Chapter 660: Take the Offensive

Okamura Ningji besieged the Huangyadong base for more than five days before and after, except at the beginning, the light two lines of defense, the good luck of the Japanese army came to an abrupt end, the third line of defense, touched the Japanese army's head and bleed, heavy casualties, Okamura Ningji regarded as the largest weapon of destruction of the caliber 200 mm cannon, also lost its power, in addition to cutting down a few meters on the top of the mountain, the lethality of the defenders of China is almost zero, continue to fight like this, there is no two or three years, don't want to step into the core area of Huangyadong half a step.

Okamura Ninji didn't understand, under such a huge artillery bombardment, the survivability of the Shina soldiers was almost demonic, every time the shelling, although far away from the artillery position, hiding in the cave, Okamura Ninji was still shocked by the huge explosion and distraught, and the Shina soldiers who suffered tens of thousands of shells every day could still fight back fiercely, and the intensity of the fire did not decrease at all.

Okamura Ningji was extremely embarrassed, Huangya Cave fought for more than five days, there was no sign of end, the ambush soldiers in the surrounding area, and did not find any independent division troops who came to reinforce, but they were constantly harassed by the small force of Zhina, and the plan to encircle the point to send reinforcements was about to come to naught, five days, what should have arrived, could it be that Tang Qiuli saw through his plan, or was he full of confidence in the defense force of Huangya Cave?

These two questions are constantly entangled in Okamura Ningji's mind, he is now grinding his eyes, he has to follow if he doesn't turn, he uses more than 300,000 troops, consumes a lot of effort and materials, and it is not easy to find Tang Qiuli's supply base, fill in the lives of more than 10,000 soldiers, just give up, Okamura Ningji can't accept it.

More than 50,000 troops can be surrounded in Heshun, and the exhausted troops on the periphery of Shijiazhuang, what should they do, he has no troops at hand that can be mobilized nearby, and he can only mobilize the sweeping troops in the Taihang Mountains by borrowing the siege of Heshun, just late last night, he received a telegram for help from the Heshun troops, the whole army has been out of food for three days, and has organized five breakouts, because the troops of China are tightly defended, all of them have failed, and if Your Excellency the commander does not rescue quickly, the day when all the troops will be broken is not far away

Okamura Ningji was full of anger at the commander of the Heshun troops, this timid guy, more than 50,000 warriors of the imperial army, desperately breaking through, Tang Qiuli did not have more than 100,000 people, don't want to block this torrent, according to intelligence, the independent division troops surrounding Heshun are only about 80,000 people, how can they say all the frustrating words of the jade, it is really a shame for the general of the Great Japanese Empire.

In fact, when Feng Jiwu's corps had just encircled Heshun, if Okamura Ninji had not ordered the Japanese army to hold on and wait for reinforcements, with the combat strength of more than 50,000 Japanese soldiers, coupled with the courage and fighting spirit to rush out of danger, Feng Jiwu's troops would not have been able to retain the Japanese army, at most it would have been a pursuit battle, and it would have been a very good record to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army.

It's a pity that Okamura Ningji miscalculated, he originally wanted to solve the Huangya Cave within three days, and then, more than 200,000 troops waved north, one can solve the stalemate on the Shijiazhuang battlefield, the other can take advantage of the situation to seize Niangzi Pass, the east to attack the flank of Tang Qiusheng's Sulu mobile corps, the third is to attack Taiyuan in the west, take the military, political, economic, and cultural center of Shanxi Province, and drive Yan Xishan out of Shanxi, then the entire territory of Shanxi can be determined, and the plan formulated by the empire before the war will be realized.

Heaven does not fulfill people's wishes, Huangya Cave has become a hard bone that cannot be gnawed, most of his own troops are involved here, he had to sweep the troops of the Taihang Mountains, draw two divisions of troops, form a rescue and Shun troops, with Licheng as a gathering place, the starry night rescue and Shun. At the same time, he ordered the encircled troops to actively organize a breakthrough and move closer to the direction of the rescue forces.

This order sent to Heshun, a little late, more than 50,000 Japanese troops, crowded in the empty city of Heshun, the next day after the food was cut off, began to slaughter military horses, how many horses were available for hungry soldiers like wolves to eat, just one meal, even the horse skins and horse bones could not be seen, were filled into the stomach by hungry soldiers, and the various courtyards in Heshun City were open spaces, and Japanese soldiers with shovels and pickaxes could be seen at any time with shovels and pickaxes, and the Japanese soldiers who were digging the ground fiercely.

Look at the seriousness of the little devils, I don't know, I still think that the soldiers of the imperial army are full of love and help the Chinese people tidy up the vegetable garden, don't you know, these hungry and faint Japanese soldiers, hoping to find the food buried in the ground by the Chinese people, the result is, of course, empty-handed, as much hope as big, as disappointed as much, and also consumed a lot of precious body.

For more than three days, the Japanese soldiers who only drank a stomach of well water were so hungry that they were shaking, not to mention breaking through, and even holding a rifle was a problem, fortunately, Feng Jiwu did not plan to attack the city immediately, and the Japanese soldiers could still hold on to the eyes of Venus, staring at the trenches outside the city, smelling the fragrance of food wafting and swallowing saliva, as for the Yellow Cliff Cave, Okamura Ningji gritted his teeth and was ruthless to fight down, no matter what the price was, this is not only a matter of face, but also involves his strategic goals.

