"Why else?"

Takayoshi Tanaka said: "In the final analysis, there is not enough troops. ”

Ryuichi Sakamoto also said: "That's right, it's because of the lack of troops, if the 1st Army had enough troops, at least the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi would have been extinguished by the imperial army." ”

Yamamoto Kazuki asked rhetorically: "Is it really because of the lack of troops?" ”

"Isn't it?" Tanaka Takayoshi asked rhetorically, "Didn't you just say that the hundreds of small strongholds along Zhengtai Road, Tongpu Road, and the Baijin Line held back most of the troops, so that the Imperial Army could not concentrate enough troops to carry out a large-scale sweep of the various bandit areas of the Eighth Route Army, which gave them a chance. ”

"That's not right." Yamamoto Kazuki said coldly, "Since the beginning of last year, the North China Front has launched no less than 20 sweeps against various bandit areas of the Eighth Route Army, although the absolute strength of each sweep is not much, but it occupies an absolute advantage on the battlefield, and the Eighth Route Army has never dared to confront the Imperial Army head-on, what does this mean?" ”

"This shows that the number of troops involved in the previous sweeps is sufficient."

"The reason why the cage tactics failed to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, but made them stronger in the sweeps again and again, is because of the improper implementation of tactics!"

Okamura Ninji asked, "What's wrong with the tactics?" ”

Kazuki Yamamoto said: "Your Excellency, the Eighth Route Army is different from the Central Army of China or the Jin Sui Army, the Central Army of China or the Jin Sui Army is keen on positional warfare, and often concentrates the main forces on the front, but ignores the flanks and the protection behind them, the Imperial Army only needs to send a small force to detour the flank, and the Central Army of China or the Jin Sui Army will be shaken on the whole line, or even collapse on the whole line. ”

"Not bad." Okamura Ninji nodded and said, "The Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Xuzhou, and the Battle of Xinkou are all like this. ”

Yamamoto Kazuki said: "But this is not the case with the Eighth Route Army, the Eighth Route Army almost never conducts positional warfare with the Imperial Army, or never confronts the Imperial Army head-on, they generally only use ambush warfare to fight with the Imperial Army, after the expansion, the Eighth Route Army is mostly only using sparrow warfare and guerrilla warfare to fight with the Imperial Army. ”

"Is it really because the Eighth Route Army chose such tactics because of its weak combat effectiveness?"

"No, if you concentrate your forces, the Eighth Route Army is actually capable of fighting positional warfare with the sweeping forces of the Imperial Army, but the Eighth Route Army rarely does this, almost nothing."

"At most, it's a few small-scale blocking battles when we have to."

"The tactics of the Eighth Route Army are fundamentally different from those of the Central Army of China and the Jin Sui Army."

"The Central Army of China and the Jin Sui Army pursued a passive defensive tactic, but the Eighth Route Army implemented a positive defensive tactic, what is passive defense? What is active defense? ”

"Passive defense is passive defense, occupy the defense line and wait for the imperial army to fight, wait until the imperial army fights, hold it if it can hold it, retreat if it can't hold it, retreat to the next defense line and defend it again, retreat and retreat again, all the way from Manchukuo to the Yellow River, retreat to Central China, retreat to the southwest, and retreat to only half of China."

"Active defense is to get out of the way, let the main force of the imperial army pass, and focus on the baggage of the imperial army."

"When the Imperial Army launched a sweeping operation, the Eighth Route Army was also like this, the main force of the Imperial Army drove over, and the Eighth Route Army immediately dispersed, and when the main force of the Imperial Army passed, the Eighth Route Army immediately gathered troops and launched a fierce offensive against the Imperial Army's baggage troops or small units, so it was always successful."

"Once or twice, it's not a big problem."

"But the accumulation of ten times and eight times is an unbearable loss for the imperial army."

"Therefore, every time they sweeped, the imperial army entered the bandit area with high morale, and finally withdrew to the security consolidation area in disgrace."

In a word, before the Eighth Route Army fought against the Imperial Army, the first thing to consider was not to attack the Imperial Army, but how to minimize its own losses in the battle! That's troublesome. ”

"The imperial army is very unaccustomed to this kind of guerrilla tactics of gathering and scattering."

