"No, I'll have to squint for a while."

The brigade commander wrapped his fur coat and lay down on the marching bed, and said: "I will definitely not have sleep in the next few days, I have to squint for a while now, Chief of Staff, you wait for four o'clock to wake me up." ”

The chief of staff said with a smile: "Brigade commander, it's almost three o'clock, just an hour, what are you sleeping?" ”

"That's not going to work, I'll have to squint for a moment." The brigade commander shook his head and said, "Don't say an hour, ten minutes is fine, otherwise you won't want to sleep again for the next three days." ”

After saying that, the brigade commander collapsed on the marching bed, and wrapped his fur coat tighter, it was really cold this day, and it was still cold with a brazier burning in the war room.

But the brigade commander's wish was ultimately disappointed.

He had only been lying down for half a minute when there was a neighing of horses outside.

"Brigadier Commander, horse neighing!" The chief of staff shouted, "A cavalry messenger has come!" ”

"Damn, so fast? Is this a deliberate effort not to let me sleep? The brigade commander rolled over and sat up.

Immediately, a correspondent hurriedly ran in and reported: "Report, the new regiment has taken the Liuzhuang stronghold!" ”

"Well, well done!" The brigade commander cheered and said to the chief of staff, "Chief of staff, hurry up, mark it on the map!" ”

"Yes!" The chief of staff answered, found the location of Liuzhuang on the map, and drew a big red cross with a red pencil.

The brigade commander came over and looked at the map and said: "Ding Wei has made a good start for our 386th Brigade, I dare to say that in the 129th Division and even the entire Eighth Route Army, this is the first stronghold to be captured!" ”

The chief of staff said sincerely: "Ding Wei, this kid can." ”

"That's it." The brigade commander said, "If Li Yunlong is a fierce general, then Ding Wei is a general!" ”

"Indeed." The chief of staff nodded and said, "Li Yunlong, this kid is fierce in battle, but he lacks a sense of the overall situation, Ding Wei's overall view is very strong, and he sees problems more thoroughly than Li Yunlong." ”

As he spoke, the neighing of horses came from outside.

The brigade commander said: "Chief of staff, guess which regiment is it this time?" ”

The chief of staff said without hesitation: "Most of them are independent regiments. ”

As soon as the words fell, another cavalry messenger hurried in.

"Report that the independent regiment has taken Caojiaji, Xiaowangzhuang and the stronghold of Changdian."

After saying that, the correspondent turned around and left, and went back again without taking a sip of water.

"Good!" The chief of staff said excitedly, "Although Li Yunlong, this kid, has made Ding Wei come out on top, but he is a good man, and his actions are to be faster than those of other regiments." ”

"This is also Li Yunlong's consistent style, he is a madman when he fights!"

The brigade commander said: "I seriously suspect that this kid didn't fight according to the requirements of the headquarters at all, he must have divided his troops into four ways and attacked four targets at the same time, so he moved so fast." ”

According to the unified deployment of the headquarters, even small strongholds cannot be paralyzed, and the most appropriate way is to contain the other small strongholds with one part of the troops, and then concentrate the main force of the regiment to attack one of the strongholds, and then move to the next stronghold after breaking through one stronghold, until all of them are captured.

This has the advantage of being able to concentrate superior firepower.

Make sure to crush the devil puppet army in the stronghold.

But the Independence Regiment is clearly not going to play this way.

This is almost lice on the monk's head, obviously.

"Brigade commander, there is no doubt about it, it must be so."

The chief of staff said with a smile: "Li Yunlong, this kid has never had a main attack and a secondary attack in war, and it has always been like this. ”

As he spoke, the chief of staff found three strongholds including Cao Jiaji from the map, and drew a cross with a red pencil.

Looking at the four eye-catching red forks, the chief of staff asked, "Brigade commander, do you think the 4th Brigade will send reinforcements?" ”

"I agree with Xiao Wang's judgment on this." The brigade commander said in a deep voice, "There is a high probability that the 4th Brigade will nest in Yangquan and Shouyang, at least it will not come out before dawn, because he doesn't dare!" Besides, so many outlying strongholds were attacked at the same time, could he save them? ”

The chief of staff smiled: "Then he will wait for us to sweep out more than 100 strongholds on the periphery one by one, and then become blind and deaf, hahahaha." ”

The brigade commander also smiled: "This is the battlefield information blocking that Xiao Wang said." ”

The chief of staff said: "Then next, except for the attack group on the south side of Zhengtai Road and the attack group on the north side, which cannot communicate directly, the two attack groups can realize the rapid and covert maneuver of troops, then the initiative on the battlefield of Zhengtai Road will completely fall into the hands of our army, and the 4th Brigade may only be able to catch blind." ”

When the brigade commander heard this, he just smiled and did not speak.

