After returning to the headquarters of the North China Front in Beiping City with Kawabe Shozo, Tada Jun and Kawabe Shozo immediately learned about the distribution of forces under the jurisdiction of the North China Front.

At this moment, Tada Jun and Kawabe Shozo received an urgent telegram from Zhangjiakou, saying that a large area controlled by the Japanese puppet army at the junction of the four provinces of Jinchaji and Sui was attacked by the troops of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, and the situation was deteriorating.

The headquarters of the armed forces stationed in Mongolia requested urgent support from the front command, otherwise the situation would continue to deteriorate.

After listening to the report of the communication soldier, Tada Jun glanced at the chief of staff, Kawabe Shozo, and said, "Kawabe-kun, what do you think?" ”

Hebe Zhengsan muttered: "General, we can't ignore this situation, if we sit back and watch the development of Tubalu continue to grow, then the entire northwest and even the Rehe River may fall into their hands, once it is allowed to grow, it may threaten the safety of Beiping in the future."

When the time comes, they will cooperate with the Dragon Tooth Column, and Pingjin will no longer be owned by the Imperial Army! ”

"Well, that makes sense." Tada Jun nodded and said: "In this case, send a telegram to Anda 23 and ask him to immediately lead the 26th Division and the cavalry of the Mongolian Imperial Allied Army to leave Baoding, and quickly return to the headquarters of the Mongolian Army, responsible for sweeping the anti-Japanese forces in the area under the jurisdiction of the Mongolian Army." ”

"However, in this way, the garrison of Baoding will be greatly weakened." Kawabe Shozo hesitated.

"They still have the 1st Division and more than 10,000 Manchurian Imperial Allied Army, if they can't even hold Baoding City, then the 1st Division will have no need to save Zài." Tada Jun said with a grim face.

Hebe Zhengsan hurriedly bowed his head: "Hai, let's arrange it." ”

Tada Jun raised his hand and stopped him and said, "Slow, just let the communication soldier give orders, I still have something to discuss with you." ”

Kawabe Shozo waved his hand to the signal soldier and motioned for him to leave.

Bowing his head slightly, he asked Tada Jun, "I don't know what His Excellency the General commands?" ”

Tada Jun put a few copies of Wen Jiàn in his hand on the table and said to him: "Hebian-kun, I just looked at the deployment of the troops of the Lower Front Army, due to the containment of the Tubalu and Jin Sui armies and the Central Army.

Our large number of troops in Shanxi, Shandong, and even northern Henan could not be transferred north to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Dragon's Tooth Column.

This was an important reason why the Kwantung Army encountered stubborn resistance and could not win a quick victory. ”

Hearing this, Hebian Zhengsan's heart jumped and said: "General, do you mean that you want to transfer all the troops from Shandong, Shanxi and other places to the north to participate in the war?" ”

Kawabe Shozo was really taken aback, if that really happened, I am afraid that Shandong, Shanxi and other occupied areas will soon be lost and fall back into the hands of the Chinese army.

At that time, the Tianjin-Pudong Railway and the liaison with the Central China Dispatch Army will also be cut off, and the consequences will be unimaginable!

Tada Jun glanced at him coldly and said, "Hebe-kun, please listen to me patiently before drawing conclusions." Now the Kwantung Army and the Manchurian Imperial Allied Army, which are fighting in the customs, are very large at any time, and their morale is low, and at this time, of course, they can no longer make a desperate bet. ”

After a pause, Tada Jun continued: "I mean, according to the current battlefield situation, it is not realistic to encircle and annihilate Qiao Youhua's Dragon Tooth Column in a short period of time.

Shrink your forces and turn them on the defensive. ”

Hebian Zhengsan was startled, looked up at Tada Jun, only to see Tada Jun's resolute face, and muttered for a while with a little hesitation, he finally nodded and said: "Your Excellency the Commander, you are the head of the horse." ”

Tada Jun was very satisfied with Kawabe Shozo's cousin, so that he didn't have to ask for a change in chief of staff.

You can implement the plan in your heart step by step according to your own wishes, in his Tada Jun's opinion, to deal with the dragon's tooth column that has gradually become a climate, at this stage, it is difficult to completely eliminate it by relying solely on force to encircle and suppress.

Even if they can be defeated in one or two battles, they will not be able to completely annihilate them, because no matter how poor the opponent is, they can still break through or retreat into the mountains to engage in so-called guerrilla warfare.

The only way to concentrate the existing forces and carry out key defense is to curb the continued expansion of the power of the Dragon's Tooth Column, and at the same time combine the means of political co-optation and inducement to surrender, in short, to use the means and forces that can be used to contain and attack the Dragon's Tooth Column with all its might.

Finally achieve a goal, eradicate it!

In fact, Tadajun's predecessor, Sugiyama Moto, also had Tadajun's current plans after the previous failures of encirclement and suppression, and put them into practical action.

However, later, the Dragon's Tooth Column adopted the method of encroachment and infiltration by small guerrillas, and basically cracked Sugiyama Moto's comprehensive siege and blockade plan.

Later, the Dragon's Tooth Column took the initiative to attack, which forced Sugiyama Gen to ask the base camp to urgently mobilize the Kwantung Army to enter the pass for reinforcements because of face and various factors, and organized this new encirclement and suppression.

It was only then that the commanders of the three divisions of the Kwantung Army were sacrificed, and they were also angry to death.

