At the headquarters of the 4th Brigade of the Japanese Army in Yangquan.

Shoji Kurosawa, chief of staff of the brigade, looked at the pile of minced meat that was gathered in front of him, and was stunned for a moment, like a sculpture.

The shredded flesh was almost wrapped in a battle robe, which was collected at the point of impact, and there was rubble, dirt, and shrapnel in it, and crimson blood droplets flowed out of the suit like a filter.

Although Mitake Tsuda is tyrannical, murderous, and a madman when he fights, Shoji Kurosawa feels that Mitake Tsuda is a good brigade commander.

But it was such a good brigade commander, and now he has become a pile of minced meat, and the pile of minced meat in front of him is not necessarily all his.

It was hard for Kurosawa Shoji to imagine that the commander of the Major General's Brigade, who had commanded them half an hour earlier, had lost his bones in just half an hour.

It's very uncomfortable.

"Chief of Staff?"

Toshio Ogata, the leader of the second brigade, walked in with a saber and a black face, and shouted cautiously when he saw this.

"What about Your Excellency, Brigade Commander?"

When he was just in the front, Toshio Ogata was engrossed in directing the soldiers to attack the eight-way position, only to see the artillery position being bombed, and not noticing that the brigade commander was also blown up.

The black face was completely smoked by the smoke of the shells.

Hearing the voice, Kurosawa Shoji, who came back to his senses, pointed to the minced meat on the table: "Your Excellency the brigade commander, the jade is broken." ”

"Nani? Is this Your Excellency the Brigade Commander? Toshio Ogata was stunned when he saw it, "This is impossible!" ”

"Tell me it's not true!"

"Chief of Staff, tell me it's not true!"

Toshio Ogata muttered to himself, his tone incredulous.

"Ogata-kun, it's true!" Mitake Tsuda said dejectedly, "Your Excellency the brigade commander was blown up by the artillery of the Eighth Road. ”

When Toshio Ogata heard this, he seemed to have lost his spirit and lost his soul.

Immediately, he raised his head suddenly, his expression was fierce, and his eyes were bloodshot: "I'm going to avenge His Excellency the Brigade Commander!" ”

"Yaga!" Kurosawa Shoji shouted, "The firepower of the Eight Roads is beyond imagination, and now if you attack the Eight Roads, you can only send them to death." ”

"So what to do?" Toshio Ogata stopped, turned his head and asked, "Can we just cower in Yangquan Castle?" ”

"Ogata-kun, how many casualties did your second brigade have?" Shoji Kurosawa asked.

"More than 600 casualties, but we can still fight." Ogata Toshio paused, "Chief of Staff, please give me another chance, I will definitely take Lion Rock and cut off the head of the Eighth Route Commander to pay tribute to the heroic soul of His Excellency the Brigade Commander." ”

"Nani? Casualties so high? Mitakeshi Tsuda's tone was incredible.

Only one wave of attacks, not only failed to take the Lion Rock position as expected, but also killed and injured more than 600 people, which greatly surprised Mitake Tsuda.

What made it even more difficult for Kurosawa Shoji to accept was that even the brigade commander was put in, and it can be said that this wave of attacks was lost to Muggles.

And that's just the attacking troops, plus the artillery lost by the artillery brigade under the eight-way shelling, plus the casualties of last night, the losses are more than a thousand people at once.

It's incredible, but that's the brutal truth.

There are still 1,000 capable soldiers in the city, but at least 200 must be left to defend the city, otherwise it is easy to be stolen by the Eighth Road.

There is also a large-scale Eighth Route Army attack force in the east of Yangquan, and the group of imperial troops alone will definitely not be able to hold Yangquan City.

But having lost the cover of artillery, what to do now to fight with this powerful eight-way fight?

Kurosawa Shoji's eyes sank, looking at the map, his eyes thoughtful.

"Artillery..."Suddenly, Kurosawa Shoji's expression moved, and the Eighth Road could win this battle all thanks to artillery.