But in his heart, Xiao Wang is really good.

It's really condescending to be a wolf squad leader.

……

"Yawn, yawn!"

Wang Ye sneezed twice in a row.

Thanks to this, it is on a high mountain near the Dragon Valley.

Otherwise, just these two sneezes will expose the target.

The sky gradually brightened, and looking down from the high place where I was hiding, I could clearly see the range of several kilometers on the north and south sides of Zhengtai Road.

With the help of telescopes, at least three battlefields can be seen.

This means that three strongholds are under attack.

Wang Ye's attention fell on a stronghold on the south side of Zhengtai Road.

Judging from the map, this should be the Mazhuang stronghold on the periphery of the Yanzigou stronghold.

Because several other strongholds have been broken one after another, only the devil puppet army in the Mazhuang stronghold still resists stubbornly, and the attack of the Eighth Route Army has encountered difficulties.

Wei Dayong asked, "Which unit is this?" What a waste! ”

Wang Ye said: "It should be a battalion of the new 8th Brigade." ”

"The new 8th Brigade? It's no wonder. Wei Dayong was stunned.

It can be seen from the number that the new 8th Brigade is a newly formed brigade that has just been formed.

According to the tradition of the Eighth Route Army, the regiments under the jurisdiction of the new 8th Brigade have at most only one old regiment, and perhaps even only one old battalion, and the rest are all newly formed battalions that have been upgraded from local armed forces.

Such troops are not only poorly equipped, but also have a low level of training.

It is a bit difficult for such a force to take on the task of attacking fortifications.

The sky is getting brighter and brighter, and finally even the sun shows its little face.

However, the attack on the stronghold of Mazhuang by the opposing troops has never made much progress.

"There's no time." Wei Dayong sighed and said, "I guess I can't take it." ”

"Not necessarily, there's one last chance." Wang Ye still held the military telescope and continued to observe the Mazhuang stronghold a few kilometers ahead.

Wei Dayong asked, "What chance?" ”

Wang Ye said: "No accident, Maeda Xiu must have given the order to retreat, if I were the commander of the opposite force, I would decisively give up the attack, transfer the troops to the retreat of the devil puppet army and set up ambushes on both sides, and wait for the devil puppet army to enter the ambush circle and then launch a charge, which can be fatal with one blow with the advantage of troops." ”

After a pause, Wang Ye suddenly said again: "Maybe I'm already doing this." ”

"Is there one?" Wei Dayong said, "But why didn't I see it?" ”

Wang Ye said: "Don't you think that the troops involved in the attack are a little small?" ”

Wei Dayong took a look at it and said, "It seems to be true, at most, it is only the strength of a company." ”

As he spoke, the Eighth Route Army that attacked the stronghold of Mazhuang really withdrew, and the speed of retreat was very fast, and it disappeared from Wang Ye's field of vision in a blink of an eye.

"yes, that's right."

A smile appeared at the corner of Wang Ye's mouth.

Then not long after, about a detachment (squad) of the devil, led about a platoon of puppet troops, hastily withdrew from the Mazhuang stronghold, and the dozens of puppet soldiers were still carrying large bags and small boxes on their backs, estimated to be food and ammunition or something, and the devils were reluctant to throw it away, so they wanted to bring it back to the Yanzigou stronghold.

It is about five kilometers from the Mazhuang stronghold to the Yanzigou stronghold.

However, you have to pass through a large bud valley in the middle, and by this time the bud valley has grown to half a human height and is lush.

The devil puppet army walked to the edge of this bud valley, obviously hesitating, as if they were afraid of being ambushed.

But at this moment, there was a sudden sound of gunfire in the direction of the Mazhuang stronghold behind him, and the Eighth Route Army, which had disappeared just now, suddenly didn't know where it came from.

The devil puppet army went headlong into the bud valley.

Seeing this, the smile on the corner of Wang Ye's mouth became even stronger.

Although the combat effectiveness of the newly formed battalion on the other side was poor, the battalion commander had an idea.

