…… The tide of battle continues to evolve.

During the three months that Kong Jie, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei and others were studying in Yan'an, there were basically no major changes in the anti-Japanese situation in North China, and the Japanese army still occupied some major county towns and communication lines, gathering troops and holding on.

The elite of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang area, dominated by the Iron Triangle Group Army, also made changes in its strategic policy toward the Japanese army, changing from an active offensive to a focus on containment.

Due to the substantial expansion of the area of the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese revolutionary base area, coupled with the increase and extension of the battle front.

The Japanese forces on the North China side were under pressure on the defensive side and could barely move.

Soon after, when the attention of the devils in North China, and even the entire Japanese army in China, was basically focused on the opponent in North China, mainly on the elite of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang region.

The New Fourth Army seized the opportunity to launch an offensive on a more intense and larger scale than usual against the Japanese troops in Central China, northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, northern Guangdong, eastern Zhejiang, and northern Jiangxi, taking advantage of the cold and freezing combat environment in winter.

The Japanese responded in a hurry, thinking that it was just an ordinary attack launched by the New Fourth Army that focused on harassment and sneak attacks.

Who knew that the battle situation was getting more and more intense.

In the ranks of the New Fourth Army, which was still within the expected range of the Japanese troops in the various defensive lines, a considerable amount of offensive firepower suddenly appeared.

The Japanese troops hit by all kinds of machine guns and artillery were caught off guard and were in a hurry.

A large number of weapons of the New Fourth Army seem to have been replaced, and the firepower is much stronger than usual, and the Japanese puppet troops in various regions who were not expected to be beaten were almost disarmed.

In just half a month, the New Fourth Army won successive victories, and under the winter offensive in all aspects, the Japanese puppet army was defeated and retreated one after another, and even recovered a considerable number of towns and towns, including some remote county seats.

As a result, the area of the various anti-Japanese base areas grew rapidly, and even many base areas that were originally scattered were completely connected, forming a single area, and becoming more and more stable.

For a time, the Japanese troops in Central China, Northern Jiangsu, Northern Anhui, Northern Guangdong, Eastern Zhejiang, and Northern Jiangxi were in a hurry and asked for reinforcements.

The General Headquarters of the Japanese Army's China Dispatch Army, the old devil Hata, who learned the news, was stunned.

At that time, he focused most of his attention on the defense of the Eighth Route Army troops in the occupied areas of North China.

Due to the growing strength of the Eighth Route Army in North China, which is now even outrageously strong, the Japanese army in North China alone is beyond the power to ensure the stability of law and order in the rear occupation area.

The helpless Hatatakeroku is making plans to send some troops from Central and East China to reinforce North China, so as to stabilize this large rear and provide assistance to the Pacific Theater and the main battlefield in Southeast Asia?

As a result, the Japanese field troops in Central China had only recently assembled, and before they had time to set off, news came that the New Fourth Army had launched a large-scale winter offensive and that the occupied areas in the central and southern parts of the empire had been continuously breached.

"Baga, do these damn New Fourth Army dare to be so rampant?"

Hata's furious furiousness was monstrous.

Once upon a time, the anti-Japanese armed forces that survived in the cracks of the occupied areas, whether it was the Eighth Route Army or the New Fourth Army, were never regarded by the Japanese army and were just ragtag troops that could not be put on the table.

But this has only been a few years.

First of all, the rapid rise of the Eighth Route Army, especially the Iron Triangle Army troops that made Hatatakero want to get rid of it quickly.

The rear of the Japanese army was in turmoil.

It hadn't been long since it had settled down a little, and Hata, Junroku was still glad that the situation had finally stabilized, but when he turned around, the New Fourth Army in the south actually began to toss again.

In addition, according to the information that was constantly transmitted to the headquarters, Hahata Junroku learned that the equipment of the New Fourth Army in the south seemed to have developed rapidly, and that their considerable troops were equipped with a large number of artillery and machine guns, and the original fortifications were simply not enough.

Because of this omission, the Japanese army was caught off guard in the face of the large-scale, multi-directional, and large-scale winter offensive suddenly launched by the New Fourth Army.

Analyzing the matter at a military meeting, the chief of staff of Junroku Hahata argued:

"There must be something strange about this matter, I'm afraid there is still the shadow of the Eighth Route Army!"

As soon as these words came out, a group of devil officers suddenly realized.

