Chapter 702: Intelligence from Nanjing

Tang Qiuli commanded an army of 180,000 to surround Taiyuan, in order to reduce the casualties of the siege troops, he did not use his brains, adopted the tactics of peeling off the skin layer by layer, and gradually conquered the important defense support points on the periphery of Taiyuan, cleared the obstacles, and other strongholds were overcome, leaving only Jinzhong, which was the last target of the attack, and also the last support point on the periphery of Taiyuan that the Japanese army desperately defended.

Six Japanese fighters and one transport plane, after landing in Taiyuan, hurriedly took off, and the commander of the independent division air force, Le Yiqin, on the orders of division commander Tang Qiuli, led the group to take off and intercept all the Japanese planes in the airspace around Liaoyang in Shanxi.

Okamura Ningji was *dropped, Tang Qiuli didn't dare to believe it, he once again ordered the mountain tiger to confirm the identities of the dead in the wreckage of the plane, this time it was really confirmed, and he also brought back a gold Japanese army general's badge, Tang Qiuli believed that this was true, among the surrounded Japanese troops, only Okamura Ningji had such a high rank.

He ordered Shen Jun's investigation office to immediately start propaganda on the Japanese troops in Taiyuan City, using the news that Okamura Ningji had been killed to disintegrate the fighting spirit and morale of the Japanese soldiers in the city.

The news of Okamura Ninji's killing in the Chaoyang area was quickly disseminated through Shen Jun's deliberate propaganda, leaflets scattered through Guò, and the "Voice of Dingbian" radio station broadcast to the whole country, which not only shocked the Chinese people, but also made the Japanese army in Taiyuan panic all day long, and the Japanese native people were shaken.

Okamura Ningji was surrounded in Taiyuan, the most anxious was Miuchi Koichi, seeing that the situation in North China was erosive, after a few battles, the loss of troops and generals, Okamura Ninji was also powerless, as the largest backstage of the Kwantung Army system, War Minister Michiichi was anxious, and finally from the hands of Prince Zaihito, the chief of the General Staff, seized the control of North China, and took advantage of a series of military mistakes and fiascos of Kazuki Kiyoji to squeeze out this obstructive guy, so that the power of the Kwantung Army expanded to North China.

This hand, to achieve the goal of Miuchi Koichi, but the next development, but everything did not go well, Okamura Ningji, who had high hopes, in addition to occupying Taiyuan and Shanxi, so that Minai Koichi faction was excited for a period of time, the situation in North China took a sharp turn, lost Zhangjiakou, lost Tianjin, Beiping was surrounded, the east bank of the Yellow River was defeated, the southward troops of the Kwantung Army were struggling, and then more than 80,000 soldiers and Okamura Ningji were surrounded in the isolated city of Taiyuan.

Judging from the situation in the whole of North China, the southward troops of the Kwantung Army could not save Okamura Ningji no matter what, Tang Qiuli was ruthless to eat the main force of the North China Dispatch Army, and Okamura Ningji could not break through from Taiyuan and withdraw to Pingjin, even if the Kwantung Army once again formed a powerful southward corps to rescue Okamura Ningji and the danger, but time did not allow, hundreds of thousands of troops went south, it took time, and what Okamura Ningji lacked was time.

Weighing left and right, Okamura Ningji is in Taiyuan, whether he is killed in battle or captured, it is not in the interests of his own faction, although this guy who blows the cowhide loudly makes Miuchi angry, but he has to save it, with Okamura Ningci is here, North China is still in the hands of the Kwantung Army, and Zairen will not be able to intervene and arrange his own cronies, Michiichi knows very well that Taiyuan is not guaranteed, and the only thing that can be counted on is more than 400,000 troops in Cangzhou.

In order to firmly control the dominance of North China, he secretly instructed War Minister Shigemitsu Aoi to set up no less than 20 first-class army divisions, 10 artillery wings, 5 cavalry wings, and 3 chariot brigades on the mainland, as a supplement to the forces of the North China Dispatch Army, and enter North China as quickly as possible.

He personally sent a telegram to the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro, and sent a plane to Taiyuan to take Okamura Ningji out and go to Tianjin to command the Japanese troops in Cangzhou, leaving behind 80,000 troops, a precarious isolated city, and the commander ran away alone.

Michichi Yonechi found a high-sounding reason, the envoy of the base camp arrived in Tianjin, and asked the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, Okamura Ninji, to personally report the situation in person and jointly seek a fundamental solution to the North China problem, but he was afraid that Okamura Ninji would be stubborn and could not understand his true intentions, so in the name of the base camp, he gave Okamura Ninji an order to go to Tianjin to report on the battle situation, and specially asked the Kwantung Army Headquarters to send a senior staff officer to the same plane.

If nothing else, that is, when Okamura Ningji wanted to save face and refused to leave Taiyuan, he adopted the method of persuasion and coercion, and made sure to get this guy on the plane, things went surprisingly smoothly, the plane landed in Taiyuan, and after reading the orders of the base camp, this senior staff officer thought that Okamura Ningji would show the spirit of a Japanese samurai and the spirit of a Japanese general.

