The last night before the general offensive was of great commemorative significance and great psychological impact on both sides. Even the current commander of the North China Front, Okamura Ninji, and the commander of the First Army stationed in Jin, Iwamatsu Yoshio, were not exempt from the vulgarity, two war maniacs who had long been attracted by the smell of blood in the air, and had completely lost sleep until now. After wandering around the office for a few times, when he was bored, Okamura Ninji picked up the microphone on the table and asked for a call to the office of Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu......

Yoshio Iwamatsu is exactly 56 years old this year, and he has already stepped into the ranks of middle-aged people, coupled with the huge workload to take over every day and the tedious events to deal with every day, his physical and mental strength are somewhat overdrawn, and his physical health is also deteriorating. Often, before the sun sets, Iwamatsu Yoshio will feel dizzy and his eyelids will twitch unnaturally, representing a sleepy yawn. In normal times, Iwamatsu Yoshio would simply put down his official duties and then turn back to his room for a short rest. But now is not the time, he is well aware of the current situation, this time just in the Eighth Route Army outside the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region gathered more than 50,000 people and horses at a time, all mechanized troops, tanks, armored vehicles, motorized clusters, ground-to-air firepower to cooperate in the operation...... In the memory of Iwamatsu Yoshio, since he took over as commander of the First Army, he had never commanded such a large-scale campaign. To be sure, battles of this magnitude were commonplace on the frontal battlefield between the imperial army and the Kuomintang army, and the two sides fought more than 10 large-scale battles, often involving hundreds of thousands, or even millions, and more than 50,000 people were just a small number. However, this situation is extremely rare in the battlefield behind enemy lines fighting against the Eighth Route Army, and it can even be called the first time in the world.

Frankly speaking, although the Eighth Route Army was poorly equipped, the quality of its soldiers was backward, and its ability to coordinate troops and its means of communication were still in a primitive state. However, one thing cannot be denied: these units, which have been shuttling between the mountains and plains all year round and are known for their guerrilla warfare, are extremely destructive behind enemy lines. They love to go out by day and night, and are good at all kinds of ambush methods. Laying mines, kidnapping tickets, hijacking roads, beating sticks, picking up trains, ...... Almost all the means that can be used are used, and they are simply doing everything. Yoshio Iwamatsu often muttered in his heart, how different is this kind of team from bandits? Think about it, scold and scold, but these dirt roads seem to be entangled with you, and you will never let go if you bite it, not to mention the highway lines and various traffic fortresses, even those country roads have people waiting for you. If you send a local gendarmerie to the countryside to sweep the country, they will hide directly in the mountains, and if you follow them into the mountains, they will become the food of the other party.

From a macro point of view, it is nothing that these bandit characters of the Eighth Route intercepted two or three transport vehicles, and there is an old Chinese saying that the wool comes out of the sheep, and it is a big deal to go to the countryside to collect all the numbers. However, from a microscopic point of view, if these dirt roads are addicted to robbery, and if they intercept convoys when they see them and pick up trains when they see them, and if they continue to accumulate in this situation, they will inevitably have a great impact on the logistics and supply of the Japanese army in North China. Food, grass, ammunition, and bedding are the three essential items for continuous warfare, and all of them are indispensable. But these Tubalu are like crazy, they don't want to die when they see things, they rob what they have, and they can pay it back? On the other hand, you can't grab all the grain from those peasants, right? These peasants at the bottom of the social ladder have been subjected to all kinds of oppression for a long time, and although there are some forms of servitude, it is not easy to drive them to a dead end. The compulsory requisition of grain alone was already dissatisfied with them, and if all their rations were requisitioned and taken away, wouldn't this force them to rise up and fight desperately against the rule of the imperial army?

Yoshio Iwamatsu's idea is a bit narrow, but it is also closest to the meaning of the thing itself. He believed that the only way to really allow the warriors of the empire to fight the Kuomintang army on the frontal battlefield without any scruples was to wipe out this group of Eighth Route Army, which was hidden in the deep mountains and jungles and lived by "looting" every day. In order to achieve this strategic goal, even the Japanese army in North China was not spared. Otherwise, there would be no need for Commander Ninji Okamura to spend so much effort on formulating the so-called "Operation Plan C."

