Yushe County, the headquarters of the 69th Division of the Japanese Army.

The head of the communications section, Mei Igarashi, came in with a telegram and immediately reported: "The division commander, the chief of staff, and the 292nd Infantry Wing have just sent an urgent telegram, saying that they were blocked by the Eighth Route Army on the way to retreat, and in addition to destroying roads and laying mines and other traditional tactics, the Eighth Route Army has also begun to rarely invest infantry to attack. ”

"It's disgusting." The division commander Inoue Zhenwei said hatefully, "In the past five or six days, we looked for the main force of the Eighth Route Army everywhere to try to fight a decisive battle with it, but the main force of the Eighth Route Army always avoided fighting, and now the imperial army is about to withdraw, but these Eighth Route Army has come out of the gutter, these guys are really difficult." ”

Chief of Staff Ryuichi Sakamoto said: "For the Eighth Route Army, this is just a routine operation. ”

Inoue Zhenwei frowned and said, "But in this way, I am afraid that it is impossible for our 69th Division to return to Taiyuan within two days." ”

"Two days?" Sakamoto Takaichi said abruptly, "Unless we can give wings to the more than 15,000 imperial soldiers of our 69th Division and all the heavy equipment, it is absolutely impossible to return to Taiyuan within two days." ”

Inoue Zhenwei said: "But the problem is that His Excellency the Commander's order is that he must return to Taiyuan within two days!" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander?" Sakamoto Takashi said expressionlessly, "He'd better think about it first, how to explain the loss of Taiyuan to the North China Front Headquarters and the base camp." ”

Before the words fell, another communications staff officer hurriedly walked in.

Mei Igarashi took the telegram from the communications staff officer, and her face changed slightly after reading it.

"Division commander, chief of staff." Mei Igarashi said, "Your Excellency the Commander has already planted himself. ”

Sakamoto Takashi's face was as usual, because this result had long been in his expectation, Iwamatsu Yoshio, as the commander of the empire's first army stationed in Shanxi, lost the headquarters of Taiyuan, and could only plant himself to thank His Majesty the Emperor.

Inoue Sadawei was silent, but his face showed a hint of solemnity, another imperial lieutenant general.

Counting the previous Maeda Shu, Maeda Tadanobu, Shinozuka Yoshio and Miyano Michiichi, there have been five high-ranking generals who have fallen under the knife of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, or have been cut by themselves because of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.

……

"The 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army!"

After reading the telegram, Okamura Ninji said word by word: "There is a late monarch, the imperial army must pay enough attention to this unit of the Eighth Route Army, and it can no longer be taken lightly as before. ”

The telegram was, of course, a farewell telegram sent by Yoshio Iwamatsu before he died.

Iwamatsu Yoshio not only sent farewell telegrams to the Army Headquarters and the Emperor, but also sent farewell telegrams to Okamura Ninji, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Tian Shunroku, and various divisions and brigades under the First Army.

Okamura Ninji can be said to have hated Iwamatsu Yoshio very much before, but after receiving Iwamatsu Yoshio's farewell telegram, the hatred dissipated with the wind, and he has already cut his abdomen, and all the faults and rights and wrongs will be erased, and no one will ever hold Iwamatsu Yoshio accountable for the loss of Taiyuan.

So, Okamura Ninji has forgiven Yoshio Iwamatsu.

After understanding Iwamatsu Yoshio, Okamura Ninji began to shift his attention to the initiator of the Taiyuan Campaign, after learning that it was the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army that attacked Taiyuan, Okamura Ninji reviewed the past few years of the 386th Brigade's records overnight, and the more he looked at the 386th Brigade's series of brilliant achievements, Okamura Ninji could be said to be more and more frightened.

Yousue Jingsan asked solemnly: "Why does Your Excellency the General suddenly care about the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army?" ”

"Because the record of this team is really amazing." Okamura Ninji said in a deep voice, "I checked the battle report and found that since two years ago, units such as the Yamazaki Brigade, the Kuroshima Wing, the Fourth Brigade, the Ninth Brigade, the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, and the Second Guards Division have been defeated by this unit. ”

"Several of these troops have even been wiped out!"

