although we will destroy his base, our rear will also be turned upside down by him... Chief of Staff, what do you think? His Excellency the Commander asked sincerely.

"Your Excellency the Commander is polite, and now it is my duty. I don't think Your Excellency the Commander has to worry about that. As for the materials that the Eighth Route Army destroyed in Shouyang County and were about to go south, we would just have to transfer some of them directly from the supplies of the North China Front Army at that time. Not to mention the county seat occupied by the Eighth Route Army, when the encirclement and suppression are over, the army will come back to help, and the little strength of the Eighth Route Army can only flee in the face of the powerful imperial army, if they hold on, it will correspond to our appetite even more, we can mobilize the army on the spot and eliminate this group of Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop... This is just my personal meaning, please use Your Excellency the Commander as a reference..."The Chief of Staff replied with his head bowed.

"Yo Xi, the chief of staff really deserves to be a top student of the empire, and the whole incident has been analyzed clearly by you... Well, now that I have the Chief of Staff's analysis, my confidence is even more abundant... Thank you today for your remarks. The commander replied with a smile on his face.

"Chief of Staff, now order..."General Terauchi Shouichi suddenly changed his words, stood up and said solemnly.

"Hi..."

"Order, from now on, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the situation, hold on as much as possible until dawn, after dawn, there will be the air force of the empire to come to reinforce... Send it out right away...."General Shouichi Terauchi ordered.

"Hey! Your Excellency, Commander, I'll go and deliver the order right away...", turning and leaving the office.

Just when General Terauchi Shouichi was confidently ordering all troops to speed up their march, Liu Hua was covertly ordering his three main regiments to march day and night, and slowly wanted to concentrate on Jinzhong City, a city in Shanxi Province that had been fed for several months.

"Staff Officer Wang, how is it, has the Intelligence Department of the Headquarters sent the current deployment of the troops in Jinzhong City..."In the dark night, Liu Hua asked Staff Officer Wang beside him while marching.

"Commander, I just sent a telegram to Director Meng Zhongheng of the headquarters to ask, they are also working hard, it is estimated that there will be a period of waiting." Counselor Wang replied.

"Well, after sending a telegram to urge, I estimate that tomorrow night, several main regiments will feel the periphery of Jinzhong City. Also, how is the situation of the cavalry regiment now, and does Wang Hu have any reports? Liu Hua asked.

"Well, when it was dark, Captain Wang sent a telegram about their situation in the past two days, and I didn't show it to you if it wasn't important. According to Regiment Commander Wang's briefing, they rushed to the outskirts of Taiyuan County last night and completely annihilated a squadron of the Yue Army in a surprise attack at about 2 o'clock yesterday morning. According to their plan, tonight he will take the main force to attack a military station of the Yue army, where a large amount of combat supplies for the Yue army is stored..."Staff Officer Wang briefly introduced.

"Well, yes, the cavalry regiment did a good job, and it wiped out a squadron of the army as soon as it arrived, which is very remarkable, and it will be up to us next. Whether or not the army will end this sweep early depends on how we fight tomorrow night. Liu Hua sighed at the sky.

(To be continued)