"Therefore, from last year to this year, the many sweeps not only failed to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, but made the Eighth Route Army grow stronger day by day, which is really a pity."

After saying this, Yamamoto Kazuki said again: "Therefore, the imperial army must innovate the tactics of war. ”

"The Imperial Army must find a tactic that is sufficient to defuse or even counter the guerrilla tactics of the Eighth Route Army."

"Otherwise, tragedies like the Yamazaki Brigade will continue to be staged, and the sweeping of various bandit areas of the Eighth Route Army will not have too good results, and the Eighth Route Army will continue to grow."

"Until the Imperial Army is finally driven out of China."

Hearing this, Okamura Ninji was slightly uncomfortable.

At that moment, Okamura Ninji frowned and said, "Yamamoto-kun, let's talk about the key points directly, talk about your new tactics!" ”

However, Kazuki Yamamoto didn't say anything more this time, but walked to the safe next to him and took out a document bag, and then walked up to Okamura Ninji and handed the file bag over.

"Oh, have you made it into writing?"

Okamura Ninji was a little surprised, but also a little surprised.

This shows that Kazuki Yamamoto really put a lot of thought into it.

……

Riding the king, Wang Ye soon arrived at the headquarters.

Wang Ye has been to the headquarters twice, and he is already familiar with the headquarters.

When he walked into the war room of the headquarters, he found that the boss was not there, but the deputy chief of staff and the division commander were there, and there were two other staff officers who were looking at him with scrutinizing eyes.

Wang Ye could also guess what these two staff officers were thinking.

Needless to say, these two staff officers were certainly unconvinced.

Why can your surname Wang be so valued by the chief?

Just because you are a graduate of the Berlin Military Academy?

And what about graduating from a military academy? We've seen a lot of people with a good eye.

Wang Ye didn't bother to pay attention to the two guys, walked up to the division commander and the deputy chief of general staff, and saluted: "Report to the chief, Wang Ye was ordered to come and report, please instruct." ”

Both the division commander and the deputy chief of the General Staff got up and returned their military salutes.

The division commander smiled mildly and said, "Xiao Wang, you came quite quickly." ”

Wang Ye also smiled and said: "The chief has a call, then I will definitely have to rush over quickly." ”

"Time is pressing, so I'll cut it short." The deputy chief of general staff nodded and said, "In the past two months, the devils have suffered several losses under our hands, especially the battle of the hundred regiments, which has hurt them and scared, so it is completely predictable, and then the devils will definitely launch a large-scale retaliation." ”

The division commander continued: "We estimate that the devils will launch a sweep around October. ”

The estimate of the head of the headquarters is similar to Ding Wei's estimate, and his vision is still quite accurate.

The deputy chief of the general staff continued: "The scale and intensity of this sweep by the devils will definitely far exceed that of the past, so we must do the work of preparing for war in advance." ”

The division commander took over the conversation again and said: "We are actually very familiar with the anti-sweeping operation. ”

"We have also summed up a set of effective countermeasures, even if the scale and intensity of the devil's sweep this time will be far greater than before, it is not a big deal."

The Deputy Chief of the General Staff continued: "But now a new situation has arisen. ”

"Our Shuijiaozi Arsenal has now begun to take shape, so we can no longer leave all our belongings as before, but stick to it as much as possible!"

"Even if we have to evacuate in the end, we have to allow enough time."

"That means fighting a tough positional battle with the devils."

Speaking of this, the deputy chief of the general staff turned his head to look at the two operational staff officers who were not very convinced, and said: "We already have a wealth of experience in formulating operational plans for guerrilla warfare, but positional warfare is a completely new topic for us, because we have never been exposed to it before. ”

"Xiao Wang, you are a top student who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy."

"At the Military Academy, you must have studied fortress defense."

"I called you here this time, I hope you can take us to work out an effective defense plan, it is best to keep the devil out of the waterside mountain, if you really can't stop it, you must also leave enough time for the relocation of the arsenal, in short, the personnel and equipment of the arsenal must not have any accidents!"

"This is a political task that must be completed!"

