Autumn went to winter, and the time came to the end of 1942.

At this time, the drifting army had already launched a strategic counteroffensive in the Pacific theater, and the scale and intensity of the counteroffensive far exceeded the imagination of the Japanese high-brass.

Hirohito and Hideki Tojo originally thought that the center of gravity of the beautiful country would always be on the European continent, so they would never invest too many resources in the Asian theater, at most they would invest a small amount of resources to contain Japan, so that the Japanese army could firmly occupy the initiative in the Pacific theater and win the opportunity to grow.

However, the evolution of the battle situation was completely unexpected by the two.

From the very beginning, the beautiful country has invested a large number of resources and huge troops in the Pacific theater, and in order to compete for such a little-known island as Kuah Island, the beautiful country army has invested nearly 100,000 people, and the navy has concentrated all the warships of its Pacific Fleet to engage in infinite struggle with the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy, and more than 30 naval battles have broken out in just three months.

In particular, after the disastrous defeat at Midway, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet deteriorated and became increasingly difficult to maintain, and it was no longer enough to ensure the safety of the transportation routes in the South Pacific.

The situation in the Pacific theater was gradually reversed.

After the news spread, the Japanese government and the opposition were in mourning.

The headquarters of the 1st Army in Taiyuan also had a solemn atmosphere.

At this time, the personnel and strength of the 1st Army stationed in Shanxi had been adjusted.

Because Yoshimoto Sadachi misjudged the situation and openly challenged Okamura Ninji's authority, he was finally transferred back to the Army Headquarters by Hideki Tojo and transferred to the reserve, Replacing Yoshimoto Sadachi as the commander of the 1st Army was Seiichiro Kita, this old devil got along fairly well with Okamura Ninji.

Takuya Mizuhara is now also the chief of staff of the 1st Army.

The structure of the troops under the 1st Army has also been significantly adjusted.

The 36th and 37th Divisions have been transferred to the Pacific Theater, replaced by the 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, and 75th Divisions, in addition to the 1st Division, the 3rd Brigade, and the 4th Brigade, while the 27th Division and the 110th Division have returned to Tianjin and the Zhengding Defense Area.

Therefore, the 1st Army now has 6 divisions and 2 brigades under its jurisdiction, with a total strength of more than 120,000 troops, which can be said to be a group army second only to the 11th Army in the sequence of China's dispatch army.

The reason why the scale of the 1st Army was so large was because of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.

This can be seen from the deployment of the 1st Army, except for the 1st Division stationed in Lu'an, the 3rd Brigade stationed in Yuncheng, and the 4th Brigade stationed in Taiyuan, the other five divisions are all stationed around Taiyue District.

Among them, the 71st Division is stationed in Linfen, the 72nd Division is stationed in Huo County, the 73rd Division is stationed in Jiexiu, the 74th Division is stationed in Qinxian, and the 75th Division is stationed in Qinyuan County.

The five divisions formed an encirclement posture against the Taiyue area from five directions.

If necessary, Lu'an's 1st Division can also participate in the operation.

However, until now the 1st Army was not ready to attack.

Because of the grim situation in the Pacific theater, it has already had a very great impact on the Chinese theater.

One of the biggest effects was that the war materials were heavily tilted towards the Southern Army, which overstretched the Japanese army on the Chinese battlefield.

Then, it is possible to reinforce the Pacific theater with troops from the Chinese battlefield, which will undoubtedly weaken the strength of the various armies under the Chinese army.

Seiichiro Kita had already heard the rumors and said to Okamura Ninji, "Your Excellency the General, have you heard?" The 1st Division is also said to be transferred to the South Pacific. ”

"That's nonsense." Okamura Ninji said, "There is no such thing."

Regarding the transfer of troops, Hideki Tojo had already informed Okamura Ninji in advance that in view of the tight situation in the Pacific Theater, the Japanese base camp was indeed preparing to transfer a number of veteran divisions from the Chinese battlefield to reinforcements, and they also had an old division in the North China Front that was about to be transferred to the Pacific Theater, but the 1st Division was not on the list.