"Last year, the Jin Sui army threatened Taiyuan, and there was also this force behind it."

"Not to mention the loss of Taiyuan this time, it is directly the masterpiece of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army!"

Speaking of this, Okamura Ningji said again: "There is Sue-kun, have you analyzed why the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army achieved such a terrible record? ”

There are three ways of the end of the essence: "Maybe it's because of the chief officer?" Chen Gen, the brigade commander of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, is one of the few high-achieving students in the communist camp who graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy. ”

Okamura Ningji said: "The military commander is indeed one of the factors, but it is by no means the decisive factor, because he is not the only military commander like Chen Gen in the Eighth Route Army, but only the 386th Brigade can achieve such outstanding results, so there must be other more critical factors in this." ”

There are three words of the end of the essence: "Because of the group of fierce generals of the 386th Brigade? ”

Speaking of this, there is a sue Jingsan and said: "According to the investigation of the intelligence department, the four main regiments under the jurisdiction of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, Cheng Shifa, the head of the 772nd Regiment, Ding Wei, the commander of the new 1st Regiment, Kong Jie, the commander of the New 2nd Regiment, and Li Yunlong, the commander of the Independent Regiment, all have the experience of grassroots soldiers, and have extremely stable psychological quality, and can do everything without being alarmed in any situation, especially Li Yunlong, the head of the Independent Regiment, in addition to being psychologically stable, also has an extremely fierce style, just like a wolf on the grassland, no matter what size of prey he encounters, It dares to bite. ”

Okamura Ninji said, "I'm afraid that's not the deciding factor. ”

After a pause, Okamura Ninji said again: "As far as I know, as you said, there are not a few Eighth Route Army commanders who have the experience of being soldiers, have stable psychological quality and have a fierce style, and the Eighth Route Army in Shandong, Shanxi and Hebei can find at least dozens of Eighth Route Army commanders who are no less than Li Yunlong, but none of their troops can play such a record as Li Yunlong's independent regiment, right?" ”

Hearing this, the three elders frowned.

There was a long silence in the office.

After thinking about it for a long time, Arisue Seizan suddenly raised his head again and said, "Your Excellency, I figured it out, it's logistics!" This decisive factor is logistics! ”

Speaking of this, Jingsan said again at the end of the month: "There are military commanders like Chen Gen, and fierce generals like Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong Jie, and Cheng Shifa, which is just a precondition, that is, the foundation. ”

"A force, if it doesn't have a foundation, will definitely not be able to do much."

"But if you only have the foundation and don't have the logistics, you can't do much."

"Only when it has a good foundation and sufficient logistical support can a unit soar and create brilliant achievements on the battlefield!"

"Exactly!" Okamura nodded happily and said, "It's logistics." ”

Speaking of this, Okamura Ningji said again: "There is Mojun, I don't know if you have found it, the biggest difference between the 386th Brigade and other Eighth Route Army is that they often fight wars of annihilation!" ”

"Yes." Yousue Jingsan said solemnly, "First the Black Island Wing, then the Yamazaki Brigade, then the Ninth Brigade and the Battlefield Observation Regiment, the 386th Brigade captured Yangquan County in one fell swoop, and the Fourth Brigade of the Cavalry was almost completely annihilated in Feiyundu, all of which were annihilated!" ”

Okamura Ninji said again: "So have you found another pattern?" ”

"Yes, I found it." Yousue Jingsan nodded and said, "The annihilation battle fought by the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army is becoming larger and larger, at first they can only annihilate the imperial army at the brigade level, then the imperial army at the wing level, and then the imperial army at the brigade level, and now, they even have the strength to launch a big city like Taiyuan, this is unbelievable, you must know that even the Central Army does not have this strength!" ”

"So, how did the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army do it?" Okamura asked again.