"Yes!" Wang Ye said, "Guarantee to complete the task!" ”

The deputy chief of general staff pointed to the two staff officers and said, "Xiao Wang, come, let me introduce you, Chen Mingli, Ma Yuan, in the next few days, the two of them will cooperate with you." ”

After speaking, the deputy chief of general staff said to the two of them again: "Staff Officer Chen, Staff Officer Ma, you two must fully cooperate with Captain Wang to carry out your work, no matter what he asks you two to do, you must obey unconditionally." ”

"Yes!" Staff Officer Chen and Staff Officer Ma's consciousness is still very high.

Although I was not convinced, I resolutely obeyed the order.

The division commander asked Wang Yedao: "Xiao Wang, do you still have any difficulties?" ”

"I don't have any difficulty." Wang Ye snapped and said, "Division, I still say the same thing as before, I promise to complete the task!" ”

"Hahaha, okay, the boss really didn't mistake you!" The division commander said happily, "Then three days later, I, the deputy chief of general staff, and the boss will wait to see your masterpiece." ”

Wang Ye said with a smile: "The division commander, please go slowly, and the deputy chief of general staff go slowly." ”

The division commander left, the deputy chief of the general staff also left, and only Wang Ye, Chen Mingli, and Ma Yuan were left in the war room.

"Staff Officer Chen, please sort out the bill of materials at the headquarters." Wang Yezhen didn't treat himself as an outsider, and directly began to support Chen Mingli twice, "Staff Officer Ma, please draw a map of Shuiyin Mountain, it should be 10,000 times the proportion, by the way, one may not be enough, let's draw two copies first." ”

Chen Mingli and Ma Yuan rolled their eyes,

But I still obediently complied.

……

Taiyuan, a large suite on the third floor of the Great East Asia Hotel.

Okamura returned to the living room after taking a bath, only to see that the hour hand of the clock on the wall was already pointing to two o'clock in the morning.

He was really tired from the day, but after a hot bath, he was refreshed again, and he was able to maintain this state for at least two hours.

At this time, Michiichi Miyano had been sitting upright on the leather sofa reading the documents.

This document is the new tactics that Kazuki Yamamoto handed to Okamura Ninji last night.

Waiting for Okamura Ninji to sit down and make tea, Miyano Michiichi finally finished reading.

"Miyano-kun, you've finally finished reading, huh." Okamura smiled and said, "From the amount of time you spent reading this battle plan, I know that you must be supportive. ”

"Because you always read documents at a glance."

"You only slow down your reading when you come across something you're interested in."

Miyano Michiichi paused slightly, and then said: "Yamamoto-kun's battle plan, in a word, is actually to vigorously promote his special operations in the entire North China battlefield. ”

"Conventional infantry combat cannot be done without,"

"But only in cooperation with the special operation."

"It has to be the special operation that dominates."

"To be honest, this plan is inevitably suspected of grandstanding, and it is also for his special operations, but at the same time, I also think that this plan is extremely valuable and worth promoting!"

"Miyano-kun, you and I have the same opinion."

Okamura Ninji nodded happily and said, "The Eighth Route Army sometimes gathers, sometimes scatters, and never confronts the imperial army head-on, which is indeed a headache. ”

"The existing infantry tactics are indeed a bit difficult to deal with."

"And Yamamoto-kun's plan is aimed at this characteristic of the Eighth Route Army."

"If the North China Front can imitate the Yamamoto special forces and set up dozens, or even hundreds, of special teams, the public order situation in the entire North China will be greatly improved."

Miyano Michichichi: "But there is a problem with this plan. ”

Okamura Ninji said: "What do you mean, is it that the Yamamoto Secret Service has not proven itself yet?" ”

"Yes, the Yamamoto team still lacks a record that can be handled." Miyano Michiichi said, "The battle loss ratio of 200 to 1 in the last battle of Yangcun doesn't mean anything. ”

Okamura Ninji's brows furrowed.

Miyano said: "Your Excellency, Yamamoto-kun must prove to the senior officers and even senior generals of the front army that his special combat team is fully capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility, and the special operation he advocates is also a sharp weapon used to deal with the Eighth Route Army, he must prove this, otherwise this plan may not be implemented." ”

Okamura Ninji said: "Miyano-kun, you mean to form an observation group?" ”

"Yes." Miyano said, "The most elite officers from various divisions and brigades were selected to form an observation group, and they came to Taihang Mountain to observe the scene, and Yamamoto-kun commanded his special team to perform a mountain special operation for the observation group on the spot, so as to prove that his special team and special operations methods can be of great use." ”

"Yo Si." Okamura Ninji said, "This matter will be done as soon as possible." ”

"Hello!" Miyano said, "I'll do it when I go back." ”

……

Great Summer Bay, the war room of the headquarters.

