Faced with Yoshimoto Sadachi's sworn words, Okabe was stunned at first, and then hesitated.

As the commander-in-chief of the North China Front, he can also be said to be the old senior of Yoshimoto Sadachi, and his insight into the war, Okabe Naosaburo is naturally no worse than Yoshimoto Sadachi.

Yoshimoto Sadachi's battle plan for attacking the east and west, Okabe didn't think about it.

It's just that in recent years, the Japanese army has experienced too many fiascos in the occupied areas at the hands of the Eighth Route Army, so that Okabe did not dare to gamble on a large-scale offensive campaign like Yoshimoto Sadachi's proposal.

Although Okabe, like the majority of Japanese officers, was a gambler.

But gamblers are not crazy people.

Not everyone has the courage to go to the stud.

If this fails, it will be a complete failure.

"The Kwantung Army is still shouldering the burden of alerting the Soviet army, if the Kwantung Army moves south to deal with the Eighth Route Army, the Soviet army seizes the opportunity and takes the opportunity to send troops to attack the northeast, then the situation will be troublesome!"

Okabe's concerns were the voice of many of the Japanese officers who participated in the meeting.

However, Yoshimoto dispelled everyone's doubts with one sentence:

"The war has progressed to this point, and if we take another step back, we will lose everything, do we still have the capital to consider and hesitate?"

Yoshimoto's words woke up Okabe and other officers like a stick.

Okabe also suddenly woke up.

Yes, the war has reached this point, and the empire has no way back.

The way of war that he hesitated at the beginning may now seem to be the last chance to turn the tables, so what is the hesitation?

If you don't try, you will fail.

Try it, and maybe there's a chance of victory!

In this way, he made up his mind, and in the subsequent discussion, he determined the combat strategy proposed by Yoshimoto Sadachi to feint Xi'an, sneak attack Yan'an, and attack the west from the east.

Okabe then reported his battle plan to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Force, Junroku Tahata.

To be honest, when he got the news, Hatara Junroku first expressed hesitation, but what followed was hope in his heart.

He had already discussed with the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, Umezu Mijiro, and the two sides joined forces to deal with the Chinese army, and he was still worried about what kind of battle plan to prepare.

Yoshimoto Sadachi's operational plan for attacking the east and west, feintting to attack Xi'an, and surprise attack Yan'an, with the ultimate goal of completely opening up the mainland lines of communication and destroying the construction of the Eighth Route Army's base area, was reported.

This coincides with Junroku Hatata's operational thinking.

Feint to attack Xi'an first!

There is no problem at all with this step.

Xi'an is located in the Guanzhong area, with the Wei River in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south.

With the help of the steep terrain, it is simply a one-man pass, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army initially wanted to take Shaanxi, but after only a few battles on the outside line, they gave up without interest.

For the Japanese army at that time, due to the easy to defend and difficult to attack the terrain of Shaanxi, if they wanted to attack Shaanxi on a large scale, it would definitely not work to go over the mountains and mountains, so they had to cross the Yellow River westward.

As the homeland of China's rear, there is no room for loss, even the Chiang army and the Eighth Route Army put aside all the gaps, sincere cooperation, with the help of the Yellow River natural danger to block, the Japanese army wanted to forcibly cross the river to fight, it is undoubtedly difficult.

In addition, Shaanxi was barren and impoverished at that time, and for Japan, which was in urgent need of oil and other materials, it took a lot of effort to defeat it, and in fact, it could not seize much resources, so it simply gave up.

The two sides also formed a confrontation situation on the Shaanxi border, and in the following years, although the Japanese army also launched several attacks, basically the will to attack was not strong.

This time, it would be reasonable for the Japanese army to deploy a considerable number of troops to storm Shaanxi in order to achieve the goal of the final cover operation, and to show its intention to break through China's rear.

With this as a cover, Tu Poor Dagger, and then raided Yan'an.

According to Yoshimoto Sadachi's line of thought: "The Eighth Route will definitely think that our army is preparing to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle and knock out the political rear of their Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop."

Yan'an is too important to the Eighth Route Army, no matter whether they can see through our army's strategic intentions or not, the Eighth Route will definitely draw troops to strengthen the defense of Yan'an, and the attention of all parties will definitely be attracted to it.

But where would the Eighth Route Army think that this is still a part of our plan to attack the east and the west, and what we really want to deal with is some communication lines and important base areas built by the Eighth Route Army in North China.

During this period of time, our army's strategic policy against the Eighth Route Army was changed, and the main county towns and communication lines were stationed in the main county seats.