As long as the artillery of the Eighth Route can be solved, there will be no difficulty in defeating the Eighth Route.

While thinking about it, the communications staff officer walked in with a telegram and saluted Kurosawa Shoji with a military salute, and his tone did not carry the slightest emotion: "Report to the chief of staff, General Shinozuka sent an urgent telegram to ask where we had advanced." ”

Shoji Kurosawa raised his head, his expression was slightly embarrassed, where to advance... How do you reply to this?

"Immediately call back General Shinozuka, our unit was stubbornly resisted by the Eighth Route Army of the Taihang Mountain Heroic Regiment at Lion Rock, with heavy losses and more than half of the casualties, Your Excellency the brigade commander... Broken jade. ”

"Request command tactical guidance."

"Send it out immediately!"

The flag of the new regiment reads the Taihang Mountain Heroes Regiment, because the flag is short and the new regiment is relatively low-key, so Kurosawa Shoji does not know which unit is the Eighth Road.

"Hey!" The communications staff officer memorized the contents of the telegram, closed the folder, paused, and then walked out of the war room quickly, and walked straight to the communications room.

……

In the inner city of Taiyuan, the headquarters of the First Army of the Japanese Army.

The sand table set up by the Operations Staff overnight was covered with small red flags and mini sun flags.

The small red flag represents the strongholds that have been breached by the Eighth Road, and the sun flag represents the strongholds that the Japanese army has not yet breached on the Zhengtai and Tongpu railways.

More than 200 small red flags were planted on the sand table for the Tongpu and Zhengtai railways.

Toshimatsu Kasai, chief of staff of communications, reported anxiously: "Your Excellency, as of 8 o'clock in the morning, more than 200 small and medium-sized strongholds of the Tongpu Railway and the Zhengtai Railway have lost contact. ”

"Only a few of the garrisons of more than 30 small strongholds were withdrawn into the large strongholds."

"Whether these strongholds that have lost contact have been captured by the Eighth Route is not yet known."

"The Eighth Route Army's offensive this time is bigger than any previous one, and the strength of the Eighth Route Army is conservatively estimated... No less than 40 regiments. ”

Because the Japanese army had not received any information in advance, the Eighth Route Army's sabotage attack was well planned in advance, the orders of the headquarters were bold and resolute, and the troops carrying out the task were very well concealed in advance.

Of course, the First Army was by no means limited to a few brigades and regiments, and there were also 3 divisions around Zhongtiao Mountain, besieging the Central Army of Zhongtiao Mountain.

However, those divisions did not receive orders from the North China Front Command, and Yoshio Shinozuka did not dare to move easily.

Moreover, the current mobilization of the troops of those divisions and regiments will not be able to save the fire from far water.

The Japanese puppet army stationed on Tongpu Road and Zhengtai Road in Shanxi was stunned at once.

Yoshio Shinozuka's face sank like water, and the counterattack plan formulated by the General Staff Department was: Assemble troops to attack from the east and west of Pinghan and Tongpu Road to the Eighth Road, assemble the Ninth Brigade and the Fourth Brigade to attack the East and West to the Eighth Road, and it is expected to drive the Eighth Road away from the Zhengtai Railway in three days.

But at the moment, the situation is much worse than Shinozuka Yoshio imagined, and most of the strongholds that have lost contact have probably been captured by the Eighth Road.

Yoshio Shinozuka asked in a deep voice, "Isn't there any news from the Fourth Brigade yet?" ”

At present, the headquarters of the Ninth Brigade has left the Yuci area along the Zhengtai Railway, and news has come that although the Ninth Brigade has been blocked by the Eighth Route and is advancing slowly, it is still advancing.

The 4th Brigade is not at all news.

As soon as he finished speaking, a communications soldier walked in with a telegram in his hand, and after a pause, he handed it to Toshimatsu Kasai.