Sure enough, as soon as the seventy or eighty devil puppet army reached the middle of the bud valley, hundreds of the Eighth Route Army suddenly killed in the lush bud valley, and then the spear shuttle stabbed indiscriminately.

In less than five minutes, all the devil puppet soldiers who entered the ambush circle were stabbed to death.

The devil puppet army in the Yanzigou stronghold can't even be saved, and of course, then again, the devil puppet army in the Yanzigou stronghold can't be saved, because Maeda Shu had already issued a strict order last night not to act rashly.

Therefore, the devil puppet army in the Yanzigou stronghold could only watch the devil puppet army in the Mazhuang stronghold being completely annihilated, and watched the Eighth Route Army clean up the battlefield and leave with large bags and small boxes.

In the end, I was really angry, so I hit a few shuttles with a heavy machine gun.

But at such a distance, heavy machine guns are also a pure waste of bullets.

It was only at this time that Wang Ye put down the binoculars and said with a smile: "If I guessed correctly, the first phase of the war has ended smoothly, and the result should be good." ”

"The brigades and regiments should have basically completed their combat missions."

"Our 129th Division should have achieved the battlefield information blocking of the Zhengtai Railway, except for the Zhengtai Road and the thirteen large strongholds along the line, the devil has basically become blind and deaf for the outside of the situation."

"This also means that the initiative on the battlefield is in my hands!"

"The devil only has to be beaten."

……

Yangquan, Headquarters of the 4th Brigade.

Isamu Kimura walked out of the communications section and reported to Maeda Shu: "Brigade commander, just now the garrison of the Mazhuang stronghold was also ambushed by the Eighth Route Army on the way back and shattered. ”

"This is the last of the jade-shattered garrisons."

"Up to now, in addition to the sixteen garrisons that have successfully withdrawn to the first-level stronghold, the other ninety-three garrisons have either been wiped out on the spot at their strongholds, but have been wiped out by the Eighth Route Army on the way to retreat."

"Because the number of withdrawn garrisons is too small, and the retreat process is too panicked, so far, we have not been able to figure out the number and strength of the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side."

"To make matters worse, we have completely lost control of the 10 to 15 kilometre area along Zhengtai Road."

"Several reconnaissance detachments sent before dawn were all attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and they were either collectively shattered or forced to withdraw to the various strongholds in the dispatch area."

"In other words, the Eighth Route Army has realized the information blocking of Zhengtai Road!"

"The only thing the imperial army can do now is to ensure the safety of Zhengtai Road and the thirteen first-level strongholds along the route, but this situation may not last long."

"If nothing else, the Eighth Route Army will definitely have further offensive operations."

"Yaga Yaru!" Maeda Shu said angrily, "What is the Eighth Route Army trying to do?" Do they want to uproot all the thirteen first-level strongholds along Zhengtai Road? Or do they want to eat our 4th brigade? ”

Kimura said: "It is wishful thinking to eat the 4th Brigade, but it is not impossible to attack Zhengtai Road and uproot several or all thirteen first-class strongholds along the line, I think this should be the goal of the Eighth Route Army, and I also think that the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang bandit area has already poured out." ”

"Attack Zhengtai Road? Don't! ”

Maeda Shu snorted and said, "Kimura-kun, immediately report our situation here, as well as your speculation, to the headquarters truthfully, and at the same time ask the headquarters to send aviation and the 11th armored train fleet to support!" ”

"Hello!" Isamu Kimura turned to leave.

Maeda's gaze returned to the map.

I saw that there was already a blue fork on the map.

But weirdly, not a single blue arrow is in sight.

According to the operational specifications, the blue cross represents the offensive of the enemy army.

So, correspondingly, each blue cross should be followed by a blue arrow, which represents the direction of attack of the corresponding enemy army.

At the end of this arrow should also be marked with the number of the enemy.

There is also a date on the bottom of the blue cross.

This is a well-organized battle map.

But now there are only more than 100 blue crosses on the map, but there is not a single blue arrow in sight, and the enemy number at the end of the arrow is not to mention.

Seeing this, Maeda Shu's face was a little unsightly.

The operational staff officers of the combat section were a little apprehensive.

But in addition to panicking, I feel aggrieved, can we blame us for the combat class?

The Intelligence Division has not been able to provide accurate information so far, and the staff officers of our Operations Division have been able to calculate the deployment and number of troops of the Eighth Route Army.

……

What Maeda saw on the map was a large blue cross.

Yoshio Shinozuka saw a small blue flag from the sand table.