"Hey, I'm Yoshio Iwamatsu...... Hmm, Commander Okamura? Hello, Your Excellency, Commander. With all due respect, it's ten o'clock at night, why haven't you rested yet? ”

Okamura Ninji's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Isn't Iwamatsu-kun also sticking to his post?" What causes your insomnia? I've heard that Iwamatsu-kun has a new batch of Kabuki from Tokyo, so I guess your insomnia has something to do with it, right? ”

Commander Okamura said with a smile, the big war is coming, and the contemptible people really don't have such a good Yaxing to watch those Kabuki performances. On the contrary, the contemptible people are already fifty-six this year, and it can be said that they no longer possess such needs and preferences physiologically, and all that remains is an appreciation of national characteristics. I thought that if tomorrow's battle could go smoothly and go down in history with the complete victory of our First Army, I would be glad to give these Kabuki from afar to the young Zhuang officers under my command. It turns out that they need these kabuki ...... more than I do"

"Straight down to business, Iwamatsu-kun, I want to know how the deployment and details of tomorrow's operation are arranged? According to Chief of Staff Tanabe, Your Excellency is ready to personally go out to supervise the battle, and I would like to confirm that there is such a thing. ”

"In the end, he is the chief of staff of the North China Front, and the collection of relevant intelligence is simply at hand. Yes, Commander Okamura, I am indeed ready to go to the front line to supervise the battle, and I think tomorrow's battle will be unprecedentedly fierce, which will directly affect the future direction of us and the Eighth Route Army. Therefore, I had to be there and witness the battle that would determine the future of both armies, and it would be commemorable for both sides. Yoshio Iwamatsu replied meaningfully.

"Well, that's right, this sweep is very important, if we can encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route in Shanxi in one go, it will at least create two favorable conditions for us, one is that the battlefield behind the enemy of the Eighth Route will no longer exist, and second, after the elimination of the Eighth Road, our army can let go of its hands and feet to fight with the government army in the frontal battlefield, which is killing two birds with one stone. On the contrary, if this battle is lost, or if the main force of the Eighth Route escapes by chance, the price that our North China Army will have to pay in the future will also be very heavy......" Okamura Ningji's voice came faintly, and there was something in the same words.

"Forgive me for my ignorance, and I would like to ask Commander Okamura to make it clear what the price of Your Excellency the Commander is referring to?" Iwamatsu Yoshio asked with a slight frown.

"Iwamatsu-kun, you should understand that the enemy of the imperial army at this moment is not only the side of the branch, since the 16th year of the Showa era, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands have been plunged into a sea of fire one after another, and the iron hooves of the imperial army have already set foot throughout Asia. Not only the Imperial Army, but also our two Allied armies were not to be left alone, first Germany's Afrika Korps was the first to intervene in the North African theater and captured Sweden in two months. After that, the German army took advantage of the victory in Ukraine and ate all the more than 600,000 horses of the Soviet Southwestern Front. The 'Typhoon' operation launched by the German army at the end of September last year can be described as a large-scale operation, and the spearhead is directly aimed at Moscow. Of course, the Imperial Army naturally did not fall behind, and our army also frequently won in the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle of Malaya. I have to say that compared with Mussolini's conservative strategy, the top of the empire is still very courageous, at least our army has always paid attention to taking the initiative. But I've been thinking about it lately, and although the Imperial Army has been winning on various battlefields one after another, it has so far suffered few defeats. But as the war wore on, the Imperial Army's military resources and domestic resources were gradually depleted. I wonder if our imperial army will be able to get out of the quagmire of war as quickly as possible once the scales of war begin to tilt in the direction of the Allies. I'm afraid not. In fact, the five strategic groups of the imperial army have long been trapped in this unfathomable swamp, and it is difficult to extricate themselves for a while. What we need to do now is to take precautions and reduce some of the pressure and burden on ourselves in the limited time and space. According to my understanding of the Eighth Road, they are still in a state of development, and they do not have the strength to formally compete with our North China Army. Therefore, the Eighth Route will become the first target that our imperial army needs to solve...... Yan Songjun, this is a large-scale sweeping campaign that I have personally managed and implemented since I took office as the commander of the North China Front, and I hope that the results will not disappoint us, and what I want to see is to turn the entire Taihang Mountain into a scorched earth. If possible, I'd like to see the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army with my own eyes, preferably by cutting off his head with my saber......"

