On 27 January, the North China Front tried 32 Japanese soldiers and 3 officers, of whom 5 were sentenced to death by the North China Front Military Court for serious violations of discipline and the spirit of bushido, 7 were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment, and the rest were all fined or expelled from the army.

In the following days, the North China Front tried the remaining officers and soldiers of the Japanese puppet army who violated discipline, and each trial court was overcrowded, and every time a Japanese puppet soldier was tried, there was continuous applause inside and outside the courtroom, and for the Chinese in Beiping, the Spring Festival of 1941 was not lonely.

On January 30, the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the North China Front again posted a notice announcing the results of the trial, in which 158 people were court-martialed, 19 of whom were sentenced to death, 87 to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment, and the rest to be punished in varying degrees of severity.

What made the citizens of Peiping even more happy was that the North China Front Army Headquarters also announced that the 19 soldiers sentenced to death would be publicly executed on February 7, the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.

For a time, the military and people of China and Japan discussed a lot about the military discipline purge of the North China Front, and there were those who agreed, those who opposed it, those who disdained it, and those who scolded Okamura for being a hypocrite.

However, no matter how the outside world commented and questioned it, the North China Front's actions to rectify military discipline did not stop, and soon the Chinese people in the occupied areas clearly felt that the former fierce gods and evil were much more kind. Although the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law still did not dare to go out on the street, the men no longer feared being killed suddenly.

With the public execution of those soldiers who had seriously violated discipline on 7 February, the military discipline of the North China Front was greatly improved, and the opinion of the ordinary Chinese people in the occupied areas towards the Japanese army also changed to a certain extent.

In addition, Okamura Ninji took the opportunity to put forward propaganda such as "love the people" and "goodwill", and a large number of "people-friendly" manuals were sent to the people, and in a very short time, Okamura Ninji gained a firm foothold in North China.

Okamura Ninji's series of combination punches were indeed very clever, and the atmosphere in the security area had changed greatly in a very short period of time, and this change was extremely beneficial to the Japanese army. In addition to the fact that the hostility of the Chinese people towards the Japanese army has been reduced a lot. The most important thing is that the military discipline of the units of the North China Front has been markedly improved. Subsequently, Okamura Ninji ordered the garrison troops in various localities to step up their training in order to quickly improve their combat effectiveness.

At the same time, Okamura Ninji, Kasawara Yukio and others gathered again for a meeting in Tsuimeiso to discuss a sweep of Chinese resistance in the security area.

February 9th. The North China Front Command issued an operational order. In view of the presence of a large number of Terchinanian armed forces in the security zone. In view of the increasing danger of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Front Army decided to carry out a large-scale sweep of eastern Hebei, western Luxi, Lunan and the periphery of Pingjin during the Lantern Festival in China, codenamed "Lantern Festival".

In this sweep, the Front Army Headquarters decided to transfer the 21st Division, the 32nd Division, and the 10th Brigade of the 12th Army. In addition, all the 36th and 37th Divisions under the jurisdiction of the 7th Army, the 27th Division, the 30th Tank Regiment, the 5th Mountain Artillery Brigade, and the 9th Heavy Artillery Brigade under the Front Army were mobilized, and 5 brigades of the puppet army were mobilized, totaling 150,000 people. In addition, Okamura Ninji also transferred Yamamoto Kazuki's special operations wing and Chiyoko Koga's intelligence unit to assist in the operation of the mopping forces.

The North China Front kept this operation strictly secret, and only the headquarters at the division and regiment level had detailed operational plans, and none of the following were clear. In addition, the Japanese army frequently dispatched troops to conduct large-scale training during this period, so neither the troops of the Nationalist Government nor the Eighth Route Army were defenseless against the Japanese.

In addition, the North China Front set the time of the sweep on February 12, which is the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, that is, the Lantern Festival. The traditional festivals that Chinese attach importance to throughout the year, in addition to the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, are the most important of the Lantern Festival. Moreover, the Japanese did not make small moves during the Spring Festival, so no one would have thought that the Japanese would attack on the day of the Lantern Festival.

JI Dong. None. Tageso.

This is the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army's Jidong Army Division and the headquarters of the First Division of the Eighth Route Army in Jidong, speaking of this Jidong First Division, the division commander is called Bao Sen, who is the commander of the Eighth Route Army's Jidong Army Division and the commander of the First Division of Jidong.

The first division of the eastern Hebei began to form a unit of the Eighth Route Army, which led the great rebellion in eastern Hebei with Chen Feng's department, and after the war, this unit cooperated with Chen Feng's department, and at the end of 1939, when the two sides separated, the Eighth Route Army and Chen Feng's department each took away 50,000 troops.

Unlike the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, the Eighth Route Army in eastern Hebei was strongly supported by Chen Feng's department, and both weapons and equipment and supplies were very sufficient, so this unit was the first unit to be reorganized after the Eighth Route Army participated in the Anti-Japanese War.

