In the middle, a soldier of the 36th Group Army was talking endlessly, his eyebrows fluttering about his unit's fight against the little devils.

All around, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were all envious and listened with relish.

This soldier is obviously from the 1st column, and now he is basically talking to the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army about his own personal experience, and some things about fighting the little devils, such as recovering Taiyuan, encircling and annihilating the little devil Mengsui Army, recovering Baotou and so on.

After telling the story of the battle against the little devil for a long time, this soldier had just stopped and was about to take a sip of water, and his throat was almost dry just now.

A soldier of the Eighth Route Army immediately cleverly handed over a kettle, and the soldier was not polite, took the kettle and took two sips, and wiped the water stains at the corner of his mouth with his hand.

As soon as the soldier of the 36th Group Army stopped, many soldiers of the Eighth Route Army began to look at the 120mm heavy rocket launcher next to him.

"Comrade! This is what you just said about a bazooka! Why is it so powerful, the little devil's bunker and the Iron King Eight are simply vulnerable in front of it. ”

A soldier of the Eighth Route Army finally couldn't help it and began to ask curiously.

The soldier of the 36th Group Army patted the bazooka beside him and said proudly: "Of course, this is a 120 mm caliber, called a heavy bazooka." ”

Hearing this, many soldiers of the Eighth Route Army next to him were full of eagerness, looking at this bazooka with shining eyes, and several soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who were relatively close couldn't help but reach out and touch it, with a look of satisfaction and intoxication.

"Comrade! This bazooka is produced by your arsenal itself! ”

"Of course, this is a new model produced in our arsenal, which is specially designed to deal with solid targets, and has a long range, which can hit targets from a long distance."

A group of soldiers of the Eighth Route Army surrounded these soldiers of the 36th Group Army, asking this and that, with a look of curiosity and envy, while these soldiers of the 36th Group Army were proud and proud.

On the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, throughout the night, neither side fought again.

The purpose of the little devils is to hold on, and they will definitely not take the initiative to attack, the little devils think that the longer the time drags on, the better it will be for themselves, and the little devils still hope that their reinforcements will come.

As for the attacking 36th Army and the Eighth Route Army, after a day of fighting, everyone also needed to rest and recuperate, so that they could continue the offensive tomorrow, so they did not take advantage of the night to attack again.

Datong, the headquarters of the 36th Army.

Today, the situation of the fighting outside Shijiazhuang has been continuously reported here through telegrams, although everyone did not come to the front line in person, but the situation on the front line is still relatively clear.

In the evening, there were still people in the entire command center, and Zhang Yunfei and others were still in the command center, discussing the battle situation on the front line.

"Commander-in-chief, after a day of fighting, we not only completely crushed the outer defense line of the little devils, but also annihilated more than 10,000 enemies, our casualties were very small, and the Eighth Route Army was slightly larger, and the Eighth Route Army sacrificed more than 2,000 soldiers."

Zhang Yunfei nodded, and said with emotion: "How can there be immortals in a war, but we have annihilated so many little devils, and it is worth it, the losses of the little devils are much greater than ours." ”

Comrade Zuo Qingquan, chief of the General Staff, continued: "Commander-in-chief, two days ago, the special combat members sent a telegram from Shenyang saying that the commander-in-chief of the little devil's Kwantung Army, Umezu Mijiro, has returned to the local area, and the little devil's Kwantung Army has also been standing still in the past few days. ”

"Yes! Commander-in-chief, the little devil Kwantung Army will no longer go south to reinforce, our battle will be much easier, the strength of the North China Front Army of the little devil is not abundant, and now in the Beijing-Tianjin area, the little devils have gathered more than 200,000 troops, we can rest assured that we can besiege Shijiazhuang, and the recovery of Shijiazhuang is just around the corner. ”

Comrade Deng Wenping, director of the General Political Department, also happily expressed his views.

Hearing this, Zhang Yunfei smiled lightly: "Comrades, I am very sure of the recovery of Shijiazhuang, the total strength of us and the Eighth Route Army exceeds 80,000 people, and we have a clear advantage in strength, and now what I am worried about is that Umezu Mijiro returned to the homeland just to personally review this defeat?" ”

When everyone saw Zhang Yunfei say this, they thought in their hearts, the commander-in-chief was really far-reaching in his consideration, and he actually considered what Umezu Mijiro was doing when he returned to the local area.