He had prepared a stomach full of words to persuade his hero, the pride of the Kwantung Army, His Excellency Okamura Ninji, to live and die with his soldiers, to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, to fight to the end for the Yamato nation, to shed the last drop of blood for the Great East Asian Holy War, to live and die with Taiyuan, and never to leave the front line.

Unexpectedly, after reading the order personally issued by the Minister of War Michichi Miuchi, Okamura Ninji did not hesitate at all, and only said: "Soldiers regard obedience to orders as their duty," and then, busy packing up his things and handing over the command to the commander of Taiyuan City Defense, he hurriedly got into the plane, so that this senior staff officer who was ready to bloom with a lotus flower, did not release his words, and felt a breath of qi stirring back and forth in his stomach, tangled into a ball of contempt, and greatly disrespectful, he himself did not expect it, Because of Minamijiro's order, he became a companion on Okamura Ninji Huangquan Road.

Okamura Ningji's life whined, the impact on the morale of the Japanese defenders in Taiyuan can be described as huge, especially Shen Jun, who used this incident to make a big fuss, Okamura Ningji abandoned the troops, and the news of his own escape, spread like a plague among the Japanese soldiers and commanders at all levels, the Japanese soldiers' will to resist was greatly shaken, what kind of death does not retreat, and there is a crazy situation, very rarely, two days later, Jinzhong exceeded Tang Qiuli's expectations, very small soldier casualties were overcome, and the last nail on the periphery of Taiyuan was pulled out, The Japanese garrison of more than 13,000 men was annihilated.

Taiyuan, like a stripped naked** beauty, appeared in front of Tang Qiuli, however, this is a beauty covered with thorns, those reinforced concrete fortifications all over the place, the Ming Diao, and the hidden fort are enough to gnaw for a while, and the Japanese soldiers who escaped on the periphery of Taiyuan have fled into the city, greatly increasing the strength of the Japanese army's guards, although Shen Jun's strategy of attacking the heart is very effective, those stubborn and crazy Japanese soldiers are also very many, Tang Qiuli does not want to have too many casualties when attacking Taiyuan.

Tang Qiuli convened a meeting of commanders above the regimental level of the attack force to readjust the deployment, Chief of Staff Yang Ketian was giving tasks to the troops, Chen Feng, director of the communications department, came in and handed Tang Qiuli a telegram, which was sent by Tang Qiusheng, while the Taiyuan Campaign was underway, the various units of the southbound troops of the Kwantung Army had arrived at the designated position, and would launch an attack on the Japanese army tomorrow evening, Tang Qiuli was relieved, before the next wave of the Kwantung Army's southbound troops arrived in North China, this part of the Japanese army could be solved, for the overall situation in North China, It is of great significance.

As soon as Chen Feng left, Yu Deshui, the director of the Intelligence Division, came in in a hurry, Tang Qiuli smiled, whenever the director was in a hurry, there was always important information, and most of it was not good news, he took the telegram, only read the first few lines, and he couldn't laugh anymore, it was indeed not good news, and it was definitely extremely unfavorable news for him and the independent division.

This is a telegram translated by Yu Deshui himself, the standard represents the highest top secret level, in the intelligence department of the independent division, only Yu Deshui has this authority, and others have no right to intervene at all, and the content of the telegram makes Tang Qiu even more shocked. "Director Yu personally transferred to the division commander, and the Japanese base camp special envoy Tanaka Hiroichi arrived in Nanjing a few days ago and had a secret meeting with Duan Jingquan, a senior official of the Nanjing Military Commission, on a yacht at Mochou Lake, and the content of the talks has not yet been known."

"According to investigation, Duan was in the Military Commission, responsible for foreign liaison affairs, with the rank of lieutenant general, a senior senior officer in the Military Commission, who had studied in Japan in his early years, and had a close relationship with Wang Jingwei, the current chairman of the Nationalist Government, and Tanaka Hongichi, a senior official in charge of Chinese affairs at the General Staff Headquarters of the Japanese base camp, with the rank of major general, specializing in plotting rebellion and winning over party, government, and military members and senior generals of the Nationalist Government.

"In addition, the Nanjing side has secretly formed a group against the division commander, the members are all important personnel in the state government or the military committee, often secretly gathering, our station has agents into its interior, but it has not yet entered the core layer, the level of intelligence is low, the core content is unknown, Dai Li's military command bureau, also the Japanese envoy Tanaka Hongichi is monitoring, at present, Chairman Chiang's attitude is ambiguous, other information, will be reported later."

After reading this telegram, Tang Qiuli no longer had the heart to preside over the operational meeting of the general attack on Taiyuan, his face was several times, his mind was completely attracted by this top-secret information, and when he saw that the division commander's face suddenly changed, the senior officers attending the meeting also stopped arguing and turned their eyes to him.

(To be continued)