At the beginning of 1940, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army carried out a major reorganization of the Eastern Hebei Army Division, which was organized into three divisions and one column, and Bao Sen, the former deputy commander of the Eastern Hebei Army Division and head of the 13th Regiment, who was highly respected by Chen Feng, served as the commander of the military division and the commander of the first division. After the completion of this army, it did not disappoint the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and successively organized 8 battles against the Japanese puppet army in eastern Hebei, annihilated a large number of Japanese puppet troops, and once drove the troops outside Tangshan City, and even threatened Beiping, effectively supporting Chen Feng's department and other anti-Japanese troops.

It was precisely because of the support of Bao Sen's subordinates that Chen Feng would have the energy to concentrate on the troops in eastern Hebei and the Rehe region to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese puppet army, and finally recover Chengde, the capital city of Rehe Province.

However, because the activities of Bao Sen's headquarters caused a great shock to the Japanese army, as early as when Tada Jun was in office, the North China Front specially dispatched an intelligence team to collect intelligence on the eastern Hebei army subdivision, and also repeatedly deduced the strategy and tactics of annihilating and annihilating the eastern Hebei army subdivision on the sand table.

However, because the activities of Bao Sen's department were extremely hidden, the Japanese army was not completely sure that Bao Sen's department would be killed with one blow, so the Japanese army kept holding back. Five days ago, the Japanese army received information from the inside that Bao Sen would lead the first division of the main force of the Eastern Hebei Army Division to Tiangezhuang in Jixian County on the day of the Lantern Festival, on the one hand, to spend the Lantern Festival here, and on the other hand, it seems that there is a plot against the county seat of Jixian across the river.

After confirming the accuracy of the information, Okamura Ninji ordered Tojo Hideki's 7th Army to immediately dispatch the main force to ambush, and after reading the information of Bao Sen's department, Okamura Ninji issued a death order to the headquarters of the 7th Army, in order to completely annihilate this force, especially that Bao Sen, to capture as much alive as possible, and if he can't capture it alive, he will be killed, and no matter what, he will not be allowed to escape.

On the day of the Lantern Festival, the whole Tiangezhuang is very lively, although the population of this Zhuangzi is not very large, only more than 80 households and more than 300 people, but today there are seven or eight hundred officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route with them to celebrate the Lantern Festival, so the whole Zhuangzi is very lively.

After dinner, the common people in Zhuangzi and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army sang and danced together, quite happy, and the bonfire of Wangwang made most of Zhuangzi red. Since the Eighth Route Army had placed a large number of guard posts on the periphery, they were not afraid of the arrival of the Japanese at all. Moreover, the defenders of Jixian County also know that there are not many real Japanese devils, only a reinforced squadron of more than 250 people, and the puppet army is not much, adding up to less than 200 people.

Besides, in this big Lantern Festival, there is no bastard who has nothing to do to come out to sweep, so everyone is defenseless. But they didn't know what to do at all, just when they were carnivaling, the city gate of Jixian County was wide open, and cars quietly went out of the city, one after another, full of soldiers, and there were artillery pieces dragged behind, full of them. Behind the car were neat groups of infantry, two columns, stretching for nearly a kilometer.

At the same time, the Japanese army, which was completely mechanized infantry, also set out from Zunhua, and the target was also Tiangezhuang, and the Japanese puppet army in the Pinggu area was also all dispatched and came towards Tiangezhuang.

Most importantly, in order to capture Bao Sen alive, Okamura Ninji transferred an operational team from the Special Operations Wing to assist the Seventh Army. The team had already arrived here before Bao Sen's troops arrived at Tagezhuang, and they were on standby.

At 12 o'clock, the excitement had dispersed, and the villagers had gone back to their homes. After Bao Sen arranged the patrol troops and guard posts, he discussed with the political commissar Shan Degui the possibility of attacking the county seat of Jixian County, two people and a few staff officers deduced several times on the sand table, and the results were not bad, although there was no certainty of victory, but at least there would be no danger, even if the mission failed because of the reinforcements of the little devil, they could retreat calmly, and they would definitely not be bitten by the tail of the little devil.

However, just as they were having a meeting, more than a dozen strange figures suddenly appeared in the grove outside the village, and when they walked in, they would find that these people had undergone special training, and one who seemed to be the leader suddenly asked, "Kato, have you been contacted by His Excellency Tojo?" ”

"Report to Your Excellency Commander, I have been contacted, Your Excellency Tojo said that a reinforced infantry brigade and artillery squadron of the 36th Division have set off from the county seat of Jixian County, and it is expected to arrive at the predetermined position in half an hour, and the troops from Zunhua and Pinggu have also been dispatched, if the defenders of Jixian County cannot completely annihilate this Zhina army, then the other two armies will come together."

"Yo Si! Remember, our mission this time is to assist the Seventh Army to completely annihilate this branch of the Chinese army, and the Chinese have placed a large number of guard posts on the periphery of this Zhuangzi, and their cordon is directly placed 2 kilometers away, and our task is to kill all these guard posts, so that His Excellency Tojo's troops can quietly complete the encirclement of the Chinese army, understand! ”

"Hay!"

"Yo Xi, there is not much time left for us, according to the original plan to prepare, now start to check the table, it is 0:10 o'clock, 0:20 on time!"

"Hay!"

(To be continued......)