The 1st Division is the core combat force of the 386th Brigade, how can it be transferred?

"It's good if you don't have it." Kita Seiichiro breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If the 1st Division is really transferred, the situation in Shanxi will not be optimistic, right?" ”

The brigade commander of the 4th Brigade next to him, Nakajima Tokutaro, asked, "Your Excellency General, Your Excellency the Commander, is the situation in the Pacific Theater really so serious?" Need to transfer troops from the Chinese battlefield again? ”

Okamura Ningji said: "The situation of our army in the Pacific theater is actually quite good, if nothing else, let's just say that on the Kuah Island battlefield, the beautiful national army mobilized a heavy group of nearly 100,000 people, and stormed for nearly half a year, but only captured less than a quarter of the area, and most of the entire island is still under the control of the imperial army. ”

"This is mainly due to the marmot tactics of His Excellency the General." Kita Seiichiro complimented, "If it weren't for His Excellency the General to dedicate the groundhog tactics to the base camp, and Baiwujun strictly implemented the groundhog tactics on Kuah Island, the 17th Army would not have been able to hold Kuah Island, and it would have been impossible to achieve such great results as it is now." ”

"Oh, I don't dare to take credit for this." Okamura said with a smile.

"Speaking of this groundhog tactic, I have to thank the 386th Brigade and the Chinese."

"Hello." Kita Seiichiro Horan paused, and then said, "When it comes to the use of the art of war and innovation, there is really no race in this world that can compare with the Chinese, as early as more than two thousand years ago, the Chinese have developed strategy and tactics into an art. ”

"yes." Okamura Ninji said.

"We Japanese have been learning for thousands of years, but we have only learned a little bit."

"It's enough to learn the fur." Kita Seiichiro said with a smile, "At least it is more than enough to deal with the Ansar barbarians of the beautiful country, otherwise the results of the battle on Kuah Island would not be so great." ”

"The results of the battle of Kuah Island are great?" Tokutaro Nakajima asked impatiently.

The generals of different levels of the Japanese army can see the battle reports of different levels of secrecy, and the brigade commanders of major generals like Nakajima Tokutaro cannot see the battle reports of the highest level.

But Ninji Okamura and Seiichiro Kita are qualified to see.

"It's nothing to tell you." Seiichiro Kita said, "With the groundhog tactic, the 17th Army has killed and wounded nearly 20,000 people on Kuah Island, because the casualty number is too large, it is said that the top brass of the beautiful country is already discussing whether to give up the competition for Kuah Island and fight for several other islands in the Solomon Islands." ”

"That's the intelligence stuff." Okamura Ninji said abruptly, "Until now, the two countries have invested huge manpower and material resources, and this battle has become the vane of the entire Pacific Theater, so whether it is for Japan or for the beautiful country, there is no way to retreat, and it can only be fought to the end." ”

"That's better." Seiichiro Kita said in a cruel voice, "Let Kuaha Island become a meat grinder for the drifting army." ”

Okamura Ninji sighed lightly and said: "I'm not worried about the 17th Army, I'm just worried about the navy, the Navy Combined Fleet has lost more than twenty warships, including the Dragon Horse carrier, so far the Imperial Navy has lost half of the aircraft carriers, which has seriously weakened the strength of the Navy Combined Fleet." ”

"However, instead of weakening, the Pacific Fleet of the beautiful navy has become stronger."

After saying this, Okamura Ningji said again: "In the long run, not only the South Pacific, but also the entire Pacific Ocean will lose its sea supremacy. Wouldn't you be trapped on one isolated island after another by the navy of a beautiful country and starve to death? ”

Seiichiro Kita said, "It shouldn't be so miserable, right?" ”

"I hope it's just my worries." Okamura Ninji waved his hand, and then said, "Forget it, let's not talk about the Southern Army and the Pacific Theater, and then discuss the situation of our 1st Army." ”

As he spoke, Takuya Mizuhara walked quickly into the battle hall.