With this as long as we make full preparations, we can completely cover the Kwantung Army's secret southward movement in batches, and with the support of this sudden increase in military strength, I want to see how these Eight Roads can continue to run rampant! ”

……

……

When the little devil was planning how to deal with the Eighth Route Army, Kong Jie was still discussing the follow-up strategic policy of the New Fourth Army with the relevant leaders of the New Fourth Army.

During the discussion at the meeting, Kong Jie changed his low-key and humble image in the past, and repeatedly stated: "I think there are two general directions for the development of our New Fourth Army's base areas in the future.

One is to strengthen the Dabie Mountain Base Area, and the other is to build a solid anti-Japanese revolutionary base area in the Lianghuai region, with the help of the geographical cover and military reinforcement of the Dabie Mountain Base Area in the Lianghuai Region, we can completely ensure that our Dabie Mountain Base Area can be attacked, retreated, and defended, killing two birds with one stone! ”

"In addition, we must build a special rapid troop transportation channel to the Lianghuai region and the Dabie Mountain area, and ensure that our New Fourth Army, including the main force of the Eighth Route Army, can transport enough troops to the Lianghuai region in the shortest possible time."

Kong Jie's deployment is actually quite long-term.

On the one hand, it is to guard against the future chaos of Chiang's army.

On the other hand, it was a pain in the heart, at that time it had lasted until 44 years, and the Japanese army continued to suffer defeats behind enemy lines, and it was also losing and retreating in the Pacific and Southeast Asian theaters, and it was already the end of the crossbow.

Then, on the frontal battlefield, in Yuxianggui and other places, the Japanese army launched an active large-scale attack, and the two sides started the Battle of Yuxianggui.

At that time, the supreme commander of the Japanese army who commanded the battle was still the old devil Shunroku Hatata, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army.

However, as far as the troops participating in the war are concerned, the Japanese army at this time has basically reached the situation of poor donkey skills, and a large number of elite troops have been transferred to the Pacific theater, resulting in a serious decline in the proportion of veterans in the troops, coupled with the lack of resources in the troops, and the decline in equipment.

In Li Yunlong's words - this is a group of second-rate fighting little devils.

As a result, the result of the war between the two sides was a big surprise to all parties, and the Japanese army defeated the Chiang army's troops, which was the second major rout in the history of the Jiang army's frontal war of resistance, the defeat of Yuxianggui.

The defeat of this conference battle also led to a series of tragic consequences, resulting in China paying a very heavy price, and even a large amount of land loss.

None of this is what Kong Jie wants to see.

Therefore, Kong Jie's purpose was very simple, to deploy troops in the Lianghuai region and the Dabie Mountain area in advance to prepare for the outbreak of the Battle of Henan-Xiang-Guizhou in the future.

Even if Chiang's army was defeated and fled, the vast land of Henan, Hunan and Guizhou and other provinces must not be lost to the little devils in vain, and the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army could take the opportunity to penetrate behind enemy lines and continue to deal with the Japanese army.

In order to minimize the losses of China's defeat in this battle.

Regarding Kong Jie's proposal to insist on building a solid base in the Lianghuai region and the Dabie Mountain region and opening up an anti-Japanese battlefield, although many generals attending the meeting did not have an insight into the future war situation like Kong Jie, they also realized the far-reaching significance of this move with a long-term vision.

What's the bottom line?

——This is what Lao Kong said, and now the weight of Lao Kong's words is not insignificant, and some suggestions and proposals, even the boss and deputy chief of general staff, and even Yan'an attach great importance to them.

Since Kong Jie led the independent regiment, to the growth of a team, and now to the special experimental area of the Eighth Route Army, countless facts have proved Kong Jie's long-term vision and excellent foresight.

No one will ignore Kong Jie's words.

The final plan set the follow-up development policy of the New Fourth Army, which included the combat mission of building a solid anti-Japanese revolutionary base in the Lianghuai and Dabie Mountain areas.

At this point, Kong Jie also breathed a sigh of relief, and that was all he could do.

…… With regard to cooperation with the Allied countries in all aspects and seeking assistance from the Allied countries, Kong Jie also pointed out in particular: "This year is already 43 years, and with the evolution of the war situation, the combat situation of the international countries has reached a critical juncture.

This should be the last year that the international countries still rely on us to contain the Japanese army, and we can still get some assistance from the allies.

Therefore, as far as we are concerned, this year is a golden year for the construction of the army and the steady development of the base areas, and we must seize it.

Do not leave behind all the assistance that can be requested, and do not hesitate to expand all the business and military industry and cooperation in all aspects.

In short, we must do everything possible to win more resources for the development of our base areas.

We can fully foresee that after this year's steady development, we will face the need for continuous resource output and continuous war! ”

In North China, on the battlefield behind enemy lines.

