Major General Matsumoto, the commander of the Japanese brigade headquarters in Linfen City, changed his previous calmness and walked around in front of the huge combat sand table.

In just a few hours, the battle situation in Linfen has changed so much, which is completely beyond his imagination. To put it more bluntly, the whole situation of the war has gotten out of control and is not under his control.

"General, the 2nd Brigade in the north of Linfen sent a telegram that they were besieged by the main force of the Eighth Route Army near the garrison of the Eighth Route Army, and the troops suffered heavy losses, and asked the aviation to hurry over!" The chief of staff reported in front of Matsumoto as soon as he rushed to.

"Nonsense, how can there be the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Linfenbei? Call them back, lie about the military situation and be sent to a court-martial! Major General Matsumoto retorted with a frown, and he seemed to have found an outlet for his anger, and scolded without hesitation.

The chief of staff hesitated for a moment and replied: "General, it is indeed the main force of the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army, which attacked our sweeping troops, was equipped with at least one mortar company, one heavy machine gun company! If it weren't for the main force of the Eighth Route Army, it would be impossible to equip it with so many heavy weapons! ”

"And our sweeping troops have suffered more than half of the casualties under the siege of the Eighth Route Army. If it weren't for the main forces, it would not have been possible to beat our sweeping troops like this! ”

After staring at the sand table for almost a minute, Major General Matsumoto frowned and asked, "Then tell me, how many main forces are there in the new regiment of the Eighth Route Army operating in Linfen!" ”

"Tianxin Town is the main force, Fengyun Town is also the main force, and Sanquan Town, which was attacked, is also the main force. Now there is another main force in the north of Linfen. How long has the new regiment been out of the mountains, and where did so many main forces come out of nowhere! ”

"Don't forget, when the new regiment came out of the mountains, we had several battles with them. We have lost our troops, and their casualties will certainly not be small! ”

"In more than a month, an infantry regiment with heavy casualties has developed so many main forces, do you think this is possible?"

The chief of staff lowered his head and did not speak, and he did not believe that the Eighth Route Army had such a speed of development.

You must know that in the past month or so, the encirclement, suppression and attack of the imperial army have never been interrupted.

If the Eighth Route Army could develop and grow under such circumstances, then the entire North China region would have been full of the Eighth Route Army long ago.

However, the facts forced them to believe that this was impossible.

After venting, Major General Matsumoto calmed down a lot, and the anxious expression on his face became much better.

Because it was dawn, the absolute superiority of the air force possessed by the Imperial Army could be dispatched. The planes could not only attack the Eighth Route Army from the sky, but also reconnoiter from the air to find out whether the four main forces of the Eighth Route Army, which suddenly appeared last night, were real or bluffing, and what new conspiracy there were.

With a frown, he ordered: "Contact the aviation, immediately dispatch to reinforce all the imperial troops that have been attacked!" ”

"Also, there are no armed grain grabbing troops in Hafengyun Town, Tianxin Town, who have been attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and they will immediately retreat with food, the sooner the better!"

The chief of staff did not dare to delay, and immediately replied: "Humble post, go and give orders now!" ”

After breathing a sigh of relief, Major General Matsumoto sat down in his seat and planned to take a break.

Since ten o'clock in the evening, my ears have heard all kinds of bad news, and my nerves have been tense. Now that he was finally relaxed because of the dawn, all kinds of exhaustion immediately swept over, leaving him with no strength at all.

However, less than five minutes after sitting down, a communications staff officer rushed in with a shocked and panicked expression on his face.

"General, we reinforced two infantry squadrons, a mountain artillery squadron, and a battalion of the Imperial Alliance Army were ambushed by the Eighth Route Army, the Eighth Route Army was equipped with a large number of mortars and heavy machine guns, as well as mountain artillery and flying thunder artillery, the troops suffered heavy losses, and asked for reinforcements!"

Major General Matsumoto got up from his seat with a single rub, and his nerves tensed again.

With a frown, he returned to the sand table: "Where did the Eighth Route Army ambush them?" ”

"Also, they must be the Eighth Route Army attacking the stronghold of Sanquan Town. They must have suffered casualties in the attack on the stronghold of Sanquan Town, and the casualties are not small. Even if they fought continuously and ambushed our reinforcements, with the strength of the reinforcements, they should have coped with it, how could it be possible that the troops suffered heavy casualties at the beginning of the battle! ”

The combat staff officer next to him hurriedly marked the contents of the telegram on the sand table, and then reported.

"General, the ambush site is less than two kilometers away from the stronghold of Sanquan Town! Stay here! ”

Seeing the position of the operational staff officer's fingers, Major General Matsumoto's already frowning brow wrinkled even deeper at this time.

The terrain there is so good that it is literally prepared for ambushes.

As a buffer from hills to plains, Sanquan Town does not have no big mountains, but there are many kinds of mountain beams.

The ambush position selected by Wang Ping happened to have a mountain beam parallel to the road.

If the reinforcements are not prepared for a counter-ambush, a sudden attack on this section of the road will indeed pay a great price.

However, if you want a force of seven or eight hundred men to suffer heavy casualties at the beginning of the battle, the terrain alone is not enough.

The combat staff officer saw Matsumoto's inner thoughts at a glance, and then reported: "The telegram said that the Eighth Route Army that ambushed them was too cunning, and they planted a large number of explosive packs on the side of the road, and when the troops passed, they suddenly detonated. ”

"These explosives packets buried on the side of the highway alone caused nearly 100 casualties to the Imperial Army!"

"Also, their equipment is very good, all light and heavy machine guns add up to more than twenty, or even thirty is possible!"

"The Eighth Route Army itself definitely doesn't have so many light and heavy machine guns, they must have been captured from our garrison in the stronghold of Sanquan Town, Bage Yalu!" Major General Matsumoto immediately made his judgment.

At the same time, it also understood why the reinforcements of more than 800 people suffered more than half of the casualties at the beginning of the battle, and asked the brigade headquarters for reinforcements.

According to the consistent style of the Eighth Route Army, in an ambush on the battlefield, it must concentrate firepower to attack the imperial army first and then the puppet army.

At first, the explosives bag blew up more than 100 imperial troops, and then light and heavy machine gun fire killed more than 100 imperial troops. Plus the casualties inflicted on the Imperial Army by artillery, rifles, grenades.

Even if he was the commander of the imperial army at that time, he could not avoid the result that the imperial army suffered more than 200 casualties at the beginning of the battle and suffered heavy losses.

After thinking about all this, Matsumoto immediately returned to the serious expression that his major general brigade commander should have, and ordered with a frown.

"Immediately send a telegram back to the reinforcements, let them break through immediately, concentrate all firepower and troops to break through, and at the critical moment, you can give up the Imperial Allied Army and let the Imperial Allied Army be cannon fodder!"

"If there is really no way to break through the encirclement, the troops must stick to the spot and fight to the death with the ambush troops of the Eighth Route Army."

"The air force will arrive in an hour and a half at the latest, please hold on!"

"Finally, remind them that the captain of the brigade: the Eighth Route Army that ambushed them will definitely not have many troops, as long as they are killed and wounded in large numbers, the Eighth Route Army will lose its offensive ability, and they will be able to hold on!"

"Chief of Staff, immediately contact the aviation force, and send another plane to reinforce the imperial army reinforcements in the direction of Sanquan Town, cover them from the air to break through, or counterattack and kill the Eighth Route Army that ambushed them!"

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