Some devil officers stationed in Central China were even more convinced: "This must be the case, these New Fourth Army suddenly have a large amount of weapons and equipment, most of them are secretly building some transportation channels with the Eighth Route Army, and have received weapons reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army!" ”

Hatatakeroku has a headache about this, which is what worries him the most.

At present, it seems that it is preparing to break through the defense line of the Great Japanese Empire, and even begin to reinforce the New Fourth Army in the south to promote the development of the New Fourth Army.

He hardly dared to imagine what kind of bad situation the Great Japanese Empire would face once the New Fourth Army in the south grew and rose like the Eighth Route Army in North China.

The chief of staff of the devil also said: "Your Excellency, commander, in this way, suppressing the rebellion of the New Fourth Army in the southern region is the top priority of our Central China Front.

I think what we need to do now is to seize the time to destroy the reinforcement channel to the New Fourth Army that the Eighth Route has secretly opened up, and curb the development of the New Fourth Army.

Then our original plan to transfer troops from China to North China may not work. ”

However, the operational situation in North China is equally grim.

After finally thinking about it, Junroku Hata finally realized that there was only one last way left in front of him - to ask for help from the Kwantung Army!

"It's just that even the last face has been lost now, and we're afraid that we will be completely ridiculed by the Kwantung Army!"

The relationship between the five armies of the little devils, the domestic army (the 1st and 2nd general armies of Japan), the navy (joint wing), the Kwantung Army, the Chinese Dispatch Army, and the Japanese Southern Army was not as harmonious as it seemed.

Even the original policy of invading China was controversial.

The 918 Incident and the rapid capture of the three eastern provinces can be said to be led by the Kwantung Army.

At that time, however, several other major armies did not approve of the Kwantung Army's approach.

They believe that China has a vast territory, a vast territory, and too much strategic depth, and that it will be difficult for China to swallow China if it does not make all preparations first, and will only end up with self-destruction.

However, the Kwantung Army did not think so, they thought that the September 18 Incident was an excellent ripe time, so they captured the northeast in one fell swoop and supported the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

The two sides do not deal with each other.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, each army also fought separately, and although the two units nominally belonged to the same battle sequence of the Japanese army, there were not many cases of joint operations with each other.

The attitude of the Chinese dispatch army is that our dispatch army is responsible for dealing with the Chinese army in this pass, and your Kwantung army will rarely intervene.

The Kwantung Army was too lazy to help, and under the pretext of needing to garrison the border and beware of the Soviet army, it simply guarded the area outside the border and built the northeast like an iron bucket.

But now it's a lot of fun.

The Chinese dispatch army in this pass lost battles one after another, and was stunned by the original miscellaneous troops behind the enemy, the Eighth Route Army.

As the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, although Shunroku Hata did not want to admit that the Dispatch Army was inferior to the Kwantung Army, but in the current situation, he could only pull down his old face and ask the Kwantung Army for help.

During the call, after receiving Shunroku Hatata's request, the 14th Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Kwantung Army, Umezu Mijiro, laughed out loud.

The old devil's mocking words were undisguised.

"Hata Junjun, it's really difficult to send troops for your China, when you boasted of destroying China in three months, the result has evolved to the current situation.

It is a shame for our great Japanese empire that some Chinese troops, with their outdated equipment and poor tactics, were able to force the imperial troops into such a situation.

If it weren't for the fact that our Kwantung Army needed to be stationed outside the pass and prepare to fight the Soviet army, it would have raised troops to the south a long time ago and destroyed the Eighth Route Army and the Central Army in one fell swoop! ”

Umezu Mijiro brags to himself, and he doesn't pay taxes anyway, and he doesn't have to do it.

People are under the eaves, and it is not good to refute too much, but he still teased:

"Yes, if they are all like the 14th Division of your Kwantung Army, there is still any Central Army in the Eighth Route Army in this area, and it is naturally not a problem to destroy them casually!"

"......" Umezu Mijiro was silent.

The destruction of Inoue's division was a severe pain in his heart, and Umezu Mijiro also blamed the destruction of Inoue's division on the ineffective operation of the North China Front.

But think about it from another angle.

Known as the flower of the imperial army, as the elite 14th Division of the Kwantung Army of the Japanese army, this is an almost full division and regimental establishment, no matter what the circumstances are wiped out by the troops of the Eighth Route Army, this is an unforgivable and great humiliation.

