After listening to these reports, Sugiyama Motoyama and Kawabe Shozo's faces became extremely embarrassed, and the two glanced at each other, and they both saw a trace of helplessness in each other's eyes.

The signal soldier continued: "Two commanders, Major General Kiichi Yamamura also said at the end of the message that I asked the front army headquarters to do everything possible to provide them with support, otherwise, under such a fierce offensive of the dragon's tooth column, Baoding would probably not be able to hold out until reinforcements from the 1st Division and the 26th Division arrived. ”

"Bastard, sue Sù Yamamura Kiichi, no matter what, he must hold on to me until the reinforcements of the 1st Division and other units arrive, otherwise, if Baoding is lost, let him apologize to His Majesty the Emperor and even the entire Imperial Army of the Japanese Empire!" Sugiyama said with some annoyance.

Seeing that he was angry, the messenger was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head.

Kawabe Shozo pondered for a while and said, "General, the 1st Division will have to march for at least ten hours from Beiping before it can arrive, and this is still calculated according to the speed of mechanization and cavalry.

The Longya Column of Tuba Road had already captured Ranzhuang Town, which was less than fifty miles away from Baoding, and could arrive in two hours at most.

The main force of the Baoding defenders was almost wiped out in the first battle of Ranzhuang Town, and only a few thousand garrisons of the Imperial Association Army with low combat strength remained.

These garrisons are basically adapted from the security teams and even ruffians and hooligans in various places at the beginning, and they are simply a group of rabble, and it is obviously impossible to expect them to resist the dragon's tooth column equipped with tanks and anti-aircraft guns!

So, Your Excellency General, let's do our best to prepare for the worst. ”

Sugiyama Moto's eyes lit up and looked at the riverside Shozo and said, "What's the worst plan?" Could it be that Hebianjun means to take the initiative to give up the strategic place of Baoding? ”

Kawabe Shozo met Sugiyama Moto's gaze and nodded, "That's right, sir, since you know that you can't hold it, it's better to give up in advance, and you can still save our precious vitality that is already stretched." ”

As he spoke, Hebian Zhengsan ignored Sugiyama Yuan, whose face was becoming ugly, and walked straight to the combat map on the side, pointed to the map and said: "Sir, you see, in the middle of the distance from Baofang to Beiping, there are still four counties of Xushui, Rongcheng, Dingxing, and Zhuozhou along the railway, we can completely concentrate our forces, retreat to Xushui County, use space to exchange time, and slow down the offensive edge of the Dragon's Tooth Column, as long as we hold on until the 1st and 26th Divisions arrive, we can take advantage of the situation to counterattack and recapture Baoding and even Dingzhou in one fell swoop." ”

Afraid that Sugiyama Motola would not be able to agree to his own construction, Kawabe Shozo hurriedly persuaded again: "Sir, please don't hesitate, you are in a hurry, and you also know that it is a shame for us to take the initiative to give up Baoding, but at the moment, the situation is critical, and we should focus on the overall situation."

As long as this encirclement and suppression can be successful, it doesn't matter if you gain or lose for a while! Please also think again, Your Excellency, Commander! ”

Sugiyama Yuan's eyes flickered, and his expression was cloudy for a while, before he sighed and said, "That's it, what you said by the riverside makes sense, just do what you say." ”

Hebian Zhengsanyi was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately said: "Hai, Your Excellency the General is wise, I will let Major General Yamamura Muyi urgently evacuate from Baoding and retreat to Xushui." ”

…………

In Baoding City, the Japanese puppet soldiers were panicked, but the people were secretly elated, for no other reason, because they all knew that the Dragon Tooth Column of the Eighth Route Army was about to fight, and the little devils and dog traitors in Baoding were going to be finished.

In the Japanese garrison headquarters in the center of the city, its commander, Major General Yamamura Kiichi, was sitting behind his desk with a grim face and was silent.

Ranzhuang Town was lost, the elite of the 3,000 imperial army and more than 10,000 imperial troops were all wiped out, and the younger brother of Yamamura Kiichi was also crushed into a puddle of mud and slag by the tank battle of the Dragon's Tooth Column.

The telegram to the Beiping Headquarters for help has been sent for a long time, and there has been no reply until now, which has added to the troubles of Yamamura Kiichi.

Just when Yamamura Kiichi was about to give a crazy order to order the whole city to fight to the death, a communication soldier hurriedly ran in with a telegram, came to his desk, and suddenly gathered his feet and stood upright: "Your Excellency General, the Beiping Front Army Headquarters has called, Your Excellency the Commander orders us to temporarily abandon Baoding City, save our troops, retreat to Xushui County, and wait for the 1st and 26th Divisions and other reinforcements to arrive, and then carry out a counteroffensive and reoccupy Baoding, Dingzhou and other places. ”

After hearing these words, Yamamura Kiichi was like a lost man who had seen the dawn, and finally quietly breathed a sigh of relief, calmed down some of his excitement, and immediately stood up and said in a deep voice: "Pass my order, all troops immediately prepare to retreat, take away the war materials that can be taken away, burn and blow up those that can't be taken away, and not a single bullet can be left for the dragon's tooth column." ”

"Hay!" The devil messenger bowed his head again and immediately turned around and left.

When Qiao Youhua led the assault troops to march all the way along the railway line and arrived at a place less than an hour away from Baoding, he received an urgent telegram from the agent of Long Yingwei lurking in Baoding City.

After reading the message, Qiao Youhua raised his hand and ordered the vehicle he was riding to slow down, and Zheng Yunshan, who was following him, also jumped out of the car, ran over and asked, "Commander, what's wrong?" ”

Qiao Youhua handed the telegram in his hand to Zheng Yunshan and said, "The devils in Baoding have run away, and now Baoding is already an empty city." ”

Zheng Yunshan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Ran away? Haha, the little devil was so frightened that he took the initiative to run away, so what should we do, commander? Are you going to enter the city right away? ”

Qiao Youhua couldn't laugh, because he understood that the devils took the initiative to give up Baoding, it must be to save their troops, and obviously they realized that people are more important than the ground.

The main purpose of this attack on Baoding was to eliminate as much as possible the living forces of the North China Front in this area before the reinforcements of the Kwantung Army arrived.

Now the devil took the initiative to abandon Baoding and retreated to the north, even if Baoding was captured, the strategic goal could not be achieved.

Therefore, Qiao Youhua was not very happy.

"Forget it, order the troops to stop advancing and withdraw to Ranzhuang Town." Qiao Youhua pondered for a while and commanded.

"What? Return to Ranzhuang Town? Why don't we take the opportunity to take Baoding City? Zheng Yunshan was a little puzzled.

"Now that the devils and puppet troops in the city have run away, a large number of reinforcements from the Kwantung Army must be coming, and it will be useless for us to take Baoding, and we can't eliminate its living forces, so it is better to take advantage of the fact that the devil reinforcements have not arrived, first retreat to Ranzhuang Town, make a good arrangement, and fight the devils in an ambush.

To frustrate their spirit, as I said, don't care about the gains and losses of one city or one place, but try your best to destroy the enemy's living forces as the combat goal, only in this way can we truly recover the lost territory! ”