The strategic policy implemented by the Eighth Route Army was still to contain the Japanese army.

At the same time, it also actively launched some small-scale military offensives to recover some lost territory, and at the same time gradually developed the original guerrilla areas into relatively stable anti-Japanese revolutionary base areas, further reducing the living space of the Japanese army.

As for the Shandong Military Region, the units of the Eighth Route Army in various base areas also actively sought some active military offensives to contain the local Japanese troops and the Kwantung Army troops heading south.

Time passed in this situation......

In April, when the weather in the north warmed up slightly, the Japanese army suddenly gathered considerable forces and forcibly crossed the Yellow River westward and advanced in the direction of Xi'an under the command of the newly appointed commander of the First Army in Shanxi, Yoshimoto Sadachi.

After the news came out, everyone was shocked.

The Northwest Army was also very surprised, and the Japanese army also tried to cross the Yellow River west to attack in recent years, but all ended in failure.

I thought that the little devil had completely cut off the idea of going west to Shaanxi, but who would have thought that now he would suddenly launch an attack.

The Eighth Route Army also expressed surprise.

In particular, the command of the Eighth Route Army's experimental area, since the last discussion and analysis of the possibility that the Japanese army, as a gambler, is likely to make a desperate bet.

Kong Jie, Ding Wei, and Li Yunlong thought that the base areas of the Eighth Route Army were always on guard against the possible crazy moves of the Japanese army.

Then the news came that the Japanese army was advancing westward, crossing the Yellow River westward, and advancing in the direction of Xi'an.

"Damn, what do you mean by this little devil, your head was kicked by a donkey, and you have nothing to do to go to Shaanxi to find excitement?"

In the headquarters, when analyzing the matter, Li Yunlong expressed puzzlement.

Ding Wei pointed out after thinking: "Forcibly crossing the Yellow River westward, no matter in any way, is more than worth the loss for the Japanese army, and the newly appointed Yoshimoto Sanichi should not be a fool."

Then there is only one possibility, the devil may cross the Yellow River to the west is fake, covering the military operation in the shadows, this is the truth. ”

"Lao Ding, what do you mean ......?"

Li Yunlong said, his eyes had drifted in the direction of Yan'an, Shaanxi.

Ding Wei nodded: "It's very likely, our rear Yan'an is too close to the Yellow River, once the devil forcibly crosses the Yellow River, he can attack Yan'an directly!" I have to guard against it! ”

Kong Jie said: "The direction that Lao Ding is worried about can be said to coincide with the direction that the boss and the deputy chief of staff are worried about.

In this regard, the Yan'an direction has also made preparations in advance and strengthened the garrison of troops, and it is not clear the true combat intentions of the devils, but they are always prepared. ”

Kong Jie suddenly asked political commissar Li Wenjie again: "Wenjie, do we have the latest movements of the Japanese army on the intelligence network?" ”

Li Wenjie shook his head: "It's all some inconsequential news, and there is no important information yet." ”

"What else is going on on the side of the Kwantung Army?"

"For the time being, there is no movement, and we have not received any information that the Kwantung Army is moving south, but we do notice that the Japanese army has particularly strengthened the vigilance of some county towns and communication lines, and is under special martial law, and even caravans are not allowed to enter.

In this case, if the Kwantung Army moves south, and it is a small transfer of troops in multiple batches, we may not be able to detect the movement! ”

Ding Weihu looked at Kong Jie suspiciously: "Old Kong, don't you think that the Japanese army's westward crossing of the Yellow River this time is still related to the Kwantung Army, right?" ”

Kong Jie shook his head: "I'm not sure, we can only imagine in all directions at present." ”

On the 27th, the Japanese troops crossing the Yellow River west in the direction of Xi'an fought for several days, and a fierce battle broke out with the blocking Northwest Army, and both sides suffered heavy losses.

The command of the Northwest Army even said that the Japanese army attacked fiercely and had a strong intention to advance, perhaps wanting to completely break through the defensive line, hoping to get reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army in Yan'an to jointly block the Japanese advance.

For this reason, even Kong Jie, Li Yunlong, and Ding Wei were a little confused.

"The little devil is desperately trying to cross the Yellow River at such a heavy cost of casualties, is it true that he really wants to break through the Yellow River defense line in one fell swoop and attack our rear? Could it be that we are overthinking? ”

Then, on the 28th, the front-line garrison of the Eighth Route Army in Yan'an suddenly sounded the alarm, and a large number of Japanese troops launched a surprise attack, which was fierce.

The little devil who saw the poor dagger seemed to be really running for Yan'an......

(End of chapter)