Since he learned that Okamura Ningci moved the giant cannon, Tang Qiuli considered how many days the Huangya Cave could last, he knew the power of this giant cannon, at the beginning of the design of the Huangyadong fortifications, it was aimed at the howitzer of the largest caliber of the Japanese field artillery, but now Okamura Ningci, an old devil, moved such a big guy.

The result of the battle reassured him, now, it is not a question of how to keep it, but to use this situation to maximize the exhaustion and consumption of Okamura Ningji's main force, he sent a telegram to Changfeng, emphasizing one point, the Huangyadong garrison, with holding as the only way to fight, the harder the attack on the Japanese army in front of them, the more able to contain Okamura Ningji's mobile troops, if this kind of fighting, will definitely make the Japanese army a tired division, even if it returns to the Pingjin area, it will also be beneficial to our Sun Zhenbang Corps and the Eighth Route Army troops in the Taihang Mountains, Seek opportunities to destroy a large number of enemies.

After sending the telegram to Chang Feng, Tang Qiuli received another telegram from the base of Huangyadong, he took it strangely, just read a few lines, and couldn't help laughing, Mei Ting and Mei Xue beside him, as well as those staff officers and correspondents, etc., didn't know why, what made the division commander so happy, and he didn't see the joy.

Mei Ting leaned over, glanced at it, and couldn't help laughing, this is the complaint telegram of Zhang Quan, the Minister of Logistics, between the lines of distress and pain, he said that Chang Feng, Ma Chaoyang, these boys, are authentic losers, but they can use ammunition vigorously, I have never seen a combat team of twenty-five people, less than an hour of fighting, nearly 10,000 bullets, more than 1,000 grenades, like this, he, the Minister of Logistics, can not do it.

Seeing the mountains of ammunition, a few days of hard work went down for a little and a half, and threw it out like splashing water, he looked distressed, is it easy to accumulate these family funds? No matter how rich you are, you can't do this, please ask the division commander to give an order to supply ammunition in limited quantities, so that these boys can have a long memory, Tang Qiuli shook his head, he knew himself too well about the logistics minister, and he sweated every penny, but fortunately, thanks to such a big housekeeper, the independent division has repeatedly expanded its scale, and it has always been financial, which is all the credit of Zhang Quan.

But the defense of Huangya Cave has to rely on tons of ammunition to fight out, don't look at Zhang Quan's bitterness, the ammunition and materials in his hand will never exceed one percent, so he called Zhang Quan back and said: "Minister Zhang, the ammunition consumed in Huangya Cave today will be returned exponentially tomorrow, and when the time comes, I am afraid that the warehouse of your logistics department will not be able to fit," He knew how to make the big housekeeper feel comfortable, and Zhang Quanneng fainted in distress.

At present, the war situation in North China mainly revolves around three places to fight again, the main attack of the Japanese army in Huangyadong, the battle on the periphery of Shijiazhuang, the Japanese army is already in a state of exhaustion, Heshun surrounds more than 50,000 Japanese troops, three battlefields, two are in a favorable situation, Tang Qiuli is not unwilling to kill more than 50,000 Japanese troops in Heshun, but the time and time are not coming.

Feng Jiwu attacked Heshun with more than 80,000 troops, although more than 50,000 hungry and dizzy Japanese soldiers, the combat effectiveness of the desperate struggle should not be underestimated, it is bound to be a protracted battle, Okamura Ningji will not see more than 50,000 troops being wiped out, and will definitely reinforce Heshun, if Feng Jiwu can not eliminate the Japanese army in Heshun before the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, he will be forced to withdraw from the battle and fight into a pot of raw rice.

If the two Japanese forces advance together, the battle of Guanshan will be much more difficult to fight, and the troops of Niangziguan and Qiushengge will be in a dangerous situation, and they will not be able to overstimulate Okamura Ningji in Heshun, and only the Shijiazhuang battlefield, Anyang and Cangzhou, which can make a difference, are in a relatively calm state, and it is time to take the next step by taking advantage of the current strong situation of the Sulu Mobile Corps.

On 24 April, Tang Qiuli issued an operational order to Tang Qiusheng's troops of the Sulu Mobile Corps to carry out the second phase of the Shijiazhuang Campaign, and the Japanese troops who had been fighting fiercely with the Sulu Mobile Corps for many days on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang had become exhausted and switched to the defense of the whole line three days ago.

The Japanese front shrank, intending to move closer to Cangzhou, relying on the heavy army group of more than 200,000 Japanese troops in Cangzhou to resist the fierce offensive of the Sulu Mobile Corps, the Japanese defense line was shortened, and Baoding was exposed.

On the day of the attack on the 25th, the entire air force was dispatched, and more than 40 planes bombed the Japanese position into a sea of fire.

According to post-war statistics, on this day, Le Yiqin's air force made hundreds of sorties, acting as the pioneer of the Sulu Mobile Corps, which was only the beginning, so that Okamura Ningci, who was competing with the Huangyadong base in the Taihang Mountains, was still to come.

(To be continued)