Umezu Mijiro never thought that his Kwantung Army troops were not good at combat effectiveness, but he was also unwilling to admit that the Eighth Route Army in the Kannai District could have such combat effectiveness!

In the end, both sides had their own pains, and the two old devils, who were quite sympathetic, decided to join forces.

Umezu Mijiro promised that after adjusting the original deployment of the Kwantung Army outside the Guan, he would send the corresponding troops south to reinforce North China.

In this way, the Japanese and Japanese forces sent by China to the Central China Front could remain unmoved and continue to hold on to Central China to guard against the strength of the New Fourth Army in the south.

Until this time, after discussion, these two old devils also believed that the Eighth Route Army in North China would no longer launch an active offensive at present, and the next step was likely to unite the New Fourth Army in the south to deal with the imperial army.

From beginning to end, none of these two old devils dared to think about it.

These eight roads dare to have the audacity to fight the idea of the Kwantung Army!

……

North China.

The Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army were still in a tense confrontation.

Especially in the Shouyang and Yangquan areas, the Japanese puppet army facing the most elite Iron Triangle base of the Eighth Route Army was even more panicked, worrying about the sneak attack of the steel helmets of the Eighth Route Army all day long.

However, to the surprise of the Japanese army, although they would receive information on the movement of the Eighth Route Army in the base area from time to time, for more than two months, the Eighth Route Army did not take the initiative to launch any offensive against the Japanese army after all.

As if it was really as they said, it was just repairing the troops in the base area.

But Harada, the old devil who was ordered to be stationed in the Yangquan and Shouyang areas, didn't care about this, and he had already made an amazing discovery over the years:

For the management of the occupied areas of the empire, the continuous strengthening of law and order, as well as foreign sweeps and military offensives, often met with a stronger backlash from the anti-Japanese forces such as the Eighth Route Army, which in turn led to more and more turmoil and instability in the occupied areas.

On the contrary, if we can be more tolerant, less targeted at the Eighth Route Army, and even when the two sides can conduct business in private amicably, the occupied areas will be at peace and more stable, and there will be basically no incidents of the Imperial Army being attacked by the Eighth Route Army or guerrillas.

That's what Harada did after leading the 35th Division to be stationed in Yangquan and Shouyang.

Plans to sweep the base areas of the Eighth Route Army were all put on hold.

Even some of the clean-up campaigns targeting quasi-security areas have been halted.

In addition to the solid defense of the main county towns and communication lines, the rest of the county towns, towns and villages are even allowed to open the city gates, allowing caravans to come and go from all over the country, and the requirements are not too strict in terms of inventory.

In the areas occupied by other devils, at least on the surface, the border area tickets of the Eighth Route Army are absolutely not allowed to circulate.

But Harada did not strictly prohibit this, and even his soldiers dared to openly use the border ticket of the Eighth Road in the county.

Sometimes, when military salaries are paid, Harada even uses border tickets instead of day tickets.

In Harada's words: "The tickets of these eight roads are so good, you can buy things, the people recognize them, and you can feed our soldiers, why don't you use them?" ”

The so-called upward and downward effect, under such an open policy.

At that time, the Yangquan Iron Triangle Kawashima, Qian Dekai and others were simply happy, and soon they had the same smell as Harada, so they just put money in their pockets.

At first, it was still an ordinary material business to the outside world, and the devil was even smarter, hiding behind and not showing up, but directing the puppet army to help resell some materials, and then exchange money from those merchants.

Later, these people became more and more emboldened, and even expanded their business with the outside world without much concealment, and even dared to secretly sell some arms and equipment.

Who made this thing expensive!

Harada was an old profiteer, who made money by selling supplies and arms at high prices from merchants in Shouyang and Yangquan, and then turned around to other Japanese-occupied areas to buy supplies at low prices, including buying arms at low prices from some Japanese troops.

As soon as this back and forth was reversed, Harada's kid made a lot of money as a middleman, and by the way, he tied a large number of Japanese officers to a boat, forming a solid alliance.

As for guilt?

"Ahh What is my Harada guilty about? I'm not ashamed! How many troops are hungry and can't eat? If it weren't for my Harada's help, the soldiers would be starving to death, how would they have the strength to train and fight?

Looking at the occupied area now, the law and order are stable, the economy is recovering, and the military resources that can be provided to the imperial army are also increasing, who dares to say that this is not the credit of my Harada? ”

Lieutenant General Harada said with great ambition.

(End of chapter)