Iwamatsu Yoshio rubbed his tired temples and said solemnly: "Please rest assured, Commander Okamura, the contemptible people will never disappoint you and the North China Army colleagues, and will definitely annihilate all the main forces of the Eighth Road, please wait for good news!" ”

"Okay, with you, Iwamatsu-kun, as a guarantee, I believe that tomorrow's battle will definitely have a good ending. It's not early, Iwamatsu-kun, let's rest early. As the supreme commander of the First Army stationed in Jin, and shouldering the heavy responsibility of tomorrow's operational command, I can't do without a good spirit, I am waiting for your good news in Beiping, I wish you a victory, goodbye! Okamura hung up the phone after speaking.

……

At about three o'clock in the morning, the vanguard of the independent regiment had already taken the lead in entering the ring fortifications, and the follow-up troops were also on their way. Before dawn, Yang Longfei deliberately went to the front-line position to inspect again, and Shen Jianmin, the commander of the regiment's special service company who served as the assault mission, reported the situation to him: "Regiment commander, according to the report from the front, the enemy in front of the assault team is the 3rd Brigade of the 15th Brigade of the Imperial Allied Army, and the two flanks are the 3rd and 5th Infantry Brigades under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Yamada Division, of which this 5th Brigade is cavalry in nature and does not carry heavy weapons. ”

Yang Longfei narrowed his eyes and asked, "Independently mixed into the 15th Brigade?" This name is very familiar, has our independent regiment dealt with this army before? ”

"Captain, you really have a good memory, that's right, this is our old acquaintance. In the battle of Yujialing last year, a brigade under the 15th Brigade collided with our independent regiment, and we thought that we could have a big meal with an open stomach, but the battle lasted less than three hours, and the enemy could not hold on. The commander of the puppet army had to reimburse the strength of a squadron before escaping from the palm of our independent regiment. Since then, the enemy has been hiding in the stronghold and not daring to move his nest. Unexpectedly, less than a year later, these two books were still fine, relying on his Japanese master to support him, burning and killing all the way from Zhangji stronghold to here, and also put down words in the pile of ordinary people, saying that they were beating the 385 Brigade Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. Captain, do we have to teach these dogs a lesson? Otherwise, I'm afraid they'll forget their last name......"

Yang Longfei punched the other party's chest, and said with a smile: "It seems that the two of us want to go together, this is called 'blind cat bumps into a dead mouse', since we have collided, then we naturally can't let go of this opportunity." Damn, just a few ruffians, relying on the three and a half guns in their hands, they still want to beat Lao Tzu's independent regiment? Let's talk nonsense. Lao Tzu wants to see if these puppies have grown in the past year. That's it.,Let's beat this guy first! Before the battle starts, I will arrange for the artillery to heat up the enemy's position on the opposite side first, and when the two rounds of rapid fire are over, your spy company will rush up to me like a bullet out of the chamber! Well, the dense network of twenty light machine guns can smash even the fucking steel plate to smash it! My requirements are not high, concentrate on the enemy and beat it one point at a time, and tear it open first! ”

"Yes, please rest assured, our spy company guarantees to complete the task, if you can't tear the hole on time, you cut off my Shen Jianmin's head!" Shen Jianmin "snapped" and saluted, and roared like a rainbow.

Yang Longfei came to the artillery position on the second line again, and the soldiers of the artillery company directly under the regiment, under the leadership of the company commander Song Yongsheng, were marking and firing Zhu Yuan for the artillery. Seeing Yang Longfei inspecting here, the soldiers stood up and saluted.

