"Report to the general, the reconnaissance plane has been reconnoitring along the Baijin Line for a whole day, and has found no trace of the Eighth Road!"

Taiyuan, the headquarters of the First Army.

Communications staff officer Toshimatsu Kasai reported to Commander Yoshio Shinozuka.

During the day, the 32nd Sentai of the Kwantung Army and the reconnaissance planes that took off from the Xincheng Airport made dozens of sorties to reconnoiter along the Baijin Line, but none of them found the Eighth Route Army.

"Didn't you?"

Yoshio Shinozuka stared at the map, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his eyes were thoughtful.

Am I suspicious?

If it was the main force of the Eighth Route that went north from the Yuliao Highway, then the Eighth Route did not have so many troops to attack Taiyuan.

Come to think of it, the Eighth Route has a main force of 50,000 to 60,000 at most, and it can deal with the 37th Division and the 2nd Guards Division at most.

If half of the troops of the Eighth Route are divided to fight the 37th Division, and half of the troops are divided to fight Taiyuan, then the 2nd Guards Division can be reinforced immediately, and the Eighth Route will not be able to defeat Taiyuan.

Then the strategic intention of the Eighth Route has been revealed, half of the troops are trying to open the passage to the south to save the Central Army, and half of the troops are trying to cut off the Zhengtai Railway.

In the final analysis, the troops of the Eighth Route are not enough, and if a main force of more than 20,000 people goes north at this time, it can threaten Taiyuan.

Kasai Toshimatsu said, "In addition, according to the report of the 32nd Sentai Flying Brigade of the Kwantung Army, they exchanged fire with the Eighth Route Air Defense Force on the Heliao Highway, and the anti-aircraft firepower of the Eighth Route was very strong, and the 32nd Sentai lost 2 attack planes and 1 fighter!"

The 1st Column of Taihang led by the brigade commander was armed with more than 80 machine guns.

Although the brigade commander ordered the artillery and shells to be hidden, the troops were scattered.

However, the brigade commander set a trap and used a few fake cannons as bait, and the devil pilots were really fooled and swooped down one after another.

More than 40 machine guns opened fire at the same time, and three devil planes were shot down on the spot, and several other devil planes fled in a hurry, after which the devil planes only dared to reconnoiter at high altitudes and did not dare to attack at low altitudes.

"Also, in the sky over Xiangyuan County, the 32nd Flying Squadron was also shot down by an attack plane with the machine guns of the Eighth Route Army!"

In the area of Xiangyuan and Licheng, needless to say, Yoshio Shinozuka knew that this must be the main force of the Eighth Road.

If it was a militia, it would definitely not have fought back and forth with the 37th Division.

And the anti-aircraft firepower of the Eighth Route on the Heliao Highway is so strong, so there is a high probability that it is also the main force of the Eighth Road.

"Kasai-kun, haven't the two groups of scouts deployed on the Bai Jin Line been contacted yet?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked in a deep voice.

"Report to the general, I haven't been contacted yet, these two groups of scouts may have all been shattered!" Toshimatsu Kasai bowed his head and replied.

The two groups of scouts lost contact at the same time, it must not be as simple as a radio failure, there must have been an accident, and it was an accident before they had time to call for help.

At this time, the Japanese troops in the counties near the Baijin Line had already withdrawn to Taiyuan, and there was no other way to reconnoiter the Baijin Line except for the means of aerial reconnaissance.

If the Eighth Route Army had been hiding in the dense woods during the day, the reconnaissance planes of the aviation would not have been able to see it at all.

The Eighth Route has always been cunning and cunning, and the headquarters of the First Army is in Taiyuan, so it has to be defended.

"Command!" Yoshio Shinozuka accentuated his tone.

Toshimatsu Kasai put his feet together, holding a folder and a pen, and made a gesture of listening and preparing to take notes.

Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Takahashi Choro Zhongzuo led the Imperial Army and the 5th Mixed Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Imperial Association Army that were transferred to Taiyuan from various county seats, and immediately went to Xiaodian Town in the south of Taiyuan City to build fortifications."

There were about 2,000 Japanese troops who moved into Taiyuan from various counties.

The 3rd Mixed Brigade of the 5th Division of the Puppet Army has more than 3,000 people.

The main force of the Eighth Route is in the area of Xiangyuan, Licheng and Heliao Highway, even if there are troops from the Eighth Route to the north from the Baijin Line, it is estimated that there will not be too many.

These 5,000 troops, even if they can't block the Eighth Road, can buy Taiyuan a lot of time to prepare.

"Call Ando-kun, the intelligence officer."

"Hey!" Toshimatsu Kasai recorded the order, one on both feet

And bowed his head, turned and walked out.

After Kasai Toshimatsu left, Yoshio Shinozuka looked at Takeo Anten, an intelligence staff officer in the conference hall:

"Ando-kun, your intelligence department is limited to find out within half a day who the commanders of the Eighth Route on the first line of Xiangyuan and Licheng and along the Heliao Highway to the north are."

"I'll know the results tomorrow morning."

If you want to ask Yoshio Shinozuka who is most afraid of in his heart, it must be Li Yunlong.

I couldn't figure out Li Yunlong's movements, and he couldn't sleep comfortably with Yoshio Shinozuka.

"Hey!" An Teng Takeo had no choice but to stiffen his head.

……

At night, the devil's plane could not reconnoitre, so Li Yunlong led the 3rd Column of Taihang to continue north.

After passing the Taigu valley, there is a plain, and then go north to Taiyuan, and the terrain is a flat river.

If it were in the daytime, with so many troops marching, they would definitely have nothing to hide and would be detected by the devil's plane.