"Your Excellency Commander, the Fourth Brigade is in an emergency..."Toshimatsu Kasai, who only glanced at the contents of the telegram, narrowed his pupils, and his expression gradually became incredulous.

"Read!" Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes stared at the sand table, not noticing Kasai Toshimatsu's expression, and waved his hand and said expressionlessly.

"Hey!" At that moment, Kasai Toshimatsu held the telegram in both hands and read aloud, "Our unit was stubbornly blocked by the Eighth Route Army of the Taihang Mountain Heroic Regiment in Lion Rock. ”

"The enemy's firepower is fierce, the 4th Brigade has suffered heavy losses, more than half of the casualties, Your Excellency the Brigade Commander... Broken jade. ”

"Chief of Staff Shoji Kurosawa Ōji Osa requests tactical guidance!"

"His Majesty the Emperor is onboard, and the Imperial Army of Japan is onboard!"

As soon as the words fell, the entire First Army battle hall became dead silent, and the officers, including Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama, froze as if they had been clicked at the same time.

"Nani?" Kusuyama Hideyoshi's tone was filled with disbelief.

"Yaga!"

"Rubbish!"

Yoshio Shinozuka was furious.

Everyone present did not expect that Mitake Tsuda would actually die, and it was at such a critical time, which made the already bad situation of the First Army even worse.

Kusuyama Hideyoshi snatched the telegram from Kasai Toshimatsu's hand and read it quickly, his expression incredulous.

"Which unit of the Eighth Route is this Taihang Mountain Hero Regiment?" Kusuyama Hideyoshi looked at Takeo Yasuto, an intelligence staff officer.

"It's the new regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, and the regiment commander is Li Yunlong." An Teng Wu Nan suddenly said, he knows this.

"Li Yunlong again?" After Yoshio Shinozuka took a deep breath, he calmed the anger in his heart and said in a cold tone.

Between the words, the murderous aura was awe-inspiring.

"The remaining troops of the Fourth Brigade were handed over to Kurosawa Osa, and the First Army Aviation immediately took off to cooperate with the Fourth Brigade in combat."

"Li Yunlong must be completely eliminated, and Li Yunlong must be eliminated at any cost."

Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes narrowed behind his black-framed glasses, full of murderous aura.

The commander personally ordered a bit of a discount on the regimental commander of the Eighth Road District, but at this time, Yoshio Shinozuka couldn't take care of that face.

There are 3 commanders who died in the hands of Li Yunlong, and even today a major general brigade commander died in the hands of Li Yunlong...

If this development continues, I am afraid that my lieutenant general will not be able to protect his head.

Li Yunlong, damn it!

At this time, Yoshio Shinozuka could no longer suppress his killing intent towards Li Yunlong.

"Hey!" Toshimatsu Kasai and Hideyoshi Kusuyama headed together.

Kasai Toshimatsu was responsible for liaising with the 4th Brigade, and Kusuyama Hideyoshi was responsible for formulating plans and coordinating the command of the aircraft.

……

In the morning, the results of the various units were summarized at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

The 5th Regiment of the main attack force of the right column of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region conquered Niangzi Pass at dawn, and the main force covered the engineers, destroyed a large number of enemy fortifications, and blew up the Kwantung Railway Bridge.

The first phase of the sabotage mission of all brigades and regiments was basically completed, and more than 200 devil strongholds were eliminated overnight.

The Zhengtai Railway west of Niangzi Pass has basically been controlled by the 129th Division, and except for some medium-sized and large strongholds, the devils have become deaf and blind.

This means that the initiative on the battlefield has been firmly controlled by the Eighth Route Army.

Next, the devil can only be beaten passively.

In the morning, the new regiment gave the Japanese 4th Brigade a blow to the head at Lion Rock, and the total number of enemies destroyed exceeded 700.

When the news came, the front fingers of the Eighth Route Army cheered.

……

(Finish the word early and wait for the news.) ）