After Song Yongsheng patted the dust on his knees, he stood up and saluted: "Commander, you are here......"

Yang Longfei nodded and smiled: "It's not bad, seeing you, the company commander, come out in person, I have the bottom in my heart." Are the fighters in good shape? Lao Tzu has handed over this task to your kid, if you don't fight well with this first shot, let alone Lao Tzu and me, even the soldiers in the regiment may not be able to hold their heads up in front of those friendly and neighboring troops. What do you think? Let's get to the bottom of it, how many enemies can you kill after two rounds of artillery fire? ”

"Commander, you are ...... I can't give you a ticket. I don't know what the enemy on the other side is, and you didn't give me a reference or anything, am I right? Let's put it this way, if the enemies on the opposite side are all devil elites, I really don't have much confidence in these two rounds of rapid shooting. Do you see this little steel cannon? Ninety mm caliber, effective range of three kilometers, the same model of * is a big crater as soon as it is exploded, if you want to replace it with *, it will be a sea of fire, this is not small, right? But the enemy has a trick, this is what the Japanese prisoners told me, he said that the same artillery cannon in the same position and shooting elements of the same thing, two shells fired in succession can never fall into the same crater, unless you have the ability to organize a carpet bombing, you can only rely on the firepower of an artillery battery, don't even think about it. I heard that the little devils also specially wrote this set into their "Infantry Drill Code", which is specially for their soldiers to learn and apply to actual combat......"

Yang Longfei frowned and asked in disbelief, "There is still such a statement?" Don't be his little devil fooling you, right? ”

"Yes, at first I thought the same thing as you, thinking that it was the little devil who deceived me. No, I went to the headquarters artillery regiment to study at the beginning of the year and exchanged this idea with my comrades, but the head of the headquarters artillery regiment Zhang didn't believe it, and he said that I was. I said since the dispute can't be resolved, let's try it and see if that's the case? At that time, we went straight to the back mountain and tried to shoot three shots, and guess what? It is indeed true that the distance between each crater is not the same, the smallest difference is eight meters, and the largest difference is 23 meters. When I come back, I'll go to those little devils and ask questions, and they say, what is this? Of Japan's more than 1 million troops, at least 800,000 understand this truth, and there is no need to talk about field troops. Therefore, in the past battles with our Eighth Route Army, as long as we use artillery support, the other side will react immediately, and before the shells land, they will continue to jump into new craters, which will effectively reduce the huge casualties caused by artillery coverage. On the contrary, our troops can be said to know nothing about this aspect, and even the comrades of the artillery regiment of the headquarters were still confused after hearing this. You look at the past examples of our Eighth Route Army, it's okay for the little devils not to use artillery, but once we use artillery, we will fold. I once read a material made by the division headquarters on the causes of casualties in our army in past battles, which clearly stated that in the same battle, the number of our soldiers planted in the hands of the enemy's artillery was nearly three times that of those who fell under the guns of devils, and how many people died because they did not understand this truth. Commander, we have to be vigilant, we can't always trip over a stone, right? That's a bit of a stretch. ”

Yang Longfei nodded with a heavy expression and said: "I understand what you mean, but it's too late to convey it now, the soldiers have already entered the defensive position according to the original plan, even if they want to be notified, they have to wait until the enemy's first blockade is torn apart...... It seems that your kid, the commander of the artillery company, is really not in vain, and he is quite thoughtful, and he can teach me a lesson. Yes, yes, keep it up, learn with an open mind. Hmm, it seems that these little devils really have two hits, and they can also play a role at critical moments, Lao Tzu, I really underestimate them. ”

"To be honest, those Japanese prisoners of war were not as bad as we thought, and they were not bad. One of them was an interpreter, and I talked to him a few times when I was fine, and I heard that they were all students in some school, and they were forced to enlist in the army at a young age. According to what you said, these guys are still a group of eighteen, nineteen, twenty and twenty raw melons and eggs, and they came to serve as soldiers before they grew up, which is pitiful. ”