"Suwon-kun." Kita Seiichiro said, "What did you gain from going to Jiexiu for inspection this time?" ”

Okamura Ninji also asked: "Mizuhara-kun, is it possible to replicate the scene in the northwest of Jin and force the 386th Brigade and the local troops of the Taiyue bandit area to fight a positional battle with the imperial army in order to protect the people?" ”

"Your Excellency, this is simply impossible." Suwon Takuya said, "Because the situation in the Taiyue bandit area is fundamentally different from the previous bandit area in the northwest of Shanxi, the boundary of the bandit area in the northwest of Shanxi is very clear, and the entire six counties in the northwest of Jin are all bandit areas, and there is no contention area and consolidation area at all, so the imperial army can implement the three-light policy." ”

"But there are no clear boundaries in the Taiyue bandit area."

"Obviously, the Eighth Route Army has learned the lessons of the bandit area in the northwest of Shanxi."

"They have deliberately blurred the distinction between the core bandit area and the contention area."

"Except for a very small number of areas that belong to the core bandit area, the other areas are all contention areas."

"And even the people of China in the core bandit area are inextricably linked with the contention area."

Speaking of this, Takuya Mizuhara said again: "And for the people of the Zhina who are fighting for the area, the imperial army obviously can't kill them like the people of the bandit area. ”

"That's not going to work." Okamura Ninji shook his head and said, "If the three-light policy is also implemented against the people of the China in the contested area, the final result can only be to push the entire people of North China into the camp of the Eighth Route Army, so that the imperial army is equivalent to fighting with hundreds of millions of Chinese in the entire North China, and such a war will never be won." ”

Takuya Mizuhara said: "Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for the imperial army to replicate the scene in the northwest of Jin and force the 386th Brigade to engage in positional warfare with the imperial army, which they least like and are not good at. ”

"Yagayalu." Kita Seiichiro said, "The Eighth Route Army is really cunning. ”

"Hello." Takuya Mizuhara said, "The Eighth Route Army is not only cunning, but also very good at summarizing and learning, as long as they suffer a loss in a battle, they will immediately conduct a deep analysis of the battle and improve it in the next battle, so as to avoid making the same mistake, which is the most feared part of the Eighth Route Army." ”

After a pause, Takuya Mizuhara continued: "But it's not without good news. ”

"Oh, and good news?" Okamura Ninji was moved when he heard this, and asked, "What good news?" ”

Takuya Mizuhara said: "Your Excellency, the cage policy you launched last year has begun to bear fruit, because the various bandit areas of the Eighth Route Army have basically been divided and surrounded, not only can the outside materials not enter, but the material exchanges between the various bandit areas have also tended to stagnate, the grain from central and southern Hebei cannot enter Shanxi, the cotton from Shandong cannot reach central and southern Hebei, and the salt and vinegar from Shanxi cannot reach Hebei, and the economy of the various bandit areas of the Eighth Route Army is about to collapse. ”

Speaking of this, Mizuhara Takuya said: "Especially this year's Henan disaster, millions of victims poured into Shanxi, which made the various bandit areas of the Shanxi Eighth Route Army even worse, I went to the Taihang bandit area and Taiyue bandit area around the patrol this time, and found a lot of victims, and there have been victims into the Eighth Route Army Taihang bandit area, the Eighth Route Army has always claimed to be the people's army, so they will not sit idly by, will definitely take out military rations to help the victims." ”

Okamura Ninji said: "In other words, as long as the cage policy is continued, the 386th Brigade may collapse on its own?" ”

"It's still very likely." Takuya Mizuhara nodded, and then said, "The attack will definitely be futile, and the implementation of the cage policy may be the only effective way, but I am afraid that it will ......."

I wasn't afraid of anything, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

Emperor Hirohito had never been patient, and if the siege of Taiyue by the North China Front was protracted and did not progress, Hirohito would have been unable to hold his breath.