Tada Jun believes that the best time to blockade the Dragon's Tooth Column was half a year ago, when the Dragon's Tooth Column did not have tank and anti-aircraft artillery units.

Important towns such as Hengshui and Dezhou were also still in the hands of the imperial army.

However, at this point, Tada Jun will not be too remorseful and sigh, he must use the power that he can use to contain the situation in North China and continue to develop in a direction unfavorable to the Japanese army at this critical time.

With Tada's strategic vision, he understood that as long as he could hold out for another year, Japan's national strength, or more precisely, the strength of the Imperial Japanese Army, would be restored.

The restoration here is not simply the expansion of troops, but the increase and replenishment of strategic materials such as weapons and equipment, military supplies, ammunition and shells under the restoration of national strength.

At this moment, Japan is far from being exhausted in terms of the source of soldiers of appropriate age, but in the war of aggression against China in the past two years or so, the Japanese army that has been wiped out by the dragon's tooth column alone is as high as more than 100,000 people, and with the losses in other battlefields, the Japanese army divisions and regiments have been reduced by at least ten.

Although there are reservists, the weapons and materials that have been lost, and the most important money needed to produce these weapons, equipment, and military supplies, cannot be recovered overnight.

In addition, Japan is an island country, and all its strategic resources and money are strongly tilted towards the navy, so it will take at least a year for the Japanese army to recover its strength.

Tada Jun was originally the deputy chief of the Japanese General Staff, he was in the center of power, and he had many friends in the War Department, so he knew that as long as he survived for another year, the Japanese Army would be able to reorganize all the divisions and brigades that had been defeated and destroyed.

At that time, at least 200,000 or 300,000 troops of 10 field divisions and regiments will be mobilized at one time to come and encircle and suppress the Longya Column.

And in this year's time, as long as it is curbed a little, no matter how the Dragon's Tooth Column develops, it will be impossible to form an army of two or three hundred thousand.

The most important thing is that a series of crushing defeats of the army in North China before Tongguò have attracted the attention of the base camp, the War Department and even the emperor.

The War Department ministers are lobbying the Cabinet and the Emperor for increased strategic investment in the Army to strengthen its capabilities, especially in the building of ground armored forces, automatic weapons, and Army Aviation forces.

Once the base camp and the emperor approve it, then the strength of the Japanese Army will usher in a good opportunity to grow by leaps and bounds.

You must know that the Japanese navy in this era was known as the first in Asia and the third in the world, but in fact, according to its performance in the war in the original history, when its naval combat power was at its peak, it can almost be said to be the best in the world, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the first in the world.

It's just that the fatal shortcoming of small Japan's strategic resources is destined to have no capital to consume with the ultimate powers like Britain and the United States.

From this point of view, if Japan decides to allocate even one or two percent of the strategic materials invested in naval construction to the development of the army, what kind of changes will it bring to the Japanese army?

It's really hard to predict, after all, the navy burns more money than the army, and the mechanization and informatization of the Japanese army in this era are almost zero.

It is no exaggeration to say that the human, financial, and material resources required to build a cruiser or destroyer of several thousand tons can definitely arm and form a field division.

In view of this, the first fire of the new official Tada Jun took office, and he quickly made the following arrangements.

First, the 26th Division of Baoding, with more than 10,000 remnants of the original 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, immediately left Baoding and returned to Zhangjiakou, Baotou, Ordos and other places.

Second, the 1st Division, together with more than 10,000 Manchurian troops, continued to defend in Baoding, the 14th Division served as the defense of Cangzhou, and the 8th Division was stationed in Cangxian County to the west of Cangzhou, waiting as a mobile force.

The more than 50,000 Manchurian troops stationed in several counties south of Cangzhou were stationed in place as outposts and buffers.

In addition, the telegram ordered two Japanese troops stationed outside Beiping City, Wanping, Zhuozhou, Langfang and other places to form a mixed brigade, more than 20,000 people, immediately rushed south to the middle of Baoding and Cangzhou, Renqiu, Hejian, Gaoyang, Suning line, to supplement and strengthen the defense force in this area.

Together with the 14th, 8th, and 1st Divisions stationed in Cangzhou, a complete defense line was formed.

At the same time, the Japanese troops in Tangshan, Zunhua, Jixian and other places were transferred south to replace the two mixed brigades and defend Pingjin.

While the Japanese puppet army in various places secretly moved nervously according to Tada Jun's orders, Qiao Youhua commanded more than 30,000 dragon tooth elites and also began their plan to advance north.

Xian County, which was closest to Wuqiang County, bore the brunt of the attack and became the first target of the Dragon's Tooth Column.

Xian County is located in the north of Wuqiang County, southwest of Cangzhou, and is now garrisoned by the puppet army outside the Guan, but there are not many troops, it is obvious that the Japanese puppet army is only using this place as a forward guard post, symbolically occupying.

As the eighteen No. 4 tanks of the tank regiment of the Dragon's Tooth Column, surrounded by a group of cavalry, appeared outside the city gate, the defenders of Xianxian County did not fire a single shot, and the communication troops in the city sent an urgent telegram to their superiors with a radio station.

They abandoned the city in panic and fled, and the cavalry battalion of the tank regiment took advantage of the situation to pursue and wipe out seven or eight out of ten, and the rest fled completely.

Xian County, a small and medium-sized city in Hebei, was easily recovered.