Yang Longfei squinted at Song Yongsheng, and his words were full of disdain: "What did you kid say?" Why do I hear you speak for the devil a little bit? Can little devils still have good people? They're the worst. You kid will have a door on your mouth in the future, don't say anything fucking outside. That's the end of my story, if someone else hears it, beware of the political department talking to you kid. ”

While the combat units were inspecting their equipment and sharpening their knives and guns, the supply office, communications platoon, cooking squad, and groom squad of the independent regiment were also gearing up. After Yang Longfei walked around, he found that these "non-combatants" who were ranked last in the order of sorties were not idle, and they actually squatted in the fortifications to prepare the cold weapons to be used in white-knuckle warfare. The men of the cooking class sharpened kitchen knives and axes in place; Several of the grooms in the groom were disassembling a guillotine, and some were urinating on the whip with relish; The soldiers of the communications platoon borrowed a few firearms, poles, and horses from the supply office, and made random comparisons.

Yang Longfei walked in front of Ge Laoliu, the leader of the groom class, and saw that the other party was brandishing a guillotine knife that had just been disassembled, which was very swaggering. When the other party saw Yang Longfei walking here, he greeted him attentively: "Commander, why do you have to come to us idle?" ”

"Come over and take a look when you're idle, and get each unit to walk up before every battle, this is Lao Tzu's habit, lest you little rabbit cubs say that Lao Tzu is treated differently and is eccentric. Lao Tzu himself has to be fair and just, and he can't favor one over the other, and give people a handle......" Yang Longfei said, "I said, what are you doing with this guillotine?" I remember this thing used to cut grass branches, what do you mean by removing it now? ”

Ge Laoliu said solemnly: "Commander, this is a saying that has been passed down from generation to generation in our hometown, it is not enough to cut off people's heads with ordinary big blades, it is easy to provoke ghosts." If you want to solve the problem once and for all, you have to use this blood-fed dog's head to cut off the little devil's head. This little devil is so bad, after thinking about it, they are worthy of this dog's head, and this knife is also sharper, just in time to send the little devil on the dog's day......"

"I said that you kid stuffed donkey hair in your ears, or did you take Lao Tzu's words as a fart? Lao Tzu had already made it clear when he held a mobilization meeting at the regiment headquarters that the nature of this battle was different from the past, and the main thing was to break through and block, and there was no time to engage the enemy in close combat and meet with bayonets. I just went to each position for a walk, and other companies have already implemented Lao Tzu's orders one after another, and you take Lao Tzu's words as the wind in your ears. The whole regiment is ready for an assault, you fucking are still thinking about fighting bayonets with devils! I said, didn't I beat you up for a few days, you kid still have itchy skin? Yang Longfei kicked Ge Lao Liu's buttocks.

Ge Lao Liu rubbed his buttocks and gritted his teeth and said: "Commander, this is your fault, although I didn't carry out your orders, but you can't come up and do it, isn't this a blow to our enthusiasm?" Besides, you put our horseman squad in the order of sorties of the whole regiment, and there was a suspicion of eccentricity. I heard that you gave the whole regiment of light machine guns to the guys in the spy company? Don't blame me for being straightforward, seriously, they've only fought a few battles? That is, it has only been developed in the past two years, and in terms of qualifications, it is not as good as our groom class, why are the benefits theirs? If you're willing to give us half of the weapons they've been allotted, will it be their turn to be the special agent company for this main mission? ”

"Alright, alright, don't talk nonsense here. Kicking your nose in the face, the more you talk, the more energetic? I think you kid is bullying the tax bureau in our base area to transfer, otherwise Director Lu of the General Administration will have to ask you kid for this bragging tax. I can warn you that this battle is directly commanded by the headquarters of our Eighth Route Army, and even Lao Tzu does not dare to discount it with the above, and you don't want to talk to me about the rivers and lakes. I said ugly things in the front, if the whole battle was affected because of a few people's problems, and the boss took me Yang Longfei to knife, I naturally couldn't let you go, did you hear? Lao Tzu, this is not a joke! ”

"Yes, Commander, don't worry!" Ge Lao Liu patted his chest and said categorically, "All of us in the Mafu squad resolutely carry out the orders of the regimental headquarters and will never delay the main attacking troops!" ”

Yang Longfei softened his breath, pointed to the two Mongolian horses not far away, and said, "There is one more thing I want to explain to you...... Tell the warriors to keep an eye on the two horses as well as their own safety. Especially when breaking through, you must pay more attention, don't hurt Lao Tzu's horses, and don't leave them alone. These are Lao Tzu's treasures, I usually rely on them to support the scene, and I don't exchange the gold......"