After thinking for a long time, Comrade Zuo Qingquan, chief of the General Staff, speculated: "Commander-in-chief, a few days ago, the two brigades of the vanguard of the little devil Kwantung Army were completely annihilated by us, and such a defeat was a heavy defeat for the Kwantung Army. ”

"As for other purposes, I think Umezu Mijiro will report some information about our 36th Group Army to the Little Devil Base Camp, and I hope that the Little Devil Base Camp will adjust its strategy towards China, and even on our 36th Group Army."

As soon as Comrade Zuo Qingquan, chief of the General Staff, finished speaking, everyone also expressed their own views and inferences.

Comrade Deng Wenping, director of the General Political Department, said in a deep voice: "Commander-in-chief, I think that in the next stage, the little devils will definitely step up efforts to spy on our base areas and the situation of our 36 th Group Army. ”

After everyone finished speaking, Zhang Yunfei was silent for a long time, thinking carefully, thinking about what countermeasures the little devils would take next as his 36th Group Army became stronger.

At least after a few minutes, Zhang Yunfei suddenly became enlightened, and he already had his own inferences and understandings in his heart.

So, Zhang Yunfei said loudly: "Comrades, I don't think there will be much change in the little devils' strategy toward China, I think the little devils are still mainly defensive, and the most the little devils can do is to increase the replenishment of China's troops, and at most mobilize three or five newly established divisions and regiments to land in China to fight." ”

"The little devil will increase the strength of a few divisions and regiments, and it will basically not change the current state of war, so we don't need to worry too much, in the next stage, the main thing we have to guard against is the small actions of the little devil."

"Just like Lao Deng said, to guard against the spy of the little devils on the intelligence of our base areas, in addition, I think, it is also necessary to guard against the sneak attacks of the little devils on our base areas, especially a series of factories in Datong and Taiyuan and other places. ……”

Zhang Yunfei's analysis, eloquently, everyone's eyes are bright, many problems that everyone didn't expect, Zhang Yunfei thought of it, everyone looked at Zhang Yunfei's gaze, with a slightly adoring look.

Zhang Yunfei felt everyone's gaze, smiled slightly, and told everyone all his speculations in detail, and told everyone without reservation.

Everyone heard that the little devil might sneak up on their base, and they began to worry a little.

Comrade Fang Zheng, deputy director of the General Political Department, had the most worried look on his face, and Comrade Fang Zheng had devoted a lot of effort to the construction of the base area.

Fang Zheng couldn't help but said anxiously: "Commander-in-chief, if the little devils really want to sneak attack our base area, what should we do?" At present, our base area is empty, and the little devils are really attacking on a large scale, how can we prevent it. ”

Fang Zheng was concerned about the chaos, and it was about himself, so Fang Zheng was a little anxious, and immediately showed his thoughts on his face.

Seeing Fang Zheng's anxious look, Zhang Yunfei smiled slightly, although the little devil may sneak attack his base, Zhang Yunfei is still relatively calm, and he is not as worried as everyone else.

At present, the base area of the 36th Group Army is huge, it controls the scope of several provinces, and its strategic depth is very large, and if the little devils come to attack with a small force, they may be wiped out before they get close to Datong.

Now, there are local garrison brigades in all the counties and towns in the base areas, and although the troops of these garrison brigades are relatively poor in combat effectiveness, they can still play an early warning role.

As soon as the little devils engage the troops of these garrison brigades, everyone will know about it immediately, and they will be able to react immediately.

But everyone's mood is basically not as calm as Zhang Yunfei, but everyone's faces are not as obvious as Comrade Fang Zheng's.

Comrade Zuo Qingquan, chief of the General Staff, is also a little worried in his heart: At present, the main defensive force in the entire base area is 10 local garrison brigades, and only in important places such as Datong and Taiyuan are the troops of the guard division responsible for defense.

In addition, there are only flying brigades and special combat teams, as well as some small militia teams, if the little devils really attack on a large scale, it will still be tricky to defend, and Chief of Staff Zuo does not have the optimism and confidence of Zhang Yunfei.

Therefore, the chief of staff of Zuo still suggested: "Commander-in-chief, the strength of our base area is still relatively empty, should we temporarily transfer the second column back from Jingzhou?" ”

At present, the 2nd and 3rd columns, as well as Zhang Zizhong's group army, totaling nearly 200,000 people, are slowly advancing in the direction of Wuhan.

(To be continued)