In the operational headquarters of the theater command, Xie Tian sat expressionlessly on a high chair in front of the sand table overlooking the sand table, as long as there was a big battle, this was basically his fixed position.

This high chair was specially customized by Zhao Gang to the carpenter for Xie Tian, saying that it was a high chair, but in fact it was not ridiculously high, and the height of the person sitting on it was slightly higher than that of ordinary people, after all, Xie Tian stood in front of the sand table for too long every time there was a big war.

At this time, the telecommunications staff officer walked quickly in front of Xie Tian with two telegrams, looked at Xie Tian who was in deep thought, and reported in a low voice: "Commander-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief Fu of the 42nd Group Army sent a battle report and asked for punishment at the same time. ”

Xie Tian on the high chair frowned slightly, and Zhao Gang on the side stretched out his hand to take the telegram and read: "The battle report of the encounter with the Xingtang Temple of the Sixth Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army, this battle has completely annihilated more than 7,000 people of the Sixth Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army, destroyed 166 tanks of various types of the enemy, captured 52 Type 97 medium tanks, 481 trucks and supplies, 47 field infantry guns, and 33 anti-aircraft guns...... Our unit lost 22 soldiers, 27 were seriously wounded, 132 were slightly wounded, one X-1 main battle tank was destroyed, three rapid-fire artillery trucks, and 17 X-1 main battle tanks and rapid-fire artillery vehicles were damaged and need to be repaired......"

Zhao Gang finished reading this telegram, glanced at Xie Tian, flipped through the next telegram and continued: "To the Theater General Headquarters, Fu Zuoyi, Commander-in-Chief of the 42nd Group Army. Fu was eager to fight in this encounter and failed to grasp the fighter well, resulting in heavy casualties to our unit, and asked the theater headquarters to punish him. Fu will certainly draw lessons from this battle, guard against arrogance and rashness in future operational commands, fight steadily and steadily, uphold the principle of putting life first, and fight the enemy and inflict heavy losses while striving to reduce battle losses. ”

Xie Tian closed his eyes and exhaled, Zhao Gang looked at Xie Tian and said: "Commander-in-Chief Fu's 42nd Group Army has just been formed, and it is an encounter with the Japanese Sixth Tank Brigade, and it is rare to be able to achieve such a record. At the end of the telegram, he asked whether the fallen soldiers should be buried on the spot or resettled, and I don't think I could go and bring back the fallen and wounded soldiers. ”

Xie Tian shook his head and said with a straight face: "I can't do without you, arrange for Deputy Commander-in-Chief He to go on a trip, commend and comfort the soldiers of the 42nd Group Army, and order Deputy Commander-in-Chief He to bring back the sacrificed and wounded soldiers, and send the fallen soldiers to the martyrs' cemetery in Dagu Town for burial." ”

Zhao Gang answered, and Xie Tian then ordered: "Send a telegram to the whole country that the 42nd Group Army of the 10th Theater will completely annihilate the 6th Tank Brigade of the Japanese Army, and send a telegram to Chongqing, saying that our troops have suffered serious battle losses in this battle, and ask the Military Commission for strategic support, and then ask them for ten planes, as well as steel and food, in short, you look at it, you want what we lack, and be bold and magnified, rather than let them distribute the materials to those who eat idle meals, it is better to concentrate them in our hands." ”

Zhao Gang showed a slight smile on his face and answered yes.

This is Commander-in-Chief Xie's style, what Chongqing wants is military exploits, what we want is benefits, and everyone takes what they need.

It is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers, and dispersing limited strategic resources into 10 theaters will not do much for each theater at all, and if they are all concentrated in the 10 th theater, it will be a terrible problem.

However, Zhao Gang also knew that the strategic resources in the hands of the Chongqing government were not allocated to other theaters at all, and it was impossible to allocate as much as they wanted, and they could only rely on their own means, and perhaps they had to give some benefits to those who were in charge.

Of course, the benefits mentioned are not necessarily real money, some people want fame, some people want profit, and they have to prescribe the right medicine.

Xie Tian saw that Zhao Gang had written it down, and then said: "Also, let Deputy Commander He bring back the destroyed tank and hand it over to Jing Hao to study what went wrong and improve it as soon as possible." ”

Zhao Gang answered again and wrote it down, Xie Tian pondered for a moment and said: "You can do it yourself at your own discretion on how to wording Commander-in-Chief Fu's call, how the hell is this fucking battle, the rapid-fire artillery truck rushed up to do a piece of shit, there should be no rapid-fire artillery truck in this battle." ”

Zhao Gang smiled bitterly: "Actually, I can understand Commander-in-Chief Fu's feelings, our team is poor, Commander-in-Chief Fu saw that the Sixth Tank Brigade was carrying so many strategic materials, and he was worried that the devils would destroy those materials before they were defeated, so he ordered all troops to charge the devils." ”

"Damn, no amount of materials can be exchanged for human lives, this idea is not right."

Zhao Gang smiled bitterly: "Commander-in-Chief Fu should have understood, otherwise he would not have sent this telegram requesting punishment." To tell the truth, Commander-in-Chief Fu's battle is already an unprecedented victory for any unit, and only in our tenth theater of operations will he be scolded. Commander-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief Fu has just joined our 10th War Zone, this is his first battle, which is already very good. ”

Xie Tian exhaled and said: "Order them to continue to approach Linfen, the Beida Battalion of the Qingshui Brigade Headquarters is a hard bone, but fortunately, it is lonely outside Linfen City, and you can use your brain more how to gnaw the Beida Battalion." ”

Zhao Gang nodded: "For the Beida Battalion, Commander-in-Chief Fu and I have revised the battle plan several times, and there should be no mistakes." ”

Xie Tian snorted and looked at the sand table again, indicating that the matter had come to an end with him.

Xie Tian's thoughts have been quickly pulled back, and the Xingtang Temple encounter has achieved brilliant results, but it is just an accident for Xie Tian's overall strategy.

Looking at the present, there should be no problem in successfully taking Linfen, and there will be no problem for the 49th Army to overcome the long-term problem of the empty Japanese army.

However, after annihilating the 6th Brigade of the Japanese Army and recovering Linfen and Changzhi, the conditions for peace talks that Gangmura Ningji tried so hard to promote basically no longer exist, then Gangcun Ningci will definitely take crazy retaliatory actions.

Which direction will Gangmura Ninji choose to retaliate?

Xie Tian looked at Zhao Gang, who was about to call Fu Zuoyi back, and asked: "Old Zhao, the battle between Linfen and Changzhi should not last long, I guess Gangcun Ningci will definitely carry out a large-scale retaliation action, you analyze, which direction will Gangcun Ningci retaliate against us?" ”

Zhao Gang stood still and frowned slightly, his train of thought hadn't kept up with Xie Tian's rhythm.

Just after the battle of Xingtang Temple, the battle between Linfen and Changzhi had not yet started, and the commander-in-chief was already thinking about the retaliatory action that Gangcun Ningci might take, which was a bit big.

Zhao Gang just thought about it for a moment, and immediately gave the answer: "Commander-in-chief, if Gangcun Ningci wants to inflict heavy damage on us, the first target must be Taiyuan and you, bombing Taiyuan or killing you will seriously hit the morale of our tenth war zone." ”

This was Zhao Gang's intuitive answer, but it made Xie Tian's eyes light up.