"Yes, mission guaranteed!"

……

The dawn sky floated a fish-belly white, and there were a few vaguely few remnant stars in the pale cyan sky, and the surface of the earth seemed to be shrouded in a layer of silver-gray light veil. After a while, a dazzling golden dawn shone through the clouds and shone on the earth, and when everything was revived, an eagle hovering back and forth flashed over the desolate cliff face, and its sharp and fierce eyes were witnessing a fierce battle that was about to be recorded in history......

The 3rd Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade under the jurisdiction of the 1st Army stationed in Shanxi Province had already set up fortifications and a forward command post in Jinzhong, Shanxi, with Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu as the commander-in-chief, Major General Hirakawa Hashimoto as chief of staff, and Kimura Jibu Daisa, commander of the Kimura Special Service Department, also accompanying him.

The three of them drove side by side, and when they were bored, they inevitably had to say a few official words full of various subtexts.

First of all, Chief of Staff Hashimoto gave a brief overview of the current division of the main forces: "Yan Songjun, at present, our army has surrounded all the main forces of the Eighth Route Army in the southeast of Shanxi Province in the area of Liao County, and it is reported that the 129th Division, the 385th Brigade, the newly formed 1st Brigade, and the Taiyue and Taihang Military Regions under the jurisdiction of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters are all within the encirclement of our army. According to the pre-war plan of our First Army, the first blockade line set up on the periphery of Liao County was defended by the main forces under the jurisdiction of the 36th Division and the 69th Division of our army, and Lieutenant General Jingguan and Lieutenant General Inoue were personally in charge; The second blockade line was defended by the 4th, 8th, and 14th Brigades of the Independent Mixed Brigade, and was personally commanded by Major Generals Ueno, Nakamura, and Harada; The 3rd and 4th blockade lines were garrisoned by the 1st, 3rd, and 9th Brigades of the Independent Mixed Army and the First Detachment of the Imperial Allied Army, and the commanders were Major Generals Matsuzaki, Miyazaki, and Kobayashi, and Major General Cai Xiongfei, commander of the First Detachment of the Imperial Allied Army. In strict accordance with the strategic guidelines formulated by Commander Okamura and relying on our army's superiority in mobility capability, all combat units adopted a multi-channel and intensive 'dragnet-style' tactic against the eight roads scattered in the Liao County area. Judging from the current situation, this innovative tactic of our North China Army has achieved initial results. ”

Before Iwamatsu Yoshio could speak, Kimura Jiwu replied with irony: "Chief of Staff Hashimoto's tactical means is indeed clever, and aside from other factors, the number of troops used in this battle alone is several times that of the Shina army, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a crowd tactic." It is not difficult to see from the pre-war deployment arranged by the top brass of our North China Army that while the Chinese army has no logistical supplies, mobility capabilities, and close air support, the attack units of our First Army are equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, and all modern combat vehicles, such as motorized clusters. In addition, the First Army of our country used almost all technical arms except the navy in this sweep, while the Chinese Army had only the most basic infantry and a small number of cavalry. In the face of such powerful firepower of our army, I am afraid that the rats in the entire Liao County will be enough to die three times. From this point of view, the so-called 'dragnet' and 'grate-combing' tactics seem to be a bit pale and weak, and they are strong from the outside......"