If you don't do it, you will be relieved of Okamura Ninji's position.

After all, Hirohito had given Okamura Ninji a death order.

Okamura Ninji said: "Mizuhara-kun, you only need to be responsible for enforcing the cage policy, don't worry about anything else." ”

The implication is that the pressure from Emperor Hirohito and the base camp is borne by him Okamura Ninji alone.

After a pause, Okamura Ninji said again: "Mizuhara-kun, there is one more thing you have to keep in mind, the blockade ditch surrounding the entire Taiyue bandit area must continue to be strengthened, and the roads along the blockade ditch and the large and small strongholds along the highway also need to continue to increase, but the imperial army and the imperial alliance army stationed in each large and small stronghold can only carry half a day's ammunition. ”

"What? Ammunition for half a day? Kita Seiichiro was stunned for a moment when he heard this.

Half a day's ammunition, which means that it is only enough for half a day's combat consumption, and then what? If the reinforcements did not arrive in time, wouldn't it mean that the Imperial Army and the Imperial Allied Army in this stronghold could only fight with the Eighth Route Army with bayonets?

"Yes, only half-day ammunition is allowed." Okamura Ninji smiled cruelly and said, "I'd rather let the Imperial Army and the Imperial Allied Army fight with the Eighth Route Army with bayonets, and never let the Eighth Route Army capture a single bullet from the Imperial Army and the Imperial Allied Army!" ”

"Hello!" Takuya Mizuhara paused, and he very much agreed with Okamura's initiative.

The weakness of the Taiyue Military Region of the Eighth Route Army is the lack of a stable supply of ammunition, so it can only obtain ammunition from the Japanese army, the puppet army and the recalcitrant army, and most of them are ammunition captured from the Japanese puppet army, so once it cannot obtain stable ammunition from the Japanese puppet army, then the war potential of the 386th Brigade will continue to decline.

In other words, every time the 386th Brigade attacked a stronghold on the blockade line, its combat effectiveness would be weakened by one point.

Until the 386th Brigade's ammunition reserves finally drop to a critical point, it will completely lose its offensive capability, and then the 1st Army will be able to launch a grate sweep.

But now, it is clear that this condition is not available.

Because now the 386th Brigade has not completely lost its field capability.

At this time, a grate-style sweep was launched, that is, to send supplies to the 386th Brigade.

At that moment, Takuya Mizuhara said again: "Your Excellency General, then I will go back to Qinyuan County first." ”

"Go ahead." Okamura Ninji nodded and said, "Completely lock up the Taiyue bandit area as soon as possible." ”

"Hello." Takuya Mizuhara shook his head heavily, and then turned around with his saber on his shoulder.

……

Mount Taiyue, headquarters of the Taiyue Column.

At this time, the number of the Northwest Column of Jin Province had been officially revoked, and the more than 12,000 elites who broke through were all incorporated into the Taiyue Column.

After the reorganization, the Taiyue Column has 386 Brigade, 212 Brigade, 1st Brigade, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Brigade and Artillery Regiment.

In addition to concurrently serving as the commander of the 386th Brigade and the commander of the column, the brigade commander still concurrently serves as the commander of the Taiyue Military Region, the commander of the 212th Brigade Cheng Shifa concurrently serves as the commander of the 1st Division, the commander of the 1st Independent Brigade Ding Wei is also the commander of the 2nd Division, the commander of the 2nd Independent Brigade Kong Jie is also the commander of the 3rd Division, and the commander of the 3rd Independent Brigade Li Yunlong is also the commander of the 4th Division.

This is the localization of the regular army, and there is no longer a separate field unit.

Because the experience of the Northwest Column of Shanxi Province proves one thing, setting up such an elite field force can indeed have a strong ability to attack fortified positions, but it is also easy to attract the Japanese army's target.

For example, the 386th Brigade is still a thorn in the side of the Japanese army.

Wang Ye also resigned from all other part-time jobs and became the captain of the Wolf Warrior Brigade directly under the Taiyue Column.