"Because they are constantly accumulating equipment and supplies in the war of annihilation." There is a non-thinking way, "It's snowballing bigger and bigger, until you have the powerful ability to attack the fortifications now!" ”

After a pause, he said: "On the other hand, although the combat effectiveness of other Eighth Route Armies is also very strong, because they rarely fight annihilation battles on the battlefield, they cannot accumulate equipment and materials like the 386th Brigade, and naturally it is impossible to roll like a snowball, so as to gain more and more powerful capabilities to fight annihilation wars." ”

"By the way, you've finally got to the point!" Okamura Ningji said in a deep voice, "Excellent commanders like Chen Gen and fierce generals like Ding Wei, Kong Jie, and Li Yunlong are all not to be feared, what really deserves vigilance is logistics, in the future public security war, in addition to avoiding being annihilated by the Eighth Route Army as much as possible, the imperial army must also prevent the Eighth Route Army from establishing its own logistics support supply system at any cost!" ”

After a pause, Okamura Ningji said: "After the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army captures Taiyuan this time, it will not only be able to seize the combat materials stored in Taiyuan, but will also be able to obtain all the machinery and equipment of more than a dozen factories opened by Mitsui and Sumitomo Co., Ltd. in Taiyuan. ”

"That's true." "Among the dozen or so factories opened by Mitsui and Sumitomo Co., Ltd. in Taiyuan, in addition to civilian industries, there are even military industries such as steel mills, power plants, and chemical plants, and the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army will definitely move these machinery and equipment and even the production line back to their base areas and rebuild the factories, and once these factories are rebuilt and put into operation, the 386th Brigade will be able to obtain a steady stream of ammunition, and then the Imperial Army will be in great trouble." ”

"yes." Okamura Ninji deeply agreed, "In the past two years, the Eighth Route Army has increasingly shown a spiritual outlook that is different from that of the Central Army of China and the Jin Sui Army, and this army not only retains a hard and simple style, but also has a firm faith, and the heroic performance of its officers and soldiers on the battlefield is no less than that of the Imperial Army. ”

Speaking of this, Okamura Ninji said: "The only thing that restricts this army now is logistics, due to the lack of a stable and continuous supply of ammunition, it is difficult for the Eighth Route Army to launch large-scale offensive operations, but can only adopt guerrilla tactics such as sparrow warfare, tunnel warfare, and mine warfare to deal with the imperial army. ”

Yousue Seizan continued: "But once the Eighth Route Army is allowed to build power plants, steel plants and arsenals, the Eighth Route Army will have a stable and continuous supply of ammunition, and then the logistical shortcomings that restrict the Eighth Route Army will no longer exist, and the Eighth Route Army will also have the ability to launch large-scale offensive operations." ”

Okamura Ninji said awe-inspiringly: "Once the Eighth Route Army has the ability to launch large-scale offensive operations, then the Eighth Route Army in the entire three large bandit areas in North China and dozens of small bandit areas will become elite troops like the 386th Brigade. ”

Yousue Jingsan said in shock: "At that time, not only Taiyuan, but also Jinan, Zhengding, Baoding, Tianjin, and even Beiping will be in danger, and the eight divisions and regiments of the North China Front plus ten brigades will all face the risk of being encircled and annihilated, and the entire North China Security Region will also face the danger of being lost!" ”

"So, we have to stop this from happening!"

Okamura Ninji said in a deep voice: "Prevent this situation at all costs." ”

Yousue Jingsan said awe-inspiringly: "Your Excellency the general means that you will give up the sweeping plan against the central Hebei bandit area and start a sweeping operation against the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army?" ”

"No, the sweep of the bandit area in central Hebei must be carried out as usual."

Okamura Ninji shook his head and said, "The reason is very simple, because we need a victory to boost morale, and we need a victory to convince the high-ranking officials of the base camp. ”

Youmo Jingsan frowned and said, "Then the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army ......?"

Okamura Ninji waved his hand and said: "Rome was not built in a day, although the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army has machinery and equipment, but if you want to build factories and put them into production, and establish a complete logistics support supply system based on these factories, it will definitely not be done in a day or two, it will take a long process, so I still have enough time." ”

"Hello." There was a third time when the last essence was paused, "Understood." ”

Okamura Ninji said again, "Let's start tomorrow." ”

"Hello." Seizo Yusue paused again.