More than 200 small blue flags almost filled the areas on both sides of Tong Po Road, Bai Jin Line and Zheng Tai Road.

Takaichi Sakamoto, the head of the Operations Division, said with anxiety: "Your Excellency, as of seven o'clock in the morning, more than 120 second-level strongholds on both sides of the Tongpu Road and Baijin lines have all been captured. ”

"There are probably more than thirty garrisons withdrawn to the first-level stronghold."

"The remaining more than 90 garrisons were all wiped out by the Eighth Route Army on the spot."

"It is conservatively estimated that in the Tongpu Road and Baijin Line battlefields alone, the Eighth Route Army used at least thirty regiments, which is an unprecedented sabotage battle."

The Japanese army in Shanxi suffered a big loss this time.

In another time and space, because the attack time came first, the first phase of the battle lasted for ten days!

In other words, it took 10 days for the various units of the Eighth Route Army to clear the strongholds on the periphery of several main communication arteries and realize the blockade of battlefield information from the Japanese army.

But this time and space, due to the influence of Wang Ye,

The Eighth Route Army stepped up its intelligence work and made more adequate preparations.

The campaign was set to start on the same day, and it was more deceptive and sudden, and the Japanese army was even more caught off guard.

The effect was also immediate, and all the strongholds on the periphery of several main transportation routes in Shanxi were lost overnight, and nearly 10,000 Japanese puppet troops were annihilated!

The entire Japanese army in Shanxi was stunned.

Yoshio Shinozuka's face sank like water, and he asked, "What about Zhengtai Road?" ”

"There is no news from Zhengtai Road for the time being......," Sakamoto Takashi had not finished speaking, and a communications staff officer hurriedly walked out of the telecommunications section with a folder.

"Your Excellency, Commander!"

The communications staff officer paused: "The 4th Brigade is in an emergency! ”

Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand violently and said expressionlessly: "Read! ”

"Hello!" The communications staff officer immediately opened the folder and said loudly, "Headquarters: As of seven o'clock in the morning, all the one hundred and nine second-level strongholds along Zhengtai Road have fallen. ”

"Except for the sixteen garrisons that have withdrawn to the adjacent first-level stronghold,"

"The remaining ninety-three garrisons have all been collectively shattered."

"Moreover, the Eighth Route Army has implemented battlefield information blocking in the areas along Zhengtai Road."

"Several reconnaissance detachments sent by our brigade last night were all severely damaged by the Eighth Route Army."

"Therefore, please ask the headquarters to immediately use aviation scouts to carry out aerial reconnaissance of the areas along the line, and ask the 11th armored train fleet to increase the frequency of patrols and strengthen the vigilance along Zhengtai Road."

"4th Brigade, May 5, Showa 16, ......."

"That's enough." Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand impatiently, and the communications staff officer hurriedly retreated.

"Battlefield information blocking?" Yoshio Shinozuka's gaze fell back on the sand table in front of him, and he said in a deep voice, "This is something I didn't expect, the Eighth Route Army has actually learned to block battlefield information?" ”

"It's probably just a coincidence." Yamamoto Kazuki Road.

"The Eighth Route Army has always only been able to engage in guerrilla warfare and sparrow warfare, and it doesn't even understand the essence of frontal positional warfare, so how can it understand battlefield information blocking? So it must be a coincidence. ”

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be because the Eighth Route Army has too many troops,"

"So much so that Zhengtai Road, Tongpu Road, and Baijin Line are all their people on both sides."

"Therefore, the Imperial Army sent reconnaissance detachments from various strongholds along the line, and there were encounters without exception."

"But I dare to assert that this is by no means intentional on the part of the Eighth Route Army, and the Eighth Route Army absolutely does not have the awareness of blocking battlefield information on Zhengtai Road, Tongpu Road and Baijin Line."

"This, it doesn't matter anymore."

Yoshio Shinozuka waved his hand and said: "Regardless of whether the Eighth Route Army has the awareness to implement battlefield information blocking, they have in fact achieved battlefield information blocking. ”

"So far, we don't know the numbers of the units of the Eighth Route Army."

"The specific deployment of the Eighth Route Army and its next intentions are even more unknown."

"Aviation scouts can only carry out aerial reconnaissance during the day, and the effect is extremely limited."

"In other words, until now, we still haven't figured out what the Eighth Route Army wants to do? Do they just want to uproot the outlying strongholds? Bigger and more ambitious goals? ”

(End of chapter)