It's just that this wolf warrior brigade belongs to the regiment-level system, so Wang Ye is still a regular regiment.

Last month, the Wolf Warrior Brigade conducted a selection of new members in the Taiyue Military Region, and selected more than 200 people from more than 50,000 regular troops, local armed forces, and militias.

Next, it's a high-intensity training.

This training intensity is not ordinarily large, the kind that can train people to waste.

Wang Ye's expectation was to eliminate half of the people, and in the end, as long as there were only a hundred people left, he would be very satisfied.

Intensive training must lead to huge consumption, and if the calorie intake does not keep up, it will be a real problem, so meat must be provided.

But the current Taiyue Column is almost unable to afford it.

The conditions of the Taiyue Military Region are far from being comparable to those in the northwest of Shanxi, and the people here can only barely fill their stomachs, and there is no excess coarse grain to feed the livestock, so it is difficult to buy meat nearby.

Only large market towns or county towns can buy mule and mutton.

However, the Taiyue Military Region's funds were already stretched, and they couldn't afford to buy meat for the Wolf Warrior Brigade at all.

On this day, Wang Ye returned to the garrison with the troops after training, and happened to meet Yang Dakui, the chief of staff of the column.

Yang Dakui wanted to explain the actual situation to Wang Ye.

But the brigade commander wouldn't let him, and the brigade commander said that he would find a way when he returned.

Seeing that Yang Dakui wanted to speak and stopped, Wang Ye asked, "Chief of Staff, is there something?" ”

Yang Dakui finally waved his hand and said, "It's okay, I'm just saying hello to you." ”

"No, there must be something wrong with you." Wang Ye said thoughtfully, "Chief of Staff, is it that the headquarters is short of funds and is no longer able to provide meat for our Wolf Warrior Brigade?" ”

"Nope." Yang Dakui hurriedly said, "The headquarters still has funds. ”

Wang Ye said: "Chief of Staff, don't lie to me anymore, the headquarters doesn't have a few dollars left, and it has cost more than a thousand yuan to buy meat for our wolf brigade for more than a month!" ”

Yang Dakui said with some embarrassment: "You know everything? ”

"Chief of Staff, I've wanted to tell you for a long time." Wang Ye smiled and said, "Don't worry, our Wolf Warrior Brigade will solve the matter of funds, not only the funds for buying meat, but even the funds for the daily expenses of the column headquarters, our Wolf Warrior Brigade will also find a way to solve it." ”

Yang Dakui said happily when he heard this: "Can you really solve it?" ”

"Of course." Wang Ye said with a smile, "There is nothing that can't be solved once, and if it doesn't work once, then twice." ”

"What?" Yang Dakui was confused by Wang Ye's words, and said with a blank face, "What once, twice?" Xiao Wang, what are you talking about? ”

"Enter the county seat." Wang Ye said with a smile, "Isn't it enough to solve the expenses for entering the county once?" If you can't solve it after entering the county seat once, then enter it twice. ”

"What? Into the county? ”

Yang Dakui's face immediately fell.

Saying this, entering the county seat is like a street.

"That's not going to work." Yang Dakui immediately frowned and said, "Without the approval of the commander, don't mess around, besides, your wolf warrior brigade has not yet become an army, and the most important thing now is training." ”

"Chief of Staff, I'll only take the old team members, it's okay." Wang Ye said.