Chief of Staff Hashimoto was a little uncomfortable when he heard this, so he sneered at each other: "Kimura-kun, with all due respect, the contemptible people do not agree with Your Excellency's remarks. Implementing a policy of secession and blockade against the Chinese army, creating a no-man's land against it at an appropriate time, and launching a 'ironclad encirclement' and 'attack from all sides' sweeping campaign were the strategic principles personally formulated by General Okamura Ninji, the supreme commander of the North China Front. If Kimura-kun doubts this policy, he can personally go to Beiping and report to Commander Okamura, and as a soldier, I have no other way but to obey. If Kimura-kun really wants to contribute his own strength to the North China Army, it is better to lead Your Excellency's secret service department into the hinterland of the Chinese Army, and it is best to arrest the famous deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army. ”

"I'm sorry Hashimoto-kun, but my commando team, which has just over 100 people, really can't show any tricks and tricks in such a vast combat area, and it is really dwarfed by the elite under Hashimoto-kun's command. The greatest usefulness of my Secret Service Department is night raids and assassinations, not for duels. If I were to engage my opponent face to face, I am afraid that my troops would be completely exhausted in less than half a day without fire support from both sides. According to my character, when the tide of battle is completely unfavorable to me, I will lead my subordinates to take extraordinary measures, namely the 'Jade Crushing Offensive', which is commonly referred to as the 'Suicide Attack'. On the contrary, Hashimoto-kun has the strength of two full-fledged divisions, and even if it is a one-to-one casualty cost with the Shina army, your Excellency will not lose money. Rather than this, it would be better to leave this opportunity to Hashimoto-kun's soldiers, who had always regarded the emperor's allegiance as a lifelong honor. Kimura replied without changing his face.

At this moment, the commander Iwamatsu Yoshio, who was left in the middle, took advantage of the situation to start a round, and he said to Chief of Staff Hashimoto in a slightly soft way: "Forget it, Hashimoto-kun, Kimura Daisa is one of the few young Zhuang officers in our army who can drink dark beer by the Danube, and he is a warrior who has been in direct contact with death in the Field Mountains. From speech and demeanor to strategic ideas and even daily life, they have long since become Westernized. Professionally, it is understandable that the monarch of Hashimoto attacked mountain operations and urban fortifications, while Kimura-kun, as a pioneer of our army's special operations, is good at the so-called 'night attack' and 'assassination' tactics. Whether you look at it from a macro or micro perspective, the strategies and tactics you tend to do not conflict. I think that all of you are fighting under the same military flag, that we all believe in 'Martial Fortune and Eight Wings', and most importantly, that we all have the courage and spirit to sacrifice our lives for the Empire and His Majesty the Emperor at any time. Therefore, I hope that in the future, you will continue to focus on the overall situation, and do not waste a lot of attention because of small things, which will be contrary to Commander Okamura's great trust in my colleagues in the First Army......"

Before the words fell, suddenly a cannon rumble came. After a while, a Japanese forward observation post drove to report on horseback: "Report to Your Excellency Commander, the main force of the Zhina Army besieged in Tongyu Town, Liao County, is shelling the perimeter of our army!" ”

Yoshio Iwamatsu asked directly: "Which unit is the target of the shelling?" ”

"Report, it is the 15th Brigade of the 3rd Brigade under the jurisdiction of the 1st Detachment of the Imperial Cooperative Army, and its position is located in the southeast of Liao County, it seems that the Zhina Army has the motive and intention to break through to Matian Town!"

"Tubalu is very good at choosing the target of attack and the direction of the breakthrough, it is not difficult to hear from the sound of gunfire, the other side seems to have used a regiment of troops to break through, it seems that there is indeed a big fish hidden in the hinterland of Liao County...... Pass on my order that the 3rd Brigade of the Imperial Allied Army, which was in charge of the first line of defense, would open a gap, and as soon as the main force of the Eighth Route broke through the first line of encirclement, it would be blocked immediately, and the 4th and 8th Brigades would be independently mixed to sing the main role. Tell the commander of the Ueno and Nakamura brigades that they must bite all the main forces of the Shina army to death in the area of Asada Town as quickly as possible, and then implement a siege on the left and right, and must not let go of a single soldier, otherwise the two of them will have to cut themselves out to thank the emperor, this can be regarded as a great gift from me to the top of the Dohachi Road......" Iwamatsu Yoshio said with a final word.