However, the Eighth Route Army chose to march at night and did not light torches, and it was impossible for the devil planes to detect it.

In addition, the devil withdrew all his troops from Taigu to Taiyuan, so no one will pass on the news to the devil.

Under the leadership of Li Yunlong, the 3rd Column of Taihang marched all the way out of the mountains and continued to advance towards Taiyuan.

Once on the plain, the troops' march became faster, as they had to reach the outside of Taiyuan the next morning.

In the second half of the night, the troops of the 3rd Column of Taihang arrived at Chujia Village to assemble, and soon, two artillery regiments also caught up.

It is only 30 kilometers from the city of Taiyuan, and it can be reached in a few hours after a quick march.

Li Yunlong ordered all units to rest temporarily, and he ordered the heads of the attack groups and the commanders of the regiments to hold a meeting at the headquarters.

In less than 10 minutes, Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa, Kong Jie, and the commanders of each regiment arrived at the headquarters.

Looking at everyone's expectant eyes, Li Yunlong sighed in his heart.

Today's 129th Division is very strong in combat, and the main force plus the militia may have 200,000 people.

Able to wrestle with two or three divisions of the Japanese army head-on, and even defeat.

It can even organize an offensive and counterattack on Taiyuan that is larger than the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, which mainly comes from the sufficient weapons, ammunition and food supplies provided by Brother Chen.

If it weren't for Brother Chen's continuous supply of weapons, ammunition and food supplies, I'm afraid that at this time, let alone counterattacking Taiyuan, I'm afraid that he would still be fighting with the devil's bayonet.

It is even more impossible to afford to support a new regiment of more than 8,000 troops.

Li Yunlong glanced at everyone, and his tone was serious: "I believe that everyone here has guessed the combat mission of our column, that's right, it is to recover Taiyuan!"

Those of you who can achieve the level of regiment commander are not fools, but very smart.

The troops went all the way north and deliberately concealed their whereabouts, and everyone had long guessed that the combat mission this time was to attack Taiyuan.

Although there was a guess in my heart, when I heard the commander-in-chief say it himself, it unsurprisingly caused a commotion among the commanders.

In addition to Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa, Xing Zhiguo, Zhao Gang, Wang Dehou and Kong Jie and other people who knew in advance, the group leaders showed excited expressions.

"Fuck it!"

"This time I can finally do a big job!"

"I've wanted to fight Taiyuan for a long time!"

「……」

The group of regiment commanders expressed their attitudes one after another, grinding their palms and fists, eager to attack the city immediately.

Li Yunlong glanced at everyone, his expression was very satisfied.

After saying a few words, Li Yunlong said again:

"Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa and Kong Jie stayed, the time was tight and the task was heavy, and the rest of the regiment commanders immediately went back to do pre-war mobilization for each regiment."

"I have only one request, as soon as the guns and cannons go out, as soon as the order is issued, all the commanders and fighters must rush up with a roar."

"Our slogan is: Break into Taiyuan and capture Yoshio Shinozuka alive!"

"If any group drops the chain, don't blame me Li Yunlong for turning his face and not recognizing people!"

"Yes!" The group of regiment commanders agreed with a bang, and

After that, the regimental commanders walked towards their respective units.

Pre-war mobilization is necessary to unify the goals of the troops and boost morale.

After the group leaders left, Li Yunlong glanced at Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa and Kong Jie, and said:

"Tomorrow at dawn, we will definitely be able to attack the city, now I will deploy a combat mission."

"Lao Ding, you lead the 1st Attack Group to attack the South Gate, Lao Kong, you lead the 2nd Attack Group to attack the East Gate, and Lao Cheng you lead the 3rd Attack Group to attack the West Gate."

"A new regiment attacks the North Gate."

"We have 50 howitzers and 38 mountain guns this time, and we can put 21 guns in each direction."

"Because there are devil planes in the sky, the artillery is the same as before, firing from a long distance, and the special forces guide the shelling."

"In case our ground attack force is attacked by devil planes, I have also prepared machine guns for you."

"After the meeting, each of you sent your troops to the logistics department of the new regiment to receive 70 20mm machine guns, each with 1,000 shells."

"After the capture of Taiyuan, these machine guns and the remaining shells will belong to you, and after the capture of Taiyuan, I will also replenish each 1,000 rounds of 20mm shells."

The eyes of Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa and Kong Jie suddenly lit up.

"Commander-in-chief, really, 70 machine guns were given to us?" Kong Jie's eyes widened and he asked.

"No jokes in the army?" Ding Wei also asked.

Li Yunlong: "A mouthful of spit and a nail!"

"My good man, 70 machine guns, I'm rich!" Cheng Shifa's tone was excited, and his eyes were full of gratitude when he looked at Li Yunlong.

The three of them all sighed with emotion, and sent 210 machine guns at once, and only Li Yunlong had such a big stroke.

followed Li Yunlong, and he really made a lot of money.

Li Yunlong said: "These 70 machine guns are for you, but you don't eat alone, and the other regiments will also give some of them, and it's up to you how much to give."

At present, the new regiment has close to 400 machine guns, 210 have been sent out, and there are close to 200 machine guns.

However, not all of these machine guns were used to defend the infantry, at least half of them were allocated for the defense of the artillery units.

After a pause, Li Yunlong reminded in an accentuated tone: "The premise is that Taiyuan can be brought down, if it can't be defeated, I still have to take back these machine guns."

"Hurry up and send someone to the logistics department of the new regiment to get the machine gun, and do the pre-war mobilization after going back, and start the meeting after 15 minutes."

"Yes!" Ding Wei, Cheng Shifa and Kong Jie shouted in unison, and then quickly got up and walked quickly towards their respective troops.

The three of them were full of energy.