……

The night passed, and the time came to May 1, 1942.

After several months of preparation, all divisions and brigades directly under the North China Front Army, under the personal command of Okamura Ninji, launched a brutal "May Day Sweep" against the Jizhong Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.

However, the Japanese troops in the Shanxi battlefield were still in chaos.

Because the former commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, had committed suicide by seppuku.

The candidate for a new commander of the First Army has not yet been decided, and it is said that it is still in the pipeline.

Taiyuan, where the headquarters of the First Army is located, is still under the control of the 386th Brigade.

The 3rd Brigade and the 4th Brigade of the First Army were still stationed in Anhua and Yangquan.

Although the 36th Division, the 37th Division, and the 69th Division, which were originally in the Taihang Military Region, began to come back to help, they were not in a hurry or impatient, and the Eighth Route Army was making every effort to block the attack, so the three divisions were extremely slow to return reinforcements, and they had to fight with the advance speed when the iron wall was encircled, and they only walked 10 kilometers a day.

Speaking from the heart, the national government has been operating in various ways.

But there are too many maneuvers on the side of Little Japan.

Not to mention the bizarre dispute between the army red deer and the navy red deer.

In the sweeping stage of the Taiyuan Campaign, Tojo's senior soldiers also came to the Bosao operation, first decisively forcing the commander of the First Army, Iwamatsu Yoshio, to take responsibility for the defeat of the Taiyuan Campaign, and then hesitating in the matter of choosing the next commander, while Okamura Ninji chose to stand by for the sake of cherishing feathers.

Therefore, for six or seven days, the Japanese First Army stationed in Shanxi was in a state of leaderlessness.

This gave the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army enough time to transfer supplies and factory machinery and equipment.

In the last few days, Zhao Gang even organized a team to liquidate Taiyuan's Japanese fake assets and traitors, and found out more than 100 traitors and bad elements, and sentenced all of them to death.

Among them are Bai Wenhui, the pseudo-TY mayor and pseudo-Shanxi Police Department who didn't have time to escape, and Bai Wenhui's son patrol captain Bai Jushan, that is, the fool who was slapped in the face by Wang Ye at Yoshino's house, in addition, the big traitor Nie Shengzhe was also shot, and the people of Taiyuan all applauded.

……

In the blink of an eye, the time has come to May 8th.

That morning, Ding Wei was on the phone at the headquarters.

"Hey, Lao Cheng?" Ding Wei held the microphone and said, "Are you saying that the vanguard of the 69th Division of the Japanese Army, an infantry brigade of the 292nd Infantry Wing, has arrived outside Yuci County?" ”

"And a tentative assault has already been launched on the line of the 772nd battalion of the 1st Battalion?"

"Okay, okay, I know, now the liquidation of the Japanese puppet traitors on the Taiyuan side has come to an end, and the confiscated Japanese puppet assets and property have also been transported."

"Yes, your 772nd regiment can retreat at any time."

"However, considering that the opposite side is the main force of the 69th Division of the Japanese Army, I suggest that you turn to the west of Jinxi and return to Taiyue Mountain via the Luliang Mountains."

Hanging up the phone, Ding Wei said to Li Xiaoxian: "Chief of Staff, let the telephone squad close the line, we will also withdraw." ”

After saying this, Ding Wei asked Wang Ye again: "Xiao Wang, how are the things of your Wolf Warrior Squadron doing?" ”

"Don't mention it." Wang Ye poured a sip of cold water and said angrily, "I haven't found a decent engineer." ”

"What? Didn't find any of them? Ding Wei was stunned and said, "Can't you, so many factories, all the engineers have run away?" Is there really not a single one left? ”

"Not really, there are still a few."

Wang Ye shook his head and said: "But these are not technical backbones, under the premise of building a good production line, these people can still organize production step by step, but let them take the lead in building a new factory, it is a fool's dream." ”