Yang Dakui said: "It's not good for the old players, and it's not okay to say that it's not okay to break the sky." ”

"Chief of Staff, it's really going to be fine." Wang Ye said, "Isn't it just entering the county seat?" ”

Yang Dakui said: "What you kid said is really light, Qinyuan County is so easy to enter?" There's an infantry division with devils stationed there! ”

"Qinyuan County?" Wang Ye was surprised, "Chief of Staff, who said that we want to enter Qinyuan County?" ”

"Not Qinyuan County?" This time it was Yang Dakui's turn to be stunned for a moment, and then said, "Then which county are you going to?" ”

Wang Ye said with a smile: "Wuxiang County and Yushe County in the east, Lingshi County and Fenxi County in the west, and Tunliu County and Xiangyuan County in the south only have a small number of Japanese troops, but this time we are going to Qi County in the north." ”

"Qi County?" Yang Dakui's eyes lit up instantly, "That's the richest county in Shanxi." ”

"That's right, and there aren't too many Japanese troops in Qi County." Wang Ye said with a smile, "Chief of Staff, our Wolf Warrior Brigade has already done a detailed reconnaissance of the surrounding counties, and we can say that we know the situation in these counties well, for example, this Qi County, there is only one squadron of devils and one regiment of the puppet army. ”

"That's it." Yang Dakui was also a little moved when he heard this.

There is nothing else, it is really that the Taiyue Military Region has no money now.

If the Wolf Warrior Brigade could get a sum of money from Qi County, it would really help him a lot.

At that moment, Yang Dakui asked: "Xiao Wang, tell me the truth, there is really no danger in going to Qi County?" ”

"Chief of Staff, how many times do you want me to say it?" Wang Ye spread his hands and said, "There is really no danger in Qi County, if you enter Qi County, you will follow up with us from your own homeland, you can enter if you want, and you can go out if you want to, who the dares to stop you?" ”

"You kid." Yang Dakui finally agreed, "Go and come back quickly." ”

"No problem, Chief of Staff, you just wait for good news." After Wang Ye finished speaking, he left.

Yang Dakui had just sent off Wang Ye and the veterans of the Wolf Warrior Brigade on the front foot, but the brigade commander came back on the back foot.

"Chief of Staff, where's Xiao Wang?" The brigade commander asked as soon as he entered the headquarters.

Yang Dakui hurriedly said: "Brigade commander, I have to make a review to you." ”

"Review?" The brigade commander said, "Lao Yang, what are you doing?" ”

Yang Dakui said: "Without your consent, I approved the combat operations of the Wolf Warrior Brigade without your consent......

"What's going on?" After Yang Dakui finished speaking, the brigade commander said, "You did the right thing, in fact, even if you don't approve it, I will approve them to go to Qi County." ”

After a pause, the brigade commander said again: "Lao Yang, this time I went to the headquarters for a meeting, and I found that the headquarters organs and divisions are even more difficult than ours. ”

Yang Dakui was silent, and said in his heart that our Taiyue District also eats two meals a day? And both meals are thin, so it is better to say that the food of the headquarters is better.

The brigade commander waved his hand and said, "It's not what you think, we have two meals a day, and although the food is porridge, it's still small rice, right?" However, the so-called dry rice of the headquarters is broken bud grain, rice bran, and wheat bran mixed with wild vegetables and tree bark, while porridge is directly boiled wild vegetables and tree bark. ”

"Huh?" Yang Dakui was stunned and said, "Is the headquarters organ in such difficulty?" ”

"That's not it." The brigade commander sighed, "At this meeting, the boss and the comrades were all lying on the kang, because the comrades had no strength to sit, so they could only lie down." ”

"Ah, this ......" Yang Dakui didn't know what to say.

Although the Taiyue Military Region is also very difficult, it is far from this extent.

The brigade commander said: "Originally, the division and the headquarters organs would not be in such difficulty, mainly because Henan was hit by a major disaster, and a large number of victims poured into our Shanxi, and many of the victims had fled to the Taihang Military Region. ”

After a pause, the brigade commander said: "After a while, it is estimated that there will be disaster victims entering our Taiyue District, so we must also prepare some food in advance to help the victims as much as possible." ”

Yang Dakui said: "So, let Xiao Wang and them go to Qi County to make money?" ”

The brigade commander nodded and said: "Not only Qi County, but also Taigu County, these two counties are the richest counties in SX Province, and they have been the base camp of Jin merchants since the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Makes sense." Yang Dakui said, "Then we will have money to buy grain." ”

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