It took Wang Ye more than half a night to repeatedly study the terrain around the Shuijiaozi Arsenal, especially the terrain of Shuijiaozi Mountain, and at the same time consulted the building materials of the headquarters.

After reading it, Wang Ye had only one idiom in his mind: it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice.

Looking at the terrain, the location chosen by the Shuijiaozi Arsenal is actually very good, which is enough to prove that the deputy chief of the general staff spent a lot of time and energy.

The Water Waist Arsenal was built in a cave at the foot of the Water Waist Mountain.

If the devil wants to enter the arsenal, there are only two roads, the first road is a small road with a line of sky, and the last time the Yamazaki brigade invaded Daxia Bay, it was this path that was taken.

However, in the end, he was blocked by the wolf warrior team and fell short.

The second road into the Waist Arsenal is the main road of Daxia Bay.

If you want to defend the Water Waist Arsenal, the difficulty is not in the first line of the sky, but in Daxiawan.

Because from Daxia Bay to enter the Water Waist Arsenal, there are only two hills that can be used as barriers.

The meaning of the head of the headquarters is to rely on these two hills to build a fortress and block the devils in Daxia Bay.

However, this was really difficult to do, because there was almost no cement in the bill of materials of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, and there were very few building materials such as steel plates and timber for the construction of fortress fortifications.

In other words, the fortress had to be built with earth and stone, which was a bit tricky.

Therefore, the only thing Wang Ye could think of was to dig a tunnel, imitate the fortress built by Takeuchi Lianshan on the Nantianmen, and hollow out the mountains of the two hills outside the arsenal and build a fortress.

I just don't know if those two hills can be dug up?

However, the wall-hanging roads in Zhangliang Village can be built, and it stands to reason that it should be no problem to hollow out those two mountains, which is nothing more than spending a little more time and labor costs.

However, it still has to be investigated on the spot.

At that moment, Wang Ye said to Chen Mingli and the others: "Staff Officer Chen, Staff Officer Ma, bring the surveying and mapping tools and follow me." ”

Chen Mingli and Ma Yuan were supported by Wang Ye for most of the night, and gradually got used to it, and immediately took the surveying and mapping tools and went out with Wang Ye when they heard the words.

……

Northwest of Jin, the 358th Regiment of the Jin Sui Army was stationed.

Chu Yunfei was shaving in front of the mirror.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and through the mirror, Chu Yunfei saw Chief of Staff Fang Ligong walking in quickly.

"Brother Meritorious Service." Chu Yunfei asked in surprise, "Early in the morning, there was an order from the Chief's Department to come down?" ”

"It's not an order." Fang Ligong shook his head with a smile, and said, "It's a letter of inquiry." ”

"Letter of inquiry?" Chu Yunfei was stunned for a moment, and then asked again, "This is fresh, what are you asking?" ”

Fang Ligong said: "Ask Tuanzuo if you have any intention of going to the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army to observe the tactics of friendly troops?" ”

"Observing friendly tactics?" Chu Yunfei said, "Chief Yan has always been at odds with the Eighth Route Army, but why did he suddenly think of this one this time?" Was that a little surprising to me? ”

"Harm, I guess I was stimulated by the Eighth Route Army."

Fang Ligong shook his head and said, "More than a month ago, didn't the Eighth Route Army engage in a hundred-regiment battle? It is said that Principal Chang was furious after hearing about it, and Chief Yan probably couldn't sleep, so he thought about sending a group of senior officers to the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army to observe and study on the spot, and see how the Eighth Route Army did it? ”

"The Eighth Route Army is indeed worth learning from."

Chu Yunfei nodded and said: "In less than three years, their troops have grown from less than 40,000 people in a dozen regiments to more than 400,000 people in more than 100 regiments, and they actually dare to take the initiative to launch a large-scale offensive against the Japanese army, which is indeed very shocking. ”

"Okay." Fang Ligong nodded and said, "I'll report your name to the Chief's Department." ”

(End of chapter)